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Anaconda Battle Plan Sound, Franks Says
Sunday, March 10, 2002
By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service

ABC's "This Week" co-host Sam Donaldson asked if the U.S. troops who were attacked and pinned down by al Qaeda fire on March 2 were surprised by the tenacity of the resistance. "There will certainly be places ... where we'll encounter very, very substantial resistance," Franks said. "We will almost never have perfect intelligence information." He pointed out that intelligence is an inexact endeavor.

WASHINGTON -- AFIS
The senior commander of U.S. troops in Afghanistan today defended the Operation Anaconda battle plan as sound.

Army Gen. Tommy R. Franks, commander of U.S. Central Command, said the operation's going well on ABC's "This Week." He was interviewed on the Washington-based program via video teleconference during his visit to Fort Hood, Texas.

"I'm satisfied with our progress at this point," Franks said.

For a week, about 2,000 U.S., allied Afghan and coalition forces have been attacking hundreds of Al Qaeda terrorists holed up in the mountainous Shahi Khot region south of the city of Gardez in eastern Afghanistan. He noted that military operations are ongoing and would continue until al Qaeda resistance ends.

"We will not stop until each of the pockets (of resistance) we've identified has been reduced," he emphasized, adding that U.S. troops have been working to reduce a pocket for the past 24 hours. No senior al Qaeda leaders have been captured at this point, Franks noted, adding that he had received no indications that "top-tier" al Qaeda leaders were in the area.

Show co-host Sam Donaldson asked the general if some American soldiers around Shahi Khot were being pulled out of line, citing reports that up to one-third of the troops were being redeployed. Franks replied that some U.S. forces in the 60-square-mile Shahi Khot region, under the direct command of Army Maj. Gen. Franklin L. Hagenbeck, could be repositioned.
(More: DoD News Source)
2002 © The United States Department of Defense.

Donaldson’s question (in bold type at the top of this post) was ill-thought and, of course, Franks’ reply was misleading. It wasn’t a direct answer, for that would imply knowledge of what people think. Still, the question could be well applied to the population of the U.S. How did we feel about it? Were we surprised?

I don’t think so. Direct knowledge of the terrain would have been good to know. Chopper goes down in a mountainous region, inside enemy lines. The enemy is aware of the craft (after all, they were apparently the ones to bring it down). The craft is down in a saddle, with the enemy flanking the survivors from high ground, where they can safely take pot-shots at our boys, because their altitude places them beyond the range of the survivor’s weapons. Literally, ducks in a gallery.

Maybe it hasn’t changed all that much, and war remains an interactive setting for hell, with the intensity relative to the soldier’s locale.

Dan