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American Morning
Pentagon's Strategic Shift
Aired April 29, 2003 - 07:07 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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's check in at the Pentagon now. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is in Saudi Arabia today. He plans to meet with the Saudi defense minister. They'll be talking about U.S. plans to scale back America's military presence in the kingdom.
Our Chris Plante is at the Pentagon with more.
Chris -- good morning.
CHRIS PLANTE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Daryn.
Yes, that's right. This is actually something of a long-awaited turn of events here. The expectation has been for some time that once the regime of Saddam Hussein had been removed from power that the U.S. would be able to scale back on the U.S. military presence in the region, in particular in Saudi Arabia, where it's been fairly controversial really since the end of the 1991 Gulf War, when the U.S. kept a presence there following the war in large part to enforce the no-fly zone in southern Iraq.
Now, that no-fly zone -- excuse me -- that no-fly zone, it should be remembered, it's in place largely to protect the Shia population in the south from air attacks from Iraqi forces. That's been ongoing now, again, since 1991. There are about 10,000 U.S. forces there, primarily Air Force, about 100 strike aircraft at Prince Sultan Air Base and a combined air operation center there.
The combined air operation center now being moved to a base in Qatar, where it was set up for this most recent conflict with Iraq.
So, they're going to be able to reduce the number significantly there in Saudi Arabia. Some small number of troops may stay, perhaps to work on training missions with the Saudi military. But overwhelmingly the number of troops there -- U.S. troops there will leave.
They have been controversial. Islamic fundamentalists in particular and al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden specifically have cited the presence of U.S. troops there as being a major issue, given that Saudi Arabia is home to the two holiest sites of Islam, the mosques at Mecca and Medina -- shrines at Mecca and Medina.
Also, it should be noted that U.S. troops in Incirlik, in Turkey, which were enforcing the northern no-fly zone also scaling back. It's part of a broader reassessment of global deployments -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Chris Plante at the Pentagon -- Chris, 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 April 29, 2003 - 07:07 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's check in at the Pentagon now. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is in Saudi Arabia today. He plans to meet with the Saudi defense minister. They'll be talking about U.S. plans to scale back America's military presence in the kingdom.
Our Chris Plante is at the Pentagon with more.
Chris -- good morning.
CHRIS PLANTE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Daryn.
Yes, that's right. This is actually something of a long-awaited turn of events here. The expectation has been for some time that once the regime of Saddam Hussein had been removed from power that the U.S. would be able to scale back on the U.S. military presence in the region, in particular in Saudi Arabia, where it's been fairly controversial really since the end of the 1991 Gulf War, when the U.S. kept a presence there following the war in large part to enforce the no-fly zone in southern Iraq.
Now, that no-fly zone -- excuse me -- that no-fly zone, it should be remembered, it's in place largely to protect the Shia population in the south from air attacks from Iraqi forces. That's been ongoing now, again, since 1991. There are about 10,000 U.S. forces there, primarily Air Force, about 100 strike aircraft at Prince Sultan Air Base and a combined air operation center there.
The combined air operation center now being moved to a base in Qatar, where it was set up for this most recent conflict with Iraq.
So, they're going to be able to reduce the number significantly there in Saudi Arabia. Some small number of troops may stay, perhaps to work on training missions with the Saudi military. But overwhelmingly the number of troops there -- U.S. troops there will leave.
They have been controversial. Islamic fundamentalists in particular and al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden specifically have cited the presence of U.S. troops there as being a major issue, given that Saudi Arabia is home to the two holiest sites of Islam, the mosques at Mecca and Medina -- shrines at Mecca and Medina.
Also, it should be noted that U.S. troops in Incirlik, in Turkey, which were enforcing the northern no-fly zone also scaling back. It's part of a broader reassessment of global deployments -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Chris Plante at the Pentagon -- Chris, 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.
