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View Full Version : War wouldn’t end with bin Laden, Saddam captures



thedrifter
08-23-03, 06:58 AM
August 21, 2003

Myers: War wouldn’t end with bin Laden, Saddam captures

By Mark Pratt
Associated Press


DANVERS, Mass. — The capture of Saddam Hussein or Osama bin Laden would not necessarily stabilize Iraq or end the war on terrorism, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff said Wednesday.
“If we were to capture Saddam tomorrow and bin Laden the next day, it would be an important event but not a major milestone in the fight against terrorism or stability in Iraq,” Gen. Richard Myers told reporters before speaking at a conference for military officials and defense contractors.

“They are important but they are not the end all and be all.”

Even though many acts of terrorism have been prevented since the war on terrorism began al-Qaida has also become less centralized, Myers said, becoming less reliant on its hierarchy than it was before Sept. 11, 2001.

Myers called Tuesday’s bombing at the United Nations building in Baghdad that killed the U.N’s top envoy in Iraq Sergio Vieira de Mello “an atrocity” that could mark the start of a new front in the war on terror.

“If the target is now organizations like the U.N., then that’s new,” he said. “Then we have to ensure that other targets like that are protected.”

He said the United States is not planning to send more troops to Iraq, and is instead trying to encourage other nations to do so. He also said efforts are continuing to build a new Iraqi army, and civil defense and police forces.

About 950 people attended the conference, which included military and government officials and defense contractors, including Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Titan, Dynamics Research.

The Command, Control, Computers, Communications, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Summit — or C4ISR — brings together military, government and civilian defense contractors together to discuss and plan integrated communications networks.

Myers, who said C4ISR “is a passion of mine” delivered the keynote address.






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Copyright 2003 The Associated Press.


Sempers.

Roger
:marine: