 |
Bush Briefs Congressional Leaders on War Plans
US President George W. Bush briefed congressional leaders Tuesday on his administration's plans of global war against terrorism.
The congressional leaders were briefed about US troops deployment around the world, and proposed measures to strengthen airline security and to help workers laid off.
Bush, in a letter to Congress, broadly outlined how forces already have been deployed in the Middle East and Asian and Pacific regions.
"It is not now possible to predict the scope and duration of these deployments, and the actions necessary to counter the terrorist threat to the United States," Bush wrote in the letter dated Monday.
House Speaker Dennis Hastert, House Minority leader Dick Gephardt, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle and Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott attended the briefing at the White House.
"I think the war aims are clear," Gephardt said after the meeting. "In a way, it's meeting guerrilla warfare with guerrilla warfare, but it's also meeting it with financial efforts, and political efforts, and diplomatic efforts," he said.
Gephardt said that removing the Taliban from power in Afghanistan is not necessarily a goal.
"I don't think it's anybody's goal to topple governments in this," Gephardt said. However, he added, the fact that the Taliban is supportive of bin Laden "gives us real pause, and obviously we' d like to change that position on their part."
Bush and Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta are expected to meet with lawmakers later Tuesday to review airline security proposals to put in place after September 11 terrorist attacks in the U.S..
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer announced that Bush would travel to Chicago on Thursday to express support for the airlines industry badly hit by the terrorist attacks and urge Americans to resume normal spending practices.
In This Section
|