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CNN Live Saturday
U.S. Bombs Mistakenly Hit Red Cross, United Nations Facilities in Afghanistan
Aired October 27, 2001 - 15:21 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.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN ANCHOR: Fighter jets from U.S. carriers are among those, of course, pounding the Taliban front lines of northern Afghanistan, but it's been a tough week. Sometimes targets have been missed. The Pentagon said, for instance, that bombs mistakenly hit a Red Cross compound, and it was the second time yesterday. And the United Nations says that earlier, one if its demining centers has also been hit.
It's been a tough week for the United States military, and we have CNN military analyst and retired Air Force General Don Shepperd, who joins me now. And let's talk about that, General. You have watched as the pointed questions have started coming from the Pentagon. You've watched as the analyses have begun that, in fact, the military operation has bogged down -- That it is not doing what it set out to do.
What's the response?
MAJ. GEN. DON SHEPPERD, U.S. AIR FORCE (RET.): Yes, those questions are coming, Bob, and they're going to continue to come. This is going to be a series of ups and downs.
I don't think it's sunk in yet on the American public what the president, the secretary of defense, the secretary of state said early on in this conflict. This is going to be a long conflict. This is not going to be the Taliban vanishing in two days or two weeks or two months. It may be two decades or even longer before this is all wrapped up worldwide. This is difficult, and it's not unusual in a war. It happens in every war, almost the same way -- early enthusiasm and then some disappointment, wondering why it isn't wrapped up sooner.
FRANKEN: But operatically, forget about the enthusiasm, operationally is this a down right now?
SHEPPERD: The hitting of the targets -- the hitting the wrong targets for the second time is something that has to be answered by the Pentagon. They say it's a targeting error. We need some more explanation on that, and I'm sure it will come from the Pentagon next week. But that does sound like a downer for sure.
We've had some other downers: the execution of the opposition leader, Haq -- that's certainly a downer -- and the fact that the Northern Alliance has not moved rapidly. That may be a downer.
The effect of military force takes time. One side gets gradually weaker as the other side gets stronger, and you have a crossing of the lines at some point. I don't know what point that's going to be in this conflict, but it's going to happen. The Taliban is going to go.
FRANKEN: This is a tough question to ask an Air Force general, but have they maxed out in terms of the effectiveness of the air campaign? Is it time now that they must begin the ground campaign?
SHEPPERD: The timing of the ground campaign, if a large ground campaign comes, it will be left to General Franks. He only can answer that question. He knows what's available to him -- all the way from special operations forces, all the way up to full divisions from the United States and other allies. He is going to decide that, but by no means have we maxed out the air campaign. These airstrikes so far, by comparison, have been very light: 100 strikes a day spread over all of Afghanistan.
In the Gulf War, there were 2,500 a day; in World War II, 20,000 a day. Now, this has been a very, very small air campaign to date, and we are at the very early seconds of what may be a long war, Bob.
FRANKEN: Well, we're running out of time, but is it fair to say that this is different in the fact that Afghanistan doesn't have the things to bomb that those other places did?
SHEPPERD: Yes, we are going against dug-in troops now; not many fixed targets. The air defense, as far as the missiles and the radars, are gone. Some of the warehouses are gone. We are now against the front line troops, and that's the tough part. The reason is you have to know where your troops are, and where the other side is, and in this coalition alliance out there, this is the difficult phase of finding them and then digging them out, and it's tough.
FRANKEN: General Don Shepperd giving us the perspective of somebody who has been here, planning combat before, providing military analysis -- thank you very much, general.
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