WASHINGTON (AP) — They are known as the quiet soldiers, slipping behind enemy lines with machine guns, rifles and anti-tank weapons. The United States is likely to rely on special forces to uproot terrorists, and that means a partly secret war.

Americans saw much of the Gulf War on television. They watched bombs strike Iraqi targets on video replayed so often it began to resemble a computer game.

The new fight against terrorists might not be as open.

"It may include dramatic strikes visible on TV and covert operations — secret even in success," President Bush said.

Operations like those mounted by special forces are played out in the shadows. It is not even clear that operations in which troops might be killed will be disclosed, at least right away, said Edward Turzanski, a national security analyst at LaSalle University.

"Where it's a broader use of force, you'll know about it," he said. "But when we're using special forces, there will be no indication that that's the case."

Added retired Army Brig. Gen. David Grange, a former member of the military's special forces: "We keep a low profile. On a lot of missions, you can't say anything. Some are tied to things still going on and you compromise people and jeopardize lives."

Some special forces' missions during the Gulf War remain classified, said Grange, a gormer Green Beret and veteran of the Army's counterterrrorist unit.

"One mission of our unit was to get Saddam Hussein to stop firing Scud missiles into Israel because we didn't want to drag Israel into the war," he said. "Our people went out to find Scud missile sites, calling in on radios and directing air strikes with beacons or giving exact coordinates to guide them in."

The terrorist fight will require similar precision, analysts say.

Special forces might be called on to infiltrate Afghanistan by helicopter, launch a quick strike0against a hide-out of the Taliban religious militia or train resistance groups.

They also might pinpoint bombing targets. Using a handheld "laser target designator," a commando can put a laser spot on a vehicle or building. A laser-guided bomb launched from a plane, high above and miles away, can home in on the laser spot.

Intelligence is essential to finding Osama bin Laden, who is believed to be behind the terrorist attacks.

"We have to know where they are," said Don Snow, political science professor at the University of Alabama. "Finding bin Laden out in the Afghan countryside makes finding Saddam Hussein look like child's play."

L. Paul Bremer III, former ambassador-at-large for counterterrorism at the State Department, questioned whether special operations troops will have the sort of on-ground intelligence needed to crawl into a bin Laden hide-out and kill him.

When Muslim extremist groups kidnapped dozens of Westerners in Lebanon, including 17 Americans, and held them hostage for years, U.S. intelligence had indications from time to time of where they were kept, Bremer said.

But before trying to free them, officials needed to know not only what block, but which building, which floor, which room, the number of guards in the room, whether the door opened in or out — even if the hinges were on the left or right.

An exit strategy also is essential, said retired Army Special Forces Maj. Andy Messing, who spent much of his career in Central America. Unlike suicide terrorists, members of the special forces are not inserted into hostile regions with a one-way ticket, he said.

"You need people who can confront the ugly, bad, nasty people," Messing said. "That's the kind of person you have to have to guard at the gates of democracy."