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'New York Times' Says U.S. Draws Up Plans for Attack on Iraq

Aired July 05, 2002 - 12:09   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: There has been plenty of talk in recent months about whether Iraq will become the next target in the war on terrorism. Today, the "New York Times" reports the U.S. has drawn up plans for a massive, multi-prong attack on Iraq, the goal according to the report, to take out Saddam Hussein. CNN's senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre joins us from the Pentagon with more on that. Hi there, Jamie.

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka. Well it's been an open secret in the Bush administration that there is military planning going on to perhaps effect a regime change in Baghdad and we have reported in the past that military planning has been progressing, looking at various options if the president were to make a decision.

Now, what the "New York Times" is saying is that they have been told about one of a series of briefing slides prepared a couple of months ago that outline in very broad terms some of the concept of operations that might be employed.

Now, Pentagon officials stress that there has been no decision made by President Bush yet to attack Iraq and there is no war plan on his desk. In fact, they insist there is no final war plan at this point, still options being considered.

But the document is interesting, according to the "New York Times" because it shows the progress of military thinking. It confirms what CNN has reported in the past, that the general thinking is that it would take about half as many troops as during Desert Storm to effect a regime change in Iraq, about 250,000 or so, and suggest that an attack would come from many fronts, including from the north, from the south, and the west all at the same time. But it doesn't go into much detail.

In fact, this whole issues raises the question of to what extent journalists want to be reporting specifics of any war plan that would help the Iraqi government. Iraq, of course, already clearly knows that it's in the crosshairs of the Bush administration and the Iraqi government has been bracing for some sort of possible attack for months now -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And, Jamie, at this juncture, is anyone at the Pentagon articulating that they're afraid that this plan might be compromised because we and others are reporting it? MCINTYRE: Well, I haven't heard that specifically because again, the concept of operations laid out here is not something that we haven't heard before. It's in many ways sort of common sense. It's been clear that the Bush administration has been looking for something less than a repeat of the Persian Gulf War, something more imaginative making use of newer technologies, although it's also clear that no one in the Pentagon here thinks that you could do in Iraq, for instance, what was done in Afghanistan, that is rely largely on local opponents to the government to help overthrow it.

So, the key here is that there is a lot of planning going on for possible military action in Iraq, but no indications such action is imminent and no final plan that's been settled on by President Bush. Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, thank you very much, Jamie McIntyre from the Pentagon.

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