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Qatar May Be Crucial Ally in War Against Iraq
Aired December 05, 2002 - 13:09 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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: The war games phase of Operation Internal Look, an exercise for senior commanders, rather than ground troops, begins Monday in Qatar. And the tiny Persian Gulf nation appears destined to play a major role in any future hostilities between the United States and Iraq.
CNN'S Wolf Blitzer is live in Doha, Qatar.
Well, Wolf, what do you think of Doha?
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: It's a nice place. I know you've spent a lot of time in this part of the world, Kyra, so you have some personal experience.
It's a lovely place, but it's going to be a critically important place if it does come down to an actual war between the United States and its coalition partners on the one hand and the Iraqi government on the other hand.
That's because the U.S. military wants to establish a headquarters of sorts right here, just outside of Doha, at a military facility, the As Sayliyah military base.
General Tommy Franks is deploying modular command and control units from the central command in Tampa, Fla., the MacDill Air Force Base.
And here, that military exercise code name Internal Look is about to begin, supposed to go on for about a week, maybe longer. But if it does comes down to a war, this is where the command and control headquarters will presumably be based. This is where general Tommy Franks will give the orders for U.S. troops throughout the region, all around Iraq, to deploy forces if necessary.
One of the advantages of Qatar, as you well know, Kyra, it has a huge air base, an air base that the Qatari air force really doesn't need, but it's available, of course, to the United States and its coalition partners.
The Al Udeid Air Base has one of the largest runways in the world, certainly the longest runway in this part of the world, and it certainly is capable of handling the most sophisticated U.S. military transport planes, jet fighters, everything else that the U.S. Air Force has in its fleet.
All of which sets the stage for the potential of a war but, of course, the United States is not yet there.
Everyone is watching to see what the Iraqi government does this weekend, as far as going forward with its declaration: what kind of capabilities of chemical, biological, nuclear weapons the Iraqis actually have.
We'll be watching for that. But no one will be watching, Kyra, more closely than the U.S. military troops, about 4,000 of them already based here in Qatar -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: And the military aside, politically, too, Wolf, I mean this is an area that is very pro-democratic. In emir in big support of that type of government.
BLITZER: It's one of the new areas, indeed, in this part of the world that does have a very free press. Remember, this is where Al- Jazeera, the satellite Arabic language television station, is headquartered. It's, in part, funded by the Qatari government, and it certainly has a wide range of opinions expressed on Al-Jazeera.
So it certainly is a country that appreciates the West, appreciates the United States, wants to make sure that the U.S. provides that protective umbrella to this small, but critically important nation here in Qatar -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Wolf Blitzer, live from Doha, we'll see you again. Thanks so much, Wolf.
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 December 5, 2002 - 13:09 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: The war games phase of Operation Internal Look, an exercise for senior commanders, rather than ground troops, begins Monday in Qatar. And the tiny Persian Gulf nation appears destined to play a major role in any future hostilities between the United States and Iraq.
CNN'S Wolf Blitzer is live in Doha, Qatar.
Well, Wolf, what do you think of Doha?
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: It's a nice place. I know you've spent a lot of time in this part of the world, Kyra, so you have some personal experience.
It's a lovely place, but it's going to be a critically important place if it does come down to an actual war between the United States and its coalition partners on the one hand and the Iraqi government on the other hand.
That's because the U.S. military wants to establish a headquarters of sorts right here, just outside of Doha, at a military facility, the As Sayliyah military base.
General Tommy Franks is deploying modular command and control units from the central command in Tampa, Fla., the MacDill Air Force Base.
And here, that military exercise code name Internal Look is about to begin, supposed to go on for about a week, maybe longer. But if it does comes down to a war, this is where the command and control headquarters will presumably be based. This is where general Tommy Franks will give the orders for U.S. troops throughout the region, all around Iraq, to deploy forces if necessary.
One of the advantages of Qatar, as you well know, Kyra, it has a huge air base, an air base that the Qatari air force really doesn't need, but it's available, of course, to the United States and its coalition partners.
The Al Udeid Air Base has one of the largest runways in the world, certainly the longest runway in this part of the world, and it certainly is capable of handling the most sophisticated U.S. military transport planes, jet fighters, everything else that the U.S. Air Force has in its fleet.
All of which sets the stage for the potential of a war but, of course, the United States is not yet there.
Everyone is watching to see what the Iraqi government does this weekend, as far as going forward with its declaration: what kind of capabilities of chemical, biological, nuclear weapons the Iraqis actually have.
We'll be watching for that. But no one will be watching, Kyra, more closely than the U.S. military troops, about 4,000 of them already based here in Qatar -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: And the military aside, politically, too, Wolf, I mean this is an area that is very pro-democratic. In emir in big support of that type of government.
BLITZER: It's one of the new areas, indeed, in this part of the world that does have a very free press. Remember, this is where Al- Jazeera, the satellite Arabic language television station, is headquartered. It's, in part, funded by the Qatari government, and it certainly has a wide range of opinions expressed on Al-Jazeera.
So it certainly is a country that appreciates the West, appreciates the United States, wants to make sure that the U.S. provides that protective umbrella to this small, but critically important nation here in Qatar -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Wolf Blitzer, live from Doha, we'll see you again. Thanks so much, Wolf.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
