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Baghdad Accuses Bush Administration of Seeking Blank Check to Invade Iraq
Aired October 16, 2002 - 12:33 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.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Baghdad, meanwhile, today, accused the Bush administration of seeking a blank check to invade Iraq and plunder its oil.
Our Baghdad bureau chief Jane Arraf joins us now. Give us a little sense of what's going on, Jane.
JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Well, Wolf, you're absolutely right, it's breezy in quite a lot of ways, but that global coalition President Bush was referring to just a little while ago does seem to have a bit of trouble gelling at the U.N., and Iraq will certainly take comfort in that.
That opposition by France and by Russia to a U.S. resolution that would authorize military force. Now, Mohammed Azuri (ph), the U.N. ambassador, saying that this would, as you mentioned, be a blank check for occupation, accusing the United States of going after Iraq's oil. Now Izzad Ibrahim (ph), who is President Saddam Hussein's right-hand man, gave quite a revealing comment today. For the first time really he said that Iraq might be willing to consider a new resolution if it comes. What he said, in fact, was they would cross that bridge if they come to it.
That may seem fairly mild being, but in terms of what Iraq has been saying lately, which has been they would reject that resolution, that actually goes a little bit further.
Now, a public holiday here today in Baghdad, celebrating that 100 percent vote for President Saddam Hussein in a referendum held yesterday. There is celebrations in the street here, all of them government organized, of course, and lots of gun fire.
Now, gunfire was in celebration as well. It's usually illegal here, but in this case, it was encouraged.
You can probably see in these pictures people dancing in the streets, setting off their firearms, and celebrating what the Iraqi government says is not just a vote for Saddam Hussein, but a show to the United States that the Iraqi people are loyal. The other thing it showed, Wolf, was that the Iraqi government is still strong enough to stage that kind of event -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Jane Arraf, our Baghdad bureau chief, thank you for that report. And if the confrontation with Iraq turns into another Gulf War, the key southern ground force will come from U.S. troops stationed in neighboring Kuwait. Our Jamie McIntyre is in the Kuwaiti desert with U.S. forces right now. He is joining us live via videophone with this exclusive report -- Jamie.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, the news of President Bush signing that congressional authorization is just now making its way through the camp here of the desert of northern Kuwait. The initial reaction from one soldier I talked to was simply, you know, we're here to do whatever the president, the national command authority, decides to do.
But right now, they are focused on their current mission, which is essentially training for the defense of Kuwait and serving as a deterrent to Saddam Hussein. They've received no other orders other than that, and they are working pretty hard.
We spent the day with members from Fort Stewart. They are here on a six-month deployment. The second combat brigade, we watched them go through their tank training maneuvers, get some of their air defense equipment in shape, as they continue to exercise here in the desert.
Of course, the U.S. has had troops exercising at this remote location for nearly a decade. The number has varied, depending on what was going on in Iraq and other neighboring countries, and how much of a threat Saddam Hussein was perceived to be. There are roughly about 10,000 troops here, a little over 3,000, 3,500 or so, in this brigade that is from Fort Stewart.
So, again, they look at it as routine training. Everybody here is watching the news, reading the papers. They know there could be military action in the future and they're confident they'll be able to carry out whatever President Bush wants them to do, partly because there's been a lot of increases in capability since the Persian Gulf War, a lot more Internet conductivity, a lot more sophisticated weaponry, even the weapons they had from the Gulf War have been much improved. There's been better training, too, more realistic training right here in the very same terrain they might have to fight on.
So a feeling we got after spending a day here on the Udairi range and the training facilities here in northern Kuwait is that U.S. troops are confident that they'll be able to carry out whatever President Bush decides.
BLITZER: Jamie, before I let you go, I remember the 24th mechanized infantry division from Fort Stewart, Georgia played a major role during the Gulf War 11 years ago. Are you running into a lot of soldiers now that are younger, didn't fight the first time around? Or are you meeting plenty who did have that personal experience going to war against Iraq?
MCINTYRE: Well, you know, almost -- very few of them actually fought in the Persian Gulf War. Even some of the commanders I talked to, some of them who were in the service, weren't in the Persian Gulf War. You know, it's hard to imagine, but that was a long time ago, 12 years ago. So, and the average age of the U.S. military, quite young. We were on the aircraft carrier. The average age on the flight deck was about 20 years old. So most of these soldiers have not had experience in the Gulf War, but they feel that they're fully trained and ready to go.
BLITZER: Jamie McIntyre, our senior Pentagon correspondent on the scene with us from Kuwait with an excellent report, an exclusive report as well. We'll be touching base with you regularly.
Jamie, thanks very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
to Invade Iraq>
Aired October 16, 2002 - 12:33 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Baghdad, meanwhile, today, accused the Bush administration of seeking a blank check to invade Iraq and plunder its oil.
Our Baghdad bureau chief Jane Arraf joins us now. Give us a little sense of what's going on, Jane.
JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Well, Wolf, you're absolutely right, it's breezy in quite a lot of ways, but that global coalition President Bush was referring to just a little while ago does seem to have a bit of trouble gelling at the U.N., and Iraq will certainly take comfort in that.
That opposition by France and by Russia to a U.S. resolution that would authorize military force. Now, Mohammed Azuri (ph), the U.N. ambassador, saying that this would, as you mentioned, be a blank check for occupation, accusing the United States of going after Iraq's oil. Now Izzad Ibrahim (ph), who is President Saddam Hussein's right-hand man, gave quite a revealing comment today. For the first time really he said that Iraq might be willing to consider a new resolution if it comes. What he said, in fact, was they would cross that bridge if they come to it.
That may seem fairly mild being, but in terms of what Iraq has been saying lately, which has been they would reject that resolution, that actually goes a little bit further.
Now, a public holiday here today in Baghdad, celebrating that 100 percent vote for President Saddam Hussein in a referendum held yesterday. There is celebrations in the street here, all of them government organized, of course, and lots of gun fire.
Now, gunfire was in celebration as well. It's usually illegal here, but in this case, it was encouraged.
You can probably see in these pictures people dancing in the streets, setting off their firearms, and celebrating what the Iraqi government says is not just a vote for Saddam Hussein, but a show to the United States that the Iraqi people are loyal. The other thing it showed, Wolf, was that the Iraqi government is still strong enough to stage that kind of event -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Jane Arraf, our Baghdad bureau chief, thank you for that report. And if the confrontation with Iraq turns into another Gulf War, the key southern ground force will come from U.S. troops stationed in neighboring Kuwait. Our Jamie McIntyre is in the Kuwaiti desert with U.S. forces right now. He is joining us live via videophone with this exclusive report -- Jamie.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, the news of President Bush signing that congressional authorization is just now making its way through the camp here of the desert of northern Kuwait. The initial reaction from one soldier I talked to was simply, you know, we're here to do whatever the president, the national command authority, decides to do.
But right now, they are focused on their current mission, which is essentially training for the defense of Kuwait and serving as a deterrent to Saddam Hussein. They've received no other orders other than that, and they are working pretty hard.
We spent the day with members from Fort Stewart. They are here on a six-month deployment. The second combat brigade, we watched them go through their tank training maneuvers, get some of their air defense equipment in shape, as they continue to exercise here in the desert.
Of course, the U.S. has had troops exercising at this remote location for nearly a decade. The number has varied, depending on what was going on in Iraq and other neighboring countries, and how much of a threat Saddam Hussein was perceived to be. There are roughly about 10,000 troops here, a little over 3,000, 3,500 or so, in this brigade that is from Fort Stewart.
So, again, they look at it as routine training. Everybody here is watching the news, reading the papers. They know there could be military action in the future and they're confident they'll be able to carry out whatever President Bush wants them to do, partly because there's been a lot of increases in capability since the Persian Gulf War, a lot more Internet conductivity, a lot more sophisticated weaponry, even the weapons they had from the Gulf War have been much improved. There's been better training, too, more realistic training right here in the very same terrain they might have to fight on.
So a feeling we got after spending a day here on the Udairi range and the training facilities here in northern Kuwait is that U.S. troops are confident that they'll be able to carry out whatever President Bush decides.
BLITZER: Jamie, before I let you go, I remember the 24th mechanized infantry division from Fort Stewart, Georgia played a major role during the Gulf War 11 years ago. Are you running into a lot of soldiers now that are younger, didn't fight the first time around? Or are you meeting plenty who did have that personal experience going to war against Iraq?
MCINTYRE: Well, you know, almost -- very few of them actually fought in the Persian Gulf War. Even some of the commanders I talked to, some of them who were in the service, weren't in the Persian Gulf War. You know, it's hard to imagine, but that was a long time ago, 12 years ago. So, and the average age of the U.S. military, quite young. We were on the aircraft carrier. The average age on the flight deck was about 20 years old. So most of these soldiers have not had experience in the Gulf War, but they feel that they're fully trained and ready to go.
BLITZER: Jamie McIntyre, our senior Pentagon correspondent on the scene with us from Kuwait with an excellent report, an exclusive report as well. We'll be touching base with you regularly.
Jamie, thanks very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
to Invade Iraq>
