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Exclusive look at Prince Sultan Air Base
By Wolf Blitzer
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (CNN) -- There may be a debate underway in world capitals about going to war against Iraq, but for a select group of U.S. and British pilots at the sprawling Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, that debate is effectively moot. For them, the war is well underway. Brig. Gen. Dale Waters told me, "You know they've been trying for 10 years to shoot down an airplane. I think we've been very lucky we haven't lost one. We keep a lot of great air crews up there doing the mission and we have good intelligence, so I think we do it smart, but it's never zero risk." For them, war is a nearly daily experience. They patrol the so-called no-fly zone in southern Iraq. And they engage in a deadly give-and-take with Iraqi anti-aircraft fire, surface-to-air missiles and fighter aircraft. "They're shooting real bullets, they're not shooting BB guns at us," says Maj. Paul Macier. "There's real bullets. There's real missiles. We have to be ready in any event to deal with that kind of threat." My interview is the first time since the Gulf War that these American pilots here in Saudi Arabia have been heard from directly. After lengthy negotiations with both U.S. and Saudi officials, CNN finally received permission to visit the Prince Sultan Air Base and talk directly with these men and women engaged in warfare. Getting that permission was not easy, given the political sensitivities of recent years. The Saudi government has not been anxious to advertise its extensive military cooperation with the United States. They are aware of the fact that Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda terror network went on the warpath against the Saudi royal family for allowing U.S. military forces to operate on what they regard as sacred Muslim soil. But to anyone coming to this enormous facility, the quiet strategic cooperation quickly becomes evident. From the sign at the entrance to the home of the 363rd Air Force Expeditionary Wing, which lists U.S. military commander Brig. Gen. Dale C. Waters' name right next to the name of Saudi Air Force Commander Maj. Gen. Saeed S. Al-Haznami, to joint security projects, the interdependence is obvious. "We put up a lot of concertina wire and jersey barriers to make our compound secure," said Brig. Gen. Dale Waters. "We obviously benefit from the Saudi security that goes around the perimeter of the base. We also run random patrols, including joint patrols with the Saudi security." And the security provided by the joint U.S.-Saudi effort at the base, as you can imagine, is intense. In the meantime, the pilots prepare for another day of cat-and-mouse warfare with the Iraqis.
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