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CNN Live Today
Saudi Government May Ask U.S. Troops to Withdraw
Aired January 18, 2002 - 14:32 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A report out today quotes unnamed Saudi officials as saying the Saudi government is considering asking Washington to withdraw its forces from the Saudi peninsula. The U.S. military has been in Saudi Arabia since the Persian Gulf war, and a Saudi source quoted in "The Washington Post" says the U.S. has worn out its welcome. CNN's Barbara Starr is at the Pentagon with the latest on this ongoing story -- Barbara.
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Miles. Yes. Well, at the Pentagon there's a bit more behind this public facade of diplomatic remarks at the White House and the State Department than "everything is just fine." In fact, General Richard Myers, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, is going to be traveling to the Persian Gulf in the Middle East this weekend. Officially he is visiting Egypt, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates. Saudi Arabia is not on his itinerary at the moment, but that could change.
The U.S. needs Saudi Arabia right now. U.S. forces are operating out of a remote air base in Saudi Arabia called the Prince Sultan air base, and they're using a command-and-control center there inside Saudi Arabia to run the air war over in Afghanistan. The U.S. wants to keep access to that base.
But some things have already changed. In fact, for some months now the U.S. has not launched attack missions using airplanes out of Saudi Arabia. It only will let those planes respond in self-defense. And military officials say, look, if the Saudis want the U.S. out of their country, no longer want to be defended by the U.S. military, then fine. The U.S. military will pull back and base its ships and airplanes in other nearby Persian Gulf nations.
But what the U.S. really wants to do right now is send the Kingdom a clear message. And officials tell us that that message is this: There is a very serious terrorist threat inside the Kingdom and that many Saudis actually support Osama bin Laden and his mission to get the U.S. military out of Saudi Arabia and the country that is host to some of the most holy places in Islam. And that's the message that the U.S. wants to send.
In other news, the International Red Cross is now at the U.S. naval facility at Guantanamo Bay. They're interviewing the 110 al Qaeda and Taliban detainees there. But the Pentagon is also feeling the pressure of international scrutiny over how detainees are being treated. Today the Pentagon put out a two-page document detailing the conditions under which the detainees are being held. Detailing that they get medical care, that they can receive mail, and that they're getting three culturally-appropriate meals each day, and that including a bagel for breakfast -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Barbara, let's talk about Saudi Arabia one more time. The fact that the U.S. is there certainly helps the Saudi government, specifically as they look toward the border with Iraq. When they say the U.S. has worn out its welcome, are they less concerned about any sort of encouragement on the part of Saddam Hussein's regime?
STARR: Well, the Saudi royal family, of course, has always been concerned about Saddam Hussein, for most of the last decade. But what the U.S. military is trying to tell the Saudi royal family, they better start getting very concerned about the support that Osama bin Laden has within Saudi Arabia, inside the kingdom, from their own population, and that this could pose a threat to the regime in Saudi Arabia.
And telling the U.S. to get out won't solve that problem, is what the U.S. is trying to tell Saudi Arabia -- that that threat inside Saudi Arabia will remain, even if the Saudi government tries to boot out the U.S. military -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: But, Barbara, the Saudi military, which of course uses U.S. hardware -- is it capable of holding back some kind of aggression along those lines, or do they need the assistance of the U.S.? I mean, after all, that's why the U.S. has stayed there since the Gulf War.
STARR: Well, that's right. The Saudi military would probably find it very challenging to put back any type of major invasion or land movement by the Iraqi military. But there's a technological matter here at play, which is U.S. satellites, of course, keep a very strong eye on this whole region. And unlike 10 years ago or 11 years ago, U.S. satellite would see the Iraqi army coming from some distance away.
And if there were U.S. warplanes, U.S. ships in the region, they could respond in some reasonable period of time, or at least that's what military experts are saying -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Of course, yeah, I guess the presumption of what the intent of the Iraqi forces would be more clearly known earlier on, I suppose. Barbara Starr, thanks very much from the Pentagon today. We appreciate it.
STARR: You're welcome.
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