Rumsfeld Expects Call-Up of 35,500

By ROBERT BURNS
AP Military Writer

WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld stated in stark terms Tuesday the difficulties the American military will face in trying to root out terrorists and their support networks.

"It will not be quick, and it will not be easy," he said. "Our adversaries are not one or two terrorist leaders, even a single terrorist organization or network. It's a broad network of individuals and organizations that are determined to terrorize."

As the Pentagon prepared to call up members of the National Guard and Reserve to help with recovery efforts at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and to bolster the nation's defense, Rumsfeld said he does not plan to put more than 35,500 citizen soldiers on active duty.

President Bush last week signed an order authorizing a call-up of as many as 50,000 reservists. As of Tuesday, none had been called up, although many units have been told to prepare to be activated.

Lt. Gen. Thomas Plewes, chief of the Army Reserve, said that if President Bush orders a military offensive against terrorist networks and their supporters, the Army probably would have to activate more than the 10,000 National Guard and Reserve members currently scheduled for call-up.

"Quite clearly, 10,000 (reservists) in a large-scale anti-terrorism campaign would be exhausted," he said.

Plewes noted that if sustained military operations are focused on Afghanistan, for example, the Army Reserve's 377th Support Command, based at New Orleans, probably would be called to active duty.

Plewes also said that commanders at numerous bases around the United States have requested help in beefing up base security and building barriers, fences and other defensive structures, in light of the heightened alert against terrorist attack. He did not say which bases had made such requests.

Speaking at a Pentagon news conference, Rumsfeld made clear he believes the enormity of last Tuesday's attacks leaves the U.S. government little choice but to launch a large-scale military offensive.

"The best defense against terrorists is an offense," he said. "You simply cannot batten down the hatches and try to cope with every conceivable thing any terrorist could imagine to do. I mean, they've already done some unimaginable things."

He was asked how the United States could carry out a successful military campaign in Afghanistan, a mountainous south Asian country whose Taliban rulers are said to be harboring alleged terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden.

"Several countries have exhausted themselves pounding that country," he said, referring to Britain, which attempted to conquer Afghanistan in the 19th century, and the former Soviet Union, whose brutal 1979-89 war there against Islamic rebels helped bring about the superpower's collapse.

"What we'll have to do is exactly what I said: Use the full spectrum of our capabilities."

Rumsfeld's remarks seemed to suggest that a U.S. offensive is unlikely in the next few days.

"This is a very new type of conflict, or battle or campaign or war or effort, for the United States," he said. "As a result, we are moving in a measured manner as we gather information."

He said the U.S. response would be aimed at more than just suspected terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden and his terror network, known as al-Qaida.

"We're talking about a very broadly based campaign to go after the terrorist problem where it exists, and it exists in countries across the globe," Rumsfeld said. "As I've indicated, this one network, al-Qaida, that's receiving so much discussion and publicity may have activities in 50 to 60 countries, including the United States."

He made clear that countries that harbor terrorists or support them less directly are potential targets for a U.S. attack.

"The terrorists do not function in a vacuum," he said. "They don't live in Antarctica. They work, they train and they plan in countries. They're benefiting from the support of governments. They're benefiting from the support of nongovernmental organizations that are either actively supporting them with money, intelligence and weapons or allowing them to function on their territory and tolerating, if not encouraging, their activities. In either case, it has to stop."

Pentagon officials, meanwhile, said a Norfolk, Va.-based aircraft carrier, the USS Theodore Roosevelt, was preparing to begin a long-scheduled deployment to the Mediterranean Sea. The Navy already has one extra carrier at sea, the USS Enterprise. It was scheduled to have returned home from the Persian Gulf this month after the USS Carl Vinson arrived to relieve it, but the Enterprise's orders were changed and it remained in the region.

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On the Net: Rumsfeld text: http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Sep2001/t09182001_t0918sda.html

State Department security Web site on search for attackers: http://www.dssrewards.net/