Word: civilian
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...worse, and a lot of people are going to die," warns a U.S. counterterrorism official. "I don't think there's a damn thing we're going to be able to do about it." The government is so certain of another attack that it has assigned 100 civilian government officials to 24-hour rotations in underground bunkers, in a program that became known last week as the "shadow government," ready to take the reins if the next megaterror target turns out to be Washington. Pentagon strategists say that even with al-Qaeda's ranks scattered and its leaders in hiding...
...case, grumbling that after 18,000 bombs and missiles have been dropped on Afghanistan--with a declared success rate of about 85%--no one should be surprised when innocents are hurt or killed. Army general Tommy Franks, who is running the war in Afghanistan, told TIME that civilian casualties "are probably on the low end of any we have ever seen in combat. We obviously could just bomb the heck out of the thing. But that's not the American...
...special forces in Afghanistan are frustrated by the perception that they are killing civilians heedlessly; they insist many strikes have been called off because of concern over such deaths. And they refuse to talk to the press. Last week a TIME reporter spotted two of them at the gates of a Gardez hospital; others were out back, tinkering with a rusty generator. But the two soldiers bolted. By the weekend, U.S. forces were fighting al-Qaeda suspects near Gardez in the fiercest battle in months. One American was reported dead. Civilian casualties were unknown...
That spit-and-polish soldier in uniform behind the desk at the Army recruiting office may soon be a thing of the past. To save more of its manpower for important duties closer to the battlefield, the Army in May will begin deploying civilians rather than uniformed soldiers in some of its recruiting stations around the country. Responding to congressional direction, the service will pay two Virginia companies $172 million to staff about 65 of its 1,700 recruiting stations over the next five years with civilians (mostly former noncommissioned officers). Some critics wonder whether youngsters thinking about enlisting will...
...grew frustrated in their hunt for al-Qaeda fighters hiding in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan, they utilized a new tactic that turned the rugged terrain to their advantage: causing avalanches. With the help of U.S. Geological Survey maps and a Navy reservist who is a geologist in the civilian world, U.S. bombs triggered dozens of rock slides into forested areas where al-Qaeda troops were hiding. Warplanes dropped smart bombs on precise points where the geologist predicted they would act like jackhammers on rocky cliffs. The tactic had the advantage of surprise: enemy forces, relieved to see bombs explode...