Ken Bacon
Ken Bacon
damaged operation
This operation will continue. Nothing has damaged our resolve.
afraid air defense fear largely line losing northern operation quite saddam southern top watch
We think that the Operation Southern Watch and Northern Watch have been able to debilitate Saddam Hussein's air defenses quite a lot ... For one thing, we think that he's largely afraid to use his top of the line air defense systems, for fear of losing them to our patrolling airplanes.
emergency initial operations quickly self situation sort team
It's a sort of a self-contained, quickly movable team that can go in to an emergency situation abroad, set up a communications, set up an operations center, do some of the initial investigative work.
citizen consummate military operations performed performing proud skill
They've done this with consummate skill and professionalism and success. I don't think there's a citizen who isn't proud of the way our military has performed in these operations and is performing every day
caring food obviously operation phase primarily providing searching
Right now we're concentrating primarily on searching for and caring for survivors. But when that phase of the operation is over, obviously we'll have to concentrate on providing food and shelter.
along artillery border bridges built heavy kosovo lines positions roads tank
There are heavy concentrations of artillery along the border between Kosovo and Macedonia. There are only 14 roads into Kosovo -- two from Macedonia. These roads are mined. The bridges are mined. There are built in ... tank and artillery positions along lines of communication.
humans
What kind of person would use humans as shields?
believe meeting problem time
we don't believe that there'll be any problem with meeting the time lines.
ammunition army army-and-navy attack attacked central cleansing dump ethnic involved kosovo major unit
We did attack a Yugoslav army unit in central Kosovo that's been involved in some of the ethnic cleansing activities. We also attacked a major ammunition dump in Kosovo.
basically effective forces help job nato noose
This will basically help NATO tighten the noose around Milosevic's neck, ... do a more effective job at eliminating or neutralizing the forces on the ground.
days weather
There have been some down days (during which patrols were not conducted) because of weather and other reasons, but we are still patrolling the no-fly zones, particularly in the south, aggressively.
knew punch seventh
There has not been a knockout punch. We knew a knockout punch would not come quickly, ... We're now in the seventh day. I think it will take much longer.
certainly displaced food kosovo nato people priority thousands trying within
trying to get food to the hundreds of thousands of displaced people within Kosovo is a priority for NATO and certainly for the non-government organizations.
absolutely air answer expansion ground pure question simple step toward troops
The question you all will have is, 'Isn't this a step toward the deployment of ground troops in Kosovo?' ... The answer is, absolutely not. This is pure and simple an expansion of the air operation.