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CNN Live At Daybreak

While War Changes With Technology, Making Peace Remains Difficult

Aired December 03, 2001 - 05:43   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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Air power, ground forces, coalitions, nation-building -- well, the language is the same from war to war, but as CNN's Bruce Morton reports, with each war, the leaders learned new things. Or do they?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRUCE MORTON, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Everything changes, even war. World War II proved, for instance, that air power alone couldn't win. London withstood the Blitz, Germany withstood all of the bombs the allies dropped, but you needed ground troops; same thing in Vietnam, where the U.S. troops dropped even more tons of bombs than in World War II.

But bombing has improved. It was decisive in Kosovo, though there were some troops on the ground. It's been decisive in Afghanistan. Again, there were troops on the ground, but the Northern Alliance only started to win battles when the U.S. came in with air support, so that's changed.

What may not have changed is that making peace, when you have a lot of different factions involved, is very hard. Just look at all of the claims and counterclaims this past week: Yes, an international force is OK; no, it isn't; hey, who are you to speak for Afghanistan; why aren't there any Pashtuns at this meeting; and so on.

It's hard to remember when Afghanistan had a government most Afghans liked, and maybe the best hope is simply for some sort of loose coalition in which warlords don't fight each other very often.

And now, people are already wondering where President Bush's war on terror will go next. Bomb Iraq, some say, but there is no evidence so far that Iraq has done anything directly against the United States. Invaded Iran, yes, Kuwait, yes, used chemical weapons against his own people, yes, but no direct action against the U.S.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We will fight these evil ones.

MORTON: Mr. Bush speaks of evildoers. Biblical language comes naturally to him, and Saddam Hussein would probably make anyone's evil guy's list, whether he had done anything to the United States or not. Still, the president could do less dramatic things than bomb, could encourage, train, arm Iraqi opponents of Saddam: Kurds, Shi'ite Muslims, whomever.

And he has other charters (ph), the guerrillas in the Philippines, for instance, who reportedly follow Osama bin Laden, and whose hostages include Americans. Support for the Philippine government against the guerrillas might help.

(on camera): The president has had success so far, both militarily and in keeping his anti-bin Laden coalition together. It will be interesting to see where he goes next in his war on terror, and how many of his coalition partners go with him.

I am Bruce Morton.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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