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Pentagon Moving Equipment to Gulf Area

Aired September 18, 2002 - 14:10   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.


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Back at the Pentagon -- officials are hurrying to move hardware from the U.S. and Europe to sites much closer to Iraq.
CNN's Barbara Starr has the latest on that -- Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, indeed, Kyra, you know over the last several weeks, we have seen a number of movements of military equipment, and some personnel to the Gulf region. Officials say that this is largely for exercises, military exercises, but of course it is all in place, just in case the Pentagon decides to do something.

And that is what Secretary of Defense Don Rumsfeld was, indeed, pressing on Capitol Hill today, pressing Congress to go ahead and pass some sort of resolution, with the potential for the use of military force against Iraq. He wants that to come before a United Nations Security Council resolution is passed, because he wants a clear signal to the world community that Congress is behind the Bush administration in any action against Iraq.

And after those protesters made their voice known, the secretary made a very specific point of telling this hearing that the issue is no longer just about inspections, but it is about disarmament, to get rid of Saddam Hussein's nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: There's obviously a misunderstanding on the part of those who think that the goal is inspections. The goal isn't inspections. The goal is disarmament. That is what was agreed to by Iraq. That is what was understood by the United Nations. The -- the ease with which people can migrate over and suggest that the task before the world is inspections, you can only have inspections when a country is cooperating with you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: But when you get back to that question of U.S. troops and equipment moving to the region for training and exercises, the secretary makes the point that if the U.S. did have to go to war to disarm Iraq, to get rid of those weapons of mass destruction, he acknowledged at this hearing today that U.S. military forces would likely remain in Iraq as part of a coalition for some time to come, installing a new government in Iraq, making sure there was stability in the country, and he said that if there is a war, it is going to take more than just airstrikes to get rid of those weapons of mass destruction. He made it very clear today, he does think it will require troops on the ground to go into those weapons sites, and disarm Iraq, if they do not agree to stringent inspections -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: And Barbara, just one last point, back to what we were talking about before, in Djibouti, and the military hardware moved into this area, because it is close to Yemen, we haven't talked about -- all day, actually, we haven't talked about the connection between Osama bin Laden and Yemen the possibility for why this is all taking place.

STARR: Well, that is right. Now, this is an issue in the same general region, but just a little different subject matter. Osama bin Laden, the al Qaeda, possibly hiding out in the horn of Africa, top al Qaeda operatives. We have been - we have confirmed that the U.S. has about 200 special operations forces, another 400 to 600, possibly, support forces in that East African nation of Djibouti near the country of Yemen. Those troops are in the region to be prepositioned for any possible action to go after top al Qaeda operatives that the U.S. believes may be hiding out in Yemen, or other nearby countries, such as Somalia. Those troops have now been there for some weeks. There has been no move to order them into action, but they are there, ready to go, and interestingly, Kyra, they have CIA paramilitary forces with them as well.

PHILLIPS: That is all interesting to follow up on. Barbara Starr, thank you.

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






Aired September 18, 2002 - 14:10   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Back at the Pentagon -- officials are hurrying to move hardware from the U.S. and Europe to sites much closer to Iraq.
CNN's Barbara Starr has the latest on that -- Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, indeed, Kyra, you know over the last several weeks, we have seen a number of movements of military equipment, and some personnel to the Gulf region. Officials say that this is largely for exercises, military exercises, but of course it is all in place, just in case the Pentagon decides to do something.

And that is what Secretary of Defense Don Rumsfeld was, indeed, pressing on Capitol Hill today, pressing Congress to go ahead and pass some sort of resolution, with the potential for the use of military force against Iraq. He wants that to come before a United Nations Security Council resolution is passed, because he wants a clear signal to the world community that Congress is behind the Bush administration in any action against Iraq.

And after those protesters made their voice known, the secretary made a very specific point of telling this hearing that the issue is no longer just about inspections, but it is about disarmament, to get rid of Saddam Hussein's nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: There's obviously a misunderstanding on the part of those who think that the goal is inspections. The goal isn't inspections. The goal is disarmament. That is what was agreed to by Iraq. That is what was understood by the United Nations. The -- the ease with which people can migrate over and suggest that the task before the world is inspections, you can only have inspections when a country is cooperating with you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: But when you get back to that question of U.S. troops and equipment moving to the region for training and exercises, the secretary makes the point that if the U.S. did have to go to war to disarm Iraq, to get rid of those weapons of mass destruction, he acknowledged at this hearing today that U.S. military forces would likely remain in Iraq as part of a coalition for some time to come, installing a new government in Iraq, making sure there was stability in the country, and he said that if there is a war, it is going to take more than just airstrikes to get rid of those weapons of mass destruction. He made it very clear today, he does think it will require troops on the ground to go into those weapons sites, and disarm Iraq, if they do not agree to stringent inspections -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: And Barbara, just one last point, back to what we were talking about before, in Djibouti, and the military hardware moved into this area, because it is close to Yemen, we haven't talked about -- all day, actually, we haven't talked about the connection between Osama bin Laden and Yemen the possibility for why this is all taking place.

STARR: Well, that is right. Now, this is an issue in the same general region, but just a little different subject matter. Osama bin Laden, the al Qaeda, possibly hiding out in the horn of Africa, top al Qaeda operatives. We have been - we have confirmed that the U.S. has about 200 special operations forces, another 400 to 600, possibly, support forces in that East African nation of Djibouti near the country of Yemen. Those troops are in the region to be prepositioned for any possible action to go after top al Qaeda operatives that the U.S. believes may be hiding out in Yemen, or other nearby countries, such as Somalia. Those troops have now been there for some weeks. There has been no move to order them into action, but they are there, ready to go, and interestingly, Kyra, they have CIA paramilitary forces with them as well.

PHILLIPS: That is all interesting to follow up on. Barbara Starr, thank you.

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