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CNN Saturday Morning News
U.S. Armed Forces Continue Their Preparations
Aired September 22, 2001 - 11:13 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 SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Following all of the developments at the Pentagon, CNN's Jeanne Meserve.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, let me tell you first about a public and very specific pledge of support from Turkey. Officials there say they will allow the U.S. to use its air space and air bases to launch any action against those responsible for the attacks against this building and the World Trade Center.
Turkey, a NATO ally, already allows the U.S. to use its air base at Incirlik to over fly Iraq's no-fly zones.
Its location on the eastern edge of the Mediterranean makes its cooperation key in this instance but for the time being U.S. officials letting Turkey do the talking feeling that it is more appropriate for those countries who are assisting the U.S. to say so in their own way.
Meanwhile the U.S. forces do continue their preparations. A second deployment order is in the works. It would send more support aircraft to the forward bases in the Persian Gulf than Central Asia.
No specifics yet on the number of aircraft involved, exactly where they would go or from where. More specifics likely to be forthcoming.
In the meantime, Pentagon officials refusing to confirm or deny claims by the Taliban in Afghanistan that they have shot down an unmanned aerial surveillance aircraft. The Pentagon right now has two types of these so called UAVs -- unmanned aerial vehicles -- in its inventory.
The smaller one is called a hunter. The larger one is called a predator. It is a very useful piece of equipment and allows the U.S. to do real-time surveillance or 24 hours at a stretch. However, these aircraft have no defensive capabilities. They fly lower and slower than a manned aircraft would.
There have reports that some of these have been shot down over Iraq's no-fly zone.
As to the claim today by the Taliban that it has downed one from some country. The Pentagon saying at this point that it will not talk about operational matters and it is not going to put itself in a position where it responds to every statement coming from the Taliban. So no confirmation, no denial. John, back to you.
KING: Thank you -- CNN's Jeanne Meserve tracking developments at the Pentagon.
We have seen in recent days the deployment of conventional forces -- F-16s, F-15s, B-52s overseas -- but Special Operations forces also in play here. They are a crossbred collection of elite U.S. fighting troops -- each with its own specialty. And it is likely these troops will see a lot of action in the president's promised war on terrorism. CNN's Brian Nelson is at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina with a report on Special Ops.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN NELSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Who are the U.S. military's Special Ops teams? They are the elite. Among them the Navy Seals, whose name stands for operations on sea, air and land. The Army's Green Berets, whose fame was sealed in the hills of Vietnam. The U.S. Army Rangers -- often down to the front lines of many conflicts. In all almost 47,000 -- the top two percent of the U.S. military's might.
As the U.S. plans its response all of these forces special units will probably be woven together into one combined operation. For example, the Army Rangers are best known for quick raids and seizing airfields. The Green Berets -- their language skills and abilities to train guerrilla troops. U.S. Navy Seal teams specializing in underwater reconnaissance and demolition. And the U.S. Air Force's Special Ops -- skills at getting behind enemy lines, extracting people and resupply. And the Army's clandestine Delta Force whose troops are trained for hostage rescue.
How might they all be used?
TOM STANLEY, FORMER SPECIAL OPERATIONS SOLDIER: There will be military action in Afghanistan and it will probably start with a bombing campaign to soften up the military targets until it's soft enough where some U.S. forces can go in, establish some air heads and some air fields and get some conventional forces on the ground. And just to control the population mainly. And then get in the mountains and start looking for bin Laden.
NELSON: From the military's own public documents we know that U.S. Special Ops units are based in 10 locations in the continental U.S. and found in 11 other locations around the world. Much of their equipment is specially modified to adapt it to their specialized roles and can go in behind enemy lines undetected.
GEN. WILLIAM PATTERSON (RET.), FMR. SPECIAL OPS COMMANDER: During a special operations mission -- in a routine mission -- is you're detected on the way to target you may as well turn around and go home -- you've failed.
NELSON: And there has been failure. In Iran after one helicopter collided with a transport plane -- forcing the scrubbing of a rescue mission of American hostages in 1980.
And in Somalia where the U.S. Army Rangers and Delta Force lost 18 of their men when their chopper crashed and they found themselves fighting a heavily armed enemy.
If any of these units are gearing up to see action they're not saying so publicly nor would they -- they're trademark is stealth. Brian Nelson, CNN, Ft. Bragg, North Carolina.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: To continue our discussion now on Special Operations we are joined in Chicago by General David Grange. General Grange retired in 1999 from the Army where he was an expert on Special Operations. General Grange was a Green Beret, a Ranger and a member of Delta Force -- served in Korea, Vietnam, the Balkans, Latin America and the Middle East. General Grange is now a CNN Military Analyst.
Sir, I note with curiosity your retirement date -- 1999. In 1998 President Clinton considered a range of military options against Osama bin Laden, settled in the end on Cruise missile attacks. Can you tell us, sir, at the time was it contemplated using Special Operations forces into Afghanistan and why not?
GENERAL DAVID GRANGE, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, I'm sure at the time all different force options were considered. I wasn't a part of Special Operations in 1998. I commanded the Big Red One and we were operating in the Balkans at that time. But I'm sure that that was considered.
KING: And why not? What are the hazards? We've seen all these reports about topography, the geography, the difficulty of getting in there?
GRANGE: Well, first of all, all of these Special Operating forces can operate in any type of terrain. They can go in by air, sea or land so they're quite capable. I would say it was probably the lack of current intelligence to risk putting people on the ground for accurate ground attack.
KING: There are reports this morning and we have heard them throughout the week that Saudi Arabia may be resisting a U.S. request that we be able to use the Prince Sultan (ph) air base for offensive operations. Would that in any way in your view complicate any contemplated Special Operations?
GRANGE: Well, we're going to have a lot of options I'm sure. Just hearing today about Turkey giving us the opportunity to launch from that location is a great -- a great asset. I think Russia will be key. And also we can launch from sea platforms as you know.
The Saudi Arabia thing -- I think we're going to see more of that with a psychological warfare attack by the terrorists to try to make it look like this is a war on Islam. And we have to watch out for information warfare from our enemy right now. KING: General Grange we have heard the president in recent days talk of smoking them out of their holes and we have seen pictures and satellite photographs of bin Laden camps in Afghanistan that show tunnels underground. Explain to us the challenges that would face any U.S. troops dropped into Afghanistan and the risks.
GRANGE: Well, no matter where we attack -- if you look at North Korea, if you look at Iraq and I'm sure the same in Afghanistan they're going to take advantage of digging in deep to negate the effect of precision guided munitions. That's going to make it hard to track the enemy in these conditions. So they do that as well as hide among civilians to make long range missile attack difficult.
And that's why it's so critical to have troops on the ground in a situation like this that can augment our firepower.
It's going to be tough to find them but I'm sure that we will find targets not only in Afghanistan but the other areas that we'll be looking at.
KING: And you mentioned at the top, sir, intelligence and the importance of intelligence in launching any covert operation like this. We are told by our sources that Russia is beginning to cooperate. And perhaps more importantly Pakistan is cooperating with intelligence information. How significant would that be?
GRANGE: Well, quite significant. It's a benefit to the Russians to operate with us on this -- on this terrorist war. They'd benefit immensely from it because of the problems they have on the southern rim of Russia itself.
I would say we have to watch out for Pakistan. There is already unconventional warfare tactics being used by our enemy in Afghanistan especially in the north to try to turn the people against the United States of America and our coalition to execute this fight.
KING: General Dave Grange joining us this morning from Chicago. Thank you very much, sir, for your thoughts -- continue to speak with you in the weeks ahead. Now we continue our coverage with Bill Hemmer in New York.
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