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American Morning

Saddam's Secrets

Aired December 16, 2003 - 09:05   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.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Joining us this morning from Baghdad to talk about the intelligence gleaned from interrogating Saddam, Brigadier General Martin Dempsey, the commander of the 1st Armored Division.
It's nice to see you, sir. Thank you for joining us. We appreciate your time.

Let's follow up a little bit on the information that was found in this briefcase. And if you could be more specific for me, where was the briefcase found? Was it down in the hole with Saddam Hussein, or was it, as some have reported, on the bed, in the two rooms above ground?

BRIG. GEN. MARTIN DEMPSEY, CMDR., 1ST ARMORED DIVISION: I really have no idea. In fact, I've heard it characterized as a briefcase and a bag and any other number of things. And I don't know exactly where it was found. I just know that we're very excited about the prospects of exploiting it.

O'BRIEN: If you can, as much as possible, specify what exactly have you found inside? What kind of information are you talking about? Are you talking about lists, and names and details to that extent?

DEMPSEY: Well, it's a little premature actually. The documents aren't in my hands personally, nor in the hands of my intelligence experts, though we are working with those that are there, exploiting it.

But we've for some time known that there was a cell structure in the city of Baghdad, and have always had an intuition that there was something that said above it that provided financial support and some broad general guidance. But we're pretty confident that this capture of Saddam Hussein will allow us to get a glimpse of that network that sat above the cell structure in Baghdad.

O'BRIEN: So do you think then it was Saddam Hussein that was leading that network, that was sitting above that cell structure, as you describe it?

DEMPSEY: Well, leading in the most general sense, in that I think they probably reported back to him. It may have had the characterization of a dutiful child reporting back to a parent. I think we've all seen the images of how Saddam Hussein was captured, and it's almost inconceivable that he was doing anything but surviving. But, there were those that were reporting to him on the chance that some day he might be able to once again to be their patron, and so if you want to consider that leadership, I suppose it's form of leadership.

O'BRIEN: Have arrests been made specifically on the information that's been gleaned from these documents that were found with Saddam Hussein?

DEMPSEY: Yes.

O'BRIEN: Can you give me more of a description of what kind of arrests, how high level are the insurgents that have been arrested?

DEMPSEY: Yes. We can -- within the first 24 hours of the capture of Saddam Hussein, we acted on some of the information that we were able to analyze. And we captured a -- some high-level former Baath leaders that again we considered to be the network that was providing financial support for the cell structure in Baghdad. I can only speak for Baghdad. That's my particular area of emphasis here.

O'BRIEN: Yes, I understand that -- $750,000 in cash found as well. Is it your understanding at this time -- and I understand that it's early -- that this was money used in any way to pay or fund the insurgency, or was this more of personal protection money for Saddam Hussein himself?

DEMPSEY: Well, I don't have any information on that. Based on what we've seen in Iraq since we've been here now, these eight months, I suspect that that money was for his personal use and personal protection.

A lot of the money we see that funds these cells and these attacks against us reach figures a little higher than that in the aggregate, ad there is of course some organized crime that supports all of this in the form of counterfeiter.

O'BRIEN: Let's talk for a moment about the interrogation. We heard early on General Sanchez saying that Saddam Hussein had been cooperative in the sense of moving where he was told to move and sitting when he was told to sit. Then we heard from Secretary Rumsfeld that, in fact, he was not being cooperative. We've heard the term wiseass used when describing Saddam Hussein's demeanor in the interrogation. Is it your understanding he's being more cooperative today? Is any more information forthcoming from those interrogations you know of?

DEMPSEY: I honestly don't have any information on what we're getting out of Saddam himself. And the excitement we have here in Baghdad is for the documents that were captured with him. I think it will take some time to actually gain any intelligence value from the man himself. I mean, let's face it, he was the artful dodger. I think even what we get from him in the near term, we'd probably have to corroborate it in other ways.

O'BRIEN: Brigadier General Martin Dempsey, joining us this morning. Sir, thanks for your time. We know you're busy, so we appreciate it. DEMPSEY: Thank you. Happy holidays.

O'BRIEN: Thank you, and likewise to you and your men and women serving with you as well, from all of us here at CNN; we 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 December 16, 2003 - 09:05   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Joining us this morning from Baghdad to talk about the intelligence gleaned from interrogating Saddam, Brigadier General Martin Dempsey, the commander of the 1st Armored Division.
It's nice to see you, sir. Thank you for joining us. We appreciate your time.

Let's follow up a little bit on the information that was found in this briefcase. And if you could be more specific for me, where was the briefcase found? Was it down in the hole with Saddam Hussein, or was it, as some have reported, on the bed, in the two rooms above ground?

BRIG. GEN. MARTIN DEMPSEY, CMDR., 1ST ARMORED DIVISION: I really have no idea. In fact, I've heard it characterized as a briefcase and a bag and any other number of things. And I don't know exactly where it was found. I just know that we're very excited about the prospects of exploiting it.

O'BRIEN: If you can, as much as possible, specify what exactly have you found inside? What kind of information are you talking about? Are you talking about lists, and names and details to that extent?

DEMPSEY: Well, it's a little premature actually. The documents aren't in my hands personally, nor in the hands of my intelligence experts, though we are working with those that are there, exploiting it.

But we've for some time known that there was a cell structure in the city of Baghdad, and have always had an intuition that there was something that said above it that provided financial support and some broad general guidance. But we're pretty confident that this capture of Saddam Hussein will allow us to get a glimpse of that network that sat above the cell structure in Baghdad.

O'BRIEN: So do you think then it was Saddam Hussein that was leading that network, that was sitting above that cell structure, as you describe it?

DEMPSEY: Well, leading in the most general sense, in that I think they probably reported back to him. It may have had the characterization of a dutiful child reporting back to a parent. I think we've all seen the images of how Saddam Hussein was captured, and it's almost inconceivable that he was doing anything but surviving. But, there were those that were reporting to him on the chance that some day he might be able to once again to be their patron, and so if you want to consider that leadership, I suppose it's form of leadership.

O'BRIEN: Have arrests been made specifically on the information that's been gleaned from these documents that were found with Saddam Hussein?

DEMPSEY: Yes.

O'BRIEN: Can you give me more of a description of what kind of arrests, how high level are the insurgents that have been arrested?

DEMPSEY: Yes. We can -- within the first 24 hours of the capture of Saddam Hussein, we acted on some of the information that we were able to analyze. And we captured a -- some high-level former Baath leaders that again we considered to be the network that was providing financial support for the cell structure in Baghdad. I can only speak for Baghdad. That's my particular area of emphasis here.

O'BRIEN: Yes, I understand that -- $750,000 in cash found as well. Is it your understanding at this time -- and I understand that it's early -- that this was money used in any way to pay or fund the insurgency, or was this more of personal protection money for Saddam Hussein himself?

DEMPSEY: Well, I don't have any information on that. Based on what we've seen in Iraq since we've been here now, these eight months, I suspect that that money was for his personal use and personal protection.

A lot of the money we see that funds these cells and these attacks against us reach figures a little higher than that in the aggregate, ad there is of course some organized crime that supports all of this in the form of counterfeiter.

O'BRIEN: Let's talk for a moment about the interrogation. We heard early on General Sanchez saying that Saddam Hussein had been cooperative in the sense of moving where he was told to move and sitting when he was told to sit. Then we heard from Secretary Rumsfeld that, in fact, he was not being cooperative. We've heard the term wiseass used when describing Saddam Hussein's demeanor in the interrogation. Is it your understanding he's being more cooperative today? Is any more information forthcoming from those interrogations you know of?

DEMPSEY: I honestly don't have any information on what we're getting out of Saddam himself. And the excitement we have here in Baghdad is for the documents that were captured with him. I think it will take some time to actually gain any intelligence value from the man himself. I mean, let's face it, he was the artful dodger. I think even what we get from him in the near term, we'd probably have to corroborate it in other ways.

O'BRIEN: Brigadier General Martin Dempsey, joining us this morning. Sir, thanks for your time. We know you're busy, so we appreciate it. DEMPSEY: Thank you. Happy holidays.

O'BRIEN: Thank you, and likewise to you and your men and women serving with you as well, from all of us here at CNN; we 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