U.S. Military Waits with 'Very Large Hammer'

Photos Reuters Photo

By Charles Aldinger

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Grim-faced defense officials refused to speculate on any quick military response to the worst attack on U.S. soil since Pearl Harbor, but stressed the culprits of Tuesday's coordinated strikes would be punished.

``We have a very large hammer that can be brought to bear in a number of ways at any time,'' one of the officials told Reuters on Wednesday. ``That's not a threat, it's a fact.''

The officials, who asked not to be identified noted in interviews the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise had been stopped in the Indian Ocean en route back to the United States and was awaiting possible orders to return to the Gulf to join the carrier USS Carl Vinson.

The Vinson recently replaced the Enterprise on patrol south of Iraq and the Enterprise was stopped abruptly on Tuesday as a precautionary measure. The move came after hijackers slammed commercial aircraft into the Pentagon (news - web sites) in suburban Washington and the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York -- buildings where tens of thousands of people work.

Normally, the Navy keeps only one carrier in the Gulf as a base for warplanes policing ``no-fly'' zones over southern Iraq.

``I think President Bush (news - web sites) made it very clear,'' one senior defense official said referring to his address to the nation late on Tuesday about the aerial assault that shocked the United States into a virtual standstill. ``If it takes a day, or a week, or a year, who is responsible for this will pay dearly.''

While the United States laid no immediate blame for the attack, officials said exiled Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) and his followers were high on the suspect list.

Bin Laden, who is accused of masterminding previous anti-American attacks, including the bombing of embassies in Africa, is believed to be living in a remote area of Afghanistan (news - web sites) under the protection of the Taliban.

Concerned over a repeat of U.S. cruise missile attacks in reprisals on Afghanistan that followed the 1998 embassy attacks in Africa, the ruling Taliban, a radical Islamic group, issued hasty denials that the man they describe as their guest was capable of mounting such a vast coordinated conspiracy.

POTENT MILITARY THREAT

But U.S. defense officials said the military would be ready for any contingency.

 

Photos Reuters Photo

``We have land-based aircraft, Navy carriers and other ships that can fire cruise missiles,'' said one. ``We don't need to wave that threat. Everybody knows it.''

The Enterprise and the Vinson each carry more than 60 warplanes, and their ``battle groups'' include a total of more than a dozen escort missile-carrying surface ships and submarines.

``We have stopped the Enterprise and she is standing by,'' said one Pentagon official. ``It is certainly a prudent, precautionary step.''

While officials refused to comment on whether there was any indication of who was responsible for the attacks, Army Gen. Henry Shelton, chairman of the Pentagon Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a news conference on Tuesday the armed forces were ready.

The Taliban said on Wednesday it was premature to talk about extraditing bin Laden.

As fears mounted over possible U.S. retaliatory strikes on Afghanistan, Taliban ambassador to Pakistan, Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, repeated the Taliban position it could consider extradition if proof were presented against bin Laden.

``It is premature,'' Zaeef said in Islamabad when asked if his movement would consider expelling bin Laden. ``If any evidence is presented to us, we will study it.''

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