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CNN Live At Daybreak

Target: Terrorism - Rumsfeld on the Road

Aired October 04, 2001 - 07:09   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: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is in the Middle Eastern nation of Oman right now. The stop comes on the second day of a mission to shore up support from critical Middle Eastern nations as well as Uzbekistan in Central Asia.

CNN military affairs correspondent Jamie McIntyre is on this trip. He joins us now on the telephone from Oman -- Jamie.

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.

I'm sitting here on the, at a very different airport, the military airport in Oman, waiting for Defense Secretary Rumsfeld to return from very private talks he's having with the Sultan of Oman. No coverage or even pictures being allowed to be taken of that meeting, a signal of how a lot of the countries in the Persian Gulf region that are assisting the United States want to do it with a very low profile.

Oman is one of those critical countries, one of the ones that has been most quietly supportive and in particular in allowing the United States to base planes and troops on its country.

Oman is strategically located as a good jumping off point for the United States to position troops, particularly special operations forces they may want to then transfer to an aircraft carrier. Also, the B1 bombers that were deployed as part of the buildup are based here, although Omani officials do not acknowledge that publicly.

The purpose of Rumsfeld's trip both to Saudi Arabia yesterday, Oman and Egypt today, and Uzbekistan, is to impress on all of these countries that the United States doesn't want them to do anything that's going to jeopardize the political situation within their countries, but that at the same time there's a whole range of things they can do to support the United States in its declared war on terrorism.

In the case of Oman, as I said, it's some critical air strips and operating bases. In Uzbekistan, the United States is seeking to also get some basing rights, the first time really in a former Soviet state that the United States would be putting a substantial number of troops and perhaps helicopters in just across the northern border of Afghanistan. All of this as the prospect of military action against targets in Afghanistan that would punish the Taliban and perhaps target Osama bin Laden and his supporters seems to grow closer by the day -- Paula.

ZAHN: Jamie, noticeably absent from Mr. Rumsfeld's agenda is any stop in Pakistan. And it is now being widely reported this morning that British Prime Minister Tony Blair will, in fact, make a trip to Pakistan later this week. Any reaction from Mr. Rumsfeld's team about that news?

MCINTYRE: Well, again, the whole theory here is not to do things that are going to cause trouble. Pakistan's leader, Pervez Musharraf, has to be careful that while he has been very publicly supportive of the United States and while he has granted the U.S. things like over flight rights, logistical support for possible military operations and most importantly from the U.S. point of view, intelligence sharing, he hasn't granted the U.S. rights to base troops in Pakistan, nor has the United States asked for that.

That is seen as something that could possibly be politically destabilizing in Pakistan and hence the option that Pentagon planners came up with to move an aircraft carrier without all of its aircraft into the region so that it could be used as a floating base of operations, eliminating the need, possibly, to have any bases on the ground in Pakistan.

Again, it's a delicate balancing act. The United States wants to tell all the countries in the region that it appreciates their help but doesn't want to push them into doing something that's going to cause more problems down the road.

ZAHN: But Mr. Blair's impending trip to Pakistan isn't seen as undercutting any of this in any way, is it?

MCINTYRE: No, it isn't. Of course, he is a national leader as opposed to a defense minister, which would, Secretary Rumsfeld would be. And Pakistan has been, in the United States' view, taken a pretty courageous stand in the public support it has voiced for the United States and for military action against terrorists.

So there are no complaints here. And that visit by Blair is just another effort to do essentially what Rumsfeld is doing in his trip, which is solidify the support, send a clear message that the United States and its allies appreciate what's going on and to hold out the prospect for better ties in the future, and in the case of Pakistan, the possible lifting of military sanctions, a resumption of aid and some closer military ties between the United States and Pakistan.

ZAHN: All right, Jamie McIntyre, thanks so much for that update. See you a little bit later on this morning.

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