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CNN Saturday Morning News
Qatar's Role as Nerve Center for United States
Aired December 07, 2002 - 07:23 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.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: If there's a war with Iraq, the tiny emirate of Qatar could play a huge role as a staging area and a nerve center for the U.S. The commander of U.S. Central Command, Tommy Franks, has arrived in Qatar for a high-profile military exercise.
And CNN's Wolf Blitzer is there, and that's where he joins us now from live. Hello, Wolf.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Miles.
It's really amazing what they've been able to do here in Qatar at this Asalia (ph) military base not very far away from where I am right now here in Qatar. They've effectively moved the headquarters from the Central Command, which oversees this entire region, from McDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida, here to Asalia (ph), to this military base.
That's where General Franks got up very early this morning. He gathered about 200 senior members of his staff, along with some British and Australian observers, had a little pep talk for them. They've got a huge video screen there. They're going through this weekend, Saturday and Sunday, what's called a rock drill.
It's an old military term from the days before they had videoconferencing, the days before they had computers. They had little sandboxes, and they would have little rocks in there to move positions around, battle plans and troops.
So in effect, what they're doing now is a dress rehearsal for Monday, when this Operation Internal Look, this formal nine- or 10-day exercise, actually begins, an exercise which will simulate, in effect, a U.S. war against Iraq, if, in fact, President Bush gives that order to General Franks. General Franks is in charge of putting a battle plan together.
He has all the capabilities right here in Qatar that he needs to stay in constant communication not only with troops here but throughout the region, whether in Bahrein along the Fifth Fleet in the Persian Gulf, whether in Kuwait, there's a lot of ground forces in the northern part of Kuwait right now going through their own live fire exercises along the border with Iraq, as well as in Turkey and elsewhere.
They can stay in close communication with people in Washington over at the Pentagon and at McDill.
So it's a pretty sophisticated operation. We'll be spending the next several days here, Miles, watching and trying to cover it.
O'BRIEN: Wolf, tell me a little more about these rock drills. Is it all simulated, or is there actual movement of troops as a part of these simulations?
BLITZER: There's no combat forces involved. This is all simulated. These are computerized games, if you will. You're not going to see any live fire exercises here, you're going to see a lot of sophisticated high-tech communications equipment, satellite reconnaissance photography. They want to make sure that the right arm of the U.S. government can work with the left arm of the U.S. government and the coalition partners, assuming there will be coalition partners.
So it's a pretty sophisticated drill, but it's, I guess, the latest in high-technology warfare.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Wolf Blitzer in Qatar, thank you very much. We'll be checking in with 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 December 7, 2002 - 07:23 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: If there's a war with Iraq, the tiny emirate of Qatar could play a huge role as a staging area and a nerve center for the U.S. The commander of U.S. Central Command, Tommy Franks, has arrived in Qatar for a high-profile military exercise.
And CNN's Wolf Blitzer is there, and that's where he joins us now from live. Hello, Wolf.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Miles.
It's really amazing what they've been able to do here in Qatar at this Asalia (ph) military base not very far away from where I am right now here in Qatar. They've effectively moved the headquarters from the Central Command, which oversees this entire region, from McDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida, here to Asalia (ph), to this military base.
That's where General Franks got up very early this morning. He gathered about 200 senior members of his staff, along with some British and Australian observers, had a little pep talk for them. They've got a huge video screen there. They're going through this weekend, Saturday and Sunday, what's called a rock drill.
It's an old military term from the days before they had videoconferencing, the days before they had computers. They had little sandboxes, and they would have little rocks in there to move positions around, battle plans and troops.
So in effect, what they're doing now is a dress rehearsal for Monday, when this Operation Internal Look, this formal nine- or 10-day exercise, actually begins, an exercise which will simulate, in effect, a U.S. war against Iraq, if, in fact, President Bush gives that order to General Franks. General Franks is in charge of putting a battle plan together.
He has all the capabilities right here in Qatar that he needs to stay in constant communication not only with troops here but throughout the region, whether in Bahrein along the Fifth Fleet in the Persian Gulf, whether in Kuwait, there's a lot of ground forces in the northern part of Kuwait right now going through their own live fire exercises along the border with Iraq, as well as in Turkey and elsewhere.
They can stay in close communication with people in Washington over at the Pentagon and at McDill.
So it's a pretty sophisticated operation. We'll be spending the next several days here, Miles, watching and trying to cover it.
O'BRIEN: Wolf, tell me a little more about these rock drills. Is it all simulated, or is there actual movement of troops as a part of these simulations?
BLITZER: There's no combat forces involved. This is all simulated. These are computerized games, if you will. You're not going to see any live fire exercises here, you're going to see a lot of sophisticated high-tech communications equipment, satellite reconnaissance photography. They want to make sure that the right arm of the U.S. government can work with the left arm of the U.S. government and the coalition partners, assuming there will be coalition partners.
So it's a pretty sophisticated drill, but it's, I guess, the latest in high-technology warfare.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Wolf Blitzer in Qatar, thank you very much. We'll be checking in with 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
