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American Morning

America's New War: What Should be Expected from the Special Forces?

Aired September 21, 2001 - 09:55   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Some of the first troops involved in any U.S. military action are attached to special forces unit.

Joining us from Washington to talk about their preparation methods is former Green Beret Bob Bevelacqua.

Welcome.

Currently his is the senior security analyst for COLSA Corporation.

Good to have you with us this morning.

What role do you think the...

BOB BEVELAQUA, FORMER GREEN BERET: Thanks, Paula, it's a pleasure to be here.

ZAHN: Thank you.

What role do you think special forces will play in any potential military action?

BEVELAQUA: Well, in this scenario, Paula, there's three missions they could perform: one is unconventional warfare, and the other one is direct action, and then finally special reconnaissance.

I believe for this mission all three would apply. The UW piece, unconventional warfare, is basically establishing an insurgency within Afghanistan; using the local people that currently don't like the Taliban to create a G-force, a guerrilla force. That guerrilla force is trained, advised and assisted by American Green Beret. They establish an auxiliary in an underground to take down the bin Laden regime from with inside, not from the outside.

The direct action piece, the special reconnaissance piece can be tied together, or they can be separate depending on the strategic application. And I think that's an important focus here, is that these are strategic tools, the Green Berets, they're not mass produced, it takes a long time to generate them, so they have to be used in a very methodical, well-thought-out process program through detailed planning. ZAHN: All right, last week I spoke with a spokesperson for the Northern Alliance, which is the opposition movement there, and he basically said at the ready would be some 12,500 of his soldiers to assist the United States in any sort of military action. Tell us how long that joint training you're talking about would take.

BEVELAQUA: You're talking about the standing up of a guerrilla force with inside a denied area?

ZAHN: All right, Bob, I'm sorry -- carry on. Someone was talking to me in my ear.

BEVELAQUA: If the question is, as I understand it, is how long does it take to wage unconventional warfare to stand up guerrilla force to be effective? It takes year. if you look at the classic model, World War II France, it's not an overnight fix, it does take a long amount of time. And that's something that the American public needs to be ready for.

ZAHN: And I guess that's exactly what the president was telegraphing to all of us last night.

Bob, thank you very much for joining us.

BEVELAQUA: Thank you for having me on the set.

ZAHN: All right.

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