Death of Patriots

While covert ground operations continued, Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers said the fight against the ruling Taliban regime and Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist network is ``a war we must win if we want to maintain our freedom.'' ``We have no options here,'' the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman said on ABC's ``This Week.'' The bombing that began Oct. 7 has ``hit a lot of their training camps so they won't be …

…of Taliban forces were killed, he said. Meanwhile, two soldiers, whose identities were withheld until relatives were notified, died in a helicopter crash in neighboring Pakistan. They were the first acknowledged combat deaths of the military campaign. Myers said heavy dust clouds created by the Black Hawk's rotating blades during a landing probably caused the crash. Capt. Elizabeth Ortiz, an Air Force spokeswoman in Europe, said the bodies were flown to Germany's Ramstein Air Base.