Bin Laden's Location Pinned Down

Press Release
SOURCE: Newsweek
Newsweek Cover: 'Special Ops: Can Our Commandos Finish the Job'
Bin Laden's Location Pinned Down to a '20-By-20 Mile Area' in Afghanistan, One Source Says; But Purpose of Raids is to Find Better Intelligence To Assist in More Accurate Air Bombings
Special Ops Endure Intense Training to Prepare Them for Wars Like This One
NEW YORK, Oct. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- In the days before the first ground assault in Afghanistan by U.S. military troops, Newsweek has learned, top intelligence officials in the administration concluded that they had pinned down Osama bin Laden's location to what one called a ``20-by-20 mile area'' in Afghanistan. But the area was so full of caves and tunnels that it was, in the words of one source, ``impossible to seal.'' Newsweek reports in the October 29 issue (on newsstands Monday, October 22), the aim of the raids, according to this source, was to find better intelligence so that bin Laden and others could be attacked from the air with greater precision. ``The preferred method still is dropping a bomb.''

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20011021/HSSA003 )
According to U.S. officials, during the weekend raid, ground troops gathered intelligence from a complex that Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar has used as a base. Newsweek has learned that U.S. commanders deliberately avoided targeting the compound as part of its bombing campaign, so that it would remain intact as the focal point for the first ground attack.

National Security Correspondent John Barry and New York Correspondent Arian Campo-Flores profile the military forces behind the ground assault. The uncomfortable and dangerous work of finding people on the ground in Afghanistan will fall to the military's various Special Operation Forces, the elite soldiers. Trained to operate in extreme conditions and hostile territory, often behind enemy lines, Special Forces were created with wars like this one in mind.

Army Rangers occupy the entry level rung on the Special Ops ladder. They are the fast-strike soldiers with an especially dangerous mission, often going into a hostile situation before other troops. They fight their way, often outnumbered, into a harbor or airstrip, secure it and then get out when other troops arrive. Given a choice, the Rangers like to slip in after midnight, when the enemy is likely to be unprepared or, even better, unconscious. The infantry's elite strike forces habitually rehearse their missions in darkness, trudging for miles with 100-pound packs, scoping targets through night vision goggles, willing their bodies and brains to ignore the urge to lie down and sleep. ``We own the night,'' the brass like to brag.

Becoming a ranger is not easy. To be considered, prospective Rangers must first learn to jump out of airplanes at the Army's Airborne training school, as parachuting is considered a basic skill for any special operations unit. Those who make it through jump school can apply for Ranger training. They like to call themselves ``three-time volunteers,'' signing up for the Army, then Airborne, then Rangers. Those who survive the Pre-Ranger Course, a battery of physical and mental tests, are eligible for Rangers School, 61 days of intense training. ``We stress them in all kinds of ways,'' says Command Sgt. Major Michael Kelso, of the Ranger Training Brigade.

The military campaign in Afghanistan also marks progress for U.S. servicewomen. The last time they fought in a war, in Kuwait in 1991, they were prohibited from flying fighter jets or serving on combat ships. But largely because the servicewomen of Desert Storm performed so well, those laws were changed in the early 1990s and since then, women have been assigned roles in the Balkans, the Middle East and now Afghanistan, reports Senior Editor Susan H. Greenberg. ``We're starting to be just one of the guys,'' says Capt. ``Charlie,'' an A-10 pilot stationed at Arizona's Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, who can be referred to only by her call sign.

While this war has no front line and will probably never lead to a decisive set piece like the climactic last day of Operation Desert Storm, it will just as surely test U.S. leaders and may produce new national heroes like Norman Schwarzkopf and Colin Powell. Investigative Correspondent Michael Isikoff and General Editor Adam Rogers profile five commanders who are leading the current military campaign, including General Richard Myers, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Tommy Franks, Central Command and Jimmy Gurule, who as the Treasury Department's under secretary for enforcement, is leading the money trail investigation.


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SOURCE: Newsweek