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CNN Saturday Morning News

Northern Front May Be Opened To U.S. Forces Against Iraq

Aired February 01, 2003 - 07:33   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.


HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Our military analyst, retired Air Force General George Harrison, knows very well what such good-byes are like. General Harrison has an update now on the military buildup. Good morning to you, General. We appreciate you being with us this morning. We do have lots to talk about, specifically with the countries surrounding Iraq. I'd like to talk a little bit about that this morning.
Let's start with Turkey. We're hearing a little bit about the Army's fourth infantry division and how a northern front may be opened up in order to keep the Iraqi forces split. What do you think about that? What do you see happening here?

GEN. GEORGE HARRISON, USAF (RET.): (UNINTELLIGIBLE) against northern Iraq. But in this case, since we have the Turks on board, the fourth infantry division apparently has been tabbed to move into Turkey, that means Saddam has a significant ground force, as well as air force, opposing him on the northern flank. That means he has to split his forces -- which are already inadequate, by the way -- to deal with the threat that he has from the south.

So it's going to make a very interesting military problem for him. I think it's going to speed and hasten the ultimate military resolution of this operation.

COLLINS: All right. Let's move on to Syria, a friend to the U.S., not a friend to the U.S.? What are we going to see from them?

HARRISON: I think we'll see Syria as a neutral, just as they were in the Gulf War. Syria is probably going to sit out the activity. They will not assist Saddam Hussein, nor will they assist us.

We had several instances during the Gulf War where we needed to operate in Syrian air space. It extends the flight from (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Air Base down to into northern Iraq. But I think that they'll remain on the sidelines, just as Iran will remain on the sidelines.

COLLINS: And Jordan? We know about an agreement that was made just last week between General Myers and the Jordanian government there about U.S. troops. Patriot defense missiles may be launched from there. They're going to CSAR (ph), combat search and rescue.

HARRISON: That's right.

COLLINS: Fighters and jets are going to use the air space. This is a good thing.

HARRISON: Of course it's a good thing. Jordan is going to be a strong ally. I doubt we'll see active ground force involvement from Jordan. However, we will see significant activity from Jordan that will be really a great assistance, being able to use Jordanian air space for some of the air operations that go on. And certainly the ability to get closer to some of the western Iraqi areas where Saddam has typically tried to launch scud missiles is going to be very important and crucial to the outcome of this operation.

COLLINS: All right. General, we are looking at a map now that kind of details the countries surrounding Iraq so geographically we can see what we're talking about here.

HARRISON: Sure.

COLLINS: Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Kuwait's main launching pad for U.S. missions, ground attack coming in from there. There's about 26,000 troops there right now that would move in to southern Iraq. And Saudi Arabia, we've obviously got several troops there now and those numbers could grow.

HARRISON: Well Saudi Arabia is going to be crucial to the operation, although it won't be a killer if we don't get Saudi Arabia. We have a lot of command and control activity going on in Saudi Arabia. But as we'll talk in a minute, Qatar is providing a host base for our major command and control effort at the joint level. So Saudi is not as crucial as it was in the Gulf War.

Kuwait, of course, is going to be the place where we launch our activity and move forward on a ground force basis. But I think the Saudis would be nice to have on board. I hope we have them on board. But it won't be crucial or a back breaker for the operation without them.

COLLINS: All right. General Harrison, I want to ask you quickly about U.S. military forces and how well they are prepared. We've been hearing about it for a long time. Let's talk just for a minute about the improvement of technology, perhaps from the Gulf War to where we are now, specifically, GPS-guided bombs versus laser-guided bombs. But we're hearing a little bit about the Iraqis possibly having GPS jamming devices. So once we thought this was a wonderful thing.

HARRISON: Where do we stand, yes.

COLLINS: Right.

HARRISON: Where do we stand in all of this? Well, first of all, during the Gulf War we heard a lot about precision-guided munitions. But the precision-guided munitions were less than 20 percent of the bombs that were dropped during the entire operation. During the upcoming operation, I would speculate that somewhere between 80 and 90 percent of the munitions dropped are going to be precision-guided.

Either laser-guided, which means that the controller sees the target, puts a laser on the target and the bomb (UNINTELLIGIBLE) on that laser beam. Or GPS guided, or the joint direct attack munition, which means that you determine the coordinates of the target, feed the coordinates into the bomb's computer, and then drop the bomb. And the bomb goes after the coordinates rather than a particular target on the ground.

Now a GPS jammer can frustrate that, but the way it frustrates it is by degrading the accuracy of the JDAM. It will make it -- instead of an eight-meter accurate bomb, it will make it a 10 or 15-meter accuracy bomb. So it's not going to significantly degrade our ability if we drop enough ordinance. And I think with the forces being placed on the ground ready to fly against Iraq, we will have enough force to overcome the effects of GPS jamming.

COLLINS: All right. General Harrison, so much to talk about here.

HARRISON: Sure.

COLLINS: I'm sure we'll be getting with you again. We certainly hope so. Thank you for your insight this morning. We appreciate it.

HARRISON: Pleasure to be here.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Our military analyst, retired Air Force General George Harrison, knows very well what such good-byes are like. General Harrison has an update now on the military buildup. Good morning to you, General. We appreciate you being with us this morning. We do have lots to talk about, specifically with the countries surrounding Iraq. I'd like to talk a little bit about that this morning.

Let's start with Turkey. We're hearing a little bit about the Army's fourth infantry division and how a northern front may be opened up in order to keep the Iraqi forces split.>


Aired February 1, 2003 - 07:33   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Our military analyst, retired Air Force General George Harrison, knows very well what such good-byes are like. General Harrison has an update now on the military buildup. Good morning to you, General. We appreciate you being with us this morning. We do have lots to talk about, specifically with the countries surrounding Iraq. I'd like to talk a little bit about that this morning.
Let's start with Turkey. We're hearing a little bit about the Army's fourth infantry division and how a northern front may be opened up in order to keep the Iraqi forces split. What do you think about that? What do you see happening here?

GEN. GEORGE HARRISON, USAF (RET.): (UNINTELLIGIBLE) against northern Iraq. But in this case, since we have the Turks on board, the fourth infantry division apparently has been tabbed to move into Turkey, that means Saddam has a significant ground force, as well as air force, opposing him on the northern flank. That means he has to split his forces -- which are already inadequate, by the way -- to deal with the threat that he has from the south.

So it's going to make a very interesting military problem for him. I think it's going to speed and hasten the ultimate military resolution of this operation.

COLLINS: All right. Let's move on to Syria, a friend to the U.S., not a friend to the U.S.? What are we going to see from them?

HARRISON: I think we'll see Syria as a neutral, just as they were in the Gulf War. Syria is probably going to sit out the activity. They will not assist Saddam Hussein, nor will they assist us.

We had several instances during the Gulf War where we needed to operate in Syrian air space. It extends the flight from (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Air Base down to into northern Iraq. But I think that they'll remain on the sidelines, just as Iran will remain on the sidelines.

COLLINS: And Jordan? We know about an agreement that was made just last week between General Myers and the Jordanian government there about U.S. troops. Patriot defense missiles may be launched from there. They're going to CSAR (ph), combat search and rescue.

HARRISON: That's right.

COLLINS: Fighters and jets are going to use the air space. This is a good thing.

HARRISON: Of course it's a good thing. Jordan is going to be a strong ally. I doubt we'll see active ground force involvement from Jordan. However, we will see significant activity from Jordan that will be really a great assistance, being able to use Jordanian air space for some of the air operations that go on. And certainly the ability to get closer to some of the western Iraqi areas where Saddam has typically tried to launch scud missiles is going to be very important and crucial to the outcome of this operation.

COLLINS: All right. General, we are looking at a map now that kind of details the countries surrounding Iraq so geographically we can see what we're talking about here.

HARRISON: Sure.

COLLINS: Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Kuwait's main launching pad for U.S. missions, ground attack coming in from there. There's about 26,000 troops there right now that would move in to southern Iraq. And Saudi Arabia, we've obviously got several troops there now and those numbers could grow.

HARRISON: Well Saudi Arabia is going to be crucial to the operation, although it won't be a killer if we don't get Saudi Arabia. We have a lot of command and control activity going on in Saudi Arabia. But as we'll talk in a minute, Qatar is providing a host base for our major command and control effort at the joint level. So Saudi is not as crucial as it was in the Gulf War.

Kuwait, of course, is going to be the place where we launch our activity and move forward on a ground force basis. But I think the Saudis would be nice to have on board. I hope we have them on board. But it won't be crucial or a back breaker for the operation without them.

COLLINS: All right. General Harrison, I want to ask you quickly about U.S. military forces and how well they are prepared. We've been hearing about it for a long time. Let's talk just for a minute about the improvement of technology, perhaps from the Gulf War to where we are now, specifically, GPS-guided bombs versus laser-guided bombs. But we're hearing a little bit about the Iraqis possibly having GPS jamming devices. So once we thought this was a wonderful thing.

HARRISON: Where do we stand, yes.

COLLINS: Right.

HARRISON: Where do we stand in all of this? Well, first of all, during the Gulf War we heard a lot about precision-guided munitions. But the precision-guided munitions were less than 20 percent of the bombs that were dropped during the entire operation. During the upcoming operation, I would speculate that somewhere between 80 and 90 percent of the munitions dropped are going to be precision-guided.

Either laser-guided, which means that the controller sees the target, puts a laser on the target and the bomb (UNINTELLIGIBLE) on that laser beam. Or GPS guided, or the joint direct attack munition, which means that you determine the coordinates of the target, feed the coordinates into the bomb's computer, and then drop the bomb. And the bomb goes after the coordinates rather than a particular target on the ground.

Now a GPS jammer can frustrate that, but the way it frustrates it is by degrading the accuracy of the JDAM. It will make it -- instead of an eight-meter accurate bomb, it will make it a 10 or 15-meter accuracy bomb. So it's not going to significantly degrade our ability if we drop enough ordinance. And I think with the forces being placed on the ground ready to fly against Iraq, we will have enough force to overcome the effects of GPS jamming.

COLLINS: All right. General Harrison, so much to talk about here.

HARRISON: Sure.

COLLINS: I'm sure we'll be getting with you again. We certainly hope so. Thank you for your insight this morning. We appreciate it.

HARRISON: Pleasure to be here.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Our military analyst, retired Air Force General George Harrison, knows very well what such good-byes are like. General Harrison has an update now on the military buildup. Good morning to you, General. We appreciate you being with us this morning. We do have lots to talk about, specifically with the countries surrounding Iraq. I'd like to talk a little bit about that this morning.

Let's start with Turkey. We're hearing a little bit about the Army's fourth infantry division and how a northern front may be opened up in order to keep the Iraqi forces split.>