Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Rumsfeld to Declare End of Combat in Afghanistan

Aired May 01, 2003 - 08:35   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.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: While the "V" world will be absent, there will be no shortage of symbolism. Here to talk about Cliff May, former RNC communications director, now head of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
Good to see you, Cliff. Good morning.

CLIFF MAY, FMR. RNC COMMUNICATIONS DIR.: Good to see you, Bill.

HEMMER: All right, also Democratic political consultant Peter Fenn is with us in D.C. as well.

Peter, good morning to you as well.

Peter, do you have a problem with the president doing this tonight? What's wrong with saluting the military after the war was fought there?

PETER FENN, DEMOCRATIC POLITICAL CONSULTANT: No, I don't have a problem with it. I have to tell you I think that the Rove machine in the White House are PR geniuses. I mean, as Ed Sullivan used to say, "This is going to be a really big show tonight." You know, landing on the carrier. The president of the United States sitting there in the copilots seat, you know cameras whirring. You could of waited a little bit. You could have taken a helicopter in there.

But this is -- he wants to unite the country again, and this time, I think this is more geared, though, to his domestic policy agenda, to putting together the kinds of coalitions that he thinks he's going to need to move this economy, because that is going to be the issue in the next year's elections.

HEMMER: What about it, Cliff?

MAY: Well, I don't disagree with everything that Peter says by any means. I think Americans have a lot to be proud of, and I think that's part of what bush Is doing. I think he probably wants to fly a plane onto an aircraft carrier. Who wouldn't? It sounds like an exciting to do. But there's a serious message he's getting out there, and it's a little different from what Peter suggested, in my view. He's going to be saying that an important battle has been won, the combat phase in Iraq, the battle of Iraq. That is one battle in a larger war against terrorism. We also have the battle of Afghanistan where we smashed the Taliban.

And he's going to also point out, I think, that the war on terrorism is going to go on for a lot more time, that we have other battles to fight, military, economic, diplomatic , in terms of the reconstruction effort in Iraq; but we have by no means defeated terrorism and the ideologies and movements that drive and justify terrorism, but we're making progress.

The arrest that we've also talked about today in Pakistan of Al Qaeda members...

HEMMER: Hey, Cliff, I apologize for the interruption. There is breaking news. Hang on one second, guys. We'll get back to you.

But now Carol with that.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, we're going to go live to Afghanistan right now, because we believe Donald Rumsfeld has said something very important.

Let's get Barbara Starr on the phone right now.

Barbara, are you there?

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I am indeed. Hello from Kabul.

We've landed just a short time ago, and there are indications here that Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld shortly will announce that major combat operations in the Afghan theater are also over, very similar to the announcement the president is making regarding Iraq.

Secretary Rumsfeld within the hour will hold a press conference here in Kabul with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. And what we are told on the ground here is officials believe that this announcement that combat operations are over is critical, because now, they say there will be no excuse, U.S. officials say, for other countries not to contribute some forces for stability operations, for reconstruction, for humanitarian assistance. Some countries have been very reluctant to do that, of course, because they believe this is a combat operation that their governments don't choose to participate in.

But with this announcement expected within the hour here in Kabul, military sources say that excuse goes away. They are going to place a number of reconstruction teams in the various provinces, and they think that this will all facilitate further reconstruction and further stability in Afghanistan.

Still a major concern, however, is that situation on the Afghan- Pakistan border. A lot of movement of suspected guerrillas, suspected Al Qaeda, suspected Taliban , and they really do want to make an effort to watch that border down in the weeks ahead.

So there are still challenges, but a major announcement expected within an hour or so here in Kabul by the U.S. defense secretary.

Back to you.

COSTELLO: And, Barbara, those with loved ones in the military over there, can we expect some of them to be coming home in light of this?

STARR: Hard to tell on that at the moment. There are about 9,000 troops here, U.S. troops here in Afghanistan now, a combination of the 82nd Airborne and the 18th Airborne Corps. They still will -- some of those certainly will remain. Their major job is to continue to provide security and to continue to provide some of those sweeping operations along the Pakistan border, along the eastern edge of this country, because they still really do want to lock that down and get all of the Taliban and Al Qaeda leadership that they feel they can. So there is a possibility of some force reduction, but it's just a little soon to tell officials say to us.

COSTELLO: I understand completely. Our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr. Many thanks -- Bill.

HEMMER: Carol, back to our guests, Peter and Cliff standing by.

Listening to report from Barbara, Peter, it looks like now the president can stand up now and declare two for on combat operations?

FENN: I think I'd be a little careful there. You know, Osama bin Laden is still there. There is still this activity in the border. I'm not sure he's going to pull out those troops any time soon. You know, it ain't over till it's over.

And as Cliff says, what we've got here is we've got a fight against terrorism. We haven't won that fight at all. Someone argued that there's going to be more terrorist attacks, more actions, as there was in Israel two days ago, that we have to be very, very vigilant here. So the "V" word, victory word, is a problem.

HEMMER: Is there a danger, Cliff, in taking the foot off the accelerator here?

MAY: I think the president is doing that. I think he is saying, we're closing one chapter, but there are many more chapters in the book. I think that what we just heard from Barbara Starr is exactly what I was saying earlier, that in talking about what we've accomplished in Afghanistan, we've accomplished a lot by crushing the Taliban, what we've accomplished in Iraq, we've accomplished a lot by getting rid of the Saddam Hussein regime, a threat to the U.S., we've liberated the people. But now we have a lot more to do. There will be U.S. forces...

HEMMER: Cliff, let me ask you this, though. The weapons of mass destruction have not been located. That was the pretext for the entire war. Everything right now is focused on the U.S. military, as it should be for fighting such an excellent campaign in Iraq.

Do we get five years down the road and remember the legacy of Iraq not to be the way the U.S. military conducted it, but the fact that the weapons of mass destruction perhaps were never found?

MAY: No, I don't think so. And here is why, Bill. What we do know already is that there are Iraqi scientists who have begun to come forward and say I worked on the botulism and anthrax program, I can't tell you where the stockpiles are, if they've been transferred out of the country, if they've been stored, but I worked on it.

Now some of the scientists are afraid to come forward, because they could be prosecuted under international law for war crimes, but they're there, and we're going to hear from them. The fact that we haven't in a matter of weeks found everything that was there means it's either well-hidden or transferred.

But, no, Saddam was developing weapons of mass destruction, he was conspiring with terrorists, he was killing thousands of people -- he was a threat and we were right to do this.

HEMMER: All right, Cliff, listen, I'm running against the clock here.

Peter, I want to give you one last shot here, though.

FENN: I think Cliff may be right -- and I will say may be. But I think that it's very important here that we do take the long view on this. And that I just hope in a sense that this war was not based on weapons of mass destruction, that, in fact, no longer existed. That would be disastrous. They said they're going to be attacking U.S. troops with them -- they did not.

HEMMER: Thanks to both, Peter Fenn and Cliff May.

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 May 1, 2003 - 08:35   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: While the "V" world will be absent, there will be no shortage of symbolism. Here to talk about Cliff May, former RNC communications director, now head of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
Good to see you, Cliff. Good morning.

CLIFF MAY, FMR. RNC COMMUNICATIONS DIR.: Good to see you, Bill.

HEMMER: All right, also Democratic political consultant Peter Fenn is with us in D.C. as well.

Peter, good morning to you as well.

Peter, do you have a problem with the president doing this tonight? What's wrong with saluting the military after the war was fought there?

PETER FENN, DEMOCRATIC POLITICAL CONSULTANT: No, I don't have a problem with it. I have to tell you I think that the Rove machine in the White House are PR geniuses. I mean, as Ed Sullivan used to say, "This is going to be a really big show tonight." You know, landing on the carrier. The president of the United States sitting there in the copilots seat, you know cameras whirring. You could of waited a little bit. You could have taken a helicopter in there.

But this is -- he wants to unite the country again, and this time, I think this is more geared, though, to his domestic policy agenda, to putting together the kinds of coalitions that he thinks he's going to need to move this economy, because that is going to be the issue in the next year's elections.

HEMMER: What about it, Cliff?

MAY: Well, I don't disagree with everything that Peter says by any means. I think Americans have a lot to be proud of, and I think that's part of what bush Is doing. I think he probably wants to fly a plane onto an aircraft carrier. Who wouldn't? It sounds like an exciting to do. But there's a serious message he's getting out there, and it's a little different from what Peter suggested, in my view. He's going to be saying that an important battle has been won, the combat phase in Iraq, the battle of Iraq. That is one battle in a larger war against terrorism. We also have the battle of Afghanistan where we smashed the Taliban.

And he's going to also point out, I think, that the war on terrorism is going to go on for a lot more time, that we have other battles to fight, military, economic, diplomatic , in terms of the reconstruction effort in Iraq; but we have by no means defeated terrorism and the ideologies and movements that drive and justify terrorism, but we're making progress.

The arrest that we've also talked about today in Pakistan of Al Qaeda members...

HEMMER: Hey, Cliff, I apologize for the interruption. There is breaking news. Hang on one second, guys. We'll get back to you.

But now Carol with that.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, we're going to go live to Afghanistan right now, because we believe Donald Rumsfeld has said something very important.

Let's get Barbara Starr on the phone right now.

Barbara, are you there?

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I am indeed. Hello from Kabul.

We've landed just a short time ago, and there are indications here that Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld shortly will announce that major combat operations in the Afghan theater are also over, very similar to the announcement the president is making regarding Iraq.

Secretary Rumsfeld within the hour will hold a press conference here in Kabul with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. And what we are told on the ground here is officials believe that this announcement that combat operations are over is critical, because now, they say there will be no excuse, U.S. officials say, for other countries not to contribute some forces for stability operations, for reconstruction, for humanitarian assistance. Some countries have been very reluctant to do that, of course, because they believe this is a combat operation that their governments don't choose to participate in.

But with this announcement expected within the hour here in Kabul, military sources say that excuse goes away. They are going to place a number of reconstruction teams in the various provinces, and they think that this will all facilitate further reconstruction and further stability in Afghanistan.

Still a major concern, however, is that situation on the Afghan- Pakistan border. A lot of movement of suspected guerrillas, suspected Al Qaeda, suspected Taliban , and they really do want to make an effort to watch that border down in the weeks ahead.

So there are still challenges, but a major announcement expected within an hour or so here in Kabul by the U.S. defense secretary.

Back to you.

COSTELLO: And, Barbara, those with loved ones in the military over there, can we expect some of them to be coming home in light of this?

STARR: Hard to tell on that at the moment. There are about 9,000 troops here, U.S. troops here in Afghanistan now, a combination of the 82nd Airborne and the 18th Airborne Corps. They still will -- some of those certainly will remain. Their major job is to continue to provide security and to continue to provide some of those sweeping operations along the Pakistan border, along the eastern edge of this country, because they still really do want to lock that down and get all of the Taliban and Al Qaeda leadership that they feel they can. So there is a possibility of some force reduction, but it's just a little soon to tell officials say to us.

COSTELLO: I understand completely. Our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr. Many thanks -- Bill.

HEMMER: Carol, back to our guests, Peter and Cliff standing by.

Listening to report from Barbara, Peter, it looks like now the president can stand up now and declare two for on combat operations?

FENN: I think I'd be a little careful there. You know, Osama bin Laden is still there. There is still this activity in the border. I'm not sure he's going to pull out those troops any time soon. You know, it ain't over till it's over.

And as Cliff says, what we've got here is we've got a fight against terrorism. We haven't won that fight at all. Someone argued that there's going to be more terrorist attacks, more actions, as there was in Israel two days ago, that we have to be very, very vigilant here. So the "V" word, victory word, is a problem.

HEMMER: Is there a danger, Cliff, in taking the foot off the accelerator here?

MAY: I think the president is doing that. I think he is saying, we're closing one chapter, but there are many more chapters in the book. I think that what we just heard from Barbara Starr is exactly what I was saying earlier, that in talking about what we've accomplished in Afghanistan, we've accomplished a lot by crushing the Taliban, what we've accomplished in Iraq, we've accomplished a lot by getting rid of the Saddam Hussein regime, a threat to the U.S., we've liberated the people. But now we have a lot more to do. There will be U.S. forces...

HEMMER: Cliff, let me ask you this, though. The weapons of mass destruction have not been located. That was the pretext for the entire war. Everything right now is focused on the U.S. military, as it should be for fighting such an excellent campaign in Iraq.

Do we get five years down the road and remember the legacy of Iraq not to be the way the U.S. military conducted it, but the fact that the weapons of mass destruction perhaps were never found?

MAY: No, I don't think so. And here is why, Bill. What we do know already is that there are Iraqi scientists who have begun to come forward and say I worked on the botulism and anthrax program, I can't tell you where the stockpiles are, if they've been transferred out of the country, if they've been stored, but I worked on it.

Now some of the scientists are afraid to come forward, because they could be prosecuted under international law for war crimes, but they're there, and we're going to hear from them. The fact that we haven't in a matter of weeks found everything that was there means it's either well-hidden or transferred.

But, no, Saddam was developing weapons of mass destruction, he was conspiring with terrorists, he was killing thousands of people -- he was a threat and we were right to do this.

HEMMER: All right, Cliff, listen, I'm running against the clock here.

Peter, I want to give you one last shot here, though.

FENN: I think Cliff may be right -- and I will say may be. But I think that it's very important here that we do take the long view on this. And that I just hope in a sense that this war was not based on weapons of mass destruction, that, in fact, no longer existed. That would be disastrous. They said they're going to be attacking U.S. troops with them -- they did not.

HEMMER: Thanks to both, Peter Fenn and Cliff May.

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