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CNN Live Today
President Bush to Speak Later Today; Coalition Forces Secure Airfield
Aired March 28, 2003 - 10:16 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.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAUL ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush is due to leave Washington and return to Camp David this weekend.
Let's get the very latest news from the White House now from our senior White House correspondent, John King.
Good morning again, John.
JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning again to you Paula.
Before the president goes to spend the weekend at Camp David -- and we're told it very unlikely, beyond his Saturday radio address, that we'll hear from the president at all this weekend. But before he leaves for Camp David, he will give a speech in the Rose Garden early this afternoon to members of veterans organizations, the VFW, the American Legion among those invited in to hear the president once again tell the American people that this war could go on for some time and that it could be quite dangerous in the battles ahead.
Now, that all part of the president's role in trying to shape and manage the expectations of the American people. And as this plays out, we are in day nine of combat, day eight of the ground operations inside Iraq. As it all plays out, the White House is now voicing some frustration with the media coverage, saying, we are in a rush to ask every day, why isn't the war over?
Ari Fleischer was asked about this just a few moments ago. And he said this. He said: "I think it's fair to say, just like Afghanistan, we're seeing a repeat of questions being raised about, why is it taking so long?" Ari Fleischer says, the president is focused simply on winning the war and he's not worried about how long it takes. He's worried about the mission.
A senior administration official earlier in the day voiced the exasperation in a different way. This official said -- quote -- "I think it's fair to say there's some level of frustration with the press corps. He" -- meaning the president -- "thinks it's silly, not borne out by the facts." Silly, this official says, are the questions asking, why isn't the war over yet?
Now, we saw some of the president's exasperation yesterday. He had a news conference with the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair. And the president appeared a little exasperated and certainly animated when he was asked, how long will this war take?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This isn't a matter of timetable, it's a matter of victory. And the Iraqi people have got know that, see. They got to know that they will be liberated and Saddam Hussein will be removed, no matter how long it takes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Now, here at the White House, they say it is perfectly legitimate to ask the president, how long will the war take? Where they draw the line, they say, are the questions not necessarily of the president, but here in the White House briefing room and more so at the military briefings at the Pentagons and in the region when people ask questions like, why isn't it over by now? Why do you think the resistance is as tough as it is?
The White House says that is silly, in some cases, although, Paula, as we've been discussing this morning, we've had questions raised by troops and even commanders in the field as well, about the level of resistance they are seeing.
ZAHN: Well, let's talk about that for a moment, because it was in fact the commander of the Army that raised some of these questions in an interview he not only did with "The Washington Post" and "The New York Times," where he pretty much acknowledged that this war was going to take longer than forecast by some military planners.
He also said that the amount of resistance that he has seen has been a little bit bizarre, that he has seen lightly armed Iraqis basically charge coalition tanks with nothing more than a pickup truck. And he said that that was something they hadn't war-gamed against.
KING: Well, officials here say, No. 1, that those tactics are nuisance tactics and that it is not distracting from the overall battle plan.
But I can tell you this. At the White House, they also have what you might call a built-in protection against answering such questions. We brought that question up with a senior official this morning. We brought it up just moment ago with Ari Fleischer. Ari Fleischer said, viewpoints like that from a general in the field are certainly very appropriate as officials shape and constantly adjust the battle plan.
But asked about any of the specifics, Ari Fleischer did what he almost always does when it is a question about military operations. He referred us to the Pentagon.
(LAUGHTER)
ZAHN: What we learn from the CENTCOM briefing, John, was -- what the brigadier general said, basically, is that you get a different view from planet Earth to, referring, of course, the men and women on the ground in Iraq. John King, thanks so much. We'll be getting back to you a lot today.
Now we welcome back Joe Wilson, the former acting U.S. ambassador to Iraq, for his insights about the Iraq and the war.
We've heard from a number of officials say today -- not only American officials, but British officials as well -- saying the war is on plan. And yet, did you expect these pockets of resistance that you're seeing in and around Basra, where military, what are they calling -- I guess they're calling them paramilitary death squads now -- are actually opening fire on their own as they try to cross a bridge from militia-controlled territory into British-controlled territory.
JOE WILSON, FORMER ACTING U.S. AMBASSADOR TO IRAQ: Well, I must say, I think that I have always felt that the question was whether or not the Iraqis in general hated Saddam more than they hated the idea of being invaded by a foreign power.
Clearly, what you're seeing here are those who are most fanatically loyal to Saddam. And I always estimated it at about 80,000 Republican and elite, plus now the 30,000, 40,000 Fedayeen. So we presumably were aware -- and I think we were aware -- that you had the potential out there that American troops would not be welcomed quite as rapidly as liberators as some people suggested.
Now, in fact, I suspect that most of them are just keeping their head down. Most Iraqis are keeping their head down until sort of the war machine blows over.
ZAHN: Then you think they'll support the campaign?
WILSON: I think, at a minimum, the change will bring people out on the streets and it's likely that they will be celebrating. But the problem, going forward, is whether or not you have a population that is essentially sullen because of all the violence that has been foisted upon them by this war. And you don't want that going into an occupation. It would be much better to have a celebratory bounce as you start the occupation.
ZAHN: That's a good point you raise, because one of the British officials said earlier this morning, we have to prove to the Iraqis our good intentions.
Let's come back to another part of the story that hasn't gotten a lot of attention this morning. And that is the stream of expatriates that are coming in from Egypt, Yemen and Jordan and fighting for Saddam Hussein. Did you expect that to happen?
WILSON: Well, I did, actually, not necessarily that they would come and fight for them, but I always did expect -- and I think a lot of people anticipated -- that, in the Arab world, this is perceived as an aggression, an act of imperial aggression against Iraq. So you are going to get disaffected populations who now you see they're coming to Iraq. But more to the point -- and a number of people have commented about this -- is that you will get disaffected populations who will even more vividly perceive the United States as their enemy. And this makes it a great recruiting tool for al Qaeda and al Qaeda-like organizations in the future.
ZAHN: I know you were paid to be a diplomat many years. Have you found the questions asked at these briefings in any way either impertinent, silly or disrespectful?
WILSON: No, not at all. No.
I think they're perfectly -- in fact, I have found the press to be very accommodating and very polite in all these, dating back to the president's press conference and through all the press briefings at the Defense Department and at CENTCOM. No, I haven't them impertinent at all.
ZAHN: So you don't see any impatience with the so-called end game?
WILSON: No, there's always impatience.
The press writes to a deadline. Everybody wants to get up in the morning and read their newspapers. And everybody wants something new. The battle will take on a life of its own. It will take on a pace of its own. In the first few days, there is always a lot of hyperventilating, a lot of heavy breathing: What have we done? Why haven't we done this? What's happening? But it will take on its own rhythm. And I think you're getting to where the rhythm is now.
ZAHN: Final question for you. What does it mean when you see what's gone down in Basra? Diana Muriel just reporting some very disturbing information about 1,000 women and children trying to get across a bridge. As they get midway through the bridge, a four-by- four drives up, opens fire on them. Mortar comes from another part.
And then she later said, once those women got to the other side of the bridge, their husbands, who accompanied them, turned around and went back to militia-controlled territory.
WILSON: Well, presumably, that was their only way of getting their women and children out. But we have always known that this was a ruthless government and it had ruthless supporters around it and the civilians were going to be in harm's way either during the course of the fighting or that Saddam was going to put them in harm's way. After all, he's put civilians in harm's way in the past. It is nothing new.
It is to be lamented. But, nonetheless, we knew this going in, that this could be a really dirty, nasty business.
ZAHN: Ambassador Joe Wilson, always good of you to drop by in New York when you make the big trip north. Thank you very much for your insights.
WILSON: Good to be with you.
ZAHN: Back to Bill now in Kuwait City -- Bill.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Paula, I want to show our viewers a picture, a nighttime picture, of downtown Baghdad. It's coming up on 6:30 local time in Baghdad. The sun is setting. It should be dark within the next 30 minutes.
And we can plainly see that dark cloud, that dark cloud of smoke still burning in the distance there. Whether or not this is oil trenches set on fire, whether or not this is an oil depot that has been hit by a coalition bomb, we do not know. But, nonetheless, we have watched last night, just about 24 hours ago, those two giant bombs exploding in central Baghdad. It's possible more is in store for later tonight. But we'll wait and see what comes of that.
In the meantime, well south of Baghdad, CNN's Bob Franken, after a 50-hour convoy ride, has made his way to an airstrip now secured by the U.S. Air Force.
The A-10s are going to come out right there, Bob. And those are tank killers. Good evening to you again.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good evening.
And, of course, the advantage is, it's about 150 miles from where you are, not far from where we were. And, of course, it's going to become what they call a forward base. It's in southeast Iraq. That's the best description we're allowed to give.
Behind me, you see pretty much a desolate field, except for the U.S. Jolly helicopters. Those are rescue helicopters, converted Black Hawks. But the field is starting to fill up with U.S. people. This is desolate, because it hasn't been used since the first Gulf War. It is an Iraqi air base, but there was very little protection here. Pretty much all the equipment here, they discovered, was wiped out.
We discovered the base, of course, had the required picture of Saddam Hussein at the entrance. As we came into the base, of course, we saw very little else, except U.S. people starting to arrive as we did. The key to setting up this operation is what we had in our convoy. The convoy was carrying trucks of jet fuel. And, of course, that is jet fuel that is going to be so important as the A-10s come here to fly. And, of course, the advantage of that is, they'll be so much closer to the action and closer to so much of the ground troop maneuvering that's going on, not just in this area, but further to the north.
Now, we're surrounded by quite a bit of hostility. There are red zones, as they call them, hot spots in a variety of places. But this base is now considered very secure. There were tunnels at the base, Bill. And they were able to, in fact search through all those and say that they found nothing. But, of course, there is very heavy security at those tunnels, very heavy security around this entire base to try and keep the battle away, so the operation can go on. I mentioned earlier on the air -- I just wanted to show you something -- mentioned earlier that anybody who searched some of the buildings came up with Iraq gas masks. And they look like this. What I wanted to show you is the gas mask as compared to the U.S. gas mask. You can see that they look quite similar. Actually, the one that I have from Iraq has English lettering.
What's important to know here is that this base, before it closed down, before the first Gulf War, of course, Iraq was somebody that was considered an ally of the United States in the 1980s. And, as a matter of fact, the canister here has English lettering with an expiration date of June 1990. So you can see how old some of this stuff is. You can see how things have changed. And, of course, they're now changing. This is no longer an Iraq base. It has now become a U.S. and coalition base -- Bill.
HEMMER: 1990, June 1990, just two months prior to the invasion here in Kuwait.
Bob, thanks -- Bob Franken embedded by way of videophone at this point with the U.S. Air Force in southern Iraq -- Paula.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Secure Airfield>
Aired March 28, 2003 - 10:16 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.
PAUL ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush is due to leave Washington and return to Camp David this weekend.
Let's get the very latest news from the White House now from our senior White House correspondent, John King.
Good morning again, John.
JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning again to you Paula.
Before the president goes to spend the weekend at Camp David -- and we're told it very unlikely, beyond his Saturday radio address, that we'll hear from the president at all this weekend. But before he leaves for Camp David, he will give a speech in the Rose Garden early this afternoon to members of veterans organizations, the VFW, the American Legion among those invited in to hear the president once again tell the American people that this war could go on for some time and that it could be quite dangerous in the battles ahead.
Now, that all part of the president's role in trying to shape and manage the expectations of the American people. And as this plays out, we are in day nine of combat, day eight of the ground operations inside Iraq. As it all plays out, the White House is now voicing some frustration with the media coverage, saying, we are in a rush to ask every day, why isn't the war over?
Ari Fleischer was asked about this just a few moments ago. And he said this. He said: "I think it's fair to say, just like Afghanistan, we're seeing a repeat of questions being raised about, why is it taking so long?" Ari Fleischer says, the president is focused simply on winning the war and he's not worried about how long it takes. He's worried about the mission.
A senior administration official earlier in the day voiced the exasperation in a different way. This official said -- quote -- "I think it's fair to say there's some level of frustration with the press corps. He" -- meaning the president -- "thinks it's silly, not borne out by the facts." Silly, this official says, are the questions asking, why isn't the war over yet?
Now, we saw some of the president's exasperation yesterday. He had a news conference with the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair. And the president appeared a little exasperated and certainly animated when he was asked, how long will this war take?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This isn't a matter of timetable, it's a matter of victory. And the Iraqi people have got know that, see. They got to know that they will be liberated and Saddam Hussein will be removed, no matter how long it takes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Now, here at the White House, they say it is perfectly legitimate to ask the president, how long will the war take? Where they draw the line, they say, are the questions not necessarily of the president, but here in the White House briefing room and more so at the military briefings at the Pentagons and in the region when people ask questions like, why isn't it over by now? Why do you think the resistance is as tough as it is?
The White House says that is silly, in some cases, although, Paula, as we've been discussing this morning, we've had questions raised by troops and even commanders in the field as well, about the level of resistance they are seeing.
ZAHN: Well, let's talk about that for a moment, because it was in fact the commander of the Army that raised some of these questions in an interview he not only did with "The Washington Post" and "The New York Times," where he pretty much acknowledged that this war was going to take longer than forecast by some military planners.
He also said that the amount of resistance that he has seen has been a little bit bizarre, that he has seen lightly armed Iraqis basically charge coalition tanks with nothing more than a pickup truck. And he said that that was something they hadn't war-gamed against.
KING: Well, officials here say, No. 1, that those tactics are nuisance tactics and that it is not distracting from the overall battle plan.
But I can tell you this. At the White House, they also have what you might call a built-in protection against answering such questions. We brought that question up with a senior official this morning. We brought it up just moment ago with Ari Fleischer. Ari Fleischer said, viewpoints like that from a general in the field are certainly very appropriate as officials shape and constantly adjust the battle plan.
But asked about any of the specifics, Ari Fleischer did what he almost always does when it is a question about military operations. He referred us to the Pentagon.
(LAUGHTER)
ZAHN: What we learn from the CENTCOM briefing, John, was -- what the brigadier general said, basically, is that you get a different view from planet Earth to, referring, of course, the men and women on the ground in Iraq. John King, thanks so much. We'll be getting back to you a lot today.
Now we welcome back Joe Wilson, the former acting U.S. ambassador to Iraq, for his insights about the Iraq and the war.
We've heard from a number of officials say today -- not only American officials, but British officials as well -- saying the war is on plan. And yet, did you expect these pockets of resistance that you're seeing in and around Basra, where military, what are they calling -- I guess they're calling them paramilitary death squads now -- are actually opening fire on their own as they try to cross a bridge from militia-controlled territory into British-controlled territory.
JOE WILSON, FORMER ACTING U.S. AMBASSADOR TO IRAQ: Well, I must say, I think that I have always felt that the question was whether or not the Iraqis in general hated Saddam more than they hated the idea of being invaded by a foreign power.
Clearly, what you're seeing here are those who are most fanatically loyal to Saddam. And I always estimated it at about 80,000 Republican and elite, plus now the 30,000, 40,000 Fedayeen. So we presumably were aware -- and I think we were aware -- that you had the potential out there that American troops would not be welcomed quite as rapidly as liberators as some people suggested.
Now, in fact, I suspect that most of them are just keeping their head down. Most Iraqis are keeping their head down until sort of the war machine blows over.
ZAHN: Then you think they'll support the campaign?
WILSON: I think, at a minimum, the change will bring people out on the streets and it's likely that they will be celebrating. But the problem, going forward, is whether or not you have a population that is essentially sullen because of all the violence that has been foisted upon them by this war. And you don't want that going into an occupation. It would be much better to have a celebratory bounce as you start the occupation.
ZAHN: That's a good point you raise, because one of the British officials said earlier this morning, we have to prove to the Iraqis our good intentions.
Let's come back to another part of the story that hasn't gotten a lot of attention this morning. And that is the stream of expatriates that are coming in from Egypt, Yemen and Jordan and fighting for Saddam Hussein. Did you expect that to happen?
WILSON: Well, I did, actually, not necessarily that they would come and fight for them, but I always did expect -- and I think a lot of people anticipated -- that, in the Arab world, this is perceived as an aggression, an act of imperial aggression against Iraq. So you are going to get disaffected populations who now you see they're coming to Iraq. But more to the point -- and a number of people have commented about this -- is that you will get disaffected populations who will even more vividly perceive the United States as their enemy. And this makes it a great recruiting tool for al Qaeda and al Qaeda-like organizations in the future.
ZAHN: I know you were paid to be a diplomat many years. Have you found the questions asked at these briefings in any way either impertinent, silly or disrespectful?
WILSON: No, not at all. No.
I think they're perfectly -- in fact, I have found the press to be very accommodating and very polite in all these, dating back to the president's press conference and through all the press briefings at the Defense Department and at CENTCOM. No, I haven't them impertinent at all.
ZAHN: So you don't see any impatience with the so-called end game?
WILSON: No, there's always impatience.
The press writes to a deadline. Everybody wants to get up in the morning and read their newspapers. And everybody wants something new. The battle will take on a life of its own. It will take on a pace of its own. In the first few days, there is always a lot of hyperventilating, a lot of heavy breathing: What have we done? Why haven't we done this? What's happening? But it will take on its own rhythm. And I think you're getting to where the rhythm is now.
ZAHN: Final question for you. What does it mean when you see what's gone down in Basra? Diana Muriel just reporting some very disturbing information about 1,000 women and children trying to get across a bridge. As they get midway through the bridge, a four-by- four drives up, opens fire on them. Mortar comes from another part.
And then she later said, once those women got to the other side of the bridge, their husbands, who accompanied them, turned around and went back to militia-controlled territory.
WILSON: Well, presumably, that was their only way of getting their women and children out. But we have always known that this was a ruthless government and it had ruthless supporters around it and the civilians were going to be in harm's way either during the course of the fighting or that Saddam was going to put them in harm's way. After all, he's put civilians in harm's way in the past. It is nothing new.
It is to be lamented. But, nonetheless, we knew this going in, that this could be a really dirty, nasty business.
ZAHN: Ambassador Joe Wilson, always good of you to drop by in New York when you make the big trip north. Thank you very much for your insights.
WILSON: Good to be with you.
ZAHN: Back to Bill now in Kuwait City -- Bill.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Paula, I want to show our viewers a picture, a nighttime picture, of downtown Baghdad. It's coming up on 6:30 local time in Baghdad. The sun is setting. It should be dark within the next 30 minutes.
And we can plainly see that dark cloud, that dark cloud of smoke still burning in the distance there. Whether or not this is oil trenches set on fire, whether or not this is an oil depot that has been hit by a coalition bomb, we do not know. But, nonetheless, we have watched last night, just about 24 hours ago, those two giant bombs exploding in central Baghdad. It's possible more is in store for later tonight. But we'll wait and see what comes of that.
In the meantime, well south of Baghdad, CNN's Bob Franken, after a 50-hour convoy ride, has made his way to an airstrip now secured by the U.S. Air Force.
The A-10s are going to come out right there, Bob. And those are tank killers. Good evening to you again.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good evening.
And, of course, the advantage is, it's about 150 miles from where you are, not far from where we were. And, of course, it's going to become what they call a forward base. It's in southeast Iraq. That's the best description we're allowed to give.
Behind me, you see pretty much a desolate field, except for the U.S. Jolly helicopters. Those are rescue helicopters, converted Black Hawks. But the field is starting to fill up with U.S. people. This is desolate, because it hasn't been used since the first Gulf War. It is an Iraqi air base, but there was very little protection here. Pretty much all the equipment here, they discovered, was wiped out.
We discovered the base, of course, had the required picture of Saddam Hussein at the entrance. As we came into the base, of course, we saw very little else, except U.S. people starting to arrive as we did. The key to setting up this operation is what we had in our convoy. The convoy was carrying trucks of jet fuel. And, of course, that is jet fuel that is going to be so important as the A-10s come here to fly. And, of course, the advantage of that is, they'll be so much closer to the action and closer to so much of the ground troop maneuvering that's going on, not just in this area, but further to the north.
Now, we're surrounded by quite a bit of hostility. There are red zones, as they call them, hot spots in a variety of places. But this base is now considered very secure. There were tunnels at the base, Bill. And they were able to, in fact search through all those and say that they found nothing. But, of course, there is very heavy security at those tunnels, very heavy security around this entire base to try and keep the battle away, so the operation can go on. I mentioned earlier on the air -- I just wanted to show you something -- mentioned earlier that anybody who searched some of the buildings came up with Iraq gas masks. And they look like this. What I wanted to show you is the gas mask as compared to the U.S. gas mask. You can see that they look quite similar. Actually, the one that I have from Iraq has English lettering.
What's important to know here is that this base, before it closed down, before the first Gulf War, of course, Iraq was somebody that was considered an ally of the United States in the 1980s. And, as a matter of fact, the canister here has English lettering with an expiration date of June 1990. So you can see how old some of this stuff is. You can see how things have changed. And, of course, they're now changing. This is no longer an Iraq base. It has now become a U.S. and coalition base -- Bill.
HEMMER: 1990, June 1990, just two months prior to the invasion here in Kuwait.
Bob, thanks -- Bob Franken embedded by way of videophone at this point with the U.S. Air Force in southern Iraq -- Paula.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Secure Airfield>
