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CNN Live Saturday
Will Attacks Against U.S. Troops Finally Cease?
Aired December 14, 2003 - 15:42 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.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Most Americans are hoping the attacks on U.S. troops will ease up with Saddam Hussein's capture, perhaps it is wishful thinking. CNN's Mike Boettcher has been looking into the insurgents and trying to cast a little light in the shadows for us, give a sense of who is out there and how they might be impacted or not with Saddam Hussein's capture. Lets run through it.
MIKE BOETTCHER, NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, I've been in the Middle East for about a month and talking to various intelligence operatives in the region. And they have a breakdown on the people that the U.S. and other coalition partners are facing in Iraq. Lets look at that breakdown.
Number one are the Baathist of the former Saddam Fedayeen loyalists. Second are the Arab Mujahadeen, now these are Arab fighters who came in to Iraq before the war and directly after the war. The third classification are the Wahabists, these are members of a fundamentalist Islamic sect who are Iraqis who are Iraqis, and also from Saudi Arabia and other countries. And for about two and a half years Saddam Hussein has been recruiting them rather heavily trying to curry favor with them. And the fourth, is Ansar al-islam, the Al Qaeda affiliated group which is believed responsible for many attacks in Iraq.
Now those first two classifications there, are the ones that intelligence analysts believed would be hurt by Saddam Hussein's disappearance from the scene, these are the Ba'athists and also the Arab Mujahadeen. And Miles I already saw signs of that even before this that that recruitment process was slowing down in some countries in the Middle East for people to go to Iraq and fight.
O'BRIEN: All right, he was found, Saddam Hussein, without so much as a cell phone. So clearly he was not orchestrating anything. Are we talking here about the flow of money or just does this dispirit these troops?
BOETTCHER: I think dispirit is the right word to use in this regard. It takes the steam out of the first two groups, the Ba'athist and Arab Mujahadeen. When you capture the number one leader it will have an impact. It remains to be seen how strong the impact will be, but for those two groups it will hurt.
O'BRIEN: How much concern is there, though, that the converse will happen, somehow it will embolden them?
BOETTCHER: In the short term it's believed they will try to show. and it's important for them to show in order to continue to recruiting people to fight, that they are a viable force in that region. The way to do is to launch attacks and it is believed in the short term you'll see that from those first two groups.
The other two groups, the fear is that they are expanding the war outside of Iraq, going for countries that support the U.S., like Turkey, Jordan and we saw those bombings in Turkey. And that is Ansar Al-Islam and that is led by a man named Abu Musabo Arkaoui (ph) who is considered the most dangerous Al Qaeda operative right now in the field.
He is in Iran and is said to be directing operations in the region. He is the de facto head right now of Ansar Al Islam and he has his own organization that is affiliated with Al Qaeda, a very dangerous man.
O'BRIEN: So many facets to the war on terror. And as one victory is pronounced other victories wait, I suppose, and other wars.
BOETTCHER: No, and the one victory they're hoping for is to find Osama Bin Laden and that's going to be tougher. We're beginning now the third year of the hunt for Osama Bin Laden. Saddam Hussein was on the loose eight months after the war.
O'BRIEN: All right, Mike Boettcher, thank you very much for checking all of that for us. We'll be back in just a moment. Stay with us.
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 December 14, 2003 - 15:42 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Most Americans are hoping the attacks on U.S. troops will ease up with Saddam Hussein's capture, perhaps it is wishful thinking. CNN's Mike Boettcher has been looking into the insurgents and trying to cast a little light in the shadows for us, give a sense of who is out there and how they might be impacted or not with Saddam Hussein's capture. Lets run through it.
MIKE BOETTCHER, NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, I've been in the Middle East for about a month and talking to various intelligence operatives in the region. And they have a breakdown on the people that the U.S. and other coalition partners are facing in Iraq. Lets look at that breakdown.
Number one are the Baathist of the former Saddam Fedayeen loyalists. Second are the Arab Mujahadeen, now these are Arab fighters who came in to Iraq before the war and directly after the war. The third classification are the Wahabists, these are members of a fundamentalist Islamic sect who are Iraqis who are Iraqis, and also from Saudi Arabia and other countries. And for about two and a half years Saddam Hussein has been recruiting them rather heavily trying to curry favor with them. And the fourth, is Ansar al-islam, the Al Qaeda affiliated group which is believed responsible for many attacks in Iraq.
Now those first two classifications there, are the ones that intelligence analysts believed would be hurt by Saddam Hussein's disappearance from the scene, these are the Ba'athists and also the Arab Mujahadeen. And Miles I already saw signs of that even before this that that recruitment process was slowing down in some countries in the Middle East for people to go to Iraq and fight.
O'BRIEN: All right, he was found, Saddam Hussein, without so much as a cell phone. So clearly he was not orchestrating anything. Are we talking here about the flow of money or just does this dispirit these troops?
BOETTCHER: I think dispirit is the right word to use in this regard. It takes the steam out of the first two groups, the Ba'athist and Arab Mujahadeen. When you capture the number one leader it will have an impact. It remains to be seen how strong the impact will be, but for those two groups it will hurt.
O'BRIEN: How much concern is there, though, that the converse will happen, somehow it will embolden them?
BOETTCHER: In the short term it's believed they will try to show. and it's important for them to show in order to continue to recruiting people to fight, that they are a viable force in that region. The way to do is to launch attacks and it is believed in the short term you'll see that from those first two groups.
The other two groups, the fear is that they are expanding the war outside of Iraq, going for countries that support the U.S., like Turkey, Jordan and we saw those bombings in Turkey. And that is Ansar Al-Islam and that is led by a man named Abu Musabo Arkaoui (ph) who is considered the most dangerous Al Qaeda operative right now in the field.
He is in Iran and is said to be directing operations in the region. He is the de facto head right now of Ansar Al Islam and he has his own organization that is affiliated with Al Qaeda, a very dangerous man.
O'BRIEN: So many facets to the war on terror. And as one victory is pronounced other victories wait, I suppose, and other wars.
BOETTCHER: No, and the one victory they're hoping for is to find Osama Bin Laden and that's going to be tougher. We're beginning now the third year of the hunt for Osama Bin Laden. Saddam Hussein was on the loose eight months after the war.
O'BRIEN: All right, Mike Boettcher, thank you very much for checking all of that for us. We'll be back in just a moment. Stay with us.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
