20 September 2001

Rumsfeld Discusses Military Response to Terrorist Attacks

By Merle D. Kellerhals, Jr.
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- The United States has begun repositioning some combat aircraft and Navy battle groups in the Middle East region as part of its response to terrorist attacks September 11th, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says.

"What we're engaged in is something that is very, very different from World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf War, Kosovo, Bosnia -- the kinds of things that people think of when they use the word war, campaign or conflict," Rumsfeld said September 20 during a Pentagon news conference. "I have certainly signed an order, a deployment order, with respect to the movement of forces."

Rumsfeld said President Bush has made clear that the events of September 11th are considered a direct attack against the United States. "And he intends to provide for our defense by taking the effort to the people who are attacking the United States and those countries that are supporting that," he said.

He cautioned, though, that any mix of forces should not be compared with the previous Persian Gulf conflict buildup in late 1990 and early 1991.

Army Secretary Thomas White said September 20 that the current mix of forces being prepared and deployed, based on Rumsfeld's September 19 order, includes Army and Air Force personnel and equipment. "A lot more will come," White said. "We are ready to conduct sustained land combat operations as determined by the secretary of defense and the president. We are ready to deliver it across the whole array of force structure -- heavy, light, airmobile, airborne, special operations."

White also said it is more than likely that Army special operations forces -- which include Special Forces, Rangers, special operations tactical aviation, psychological operations and civil affairs -- would take part in any campaigns "and they are ready to go," though specific options are still under study.

While Rumsfeld acknowledged signing a deployment order with respect to the movement of forces, he told reporters, "I am not going to describe what forces we're moving, I'm not going to discuss the dates and times of when they leave and when they're going to arrive."

The secretary said "we are trying to get ourselves arranged in the world with our forces in places that we believe conceivably could be useful in the event the president decided to use them for one thing or another."

He said this military operation will be much different from waging military action against a specific country for a specific purpose. He said the full spectrum of political, diplomatic, economic, and military resources of the U.S. government are all going to have to be engaged.

National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice said September 19 "the United States is repositioning some of its forces to support the president's goal."

Bush was scheduled to address a joint session of the U.S. Congress September 20 to discuss his goals in the war on terrorism as well as recovery operations since the terrorist attacks on September 11th.