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CNN SHOWDOWN: IRAQ
Talk with Mike Farrell
Aired December 10, 2002 - 12:53 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Some Hollywood actors and actresses, other celebrities, are using today's occasion, International Human Rights Day to, protest a possible war against Iraq. One of them is the actor Mike Farrell who was not a combat medic, but he certainly played one on television in the old "M.A.S.H." series, Farrell and others, signed a letter to President Bush, calling the talk of a war, quote, "alarming and unnecessary." Mike Farrell joins us now, live, from Los Angeles.
Mike, thanks for joining us. So why are you going so public now on posing the possibility of a war against Iraq?
MIKE FARRELL, ACTOR: Well, because the juggernaut seems to have been ratcheted up. And we seem to be very definitely moving in the direction of a war. There has been great concern expressed casually around the country. But it seems to me that it has not been focused.
In our community, people tend to -- media tends to pay attention to our community. And our community feels no differently, I think, than many others communities in the country, so we determined to simply release a statement that says many of us feel concern.
The administration has asked for inspectors to go into Iraq and determine if there are any weapons of mass destruction and if there are, disable them. The United Nations agreed. The inspectors are there. We don't understand why the war talk continues, why the buildup for war continues and we feel that it is a preordained fact that the war will go forward, whether the inspectors do their job or not. And in our view, that's an inappropriate act on the part of the United States.
BLITZER: The Bush administration and its supporters would argue that without that kind of talk of war, without that kind of pressure, there's no chance the Iraqis will comply with those U.N. weapons inspectors. They just go about their efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction. In other words, you need the threat, in order to get the compliance towards disarmament. What do you say about that?
FARRELL: I understand that that's their rationale. I think that they have gone far beyond threatening. I think they've moved into the -- very closely to the direction of war and the issue is whether or not we get to critical mass, as Mr. Pearl said the other day. We may have gone so far that George Bush cannot simply not turn back, without losing face. That is of great concern. This is a nation that ought not be concerned about its leader losing face, after having putting himself and us, by definition, in a situation from which one cannot go backward. Besides which,... BLITZER: Under what...
FARRELL: ... records.
BLITZER: ... under what -- let me interrupt for a second.
FARRELL: Let me say, if I may.
BLITZER: Let me interrupt for a second. Under -- but let me just ask you this, because we don't have a whole lot of time. Under what circumstances would you support a presidential decision to go to war against Iraq? What would the administration have to do to convince you that was the right course?
FARRELL: The issue is not to convince me; the issue is to present evidence that convinces the world at large that Iraq is a threat. It is inappropriate, it seems to me, for the United States to take preventative action. It's a little like the old Andy Capp cartoon, where the man is laying on the floor and the police officer asks the man, "Now, let me understand, you hit him back first."
I think what we're doing here is backing ourselves into a situation wherein it is not necessary to be at all. The United Nations inspectors who are in Iraq from 1991 to 1998 found and destroyed 95 percent, by their count, of any weapons systems, including weapons of mass destruction or the capacity to develop them, that Iraq had at the time. There's no reason to believe the inspectors cannot do the same today, simply by the mandate given them by the Security Council.
The United States posturing, if you want to suggest that that's what it is, is not necessary in order to allow the inspectors to do their job. And as a matter of fact, the rhetoric of the United States is undercutting the effectiveness of the inspectors.
BLITZER: All right.
FARRELL: So, I think...
BLITZER: Mike Farrell...
FARRELL: ... I think, given the statements of the...
BLITZER: ... Mike Farrell, I've got to cut you off, unfortunately, because we are all out of time, but I appreciate your views, of course. Our viewers do, as well. We certainly will want to have you back on this program as, of course, the talk of war continues, at least for the time being.
Mike Farrell, of course, from the "M.A.S.H. series, a well-known Hollywood actor -- an excellent actor, that is. Thanks for joining us from Los Angeles. Good luck to you, as well.
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