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U.S. Forces Massing in Djibouti

Aired September 18, 2002 - 10:08   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.


FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: We turn our attention now to another front in the war on terrorism, East Africa.
CNN has learned that about 800 American military personnel have assembled at a French military base in Djibouti, south of Yemen, on the northeast African coast. The target: terrorists.

With the very latest on that, we go to CNN Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr -- hi there, Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka. Well, possibly the clearest sign that while a lot of the talk is about Iraq, the war on terrorism is far from over for the Bush administration.

Indeed, over the last several weeks, about 800 U.S. military forces have assembled in Djibouti, a long-time stronghold of the French military, a close U.S. military ally, which has a base, a military base, in that East African country.

Now, we are told the U.S. military contingent includes somewhat less than 200 special operations forces, and those would be the critical forces that would move, if and when an order came. The troops are in the region prepositioned to go after al Qaeda wherever they may find them throughout the horn of Africa, which is an area of key concern to U.S. intelligence which has long believed that top al Qaeda leaders may be hiding throughout this region.

Now, as CNN first reported back in August, in fact, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had asked the Special Forces community to begin planning for how it might go about this type of operation, how they might move into other countries, with or without a country's permission, search down and hunt for top al Qaeda leaders, capture and possibly even kill them, wherever they found them.

There have been no orders to move just yet. Troops are in the region, but so far they have no actionable intelligence, according to sources, nothing that would lead them to a specific military operation.

Of course, topping the list of countries that they are concerned about is, in fact, Yemen, we are told, a country that is the ancestral homeland of Osama bin Laden's family, a place where they have long believed that top al Qaeda leaders may be hiding out. As recently as a month ago, they thought they had pretty good intelligence about what might be going on in Yemen, but now, they say, some of that intelligence has evaporated and sources tell us they do not believe that a military operation is imminent. However, troops remain in Djibouti, ready to move if they are ordered, but they are keeping an eye on the whole region. We are told another country of serious concern is Somalia, basically, an ungoverned territory where they believe al Qaeda may also be hiding -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: So Barbara -- Barbara, is this one of those operations where they are stationed there for an undetermined amount of time?

STARR: Well, certainly at the moment, it appears that way. One of the Marine Corps amphibious assault ships, the Belleau Wood, for example, has been in the region, but has been there now for four months. It is continuing to stand by, for example.

Everything prepositioned, ready to go, if they can get some of this actionable intelligence. Because it is a remote area of the world, they have to be prepositioned, they have to have everything in place.

And quite interestingly, the U.S. military is now accompanied in that region by CIA paramilitary forces, people that can move in undercover, very covert, get in, get out, snatch al Qaeda if they think they can get them.

WHITFIELD: All right. Barbara Starr from the Pentagon. Thank you very much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired September 18, 2002 - 10:08   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: We turn our attention now to another front in the war on terrorism, East Africa.
CNN has learned that about 800 American military personnel have assembled at a French military base in Djibouti, south of Yemen, on the northeast African coast. The target: terrorists.

With the very latest on that, we go to CNN Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr -- hi there, Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka. Well, possibly the clearest sign that while a lot of the talk is about Iraq, the war on terrorism is far from over for the Bush administration.

Indeed, over the last several weeks, about 800 U.S. military forces have assembled in Djibouti, a long-time stronghold of the French military, a close U.S. military ally, which has a base, a military base, in that East African country.

Now, we are told the U.S. military contingent includes somewhat less than 200 special operations forces, and those would be the critical forces that would move, if and when an order came. The troops are in the region prepositioned to go after al Qaeda wherever they may find them throughout the horn of Africa, which is an area of key concern to U.S. intelligence which has long believed that top al Qaeda leaders may be hiding throughout this region.

Now, as CNN first reported back in August, in fact, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had asked the Special Forces community to begin planning for how it might go about this type of operation, how they might move into other countries, with or without a country's permission, search down and hunt for top al Qaeda leaders, capture and possibly even kill them, wherever they found them.

There have been no orders to move just yet. Troops are in the region, but so far they have no actionable intelligence, according to sources, nothing that would lead them to a specific military operation.

Of course, topping the list of countries that they are concerned about is, in fact, Yemen, we are told, a country that is the ancestral homeland of Osama bin Laden's family, a place where they have long believed that top al Qaeda leaders may be hiding out. As recently as a month ago, they thought they had pretty good intelligence about what might be going on in Yemen, but now, they say, some of that intelligence has evaporated and sources tell us they do not believe that a military operation is imminent. However, troops remain in Djibouti, ready to move if they are ordered, but they are keeping an eye on the whole region. We are told another country of serious concern is Somalia, basically, an ungoverned territory where they believe al Qaeda may also be hiding -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: So Barbara -- Barbara, is this one of those operations where they are stationed there for an undetermined amount of time?

STARR: Well, certainly at the moment, it appears that way. One of the Marine Corps amphibious assault ships, the Belleau Wood, for example, has been in the region, but has been there now for four months. It is continuing to stand by, for example.

Everything prepositioned, ready to go, if they can get some of this actionable intelligence. Because it is a remote area of the world, they have to be prepositioned, they have to have everything in place.

And quite interestingly, the U.S. military is now accompanied in that region by CIA paramilitary forces, people that can move in undercover, very covert, get in, get out, snatch al Qaeda if they think they can get them.

WHITFIELD: All right. Barbara Starr from the Pentagon. Thank you very much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com