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CNN Live At Daybreak
Mood in Qatar
Aired December 06, 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: U.S. Central Command fires up its computers today at its forward base in Qatar in preparation for next week's war games. It's a long way from their usual command post in Tampa, Florida.
CNN's John Vause is in the tiny emirate that juts into the Persian Gulf to explain to us the mood in the region with the upcoming military exercises.
Good morning -- John.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
Well, a few things that we've learned. We know that General Tommy Franks is due to be traveling today. He should be here in Doha sometime within the next 24 hours. The Central Command will not release the exact schedule -- the exact timetable, rather, for security reasons, but we're told that he will oversee the final preparations of that war game, Operation Internal Look, and he will, of course, oversee that war game itself, which does begin on Monday, the day after Iraq is due to make that declaration on weapons of mass destruction.
Now, that war game, in fact, it should run for a week, and it will test all of that communications ability of this new portable forward command, if you like.
Now, we were out at the al-Udeid air base earlier today. It's a high security area. It's very difficult to get close to. But what we could see is that there was activity out there. They seemed to be still unloading those C-130 cargo planes, bringing in more equipment. Now, that could, in fact, be equipment for Operation Internal Look, or it could be part of just a general buildup, which has been under way in Qatar for quite some time now.
Now, at that base is that fleet of C-130s. There's high security there. It's out of the way quite a bit. It's about 20 miles south of Doha.
And also, out of the way, it seems, is the U.S. military personnel that's based there. There are between 3,000 and 4,000 U.S. service men and women who are currently here, but it seems that all of the people that we spoke to in Doha just haven't seen any. They seem to be keeping a very low profile. They don't see any of the uniforms on the streets. They say they see a few Americans. They think they're part of the contingent, but they just don't know. Now, we haven't been told that there has been any directive for the personnel here to keep a low profile or anything like that. And the only reason why there would be a directive if there was, in fact, a security threat, and that certainly isn't the case here in Qatar.
But it's not purely all America's way, if you like. There is some resentment still towards the United States. Some people we spoke to, who just wouldn't go on camera because they're afraid of repercussions, but they said that they're not happy with America, they don't want some of its troops here, they don't want Qatar to be used as a forward command for any war on Iraq. And they all go back to one issue, and that's the United States' support of Israel against the Palestinians.
So, while this certainly isn't the flag burning and the effigy burning that you see in other parts of the Arab world, there still is resentment here towards the United States, especially when it comes to the U.S. policy of backing Israel against the Palestinians -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, John Vause, and I know you'll be filing daily reports from Qatar.
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 6, 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: U.S. Central Command fires up its computers today at its forward base in Qatar in preparation for next week's war games. It's a long way from their usual command post in Tampa, Florida.
CNN's John Vause is in the tiny emirate that juts into the Persian Gulf to explain to us the mood in the region with the upcoming military exercises.
Good morning -- John.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
Well, a few things that we've learned. We know that General Tommy Franks is due to be traveling today. He should be here in Doha sometime within the next 24 hours. The Central Command will not release the exact schedule -- the exact timetable, rather, for security reasons, but we're told that he will oversee the final preparations of that war game, Operation Internal Look, and he will, of course, oversee that war game itself, which does begin on Monday, the day after Iraq is due to make that declaration on weapons of mass destruction.
Now, that war game, in fact, it should run for a week, and it will test all of that communications ability of this new portable forward command, if you like.
Now, we were out at the al-Udeid air base earlier today. It's a high security area. It's very difficult to get close to. But what we could see is that there was activity out there. They seemed to be still unloading those C-130 cargo planes, bringing in more equipment. Now, that could, in fact, be equipment for Operation Internal Look, or it could be part of just a general buildup, which has been under way in Qatar for quite some time now.
Now, at that base is that fleet of C-130s. There's high security there. It's out of the way quite a bit. It's about 20 miles south of Doha.
And also, out of the way, it seems, is the U.S. military personnel that's based there. There are between 3,000 and 4,000 U.S. service men and women who are currently here, but it seems that all of the people that we spoke to in Doha just haven't seen any. They seem to be keeping a very low profile. They don't see any of the uniforms on the streets. They say they see a few Americans. They think they're part of the contingent, but they just don't know. Now, we haven't been told that there has been any directive for the personnel here to keep a low profile or anything like that. And the only reason why there would be a directive if there was, in fact, a security threat, and that certainly isn't the case here in Qatar.
But it's not purely all America's way, if you like. There is some resentment still towards the United States. Some people we spoke to, who just wouldn't go on camera because they're afraid of repercussions, but they said that they're not happy with America, they don't want some of its troops here, they don't want Qatar to be used as a forward command for any war on Iraq. And they all go back to one issue, and that's the United States' support of Israel against the Palestinians.
So, while this certainly isn't the flag burning and the effigy burning that you see in other parts of the Arab world, there still is resentment here towards the United States, especially when it comes to the U.S. policy of backing Israel against the Palestinians -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, John Vause, and I know you'll be filing daily reports from Qatar.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
