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CNN SHOWDOWN: IRAQ
Dormant Iraqi Airfield About to Become Lively Coalition Airfield Used Against Iraqis
Aired March 28, 2003 - 12:11 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Paula, it's of course just after 8:00 PM here in the Persian Gulf, in Kuwait City, where I am, as well as in Baghdad. And as you and all our viewers know by now, it's dark now. So no one should be surprised if sirens go off in Baghdad, if there are more explosions in the next several hours -- Paula.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks so much, Wolf.
We're going to check in with another one of our embedded reporters now. Our own Bob Franken is with the Air Force at an undisclosed location in southern Iraq. He joins us now by videophone with the very latest from there. Bob, good to see you. What do you have?
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, to reinforce what Wolf said, it is absolutely pitch black here. We are allowed -- we checked -- we are allowed to use our camera lights. So you get to see a tiny bit; that is to say, yours truly.
But we are at an air base which is a forward air base. It's a new one. It was actually taken over less than a week ago by coalition forces.
It's an old Iraqi base. It really hasn't been used much since the first Persian Gulf War. But it is about to get plenty of use. We do have a couple of shots from overhead that will give you some idea of what the base looks like. It is really kind of some desolate buildings, but it has a very important airstrip.
This is a base that is also about 150 miles north of Kuwait. And so it is much closer to the action, and it is going to get a lot of action. We're told that the coalition forces, U.S. forces are going to bring in their A-10s, refuel them here, and perhaps even locate some of them here.
The A-10s, of course, the dreaded anti-tank airplanes which are being used so much to support the ground troops. They'll be that much closer to the ground troops. It will cut 300 miles off of the trip. In addition to which, there are helicopters here that are being used for search and rescue; the same advantage.
Now, when we came in here today, we were greeted by one of the big billboard signs showing Saddam Hussein. But behind the gate, of course, instead of Iraqi war material we found U.S. war material starting to build up. Once we got here -- and we were with a convoy -- it took about 50 hours total to get here on the ground. Once we got here and the fuel got here, then it was time for the planes to start arriving.
There's been a steady stream of C-130s bringing in people and various pieces of equipment. What we also encountered when we came here, Paula, was a large number of POWs. And we can tell you that this evening others were being flown in here. They will be transported from here to facilities that are being set up a little bit to the south.
We were there, as a matter of fact, last night. The location called Camp Bouka (ph). Unless they decide that the hostilities that still surround this area -- there's quite a bit of fight going on -- unless they discover that it's too close to comply with the Geneva Convention, then they'll move it further south.
But this has been a dormant Iraqi airfield for a very long time. It's about to become a very lively coalition airfield used against the Iraqis -- Paula.
ZAHN: So, Bob, is the airstrip pretty much ready to go, or are they going to have to make some accommodations to handle the kind of increased traffic you're talking about there?
FRANKEN: The airstrip is ready to go. The fuel, which was so important, was ready to go. It's still a bit of work in progress.
There is absolutely nothing here that is useful for living. There is a hangar in back of me, which is serving as our Motel 6. And for the most part, however, it is being built up very, very quickly. It will not be at all surprising if in the next day or so we see A-10s starting to operate in and out of here.
ZAHN: Thanks for the preview. Bob Franken, we appreciate it. Back to Wolf now in Kuwait City -- Wolf.
BLITZER: That's an important potential airfield and air base for U.S. troops, U.S. planes close to the front lines, Paula. Thanks very much.
Airfield Used Against Iraqis>
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