<

DoD News Briefing - ASD PA Clarke and Brig. Gen. Rosa
(11:00 AM ET)
Monday, July 15, 2002
Presenter: Victoria Clarke ASD (PA)

(Also participating was Air Force Brig. Gen. John W. Rosa, Jr., deputy director for current operations, Operations Directorate, the Joint Staff



Ivan [Press]: The air crew members, according to Central Command, say there was, ground observers say there was. Can we now say unequivocally that the AC-130 was fired upon?
Brig. Gen. Rosa: I don't think we can say at this point -- I can't say -- unequivocally that the AC-130 was fired on. That will come out, hopefully, in the investigation.

WASHINGTON -- AFIS
Clarke: Good morning everybody. As most of you know, Deputy Secretary of Defense Wolfowitz is in Afghanistan today for meetings in Kabul and Mazar e-Sharif. He will also visit with U.S. and coalition troops at Bagram, and he is headed to Turkey this evening for some meetings there tomorrow. He spoke Sunday in Istanbul regarding Turkey, the importance of our relationship with the country and Turkey's very important role in the war on terrorism. If you haven't seen it, I'd direct your attention to the speech at DefenseLINK.

As Secretary Rumsfeld has said repeatedly, Turkey is a valued and close friend of the United States and a NATO ally. It is a nation, being in that part of the world and having experienced terrorism that is particularly sensitive and understanding of the problems we all face.

General Rosa?

Rosa: Thank you, Ms. Clarke, and good morning. Earlier this morning in Afghanistan, a CH-47 was conducting a resupply mission. On landing, the rotor wash blew some equipment around the ramp, and three folks were injured, three military and one civilian. All are minor injuries and not
life-threatening.

In Iraq on Saturday, aircraft supporting Operation Southern Watch dropped precision-guided munitions to strike the air-defense facilities in the vicinity of An Nasiriyah. The command-and-control facility had earlier helped direct air attack against coalition aircraft.

And yesterday, coalition aircraft used precision-guided munitions again to strike a mobile radar associated with a mobile surface-to-air missile system in the vicinity of Abu Sukhayr. The radar was struck because it presented an imminent threat to our aircrews and coalition aircraft flying in the no-fly zone.

And with that, we'll take your questions.
(More: DoD News Source)
2002 © The United States Department of Defense.

Dan