The Pentagon has denied Taliban allegations that two helicopters were shot down and one or more U.S. soldiers were captured.
“The Taliban have said they have shot down at least two helicopters, which is false. They have not. They have indicated that they have captured some Americans, which is false,” Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld at yesterday’s briefing. “They have not. And we have absolutely no evidence at all that would suggest that that allegation that . . . is correct.”
Members of the Pentagon press corps also received a stern rebuke from Secretary Rumsfeld at yesterday’s briefing.
“At Whiteman Air Force Base on Friday, a number of you will recall that I was asked repeatedly about newspaper reports that had appeared that morning concerning U.S. Special Forces inside of Afghanistan — reports that appeared, obviously, as the result of someone in the Pentagon leaking classified information,” Rumsfeld said. “The fact that some members of the press knew enough about those operations to ask the questions and to print the stories was clearly because someone in the Pentagon had provided them that information. And clearly, it put at risk the individuals involved in the operation.
“I recognize the need to provide the press — and, through you, the American people — with information to the fullest extent possible. In our democracy, the work of the Pentagon press corps is important, defending our freedom and way of life is what this conflict is about, and that certainly includes freedom of the press,” Rumsfeld added. “And you can be certain that I will answer your questions directly when I can and that we’ll do our best to give you as much information as we can safely provide.”
Transmitting classified information to non-cleared parties is a violation of federal law, Rumsfeld said.
“I think that the release by a person in the government who had access to classified information to the effect that the United States of America was planning and was about to engage in a special operation in Afghanistan clearly was a violation of federal criminal law, and second, it was something that was totally in disregard for the lives of the people involved in that operation,” Rumsfeld said.
The briefing also contained a presentation by Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who updated the press on the weekend actions of Operation Enduring Freedom.
“On Saturday, U.S. forces struck in six planned target areas that included airfields and air defenses, command and control facilities, and terrorist forces and camps. We used a total of about 90 strike aircraft, with about 85 of them tactical jets, primarily off our carriers. The remainder were long-range bombers,” Myers said. “On Sunday we struck in eight planned target areas that included airfields, command and control facilities, and Taliban forces deployed and in garrisons. We used, again, about 85 strike aircraft on Sunday, with about 75 tactical aircraft, principally from carriers, and the balance long-range bombers.”
Food packages were also dropped over the weekend near Mazar-I Sharif in northern Afghanistan.
“We continued our humanitarian airdrop mission Saturday, with four C-17s delivering approximately 52,000 rations,” Myers said. “We flew additional airdrop missions on Sunday, with four more C- 17s, and that brings our total of rations delivered to date to about 700,000.”
