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CNN Live Saturday

Interview With David McKiernan

Aired May 10, 2003 - 18:32   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: Restoring order and security in Iraq won't be quick or easy. General David McKiernan says that's the harsh reality. He is the man in charge of U.S. land forces in Iraq, and CNN's Jane Arraf sat down with him to talk about the lingering challenges.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: In many parts of the city still at night, there's no electricity, there are gangs, people are genuinely afraid. Is this what you expected this far in?

LT. GEN. DAVID MCKIERNAN, U.S. ARMY: Well, I think to be -- to be very honest about it, we are in a period of transition. We are in a power vacuum period, if you will, where a regime that had a very centralized control over all of Iraq, that controlled everything, is gone. And its senior Baathist civil servants and ministry leaders are gone. And we are in a process of still forming an interim Iraqi authority, or government. And so, you are in that period where there's not the regimen that existed here before. So there are concerns with security, with basic services and -- but I would tell you, for my perspective, the mission certainly is not finished. But each day we are taking steps forward.

ARRAF: You were apparently in the streets this morning. What were your impressions and what were people telling you?

MCKIERNAN: I -- I did do a little personal reconnaissance down there this morning, and although I'm not an Arabic speaker, so I didn't have direct contact, I did have some traveling with me that did talk to those on the streets. They are concerned about the same things we are concerned about. There are security issues, there is still crime, there is still some looting, there is still some acts of violence, whether it's retribution or criminal-based. I think the trend is generally going down, but that is a concern.

ARRAF: Now one of the big problems seems to be that people just don't know whether Saddam Hussein is alive, nor have they seen a lot of the other officials on the most wanted list caught. Is that a concern?

MCKIERNAN: I think there is an impression that I personally made throughout the war was -- I underestimated the fear factor in Iraq. I underestimated what two or three decades of dictatorship and terror tactics instills in the population. So I think this population, to some degree, is still afraid of the ghost of Saddam. Now, I personally don't know whether Saddam is alive or dead. I do know he is not in power any more. And his senior leadership is not in power any more. And we are making, I think, significant progress on apprehending -- in some cases, they are turning themselves in -- blacklisted members of this regime.

ARRAF: What's happened to the search for weapons of mass destruction? We just have not seen any. What does that tell you?

MCKIERNAN: I think it's too early to draw a conclusion. We have not found yet any significant materials, although we still have many, many sites to exploit. And we have sites we don't even know about yet, and we will find out about because humans will come in, Iraqis will come in and tell us, we need to go check a certain location. I mean, this is a regime that was masterful at hiding this stuff for years. So I think there'll still be many intel leads that come to us that we will check out overtime. There are many, many documents, that are in our possession that are going through document exploitation that I think will reveal -- I personally think will reveal that there's certainly a program that was in place. And -- but there's a lot of work left to be done in that area. This won't be a short-term solution.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: That report from Jane Arraf.

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 May 10, 2003 - 18:32   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Restoring order and security in Iraq won't be quick or easy. General David McKiernan says that's the harsh reality. He is the man in charge of U.S. land forces in Iraq, and CNN's Jane Arraf sat down with him to talk about the lingering challenges.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: In many parts of the city still at night, there's no electricity, there are gangs, people are genuinely afraid. Is this what you expected this far in?

LT. GEN. DAVID MCKIERNAN, U.S. ARMY: Well, I think to be -- to be very honest about it, we are in a period of transition. We are in a power vacuum period, if you will, where a regime that had a very centralized control over all of Iraq, that controlled everything, is gone. And its senior Baathist civil servants and ministry leaders are gone. And we are in a process of still forming an interim Iraqi authority, or government. And so, you are in that period where there's not the regimen that existed here before. So there are concerns with security, with basic services and -- but I would tell you, for my perspective, the mission certainly is not finished. But each day we are taking steps forward.

ARRAF: You were apparently in the streets this morning. What were your impressions and what were people telling you?

MCKIERNAN: I -- I did do a little personal reconnaissance down there this morning, and although I'm not an Arabic speaker, so I didn't have direct contact, I did have some traveling with me that did talk to those on the streets. They are concerned about the same things we are concerned about. There are security issues, there is still crime, there is still some looting, there is still some acts of violence, whether it's retribution or criminal-based. I think the trend is generally going down, but that is a concern.

ARRAF: Now one of the big problems seems to be that people just don't know whether Saddam Hussein is alive, nor have they seen a lot of the other officials on the most wanted list caught. Is that a concern?

MCKIERNAN: I think there is an impression that I personally made throughout the war was -- I underestimated the fear factor in Iraq. I underestimated what two or three decades of dictatorship and terror tactics instills in the population. So I think this population, to some degree, is still afraid of the ghost of Saddam. Now, I personally don't know whether Saddam is alive or dead. I do know he is not in power any more. And his senior leadership is not in power any more. And we are making, I think, significant progress on apprehending -- in some cases, they are turning themselves in -- blacklisted members of this regime.

ARRAF: What's happened to the search for weapons of mass destruction? We just have not seen any. What does that tell you?

MCKIERNAN: I think it's too early to draw a conclusion. We have not found yet any significant materials, although we still have many, many sites to exploit. And we have sites we don't even know about yet, and we will find out about because humans will come in, Iraqis will come in and tell us, we need to go check a certain location. I mean, this is a regime that was masterful at hiding this stuff for years. So I think there'll still be many intel leads that come to us that we will check out overtime. There are many, many documents, that are in our possession that are going through document exploitation that I think will reveal -- I personally think will reveal that there's certainly a program that was in place. And -- but there's a lot of work left to be done in that area. This won't be a short-term solution.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: That report from Jane Arraf.

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