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American Morning
In Kuwait, American Troops Training for War
Aired February 13, 2003 - 08:00 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: Let's go back to Kuwait, where American troops are training for war.
Bill Hemmer is there this morning not far from the Iraqi border -- good morning, Bill.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Paula.
We're at Camp Virginia and throughout the Kuwaiti desert here, the U.S. military has set up a number of installations here. They take names like Camp Virginia. There's Camp New York. There's Camp Pennsylvania. If you start to pick up on a pattern right now, those are the places where the attacks of 9/11 took place about 17 months ago.
Six thousand members of the U.S. Army Fifth Corps gathered here. And look who I found, Paula. I found two brothers, literally two brothers. These guys are from the same family back in the States.
Good afternoon, men.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good afternoon.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good afternoon.
HEMMER: Your name and home town?
GLEN TURK: I'm Glen Turk.
HEMMER: Glen Turk. And you're?
TURK: Baltimore, Maryland.
DENNIS RANDALL: Dennis Randall.
HEMMER: All right. How did you guys end up in the same unit, in the same army, in the same desert at the same time?
TURK: Well, I started out wanting to find out what he was doing in the Army and I joined. And we landed up in the Army at Duberstein (ph), Germany. And we ended up going to the first Gulf War.
HEMMER: Right. So you were there 12 years ago here in the same country?
RANDALL: Oh, yes.
TURK: Yes.
HEMMER: Oh, well, keep up the good work, men. Great to talk to you, OK?
RANDALL: All right.
HEMMER: Paula, in addition to these guys, we found three couples who are married serving in the same unit. Much more throughout the morning here at Camp Virginia, Paula. See you again in a couple of minutes.
ZAHN: Thanks, Bill.
(NEWS ALERT)
ZAHN: More now on the report from Iraq's missile systems. Experts say Iraq has missiles that can fly beyond what is allowed by the U.N. The conclusion comes just one day before the top U.N. weapons inspectors go before the Security Council.
Let's check in with Nic Robertson, who's standing by in Baghdad with the very latest from there -- good morning, Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
This missile is the al-Samoud 2 missile. Now, under U.N. rules, it's only allowed to go 93 miles. U.N. inspectors have been to see tests here of that missile. Now, in about a quarter of those tests, the missile has gone beyond 93 miles. One test, in fact, it went 114 miles. Also, weapons inspectors have noted some other changes in this missile. Its diameter increased from 23 inches to 30 inches. Hans Blix, in his report to the U.N. Security Council two weeks ago, said that 318 missile engines that were being brought into Iraq were possibly for use in that missile.
That's what concerns the inspectors, because the conclusion of this committee appears to indicate that it thinks that this missile was perhaps not accidentally going beyond the 93 mile limit, but may have been designed to do that.
However, Iraqi officials, Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz in Rome has denied that. He says the reason that the missile goes beyond, has gone beyond that range is that it doesn't have the guidance and control mechanisms fitted to it. This additional weight and with real explosives on board, Iraqi officials say would stop it going beyond that 93 mile limit -- Paula.
ZAHN: Nic Robertson, we're going to leave it there this morning.
Thanks so much.
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 February 13, 2003 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's go back to Kuwait, where American troops are training for war.
Bill Hemmer is there this morning not far from the Iraqi border -- good morning, Bill.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Paula.
We're at Camp Virginia and throughout the Kuwaiti desert here, the U.S. military has set up a number of installations here. They take names like Camp Virginia. There's Camp New York. There's Camp Pennsylvania. If you start to pick up on a pattern right now, those are the places where the attacks of 9/11 took place about 17 months ago.
Six thousand members of the U.S. Army Fifth Corps gathered here. And look who I found, Paula. I found two brothers, literally two brothers. These guys are from the same family back in the States.
Good afternoon, men.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good afternoon.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good afternoon.
HEMMER: Your name and home town?
GLEN TURK: I'm Glen Turk.
HEMMER: Glen Turk. And you're?
TURK: Baltimore, Maryland.
DENNIS RANDALL: Dennis Randall.
HEMMER: All right. How did you guys end up in the same unit, in the same army, in the same desert at the same time?
TURK: Well, I started out wanting to find out what he was doing in the Army and I joined. And we landed up in the Army at Duberstein (ph), Germany. And we ended up going to the first Gulf War.
HEMMER: Right. So you were there 12 years ago here in the same country?
RANDALL: Oh, yes.
TURK: Yes.
HEMMER: Oh, well, keep up the good work, men. Great to talk to you, OK?
RANDALL: All right.
HEMMER: Paula, in addition to these guys, we found three couples who are married serving in the same unit. Much more throughout the morning here at Camp Virginia, Paula. See you again in a couple of minutes.
ZAHN: Thanks, Bill.
(NEWS ALERT)
ZAHN: More now on the report from Iraq's missile systems. Experts say Iraq has missiles that can fly beyond what is allowed by the U.N. The conclusion comes just one day before the top U.N. weapons inspectors go before the Security Council.
Let's check in with Nic Robertson, who's standing by in Baghdad with the very latest from there -- good morning, Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
This missile is the al-Samoud 2 missile. Now, under U.N. rules, it's only allowed to go 93 miles. U.N. inspectors have been to see tests here of that missile. Now, in about a quarter of those tests, the missile has gone beyond 93 miles. One test, in fact, it went 114 miles. Also, weapons inspectors have noted some other changes in this missile. Its diameter increased from 23 inches to 30 inches. Hans Blix, in his report to the U.N. Security Council two weeks ago, said that 318 missile engines that were being brought into Iraq were possibly for use in that missile.
That's what concerns the inspectors, because the conclusion of this committee appears to indicate that it thinks that this missile was perhaps not accidentally going beyond the 93 mile limit, but may have been designed to do that.
However, Iraqi officials, Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz in Rome has denied that. He says the reason that the missile goes beyond, has gone beyond that range is that it doesn't have the guidance and control mechanisms fitted to it. This additional weight and with real explosives on board, Iraqi officials say would stop it going beyond that 93 mile limit -- Paula.
ZAHN: Nic Robertson, we're going to leave it there this morning.
Thanks so much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
