Anti-terror bombing campaign going 'around the clock'

AP Special Correspondent

WASHINGTON (AP) -- American pilots bombed targets in Afghanistan day and night Tuesday, and President Bush declined to say whether ground troops would be added to the campaign against terrorism. The United Nations listed four security guards as civilian casualties of the military bombardment.

"With the success of previous raids, we believe we are now able to carry out strikes more or less around the clock as we wish," Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said at the Pentagon.

Bush, asked about the progress of the military operation, declined when asked about the possible use of ground forces. "I'm not going to tell you," he said.

Bush coupled his statements with a stern lecture to members of Congress. He said he had recently restricted the flow of information to many lawmakers because at least one had failed to keep classified information confidential.

"I understand there may be some heartburn on Capitol Hill," he said. "But I suggest if they want to relieve that heartburn they take their position very seriously."

Bush spoke with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder at his side after talks in the White House. Germany is one of several nations that Bush has mentioned previously as willing to participate in military operations against terrorist targets in Afghanistan.

With federal agencies warning of the possibility of further terrorist strikes, Bush said "we're on high alert on the governmental level. But the American people should go about their business."

Asked whether he still wants Osama bin Laden dead or alive, as he once remarked of the suspected mastermind behind the Sept. 11 attacks, Bush smiled. "I want there to be justice," he replied.

The president said he considered the military operation thus far to be a success. "The skies are now free" over Afghanistan, he said.

He spoke a few hours after Rumsfeld and Gen. Richard Myers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, offered an optimistic assessment of two nights of bombing. "We feel like we have, essentially, air supremacy over Afghanistan now," said Myers.

Rumsfeld, sharing the podium at the Pentagon, said the United States was also encouraging dissidents inside Afghanistan to "heave the Al-Qaida and the Taliban leadership...out of the country."

Administration officials declined to specify the targets of the renewed attacks. But anti-aircraft fire could be heard in the Afghan capital, Kabul, and Taliban officials reported bombs falling around their headquarters in Kandahar and the northwestern city of Herat.