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Seventy two hours after the U.S. launched an attack on Iraq, the international press corps at Central Command headquarters in Doha, Qatar, was starving for information. The data vacuum got so intense that the hundreds of reporters stationed at Camp As Sayliyah in this barren desert state resorted to the truest act of desperation for any self-respecting journalist: interviewing each other. "Why do you think Central Command officials are being so cagey about how the war is going?" I was asked time and again. Some correspondents even threatened to pack up and go home, fearing we would never be briefed.
Central Command General Tommy Franks dispelled the tension on Mar. 22 with his first media briefing -- but not before a "rehearsal" in the high-tech media center in Doha where he was to address the world press. And with U.S. casualties mounting, and Saddam and the Iraqis using TV to get out propaganda -- including reports of the apparent capture and execution of U.S. soldiers on Mar. 23 -- Franks may have to get the U.S. military message out more forcefully in the days ahead.
Actually, it did feel a bit like Hollywood -- for good reason. The Pentagon spent an estimated $200,000 on this made-for-TV set in Qatar. Designed by a Hollywood art director whose latest movie credit is Michael Douglas' upcoming film, It Runs in the Family, the set has a podium encircled by several large plasma display screens. A royal-blue and white map of the world stretches along the back wall.
UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL. According to the Army Times, the Pentagon ran up a $47,000 FedEx bill to ship the set to the Persian Gulf from Chicago, where it was built. "As a symbol of the American military's growing media sophistication, you couldn't do better than the briefing room/TV set," according to the Army Times. Asked why the Pentagon invested so much time and effort in the set, a Central Command spokesman shrugged: "It's a high-tech military, so we have a high-tech briefing room."
The first test of the set went off without a hitch. Franks coolly strode into the room at the appointed hour, outlined the "military objectives" of "Operation Iraqi Freedom" (you won't hear it called anything else in this room). Then, he turned the podium over to General Vince Brooks, who proceeded to discuss the war's early operations.
Brooks took advantage of the plasma screens to show videos of special-operations forces securing oil terminals and destroying Iraqi military outposts and naval forces. The black-and-white videos were surreal. One showed the fuzzy image of a ship moving along slowly with bursts of white smoke flashing overhead. Just like you'd see in a war movie. The technology was impressive yet startling, given that what we were seeing was real.
"ABSOLUTE TRUTH." The setting was in stark contrast to General Norman Schwarzkopf standing in front of an easel to brief reporters in a hotel conference room in Saudi Arabia during the 1991 Persian Gulf War. But the plasma screens are sure to get lots of use in the days ahead. The military plans to beam in high-ranking military officials for reports from the battle front and to display high-tech maps depicting the war's progress. Franks & Co. is also preparing to counteract any propaganda that Iraqi forces might broadcast.
So far, Franks has been a man of few words. He chalked up his reluctance to speak with the press until Saturday to the fact that he didn't want to jeopardize the first few days of the operation. Franks said he intends to impart the "absolute truth" as he knows it to reporters in the days ahead. As the fighting intensifies in Iraq, it appears we won't be interviewing each other anymore.
Cohn is covering the war for BusinessWeek from Central Command in Doha, Qatar Edited by Douglas Harbrecht
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Copyright 2003, Bloomberg L.P.
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