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American Morning
U.S. Planners Moving to Qatar
Aired January 08, 2003 - 07:03 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: The Pentagon is moving senior military planners to Qatar in preparation for a possible war with Iraq. It is part of the growing deployment to the region.
And we're going to look at the numbers right now: 65,000 troops are in the Gulf region right now, 25,000 more will be deployed this week, and by the end of the month, 100,000 will be in the area, and by the middle of February, as many as 250,000 troops will be there.
Let's check in with Barbara Starr, who joins us from the Pentagon this morning.
Good morning -- Barbara. Tell us what's behind these latest troop movements.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Paula.
General Tommy Franks, you should know, the head of U.S. Central Command, is in Washington this morning to meet with top officials, including President Bush we are told, to talk about all of this. And the strategy remains basically the same. Put a lot of fire power into the region, be ready to go, possibly as soon as mid-February if the president orders a war against Iraq, but hope that the presence of that fire power somehow convinces Saddam Hussein that he can't win, but that, at the moment, appears to be just a hope.
Now, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said here in the Pentagon yesterday that war is not inevitable, that it is the last choice, not the first choice. But as you said, that buildup is continuing.
We are told now that the top planners of the U.S. Central Command are going to be on their way back to Qatar, back to that planning center, and that that command center will be operational within weeks.
And, Paula, later in the show, we'll have more for you from the Pentagon about all of this.
ZAHN: All right, thanks so much, Barbara.
Joining us now from Tucson, Arizona to talk more about the troop movements, our military analyst, retired Air Force Major General Don Shepperd.
Good morning. I think this is the first chance I've seen you -- talked to you this New Year.
MAJ. GEN. DON SHEPPERD, U.S. AIR FORCE (RET.): Good morning, Paula.
ZAHN: Good morning.
You just heard a little bit of Barbara Starr's analysis. Based on the fact that by mid-February, we could have some one-quarter of a million troops ready to go, do you think war is inevitable?
SHEPPERD: No, Paula, I don't think it's inevitable. I think the words of the president and the secretary of defense are right on. It depends on what Hans Blix does and what he finds in the inspections. It also depends upon Saddam Hussein, and what he provides, not in the way of being able to find things that he has, but prove that he has destroyed them or abandoned his efforts.
I think there is still a chance, and Secretary Rumsfeld said it yesterday, that basically exile is certainly an option. I think we're all hoping that that takes place. But if it doesn't take place, we will have the troops there to do what the president orders if he orders combat.
ZAHN: What incentive do you think Saddam Hussein has now to consider an exile plan? There were a couple of reports in the news yesterday suggesting a high-ranking Saudi official actually traveled to Iraq to sit down and talk with Saddam Hussein's people about that possibility.
SHEPPERD: Yes, I think the incentive for him is survival. It should be very clear to him when we put that number of forces in the area that we have the capability to destroy him and his Baath regime. What lies ahead for him is certain defeat if there is combat in the Middle East. He is going to go down, as is his regime. He will end up, and his minions will end up, either dead or in The Hague is probably the message that's being sent, and therefore, it looks to me like exile would be a very good option if he decided to take it.
ZAHN: Although he has made some curious moves militarily himself, has he not? There has been some attention paid to the amount of his Republican Guard troops that has been moved towards the center of Baghdad.
SHEPPERD: Yes, it's very likely that he has all sorts of plans for survival. Clearly, he would like to drag us into house-to-house fighting in downtown Baghdad. That's something that we would certainly like to avoid. There have been rumors of a scorched earth policy in which he would destroy his oil fields and other things. We don't know for sure if that's the case.
On the other hand, we will be making plans if we go in there and if he does those types of things. But also, there will be a large psychological campaign that's already under way to convince anyone close to him that if they take part in these things, they clearly are going to go down with him and be held responsible, Paula.
ZAHN: If it comes to urban warfare, how prepared do you think U.S. troops are? SHEPPERD: Paula, we are well-trained in urban warfare, but no matter how well-trained you are, urban warfare is the ugliest of ugly. Throw on top of urban warfare the possibility of uses of weapons of mass destruction, such as chemical or bio, and it gets even uglier.
There is no way if you're going house to house and clearing things out that you can avoid your own casualties or unwanted civilian casualties. It would be very, very ugly and the thing we want to avoid and a last-ditch effort that he might want to cause. This is unpredictable, and one other reason that we don't want combat, or at least we want it as a last resort there, Paula.
ZAHN: Barbara also reported that some senior planners are heading to Qatar. We know we just witnessed some exercises there close to that area where the command center in Qatar is set up. How significant is this?
SHEPPERD: It's very significant that we have the command center there. It originally was in Saudi Arabia during the last war. This is a new command post. CNN was there covering the exercise Internal Look. That was the dry run, if you will, to test out these facilities, and by al reports, it was very successful.
So, an advance team is going there to reactivate or activate that headquarters, and General Franks, if he desires and decides to, can take his whole Central Command staff there and run the war from Qatar at As Sayliyah Base, which is south of Doha in Qatar there, Paula.
ZAHN: We've got 10 seconds left. General Tommy Franks is going to be meeting with the president and the secretary of defense today. What do you think is going to come out of those meetings?
SHEPPERD: My guess is final plans for the deployment and preparation of forces and the approval of the initial actions if they take place. That's my best guess, Paula.
ZAHN: Major General Don Shepperd, as always, good to see you in this brand new year. Thanks.
SHEPPERD: Thank you.
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 8, 2003 - 07:03 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: The Pentagon is moving senior military planners to Qatar in preparation for a possible war with Iraq. It is part of the growing deployment to the region.
And we're going to look at the numbers right now: 65,000 troops are in the Gulf region right now, 25,000 more will be deployed this week, and by the end of the month, 100,000 will be in the area, and by the middle of February, as many as 250,000 troops will be there.
Let's check in with Barbara Starr, who joins us from the Pentagon this morning.
Good morning -- Barbara. Tell us what's behind these latest troop movements.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Paula.
General Tommy Franks, you should know, the head of U.S. Central Command, is in Washington this morning to meet with top officials, including President Bush we are told, to talk about all of this. And the strategy remains basically the same. Put a lot of fire power into the region, be ready to go, possibly as soon as mid-February if the president orders a war against Iraq, but hope that the presence of that fire power somehow convinces Saddam Hussein that he can't win, but that, at the moment, appears to be just a hope.
Now, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said here in the Pentagon yesterday that war is not inevitable, that it is the last choice, not the first choice. But as you said, that buildup is continuing.
We are told now that the top planners of the U.S. Central Command are going to be on their way back to Qatar, back to that planning center, and that that command center will be operational within weeks.
And, Paula, later in the show, we'll have more for you from the Pentagon about all of this.
ZAHN: All right, thanks so much, Barbara.
Joining us now from Tucson, Arizona to talk more about the troop movements, our military analyst, retired Air Force Major General Don Shepperd.
Good morning. I think this is the first chance I've seen you -- talked to you this New Year.
MAJ. GEN. DON SHEPPERD, U.S. AIR FORCE (RET.): Good morning, Paula.
ZAHN: Good morning.
You just heard a little bit of Barbara Starr's analysis. Based on the fact that by mid-February, we could have some one-quarter of a million troops ready to go, do you think war is inevitable?
SHEPPERD: No, Paula, I don't think it's inevitable. I think the words of the president and the secretary of defense are right on. It depends on what Hans Blix does and what he finds in the inspections. It also depends upon Saddam Hussein, and what he provides, not in the way of being able to find things that he has, but prove that he has destroyed them or abandoned his efforts.
I think there is still a chance, and Secretary Rumsfeld said it yesterday, that basically exile is certainly an option. I think we're all hoping that that takes place. But if it doesn't take place, we will have the troops there to do what the president orders if he orders combat.
ZAHN: What incentive do you think Saddam Hussein has now to consider an exile plan? There were a couple of reports in the news yesterday suggesting a high-ranking Saudi official actually traveled to Iraq to sit down and talk with Saddam Hussein's people about that possibility.
SHEPPERD: Yes, I think the incentive for him is survival. It should be very clear to him when we put that number of forces in the area that we have the capability to destroy him and his Baath regime. What lies ahead for him is certain defeat if there is combat in the Middle East. He is going to go down, as is his regime. He will end up, and his minions will end up, either dead or in The Hague is probably the message that's being sent, and therefore, it looks to me like exile would be a very good option if he decided to take it.
ZAHN: Although he has made some curious moves militarily himself, has he not? There has been some attention paid to the amount of his Republican Guard troops that has been moved towards the center of Baghdad.
SHEPPERD: Yes, it's very likely that he has all sorts of plans for survival. Clearly, he would like to drag us into house-to-house fighting in downtown Baghdad. That's something that we would certainly like to avoid. There have been rumors of a scorched earth policy in which he would destroy his oil fields and other things. We don't know for sure if that's the case.
On the other hand, we will be making plans if we go in there and if he does those types of things. But also, there will be a large psychological campaign that's already under way to convince anyone close to him that if they take part in these things, they clearly are going to go down with him and be held responsible, Paula.
ZAHN: If it comes to urban warfare, how prepared do you think U.S. troops are? SHEPPERD: Paula, we are well-trained in urban warfare, but no matter how well-trained you are, urban warfare is the ugliest of ugly. Throw on top of urban warfare the possibility of uses of weapons of mass destruction, such as chemical or bio, and it gets even uglier.
There is no way if you're going house to house and clearing things out that you can avoid your own casualties or unwanted civilian casualties. It would be very, very ugly and the thing we want to avoid and a last-ditch effort that he might want to cause. This is unpredictable, and one other reason that we don't want combat, or at least we want it as a last resort there, Paula.
ZAHN: Barbara also reported that some senior planners are heading to Qatar. We know we just witnessed some exercises there close to that area where the command center in Qatar is set up. How significant is this?
SHEPPERD: It's very significant that we have the command center there. It originally was in Saudi Arabia during the last war. This is a new command post. CNN was there covering the exercise Internal Look. That was the dry run, if you will, to test out these facilities, and by al reports, it was very successful.
So, an advance team is going there to reactivate or activate that headquarters, and General Franks, if he desires and decides to, can take his whole Central Command staff there and run the war from Qatar at As Sayliyah Base, which is south of Doha in Qatar there, Paula.
ZAHN: We've got 10 seconds left. General Tommy Franks is going to be meeting with the president and the secretary of defense today. What do you think is going to come out of those meetings?
SHEPPERD: My guess is final plans for the deployment and preparation of forces and the approval of the initial actions if they take place. That's my best guess, Paula.
ZAHN: Major General Don Shepperd, as always, good to see you in this brand new year. Thanks.
SHEPPERD: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
