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American Morning

Iraq Violence

Aired September 22, 2003 - 07:07   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: In Iraq, another attack aimed at U.N. headquarters early today in Baghdad. A suicide car bomber killed an Iraqi security guard at a checkpoint at the U.N. compound. Four people listed in critical condition, at least a dozen others injured as a result of that. Last month, a truck bomb seriously damaged the U.N. building and killed the U.N.'s top envoy there in Iraq.
Former New York City police commissioner Bernard Kerik spent the last three and a half months in Iraq, trying to help rebuild the police force there. He recently returned from Baghdad, and Bernard Kerik is our guest live her eon AMERICAN MORNING this morning in New York.

Nice to see you.

How many resistance of them are there? How many resistance fighters are in Iraq today.

BERNARD KERIK, ADVISED U.S. ON POLICING IRAQ: Well, there's two things. There's the Baathist and Fedayeen Saddam, which are the assassins, the trained killers for Saddam, and there's many of those. And then there's outsiders that are now trying to come into the country.

O'BRIEN: Are we talking hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands?

KERIK: You're not talking tens of thousands, but I think there could be in the thousands, could be.

O'BRIEN: Yes. Listen to some of these headlines. This is just from the weekend, Saturday, Sunday and today. A member of the Iraqi Governing Council was shot, a woman you know quite well in her 50s, shot in the stomach, three U.S. soldiers killed, five separate attacks there, five explosions near a U.S. military camp, a car bombing, as we mentioned early today, near U.N. headquarters in Baghdad. How and when does this stop?

KERIK: Basically, it stops and it starts to subside as the Iraqi forces stand up. You have to remember four months, five months ago, we started from zero. You now have more than 40,000 Iraqi police. You have a civil defense force that's being put together, and you have an Iraqi military that's being put together. Those things have to stand up and they have to be put in place. We also have to create an Iraqi intelligence service, and that is in the process now as we speak.

The bigger those numbers grow and the more enforcement there is, the lower the crime and the violence will be. But as we said, three, four months ago, it's going to get worse before it gets better.

O'BRIEN: You think it gets worse from this point?

KERIK: I don't know if it gets worse from this point, but these attacks will continue. There are people that lost their power, they lost their money, they lost their livelihoods, they lost the ability to dictate and hold power over the local Iraqis, and they do not want freedom to grow, and that's what you're seeing.

O'BRIEN: We see these headlines everyday back here in the U.S. Tell me from, your estimation, being there on the ground, what's working?

KERIK: Everything's working. It's not moving as fast as the Iraqis would like to see it, but you're not fixing it with a band-aid like Saddam has done in the past. We're not really rebuilding an infrastructure. We're building an infrastructure for this country.

O'BRIEN: France is making a hard push right now to get a quicker transfer of power to the Iraqis. Some members of the Iraqi Governing Council are going to plead with Congress this week. The U.S. is saying it's entirely too fast, the transition can't happen at that point. When do you think it's comfortable to say OK, the transfer can take place and we're in a good spot to allow the Iraqis to take control.

KERIK: Basically, I would say in their opinion, when they're able to secure themselves, and right now that is physically impossible. The Iraqi government cannot physically secure themselves, and that's -- it's a big mistake to make that premature transfer.

O'BRIEN: If the Iraqis cannot bring their own security, that tells me you need more outside help. And if you can't get France, and Germany and Russia on board, that would seem to indicate, logic tells me that you need more U.S. troops there on the ground. Why has that route not been taken.

KERIK: You have to be careful about more U.S. troops. U.S. is a target there. We put more U.S. troops, you can have more U.S. targets, more U.S. deaths. We now have more than 30 countries working in Iraq. People tend to forget that. More countries, more coalition members, more Iraqis, that is -- that's what we have to do. The Iraqi police have to be enhanced, security, civil defense and the military.

O'BRIEN: Will you go back?

KERIK: It's possible.

O'BRIEN: Good luck to you. Bernard Kerik, good to see you, in New York.

KERIK: 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 September 22, 2003 - 07:07   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: In Iraq, another attack aimed at U.N. headquarters early today in Baghdad. A suicide car bomber killed an Iraqi security guard at a checkpoint at the U.N. compound. Four people listed in critical condition, at least a dozen others injured as a result of that. Last month, a truck bomb seriously damaged the U.N. building and killed the U.N.'s top envoy there in Iraq.
Former New York City police commissioner Bernard Kerik spent the last three and a half months in Iraq, trying to help rebuild the police force there. He recently returned from Baghdad, and Bernard Kerik is our guest live her eon AMERICAN MORNING this morning in New York.

Nice to see you.

How many resistance of them are there? How many resistance fighters are in Iraq today.

BERNARD KERIK, ADVISED U.S. ON POLICING IRAQ: Well, there's two things. There's the Baathist and Fedayeen Saddam, which are the assassins, the trained killers for Saddam, and there's many of those. And then there's outsiders that are now trying to come into the country.

O'BRIEN: Are we talking hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands?

KERIK: You're not talking tens of thousands, but I think there could be in the thousands, could be.

O'BRIEN: Yes. Listen to some of these headlines. This is just from the weekend, Saturday, Sunday and today. A member of the Iraqi Governing Council was shot, a woman you know quite well in her 50s, shot in the stomach, three U.S. soldiers killed, five separate attacks there, five explosions near a U.S. military camp, a car bombing, as we mentioned early today, near U.N. headquarters in Baghdad. How and when does this stop?

KERIK: Basically, it stops and it starts to subside as the Iraqi forces stand up. You have to remember four months, five months ago, we started from zero. You now have more than 40,000 Iraqi police. You have a civil defense force that's being put together, and you have an Iraqi military that's being put together. Those things have to stand up and they have to be put in place. We also have to create an Iraqi intelligence service, and that is in the process now as we speak.

The bigger those numbers grow and the more enforcement there is, the lower the crime and the violence will be. But as we said, three, four months ago, it's going to get worse before it gets better.

O'BRIEN: You think it gets worse from this point?

KERIK: I don't know if it gets worse from this point, but these attacks will continue. There are people that lost their power, they lost their money, they lost their livelihoods, they lost the ability to dictate and hold power over the local Iraqis, and they do not want freedom to grow, and that's what you're seeing.

O'BRIEN: We see these headlines everyday back here in the U.S. Tell me from, your estimation, being there on the ground, what's working?

KERIK: Everything's working. It's not moving as fast as the Iraqis would like to see it, but you're not fixing it with a band-aid like Saddam has done in the past. We're not really rebuilding an infrastructure. We're building an infrastructure for this country.

O'BRIEN: France is making a hard push right now to get a quicker transfer of power to the Iraqis. Some members of the Iraqi Governing Council are going to plead with Congress this week. The U.S. is saying it's entirely too fast, the transition can't happen at that point. When do you think it's comfortable to say OK, the transfer can take place and we're in a good spot to allow the Iraqis to take control.

KERIK: Basically, I would say in their opinion, when they're able to secure themselves, and right now that is physically impossible. The Iraqi government cannot physically secure themselves, and that's -- it's a big mistake to make that premature transfer.

O'BRIEN: If the Iraqis cannot bring their own security, that tells me you need more outside help. And if you can't get France, and Germany and Russia on board, that would seem to indicate, logic tells me that you need more U.S. troops there on the ground. Why has that route not been taken.

KERIK: You have to be careful about more U.S. troops. U.S. is a target there. We put more U.S. troops, you can have more U.S. targets, more U.S. deaths. We now have more than 30 countries working in Iraq. People tend to forget that. More countries, more coalition members, more Iraqis, that is -- that's what we have to do. The Iraqi police have to be enhanced, security, civil defense and the military.

O'BRIEN: Will you go back?

KERIK: It's possible.

O'BRIEN: Good luck to you. Bernard Kerik, good to see you, in New York.

KERIK: 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