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CNN Live At Daybreak

Target: Terrorism - Defense Secretary Visits Oman

Aired October 04, 2001 - 08:12   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: CNN's Donna Kelley is in Atlanta with some facts and figures about one of the countries -- Oman -- where Mr. Rumsfeld is -- Donna.

DONNA KELLEY, CNN ANCHOR: That's right. Good morning, Miles and Paula, and good morning to you this morning.

Secretary Rumsfeld, as you've heard, scheduled to leave for Egypt in a couple of hours. We wanted to tell you a little bit more about Oman, and what the country might be able to contribute.

Let's show you where it is. Zoom in here. As you can see, once we get there, here's Oman. This is Saudi Arabia right here, and so, of course, it's to the south of Saudi Arabia, and we have Yemen -- it is to the east of Yemen.

The coastline goes for about 1,700 kilometers. That's a little more than 1,300 miles. It overlooks three seas, and we have the Arabian Gulf, the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea.

Secretary Rumsfeld was quoted at the start of this trip, and he has said that from a military standpoint, clearly it would be desirable for countries to participate in that. Officials say that Rumsfeld will talk to Oman about possible staging of U.S. aircraft at Oman's air bases.

And as our Jamie McIntyre, you may have heard, reported earlier, Oman certainly is a strategic jumping off point, because up to Pakistan and Afghanistan right above is where they would be jumping off to.

Let's see what Oman could offer: They have five air bases -- and let me punch the button there, and we head -- there we go -- five air bases. And they have five with the Royal Air Force of Oman at a strength of 4,100. They have Jaguar fighter planes, Hawk and Strikemasters and CU-130 transport planes.

Then they have five army bases with just over 31,000 troops that include eight infantry battalions, two armor and three artillery regiments, and then one regiment for air defense.

On the navy side -- three bases, 4,200 naval personnel, and they have fast attack craft, and they are able to do surface strike and harbor defense, along with search and rescue. A little bit more background on a country that we found interesting that we wanted to share with you today too: Some recent archaeological finds suggests that there may have been people living in Oman at least 5,000 years ago. They have farming and fishing and about 40 percent of the workers are in agriculture.

Oman -- here are some pictures that we found from a Web site on them too. Oman is not just desert, as you can see, though that is most of the country is desert. There are some jagged mountains, and in the southern region, heavy monsoon rains actually bring that up to a lush, green area -- a lot of them apparently.

Unlike most of the Arabian Peninsula, many women have a more active and visible role with jobs, and they are educated. Some tribes of the Omani women are veiled, but for the most part, we are told that they do not have the face masks or black cloak. The majority wear, in fact, very colorful clothes.

The faith: Islam. They speak Arabic, but English is also widely used. And they pump out about 800,000 barrels of oil a day -- back to you, Miles and Paula.

O'BRIEN: All right. Thank you very much -- CNN's Donna Kelley in Atlanta -- we appreciate that.

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