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American Morning
New Signs Israel's Getting Ready for War
Aired March 04, 2003 - 07:36 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Meanwhile, Middle East, Paula, new signs Israel's getting ready for war. Overnight, U.S. Patriot anti- missile batteries deployed in Tel Aviv neighbors.
For more on that, let's head to Israel, outside of Tel Aviv, and Kelly Wallace, who is standing by live right near one of the Patriot missile batteries -- Kelly, hello.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Bill.
Well, we'll all recall that the Patriot was not quite a success story during the 1991 Gulf War. The Patriots failed to prevent 39 Iraqi SCUDs from striking Israel. Well, American and Israeli officials are a lot more confident this time around, in part because they say the equipment is a lot better. You can see some of these American Patriot anti-missile missiles here. U.S. and Israeli officials tell me that the equipment is a lot better. They say...
(AUDIO GAP)
And any sense of message you're sending to the people of Israel by being here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not that I'm at liberty to say.
WALLACE: But it is obviously to protect...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To protect.
WALLACE: And how confident are you about your ability here to protect the Israelis if there's another Gulf War?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Extremely confident.
WALLACE: Why?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're well trained.
WALLACE: And the equipment this time around is how much better than it was in 1991?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Once again, I'm not at liberty to say.
WALLACE: But you seem to be confident.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very confident. HEMMER: All right, clearly we lost the microphone there from Kelly Wallace, reporting just outside of Tel Aviv on the missile batteries, the Patriot missiles arriving in Israel. As we all remember, as Kelly was reporting, back in the 1991 Persian Gulf War Israel was a target of incoming SCUDs.
By the way, in Kuwait, Camp Doha, the main center set up for the U.S. military right now just outside of Kuwait City, those Patriot missile batteries ring the entire base there. They say they are well fortified in the event that more SCUDs come in to Kuwait, as well.
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 March 4, 2003 - 07:36 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Meanwhile, Middle East, Paula, new signs Israel's getting ready for war. Overnight, U.S. Patriot anti- missile batteries deployed in Tel Aviv neighbors.
For more on that, let's head to Israel, outside of Tel Aviv, and Kelly Wallace, who is standing by live right near one of the Patriot missile batteries -- Kelly, hello.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Bill.
Well, we'll all recall that the Patriot was not quite a success story during the 1991 Gulf War. The Patriots failed to prevent 39 Iraqi SCUDs from striking Israel. Well, American and Israeli officials are a lot more confident this time around, in part because they say the equipment is a lot better. You can see some of these American Patriot anti-missile missiles here. U.S. and Israeli officials tell me that the equipment is a lot better. They say...
(AUDIO GAP)
And any sense of message you're sending to the people of Israel by being here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not that I'm at liberty to say.
WALLACE: But it is obviously to protect...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To protect.
WALLACE: And how confident are you about your ability here to protect the Israelis if there's another Gulf War?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Extremely confident.
WALLACE: Why?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're well trained.
WALLACE: And the equipment this time around is how much better than it was in 1991?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Once again, I'm not at liberty to say.
WALLACE: But you seem to be confident.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very confident. HEMMER: All right, clearly we lost the microphone there from Kelly Wallace, reporting just outside of Tel Aviv on the missile batteries, the Patriot missiles arriving in Israel. As we all remember, as Kelly was reporting, back in the 1991 Persian Gulf War Israel was a target of incoming SCUDs.
By the way, in Kuwait, Camp Doha, the main center set up for the U.S. military right now just outside of Kuwait City, those Patriot missile batteries ring the entire base there. They say they are well fortified in the event that more SCUDs come in to Kuwait, as well.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
