- WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President
Bush vowed a "relentless" campaign against terror as he launched
air strikes against Afghanistan on Sunday and said the battle could widen
to other countries that aid terrorism.
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- "The battle is now joined on many fronts. We will
not waver. We will not tire. We will not falter and we will not fail,"
Bush said.
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- He said the United States and Britain had launched strikes
against military positions of Afghanistan's ruling Taliban and training
camps of Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network.
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- Bush has called bin Laden the prime suspect in the Sept.
11 attacks on New York and Washington that left at least 5,600 dead and
has accused the Taliban of harboring bin Laden.
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- "Initially the terrorists may burrow deeper into
caves and other entrenched hiding places. Our military action is also designed
to clear the way for sustained, comprehensive and relentless operations
to drive them out and bring them to justice," Bush said.
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- The United States earlier rejected a last-ditch offer
by the Taliban to try bin Laden under Islamic law. Washington has stated
flatly that it would not negotiate demands that Afghanistan turn over bin
Laden, close al Qaeda camps, allow U.S. inspections and release detained
Western aid workers.
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- "None of these demands were met. And now, the Taliban
will pay a price," Bush said in a televised address from the Treaty
Room of the White House.
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- Targets in Sunday's strikes included Taliban air defense
and command sites in the capital of Kabul and an air base near Kandahar
in southern Afghanistan, U.S. officials said.
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- 'EVERY NATION HAS A CHOICE'
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- Bush said any other nation deemed to support terrorism
also faced retribution.
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- "Today we focus on Afghanistan, but the battle is
broader," he said. "Every nation has a choice to make. In this
conflict, there is no neutral ground. If any government sponsors the outlaws
and killers of innocents, they have become outlaws and murderers themselves.
And they will take that lonely path at their own peril."
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- Some leading U.S. lawmakers said on Sunday that Iraq
would be a likely target next, but not immediately.
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- A Taliban official said bin Laden survived the first
wave of attacks. In a videotape broadcast on Sunday, the Saudi-born militant
declared defiantly that God had blessed a group of "vanguard Muslims"
to destroy America.
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- Like Bush, bin Laden described a divided world, saying
there were "two camps, the camp of the faithful and the camp of infidels,"
with Bush heading the "international infidels."
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- Qatar's al-Jazeera television said the videotape had
been made after the Sept. 11 terror attacks on the United States, but it
did not give a specific date.
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- White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said the tape "obviously"
was made before Sunday's military strike and broadcast to give an impression
that bin Laden was speaking after it.
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- BRITAIN JOINS IN, ALLIES PLEDGE HELP
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- Britain joined in the attacks, and four other allies
-- Canada, Australia, Germany and France -- pledged forces as the operation
continues, Bush said.
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- In addition, 40 countries had granted air transit or
landing rights to the United States and many more provided intelligence
to support the operation, dubbed "Enduring Freedom." Bush did
not mention Pakistan or Russia by name.
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- The U.S. president spoke before the announcement of the
strikes with Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Gerhard
Schroeder, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Canadian Prime Minister
Jean Chretien.
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- Bombers, strike aircraft and cruise missiles were used
in the attacks against Taliban military positions in the capital Kabul
and the southern city of Kandahar, U.S. officials said.
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- The United States was also providing aid drops of food,
medicine and supplies to alleviate a humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.
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- "The oppressed people of Afghanistan will know the
generosity of America and our allies," Bush said. "The United
States of America is a friend to the Afghan people, and we are the friends
of almost a billion worldwide who practice the Islamic faith."
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- TAKING PRECAUTIONS
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- The United States was also taking precautions to defend
against any strikes of retribution launched by bin Laden, he said. The
State Department warned Americans abroad about possible retaliation against
U.S. citizens and interests.
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- Americans needed to be on alert, Fleischer said. "Threats
do remain. This is a war," he told reporters.
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- Vice President Dick Cheney, next in line for the presidency
in the event of Bush's death, was taken to an undisclosed location away
from the White House.
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- Victory would come through a "patient accumulation
of successes," Bush said.
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- He made his announcement after rushing back from Emmitsburg,
Maryland, where he had participated in a ceremony for firefighters killed
in the line of duty and where he recognized the more than 300 firefighters
who died after the hijacked plane attacks on the World Trade Center in
New York.
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- Bush delivered his remarks ahead of schedule and immediately
boarded his helicopter for the return to Washington. He had been spending
the weekend at the presidential retreat of Camp David.
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