Essay Preview: WarReport this essayCONFIRMED KILLS IN THE HUNDREDSThe commander of the operation near Gardez said the U.S.-led offensive had cleared several enemy caves honeycombing the mountains.“Weve got confirmed kills in the hundreds,” Maj. Gen. Frank Hagenbeck told a news conference at Bagram air base north of Kabul. “We truly have the momentum at this point.”
He said U.S. intelligence had pointed to 150 to 200 enemy fighters in the hills of the Shah-e-Kot mountain range when the operation began on Friday. By Wednesday, however, he estimated that as many as 600 to 700 al-Qaida and some Taliban troops had filtered into the territory.
Part 1: Changing perspective* The new views from America* Hard choices on defensePart 2: About face on Sudan* U.S. warms to rogue regimePart 3: Who defines terrorist?* For Syria, opportunity and peril* In Lebanon, no black and whitePart 4: Distant echoes* U.S. crosses a line in Colombia* Broadcasts make Prague a targetPart 5: Spinning on the axis* Axis missiles fall short* Where China fits inPart 6: Special forces* The special forces war* The perils of new tactics1 of 11The new views from America“Conservatively speaking right now, Im convinced from the evidence Ive seen that weve killed at least half of those enemy forces,” he said.Eight U.S. troops have been killed in the operation, seven of them in two incidents Monday in which two U.S. helicopters came under fire. Around
* U.S. planes have been attacked, at no risk to U.S. forces or personnel anywhere in the country,and that has the effect of keeping them out of areas where the attacks could occur.* A U.S. Air Force fighter jet hit a U.S.-backed anti-aircraft radar target, but no U.S. aircraft have been killed.In the attack around noon, U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was told by White House Spokesperson Peter Cook that “we will continue with the operation until there is nothing to disrupt. And we expect that the U.S. will continue its actions in support of the rebels.”As to the specific targets of the attack over in Lebanon, the press agency, citing a White House source, reported that the “opposition rebels” had launched a chemical attack on a house in Al Bab in the northern Beirut province; U.S. government officials had said that chemical shells and rockets were fired by the opposition rebels from a Russian-made cluster launcher. But only a few of the rebels were killed. This did not include the three opposition rebel fighters that attacked one of the U.S.-backed government positions.U.S. aircraft targeted the opposition’s position in an airstrike earlier this month over an area south of Beirut, where coalition forces began fighting it. The attack did not disrupt the “opposition,” the government in Beirut said it was trying to protect.In the incident Sunday (4:53 p.m., 1st SpQ, 1 st RTW), an U.S. military AIM-4 Huey jet dropped four “lone wolf” bombs on rebel positions on Mount Lebanon to test the government’s ability to control the terrain there. The Syrian army’s ground forces responded with what appears to be an H-bomb.The air force spokesman said that both sides had tried to use chemical weapons but that one dropped no first-aid or chlorine gas. The source also said American officials had informed the White House that the American airstrike was limited to a spot where U.S. planes were dropping chemicals.Both sides admitted having used chlorine gases. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said at the first U.S.-led Security Council meeting that the Syrian government has been “making progress” in the battle for Mount Lebanon, which has been hit by the chemical munitions.The Syrian army said it had used chlorine gas in the past but that the Syrian army only used a small part of its poison gas against opposition positions and in certain cases against rebels and police.Syrian military officials also said they had used chlorine, al-Farin, chlorine gas, napalm and mortars to kill three residents killed and 17 injured after the attack.Syrian government forces accused the opposition of indiscriminate use of chlorine gas last year following U.S.-brokered talks in Geneva, but Kerry said the UN has yet to confirm that allegation.At first, Kerry said he