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American Morning

America's New War: U.S. Options for Strikes on Afghanistan

Aired September 26, 2001 - 11:46   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: If the U.S. decides to do a military strike against Afghanistan, there are a few options.

Our Kyra Phillips joins with us now to fill us in on that part of the story.

Hi, Kyra.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Paula.

Well, we want it talk about two scenarios this morning. These are hypotheticals now that we have constructed if U.S. fighters were to strike Afghanistan.

The first scenario, Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia. The U.S. and Saudis have been close allies for more than half a century. U.S. troops have remained in the kingdom since leading the multinational coalition that ended Iraqs invasion of Kuwait in '91.

Now, about 4500 U.S. military personnel are based here in addition to an undisclosed number of war planes. Now, the U.S. war planes are currently patrolling the no-fly zone over southern Iraq. However, the U.S. has not received permission yet from the Saudis to be able to execute offensive missions out of from their country. But if the U.S. gets a green light, this could be the route to Afghanistan. We just showed it to you. It would move over the Gulf, through Iran, if the Iran allows the U.S. to fly through its air space, entering Afghanistan and carrying out strikes.

Now, here's scenario number two, this would be off the carriers. Navy strike fighter pilots tell me they believe this is the real tactical option. For example, the air wing aboard USS Enterprise could take off from this carrier in international waters and not have to worry about air space permission. Strike fighter pilots could fly right through Pakistan and into Afghanistan.

Another crucial element in a strike is also weather, we have been talking about this. Every mission brief with a strike element includes a weather condition reports.

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