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Rumsfeld Wants New Plans for Overthrow of Saddam
Aired August 01, 2002 - 12:35 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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Turning now to the relations between Iraq and the U.S., Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld apparently not happy with military options for dealing with Iraq. He wants Pentagon planners to go back to the drawing board.
Our Barbara Starr joins us live now from the Pentagon with details -- Barbara.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Kyra. Yes. Well, sources here say that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld remains very unhappy with the kind of options, war plans, and things like that that his generals and admirals are offering him. He again -- he has done this before, he again has told them to go back and think more creatively.
What Rumsfeld wants to see, we are told, is a plan that would topple Saddam Hussein, but be a lightning strike, something very quick, very mobile, very flexible, that may not involve large numbers of U.S. troops, but would topple Saddam before he knows what hit him.
Jordan's King Abdullah meeting today at the White House with President Bush cautioned against military -- U.S. military action against Iraq. Here is what President Bush had to say in response.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The policy of my government, our government, this administration, is regime change for a reason. Saddam Hussein is a man who poisons his own people, who threatens his neighbors, who develops weapons of mass destruction. And I will assure his majesty like I have in the past, we're looking at all options, use of all tools. I'm a patient man, but I haven't changed my opinion since the last time he was in the Oval Office.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR: Now, back here at the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld continues to urge the military, but the military is being a little bit cautious. These types of creative war plans are the things that always make the military very concerned. We are told they want to see more troops, more airplanes, more armor, more backup in any kind of plan in case U.S. troops got into trouble, and they are cautioning that there is no guarantee that any war plan would get rid of Saddam Hussein and his weapons of mass destruction -- Kyra. PHILLIPS: Barbara Starr, thank you.
We want to take a closer look now at the political situation in Iraq, and what could happen there if Saddam Hussein is overthrown. With us to share insight is CNN's Jane Arraf. She is a former Baghdad bureau chief, and now heads coverage from Istanbul, and we are so lucky to have you with us.
JANE ARRAF, CNN ISTANBUL BUREAU CHIEF: Thanks, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: You are here for some meetings. Nice to see you in person, done many a live shot.
ARRAF: Thanks, good to be here.
PHILLIPS: All right. So let's talk about what Barbara had to say just for a moment. Before -- just days ago, Donald Rumsfeld wasn't talking about a war plan. He was saying he was hosting possibilities. Now it sounds like things are definitely in motion. What's your take?
ARRAF: Well, it is really hard to judge whether in fact these are just a range of options, and he is saying he is unhappy with them, come back with some other ones, or whether it is an attempt to make Saddam give up and let the weapons inspectors in, or whether we really are going along this road to an actual war. But certainly, he seems to be indicating that if they are going to do this, if the U.S. is going to take some sort of action, it is not going to be easy. And that's why he is talking about different and more and better options, because it is going to be hugely complicated in all sorts of ways.
PHILLIPS: All right. Let's talk about those complications. Number one, we know it is going to be extremely expensive. Last time we had a war against Iraq, billions and billions of dollars, but we had allies pitching in, paying for the tab. We didn't pay as much as we would this time around. So how much of a money issue is there?
ARRAF: That's kind of a huge issue, and like a lot of other things, that is one of the things that has really changed since the last time around. And as you mentioned, the allies of the United States picked up most of the tab of that 80 billion plus that it cost to wage the Gulf War. This time, they are not so keen to sign on. That was to get Iraq out of Kuwait. That was a clear purpose to many of the U.S. allies, the Arab countries and countries like Turkey. This time, they haven't seen a smoking gun that indicates to them that Iraq really is building weapons of mass destruction. There are a lot of suspicions, but there seems to be no evidence that has been presented yet. And on that basis, they are not going to come up with the support or the money that they did last time, and certainly there is a fear that if there is any action launched, it could really affect oil prices at a time when the U.S. needs it least. The price is going to go up at the gas pumps, and then Americans are going to pay for this in all sorts of ways, including economically.
PHILLIPS: But there has been times where Saddam Hussein has come forward and said, That's it, I'm cutting off oil right now, I'm mad at you, U.S., to the United States, and analysts have come out and said, it's OK. Let him do that. We get oil from other countries, other countries are not going to get on board with Saddam. Do you think that would be the case?
ARRAF: It would be a much bigger deal if there actually were a war. Because in those cases, the U.S. is still the biggest buyer of Iraqi oil, which is an ironic sort of fact that a lot of Americans, I think, don't realize. But if there were to be a war, it would be a shock to the whole system. It would be a shock to the oil producing countries in the Middle East and to other parts of the world as well. So the feeling is that oil prices certainly would rise. When Saddam before has turned off the taps, it has been on a sort of limited basis, ten days or two weeks, and it hasn't had that much effect. But this time around, if something really does happen, it is going to be big, and the impact on oil prices and the economy in general would certainly be big, and -- as opposed to last time, during the Gulf War, the allies are not willing to bear the cost. Either the economic cost or certainly the political cost, because there is a feeling in a lot of these countries that no matter how terrible Saddam is, it is not the place of the United States government to go in and depose people, and that is certainly a feeling that Arab leaders are looking at on their streets.
PHILLIPS: And, of course, the U.S. attacks Iraq, they have got to rebuild the government, they have got to find a new leader. All these are questions at hand. And also, you wonder who the heck would replace Saddam Hussein. You don't want his sons in there.
ARRAF: That's a tricky thing. I mean, the sons in there would be sort of a repeat of having Saddam Hussein in there in many people's minds, and it is not an easy thing trying to find someone who is going to appeal to all the factions in Iraq, and who would appeal to the neighbors of Iraq, and who hasn't been really intimately associated with President Saddam Hussein. A lot of the generals they are turning to now were really part of that regime, which makes them much less palatable to a lot of Iraqis to come in and help run the country. That's the key thing. That is the unanswered question. Who is going to come in after Saddam Hussein.
PHILLIPS: Well, used to be bureau chief of Baghdad. We appreciate your insight. Now you are heading to Istanbul. You know, a lot of us want to go there. You might have many visitors in Istanbul.
ARRAF: They could use the tourism, certainly.
PHILLIPS: Jane Arraf. Thank you so much.
ARRAF: Thank you.
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