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CNN Live At Daybreak

America's New War: Military Buildup Overseas Continues; Discussion About Women of Afghanistan

Aired September 26, 2001 - 08:31   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.
JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR: The military buildup overseas continues. The mission in many ways is undefined. For that let's bring in Bob Franken now. Perhaps he can give us a little bit more of a explanation.

Bob, standing by at the Pentagon this morning.

Hi, Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And of course what they are doing is, They're Deploying for a variety of possibilities. They admit, they are still developing their plans. The latest increment was the addition of some the reservists who would be called up. We are at 14,000 in the United States of reserves who were called up. Another 2,000 yesterday, coming from a variety of states for a variety of internal functions in the United States. Most of them to support security efforts throughout. It's now 14,000; 35,000 are expected once call-up plans are complete.

And of course the discussion continues about what this operation is going to be. It's going to be long range, we're told repeatedly, but there's also a short-range possibility in just a little more than two weeks since the attacks on the United States. What about retaliation?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: This is not about revenge, it is not about retaliation; this is about self defense. The United States of America knows that the only way we can defend against terrorism is by taking the fight to the terrorists.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKEN: Now of course, when they say taking the fight to the terrorists, that is a nice, very general statement, but, John, as you know, the devil is in the details, and whenever there is a plan, there is almost an infinite number of complications.

KING: Bob, is there a dispute between the military planners perhaps and the diplomats. If you listen to the president, especially yesterday, it was clear he wanted to undercut the political support for the Taliban. He would have no hesitation at all of targeting the Taliban with military resources. Yet at the same time, he says, well, our goal here is not to knock them from power.

FRANKEN: Well, it's really interesting, because a couple of days ago, he was leaving the clear impression that that was the goal, but of course, an immediate complication. The complication is that Pakistan and it's military would not like to see that. There are very close ties among many in Pakistan with the Taliban. So if you want to use Pakistan as an ally in the battle, you cannot go that far. Some people would these a trial balloon. Others might say there's a bit of imprecision in speech here.

KING: Bob, obviously, we're in a very difficult and very sensitive environment for the Pentagon. They are deploying troops overseas, including potential for covert operation. So obviously, when we ask certain questions, the Pentagon does not want to answer them. But what if we ask, will you lie to us?

FRANKEN: Well, that's a question that is being asked. It's quite remarkable when you think about that a secretary of defense would be asked, would you condone lying? And the answer was semicomplete. He said he would never lie. But the question never was put out, would there be people assigned to lie to the media. And the arguments might me, that those who would say that if this information goes out, perhaps it might confound the enemy and speed up the operation, and make it a more successful one. But on the other side of course, there is a question about an open government and a government that people can trust, an interesting debate going on very strongly in this building.

KING: And that debate will continue in the days, weeks, and months ahead. Bob Franken at the Pentagon, thank you for that this morning.

Candor from the administration, and this administration, of course, a premium on secrecy, one of the many subplots here, as America prepares for a war the president says will be unlike any other -- Paula.

ZAHN: I guess they're preparing us for that, aren't they, John?

KING: Yes.

ZAHN: Every opportunity they get. All right, thanks.

Eve Ensler, who is the author of the book and the play "The Vagina Monologue," has recently visited Afghanistan, and I talked with Ensler about the women there, how they are treated by the Taliban, and their fear of being killed in a U.S. attack.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

EVE ENSLER, "THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES": I originally went there. I have been to Pakistan and Afghanistan a couple of times. The most resent trip, I went because I was in the middle of a new book that I am working on, a new play, about how women all over the world fix, mutilate, hide, bury, change their bodies in order to fit in with their particular culture, and I knew I couldn't do the book without going to look at the state of women in Afghanistan.

ZAHN: How oppressive is it for women?

ENSLER: Well, as I like to say, if you want to understand misogyny when it has fully realized itself, go to Afghanistan. It is probably -- I think it is without a doubt the horrific place on Earth for women.

ZAHN: What are women subjected to?

ENSLER: Well, every right that's available to women anywhere in the world has essentially been taken a away. Women are not a lowered to be educated. They not allowed to hold jobs outside of the home. They are not allowed to go to male doctors, but of course, if there is no female doctors, women are not allowed to be educated. There can't be female doctors.

ZAHN: Which explains why so many women die in childbirth?

ENSLER: That's right, because they have no -- they can't get any medical help.

They are not allowed to leave their homes without being fully covered in a burka, which has only a tiny little space. It's like a little grill, or grid for the eyes, and having been there and wore one, I am incredibly claustrophobic, so I had a very difficult time, but you have no peripheral vision. You can't see the sky. It's very, very hot there when it's hot, and it literally is 120 degrees under the burka.

ZAHN: And yet these women have successfully covered out an underground society, which leaves them at risk of losing their lives every single day of the week. What are they doing?

ENSLER: Well, there is a particular group there, who have working for years now to support, to liberate, to really plea for the lives of the women of Afghanistan. And V-Day, which the organization I am the artistic director of, which is the Organization to End Violence Against Women and Girls, we have been supporting those efforts, because having been there, what's very clear is that there is no -- nobody to turn to in Afghanistan for women. There is no force, no one beyond. There is nothing there, and unless people from outside of Afghanistan support the women, they will perish, as they have been in droves for the last year.

ZAHN: You were exposed to this underground society they've developed, and I know you've brought along with you today some e- mails, which I think might communicate to those of us who haven't have not been to Afghanistan the depths of despair that some of these women are feeling. Can you share some of that with us?

ENSLER: Yes, and I wanted to say we've been getting e-mails for the last two weeks, since the terrible attacks on the World Trade Center and in the United States, and their hearts are broken over this. They feel completely allied with the United States. And as a matter of fact, we brought women here during V-Day last year to talk to Congress, to talk at Madison Square Garden and to really speak out for help. So I think what they are terrified now is that we will kill them after they have been begging us to save them from the Taliban.

One of the things she says here is, "We are flooded with e-mails and try to answer these which need to be cleared. Even we try to answer almost all of the hostile e-mails, of those that do not want to differentiate between our people and the criminal Taliban. In a time that we cannot do anything else, we should not spare to answer in order to guide misguided people. Yes, people have already started to reach themselves to Pakistan despite the sealed borders Pakistanis demand about $30 to let them into the country. Therefore, a large number of people will never be able to flee, and will be silently waiting to face death by the U.S. and NATO attack.

"Additionally, as the people in Kabul and other provinces have been caught by surprise, they have no time to escape either. We met some families who arrived here a couple of days ago. they tell that our ruined people of Kabul are in a terrible panic, desperate and perplexed."

Then she says, "We would like to assure you, and all other supporters with all of our hearts, that our deep love and friendship for you will never, never be changed. These days, we understand your sympathy with us. You have helped us, and with your love and help have been greatly heartening and impressing. Tens, or perhaps hundreds of us and our families would perish if there would be these attacks, but we will die with our love and deep respect to all of our American supporters. You have never supported the fundamentalists. On the contrary, you have been fighting shoulder to shoulder with us."

ZAHN: What kind of future do these women have?

ENSLER: Well, it really depends on what America does here, doesn't it? I mean, if we understand and make a distinction between the Taliban, which is a terribly repressive and misoginystic regime, and the people, in particular the women of Afghanistan, if we make that distinction, we will know to bomb Afghan people is the same as going into rescue children that have been abused and burning their hands,

ZAHN: But isn't this true of almost any war that has been fought in our past?

ENSLER: Well, I mean I have my positions on war and my feelings about that. I mean, to some degree, it is true. But I think when there have been a group of people who have been reaching out since 1994 to the United States to help them, and to free them from the Taliban, to then go and bomb those people and kill those people feels insane to me. And by the way, I don't think it will solve the problem of terrorism. I don't think -- if I thought it was a practical solution, I would support it, but I don't think it will.

ZAHN: And the truth is, no one really understands what sort of military operation might ultimately take place, particularly as the Northern Alliance is starting to report some sort of progress in moving the Taliban further south. Eve Ensler, good to chat with you. Thank you very much for sharing your story with us today. We appreciate it.

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