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CNN Live Saturday
Is North Korea's Rush to Restart Nuclear Program a Political Ploy?
Aired December 28, 2002 - 17:12 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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Some say North Korea's rush to restart a nuclear reactor is simply a political ploy designed to force the U.S. into talks to help the economically strained nation. If that's the case, then why expel international atomic energy inspectors? For more on this, we go to CNN Military Analyst Retired General Wesley Clark in Little Rock, Arkansas, good to see you again, General.
GEN. WESLEY CLARK (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Nice to see you Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right, so what do you suppose the explanation is? Why make this very bold step?
CLARK: I think they have every intention of going ahead with the production of their plutonium in that reactor unless they are given the right kind of bargain or the right kind of persuasion to get it stopped and this is one step they can take that signals their intent. It's out front. It says it in very clear terms to the world community.
WHITFIELD: And the international community, including the U.S. is moving very cautiously, the U.S. now saying publicly that it is putting into place tailored containment in which to perhaps cut off international economic ties and maybe even possibly the use of U.S. military to intercept any kind of missile activity between North Korea and anyone else. What specifically does this mean?
CLARK: Well, this is an effort to put pressure on the north by -- the north is isolated as it is, doesn't have a whole lot of trade relationships with other nations. It doesn't have much to export and it's been relying on humanitarian assistance and fuel oil.
This is an effort to further tighten the net around North Korea, cut it off from earning any foreign exchange on its missile shipments, and persuade it to give up on its nuclear plans.
WHITFIELD: At the same time there's an awful lot of pressure from the outside community coming down on China, Japan, and Russia, to perhaps step in since those are nations that still do have relations with North Korea.
CLARK: There is that pressure and hopefully they will step in and I think the sooner they step in, the more productive it's going to be. One thing we found in our long experience in dealing with the North Koreans and many governments and the United States have had this experience is they're very stubborn, tough, and to our point of view irrational bargainers.
That is to say that A and B don't make C to the North Koreans and so what's like to happen is, as this U.N. sanctions regime heats up, they're going to view it or say they view it as an act of aggression and they're going to then try to respond by raising their military readiness and making threats and that's why the South Korean government, I think, has quite rightly recognized that this is a threat to the region.
WHITFIELD: All right, we heard Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld say that it's no problem for the U.S. to try and straddle these two issues involving North Korea and now Iraq. We have a sense as to how their approach is on North Korea now with this containment effort. And now with Iraq, a continued military buildup in the Persian Gulf region, are we now entering the final phase of buildup now that we're hearing of a deployment of tens of thousands of military troops?
CLARK: I believe that's right. I believe what we're seeing now is the deployment of the troops that will be necessary at the end of January, early February to give the president the option to say go ahead and fight, and we're bringing together the deployment at the same time that Hans Blix is going to bring together his report to the United Nations. It should lay things out and I think the United States will be prepared to do what it feels it must do, whether or not it gets U.N. Security Council blessing.
WHITFIELD: Well, let's talk about what would be involved in this final phase of deployment if it is indeed the case. Reportedly mid- air refuelers, medical support such as the USNS Comfort, which is based out of Baltimore, and even perhaps Black Hawk troop transports.
CLARK: I think what you're going to see is probably three, maybe four army divisions. The Brits are going to send most of a division down there. We've got a core headquarters that's already been alerted to do this mission in Kuwait, so we'll have probably four or five army divisions, maybe a marine division in addition that will be part of this mission. It will be 200,000, 250,000 troops all total.
WHITFIELD: In fact, let's talk about that marine division, Marine Expeditionary Unit. I've covered a few stories involving those troops out of North Carolina but this deployment may affect the MEU out of Camp Pendleton. Sometimes they're affectionately known at the 9/11 force, kind of the first ones on the ground. Exactly what kind of duties would they be carrying out?
CLARK: Well, this is up to the commander, General Tommy Franks. He'll have a marine commander who will be looking at various options. They could do an amphibious assault. They could participate in a ground operation, going all the way up to Baghdad. They could be held in reserve and do the urban fighting around Baghdad if that's the plan. They could be held in reserve and be ready to go against other threats that might intervene in the region.
WHITFIELD: If Iraq didn't think that the U.S. were serious, I would suppose this is a pretty strong signal right now it may be costing the U.S. something like a few billion dollars a month but certainly without having this kind of deployment it just might cost more in terms of cost of lives, correct?
CLARK: Correct. This is a very strong signal but it's more than a signal. This is the start of the buildup for the capabilities that will be required when the United States takes action.
WHITFIELD: All right, General Clark thanks very much for joining us from Little Rock.
CLARK: Thank you, Fredricka.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Political Ploy?>
Aired December 28, 2002 - 17:12 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Some say North Korea's rush to restart a nuclear reactor is simply a political ploy designed to force the U.S. into talks to help the economically strained nation. If that's the case, then why expel international atomic energy inspectors? For more on this, we go to CNN Military Analyst Retired General Wesley Clark in Little Rock, Arkansas, good to see you again, General.
GEN. WESLEY CLARK (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Nice to see you Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right, so what do you suppose the explanation is? Why make this very bold step?
CLARK: I think they have every intention of going ahead with the production of their plutonium in that reactor unless they are given the right kind of bargain or the right kind of persuasion to get it stopped and this is one step they can take that signals their intent. It's out front. It says it in very clear terms to the world community.
WHITFIELD: And the international community, including the U.S. is moving very cautiously, the U.S. now saying publicly that it is putting into place tailored containment in which to perhaps cut off international economic ties and maybe even possibly the use of U.S. military to intercept any kind of missile activity between North Korea and anyone else. What specifically does this mean?
CLARK: Well, this is an effort to put pressure on the north by -- the north is isolated as it is, doesn't have a whole lot of trade relationships with other nations. It doesn't have much to export and it's been relying on humanitarian assistance and fuel oil.
This is an effort to further tighten the net around North Korea, cut it off from earning any foreign exchange on its missile shipments, and persuade it to give up on its nuclear plans.
WHITFIELD: At the same time there's an awful lot of pressure from the outside community coming down on China, Japan, and Russia, to perhaps step in since those are nations that still do have relations with North Korea.
CLARK: There is that pressure and hopefully they will step in and I think the sooner they step in, the more productive it's going to be. One thing we found in our long experience in dealing with the North Koreans and many governments and the United States have had this experience is they're very stubborn, tough, and to our point of view irrational bargainers.
That is to say that A and B don't make C to the North Koreans and so what's like to happen is, as this U.N. sanctions regime heats up, they're going to view it or say they view it as an act of aggression and they're going to then try to respond by raising their military readiness and making threats and that's why the South Korean government, I think, has quite rightly recognized that this is a threat to the region.
WHITFIELD: All right, we heard Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld say that it's no problem for the U.S. to try and straddle these two issues involving North Korea and now Iraq. We have a sense as to how their approach is on North Korea now with this containment effort. And now with Iraq, a continued military buildup in the Persian Gulf region, are we now entering the final phase of buildup now that we're hearing of a deployment of tens of thousands of military troops?
CLARK: I believe that's right. I believe what we're seeing now is the deployment of the troops that will be necessary at the end of January, early February to give the president the option to say go ahead and fight, and we're bringing together the deployment at the same time that Hans Blix is going to bring together his report to the United Nations. It should lay things out and I think the United States will be prepared to do what it feels it must do, whether or not it gets U.N. Security Council blessing.
WHITFIELD: Well, let's talk about what would be involved in this final phase of deployment if it is indeed the case. Reportedly mid- air refuelers, medical support such as the USNS Comfort, which is based out of Baltimore, and even perhaps Black Hawk troop transports.
CLARK: I think what you're going to see is probably three, maybe four army divisions. The Brits are going to send most of a division down there. We've got a core headquarters that's already been alerted to do this mission in Kuwait, so we'll have probably four or five army divisions, maybe a marine division in addition that will be part of this mission. It will be 200,000, 250,000 troops all total.
WHITFIELD: In fact, let's talk about that marine division, Marine Expeditionary Unit. I've covered a few stories involving those troops out of North Carolina but this deployment may affect the MEU out of Camp Pendleton. Sometimes they're affectionately known at the 9/11 force, kind of the first ones on the ground. Exactly what kind of duties would they be carrying out?
CLARK: Well, this is up to the commander, General Tommy Franks. He'll have a marine commander who will be looking at various options. They could do an amphibious assault. They could participate in a ground operation, going all the way up to Baghdad. They could be held in reserve and do the urban fighting around Baghdad if that's the plan. They could be held in reserve and be ready to go against other threats that might intervene in the region.
WHITFIELD: If Iraq didn't think that the U.S. were serious, I would suppose this is a pretty strong signal right now it may be costing the U.S. something like a few billion dollars a month but certainly without having this kind of deployment it just might cost more in terms of cost of lives, correct?
CLARK: Correct. This is a very strong signal but it's more than a signal. This is the start of the buildup for the capabilities that will be required when the United States takes action.
WHITFIELD: All right, General Clark thanks very much for joining us from Little Rock.
CLARK: Thank you, Fredricka.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Political Ploy?>
