Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Special Forces Carry Out Intelligence Gathering in Afghanistan

Aired November 19, 2001 - 09:21   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld saying last week there are hundreds of U.S. Special Operations forces now operating inside on the ground in Afghanistan, and so far none has been lost to combat. Part of their mission too, right now, is finding Osama bin Laden. Our retired military analyst -- retired Air Force Major General Don Shepperd back with us again this morning. General, good morning, again.

MAJ. GEN. DON SHEPPERD (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Bill.

HEMMER: To a couple photos we talked about over the weekend and on Friday. Donald Rumsfeld revealing one that shows U.S. Special Ops on horseback riding alongside the Northern Alliance troops. When you saw this, what came to mind, General?

SHEPPERD: Well, we said these are John Wayne kind of guys, and I guess this proves it, right back to horseback. Like you say, this is a 21st-century meeting old times here. These guys' job is to get out and get with the natives and form relationships. They do what the natives do. They also carry sophisticated equipment with them, but their job is to get in and know these people and get intelligence, and get the trust of the people they're operating with and then, when necessary, call in airstrikes or attack specific targets. They are very, very good at it. This is what they do.

HEMMER: Another photo that caught our attention. It almost looks like Star Wars meets the middle ages, if we look at it. The Chinooks in the background. And look at this scene you see here. Amazing contrast.

SHEPPERD: Yeah. What you see here is on his helmet is the fitting for night vision goggles. He's all set up to do that. You've got several radios that he's talking to various people on. his various chains of command. He's got ammunition with him. He's got food with him. He's set for combat, sustained combat over a several- day period. Again, they carry with them what they need to protect themselves. The whole idea is they protect themselves, they protect each other, and they go after specific targets while they're establishing liaison and getting intelligence.

HEMMER: One of the targets, we all know now, the world's most wanted man Osama bin Laden. How will forces like the ones we just saw in those pictures play a role in that operation, General? What do they do? SHEPPERD: Well, again, the first step is to establish liaison and get real-time intelligence. What they want to know is not "where was he?" but "where is he today?" They have to sort out defective reports, P.O.W. reports, they have to get intelligence passed to them from headquarters, and don't just wander around in the area kind of looking for somebody. They go to a specific location. They block that location. And they try to apply -- apply overwhelming force and get reinforcement if necessary. The idea is to find out where he is right now from whatever means possible and get a substantial amount of military force at that location to hopefully get bin Laden or the al Qaeda cells.

HEMMER: Yeah, the reports we got at the end of last week. Mohammed Atef. If indeed he has been killed by a U.S. strike. Is that based on intelligence or is that a lucky strike?

SHEPPERD: It could be either, but I suspect that if they hit a building in a town, it was based upon information obtained either by the C.I.A. or Special Forces. It could have been -- even been a Special Forces operator marking the target, knowing and watching those people that went in there. The circle is getting smaller and smaller. We're watching them wherever they go. We're getting intelligence. We have the ability to listen and to watch and then to get a weapon, a sophisticated precision weapon on a target even in the middle of the town. This is bad news for the Taliban al Qaeda wherever they are.

HEMMER: Logic serves, then, in this case, if the same procedure is used in the hunt for bin Laden as Atef, one would think, at this point, again, the things you're talking about would follow suit, correct?

SHEPPERD: Correct. It's still tough. Again you want to know -- you want to know where he is in a very, very big area. An area, again, that's getting smaller and smaller, but even a 30-square mile area, if that's where he is, there's a lot of caves, a lot of possibilities. The difference is, now, he has no friends left among the Taliban, it appears, and his circle of al Qaeda is getting smaller. It's a bad time to be al Qaeda or Taliban, and it's a very dangerous and risky process to associate with them. So it is becoming easier to find him and fewer and fewer friends no matter where he goes.

HEMMER: Thank you, Don. General Shepperd in Washington. We'll talk again next hour, all right? A whole lot more to talk about then. Thank you much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com