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CNN Live At Daybreak

U.S. Has Renewed Pledge of Support from Britain; Word of Search and Rescue Mission for USS Kitty Hawk and Sailor Who's Overboard

Aired November 08, 2001 - 06:00   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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: The U.S. has pledged, renewed pledge actually, a support from its number one partner in the bombing. That would be Britain and the Prime Minister Tony Blair emerged from talks with President Bush to say he is pleased with the results of the military action so far.

More now on Mr. Blair's visit from CNN senior White House correspondent John King.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The two leaders claimed progress on every front of the war, but also made a fresh appeal for patience.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It is not one of these Kodak moments. There's no moment to this. This is a long struggle and a different kind of war.

KING: Prime Minister Blair said a month of airstrikes had destroyed terrorist-based camps and significantly weakened the Taliban, but he also suggested a growing role for ground operations in the weeks ahead.

TONY BLAIR, PRIME MINISTER OF GREAT BRITAIN: We are completely committed to seeing this thing through. I think people know that the strategy has to encompass more than airstrikes alone.

KING: Both were upbeat about the depth (ph) of international resolve, but one shared frustration on the diplomatic front is the continuing tension and violence between Israel and the Palestinians.

BLAIR: There is no way whatever in which our action in Afghanistan is conditional on progress in the Middle East and indeed one of the things that bin Laden wants to do is to try and hijack the Palestinian cause for his own purposes.

BUSH: There's no doubt in my mind - no doubt in my mind we'll bring al Qaeda to justice, peace or no peace in the Middle East.

KING: Raids earlier in the day and the United States and several other countries targeted two financial networks the White House says funneled millions to bin Laden's terrorist network. So Mr. Bush claimed significant progress on the financial front.

BUSH: But remember the war is beyond just Afghanistan. There are over 60 al Qaeda organizations around the world and today we struck a blow for freedom by cutting off their money - one of their money sources.

KING: Dinner in the White House residence included talk among multi national force to assist the transition to oppose Taliban government in Afghanistan and a role for the United Nations in organizing such a government.

The prime minister crossed the Atlantic on a super sonic Concorde jet just for the meeting and headed immediately back to London after dinner. A quick visit, but important in the White House view so that the two leaders could compare notes and stand side by side in public confidently predicting victory, no matter how long it takes.

John King, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Let's check in on the military angel and go to the Pentagon where our Bob Franken is standing by and Bob, I hear there is word of a search and rescue mission for the USS Kitty Hawk and a sailor who's overboard.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well he's been overboard almost a full day, about 23 hours now. No report on why he fell overboard; no report that there's been any word of his whereabouts - should be pointed out that the one thing he has in his favor is that the Arabian Sea is warm water, so it won't be as much of a factor, the cold that sometimes can be such a hindrance. In any case, no word of it - no word that he has been found or any reason for his going overboard.

Now the Kitty Hawk is the anti aircraft carrier that really has most of its planes not on board. The planes were taken off so it could be used as a base for special operations missions and that's how it has been used with helicopters and troops carried to and from Afghanistan -- most of those operations secret as the bombing campaign in Afghanistan passes the one-month mark.

Even with all the worldwide resolve, even with the repeated calls for patience, the question is (INAUDIBLE) since the first bomb slammed into Afghanistan. How long will this take -- months, years?

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I said months rather than years. That means it could be as long as 23. I've got a full range from one or two to 23.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

FRANKEN: One month into this new war in Afghanistan, it's almost exclusively a war fought from above Afghanistan. This is how the Pentagon likes to tell the bombing story through the lens of the airplane nose cameras.

But the nose cameras did not show the other part of the bombing story - the misses, the unintended civilian casualties that U.S. officials say are few and regrettable. The Taliban who tried to exploit the casualties by conducting media tours. Still the barrage against Taliban troop positions grows more intense daily two weeks after these memorable words.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I really do. I think, as I say, the combat power of the Taliban has been (INAUDIBLE).

(END VIDEOCLIP)

FRANKEN: Pentagon officials wish the word eviscerated have never escaped that general's lips. Rather than being gutted, Taliban forces are still holding their ground. Al Qaeda and its leader Osama bin Laden are still presumed to be hiding in the country's vast web of caves. So-called bunker-buster bombs have failed to make much of a depth. Air power has limitations.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are certain formations on the ground that are dropping bombs on them has some effect, but not the final effect that you need.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

FRANKEN: So far as the Pentagon will say, the extent of the U.S. ground operations has been one commando attack and several special operations forces patrol working with Northern Alliance troops, spotting targets for the bombers. But there are enough forces in the area for a much larger presence on the ground.

And one month, then there have been few casualties reported, but if there is an expanded ground war the risks would greatly increase and would be a much tougher test of the resolve back home. Daryn.

KAGAN: So Bob, we're one month in, but wasn't the secretary of defense saying yesterday this could go as long as 23 months?

FRANKEN: Well what he was saying, first of all, is that he was just guessing. It could go longer than that, but what had happened was he had been quoted as saying that this was going to go months not years and so that gave him a range, he said, of two months to 23 months.

KAGAN: Got it, Bob Franken at the Pentagon. Thank you and good morning to you.

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