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President Bush Says Time Running Out on Iraq

Aired January 15, 2003 - 13:04   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: President Bush says time is running out on Iraq, and if his words aren't enough, he has the military might of the Pentagon to get Baghdad's attention. The massive buildup continues in Iraq's back yard.
CNN's Martin Savidge is there. He's in Kuwait.

Hi, Marty.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Kyra.

No question that the military level of U.S. forces here in Kuwait is on the rise, and with it, so is the anxiety level of the Kuwaiti people. Let me preface all of this by saying that obviously specific number of troops and the exact location of them here in country is considered to be a high-priority security matter, so we're not going to get into specifics. It is safe to say though that, right now, there are over 17,000 U.S. forces here. Much of that is made up of the second brigade of the third infantry division. We already know the first and third brigades of that same division have been told that they are on their way to Kuwait.

When they get here, it will be the first time that an entire division is in place in this region since the last Persian Gulf War, back in 1991.

We talked about the Kuwaiti people. They have heard about the numbers going up, as far as troops here. They have not seen it. The reason for that is when U.S. forces do arrive, they are quickly moved out to bases and facilities away from Kuwait City and out in the desert, and for the most part, they stay there and train and rehearse, and they stay on site primarily due to security reasons. If a small number of them do come into Kuwait City here, most times here, you may not recognize them. Certainly, they are not in uniform. They are all dressed in civilian clothing. And the Kuwaiti people say, at least publicly to us, they welcome the presence of U.S. forces.

One woman told us that she felt for the parents of those young men and women, knowing that they're sending their sons and daughters here to protect their nation. Another man said the United States has proven to be a better ally than many of the Arab nations in the region -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Live from Kuwait, Martin Savidge, thank you.

The military buildup has weeks to go, and in this country, tens of thousands are warriors gearing up. CNN's Frank Buckley standing by on a warship bound for the Gulf, the USS Bonhomme Richard, docked in San Diego -- Frank.

FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, we are at pier 13. This ship and six others will transport 10,000 Marines and sailors deploying Friday to the Persian Gulf area. A great deal of activity taking place here at pier 13. If you look downstairs from where we are, we are on the elevator of this ship right now. Down below, you can see that there are some of the Marines who are preparing for this several weeks-long journey to what may be hostilities in their future, and they are preparing on the pier here.

One of the activities they are doing, they are coming to this truck that is parked alongside the USS Bonhomme Richard, and they are picking up their packs that they are assigned. Once they picked up those packs, then they actually come aboard the ship. We've seen some of the Marines are starting to board this ship already.

We want to take you inside to give you a sense of some of the activity that's taking place inside the ship.

As we go inside from the -- into the hangar bay, which is where we'll be headed next. There are vehicles, of course, aboard this ship, all kinds of materials that needs to be loaded aboard to sustain the men and women who will be serving aboard this ship, and then going ashore at some point.

A great deal of activity that's taking place, the man in charge of all of this activity is Larry Tarver. He is the command duty officer.

Ensign Tarver, first thanks very much for joining us. And great deal of activity here, a lot of responsibility on your shoulders. This is what your job, to make sure it all goes well today.

LARRY TARVER, ENSIGN, U.S. NAVY: Yes, sir. Just for today. Like you said, I'm the command duty officer.

Basically, I have to make sure that all of the on-load goes smoothly, and any of the major ship's evolutions that are happening today, kind of oversee that and make sure they happen smoothly.

BUCKLEY: Reporter: give us a sense of the types of things that are coming aboard. Of course, we see the Marines, but what are the other things need to be loaded for a several month long deployment?

TARVER: Just general storage, basically. Normal supplies, food, fresh fruits and vegetables, things of that nature getting stored away in our coolers, things like that, to get us ready to get under way, and of course, the Marines and all of their gear.

BUCKLEY: We talked earlier about the fact that this is a unique sort of a turnaround for you folks.

Normally, there's 18 months between the deployments. You have been involved in Operation Enduring Freedom. Seven months later, you're being called back into action. Tell us about how difficult that is on a personal level. You were telling me you have two kids, 10 and 11 years old. What's that like for you?

TARVER: It's pretty tough, but I don't know, when I joined the navy, they told us up front that your family didn't come with your sea bag. That's kind of hard for the families to take sometimes. This is our job. This is what we do. I think most people understand that that are in the military.

BUCKLEY: We've got a vehicle passing through here, loaded down with some perishable -- well, that says human blood. That's just one of the thins that has to come aboard. You've got medical facilities and you have to be prepared for anything, I suspect.

TARVER: Yes, this type of ship is used like an auxiliary hospital ship for treating casualties. We usually take a medical staff, a pretty good size medical staff with us. We have couple of operating rooms for taking care of casualties if we sustain any.

BUCKLEY: I'm just wondering, with your 10 and 11-year-old kids, what do you say to them before you go out on a situation like this, if I can ask?

TARVER: Well, it's pretty tough. It's emotionally stressful, of course. My children have been -- they know that dad's in the Navy. They're very proud of what I do. They tell all their friends, you know, hey, my dad's in the Navy, and he protects our country and helps keep us free. So they understand that. We discuss what my job's like, and they understand. I just tell them that I love them and write as much as they can, and keep in touch and let me know how they're doing in school and that kind of thing; keep in touch via e- mail and phone calls when we can, let me know how their lives are going while I'm away.

BUCKLEY: Tomorrow will be your last day spent with the family and last night before you board ship. Are there any special routines that you go through or anything like that?

TARVER: Usually try to spoil them a little bit before we get underway, Take them to their favorite restaurant, that kind of thing.

BUCKLEY: And obviously, Marines aboard this ship as well the Navy, an amphibious group like this, primary tasked to take the Marines ashore, take the Marines into the fight, if necessary. But also humanitarian missions are possible and evacuations are possible. Tell us about that.

TARVER: Those are called neo-ops, and we'll go in and evacuate civilians, if necessary. We have a plan for that type of operation in place. I can't tell you much about that, because it changes from operation to operation.

BUCKLEY: All right. I know you're very busy. I appreciate your time. Thank you very much, sir.

TARVER: Thank you. BUCKLEY: There you go, Kyra, just a look inside the USS Bonhomme Richard, some of the folks getting ready to get underway.

PHILLIPS: Great stuff. Frank Buckley live from San Diego. Thanks, Frank.

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 January 15, 2003 - 13:04   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush says time is running out on Iraq, and if his words aren't enough, he has the military might of the Pentagon to get Baghdad's attention. The massive buildup continues in Iraq's back yard.
CNN's Martin Savidge is there. He's in Kuwait.

Hi, Marty.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Kyra.

No question that the military level of U.S. forces here in Kuwait is on the rise, and with it, so is the anxiety level of the Kuwaiti people. Let me preface all of this by saying that obviously specific number of troops and the exact location of them here in country is considered to be a high-priority security matter, so we're not going to get into specifics. It is safe to say though that, right now, there are over 17,000 U.S. forces here. Much of that is made up of the second brigade of the third infantry division. We already know the first and third brigades of that same division have been told that they are on their way to Kuwait.

When they get here, it will be the first time that an entire division is in place in this region since the last Persian Gulf War, back in 1991.

We talked about the Kuwaiti people. They have heard about the numbers going up, as far as troops here. They have not seen it. The reason for that is when U.S. forces do arrive, they are quickly moved out to bases and facilities away from Kuwait City and out in the desert, and for the most part, they stay there and train and rehearse, and they stay on site primarily due to security reasons. If a small number of them do come into Kuwait City here, most times here, you may not recognize them. Certainly, they are not in uniform. They are all dressed in civilian clothing. And the Kuwaiti people say, at least publicly to us, they welcome the presence of U.S. forces.

One woman told us that she felt for the parents of those young men and women, knowing that they're sending their sons and daughters here to protect their nation. Another man said the United States has proven to be a better ally than many of the Arab nations in the region -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Live from Kuwait, Martin Savidge, thank you.

The military buildup has weeks to go, and in this country, tens of thousands are warriors gearing up. CNN's Frank Buckley standing by on a warship bound for the Gulf, the USS Bonhomme Richard, docked in San Diego -- Frank.

FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, we are at pier 13. This ship and six others will transport 10,000 Marines and sailors deploying Friday to the Persian Gulf area. A great deal of activity taking place here at pier 13. If you look downstairs from where we are, we are on the elevator of this ship right now. Down below, you can see that there are some of the Marines who are preparing for this several weeks-long journey to what may be hostilities in their future, and they are preparing on the pier here.

One of the activities they are doing, they are coming to this truck that is parked alongside the USS Bonhomme Richard, and they are picking up their packs that they are assigned. Once they picked up those packs, then they actually come aboard the ship. We've seen some of the Marines are starting to board this ship already.

We want to take you inside to give you a sense of some of the activity that's taking place inside the ship.

As we go inside from the -- into the hangar bay, which is where we'll be headed next. There are vehicles, of course, aboard this ship, all kinds of materials that needs to be loaded aboard to sustain the men and women who will be serving aboard this ship, and then going ashore at some point.

A great deal of activity that's taking place, the man in charge of all of this activity is Larry Tarver. He is the command duty officer.

Ensign Tarver, first thanks very much for joining us. And great deal of activity here, a lot of responsibility on your shoulders. This is what your job, to make sure it all goes well today.

LARRY TARVER, ENSIGN, U.S. NAVY: Yes, sir. Just for today. Like you said, I'm the command duty officer.

Basically, I have to make sure that all of the on-load goes smoothly, and any of the major ship's evolutions that are happening today, kind of oversee that and make sure they happen smoothly.

BUCKLEY: Reporter: give us a sense of the types of things that are coming aboard. Of course, we see the Marines, but what are the other things need to be loaded for a several month long deployment?

TARVER: Just general storage, basically. Normal supplies, food, fresh fruits and vegetables, things of that nature getting stored away in our coolers, things like that, to get us ready to get under way, and of course, the Marines and all of their gear.

BUCKLEY: We talked earlier about the fact that this is a unique sort of a turnaround for you folks.

Normally, there's 18 months between the deployments. You have been involved in Operation Enduring Freedom. Seven months later, you're being called back into action. Tell us about how difficult that is on a personal level. You were telling me you have two kids, 10 and 11 years old. What's that like for you?

TARVER: It's pretty tough, but I don't know, when I joined the navy, they told us up front that your family didn't come with your sea bag. That's kind of hard for the families to take sometimes. This is our job. This is what we do. I think most people understand that that are in the military.

BUCKLEY: We've got a vehicle passing through here, loaded down with some perishable -- well, that says human blood. That's just one of the thins that has to come aboard. You've got medical facilities and you have to be prepared for anything, I suspect.

TARVER: Yes, this type of ship is used like an auxiliary hospital ship for treating casualties. We usually take a medical staff, a pretty good size medical staff with us. We have couple of operating rooms for taking care of casualties if we sustain any.

BUCKLEY: I'm just wondering, with your 10 and 11-year-old kids, what do you say to them before you go out on a situation like this, if I can ask?

TARVER: Well, it's pretty tough. It's emotionally stressful, of course. My children have been -- they know that dad's in the Navy. They're very proud of what I do. They tell all their friends, you know, hey, my dad's in the Navy, and he protects our country and helps keep us free. So they understand that. We discuss what my job's like, and they understand. I just tell them that I love them and write as much as they can, and keep in touch and let me know how they're doing in school and that kind of thing; keep in touch via e- mail and phone calls when we can, let me know how their lives are going while I'm away.

BUCKLEY: Tomorrow will be your last day spent with the family and last night before you board ship. Are there any special routines that you go through or anything like that?

TARVER: Usually try to spoil them a little bit before we get underway, Take them to their favorite restaurant, that kind of thing.

BUCKLEY: And obviously, Marines aboard this ship as well the Navy, an amphibious group like this, primary tasked to take the Marines ashore, take the Marines into the fight, if necessary. But also humanitarian missions are possible and evacuations are possible. Tell us about that.

TARVER: Those are called neo-ops, and we'll go in and evacuate civilians, if necessary. We have a plan for that type of operation in place. I can't tell you much about that, because it changes from operation to operation.

BUCKLEY: All right. I know you're very busy. I appreciate your time. Thank you very much, sir.

TARVER: Thank you. BUCKLEY: There you go, Kyra, just a look inside the USS Bonhomme Richard, some of the folks getting ready to get underway.

PHILLIPS: Great stuff. Frank Buckley live from San Diego. Thanks, Frank.

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