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American Morning
Talk with Retired General Wesley Clark
Aired November 13, 2002 - 08:18 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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: The U.N. resolution aside, the Bush administration has often said that the only thing Iraqi President Saddam Hussein understands is force. Should it come to war, what is the U.S. preparing and what kind of fight can Iraq actually put up?
Joining me now is our military analyst, retired General Wesley Clark.
Welcome back.
GEN. WESLEY CLARK (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST, FORMER NATO SUPREME COMMANDER: Thank you, Paula.
ZAHN: Nice to see you in person.
CLARK: Good to be here.
ZAHN: Before we get to that, let's talk about the significance of the release of this audiotape the State Department is now confirming is that of Osama bin Laden. John King reporting from the White House this morning that there is this growing concern that American citizens may start asking the question if you haven't finished off al Qaeda, what business do we have going into Iraq?
CLARK: Well, first of all, a lot of us have been concerned for a long time that we didn't finish off al Qaeda. I mean the thinking was that he probably did get away, that a lot of the leadership did get away. And so the concern has been then can you both work against al Qaeda and work against Saddam Hussein?
It's a matter of judgment. The administration has said yes. This will be no surprise to the administration, the fact that Osama bin Laden is alive, or that there is a threat out there. And the idea is that a strong demonstration of American power, in this case against Saddam Hussein, is going to bring to our side more allies. It will demoralize further the potential supporters of al Qaeda and actually increase our ability to get a grip on al Qaeda.
ZAHN: We know that time is running out for Saddam Hussein to accept this latest U.N. resolution. If you're a betting man, is he going to accept it on Friday?
CLARK: He will accept it, I believe. I don't think he wants to draw a line in the sand and have us have something easy that we can grip against him. He's going to slice it and dice it and delay and lie and conceal and obfuscate. He's been through this before. He's seen nations threaten and then back off, lose their resolve. Maybe he's hoping that Osama bin Laden will strike us and, or strike our allies in Europe and that will distract world attention from Iraq and he'll have that much more time to complete his plans.
ZAHN: We have seen parts of the military plan the Bush administration is considering leaked to newspapers. CNN had some of that information as long ago as two weeks ago. Give our audience an update on what they should be looking for and what any troop deployments and movements mean.
CLARK: Well, you're seeing already the orders have been given to deploy headquarters to the region. The exercise, you know, that was scheduled for the end of this month with the Central Command in the Persian Gulf is a go. The question is how to balance the movement of the troops, the movement of the equipment and the logistics with the diplomacy. In other words, we want a just in time military operation. We want the equipment up there, up front and ready, but the troops should be, we call it a sling shot approach. You get everything ready and then you bring the troops in at the last minute and then you go. And so that's the art of the strategic management of this is to look the diplomacy, anticipate when the troops are going to be required and then get it on time there.
ZAHN: When is the earliest the U.S. and its allies are ready to go and what is the latest military action you can talk about? People have been talking about this confined window of January to February that you don't want to go beyond.
CLARK: Right. Well, first of all, I think we ought to set aside the idea that we wouldn't attack in warm weather. If that's what's required, we would certainly do that. We train every summer in the Mojave Desert and elsewhere in full chemical protective gear. Do we like it? Of course we don't. But we don't like it any time we have to wear that stuff. But we're very capable of doing that.
So set aside the end of the window. Then say how soon could we go? Probably four to five weeks at the front end, maybe sooner than that, and any time thereafter. But it'll be timed to reinforce diplomacy. This is diplomacy backed by force. The president has said he'd like to do this without a war. The odds are that it probably won't be accomplished without a military operation unless there's a coup inside Iraq and Saddam is overthrown and with a government that wants to cooperate with the United States. But in any event, it is diplomacy first and then get the forces ready to go later.
ZAHN: Of course, the timetable very much dependent on what Saddam Hussein does. And Richard Butler calling our attention to that December 7 to 10 window when he's supposed to turn over to the U.N. a list of everything he's got.
CLARK: This is one of the issues that we'll have is what is the appropriate trigger? How do we know when to go from diplomacy to the actual use of force? Is he going to send some guards out to block the access to a site and say you can't come in here, this is where it is? And so you say OK, that's it, in that case we attack. Or does he simply leave a site off the list and then we say well, look here, he hasn't mentioned such and such presidential site. We think there are weapons in there, you didn't put it on the list, that means you're deceiving the United Nations, that's the trigger. And then he says oh, I'm so sorry, well, please come in and look at this. We didn't know your intelligence said we were keeping these weapons here. We don't have anything here.
So there will be a lot of difficulty in trying to create the trigger.
ZAHN: General Clark, nice to see you in person.
CLARK: Nice to see you, Paula.
ZAHN: Appreciate your time.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired November 13, 2002 - 08:18 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: The U.N. resolution aside, the Bush administration has often said that the only thing Iraqi President Saddam Hussein understands is force. Should it come to war, what is the U.S. preparing and what kind of fight can Iraq actually put up?
Joining me now is our military analyst, retired General Wesley Clark.
Welcome back.
GEN. WESLEY CLARK (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST, FORMER NATO SUPREME COMMANDER: Thank you, Paula.
ZAHN: Nice to see you in person.
CLARK: Good to be here.
ZAHN: Before we get to that, let's talk about the significance of the release of this audiotape the State Department is now confirming is that of Osama bin Laden. John King reporting from the White House this morning that there is this growing concern that American citizens may start asking the question if you haven't finished off al Qaeda, what business do we have going into Iraq?
CLARK: Well, first of all, a lot of us have been concerned for a long time that we didn't finish off al Qaeda. I mean the thinking was that he probably did get away, that a lot of the leadership did get away. And so the concern has been then can you both work against al Qaeda and work against Saddam Hussein?
It's a matter of judgment. The administration has said yes. This will be no surprise to the administration, the fact that Osama bin Laden is alive, or that there is a threat out there. And the idea is that a strong demonstration of American power, in this case against Saddam Hussein, is going to bring to our side more allies. It will demoralize further the potential supporters of al Qaeda and actually increase our ability to get a grip on al Qaeda.
ZAHN: We know that time is running out for Saddam Hussein to accept this latest U.N. resolution. If you're a betting man, is he going to accept it on Friday?
CLARK: He will accept it, I believe. I don't think he wants to draw a line in the sand and have us have something easy that we can grip against him. He's going to slice it and dice it and delay and lie and conceal and obfuscate. He's been through this before. He's seen nations threaten and then back off, lose their resolve. Maybe he's hoping that Osama bin Laden will strike us and, or strike our allies in Europe and that will distract world attention from Iraq and he'll have that much more time to complete his plans.
ZAHN: We have seen parts of the military plan the Bush administration is considering leaked to newspapers. CNN had some of that information as long ago as two weeks ago. Give our audience an update on what they should be looking for and what any troop deployments and movements mean.
CLARK: Well, you're seeing already the orders have been given to deploy headquarters to the region. The exercise, you know, that was scheduled for the end of this month with the Central Command in the Persian Gulf is a go. The question is how to balance the movement of the troops, the movement of the equipment and the logistics with the diplomacy. In other words, we want a just in time military operation. We want the equipment up there, up front and ready, but the troops should be, we call it a sling shot approach. You get everything ready and then you bring the troops in at the last minute and then you go. And so that's the art of the strategic management of this is to look the diplomacy, anticipate when the troops are going to be required and then get it on time there.
ZAHN: When is the earliest the U.S. and its allies are ready to go and what is the latest military action you can talk about? People have been talking about this confined window of January to February that you don't want to go beyond.
CLARK: Right. Well, first of all, I think we ought to set aside the idea that we wouldn't attack in warm weather. If that's what's required, we would certainly do that. We train every summer in the Mojave Desert and elsewhere in full chemical protective gear. Do we like it? Of course we don't. But we don't like it any time we have to wear that stuff. But we're very capable of doing that.
So set aside the end of the window. Then say how soon could we go? Probably four to five weeks at the front end, maybe sooner than that, and any time thereafter. But it'll be timed to reinforce diplomacy. This is diplomacy backed by force. The president has said he'd like to do this without a war. The odds are that it probably won't be accomplished without a military operation unless there's a coup inside Iraq and Saddam is overthrown and with a government that wants to cooperate with the United States. But in any event, it is diplomacy first and then get the forces ready to go later.
ZAHN: Of course, the timetable very much dependent on what Saddam Hussein does. And Richard Butler calling our attention to that December 7 to 10 window when he's supposed to turn over to the U.N. a list of everything he's got.
CLARK: This is one of the issues that we'll have is what is the appropriate trigger? How do we know when to go from diplomacy to the actual use of force? Is he going to send some guards out to block the access to a site and say you can't come in here, this is where it is? And so you say OK, that's it, in that case we attack. Or does he simply leave a site off the list and then we say well, look here, he hasn't mentioned such and such presidential site. We think there are weapons in there, you didn't put it on the list, that means you're deceiving the United Nations, that's the trigger. And then he says oh, I'm so sorry, well, please come in and look at this. We didn't know your intelligence said we were keeping these weapons here. We don't have anything here.
So there will be a lot of difficulty in trying to create the trigger.
ZAHN: General Clark, nice to see you in person.
CLARK: Nice to see you, Paula.
ZAHN: Appreciate your time.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
