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American Morning
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in Saudi Arabia Today
Aired April 29, 2003 - 09:06 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: By mutual agreement, the U.S. and Saudi Arabia are putting an end to almost all of the American military operations in the kingdom. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is in Saudi Arabia today. He met with Saudi defense ministers to discuss the move.
And our Chris Plante is at the Pentagon with more.
Chris -- good morning.
CHRIS PLANTE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Daryn.
That's right. There are about 10,000 U.S. forces in Saudi Arabia, have been there since essentially the end of the Persian Gulf War in 1991. Most of those are Air Forces manning a combined air operations center at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia. Some others have been at other bases throughout the country from time to time.
But most of these forces were involved in the enforcement of the southern no-fly zone in Iraq. And that is a fly zone that was put in place after the end of the Gulf War to protect largely the Shiite population in the south from attack from the air forces of the Iraqi military.
Now that the regime is gone, and this has been expected all along that when the regime was gone those forces would be able to leave Saudi Arabia. The presence there has never really been welcomed by large segments of the Saudi population. Saudi Arabia, of course, home to the two holiest sites in Islam, the major mosques at Mecca and Medina.
Islamic fundamentalists, including al Qaeda and, of course, Osama bin Laden, have long voiced objection to the presence of U.S. forces on Saudi soil, because of the importance of the two mosques there. In fact, there were two terrorist attacks, 19 airmen killed at the barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia a number of years back, and five Americans killed at a National Guard center in Riyadh in that same timeframe.
So, a lot of movement of troops out of Saudi Arabia now that that can be done. The air operation center moving to Qatar, where they are a little more welcome, things are a little more friendly right now, and it takes a bit of the burden off of Saudi Arabia and the United States -- 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 - 09:06 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: By mutual agreement, the U.S. and Saudi Arabia are putting an end to almost all of the American military operations in the kingdom. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is in Saudi Arabia today. He met with Saudi defense ministers to discuss the move.
And our Chris Plante is at the Pentagon with more.
Chris -- good morning.
CHRIS PLANTE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Daryn.
That's right. There are about 10,000 U.S. forces in Saudi Arabia, have been there since essentially the end of the Persian Gulf War in 1991. Most of those are Air Forces manning a combined air operations center at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia. Some others have been at other bases throughout the country from time to time.
But most of these forces were involved in the enforcement of the southern no-fly zone in Iraq. And that is a fly zone that was put in place after the end of the Gulf War to protect largely the Shiite population in the south from attack from the air forces of the Iraqi military.
Now that the regime is gone, and this has been expected all along that when the regime was gone those forces would be able to leave Saudi Arabia. The presence there has never really been welcomed by large segments of the Saudi population. Saudi Arabia, of course, home to the two holiest sites in Islam, the major mosques at Mecca and Medina.
Islamic fundamentalists, including al Qaeda and, of course, Osama bin Laden, have long voiced objection to the presence of U.S. forces on Saudi soil, because of the importance of the two mosques there. In fact, there were two terrorist attacks, 19 airmen killed at the barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia a number of years back, and five Americans killed at a National Guard center in Riyadh in that same timeframe.
So, a lot of movement of troops out of Saudi Arabia now that that can be done. The air operation center moving to Qatar, where they are a little more welcome, things are a little more friendly right now, and it takes a bit of the burden off of Saudi Arabia and the United States -- 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.
