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| Bush rejects Taliban demand |
| 2001-09-22 |
President Bush on Friday rejected the Taliban regime's demand for proof that Osama bin Laden ordered last week's terrorist attacks as the United States prepared military options that would make locating and neutralizing the Saudi terrorist and his associates the first priority. Use of military force, beyond the immediate bin Laden standoff, will likely be slow in coming, limited in objective and could well come only after the administration secured support and approval from the international community, senior administration officials said. Speaking one day after Bush's direct threat that unless Afghanistan's Taliban regime handed over bin Laden and his associates the government would "share their fate," White House officials emphasized that their main objective was the radical Saudi millionaire, his network and terrorism, not the overthrow of any government. "The president's goal is not the removal of anyone from power; the president's goal is the cessation of terrorism," said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer. "This is not a question of who occupies what slot in any one regime or government. This is a question of how to protect the free world and freedom from the terrorist threat." |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |