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CNN Live At Daybreak

America's New War: Blair Set to Address Taliban Today

Aired October 02, 2001 - 07:32   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: And British Prime Minister Tony Blair is set to deliver a warning to the Taliban in a speech later today. British media reports say Blair will tell the Taliban they had the chance to hand over Osama bin Laden. Now they face military strikes. President Bush says our military is ready and there are new numbers to support that claim.

Our national correspondent Bob Franken is at the Pentagon this morning with just that -- good morning, Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.

Numbers like 29,000 forces in place, individual troops, many of them deployed on the various aircraft carrier groups that have pushed to sea, the most recent one being the Kitty Hawk. The Kitty Hawk, as we reported yesterday, has steamed from Japan, heading for points we now know to be around the Arabian Sea. But it is not carrying, according to Pentagon sources, its full complement of airplanes. And the reason for that is, according to these same sources, is it probably going to be used more as a staging area with some of the difficulties encountered, of course, getting some of the countries in these politically sensitive parts of the world to agree to allow combat forces from the U.S. to use their territory.

So, in effect, it will be a floating country, a floating base that will be able to move similar to the way that they did during the Haiti plans, similar to that. It will be moving to the areas where it is needed as a staging area for both troops and various aircraft, including, if necessary, special forces operations.

Now, of course, we talked about the sensitivities of many countries and the United States has heard over and over again, show the evidence before any sort of attack is mounted and any sort of cooperation is given in the effort against Osama bin Laden. And the U.S. is passing out its material now and it got a very warm reception from the NATO secretary general.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE ROBERTSON, NATO SECRETARY-GENERAL: The facts are clear and compelling. The information presented points conclusively to an al Qaeda role in the 11th of September attacks. We know that the individuals who carried out these attacks were part of the worldwide terrorist network al Qaeda headed by Osama bin Laden and his cue of tenants and protected by the Taliban.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKEN: And Paula, as you know, the NATO report, the report to NATO is of particular significance because of the part of its charter that says an attack on one member is an attack on all the members of NATO -- Paula.

ZAHN: Bob, what can you tell us about any timetable that's being created here?

FRANKEN: Well, not much. Not much officially. Of course, the Pentagon has gone to great pains to say that nothing is imminent but its actions suggest otherwise. But of course there is a very methodical diplomatic effort that really has to take place first to make sure that as the United States prepares to stage its troops, it really has the facilities to do so, which again gets us back to the Kitty Hawk and the significance of that floating staging area. It can, of course, move wherever it's needed. So that suggests that they're fairly well along in planning whatever it is they're going to do.

ZAHN: And, Bob, the timing of Prime Minister Blair's remarks later today, does that have any significance?

FRANKEN: Well, it seems that there is a diplomatic vise being tightened on the Taliban government. Various heads of state, we had the Pakistani head of state and now we have the British head of state and, of course, officials in the United States making it clear to the Taliban government that it can expect military action if it doesn't cooperate. There has been, of course, a relentless pressure on the government to turn over Osama bin Laden. This seems to be advancing that a little bit and getting people close to the point where they would have to say at some point, well, we told you so.

ZAHN: All right, Bob Franken, thanks so much for that update.

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