Bush, “2002 Is a Year of War“

The Washington Post reported on 27 that the U.S. President George W. Bush declared the year 2002 as `a war year`, and was planning to hunt down the terrorist organizations including the remaining al-Qaeda in full scale. President Bush will spend his vacation at the Crawford ranch in Texas from 26th until January 6th.

According to the Washington Post, President Bush said, "Next year will be a war year as well because we`re going to continue to hunt down these al Qaeda people in this particular theater, as well as other places."

The Washington Post reported that "President Bush is recharging his batteries for `a war year` in 2002 in his Crawford ranch."

In relation to this, the U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said in the year-end news conference on 27th, "We came to realize that the world is very dangerous place. The Pentagon should prepare for a new type of war and reexamine the attack, defense, and control capacity."

In relation to the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden, who maneuvered the 9.11 terrorist attacks, he said that although the U.S. is still in pursuit of him, his location is unknown. "I stopped reading the reports on the whereabouts of bin Laden since many reports are contradictory everyday." added he.

Eun-Taek Hong euntack@donga.com