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CNN Sunday Morning
The Pentagon Continues to Position Troops
Aired September 23, 2001 - 07:00 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: In New York City, rescue workers continue chipping away at the piles of debris at the World Trade Center complex. This while the nation takes a significant step toward moving on.
And good morning once again from New York City. It is Sunday morning, the 23rd of September, 12 full days now since the attack back on September 11. And good morning, nice to have you with us this morning wherever you are waking up today. I'll Bill Hemmer.
Also, with us in Washington again, John King is with us. John, good morning again to you.
JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: And good morning to you, Bill. The president remains up at Camp David. But in the hours ahead, we will hear from several senior administration officials making the rounds here in Washington, making their case -- the president's latest in the war on terrorism.
HEMMER: And the beat goes on from so many different angles. John, thanks, we'll be checking in throughout the morning with you.
Also, this morning, in Atlanta, Carol Lin. Let's go to Carol for the latest developments this morning.
Carol, good morning.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Bill, good to see you. First off, this morning, we want to show you the latest developments in America's New War. President Bush lifts some sanctions against Pakistan and India, drawing praise from Pakistan's U.S. ambassador. Sanctions were imposed because both nations were developing nuclear weapons.
Now, in Afghanistan, a report from Kabul says the ruling Taliban are building bunkers, installing anti-aircraft batteries and arming men in key border areas.
And in the United States, President Bush signs a $15 billion bailout for the airline industry. Airlines are already saying they plan to lay off about 100,000 workers. And America's new fear of travel is hitting the tourist industry particularly hard.
Bill, coming up, we're going to go into which countries are actually bordering Afghanistan should there be a military strike. We're going to show you with our 3-D maps where the support lies right now and where the coalition is building. We'll see you in a bit.
HEMMER: Thank you very much. Back here in New York City, the big story in the Bronx today -- tens of thousands expected to pack inside Yankee Stadium a bit later today for an interfaith service as to remember the victims of the World Trade Center attack. Organizers expect up to 60,000 to attend today. This is a live picture overlooking Yankee Stadium as the sun breaks on a new day here in New York.
Among those taking part -- Oprah Winfrey, James Earl Jones, Placido Domingo, the mayor will be there, the governor will be there. The service also being shown live on big screens in stadiums in Brooklyn and in Staten Island. A lot more on this major event from New York coming a bit later this morning.
But to Washington now. And the potential for military response again, here's John -- John.
KING: Good morning again, Bill. And as Carol Lin just noted, some important developments in the last several hours. Late last night, the president lifting sanctions on Pakistan and India, that viewed as an outright reward for the government of Pakistan for its cooperation in the showdown right now with Afghanistan.
And as you mentioned, the ceremony in New York today. Powerful pictures throughout the last 11 days. We want to show you one from last night at the White House. After these terrorist strikes, the president ordered all flags at federal buildings flown at half-staff. That proclamation, the official mourning period expired at sunset last night. Here, you see pictures, if wait just a second, you will the flag on top of the White House. This above the residential part of the White House, where the president lives and sleeps, going up last night at 7:00, just before sunset.
The president himself, this morning, will participate in a ceremony at Camp David. Marines there raising the flag at the Camp David presidential retreat -- excuse me -- to full staff as well.
Now, throughout the weekend, the military deployment continuing. Our Kathleen Koch is over live at the Pentagon this morning to bring us up to date on the latest -- Kathleen.
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. Well, the Pentagon continues very carefully positioning its troops, getting its manpower ready for any potential action that might be needed against Osama Bin Laden and his terrorist network.
The latest change is new deployment that was announced Saturday. The Air Force reservists and Air Force and National Guard reservists, that will bring to more than 10,000, the number of reserve troops who have been called up in this latest action. Now, this latest call-up, we're told by the Pentagon, would help with air refueling and communication for the deploying troops. Some of them would also help with security and other -- would also remain on their bases in helping with the deployment.
Now, the air deployments from some of those bases do continue. On Friday night, some of the nine of the work force B-52 bombers were spotted leaving Barksdale Air Force in Louisiana. They had been told earlier that they would deploy as part of this effort.
Defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld is said to be working on a second deployment order that would send support planes to the Persian Gulf or Central Asia, to that entire region. When that order is signed, that would bring to more than 200, the number of aircraft that are newly deployed to the region. The U.S. already has in place some 350 aircraft at bases in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and Turkey.
And John, on the latest reports from the Taliban in Afghanistan, that Saturday, they reportedly shot down an unmanned drone, the Pentagon continues to say very little about that report, only that the Pentagon will not discuss any operation issues and it will not respond to each and every statement from the Taliban.
U.S. government sources though do tell CNN's Pentagon correspondent, Jamie McIntyre that that drone apparently was collecting information, intelligence information for the CIA. However, we have no information on who that drone belonged to or just who put it back up -- who put it up in the air -- John.
KING: Kathleen Koch at the Pentagon for us this morning. Thank you very much.
As Kathleen just noted, intelligence, a major concern of the U.S. government has the military prepared for what the president promises will be an unconventional war. The military Special Operations Forces are likely to play a crucial role. CNN's Miles O'Brien now looks at the history behind the military's elite fighting unit.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They are revered as some of the best fighters in the world -- strong, smart, skilled. But it hasn't always been that way. After Vietnam, many in uniform looked down their noses at Special Ops as cowboys.
And as the military establishment focused on conventional war planning for a fight with the Soviets, Special Ops and unconventional war became the stepchild. Not seen as a resume builder, the training and the skills deteriorated.
GEN. ROBERT PATTERSON (RET), FORMER AIR FORCE SPECIAL OPS COMMANDER: They were there but had been atrophied to the point that they're very little capability, no promotions to speak of. You know, that was a dead end street.
O'BRIEN: The weakness was made apparent in 1980 with the failure of Operation Eagle Claw, a rescue mission to free hostages in the U.S. embassy in Iran. Instead of getting them out, eight commandos died in the desert when the helicopter collided with a tanker loaded with fuel 200 miles from the target. While the 1983 invasion of the Caribbean nation of Grenada was a military success, the Special Operations Force was beset with problems.
GEN. DAVID GRANGE (RET), FORMER RANGER COMMANDER: And we were still thrashing about with commanding control procedures, authorities within the chain of command. And so, we were -- we were still -- we were still sorting out some issues.
O'BRIEN: Congress concluding the special operators were not special enough. It wanted to put the Army, Navy and Air Force Special Operations under a single unified command, a reform that some Pentagon brass resisted.
PATTERSON: They did not want to give up assets. They just were hell bent and said; "We can do this on our own. We do not need a fifth service."
O'BRIEN: But a new law created a new joint command with its own budget, headed at McDill Air Force Base in Florida. This was a turning point for Special Ops.
GRANGE: The ability to have these people work together, train together all the time, you can't beat that. That's the biggest rating of this factor that there is.
O'BRIEN: While all the components of the Special Operations Force share many of the same combat skills, each unit also maintains its own specialty, which may useful in this new war on terrorism. For example, if the United States works with opposition groups, the Army's special forces, known as the Green Berets, could play a role.
GRANGE: They're experts on training indigenous personnel in guerrilla warfare.
O'BRIEN: In this case, there's an anti-Taliban coalition known as the Northern Alliance.
GRANGE: Now, that's not to say they're not already very good guerrilla fighters, but we would just add a little more expertise to what they already have.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three, two, one, green light.
O'BRIEN: The Army Rangers work in larger groups to pack more firepower. They are considered the experts in seizing airfields.
GRANGE: A lot of these airfields are located by military installations. It may be 20, 30 buildings that are barracks, maybe a 1,000 enemy soldiers at these locations.
O'BRIEN: Air Force special operations uses some of the same equipment seen throughout the military. But to insert, resupply and rescue f fighters deep inside enemy territory, the aircraft are modified to fly longer, lower and quieter. PATTERSON: In a Special Operations mission, the routine mission, if you're detected on the way to target, you may as well turn around and go home. You failed.
O'BRIEN: As tensions rise in this unconventional war, U.S. officials will likely monitor the fate of eight western humanitarian workers, including two Americans arrested by the Taliban last month. They were charged with trying to convert Muslims to Christianity. The super secret Delta Force might be employed to help.
GRANGE: Units like a Delta Force are pretty much focused on hostage rescue.
O'BRIEN: For expertise in underwater reconnaissance and demolition, Navy SEAL teams are the specialists. Even though Afghanistan is land-locked, there may be other places where their skills are needed since authorities say Osama Bin Laden's network extends into as many as 60 countries.
PATTERSON: Look at Indonesia, look at the Philippines, look at Malaysia.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One more, Dave.
O'BRIEN: According to publicly available military reports, Special Operations Forces number nearly 47,000, about two percent of the Armed Forces.
PATTERSON: They really believe in the heart of hearts that they're just a little bit better than anybody else.
O'BRIEN: While romanticized in the movies in cloak and mystique, not all their recent missions have been as successful as the Hollywood vision.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "NAVY SEALS")
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're a SEAL team. We're here to get you out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: 1993, Somalia -- militia reportedly trained by Bin Laden's organization shot down two helicopters carrying Army Rangers and Delta Force commandos. By the time, the two-day firefight was over, 18 U.S. soldiers were dead, nearly a 100 others wounded, the worst firefight since Vietnam.
PATTERSON: If that was a standard, run of the mill, military unit that got in that situation, the outcome would have been more than -- one a hell of a lot worse.
O'BRIEN: But it's a reminder that despite their high motivation, advanced training, sophisticated weapons and tactics, their mission is a risky as it gets.
PATTERSON: Special Forces' guys will bleed just like the regular grunts out there.
O'BRIEN: They may be special but they aren't bulletproof.
Miles O'Brien, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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