Thursday, October 4, 2001

Call to arms
“This is a different kind of war, which we will wage aggressively and methodically to disrupt and destroy terrorist activity.”
By Aaron Chimbel
Staff Reporter

The war on terrorism will most closely compare to the Vietnam War, said TCU political science professor Ralph Carter who specializes in U.S. foreign policy.

“(U.S.) special operations groups in Vietnam engaged in deep penetration operations,” he said.

Similar missions are likely to take place now in Afghanistan, Carter said.

Carter said he does not think the Bush administration will publicize what is going on related to the war on terrorism.

“I don’t think this is the kind of war you acknowledge while you are doing it,” Carter said. He said he would expect the United States U.S. to publicize successes.

“If some of the bad guys are killed we would know,” he said.

Carter said a variety of agencies will likely be involved. If intelligence agencies like the CIA are on the ground in Afghanistan they could be ordered to take action, he said.

Uniformed military personnel and FBI electronic intelligence could all be used.

He said U.S. military agencies are actively recruiting people with olive-skinned complexions and multi-lingual expertise.

In his weekly radio address Saturday, President Bush said, “This is a different kind of war, which we will wage aggressively and methodically to disrupt and destroy terrorist activity.”

Earlier this week President Bush said part of winning the war on terrorism will be to cut off financial support to people suspected of being involved in the attacks on New York and Washington.

“Thus far we have frozen $6 million in bank accounts linked to terrorist activity,” Bush said. “And we are just beginning.”

According to USA Today, elite troops from U.S. special operations forces have been inside Afghanistan for the past two weeks looking for suspected terrorist leader Osama bin Laden. Teams of three to five U.S. special military commandos have reportedly been given orders to kill or capture bin Laden.

The president also said that 29,000 military personnel, two carrier battle groups, hundreds of military aircraft and an amphibious-ready group have been deployed.

he president said about 17,000 members of military Reserve units have been called to active duty.

“It is hard to fight a guerrilla (war) with conventional forces, but our military is ready,” Bush said.

Aaron Chimbel
a.a.chimbel@student.tcu.edu