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CNN Live Today

Interview with Lawrence Eagleburger

Aired March 21, 2003 - 10:36   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: For more perspective now on the strike against Iraq, we turn to Lawrence Eagleburger. He served as secretary of state during the first Bush administration. He joins us this morning from Charlottesville, Virginia.
Welcome, good to have you with us this morning, sir.

LAWRENCE EAGLEBURGER, FMR. SECY. OF STATE: Good to be here.

ZAHN: We have heard all morning long that it is the belief of the current Bush administration that at a minimum, these air strikes have created some chaos in Baghdad. Is it your belief that Saddam Hussein is still in control?

EAGLEBURGER: Oh, I hope not, but there's no way to tell. I hope not. But there's no way really to tell at this stage. I just don't know. I don't know that anybody can tell.

ZAHN: The one thing that Secretary Rumsfeld has indicated is that the U.S. is in touch with the top leadership of the Iraqi military, mainly through e-mail communication. How effective do you think that might be in getting some of the Iraqi military leadership to turn on Saddam Hussein?

EAGLEBURGER: I think that's a great ploy. I've never -- if you can keep the -- if they can keep their computers going, we may have a whole new tactic of warfare here. I wouldn't be at all surprised if these generals, now that they realize that this is the end, they know they're going to lose, if they decide that it's time to quit, and indeed, if they can get away, if they can figure out a way to deal with Saddam's security forces, if they wouldn't decide that they would like to take him out as well.

So I think it is really a very clever step forward to be trying to convince these generals that it's time for them to quit, and in fact, perhaps for them to see if they can't find some way to eliminate Saddam Hussein at the same time. So I think this is hopefully it will be effective, and I must say, if these generals have any sense at all, they realize that this time, it is the end. Their careers are over.

ZAHN: You've got to believe they see what happened in Umqsar (ph) today, and they've got to be a little intimidated by that, right?

EAGLEBURGER: That's right, that's right. The other thing that strikes me is the burning of these oil wells this time ought to tell everybody -- because these are Iraqi oil wells now, that Saddam Hussein or whoever is doing this has no concern whatsoever about the Iraqis.

When they burned the Kuwaiti oil wells the last time, at least you could understand it, I guess. But this time, they are burning their own oil wells, and it is only the Iraqi people that are going to pay the price for that. I simply do not understand how anyone could see this as anything other than punishing their own people.

ZAHN: The secretary of defense made it very clear that anybody who was involved in sabotaging these oil fields should be tried.

Back to the issue of how this campaign has unfolded, a lot of people caught off-guard Wednesday night when this very strategic strike was made, and we're just beginning to learn more information about how small that window of opportunity was.

EAGLEBURGER: Yes.

ZAHN: One of our reporters early this morning said the president gave the order with just three minutes left to dispatch some of those stealth fighters. Help us understand what it might be like to be part of last-minute decision-making like that.

EAGLEBURGER: Well, the first point, I think it would make is that it is in fact remarkable that the U.S. government can move that fast. I'm, again, struck by the fact that we were that efficient, that you could get to the president with something like this in terms of the -- getting the information, the intelligence, getting it to the president, getting his okay and getting it back down so that the order could be issued, the firing could take place. I must tell you that you can talk about large government and bureaucracy and so forth. All I can tell you is, this was a remarkably efficient operation as far as I can tell. And everybody must have been running around like crazy to get this done in time, and I'm impressed by it.

ZAHN: Sir, we've just got 10 seconds left. Based on the fact that the shock and awe part of this campaign has been postponed, I am wondering if you think it will ever be launched?

EAGLEBURGER: I doubt it. I think we've moved so quickly and so well, I'm not at all sure it's necessary.

ZAHN: We will be watching along with you to see what part of the campaign goes from here -- where the campaign goes from here. Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger, as always good to see. Thank you for your perspective this morning.

EAGLEBURGER: Thank you, ma'am.

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 21, 2003 - 10:36   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: For more perspective now on the strike against Iraq, we turn to Lawrence Eagleburger. He served as secretary of state during the first Bush administration. He joins us this morning from Charlottesville, Virginia.
Welcome, good to have you with us this morning, sir.

LAWRENCE EAGLEBURGER, FMR. SECY. OF STATE: Good to be here.

ZAHN: We have heard all morning long that it is the belief of the current Bush administration that at a minimum, these air strikes have created some chaos in Baghdad. Is it your belief that Saddam Hussein is still in control?

EAGLEBURGER: Oh, I hope not, but there's no way to tell. I hope not. But there's no way really to tell at this stage. I just don't know. I don't know that anybody can tell.

ZAHN: The one thing that Secretary Rumsfeld has indicated is that the U.S. is in touch with the top leadership of the Iraqi military, mainly through e-mail communication. How effective do you think that might be in getting some of the Iraqi military leadership to turn on Saddam Hussein?

EAGLEBURGER: I think that's a great ploy. I've never -- if you can keep the -- if they can keep their computers going, we may have a whole new tactic of warfare here. I wouldn't be at all surprised if these generals, now that they realize that this is the end, they know they're going to lose, if they decide that it's time to quit, and indeed, if they can get away, if they can figure out a way to deal with Saddam's security forces, if they wouldn't decide that they would like to take him out as well.

So I think it is really a very clever step forward to be trying to convince these generals that it's time for them to quit, and in fact, perhaps for them to see if they can't find some way to eliminate Saddam Hussein at the same time. So I think this is hopefully it will be effective, and I must say, if these generals have any sense at all, they realize that this time, it is the end. Their careers are over.

ZAHN: You've got to believe they see what happened in Umqsar (ph) today, and they've got to be a little intimidated by that, right?

EAGLEBURGER: That's right, that's right. The other thing that strikes me is the burning of these oil wells this time ought to tell everybody -- because these are Iraqi oil wells now, that Saddam Hussein or whoever is doing this has no concern whatsoever about the Iraqis.

When they burned the Kuwaiti oil wells the last time, at least you could understand it, I guess. But this time, they are burning their own oil wells, and it is only the Iraqi people that are going to pay the price for that. I simply do not understand how anyone could see this as anything other than punishing their own people.

ZAHN: The secretary of defense made it very clear that anybody who was involved in sabotaging these oil fields should be tried.

Back to the issue of how this campaign has unfolded, a lot of people caught off-guard Wednesday night when this very strategic strike was made, and we're just beginning to learn more information about how small that window of opportunity was.

EAGLEBURGER: Yes.

ZAHN: One of our reporters early this morning said the president gave the order with just three minutes left to dispatch some of those stealth fighters. Help us understand what it might be like to be part of last-minute decision-making like that.

EAGLEBURGER: Well, the first point, I think it would make is that it is in fact remarkable that the U.S. government can move that fast. I'm, again, struck by the fact that we were that efficient, that you could get to the president with something like this in terms of the -- getting the information, the intelligence, getting it to the president, getting his okay and getting it back down so that the order could be issued, the firing could take place. I must tell you that you can talk about large government and bureaucracy and so forth. All I can tell you is, this was a remarkably efficient operation as far as I can tell. And everybody must have been running around like crazy to get this done in time, and I'm impressed by it.

ZAHN: Sir, we've just got 10 seconds left. Based on the fact that the shock and awe part of this campaign has been postponed, I am wondering if you think it will ever be launched?

EAGLEBURGER: I doubt it. I think we've moved so quickly and so well, I'm not at all sure it's necessary.

ZAHN: We will be watching along with you to see what part of the campaign goes from here -- where the campaign goes from here. Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger, as always good to see. Thank you for your perspective this morning.

EAGLEBURGER: Thank you, ma'am.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com