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CNN Live Sunday
Who Will Support U.S. War in Iraq?
Aired December 08, 2002 - 15:14 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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: The American military buildup is intensifying in the Gulf region, so what nations can the U.S. count on for support? In the war room here with, military analyst, Major General George Harrison. All right. Saudi Arabia has already said "Sort of, maybe we'll commit to support". Turkey has certainly given its assurances. How important is that?
MAJ. GEN. GEORGE HARRISON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: That is extremely important. Turkey has said that if this is part of a NATO -- excuse me, a United Nations operation, that they will allow us to participate and use Incirlik Air Base -- or Incirlik, depending on how you pronounce Turkish. That is located in Turkey, just north of Adana, north of Crete. It is one of our largest NATO air bases in the region, and we have significant forces already there in place, enforcing the northern no-fly zone of Iraq. The way that we normally operate is to fly out of Incirlik in fighters or support aircraft, across Turkey and then go down avoiding Syria. Go down into Baghdad. That is about a one-hour flight, by the way, from Incirlik over to the central area.
WHITFIELD: And there from there to Baghdad, another...
HARRISON: And then from there to Baghdad. Our targets are generally in the northern area.
WHITFIELD: OK. So Turkey says yes to air support, it being an air base. How about also for the port?
HARRISON: Well the port is extremely important, because as you know, we just don't have enough airlift to support any kind of operation with air only. We have to have sea lift. The large tonnages of fuel, bombs, all the things that go into making up an air operation have to come by sea.
WHITFIELD: How important is it, or how significant would it be for Turkey to allow ground presence as well? Because Turkey's already said, we don't want too much of a U.S. ground force presence.
HARRISON: Well, that would be a real difficult situation. As you know, Turkey has a large Kurdish population in their eastern and southeastern area. There's also a large Kurdish population in the northern portion of Iraq. And I'm reasonably sure that Turkey would not be interested in a union of those two Kurdish populations that would act in a detriment of Turkey's sovereignty.
WHITFIELD: The U.S. would like to be able to use the Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, because Saudi Arabia is still noncommittal. How important or significant would it be if given access, if the U.S. were given access to that base?
HARRISON: If we had access to that base and the other bases in Saudi Arabia, it would significantly shorten the distances. You can see on the scale on the map if we were flying out of Dhahran for instance, the distances to Iraq are cut by two-thirds as opposed to coming from Qatar for instance, Oman, Diego Garcia certainly, is well out of range.
WHITFIELD: And fuel would be one thing that would be offered as well as logistical support if Saudi Arabia...
(CROSSTALK)
HARRISON: That is correct.
WHITFIELD: ... were to give the green light?
HARRISON: That's correct. And one of the critical factors in our operations, we depend very heavily on in-flight refueling to extend the range of our fighters. If you have to base to tankers well outside of the area, that means they use their -- they use the fuel getting to the place where they are going to refuel. Which means they can pass much less fuel.
WHITFIELD: Flight time certainly an issue you said here. And that certainly spells out the advantages of being in one place or another. And with the flight-time comes stresses on the pilots and those operating the air activities?
HARRISON: Exactly. In the no-fly zone for instance, the operations in the no-fly zone, typically the fighter pilots or the fighter air crews are flying about six hours per sortie. Strike sorties might be even longer, and escort sorties where you're protecting against air-to-air threats from Iran, for instance, those missions can be 10, 12, 13, 14 hours, even from the base as close as Incirlik, which is really stressful.
WHITFIELD: Alright. General Harrison, thank you very much. Appreciate it.
HARRISON: Good 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
Aired December 8, 2002 - 15:14 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: The American military buildup is intensifying in the Gulf region, so what nations can the U.S. count on for support? In the war room here with, military analyst, Major General George Harrison. All right. Saudi Arabia has already said "Sort of, maybe we'll commit to support". Turkey has certainly given its assurances. How important is that?
MAJ. GEN. GEORGE HARRISON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: That is extremely important. Turkey has said that if this is part of a NATO -- excuse me, a United Nations operation, that they will allow us to participate and use Incirlik Air Base -- or Incirlik, depending on how you pronounce Turkish. That is located in Turkey, just north of Adana, north of Crete. It is one of our largest NATO air bases in the region, and we have significant forces already there in place, enforcing the northern no-fly zone of Iraq. The way that we normally operate is to fly out of Incirlik in fighters or support aircraft, across Turkey and then go down avoiding Syria. Go down into Baghdad. That is about a one-hour flight, by the way, from Incirlik over to the central area.
WHITFIELD: And there from there to Baghdad, another...
HARRISON: And then from there to Baghdad. Our targets are generally in the northern area.
WHITFIELD: OK. So Turkey says yes to air support, it being an air base. How about also for the port?
HARRISON: Well the port is extremely important, because as you know, we just don't have enough airlift to support any kind of operation with air only. We have to have sea lift. The large tonnages of fuel, bombs, all the things that go into making up an air operation have to come by sea.
WHITFIELD: How important is it, or how significant would it be for Turkey to allow ground presence as well? Because Turkey's already said, we don't want too much of a U.S. ground force presence.
HARRISON: Well, that would be a real difficult situation. As you know, Turkey has a large Kurdish population in their eastern and southeastern area. There's also a large Kurdish population in the northern portion of Iraq. And I'm reasonably sure that Turkey would not be interested in a union of those two Kurdish populations that would act in a detriment of Turkey's sovereignty.
WHITFIELD: The U.S. would like to be able to use the Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, because Saudi Arabia is still noncommittal. How important or significant would it be if given access, if the U.S. were given access to that base?
HARRISON: If we had access to that base and the other bases in Saudi Arabia, it would significantly shorten the distances. You can see on the scale on the map if we were flying out of Dhahran for instance, the distances to Iraq are cut by two-thirds as opposed to coming from Qatar for instance, Oman, Diego Garcia certainly, is well out of range.
WHITFIELD: And fuel would be one thing that would be offered as well as logistical support if Saudi Arabia...
(CROSSTALK)
HARRISON: That is correct.
WHITFIELD: ... were to give the green light?
HARRISON: That's correct. And one of the critical factors in our operations, we depend very heavily on in-flight refueling to extend the range of our fighters. If you have to base to tankers well outside of the area, that means they use their -- they use the fuel getting to the place where they are going to refuel. Which means they can pass much less fuel.
WHITFIELD: Flight time certainly an issue you said here. And that certainly spells out the advantages of being in one place or another. And with the flight-time comes stresses on the pilots and those operating the air activities?
HARRISON: Exactly. In the no-fly zone for instance, the operations in the no-fly zone, typically the fighter pilots or the fighter air crews are flying about six hours per sortie. Strike sorties might be even longer, and escort sorties where you're protecting against air-to-air threats from Iran, for instance, those missions can be 10, 12, 13, 14 hours, even from the base as close as Incirlik, which is really stressful.
WHITFIELD: Alright. General Harrison, thank you very much. Appreciate it.
HARRISON: Good 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
