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CNN Live At Daybreak

Kuwaiti Military Securing Demilitarized Zone

Aired August 07, 2002 - 06:32   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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: It has been 12 years since Iraq invaded Kuwait -- can you believe it -- collapsing its military early in the war.

As CNN Beirut bureau chief, Brent Sadler, reports, Kuwaiti officials say military power has now been restored just in case it's needed to protect Kuwait or to support the U.S. if it attacks Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRENT SADLER, CNN BEIRUT BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): An impressive display of Kuwaiti tanks from the 15th Armor Brigade, training in the desert, a resurgent Kuwaiti army, with American-made Howitzers and Russian-built tanks, to counter Iraq's persistent high- troop concentrations across the border, a short tank drive away.

GEN. ALI MUMEN, CHIEF OF STAFF, KUWAITI ARMED FORCES: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) of a threat, but I wouldn't say there is a movement or any indicators of change of the situation.

SADLER: If there was a sudden change, United Nations observers would be the first to know. They have overseen this vast, highly- sensitive demilitarized zone, 200 kilometers, or 125 miles long, since the end of the Gulf War, including movements in and out of Iraq's Port of Umm Qasr.

MAJ. GEN. MIGUEL MORENO, UNIKOM FORCE COMMANDER: We are here to accomplish our mandate. The U.N. presence here is very important. So we'll stay here until the U.N. headquarters will tell us what to do.

SADLER: In the event, that is, of a return to a U.S.-led conflict with Iraq. It's reportedly calm here, no violations, but Kuwaitis say they have already paid a high price for Saddam Hussein's unpredictability and territorial ambitions. So tank and infantry brigades exercise in the same blistering hot month that Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990.

(on camera): Kuwait's military collapsed in the first few hours of Iraq's invasion 12 years ago, but a repeat of that battlefield disaster is impossible today, claims Kuwait's military top brass, confident an Iraqi threat to border security is neutralized.

(voice-over): For all this display of Kuwaiti fire power on the ground and in the air, it's unseen American forces that act as the real deterrent. But these Kuwaiti units could still be dangerously close to military action if their U.S. ally tries to drive Saddam Hussein from power, a possible fight Kuwait's rulers are not yet ready to join, but would want Washington to win.

Brent Sadler, CNN in Kuwait's northern desert.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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