Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Mission: Iraq

Aired January 08, 2004 - 07:04   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: Insurgents in Iraq have made increasing use lately of mortars in their attacks on U.S. bases. A few of these attacks have inflicted casualties, but yesterday the military reported that one soldier was killed, 34 hurt in a mortar attack. Six rounds hit a living area in a U.S. logistical base just west of Baghdad. The base is in the Sunni Triangle, which was Saddam Hussein's stronghold of support.
The latest attack comes just as dozens of Iraqi detainees are scheduled to be released. The U.S. civilian administrator, Paul Bremer, calls this a time of reconciliation.

So, just how much progress is being made towards stabilizing Iraq? Joining us this morning from Baghdad is Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt. He's the deputy director for operations with the U.S. Army. Also Dan Senor, he is the senior advisor to the Coalition Provisional Authority.

Gentlemen, good morning. Thank you very much for being with us.

BRIG. GEN. MARK KIMMITT, DEPUTY DIRECTOR FOR OPERATIONS: Good morning.

DAN SENOR, SR. ADVISOR TO COALITION PROVISIONAL AUTHORITY: Good morning.

O'BRIEN: General Kimmitt, let's begin with you. The soldiers, as we're reporting, were hit in certain living areas and sleeping quarters. Give me some details that you know at this time on this attack.

KIMMITT: Well, as was stated earlier, we did have an attack last night at a coalition military facility outside of Baghdad. Your numbers are correct. We had 34 persons injured in the attack. One of them did subsequently die of wounds. Eighteen of those soldiers have returned to duty. We still have 15 remaining in the hospital at this time.

O'BRIEN: Is it possible, General Kimmitt, to protect your troops from this kind of a mortar attack, or is it just an impossibility?

KIMMITT: Well, all of our commanders take active force protection measures -- the clothes we wear, the way we protect our bases, the facilities that they live in. Without those force protection measures, the numbers would have been much, much higher than we saw last night. O'BRIEN: Do you think in any way that the release that we were just talking about, these 506 Iraqi prisoners, had anything to do at all with this mortar attack, or are they completely unrelated?

KIMMITT: I couldn't speculate on that, Soledad. I would certainly hope not -- not at the time when we're trying to move this country along.

O'BRIEN: Mr. Senor, let's talk a little bit about the release of the Iraqi prisoners. Obviously, you're hoping that this is going to help the morale in the area. There are nearly 13,000 Iraqi prisoners. We heard Paul Bremer call it the carrot approach, and he says it's a goodwill gesture. Iraqis are very, very bitter about these prisoners. Do you think 506 out of 13,000 goes far enough to try to heal any sort of damage that's been done in the relationship?

SENOR: Well, Soledad, we'll execute the program for the 506 and see how it goes, and then consider going further. The important point, however, is that since Saddam's capture, we've seen new momentum -- new momentum in the quality of the intelligence we're getting that's helping us capture the die-hard insurgents in the opposition.

We've also seen the low-level nonviolent opponents to the new Iraq, who are starting to reconsider whether or not they want to play a constructive role in their society. Now, this is, as I said, a new momentum since the capture of Saddam Hussein. It's important for us to use this carrot approach, as Ambassador Bremer said, to those low- level nonviolent opponents and let them have a second shot in re- immersing themselves in Iraqi society.

O'BRIEN: The risk, of course, is that you release people who then you later end up fighting. Are you concerned about that?

SENOR: Well, we are targeting the low-level nonviolent opponents, those who we have detained who have not directly been involved in violence against the coalition or against other Iraqis. If we later find out that they do engage in violence, we will capture or kill them and put an end to the problem.

But right now, we think there are a number of these people who we have monitored closely who we think are taking a second look and reconsidering, and we want to reach out to them, while at the same using this better intelligence and the new rewards program Ambassador Bremer talked about yesterday to go after the die-hard, more senior insurgents using the stick approach with them.

O'BRIEN: General Kimmitt, you're five months away for turning control of Iraq over to the Iraqis. Is the U.S. still on track with that timeline? And also, what will the role of the military be once that handover is accomplished?

KIMMITT: Well, we certainly see that the military mission will continue. We are not defined by a five-month timeline for a military pullout. Our attitude is we are here until the president changes his mind or until the job is done, whichever comes first, and we expect that the mission will be completed before we pull out.

O'BRIEN: Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt joining us this morning; also, Dan Senor as well. Gentlemen, thank you very much for being with us. We certainly appreciate your time.

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 January 8, 2004 - 07:04   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Insurgents in Iraq have made increasing use lately of mortars in their attacks on U.S. bases. A few of these attacks have inflicted casualties, but yesterday the military reported that one soldier was killed, 34 hurt in a mortar attack. Six rounds hit a living area in a U.S. logistical base just west of Baghdad. The base is in the Sunni Triangle, which was Saddam Hussein's stronghold of support.
The latest attack comes just as dozens of Iraqi detainees are scheduled to be released. The U.S. civilian administrator, Paul Bremer, calls this a time of reconciliation.

So, just how much progress is being made towards stabilizing Iraq? Joining us this morning from Baghdad is Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt. He's the deputy director for operations with the U.S. Army. Also Dan Senor, he is the senior advisor to the Coalition Provisional Authority.

Gentlemen, good morning. Thank you very much for being with us.

BRIG. GEN. MARK KIMMITT, DEPUTY DIRECTOR FOR OPERATIONS: Good morning.

DAN SENOR, SR. ADVISOR TO COALITION PROVISIONAL AUTHORITY: Good morning.

O'BRIEN: General Kimmitt, let's begin with you. The soldiers, as we're reporting, were hit in certain living areas and sleeping quarters. Give me some details that you know at this time on this attack.

KIMMITT: Well, as was stated earlier, we did have an attack last night at a coalition military facility outside of Baghdad. Your numbers are correct. We had 34 persons injured in the attack. One of them did subsequently die of wounds. Eighteen of those soldiers have returned to duty. We still have 15 remaining in the hospital at this time.

O'BRIEN: Is it possible, General Kimmitt, to protect your troops from this kind of a mortar attack, or is it just an impossibility?

KIMMITT: Well, all of our commanders take active force protection measures -- the clothes we wear, the way we protect our bases, the facilities that they live in. Without those force protection measures, the numbers would have been much, much higher than we saw last night. O'BRIEN: Do you think in any way that the release that we were just talking about, these 506 Iraqi prisoners, had anything to do at all with this mortar attack, or are they completely unrelated?

KIMMITT: I couldn't speculate on that, Soledad. I would certainly hope not -- not at the time when we're trying to move this country along.

O'BRIEN: Mr. Senor, let's talk a little bit about the release of the Iraqi prisoners. Obviously, you're hoping that this is going to help the morale in the area. There are nearly 13,000 Iraqi prisoners. We heard Paul Bremer call it the carrot approach, and he says it's a goodwill gesture. Iraqis are very, very bitter about these prisoners. Do you think 506 out of 13,000 goes far enough to try to heal any sort of damage that's been done in the relationship?

SENOR: Well, Soledad, we'll execute the program for the 506 and see how it goes, and then consider going further. The important point, however, is that since Saddam's capture, we've seen new momentum -- new momentum in the quality of the intelligence we're getting that's helping us capture the die-hard insurgents in the opposition.

We've also seen the low-level nonviolent opponents to the new Iraq, who are starting to reconsider whether or not they want to play a constructive role in their society. Now, this is, as I said, a new momentum since the capture of Saddam Hussein. It's important for us to use this carrot approach, as Ambassador Bremer said, to those low- level nonviolent opponents and let them have a second shot in re- immersing themselves in Iraqi society.

O'BRIEN: The risk, of course, is that you release people who then you later end up fighting. Are you concerned about that?

SENOR: Well, we are targeting the low-level nonviolent opponents, those who we have detained who have not directly been involved in violence against the coalition or against other Iraqis. If we later find out that they do engage in violence, we will capture or kill them and put an end to the problem.

But right now, we think there are a number of these people who we have monitored closely who we think are taking a second look and reconsidering, and we want to reach out to them, while at the same using this better intelligence and the new rewards program Ambassador Bremer talked about yesterday to go after the die-hard, more senior insurgents using the stick approach with them.

O'BRIEN: General Kimmitt, you're five months away for turning control of Iraq over to the Iraqis. Is the U.S. still on track with that timeline? And also, what will the role of the military be once that handover is accomplished?

KIMMITT: Well, we certainly see that the military mission will continue. We are not defined by a five-month timeline for a military pullout. Our attitude is we are here until the president changes his mind or until the job is done, whichever comes first, and we expect that the mission will be completed before we pull out.

O'BRIEN: Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt joining us this morning; also, Dan Senor as well. Gentlemen, thank you very much for being with us. We certainly appreciate your time.

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