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CNN Live At Daybreak
'Exercise Internal Look'
Aired December 09, 2002 - 06:36 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: Now, in the event of some kind of action against Iraq, the U.S. Central Command has launched military exercises in the Persian Gulf. It's called Exercise Internal Look.
CNN's John Vause is live in Doha, Qatar to explain.
Good morning -- John.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
We can tell you that Exercise Internal Look began about seven hours ago now. And now that it's under way, it will run 24 hours a day for the next seven days.
Now, it's all taking place at the Al Sayliyah military base. That's a very top-secret military base about 20 miles south of us here in the capital, Doha.
And the man in charge of all of this is Tommy Franks. He began the computer simulations surrounded by about 50 senior staff members, and they're conducting this in what they call the "war room," aptly named "war room," and it's the most secure room in that entire complex.
Now, those military officials insist that this is not a dry run for a war against Iraq, but they do admit that Iraq will be a consideration, but they say not the only consideration.
As for Internal Look, it will be a test of the command, control and communications ability of the Central Command; also a test to fine-tune that forward command, which they shipped from Florida all the way here to Qatar over the last couple of months.
Now, an indication that that headquarters is up and operational, CENTCOM senior staff tell us that Tommy Franks received his daily briefing as per usual, including updated information about the ongoing mission in Afghanistan. So, they're saying it is very much business as usual here in Qatar, just as it would be in Tampa, Florida.
Now, as far as that forward command base goes, that forward headquarters, the military officials here say the hardware will remain in place once Internal Look is over. As for the 600 military personnel which came with it, well, there is still yet to be a decision made whether or not they will be remaining in this part of the world -- Carol.
COSTELLO: And, John, you've also been telling us a little bit about life in Qatar, besides looking on to the military exercises there. And I understand there is an American mall there, and there are like dozens of Starbucks.
VAUSE: Yes, it's like a Starbucks fetish or something, I guess. You see these Starbucks on every level. They've got, you know, McDonald's and Hardees and all of that kind of stuff.
I understand you ran my piece about things being a little bit quiet in Qatar. Well, it's not all quiet. To be fair, you can see behind me, we've got all of this scaffolding and a stage set up here. This is actually for a very exciting concert tonight. Apparently, the Qataris are very excited, because Shaggy is coming. I've never head of Shaggy. Apparently, he's an Australian reggae singer, and there's quite -- there's a lot of excitement here, because Shaggy is going to be performing tonight.
COSTELLO: You don't know Shaggy?
VAUSE: I've never heard of Shaggy.
COSTELLO: Are you going to be going to the concert?
VAUSE: And he's going to be performing during Wolf Blitzer's show later on today.
COSTELLO: Oh, well, that should be very interesting, because I'm sure Wolf Blitzer knows who Shaggy is.
VAUSE: He'll be rocking.
COSTELLO: I'm sure. John Vause, thanks for lightening the mood. We appreciate it.
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 9, 2002 - 06:36 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Now, in the event of some kind of action against Iraq, the U.S. Central Command has launched military exercises in the Persian Gulf. It's called Exercise Internal Look.
CNN's John Vause is live in Doha, Qatar to explain.
Good morning -- John.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
We can tell you that Exercise Internal Look began about seven hours ago now. And now that it's under way, it will run 24 hours a day for the next seven days.
Now, it's all taking place at the Al Sayliyah military base. That's a very top-secret military base about 20 miles south of us here in the capital, Doha.
And the man in charge of all of this is Tommy Franks. He began the computer simulations surrounded by about 50 senior staff members, and they're conducting this in what they call the "war room," aptly named "war room," and it's the most secure room in that entire complex.
Now, those military officials insist that this is not a dry run for a war against Iraq, but they do admit that Iraq will be a consideration, but they say not the only consideration.
As for Internal Look, it will be a test of the command, control and communications ability of the Central Command; also a test to fine-tune that forward command, which they shipped from Florida all the way here to Qatar over the last couple of months.
Now, an indication that that headquarters is up and operational, CENTCOM senior staff tell us that Tommy Franks received his daily briefing as per usual, including updated information about the ongoing mission in Afghanistan. So, they're saying it is very much business as usual here in Qatar, just as it would be in Tampa, Florida.
Now, as far as that forward command base goes, that forward headquarters, the military officials here say the hardware will remain in place once Internal Look is over. As for the 600 military personnel which came with it, well, there is still yet to be a decision made whether or not they will be remaining in this part of the world -- Carol.
COSTELLO: And, John, you've also been telling us a little bit about life in Qatar, besides looking on to the military exercises there. And I understand there is an American mall there, and there are like dozens of Starbucks.
VAUSE: Yes, it's like a Starbucks fetish or something, I guess. You see these Starbucks on every level. They've got, you know, McDonald's and Hardees and all of that kind of stuff.
I understand you ran my piece about things being a little bit quiet in Qatar. Well, it's not all quiet. To be fair, you can see behind me, we've got all of this scaffolding and a stage set up here. This is actually for a very exciting concert tonight. Apparently, the Qataris are very excited, because Shaggy is coming. I've never head of Shaggy. Apparently, he's an Australian reggae singer, and there's quite -- there's a lot of excitement here, because Shaggy is going to be performing tonight.
COSTELLO: You don't know Shaggy?
VAUSE: I've never heard of Shaggy.
COSTELLO: Are you going to be going to the concert?
VAUSE: And he's going to be performing during Wolf Blitzer's show later on today.
COSTELLO: Oh, well, that should be very interesting, because I'm sure Wolf Blitzer knows who Shaggy is.
VAUSE: He'll be rocking.
COSTELLO: I'm sure. John Vause, thanks for lightening the mood. We appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
