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American Morning

Secretary of Defense Traveling Overseas

Aired April 28, 2003 - 07:32   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: The secretary of defense traveling overseas, we want to get back to that right now. Donald Rumsfeld meeting today with U.S. troops in Qatar, commending them on the remarkable success in Iraq, which he says will help transform the way the U.S. defends itself going forward in the 21st century.
More on the Secretary's trip to the Middle East, Chris Plante live at the Pentagon this morning -- Chris, good to see you.

Good morning there.

CHRIS PLANTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Bill.

That's right, the Secretary of Defense making a sort of a round robin tour of locations in the Middle East. He stopped in Doha, Qatar, where the forward base for the U.S. Central Command has been for the course of this war and where they will now be moving the combined air operations center out of Saudi Arabia to Doha. And while the Secretary did not declare victory -- he said that's a job for the president -- he did have some encouraging words for the troops while he was there during a rally after meeting with General Franks and some other commanders.

And here's a little bit of what he had to say to them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Think of the scenes we've all witnessed of free Iraqis pulling down statues of Saddam Hussein, embracing coalition forces, celebrating their new found freedom. They will certainly take their place alongside the fall of the Berlin Wall, the liberation of Paris. And each of you helped make that happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PLANTE: So the schedule, as we understand it, is still in flux a little bit. The airplane that they were traveling on had some mechanical problems when they stopped for fuel in Shannon, Ireland on the way to the region. They had planned on making a number of stops. Some stops will still be made, but we're being told here that the schedule is still in flux and not entirely sure which countries he's going to be stopping in now -- Bill.

HEMMER: Chris, what about the story, also, about the U.S. moving some of its Air Force components out of Saudi Arabia, transferring them to Qatar? What more do we know? PLANTE: Well, we know that this is, in part, because of the end of Operation Southern Watch, which was the enforcement of the southern no fly zone in Iraq. Operation Northern Watch, of course, the operation of the northern no fly zone, also brought to a halt. And they've been using Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, really, since the end of the Persian Gulf War, set up a very expensive operations center there.

The Saudis, there's always been a little bit of tension there with the U.S. having such a heavy presence in Saudi Arabia and this is kind of by mutual agreement that they'll take a significant number of U.S. forces off of Saudi soil and put them in Qatar, where, quite honestly, conditions are probably a little bit more hospitable right now. And also because Central Command built this forward operating center. They've got a lot of sort of the latest equipment there now -- Bill.

HEMMER: Chris, in a word or two, is this the first of more to come out of Saudi or is this where it stops right now?

PLANTE: Well, that's a good question. It remains to be seen. Certainly the Saudis would like to see fewer U.S. troops there. They have problems with fundamentalist Islam and the U.S. presence in Saudi Arabia, which is home to the two holiest sites in Islam. It's been an ongoing issue between the United States and Saudi Arabia. So perhaps more to come, but no official word on that so far.

HEMMER: Thanks, Chris.

Chris Plante live at the Pentagon this morning.

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 April 28, 2003 - 07:32   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: The secretary of defense traveling overseas, we want to get back to that right now. Donald Rumsfeld meeting today with U.S. troops in Qatar, commending them on the remarkable success in Iraq, which he says will help transform the way the U.S. defends itself going forward in the 21st century.
More on the Secretary's trip to the Middle East, Chris Plante live at the Pentagon this morning -- Chris, good to see you.

Good morning there.

CHRIS PLANTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Bill.

That's right, the Secretary of Defense making a sort of a round robin tour of locations in the Middle East. He stopped in Doha, Qatar, where the forward base for the U.S. Central Command has been for the course of this war and where they will now be moving the combined air operations center out of Saudi Arabia to Doha. And while the Secretary did not declare victory -- he said that's a job for the president -- he did have some encouraging words for the troops while he was there during a rally after meeting with General Franks and some other commanders.

And here's a little bit of what he had to say to them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Think of the scenes we've all witnessed of free Iraqis pulling down statues of Saddam Hussein, embracing coalition forces, celebrating their new found freedom. They will certainly take their place alongside the fall of the Berlin Wall, the liberation of Paris. And each of you helped make that happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PLANTE: So the schedule, as we understand it, is still in flux a little bit. The airplane that they were traveling on had some mechanical problems when they stopped for fuel in Shannon, Ireland on the way to the region. They had planned on making a number of stops. Some stops will still be made, but we're being told here that the schedule is still in flux and not entirely sure which countries he's going to be stopping in now -- Bill.

HEMMER: Chris, what about the story, also, about the U.S. moving some of its Air Force components out of Saudi Arabia, transferring them to Qatar? What more do we know? PLANTE: Well, we know that this is, in part, because of the end of Operation Southern Watch, which was the enforcement of the southern no fly zone in Iraq. Operation Northern Watch, of course, the operation of the northern no fly zone, also brought to a halt. And they've been using Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, really, since the end of the Persian Gulf War, set up a very expensive operations center there.

The Saudis, there's always been a little bit of tension there with the U.S. having such a heavy presence in Saudi Arabia and this is kind of by mutual agreement that they'll take a significant number of U.S. forces off of Saudi soil and put them in Qatar, where, quite honestly, conditions are probably a little bit more hospitable right now. And also because Central Command built this forward operating center. They've got a lot of sort of the latest equipment there now -- Bill.

HEMMER: Chris, in a word or two, is this the first of more to come out of Saudi or is this where it stops right now?

PLANTE: Well, that's a good question. It remains to be seen. Certainly the Saudis would like to see fewer U.S. troops there. They have problems with fundamentalist Islam and the U.S. presence in Saudi Arabia, which is home to the two holiest sites in Islam. It's been an ongoing issue between the United States and Saudi Arabia. So perhaps more to come, but no official word on that so far.

HEMMER: Thanks, Chris.

Chris Plante live at the Pentagon this morning.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com