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CNN Saturday Morning News

Pentagon Insists Convoy it Bombed Contained Enemies

Aired December 22, 2001 - 09:31   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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: The Pentagon admits U.S. war planes did bomb a convoy in eastern Afghanistan, but it insists the vehicles involved were loaded with enemies, not allies.

Let's go to the Pentagon now for more on the attack as well as other developments this morning. CNN's Jonathan Aiken is checking in now. Hi, John.

JONATHAN AIKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Leon.

It's really a case of what you see what when you take a look at what you've got. Kabul insists that this is a convoy that had local tribal leaders who were heading to the capital to attend the inauguration of the new government. The United States insists that this was a convoy that had either al Qaeda or Taliban leadership in it.

What is not in dispute is that the convoy consisted of about 12 to 15 vehicles, heavily populated, a lot of people in this convoy. It was spotted by U.S. reconnaissance coming out of a town known as Khost, which is not too far from Tora Bora, and not -- and having left what U.S. officials are calling a command and control center. The decision was made then to launch an attack. One was launched using fighter jets from the aircraft carrier "Stennis," seeing their first action from their port in the -- from their spot in the Arabian Sea.

Also involved, heavily armored, and heavily armed gunships that tend to fly low and slow and concentrate gunfire on particular areas.

This attack on the convoy was lethal, according to Defense Secretary Rumsfeld. A lot of people killed, a lot of vehicles destroyed. It was the first action in northeast Afghanistan in more than three days, and the United States said that if it had the same intelligence again, it would act in pretty much the same fashion.

Well, things may have been quiet over the past several days in Afghanistan in the air. On the ground, things may be heating up in Tora Bora over the weekend. There's going to be an infusion of U.S. troops, more than likely Marines, and possibly some elements of the 10th Mountain Division of the U.S. Army in Uzbekistan, anywhere from 500 to about 1,500 forces in all.

And the job for these soldiers and Marines will be to go cave by cave and take a look at what's left, and also who might be in there after weeks of U.S. bombing and being overrun by opposition forces. In fact, it's quite possible that the answer to the question of where is Osama bin Laden could be in these caves.

However, to find the answer to that, the Marines, local forces, possibly the Army are going to have to go in and find out. It's going to be a long job and no doubt involve some risky business.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: The people that are going into these caves obviously understand what they're up against. They're going into areas that have been heavily bombed. The assumption is anyone in there is dead, and -- but if you make that assumption, you can get in an awful lot of trouble awful fast. So they're exercising a great deal of care.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AIKEN: Also exercising some degree of care in how they're going to select these caves too, Leon. These caves have been triaged by military experts in the same way that a MASH unit would triage injuries before deciding who goes into surgery, the most immediate cases going first, those who can wait going last.

These caves have also been listed in order of importance. There are some cave and tunnel complexes the U.S. military is keenly interested in getting a look at. Those are the spots that are going to be explored first, not only by U.S. Marines, possibly U.S. Army troops, but also local forces, and, we're told, forces from other coalition countries as well -- Leon.

HARRIS: Thanks a lot, John. John Aiken at the Pentagon.

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