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American Morning
U.S. Advised Weapons Inspectors to Vacate Iraq
Aired March 17, 2003 - 08:01 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: We begin this morning with some important developments in the showdown with Iraq. Overnight, the United States advised the U.N. to get its weapons inspectors out of Iraq. The State Department has ordered non-essential personnel to leave Israel, Kuwait and Syria. Meanwhile, the U.N. Security Council will meet behind closed doors at 10 o'clock this morning to discuss the warning from Washington, as well as other weighty matters at the U.N. U.N. observers along the border between Iraq and Kuwait have already been told to get ready to evacuate.
All of this comes as President Bush warns France, Russia and Germany today is their last chance to consider this resolution that would allow for military action against Iraq. All three countries have indicated through various channels today they will not change their minds, they will not support the United States.
Now, onto Baghdad, where the U.S. is advising U.N. weapons inspectors to leave Iraq and Iraqi President Saddam Hussein says his troops are ready to fight the U.S. anywhere in the world if it launches a war.
Nic Robertson now joins us from the capital -- good morning, Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
Well, there are still 56 U.N. weapons inspectors here and the U.N. says it has 134 staff total involved in the U.N. inspection mission. That's a little over half the number they had about a month ago.
Now, the U.N. here says that they would expect to get an order. If they do get an order to pull out, they would expect that order to come from the U.N. Security Council and right now they are not planning to move out.
Now, they do have evacuation plans. They say that would mean that they would leave the country by an aircraft that would take them to Cyprus. Likely when they would pull out, if and when that happens, other U.N. organizations in Iraq would begin to pull out. They could drive from Baghdad over the border, over to the border with Jordan. That's about a six hour drive. Certainly that would very much fuel expectations and fears among people here in Baghdad that war was looming very close.
And from what we've seen here today, absolutely that's what people are thinking. We're seeing stores being emptied today as people from all sorts of stores, little electrical outlet stores, antique stores emptying their shops, putting things into storage.
And certainly as far as Iraqi officials are concerned, they believe that the end or the war is apparently getting very close. The information minister, Mohammed Sa'eed Al-Sahaf, calling Great Britain and the United States liars, saying that the summit in the Azores was a failure.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MOHAMMED SA'EED AL-SAHAF, IRAQI INFORMATION MINISTER: I think it's a failure. Those despicable three failures, they tried again to divert the attention and all they presented is a series of lies and a series of dark, black propaganda like Mr. Bush and the others.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTSON: Well, there seems to be very little doubt here at this time that a war is absolutely imminent -- Paula.
ZAHN: Any expectation that you will hear from Saddam Hussein any time today or tomorrow?
ROBERTSON: After the Gulf War started in 1991, the day after, President Saddam Hussein did address the population of Iraq on Iraq's television stations. People here might expect a similar type of address. We see President Saddam Hussein regularly on the news broadcasts here every evening. He says that if the war starts against Iraq, they'll take it all over the world, the skies, anywhere with skies, land or sea, they'll take the war there. And yesterday even warned anybody invading Iraq that Iraq would turn into many fires and they would burn the invaders, turning the country into a graveyard for the invaders.
We have heard all these threats. So I think likely we're going to see him on television again. What he'll say, we'll have to wait and see -- Paula.
ZAHN: Nic Robertson, thank you so much, reporting from Baghdad for us this morning.
Meanwhile, President Bush is calling today the moment of truth for the world.
Dana Bash is standing by at the White House with more -- good morning, Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
Well, today is almost exactly six months after the president first took the issue to the U.N., the issue of Iraq. And today is likely to be the day that the Iraqi issue ends at the United Nations. The president, as you said, called it a moment of truth, standing side by side with sort of a show of unity with his chief allies on the issue. He made it pretty clear, though, that he doesn't think that in the next few hours, these hours today, that there's much of a chance that the U.N. will come his way and he showed outright irritation about that, particularly towards France.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I was the guy that said they ought to vote and one country voted, at least showed their cards, I believe, it's an old Texas expression, show your cards when you're playing poker. France showed their cards. After I said what I said, they said they're going to veto anything that held Saddam to account. So cards have been played.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Now, the president did make some phone calls on his way back from that summit. We are told that he spoke with the prime minister of Australia, John Howard. Of course, he is another key ally of the president's and Australia has committed some troops to help the U.S. in any military action against Saddam Hussein. But there isn't much hope that in the hours ahead, Paula, here at the White House that there will be much success, as you just heard from the president, at the U.N. So the president, we are told, could address the nation as early as tonight. We have been told all along that as soon as the diplomatic efforts run out at the U.N. we should expect to hear from him. That could happen tonight in sort of an ultimatum to Saddam Hussein and an address that could prepare Americans for war -- Paula.
ZAHN: Keep us posted, Dana.
Thanks so much.
We want to look now at where public opinion stands on a potential war with Iraq. A new CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll finds 64 percent of those surveyed support sending U.S. troops to Iraq to remove Saddam Hussein from power. Thirty-three percent of those surveyed opposed U.S. action against Iraq. That shows a rise in support for U.S. military action since earlier in March, when 59 percent favored sending troops compared to 37 percent who opposed.
But, when asked if they favored sending in U.S. troops without a new vote in the United Nations, only 47 percent said they still favored doing so. Fifty percent said they opposed it. And when asked how the president is handling the situation in Iraq, 56 percent say they approve of the president's job, while 41 percent say they disapprove.
So how does the president get divided allies back on the same page as we sit on the brink of war with Iraq?
Joining us now from Miami, former U.S. Senator George Mitchell, who has been involved in peace negotiations in Northern Ireland and the Middle East.
He joins us from Miami.
Welcome back, Senator Mitchell.
GEORGE MITCHELL, FORMER U.S. SENATOR: Thanks for being -- thanks for having me here, Paula.
ZAHN: You have participated in many eleventh hour negotiations. Do you see any hint of compromise here?
MITCHELL: It seems very unlikely. All of the participants have reaffirmed their positions and I think the meeting yesterday had two purposes. One was to help Blair and Aznar, who face very hostile publics to their positions, and the second is to identify France as a principal cause of the rupture of Western unity as we go into this conflict.
I think the administration and the British government are banking on a swift and successful military action to redeem the diplomatic failure that has occurred.
ZAHN: Let's come back to the first point you made. Did Tony Blair get much help out of this Azores summit?
MITCHELL: I think some. I think that if the war does go swiftly and successfully, his position will be preserved, if it, for some unfortunate and unforeseen reason, it does not happen that way, then I think he will be in much more difficult circumstances.
I was in London last week and a poll published by the "Times" there showed that only 11 percent of Britons at that time favored going to war without U.N. approval, even though Blair has been all over television, appearing, answering questions from those who oppose the conflict, has done a rather remarkable job of making the case. However, he does not appear to have persuaded a majority of his countrymen of his position.
So I think it's going to be a tough period of time for him.
ZAHN: Well, I guess there's a long road to travel when another public opinion poll there suggested that the U.S. is perceived as more of an enemy than Saddam Hussein at this point.
MITCHELL: Well, that's right. In Britain, our closest ally in continental Europe, and in other parts of the world, of course, the numbers are even more startling. It's a shock for an American to travel around the world and see that the United States is regarded with great hostility almost everywhere in the world, to a degree that I have not experienced in my lifetime.
I think that will begin to change. I think the American people are already beginning to rally around the president because I think people have internalized that the conflict is here and there's a traditional rallying around. And if the military action is successful, I think that will change somewhat.
I think the real problems will begin after the military action. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains and, indeed, it's increasing in its intensity. The war against terror will get, I think there'll be a new surge of action as a consequence of the attack upon Iraq and, of course, the Western alliance is now in disrepair, although I hope that will be rebuilt soon. I think France, Germany and the others will want to get involved in the reconstruction effort and we, of course, will want them involved. So that offers a vehicle to try to repair that breach, hopefully in the near future.
ZAHN: But in the short-term there is a huge breach, obviously, between the U.S. and France, and you said part of the, one of the goals, maybe, of the Azores summit was to redefine France as being a major problem and the obstacle to getting Iraq to disarm.
Do you think that strategy is going to work?
MITCHELL: Well, it's certainly working here and in Britain. It doesn't appear to be working anywhere else. But, again, I think once the conflict is over, and we all hope, of course, that it's swift with minimal casualties, I think there will be an incentive and an interest on both sides to repair the breach. The French, the Germans, the Russians, they'll all want to get back into the action, as will the U.N. in terms of rebuilding. And we will need their help. This, we can do the military thing alone, but I think we'll need a lot of help, resources, manpower in the rebuilding and reorganization effort.
The one thing I think we must avoid is to have a long-term American military occupation of an Arab and Muslim country in the middle of that region. We have to stay there long enough to prevent chaos from developing and from making a transition to a self- government by the Iraqis, but we want to avoid a military occupation. I think that would be a political and otherwise a disaster for us.
ZAHN: Senator George Mitchell, we always appreciate your perspective.
Thanks so much for your time this morning.
MITCHELL: Thank you, Paula. Right.
ZAHN: Take care.
General Tommy Franks, commander of the U.S. Central Command today, meets with top Kuwait officials. Meanwhile, U.S. troops in Kuwait can only watch and wait for orders.
Walt Rodgers is with the Seventh Calvary in northern Kuwait near the Iraqi border.
He joins us now by video phone -- good morning, Walt.
WALTER RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Paula.
You can tell, soldiers out here can tell, they smell a battle coming. You can see the way they behave. They've all been given new issues of ammunition on their vehicles. You can see the chemical strips, the like litmus test paper which goes up which would signal if they were under some sort of nerve gas attack.
And this morning, a very unusual but very telling incident. There was a chaplain service. I expected here perhaps a dozen or two dozen of the soldiers in Apache Troop to attend that service. There were more than a hundred there and they were giving out bibles right and left.
There is going to be a problem if President Bush tries to keep the soldiers out in the desert much longer. These soldiers will not be able to stand the heat. There are problems building already.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RODGERS (voice-over): In an earlier age, the U.S. Seventh Calvary had to feed and water its horses. They still have to exercise their mounts, only now the mounts are armored vehicles and helicopters. Some of these soldiers have been camped out just south of Iraq since last autumn.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's very difficult, especially when, you know, you're out here and you think of home, wondering what your family is doing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Being away from the State has to be probably the worst thing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Between White's last tank there and England off towards Charlie...
RODGERS: There are endless rehearsals for war and endless grumbling about everything from the isolation to the food.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The pork chop is definitely the worst.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That spiced apple is just a little bit too slimy for me, too.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
RODGERS: When these men and women are not training, they write home about the tedium of the desert.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's the three camels that walked by about a half hour ago. That's about as exciting as it gets around this place.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, we had a lizard come through last night and it slept over here on the side of the Bradley with us.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was when the mess hall at the camp we were at burned down.
RODGERS: Ask these soldiers the craziest thing they've seen and the answer is ever the same.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The beetle fights.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The bug fights.
RODGERS: Soldiers pit huge desert beetles against each other. The winner lives to fight another day. Losers become victims of a lesser war.
(on camera): These soldiers do discuss the politics of this war, but only among themselves, quietly and privately, beside their Bradleys and their tanks. Saddam is the worst, they say. The French are a close second. And the soldiers say the Turks are not far behind.
(voice-over): This American army headed for Iraq is a strange one. Tahoud Kareem (ph) is an American Muslim.
TAHOUD KAREEM: I'm an American. I'm an American citizen. I have an American job. That's my focus.
RODGERS: Staying focused is not easy amid the rumors.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some guys were telling me why not go? So we had to tell them we were still going. I really don't know.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've heard all kinds of rumors that we'll be out of here in a couple months to we're going to go to Korea.
RODGERS: But for now, the U.S. Seventh Calvary is parked along the Kuwaiti border, waiting for the order to charge.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
RODGERS: One of these nights very soon, these soldiers are going to be wakened in the middle of the night and given the order to strike their tents. Then this desert which you see behind me will be left vacant, the Bradley fighting vehicles, the tanks, the pallatin (ph) guns, all will be moving out in the middle of the night, crossing the berm, headed north towards Baghdad, assuming President Bush gets the order, gives the order. Then there will be nothing left here except a desert filled with tracks and more tank tracks, but nothing left of this army, because it's expecting to be moving north soon.
Walter Rodgers with the Seventh Calvary in northern Kuwait.
ZAHN: Walt Rodgers, thanks for the look inside.
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 March 17, 2003 - 08:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: We begin this morning with some important developments in the showdown with Iraq. Overnight, the United States advised the U.N. to get its weapons inspectors out of Iraq. The State Department has ordered non-essential personnel to leave Israel, Kuwait and Syria. Meanwhile, the U.N. Security Council will meet behind closed doors at 10 o'clock this morning to discuss the warning from Washington, as well as other weighty matters at the U.N. U.N. observers along the border between Iraq and Kuwait have already been told to get ready to evacuate.
All of this comes as President Bush warns France, Russia and Germany today is their last chance to consider this resolution that would allow for military action against Iraq. All three countries have indicated through various channels today they will not change their minds, they will not support the United States.
Now, onto Baghdad, where the U.S. is advising U.N. weapons inspectors to leave Iraq and Iraqi President Saddam Hussein says his troops are ready to fight the U.S. anywhere in the world if it launches a war.
Nic Robertson now joins us from the capital -- good morning, Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
Well, there are still 56 U.N. weapons inspectors here and the U.N. says it has 134 staff total involved in the U.N. inspection mission. That's a little over half the number they had about a month ago.
Now, the U.N. here says that they would expect to get an order. If they do get an order to pull out, they would expect that order to come from the U.N. Security Council and right now they are not planning to move out.
Now, they do have evacuation plans. They say that would mean that they would leave the country by an aircraft that would take them to Cyprus. Likely when they would pull out, if and when that happens, other U.N. organizations in Iraq would begin to pull out. They could drive from Baghdad over the border, over to the border with Jordan. That's about a six hour drive. Certainly that would very much fuel expectations and fears among people here in Baghdad that war was looming very close.
And from what we've seen here today, absolutely that's what people are thinking. We're seeing stores being emptied today as people from all sorts of stores, little electrical outlet stores, antique stores emptying their shops, putting things into storage.
And certainly as far as Iraqi officials are concerned, they believe that the end or the war is apparently getting very close. The information minister, Mohammed Sa'eed Al-Sahaf, calling Great Britain and the United States liars, saying that the summit in the Azores was a failure.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MOHAMMED SA'EED AL-SAHAF, IRAQI INFORMATION MINISTER: I think it's a failure. Those despicable three failures, they tried again to divert the attention and all they presented is a series of lies and a series of dark, black propaganda like Mr. Bush and the others.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTSON: Well, there seems to be very little doubt here at this time that a war is absolutely imminent -- Paula.
ZAHN: Any expectation that you will hear from Saddam Hussein any time today or tomorrow?
ROBERTSON: After the Gulf War started in 1991, the day after, President Saddam Hussein did address the population of Iraq on Iraq's television stations. People here might expect a similar type of address. We see President Saddam Hussein regularly on the news broadcasts here every evening. He says that if the war starts against Iraq, they'll take it all over the world, the skies, anywhere with skies, land or sea, they'll take the war there. And yesterday even warned anybody invading Iraq that Iraq would turn into many fires and they would burn the invaders, turning the country into a graveyard for the invaders.
We have heard all these threats. So I think likely we're going to see him on television again. What he'll say, we'll have to wait and see -- Paula.
ZAHN: Nic Robertson, thank you so much, reporting from Baghdad for us this morning.
Meanwhile, President Bush is calling today the moment of truth for the world.
Dana Bash is standing by at the White House with more -- good morning, Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
Well, today is almost exactly six months after the president first took the issue to the U.N., the issue of Iraq. And today is likely to be the day that the Iraqi issue ends at the United Nations. The president, as you said, called it a moment of truth, standing side by side with sort of a show of unity with his chief allies on the issue. He made it pretty clear, though, that he doesn't think that in the next few hours, these hours today, that there's much of a chance that the U.N. will come his way and he showed outright irritation about that, particularly towards France.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I was the guy that said they ought to vote and one country voted, at least showed their cards, I believe, it's an old Texas expression, show your cards when you're playing poker. France showed their cards. After I said what I said, they said they're going to veto anything that held Saddam to account. So cards have been played.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Now, the president did make some phone calls on his way back from that summit. We are told that he spoke with the prime minister of Australia, John Howard. Of course, he is another key ally of the president's and Australia has committed some troops to help the U.S. in any military action against Saddam Hussein. But there isn't much hope that in the hours ahead, Paula, here at the White House that there will be much success, as you just heard from the president, at the U.N. So the president, we are told, could address the nation as early as tonight. We have been told all along that as soon as the diplomatic efforts run out at the U.N. we should expect to hear from him. That could happen tonight in sort of an ultimatum to Saddam Hussein and an address that could prepare Americans for war -- Paula.
ZAHN: Keep us posted, Dana.
Thanks so much.
We want to look now at where public opinion stands on a potential war with Iraq. A new CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll finds 64 percent of those surveyed support sending U.S. troops to Iraq to remove Saddam Hussein from power. Thirty-three percent of those surveyed opposed U.S. action against Iraq. That shows a rise in support for U.S. military action since earlier in March, when 59 percent favored sending troops compared to 37 percent who opposed.
But, when asked if they favored sending in U.S. troops without a new vote in the United Nations, only 47 percent said they still favored doing so. Fifty percent said they opposed it. And when asked how the president is handling the situation in Iraq, 56 percent say they approve of the president's job, while 41 percent say they disapprove.
So how does the president get divided allies back on the same page as we sit on the brink of war with Iraq?
Joining us now from Miami, former U.S. Senator George Mitchell, who has been involved in peace negotiations in Northern Ireland and the Middle East.
He joins us from Miami.
Welcome back, Senator Mitchell.
GEORGE MITCHELL, FORMER U.S. SENATOR: Thanks for being -- thanks for having me here, Paula.
ZAHN: You have participated in many eleventh hour negotiations. Do you see any hint of compromise here?
MITCHELL: It seems very unlikely. All of the participants have reaffirmed their positions and I think the meeting yesterday had two purposes. One was to help Blair and Aznar, who face very hostile publics to their positions, and the second is to identify France as a principal cause of the rupture of Western unity as we go into this conflict.
I think the administration and the British government are banking on a swift and successful military action to redeem the diplomatic failure that has occurred.
ZAHN: Let's come back to the first point you made. Did Tony Blair get much help out of this Azores summit?
MITCHELL: I think some. I think that if the war does go swiftly and successfully, his position will be preserved, if it, for some unfortunate and unforeseen reason, it does not happen that way, then I think he will be in much more difficult circumstances.
I was in London last week and a poll published by the "Times" there showed that only 11 percent of Britons at that time favored going to war without U.N. approval, even though Blair has been all over television, appearing, answering questions from those who oppose the conflict, has done a rather remarkable job of making the case. However, he does not appear to have persuaded a majority of his countrymen of his position.
So I think it's going to be a tough period of time for him.
ZAHN: Well, I guess there's a long road to travel when another public opinion poll there suggested that the U.S. is perceived as more of an enemy than Saddam Hussein at this point.
MITCHELL: Well, that's right. In Britain, our closest ally in continental Europe, and in other parts of the world, of course, the numbers are even more startling. It's a shock for an American to travel around the world and see that the United States is regarded with great hostility almost everywhere in the world, to a degree that I have not experienced in my lifetime.
I think that will begin to change. I think the American people are already beginning to rally around the president because I think people have internalized that the conflict is here and there's a traditional rallying around. And if the military action is successful, I think that will change somewhat.
I think the real problems will begin after the military action. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains and, indeed, it's increasing in its intensity. The war against terror will get, I think there'll be a new surge of action as a consequence of the attack upon Iraq and, of course, the Western alliance is now in disrepair, although I hope that will be rebuilt soon. I think France, Germany and the others will want to get involved in the reconstruction effort and we, of course, will want them involved. So that offers a vehicle to try to repair that breach, hopefully in the near future.
ZAHN: But in the short-term there is a huge breach, obviously, between the U.S. and France, and you said part of the, one of the goals, maybe, of the Azores summit was to redefine France as being a major problem and the obstacle to getting Iraq to disarm.
Do you think that strategy is going to work?
MITCHELL: Well, it's certainly working here and in Britain. It doesn't appear to be working anywhere else. But, again, I think once the conflict is over, and we all hope, of course, that it's swift with minimal casualties, I think there will be an incentive and an interest on both sides to repair the breach. The French, the Germans, the Russians, they'll all want to get back into the action, as will the U.N. in terms of rebuilding. And we will need their help. This, we can do the military thing alone, but I think we'll need a lot of help, resources, manpower in the rebuilding and reorganization effort.
The one thing I think we must avoid is to have a long-term American military occupation of an Arab and Muslim country in the middle of that region. We have to stay there long enough to prevent chaos from developing and from making a transition to a self- government by the Iraqis, but we want to avoid a military occupation. I think that would be a political and otherwise a disaster for us.
ZAHN: Senator George Mitchell, we always appreciate your perspective.
Thanks so much for your time this morning.
MITCHELL: Thank you, Paula. Right.
ZAHN: Take care.
General Tommy Franks, commander of the U.S. Central Command today, meets with top Kuwait officials. Meanwhile, U.S. troops in Kuwait can only watch and wait for orders.
Walt Rodgers is with the Seventh Calvary in northern Kuwait near the Iraqi border.
He joins us now by video phone -- good morning, Walt.
WALTER RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Paula.
You can tell, soldiers out here can tell, they smell a battle coming. You can see the way they behave. They've all been given new issues of ammunition on their vehicles. You can see the chemical strips, the like litmus test paper which goes up which would signal if they were under some sort of nerve gas attack.
And this morning, a very unusual but very telling incident. There was a chaplain service. I expected here perhaps a dozen or two dozen of the soldiers in Apache Troop to attend that service. There were more than a hundred there and they were giving out bibles right and left.
There is going to be a problem if President Bush tries to keep the soldiers out in the desert much longer. These soldiers will not be able to stand the heat. There are problems building already.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RODGERS (voice-over): In an earlier age, the U.S. Seventh Calvary had to feed and water its horses. They still have to exercise their mounts, only now the mounts are armored vehicles and helicopters. Some of these soldiers have been camped out just south of Iraq since last autumn.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's very difficult, especially when, you know, you're out here and you think of home, wondering what your family is doing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Being away from the State has to be probably the worst thing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Between White's last tank there and England off towards Charlie...
RODGERS: There are endless rehearsals for war and endless grumbling about everything from the isolation to the food.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The pork chop is definitely the worst.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That spiced apple is just a little bit too slimy for me, too.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
RODGERS: When these men and women are not training, they write home about the tedium of the desert.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's the three camels that walked by about a half hour ago. That's about as exciting as it gets around this place.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, we had a lizard come through last night and it slept over here on the side of the Bradley with us.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was when the mess hall at the camp we were at burned down.
RODGERS: Ask these soldiers the craziest thing they've seen and the answer is ever the same.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The beetle fights.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The bug fights.
RODGERS: Soldiers pit huge desert beetles against each other. The winner lives to fight another day. Losers become victims of a lesser war.
(on camera): These soldiers do discuss the politics of this war, but only among themselves, quietly and privately, beside their Bradleys and their tanks. Saddam is the worst, they say. The French are a close second. And the soldiers say the Turks are not far behind.
(voice-over): This American army headed for Iraq is a strange one. Tahoud Kareem (ph) is an American Muslim.
TAHOUD KAREEM: I'm an American. I'm an American citizen. I have an American job. That's my focus.
RODGERS: Staying focused is not easy amid the rumors.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some guys were telling me why not go? So we had to tell them we were still going. I really don't know.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've heard all kinds of rumors that we'll be out of here in a couple months to we're going to go to Korea.
RODGERS: But for now, the U.S. Seventh Calvary is parked along the Kuwaiti border, waiting for the order to charge.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
RODGERS: One of these nights very soon, these soldiers are going to be wakened in the middle of the night and given the order to strike their tents. Then this desert which you see behind me will be left vacant, the Bradley fighting vehicles, the tanks, the pallatin (ph) guns, all will be moving out in the middle of the night, crossing the berm, headed north towards Baghdad, assuming President Bush gets the order, gives the order. Then there will be nothing left here except a desert filled with tracks and more tank tracks, but nothing left of this army, because it's expecting to be moving north soon.
Walter Rodgers with the Seventh Calvary in northern Kuwait.
ZAHN: Walt Rodgers, thanks for the look inside.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
