AMERICA AT WAR
The Michigan Daily - Monday, October 8, 2001- 7A
France and Canada
'The Associated Press
The United States' European and Asian
allies gave swift and solid support to the
attack on Osama bin Laden and his backers
yesterday, with France and Canada saying
they had agreed to President Bush's request
to contribute forces.
Arab governments largely kept silent in
the hours after the U.S.-British action in
Afghanistan. But Iran and Iraq voiced
protest, and on the streets across the Islamic
world, many denounced the missile attack
and air raids as an act of war against Arabs
and Muslims.
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in Bagh-
dad called the attack "an act of aggression
that runs contrary to international law."
Israel supported it as "the right and coura-
geous decision."
In an address to the nation, Bush said
Canada, Australia, Germany and France
have "pledged forces as the operation
unfolds," and numerous other countries
have granted air transit or landing rights.
Still more nations are providing intelli-
gence, he said.
Bush telephoned several European leaders
just before the attacks began, including
French President Jacques Chirac.
Later, in a televised address to the French
people, Chirac said: "Our forces will partici-
pate. At this stage French vessels are associat-
ed with this operation."
Until now France had offered airspace and
naval logistical support. "In recent days."
agree to
Chirac said, "the United States made new
demands for military participation."
Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien
confirmed that his country would meet
Bush's request for a military contribution.
In a message to the nation he said military
units were being told to report for duty.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi put
his country on heightened alert and promised
that "Italy is by the side of the United States
and all who are committed to the battle against
terrorism."
Italy has offered troops, as well as use of its
ports and airports.
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder
promised Bush his country's "unlimited solidari-
ty."
"There, is no alternative to this struggle,
support U.S. attack
which we must win and will win;" Schroeder
told reporters.
The Netherlands. Greece, Spain, and the
Scandinavian countries added their voices to
what appeared to be a near-unanimous
expression of support that spanned eastern
and western Europe as well as Russia and
Ukraine.
"Together with our allies we have to face
this human plague which is terrorism," Pol-
ish President Aleksander Kwasniewski said
in a statement.
"The fight will be long, risky and
painful." he said. "Today's campaign is only
the beginning. It will require a lot of effort
and concessions, also on part of our society.
We are ready for it."
In Asia, Japanese Prime Minister Junichi-
ro Koizumi said "Our country strongly sup-
ports these actions to combat terrorim."
President Kim Dae-jung of South Korea
also voiced full support, as did Australia
and new Zealand.
"It is.a retaliation against the people who,
according to the canons of any of the world's
great religions, cannot call themselves people
of God," said Australian Prime Minister John
Howard.
Small anti-war demonstrations were held
in some European cities, and some govern-
ments expressed regret that military action
couldn't be avoided.
Although those governments mentioned
the need to spare civilian lives and get
humanitarian aid to Afghanistan, the overall
stress was on supporting yesterday's attack.
ATTACKS
Continued from Page 1A
EDT - nighttime in Afghanistan.
Myers, sworn into office as chairman
of the Joint Chiefs of Staff less than a
week ago, said the attacks included B-1,
B-2 and B-52 bombers as well as ships
and submarines that have been deployed
in the region in the days since Sept. 11.
The B-52s dropped at least dozens of
500-pound gravity bombs on al-Qaida
terrorist training camps in eastern
Afghanistan, one official said.
Afghan sources in Pakistan said the
attack had damaged the Taliban military
headquarters and destroyed a radar
installation and control tower at the air-
port in the southern Afghan city of Kan-
dahar. Smoke could be seen billowing
from the high-walled compound of
Mullah Mohammed Omar, the Taliban
leader, these sources added.
One Pentagon official said that while
highly visible attacks were being carried
out, other operations would not be seen
publicly. Officials have said previously
that U.S. special forces have been oper-
ating inside Afghanistan.
Roughly an hour after the first volley
of cruise missiles, Taliban forces came
under attack from the northern alliance,
Afghan opposition forces who fired
multiple-rocket launchers from an air
base about 25;niles north of Kabul.
A spokesman at the Afghan Embassy
in Tajikistan, a nation that does not rec-
ognize the Taliban as rulers of
Afghanistan, said that the opposition
0AFGHANISTAN
Continued from Page 1A
Electricity was restored in Kabul
more than two hours after the attack, but
later went out again. It was unclear
whether the blast had damaged trans-
mission facilities or the Taliban were
shutting off electricity to darken the city
from attackers. There was no sign of
panic among Kabul's 1 million people,
long inured to war after more than two
decades of relentless fighting that has
destroyed most of the city.
The private, Islamabad-based Afghan
Islamic Press agency quoted the Taliban
as saying American planes had bombed
STRATEGY
Continued from Page 1A
tagon news conference.
Defense officials said one goal of
the initial strike was to disable the Tal-
iban's air and military defenses so that
rebel Afghans could advance in their
effort to overthrow the Taliban regime
that has harbored Osama bin Laden's
al-Qaida network.
"Our interest is to strengthen those
forces that are opposed to al-Qaida
and opposed to the Taliban leadership
".. so that they will have better oppor-
tunities to prevail," Rumsfeld said.
could make an attempt to enter Kabul,
the capital. Asked when, he said per-
haps in days or a week.
Bush said the military strike would be
accompanied by the delivery of food,
medicine and other supplies needed to
sustain the people of Afghanistan.
The president said the military effort
was only part of a campaign against ter-
rorism, "another front in a war that has
already been joined through diplomacy,
intelligence, the freezing of financial
assets and arrests of known terrorists by
law enforcement agents in 38 countries."
"We did not ask for this mission, but
we will fulfill it,",he said.
"We are supported by the collective
will of the world," Bush added. He said
Canada, Australia, Germany and France
have "pledged forces as the operation
unfolds," and numerous other countries
have granted air transit or landing rights.
Still more nations are providing intelli-
gence, he said.
To help sustain the coalition, officials
said Bush was sending Secretary of
State Colin Powell to Pakistan and India
in the next few days. Pakistan has
emerged as a key ally in the war on ter-
rorism. India, in turn, has expressed
concern lest the United States begin to
favor Pakistan in a long-term struggle
over the disputed territory of Kashmir.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair
offered strong support in a speech to his
own nation. Hie said of the Taliban,
"They were given the choice of siding
with justice or siding with terror. They
chose to side with terror."
areas near the Kabul airport in the
northern part of the city. The agency
said there were no details of casualties
and no reports of damage to the city
itself. It added, however, that "huge
smoke is rising near Kabul airport."
In a statement carried by Afghan
Islamic Press, an unidentified Taliban
spokesman in Kandahar said all provin-
cial airports in the country appeared to
have been targeted "but we have not suf-
fered any major damage."
In an interview with a Turkish radio
station, Gen. Rashid Dostum, of the
coalition of opposition forces fighting
the Taliban in northern Afghanistan,
said: "Taliban's planes are burning."
Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), vice
chairman of the Senate Intelligence
Committee, said that early indications
were positive.
"It looks to be at this early juncture
successful," Shelby said last night.
"This is only the beginning, and it
looks to me to be a strong beginning."
Along with the strikes against air
defenses of the Taliban and their small
fleet of warplanes, U.S. Air Force C-17
cargo planes flying from Ramstein Air
Base, Germany, were dropping food
and medical supplies inside
Afghanistan as part of President
Bush's effort to aid displaced civilians.
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