Pentagon Special Briefing, October 12, 2000

DoD News Briefing



Thursday, October 12, 2000 - 3 p.m. EDT

Presenter: Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen



(Special briefing on the incident involving USS Cole. Also
participating in this briefing was Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Vern
Clark)


Q: Secretary Cohen -- (inaudible) -- on the latest Iraqi troop
movements and whether you see anything sinister happening there?


Cohen: Well, there have been identified, in the press accounts, some
Iraqi movements to the west. This a also a training cycle for the
Iraqi military. But we're watching it very closely, because of the
ambiguity of the situation, to make sure that Saddam is not using any
training cycle in order to take advantage of any developments in the
Middle East or elsewhere. But we have not seen any specific move that
would indicate that he is -- intends to cause any major controversy.


Q: Admiral Clark --