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CNN Live At Daybreak
War Games, Prepping in Qatar
Aired December 05, 2002 - 06:07 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: We turn our attention now to Iraq. If the Bush administration decides to attack Iraq, Qatar, a nation smaller than Connecticut, could play a key role.
The Pentagon's Central Command is conducting a test there today, and our John Vause brings us that.
John -- what's going on today exactly?
JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, hi, Carol.
Well, they're still moving those big compartments into place. Basically, what those (AUDIO GAP) essentially a control and command center ready to go. They've been shipping into Qatar for the last few weeks everything from computer equipment, communications equipment, conference rooms, living quarters for the 600 U.S. personnel that will take part in Operation Internal Look. That's a great, big computer war game, which gets under way next week, and that will test the abilities of this command center to communicate with commanders and troops from around the region, from as many as 25 different countries around the Middle East.
Now, what scenarios will be played out during this war game is classified, but obviously Iraq will play a big role in that. And what is interesting is that Operation Internal Look, which was held in 1990, for example, was held three days before Iraq invaded Kuwait, and the scenario played out during that operation in 1990 was an Iraqi invasion of Saudi Arabia.
The other big story here out of Qatar is the buildup at the al- Udeid military air base. That's about 20 miles outside the capital, Doha, and they've been flying in equipment there for some time now. It's a high security area, surrounded by miles and miles of fences and concrete barriers. There are guards on the gates with M-16s. We were there earlier today. We thought we saw some U.S. personnel out there.
Now, it's a billion-dollar facility, which was built by the Qataris, hoping that the United States would come in here and basically use it. And they have been, most recently for Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. But it's still -- it's a Qatari facility, and the U.S. military is here by invitation of the Qatari royal family -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Yes, and just to remind people exactly where Qatar, it borders Saudi Arabia, right? And it's just a small island nation.
VAUSE: Yes, it's a very tiny place, as you said in the lead to this story, about the same size as Connecticut; 700,000 people live here. Now, only 200,000 people, in fact, are Qataris, are native to this part of the world, 500,000 people are basically foreign workers. It's a very, very wealthy country, a lot of oil here, the third largest resources of natural gas. The average income is around $21,000. It's a very rich country. In fact, many people say they like to hide their wealth.
It's also home to the Al Jazeera television network. The only free, if you like, media outlet in this part of the region, which has incurred criticism from both the United States as well as Arab countries.
So, it's a very progressive society. Women here are encouraged to take part in society. They do wear burkas, but it's not as common as in other parts of the world -- parts of the Middle East. There is a very progressive society here. In fact, the emir's wife often appears in public with him, and that has received a lot of criticism from other Arab countries in this region, Carol.
So, a very unusual part of the world. In fact, one U.S. military person I spoke with says that coming to Qatar changed their opinion of the Middle East.
COSTELLO: All right, John Vause, thanks for the information -- very interesting.
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 December 5, 2002 - 06:07 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We turn our attention now to Iraq. If the Bush administration decides to attack Iraq, Qatar, a nation smaller than Connecticut, could play a key role.
The Pentagon's Central Command is conducting a test there today, and our John Vause brings us that.
John -- what's going on today exactly?
JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, hi, Carol.
Well, they're still moving those big compartments into place. Basically, what those (AUDIO GAP) essentially a control and command center ready to go. They've been shipping into Qatar for the last few weeks everything from computer equipment, communications equipment, conference rooms, living quarters for the 600 U.S. personnel that will take part in Operation Internal Look. That's a great, big computer war game, which gets under way next week, and that will test the abilities of this command center to communicate with commanders and troops from around the region, from as many as 25 different countries around the Middle East.
Now, what scenarios will be played out during this war game is classified, but obviously Iraq will play a big role in that. And what is interesting is that Operation Internal Look, which was held in 1990, for example, was held three days before Iraq invaded Kuwait, and the scenario played out during that operation in 1990 was an Iraqi invasion of Saudi Arabia.
The other big story here out of Qatar is the buildup at the al- Udeid military air base. That's about 20 miles outside the capital, Doha, and they've been flying in equipment there for some time now. It's a high security area, surrounded by miles and miles of fences and concrete barriers. There are guards on the gates with M-16s. We were there earlier today. We thought we saw some U.S. personnel out there.
Now, it's a billion-dollar facility, which was built by the Qataris, hoping that the United States would come in here and basically use it. And they have been, most recently for Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. But it's still -- it's a Qatari facility, and the U.S. military is here by invitation of the Qatari royal family -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Yes, and just to remind people exactly where Qatar, it borders Saudi Arabia, right? And it's just a small island nation.
VAUSE: Yes, it's a very tiny place, as you said in the lead to this story, about the same size as Connecticut; 700,000 people live here. Now, only 200,000 people, in fact, are Qataris, are native to this part of the world, 500,000 people are basically foreign workers. It's a very, very wealthy country, a lot of oil here, the third largest resources of natural gas. The average income is around $21,000. It's a very rich country. In fact, many people say they like to hide their wealth.
It's also home to the Al Jazeera television network. The only free, if you like, media outlet in this part of the region, which has incurred criticism from both the United States as well as Arab countries.
So, it's a very progressive society. Women here are encouraged to take part in society. They do wear burkas, but it's not as common as in other parts of the world -- parts of the Middle East. There is a very progressive society here. In fact, the emir's wife often appears in public with him, and that has received a lot of criticism from other Arab countries in this region, Carol.
So, a very unusual part of the world. In fact, one U.S. military person I spoke with says that coming to Qatar changed their opinion of the Middle East.
COSTELLO: All right, John Vause, thanks for the information -- very interesting.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
