MR. LEHRER: But for Americans listening to you now, should they also know that this may not be free of casualties; this may not be a war that can be fought in such a way that either US military or even more civilians in counter-retaliation from other terrorists, et cetera? I mean, this is not risk free?

SECRETARY POWELL: Nothing is risk free in life, especially battle. And we are now entering a number of battles to deal with this, and it will not be risk free. But we are a proud people, a brave people, and I am confident we will do what is necessary to prevail in this conflict. And that will involve -- I regretfully have to say that will involve casualties, and we should not look for some cost-free options. They really don't exist.



Let us assume, for the moment, that the US government was planning to attack Afghanistan, and that 11 September merely provided an opportunity to make such plans public. Why would it have wanted to? The answer seems simple enough: oil, and weapons. Afghanistan's principal selling point is not the breathtakingly rugged landscape or the rustic lifestyle: it is its strategic position, in uncomfortable proximity to any pipeline channeling oil and gas out of Central Asia to India and Pakistan, or west, to Europe and eventually the US.