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American Morning

America's New War: Army Emphasizing Special Ops in Future Military Campaign

Aired September 20, 2001 - 10:08   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.
JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR: Here in Washington, obviously, the president preparing for his speech to the Congress tonight, a chance to explain to the American people his thoughts on the investigation, on the military build up underway as well, as we are tracking throughout the day the devastating short-term, anyway, economic impact of this crisis.

Officials telling the president will not announce any imminent military action, but does believe he has an obligation to go before the American people at a time he is now deploying war ships and war planes overseas.

And for more on the nuts and bolts and the numbers of that deployment, let's now bring in our Bob Franken over at the Pentagon.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And, John, let's add to the deployment the United States Army. We have now learned that the U.S. Army is sending out deployment orders to units. No specific units named of course, that's the way they have been operating. But the Army secretary does confirm it will involve various commando units, including the Rangers, the Special Forces, units that they call special ops, units that the Army secretary confirmed just a short while ago could have a major role.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THOMAS WHITE, ARMY SECRETARY: The Rangers and the special operating forces will play a prominent role in any campaign that we conduct going forward, as they have in past campaigns; that's why in the 1970s and 80s and 90s we put an enormous effort into the buildup of their capabilities post Vietnam. And the value of those forces, I think, has been displayed a number of times, and they will be critical to this campaign going forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKEN: Now, add to that deployment the deployment of military aircraft, which is well underway now. It includes a variety of planes, including F-15 Es and F-16s, which are going to be used to supplement the planes that are already in Iraq flying the enforcement of the no-fly zone. You see B-52 bombers. There will be B1 Stealth bombers, AWACS planes, the ones that do the high-technology snooping wherever they are, the refueling aircraft, which will literally provide gas stations in the air for all these other planes as they move along, and surveillance aircraft. That is the aviation part of this deployment.

We also know about the added muscle that's being provided by the Navy. We saw the departure from Norfolk, Virginia yesterday of the Theodore Roosevelt, a huge aircraft carrier with it's flotilla of 13 other ships heading now for the Mediterranean Sea and points unknown after that. It was originally scheduled to go, but it -- the ship that it was going to replace and the battle group that it was going to replace, that of the Enterprise, is staying in place.

As you can see, when the ships arrive there will be one somewhere in the Mediterranean, that's the Roosevelt group; you see the Carl Vinson carrier group in the Persian Gulf; and you see in the Arabian Sea, as best we know, the USS Enterprise, the ship that was supposed to come back but not did. So the United States is sending a massive military force to the region, the region that has had most of the focus.

During the briefing by the Army secretary, a question was raised by the Russian experience, John, in Afghanistan, which was such a huge failer. The reporter asked the Army secretary does he believe that the U.S. military has learned a lesson. His answer: I hope so -- John.

KING: Well, Bob, let me ask you, a little more than a decade ago, during the Persian Gulf War, we saw the first U.S. troops go over to the region to Saudi Arabia in August right after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. It was a several month build up, five months long. The air war in January, after a buildup that began in August. Any sense that we're looking to a similar period of time, or is the military trying to move more quickly this time?

FRANKEN: Well, the military looks like it's trying to move more quickly and making the point that it's emphasizing its commando, it's special operations, which of course could be in place much more quickly. But the nature of the Persian Gulf operation was entirely different with what seems to be contemplated here.

KING: All right, thank you very much. Bob Franken at the Pentagon.

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