Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live At Daybreak

Target: Terrorism - Rumsfeld in Oman

Aired October 04, 2001 - 08:10   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.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is in Oman, the second stop of his four nation tour of key allies in the war on terrorism.

CNN's Jeanne Meserve is at the Pentagon this morning with the latest on the Rumsfeld mission -- good morning, Jeanne.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.

The secretary's talks in Oman are so sensitive that no pictures are being allowed. No real surprise there. Oman has allowed U.S. forces and planes to be based there for years, and it's never been talked about publicly.

The likely topic of conversation today: the usefulness of Oman, because of its location. It could be a great staging area for any U.S. strikes into Afghanistan.

Oman, as you mentioned, the second stop on the secretary's trip. He's already been to Saudi Arabia. He will go on to Egypt and then Uzbekistan.

In Saudi Arabia, he met with King Fahd, Crown Prince Abdullah and the defense minister, Prince Sultan. Saudi Arabia has said it does not want the U.S. to use bases there for any strikes into Afghanistan, and the secretary of defense has bent over backwards to try and express his sympathy for the position that the Saudi and other governments in the region feel in this situation. He says they've got different neighbors than we do, different problems, different political circumstances.

That certainly is going to be the case at his next stop, which will be Egypt. There is a very large and active Islamic fundamentalist movement there. That is going to limit the maneuverability of President Hosni Mubarak, who is usually a very staunch U.S. ally. What the U.S. is hoping to get from Egypt at the very least is intelligence, which will be useful in its war against terrorism.

The last stop on the secretary's trip will be Uzbekistan, the former Soviet Republic which borders on Afghanistan. Uzbekistan has never cooperated with the U.S. in any major military action before. What the U.S. is looking for is a base for special operations forces. It also would like to put troops there who could guard U.S. fighters, and who could be engaged in any rapid extraction that might be needed from Afghanistan.

All of this, of course, as the U.S. tries to put the pieces together for any future military action -- Miles, back to you.

O'BRIEN: All right. CNN's Jeanne Meserve at the Pentagon -- thank you very much.

As she has been telling you this morning, the Rumsfeld trip, an important trip, as the U.S. begins and continues its coalition building in advance of this strike against terrorism that has been discussed at great length, of course.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.