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CNN Live Today

Navy SEAL Killed in Afghanistan; Pentagon Releases Budget Request

Aired March 28, 2002 - 12:34   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: Southern Afghanistan right now. Two more causalities in Operation Enduring Freedom. More on this with Barbara Starr from her post there at the Pentagon. Barbara, good afternoon.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Bill. Well, a U.S. Navy SEAL was killed and another man was wounded yesterday when they stepped on a land mine during a training exercise southeast of Kandahar. The man killed has now been identified as Navy Chief Petty Officer Matthew Bourgeois of Tallahassee, Florida.

Now, even though this was a training mission, Special Forces, in fact, have been operating very heavily throughout Southern and Eastern Afghanistan in recent weeks, conducting reconnaissance and intelligence missions, moving through caves, al Qaeda complexes, destroying ammunition, looking for intelligence, and monitoring these pockets of al Qaeda that we have been talking about for the last several days.

The Pentagon says the whole region is very tense, this whole area south of Khowst along the border with Pakistan, hundreds of al Qaeda may be spread out there in small pockets. U.S. military is watching it all very closely, and they are getting ready, we are told, for more military action in the region, when they can identify some of these pockets and begin to go after them.

And at the same time, officials are telling us once again that getting the al Qaeda is going to be a very long-term proposition. There is one assessment now that says more than 10,000 al Qaeda have moved through those training camps in Afghanistan in recent years, and those 10,000 al Qaeda are spread out around the world -- Bill.

HEMMER: Barb, my count says 31 total casualties, fatalities, in and around Afghanistan related to the war. I am assuming that is the same number you have, is that right?

STARR: That is correct. They do believe that this petty officer is the 31st military death in this war on terrorism.

HEMMER: I am going to change your focus for a moment here. More money being requested by the Pentagon. How much and for what?

STARR: Well, the Pentagon is now seeking another $14 billion in supplemental funding for the war on terrorism, but there are some fascinating clues in this budget request about where the Pentagon's thinking may be headed.

A lot of money is being requested for more precision munitions, thousands and thousands of more precision munitions, which are dropped by Air Force and Navy fighter aircraft. They are also looking to spend more money on unmanned aerial vehicles, improvements to the AC- 130 gunship, all of the key weapons that they have been using in Afghanistan, and very interestingly, they say they are running low on some ammunition, so there is a lot of money being requested for some very non-conventional ammunition that is being used by Special Forces in Afghanistan, out in the Philippines and in other areas.

So, we are beginning to see the hint that they are building up to get ready for whatever they may be planning to do in the months ahead.

HEMMER: Barbara, thank you. Barbara Starr at the Pentagon.

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