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American Morning

Deadly Attacks

Aired June 25, 2003 - 09:03   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.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Coalition forces have been taken by surprise by just how deadly things still are in that country, with dozen of violent incidents.
Retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Mike Turner is our guest again in Colorado Springs. We have not spoken since the war ended. Great to have you back, though, on AMERICAN MORNING.

COL. MIKE TURNER (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Thank you, Bill. It's good to see you.

HEMMER: Is this guerrilla warfare that we're seeing, or not?

TURNER: I think it's certainly the beginning stages of guerrilla warfare. What you have is a conventional military force that's in charge of and acting, frankly, as overseers of a disaffected civilian population with a significant guerrilla element, a radical Shiite religious majority in that sector of the country.

HEMMER: There are some, colonel, who will say today with the statements coming out of southeastern Iraq, with the apologies, saying it was all a misunderstanding when British troops came in the town yesterday, if you take that into consideration, does that dampen the possibility that these are, let's say, organized attacks against British and American forces there?

TURNER: Well, I don't know that it speaks to the possibility that these are organized or disorganized. I think it certainly speaks to the disarray in the country and heightens -- the heightened danger in that kind of environment.

I think it's certainly legitimate expression of that segment of the civilian population's concern that what happened will bring some sort of reprisal. But I don't think we should be under any illusions there aren't seriously dangerous elements pretty much at play in the Iraqi civilian population, and will be for a long time to come.

HEMMER: You have said, colonel, this is all painfully predictable, your words. How so prior to the war broke out did you see it this way?

TURNER: Well, the removal of Saddam Hussein, which is one of the three stated major objectives of the war, the other two being presumably the removal of weapons of mass destruction, which posed an imminent threat to U.S. vital interests, and the elimination of Iraqi supported terrorism, but the elimination of Saddam Hussein is not a political in state. It's a dangerously dynamic snapshot on a very long continuum.

Everyone -- anyone who has studied the Middle East or Southwest Asia for more than just a few days understands that nothing is as it seems in this region, and overtly, simplistic solutions simply won't work. The removal of Saddam Hussein was not an ending, it was a beginning. And it United States a potentially very painful beginning of what will become, I believe, known as the war in Iraq, not Operation Iraqi Freedom, but an extended war in Iraq. And we have very few options, and they're all bad.

HEMMER: I apologize for the interruption. Could you not agree that progress is being made, if not on a daily basis, a weekly basis, anyway?

TURNER: Well, I think probably progress is being made, and a lot of that is certainly behind the scenes.

But at the same time, I think the American people are certainly beginning to become aware of the fact that having a large conventional military force, which was not trained, nor designed, for the use that it's now being put to, which is essentially peace enforcement, is simply an inappropriate long-term solution, and it doesn't leave us with a lot of palatable options, either politically palatable or military palatable options for the foreseeable future, and it's a dangerous situation.

HEMMER: Pick up "The L.A. Times," a commentary, a bit of a sentence, or a little more than that from it today, saying that Saddam Hussein, I'm quoting now, "has been planning and organizing unconventional resistance for a considerable period, while we have only begun a way to figure out how to counter act that. You reaction to the possibility this was in the works for the entire time, and they are much better at it than the Americans and the Brits thought at first.

TURNER: Well, I think it's certainly a possibility. Remember, we tend to attribute a great deal more cohesion to Saddam than has been demonstrated in the past. It's also entirely possible that's the worst possibility case in the opposition.

The telling part of that comment is the fact that, I believe, that the United States has not predicted any of this. And that is painfully, distressingly obvious to anyone who studied the area. The administration simply did not think through the architecture of the redesign of Iraq following Saddam Hussein, and now, we seem to be adrift, and I don't see anything coalescing anytime in the near term.

HEMMER: Colonel Mike Turner, thanks. Good to talk to you again.

TURNER: Thank you.

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 25, 2003 - 09:03   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Coalition forces have been taken by surprise by just how deadly things still are in that country, with dozen of violent incidents.
Retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Mike Turner is our guest again in Colorado Springs. We have not spoken since the war ended. Great to have you back, though, on AMERICAN MORNING.

COL. MIKE TURNER (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Thank you, Bill. It's good to see you.

HEMMER: Is this guerrilla warfare that we're seeing, or not?

TURNER: I think it's certainly the beginning stages of guerrilla warfare. What you have is a conventional military force that's in charge of and acting, frankly, as overseers of a disaffected civilian population with a significant guerrilla element, a radical Shiite religious majority in that sector of the country.

HEMMER: There are some, colonel, who will say today with the statements coming out of southeastern Iraq, with the apologies, saying it was all a misunderstanding when British troops came in the town yesterday, if you take that into consideration, does that dampen the possibility that these are, let's say, organized attacks against British and American forces there?

TURNER: Well, I don't know that it speaks to the possibility that these are organized or disorganized. I think it certainly speaks to the disarray in the country and heightens -- the heightened danger in that kind of environment.

I think it's certainly legitimate expression of that segment of the civilian population's concern that what happened will bring some sort of reprisal. But I don't think we should be under any illusions there aren't seriously dangerous elements pretty much at play in the Iraqi civilian population, and will be for a long time to come.

HEMMER: You have said, colonel, this is all painfully predictable, your words. How so prior to the war broke out did you see it this way?

TURNER: Well, the removal of Saddam Hussein, which is one of the three stated major objectives of the war, the other two being presumably the removal of weapons of mass destruction, which posed an imminent threat to U.S. vital interests, and the elimination of Iraqi supported terrorism, but the elimination of Saddam Hussein is not a political in state. It's a dangerously dynamic snapshot on a very long continuum.

Everyone -- anyone who has studied the Middle East or Southwest Asia for more than just a few days understands that nothing is as it seems in this region, and overtly, simplistic solutions simply won't work. The removal of Saddam Hussein was not an ending, it was a beginning. And it United States a potentially very painful beginning of what will become, I believe, known as the war in Iraq, not Operation Iraqi Freedom, but an extended war in Iraq. And we have very few options, and they're all bad.

HEMMER: I apologize for the interruption. Could you not agree that progress is being made, if not on a daily basis, a weekly basis, anyway?

TURNER: Well, I think probably progress is being made, and a lot of that is certainly behind the scenes.

But at the same time, I think the American people are certainly beginning to become aware of the fact that having a large conventional military force, which was not trained, nor designed, for the use that it's now being put to, which is essentially peace enforcement, is simply an inappropriate long-term solution, and it doesn't leave us with a lot of palatable options, either politically palatable or military palatable options for the foreseeable future, and it's a dangerous situation.

HEMMER: Pick up "The L.A. Times," a commentary, a bit of a sentence, or a little more than that from it today, saying that Saddam Hussein, I'm quoting now, "has been planning and organizing unconventional resistance for a considerable period, while we have only begun a way to figure out how to counter act that. You reaction to the possibility this was in the works for the entire time, and they are much better at it than the Americans and the Brits thought at first.

TURNER: Well, I think it's certainly a possibility. Remember, we tend to attribute a great deal more cohesion to Saddam than has been demonstrated in the past. It's also entirely possible that's the worst possibility case in the opposition.

The telling part of that comment is the fact that, I believe, that the United States has not predicted any of this. And that is painfully, distressingly obvious to anyone who studied the area. The administration simply did not think through the architecture of the redesign of Iraq following Saddam Hussein, and now, we seem to be adrift, and I don't see anything coalescing anytime in the near term.

HEMMER: Colonel Mike Turner, thanks. Good to talk to you again.

TURNER: Thank you.

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