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CNN Sunday Morning
New York Times: U.S. Plans on Long Term Access to Iraqi Bases
Aired April 20, 2003 - 08:32 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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Published report today says the Pentagon is planning on long-term access to four military bases in Iraq. Our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr, is joining us live now with the latest.
Barbara, good morning. Nice to see you on this Easter morning.
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You, too, Daryn. Good morning.
Well, indeed "The New York Times" is reporting this morning that the Pentagon now wants some sort of long-term military relationship with whatever new government emerges in Iraq.
Details are pretty sketchy still, but it will be interesting to see how this squares with statements by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld that the U.S. military will stay in Iraq long enough to ensure a new stable government and not one day longer. Those are the words he has repeatedly used.
Now according to "The New York Times," the U.S. would like to have some kind of basing relationship in four key places: Baghdad International Airport, Tallil Air Base in the south, the H-1 Airfield to the west and Bashur in the north, which is the area dominated by Kurds. This, of course, would, if it happened, put a U.S. military presence in all key sectors of Iraq.
But what's not clear just yet is the whether this is a permanent basing relationship or just some type of access over the long-term, some sort of intermittent relationship. What is clear, however is now that the war is over, there is going to be a massive change in the U.S. military footprint in the Persian Gulf for the first time in 12 years.
Of course, now that Iraq no longer presumably poses a threat to its neighbors, Operation Northern Watch, Operation Southern Watch, both of those are going away. Kuwait is no longer directly threatened by Iraq. U.S. military force presence in Saudi Arabia will have to be rethought.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has said in the last several days all of this is on the table, all of it to be thought about and it's very clear that somehow the U.S. military presence in the Persian Gulf is about to change -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon. Barbara, 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
Bases>
Aired April 20, 2003 - 08:32 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Published report today says the Pentagon is planning on long-term access to four military bases in Iraq. Our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr, is joining us live now with the latest.
Barbara, good morning. Nice to see you on this Easter morning.
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You, too, Daryn. Good morning.
Well, indeed "The New York Times" is reporting this morning that the Pentagon now wants some sort of long-term military relationship with whatever new government emerges in Iraq.
Details are pretty sketchy still, but it will be interesting to see how this squares with statements by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld that the U.S. military will stay in Iraq long enough to ensure a new stable government and not one day longer. Those are the words he has repeatedly used.
Now according to "The New York Times," the U.S. would like to have some kind of basing relationship in four key places: Baghdad International Airport, Tallil Air Base in the south, the H-1 Airfield to the west and Bashur in the north, which is the area dominated by Kurds. This, of course, would, if it happened, put a U.S. military presence in all key sectors of Iraq.
But what's not clear just yet is the whether this is a permanent basing relationship or just some type of access over the long-term, some sort of intermittent relationship. What is clear, however is now that the war is over, there is going to be a massive change in the U.S. military footprint in the Persian Gulf for the first time in 12 years.
Of course, now that Iraq no longer presumably poses a threat to its neighbors, Operation Northern Watch, Operation Southern Watch, both of those are going away. Kuwait is no longer directly threatened by Iraq. U.S. military force presence in Saudi Arabia will have to be rethought.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has said in the last several days all of this is on the table, all of it to be thought about and it's very clear that somehow the U.S. military presence in the Persian Gulf is about to change -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon. Barbara, 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
Bases>
