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CNN Live Saturday
Dangerous Peace
Aired June 21, 2003 - 18:03 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.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: The military victory over Saddam Hussein may turn out to be the easy part compared to rebuilding the country. For some insight into both the military victory and the dangerous situation that persists, I'm joined, from Chicago, by Retired Brigadier General David Grange.
General, good to see you again.
GEN. DAVID GRANGE (RET), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Good to see you, Martin.
SAVIDGE: Shouldn't we be worried about what we're seeing almost on a daily basis now coming out of Iraq?
GRANGE: Well, I think that all Americans are going be worried about any G.I. that is killed or injured over in Iraq. We're going to loose people, I mean, there is no way to get around it. There are going to be casualties.
However, psychologically, I think that our adversaries can manipulate this loss of a G.I. Let's just say that it's a G.I. a day, that is killed in Iraq. It is a great psychological warfare tool to use in manipulating American sentiment, international sentiment, about the continued operation of American forces, British forces in Iraq.
SAVIDGE: Well, what do you do about this, militarily? Or do you just simply have to endure it?
GRANGE: Well, part of it is endurance. It is endurance for the long term. This is not a short term operation. They never are. But you have to keep the pressure on the system. The system of the insurgents, on restructuring, rebuilding Iraq itself.
There are two types of opposition. One is the emotional opposition where maybe an Iraqi family lost a child during the war and is killing out of vengeance. The other is organized.
And I heard that Paul Bremer and others are saying that it's not centralized, but I do think there is some kind of organization of an insurgency to go out and kill American G.I.s, it is very easy to do at these checkpoints and elsewhere. And I think that is somewhat organized and you have to go in there and break them up and kill them and continue to put the pressure on them.
SAVIDGE: Well, we've even heard some of the G.I.s mention that they weren't prepared to do this kind of work. In other words, peacekeeping police type of work. Is that true and are there other forces that perhaps are better prepared?
GRANGE: This is a great question, because what is the G.I.'s role? Is it policing? Is it peacekeeping? Is it war fighting? And I would tell you that in all operations you have to be prepared to do a little of both. You go in trained for that worst-case situation, which is war fighting, the hardest military type of fighting.
But then, when you get into the peacekeeping and policing it is very difficult as well, because there is no front lines. There is no identifiable enemy. It is a geometric environment. And so to transition to that is difficult and commanders must train their people to handle those type of environments and that type of ambiguity in these uncertain environments.
SAVIDGE: I wonder if the president didn't declare the war over too soon. In other words, perhaps create a psychological feeling in the American public that the hostilities and that the casualties would not be a factor anymore?
GRANGE: Well, the word "war" may be the wrong word to use, because we're still at war. You know, if you look at a lot of the adversaries of the United States of America through history. Take the Oriental mindset, they're always in conflict. There is no peace and war. You are always at conflict. That's the attitude you almost have to take in this.
You could say that -- well, it might have been better to say major combat operations, maneuver operations are over, but conflict, or war, continues with a low-intensity conflict type of scenario.
SAVIDGE: Certainly does, General David Grange, thanks good to see you again. We'll be talking again.
GRANGE: My pleasure.
SAVIDGE: Appreciate it.
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 June 21, 2003 - 18:03 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: The military victory over Saddam Hussein may turn out to be the easy part compared to rebuilding the country. For some insight into both the military victory and the dangerous situation that persists, I'm joined, from Chicago, by Retired Brigadier General David Grange.
General, good to see you again.
GEN. DAVID GRANGE (RET), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Good to see you, Martin.
SAVIDGE: Shouldn't we be worried about what we're seeing almost on a daily basis now coming out of Iraq?
GRANGE: Well, I think that all Americans are going be worried about any G.I. that is killed or injured over in Iraq. We're going to loose people, I mean, there is no way to get around it. There are going to be casualties.
However, psychologically, I think that our adversaries can manipulate this loss of a G.I. Let's just say that it's a G.I. a day, that is killed in Iraq. It is a great psychological warfare tool to use in manipulating American sentiment, international sentiment, about the continued operation of American forces, British forces in Iraq.
SAVIDGE: Well, what do you do about this, militarily? Or do you just simply have to endure it?
GRANGE: Well, part of it is endurance. It is endurance for the long term. This is not a short term operation. They never are. But you have to keep the pressure on the system. The system of the insurgents, on restructuring, rebuilding Iraq itself.
There are two types of opposition. One is the emotional opposition where maybe an Iraqi family lost a child during the war and is killing out of vengeance. The other is organized.
And I heard that Paul Bremer and others are saying that it's not centralized, but I do think there is some kind of organization of an insurgency to go out and kill American G.I.s, it is very easy to do at these checkpoints and elsewhere. And I think that is somewhat organized and you have to go in there and break them up and kill them and continue to put the pressure on them.
SAVIDGE: Well, we've even heard some of the G.I.s mention that they weren't prepared to do this kind of work. In other words, peacekeeping police type of work. Is that true and are there other forces that perhaps are better prepared?
GRANGE: This is a great question, because what is the G.I.'s role? Is it policing? Is it peacekeeping? Is it war fighting? And I would tell you that in all operations you have to be prepared to do a little of both. You go in trained for that worst-case situation, which is war fighting, the hardest military type of fighting.
But then, when you get into the peacekeeping and policing it is very difficult as well, because there is no front lines. There is no identifiable enemy. It is a geometric environment. And so to transition to that is difficult and commanders must train their people to handle those type of environments and that type of ambiguity in these uncertain environments.
SAVIDGE: I wonder if the president didn't declare the war over too soon. In other words, perhaps create a psychological feeling in the American public that the hostilities and that the casualties would not be a factor anymore?
GRANGE: Well, the word "war" may be the wrong word to use, because we're still at war. You know, if you look at a lot of the adversaries of the United States of America through history. Take the Oriental mindset, they're always in conflict. There is no peace and war. You are always at conflict. That's the attitude you almost have to take in this.
You could say that -- well, it might have been better to say major combat operations, maneuver operations are over, but conflict, or war, continues with a low-intensity conflict type of scenario.
SAVIDGE: Certainly does, General David Grange, thanks good to see you again. We'll be talking again.
GRANGE: My pleasure.
SAVIDGE: Appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
