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CNN Live Saturday
Pentagon Takes Long Term View On Iraq
Aired August 30, 2003 - 18:03 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.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN ANCHOR: The terrorism and unrest in Iraq are making the U.S. led coalition's task of providing security there a nightmare. Let's check in now with Pentagon correspondent Chris Plante.
Chris, you spend a lot of time in the Pentagon talking to your sources. What are they saying, amoung themselves, about whether or not U.S. troops should withdraw. Is this even something that is topic of conversation?
CHRIS PLANTE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Not even close. The fact is, that people here take, really, very much the long view of the war in Iraq. They take the strategic view. They really do, as some adiministration officials have said in the past, look at this as the central battle in the war on terrorism.
The fact that first of all, the U.S. military has had some long experience with radical Islamic terrorism, dating back to 1983 in the Beirut bombing of the Marine Corps barracks there, where 241 marines were killed. The attack on the barracks -- the Air Force barracks in Deirun (ph) Saudi Arabia. The USS Cole. There have been other incidents where U.S. military have been targeted, not just by al Qaeda, but by other elements of radical Islam, of terrorist groups. Which for the most part spring form this geographic region of course.
So the view from here, for the most part is, if you're sitting, have a discussion with people in their office, that the United States have brought the fight to the geographic heart of the Arab world, which is, effectively, the petri dish for, if you will, Islamic radicalism and the type of terrorism we saw on September 11.
This building was, of course hit, along with the World Trade Center on September 11. And the view from here is that this is the most vital element, right now, in the war on terrorism. And that's why when they see that casualties are being taken, they see foreign fighters coming in and possible activity of terrorist groups, including, but not limited to al Qaeda, there is some element of this that almost invites the opportunity to take them on with the U.S. military, with the Marine Corps and the Army, there in the geographic center of the hornet's nest, if you will. Rather than allowing the front line in the war on terrorism to exist at Logan Airport and in New York and in Washington D.C.
So the view from here may not be the view that you see on the news everyday. It may not be the view that most people have when they talk about the situation at the dinner table, but they take a strategic view. They expect that this situation will continue for years and perhaps even decades before this form of terrorism is stamped out -- Andrea.
KOPPEL: Is that the same opinion that we -- that you're hearing expressed privately by men and women in uniform as by the civilian officials, Secretary Rumsfeld and his staff?
PLANTE: You hear a slightly different situation from the officials when they come to the podium, but they're not shying away from making this point as they were in the past. General John Abizaid, who is the commander of the U.S. Central Command, in charge of U.S. troops, both in Afghanistan and in Iraq, he took over for Tommy Franks, said just about 10 days ago at a briefing here, when asked about foreign fighters coming into Iraq. He said, "We will find them. We will capture them. We will kill them. We will fight them and we welcome the opportunity to do that, because the region will not be safe and prosperous until that threat is dealt with."
And the feeling that you get when you discuss the situation with people is that this is going to be a very long and very difficult campaign, but that a sea change, effectively a social sea change needs to take place in the region and that these regimes there, monarchies and dictatorships all at the moment, need to deal with the problem in their own back yard and stamp it out themselves because the U.S. military, they'll acknowledge here, is not the answer to the problem in the end. But, as someone said to me very recently, you've got to start somewhere -- Andrea.
KOPPEL: Of course, we should also say, there's the possibility that the U.S. could actually go to the United Nations and get this multilateral force to help out in Iraq, but they haven't made a decision yet. Chris Plante at the Pentagon, thanks so much.
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 August 30, 2003 - 18:03 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN ANCHOR: The terrorism and unrest in Iraq are making the U.S. led coalition's task of providing security there a nightmare. Let's check in now with Pentagon correspondent Chris Plante.
Chris, you spend a lot of time in the Pentagon talking to your sources. What are they saying, amoung themselves, about whether or not U.S. troops should withdraw. Is this even something that is topic of conversation?
CHRIS PLANTE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Not even close. The fact is, that people here take, really, very much the long view of the war in Iraq. They take the strategic view. They really do, as some adiministration officials have said in the past, look at this as the central battle in the war on terrorism.
The fact that first of all, the U.S. military has had some long experience with radical Islamic terrorism, dating back to 1983 in the Beirut bombing of the Marine Corps barracks there, where 241 marines were killed. The attack on the barracks -- the Air Force barracks in Deirun (ph) Saudi Arabia. The USS Cole. There have been other incidents where U.S. military have been targeted, not just by al Qaeda, but by other elements of radical Islam, of terrorist groups. Which for the most part spring form this geographic region of course.
So the view from here, for the most part is, if you're sitting, have a discussion with people in their office, that the United States have brought the fight to the geographic heart of the Arab world, which is, effectively, the petri dish for, if you will, Islamic radicalism and the type of terrorism we saw on September 11.
This building was, of course hit, along with the World Trade Center on September 11. And the view from here is that this is the most vital element, right now, in the war on terrorism. And that's why when they see that casualties are being taken, they see foreign fighters coming in and possible activity of terrorist groups, including, but not limited to al Qaeda, there is some element of this that almost invites the opportunity to take them on with the U.S. military, with the Marine Corps and the Army, there in the geographic center of the hornet's nest, if you will. Rather than allowing the front line in the war on terrorism to exist at Logan Airport and in New York and in Washington D.C.
So the view from here may not be the view that you see on the news everyday. It may not be the view that most people have when they talk about the situation at the dinner table, but they take a strategic view. They expect that this situation will continue for years and perhaps even decades before this form of terrorism is stamped out -- Andrea.
KOPPEL: Is that the same opinion that we -- that you're hearing expressed privately by men and women in uniform as by the civilian officials, Secretary Rumsfeld and his staff?
PLANTE: You hear a slightly different situation from the officials when they come to the podium, but they're not shying away from making this point as they were in the past. General John Abizaid, who is the commander of the U.S. Central Command, in charge of U.S. troops, both in Afghanistan and in Iraq, he took over for Tommy Franks, said just about 10 days ago at a briefing here, when asked about foreign fighters coming into Iraq. He said, "We will find them. We will capture them. We will kill them. We will fight them and we welcome the opportunity to do that, because the region will not be safe and prosperous until that threat is dealt with."
And the feeling that you get when you discuss the situation with people is that this is going to be a very long and very difficult campaign, but that a sea change, effectively a social sea change needs to take place in the region and that these regimes there, monarchies and dictatorships all at the moment, need to deal with the problem in their own back yard and stamp it out themselves because the U.S. military, they'll acknowledge here, is not the answer to the problem in the end. But, as someone said to me very recently, you've got to start somewhere -- Andrea.
KOPPEL: Of course, we should also say, there's the possibility that the U.S. could actually go to the United Nations and get this multilateral force to help out in Iraq, but they haven't made a decision yet. Chris Plante at the Pentagon, thanks so much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
