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CNN Saturday Morning News

America's New War: Continuing Developments

Aired September 22, 2001 - 08:30   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.
JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR: Much of the activity here in Washington focused at the Pentagon. New deployment orders being made, the continuing recovery effort outside. Inside this morning tracking the latest developments, our Jeanne Meserve -- Jeanne.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: First, John, some reaction to those claims by Taliban officials that they have shot down an unmanned spy plane. The Pentagon is saying something but nothing. Lieutenant Colonel Mike Milord (ph) saying as the secretary of defense has said, we will not discuss any operational issues. We will not respond to each and every statement of the Taliban.

Meanwhile, preparations and positioning of U.S. military forces continue. The Department of Defense being quite tight lipped about what's going on, wanting to preserve the element of surprise in the battle they are expecting to wage against a very elusive enemy.

A second deployment order is in the works, although it has not yet been signed by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. This second deployment would move additional support aircraft to forward bases in the Persian Gulf War and central Asia, but the Pentagon is not revealing any specifics of the number of aircraft involved, where they would be coming from or when they would be leaving.

Last night our cameras did capture this, B-52 bombers departing from Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana. Officials there would not tell us where those planes were headed.

Let me tell you about the B-52h. It is the oldest aircraft in service. It has a speed of only 650 miles per hour, but a range of 8,800 miles. What makes it so very useful is what it can carry -- 70,000 pounds of ordinance, including missiles, mines and bombs, some of those missiles cruise missiles.

Another aircraft which is expected to play a key role in whatever military action takes place is the F-16 attack fighter. It is very fast, traveling at supersonic speeds as high as 1,500 miles per hour. It has a range of almost 2,500 miles with its auxiliary fuel tanks. It carries air to air combat and air to surface attack munitions.

No briefings are scheduled here today at the Pentagon, but the secretary of defense, Donald Rumsfeld, will, of course, be participating in a national security video conference being conducted by President Bush from Camp David -- John, back to you. KING: Jeanne Meserve at the Pentagon, thank you very much this morning.

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