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American Morning
U.S. Troops Conducting Live-Fire Drills in Kuwait
Aired October 16, 2002 - 09:14 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: As the United Nations Security Council debates a resolution on Iraq, the chief U.N. weapons inspector is urging Iraq to go along with new inspections, but if the confrontation with Iraq turns to war, the key southern ground force will come from U.S. troops in Kuwait.
Jamie McIntyre is in the Kuwaiti desert with U.S. forces who, are at this very moment, conducting live-fire drills. Join me -- he joins us now, live, by videophone.
Good morning, Jamie.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Paula. Another day, another CNN exclusive, another first for the "American Morning with Paula Zahn."
This is the first live news broadcast that the U.S. military and the Kuwaiti government has allowed from the Udairi training range where U.S. troops are training since September 11th, within very limited access here. This is where U.S. troops have been training for, really, more than a decade, since the end of the Persian Gulf War.
With me is Lieutenant Colonel Eric Wesley. He's the executive officer second battalion. Tell me a little bit about what you're doing here?
ERIC WESLEY, LIEUTENANT COLONEL, EXECUTIVE OFFICER, SECOND BATTALION: Right. As you know, we've been here for years, but the mission has been unchanged. It's threefold, very simply, it's to deter Iraqi aggression and, secondly, is to assure the Kuwaiti people of our resolve to defend Kuwait and then, finally, in the event that deterrence fails, we will follow the orders of the president to defeat that aggression.
MCINTYRE: Well, we all know President Bush is considering possible military action against Iraq. How does that change things?
WESLEY: Well, frankly it doesn't change it much. We can still conduct the same operations. We still train in the same tasks (ph). However, I will note that there is increased focus on the part of the soldiers. They read the papers like anybody else. And they're focused and they're training hard and they'll be ready.
MCINTYRE: That's, clearly, the sense we got from talking to the soldiers, Paula, that they are very much focused on their task at hand. But they know, in the back of their mind, either them or some of their colleagues could be going to Iraq in the future. But at this point, they are clear that there's been no decision and this training, although it's routine, even though it comes at a time when the situation in the world is not routine.
Paula.
ZAHN: Before we let you go, Jamie, just give us an idea of what these soldiers are up against, as they try to create a new life for themselves and get settled there.
MCINTYRE: Well, this -- the U.S. has learned a lot about operating in a desert environments in the Persian Gulf War. A lot of experience here. They figured how to make tanks work in the desert. As a matter of fact, they had a little more experience than we do. Our videophone was having some trouble with the heat. But they very much -- they've got newer equipment, newer tactics. And if there is any imminent military action in Iraq, these troops will definitely be ready to go.
ZAHN: Jamie McIntyre, thanks for yet another exclusive here on AMERICAN MORNING. We appreciate it.
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 October 16, 2002 - 09:14 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: As the United Nations Security Council debates a resolution on Iraq, the chief U.N. weapons inspector is urging Iraq to go along with new inspections, but if the confrontation with Iraq turns to war, the key southern ground force will come from U.S. troops in Kuwait.
Jamie McIntyre is in the Kuwaiti desert with U.S. forces who, are at this very moment, conducting live-fire drills. Join me -- he joins us now, live, by videophone.
Good morning, Jamie.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Paula. Another day, another CNN exclusive, another first for the "American Morning with Paula Zahn."
This is the first live news broadcast that the U.S. military and the Kuwaiti government has allowed from the Udairi training range where U.S. troops are training since September 11th, within very limited access here. This is where U.S. troops have been training for, really, more than a decade, since the end of the Persian Gulf War.
With me is Lieutenant Colonel Eric Wesley. He's the executive officer second battalion. Tell me a little bit about what you're doing here?
ERIC WESLEY, LIEUTENANT COLONEL, EXECUTIVE OFFICER, SECOND BATTALION: Right. As you know, we've been here for years, but the mission has been unchanged. It's threefold, very simply, it's to deter Iraqi aggression and, secondly, is to assure the Kuwaiti people of our resolve to defend Kuwait and then, finally, in the event that deterrence fails, we will follow the orders of the president to defeat that aggression.
MCINTYRE: Well, we all know President Bush is considering possible military action against Iraq. How does that change things?
WESLEY: Well, frankly it doesn't change it much. We can still conduct the same operations. We still train in the same tasks (ph). However, I will note that there is increased focus on the part of the soldiers. They read the papers like anybody else. And they're focused and they're training hard and they'll be ready.
MCINTYRE: That's, clearly, the sense we got from talking to the soldiers, Paula, that they are very much focused on their task at hand. But they know, in the back of their mind, either them or some of their colleagues could be going to Iraq in the future. But at this point, they are clear that there's been no decision and this training, although it's routine, even though it comes at a time when the situation in the world is not routine.
Paula.
ZAHN: Before we let you go, Jamie, just give us an idea of what these soldiers are up against, as they try to create a new life for themselves and get settled there.
MCINTYRE: Well, this -- the U.S. has learned a lot about operating in a desert environments in the Persian Gulf War. A lot of experience here. They figured how to make tanks work in the desert. As a matter of fact, they had a little more experience than we do. Our videophone was having some trouble with the heat. But they very much -- they've got newer equipment, newer tactics. And if there is any imminent military action in Iraq, these troops will definitely be ready to go.
ZAHN: Jamie McIntyre, thanks for yet another exclusive here on AMERICAN MORNING. We appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
