Return to Transcripts main page

Live From...

Interviews With Army Analyst, Former Iraqi Government

Aired April 04, 2003 - 15:21   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.


JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: Let's go now to Renay San Miguel live, and he is with retired Major Patrick Gallagher, who has commanded Special Forces units specializing in fighting terrorism. They're going to look at, among other things, what U.S. troops are going to face when they get inside the city of Baghdad -- Renay.
RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thank you very much, Judy. We are going to talk about the role of Special Forces, special operations, in the concept of urban combat and what we can expect from -- in -- Baghdad.

Joining us from Washington is Major Patrick Gallagher, U.S. Army retired.

Thanks for being with us today. We appreciate your time.

MAJOR PATRICK GALLAGHER (RET.), U.S. ARMY: You're welcome.

SAN MIGUEL: The Pentagon has already admitted that Special Forces have been in Baghdad. What do you think they have done to help pave the way for the taking of the airport.

GALLAGHER: Oh, I think they've worked with some of the displaced Iraqis and/or the Iraqi opposition that is in Baghdad in helping to lay some of the intelligence networks and/or gain support for our presence once we got there yesterday.

SAN MIGUEL: That's one thing that -- there is this conception, I guess, if you will, of what Special Forces and special ops do. It's not just guys running around in night vision and camouflaged with silenced weapons. They do a lot of psychological operations, and they do a lot of working with opposition forces, kind of paving the way, right?

GALLAGHER: Correct, as we've seen in the north, we've got Special Forces soldiers working with Kurdish Peshmerga in laying the groundwork for U.S. forces and/or to get rid of the Iraqi regime up north. We've had special operations forces working in the west to ensure that Saddam Hussein did not bother his neighbors to the west and make this war a little bigger than it already has been.

And in the south, we've had Special Forces soldiers and psychological operations soldiers working with Iraqis and the conventional forces in interacting with the local populace and trying to persuade them that we're not a threat to them. We're just trying to help them. SAN MIGUEL: If you want to go back even to Operation Enduring Freedom, there was a lot of special operations work that went in before the regular troops went in and helped set up some of those alliances with some of the tribal areas.

GALLAGHER: A tremendous amount. As we saw in some of the photographs that came out of the magazines and that were published on television, we had Special Forces soldiers riding horseback along with the Northern Alliance. So -- they're adaptable. They can use modern technologies. They did to call in bomb and air strikes and then move with the locals as they have to.

SAN MIGUEL: So what will be the role as the coalition moves to the taking of Baghdad itself? What will be the role of special ops and Special Forces? Is this the coalition's answer to asymmetrical or unconventional warfare?

GALLAGHER: Well, asymmetrical or unconventional -- it's all a part of it. The role that special operations forces can play as they move into Baghdad, of course, is to take out strategic targets, conduct reconnaissance, interface or communicate with the Iraqis and the Iraqi opposition, and also use those psychological operation forces to help persuade the Iraqi people that we're there to help and that we're not there to do them any harm.

SAN MIGUEL: Twenty seconds left here. Also, will special ops be involved in the hunt for weapons of mass destruction?

GALLAGHER: They have been from the beginning. They've been after and looking for weapons of mass destruction all over the country and trying to find that evidence that the United States intelligence sources have claimed are there to begin with.

SAN MIGUEL: Retired Army Major Patrick Gallagher, thank you for your time. We'll be talking to you later on as well. We appreciate it.

GALLAGHER: Thank you.

SAN MIGUEL: Judy, back over to you.

WOODRUFF: Thanks, Renay.

We know, at The White House this afternoon, President Bush met with about a dozen Iraqi exiles. The group included Shiite and Sunni Muslims as well as Christians. Some in the group are now American citizens. All of them were there to talk, among other things, about their experiences living under the regime of Saddam Hussein.

One of those who met with the president is Ramsey Jiddou. He is a former Iraqi government official. He left Iraq in 1978. He joins us now from The White House.

First of all, Mr. Jiddou, am I pronouncing your name correctly?

RAMSEY JIDDOU, FORMER IRAQI OFFICIAL: Yes, you are. WOODRUFF: I want to ask you, of course, about your meeting with the president. Just quickly, before I do, are you still in contact with family or friends inside Iraq?

JIDDOU: Not really. I still have two sisters inside Iraq, but I didn't call them for the last two weeks.

WOODRUFF: So you don't have any very recent information from them?

JJIDDOU: No, but I got some information from other people, but I haven't talked to my sisters.

WOODRUFF: What's the last thing you've heard?

JIDDOU: Last thing I heard, everybody's happy that this -- the days of the regimes -- are counted and pretty soon the Iraqi people will be free.

WOODRUFF: Tell us about your meeting with President Bush. What did you talk about?

JIDDOU: The president restated the commitment of United States of America and the coalition forces to free Iraq and the Iraqi people and to help the Iraqi people install a democratic, free Iraq and unified Iraq. And...

WOODRUFF: Go ahead.

JIDDOU: And the people who were present told their personal stories about the atrocities of the regime of Saddam Hussein.

WOODRUFF: You left Iraq, as I mentioned, in 1978. You were working for the government, but you were not a member of the Baath Party.

JIDDOU: That's correct. And it was not only being a member of the Baath Party, but you have really to write reports about your coworkers. You have to basically have no conscience, just to do bad things for the Iraqi people. And that's why I didn't want to join the Baath Party.

WOODRUFF: From your meeting today with President Bush and others, who do you believe is going to run Iraq after this war?

JIDDOU: We really didn't talk about that, but my vision is that it's going to be a transitional government or transitional authority, basically, ruling Iraq for a little while until the Iraqi institution is established and the elections are done, and then the Iraqis will have their own representation and their own government.

WOODRUFF: How easy is it going to be for the people of Iraq to make a transition to a more democratic form of government, where you have real elections?

JIDDOU: I don't think it's going to be a piece of cake. I'm sure it's going to be some difficult times ahead of us. But all of us are committed to help the Iraqi people establish democracy. And we have seen it done before in Japan. We have seen it done in Germany, and we have seen it done in Philippines, and I'm sure it's going to be about time to have some democracy in Iraq. The Iraqis have had democracy 6,000 years ago. Hammurabi was the one who was told rules and regulations and laws for the whole world. And now, after 6,000 years, the Iraqis have Saddam Hussein.

WOODRUFF: And he's been in power, as we know for...

JIDDOU: For the last 35 years. Actually, he came in in '63.

WOODRUFF: And we know he's been in power for several decades. Well, Ramsey Jiddou, you raised some very interesting questions about just how hard that transition to democracy is going to be for a country that hasn't had it, as you said, for a very long time.

JIDDOU: Very long time.

WOODRUFF: We thank you so much, Mr. Jiddou for talking with us after your meeting at The White House with the president.

JIDDOU: Thank you so much.

WOODRUFF: Thank you.

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 April 4, 2003 - 15:21   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: Let's go now to Renay San Miguel live, and he is with retired Major Patrick Gallagher, who has commanded Special Forces units specializing in fighting terrorism. They're going to look at, among other things, what U.S. troops are going to face when they get inside the city of Baghdad -- Renay.
RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thank you very much, Judy. We are going to talk about the role of Special Forces, special operations, in the concept of urban combat and what we can expect from -- in -- Baghdad.

Joining us from Washington is Major Patrick Gallagher, U.S. Army retired.

Thanks for being with us today. We appreciate your time.

MAJOR PATRICK GALLAGHER (RET.), U.S. ARMY: You're welcome.

SAN MIGUEL: The Pentagon has already admitted that Special Forces have been in Baghdad. What do you think they have done to help pave the way for the taking of the airport.

GALLAGHER: Oh, I think they've worked with some of the displaced Iraqis and/or the Iraqi opposition that is in Baghdad in helping to lay some of the intelligence networks and/or gain support for our presence once we got there yesterday.

SAN MIGUEL: That's one thing that -- there is this conception, I guess, if you will, of what Special Forces and special ops do. It's not just guys running around in night vision and camouflaged with silenced weapons. They do a lot of psychological operations, and they do a lot of working with opposition forces, kind of paving the way, right?

GALLAGHER: Correct, as we've seen in the north, we've got Special Forces soldiers working with Kurdish Peshmerga in laying the groundwork for U.S. forces and/or to get rid of the Iraqi regime up north. We've had special operations forces working in the west to ensure that Saddam Hussein did not bother his neighbors to the west and make this war a little bigger than it already has been.

And in the south, we've had Special Forces soldiers and psychological operations soldiers working with Iraqis and the conventional forces in interacting with the local populace and trying to persuade them that we're not a threat to them. We're just trying to help them. SAN MIGUEL: If you want to go back even to Operation Enduring Freedom, there was a lot of special operations work that went in before the regular troops went in and helped set up some of those alliances with some of the tribal areas.

GALLAGHER: A tremendous amount. As we saw in some of the photographs that came out of the magazines and that were published on television, we had Special Forces soldiers riding horseback along with the Northern Alliance. So -- they're adaptable. They can use modern technologies. They did to call in bomb and air strikes and then move with the locals as they have to.

SAN MIGUEL: So what will be the role as the coalition moves to the taking of Baghdad itself? What will be the role of special ops and Special Forces? Is this the coalition's answer to asymmetrical or unconventional warfare?

GALLAGHER: Well, asymmetrical or unconventional -- it's all a part of it. The role that special operations forces can play as they move into Baghdad, of course, is to take out strategic targets, conduct reconnaissance, interface or communicate with the Iraqis and the Iraqi opposition, and also use those psychological operation forces to help persuade the Iraqi people that we're there to help and that we're not there to do them any harm.

SAN MIGUEL: Twenty seconds left here. Also, will special ops be involved in the hunt for weapons of mass destruction?

GALLAGHER: They have been from the beginning. They've been after and looking for weapons of mass destruction all over the country and trying to find that evidence that the United States intelligence sources have claimed are there to begin with.

SAN MIGUEL: Retired Army Major Patrick Gallagher, thank you for your time. We'll be talking to you later on as well. We appreciate it.

GALLAGHER: Thank you.

SAN MIGUEL: Judy, back over to you.

WOODRUFF: Thanks, Renay.

We know, at The White House this afternoon, President Bush met with about a dozen Iraqi exiles. The group included Shiite and Sunni Muslims as well as Christians. Some in the group are now American citizens. All of them were there to talk, among other things, about their experiences living under the regime of Saddam Hussein.

One of those who met with the president is Ramsey Jiddou. He is a former Iraqi government official. He left Iraq in 1978. He joins us now from The White House.

First of all, Mr. Jiddou, am I pronouncing your name correctly?

RAMSEY JIDDOU, FORMER IRAQI OFFICIAL: Yes, you are. WOODRUFF: I want to ask you, of course, about your meeting with the president. Just quickly, before I do, are you still in contact with family or friends inside Iraq?

JIDDOU: Not really. I still have two sisters inside Iraq, but I didn't call them for the last two weeks.

WOODRUFF: So you don't have any very recent information from them?

JJIDDOU: No, but I got some information from other people, but I haven't talked to my sisters.

WOODRUFF: What's the last thing you've heard?

JIDDOU: Last thing I heard, everybody's happy that this -- the days of the regimes -- are counted and pretty soon the Iraqi people will be free.

WOODRUFF: Tell us about your meeting with President Bush. What did you talk about?

JIDDOU: The president restated the commitment of United States of America and the coalition forces to free Iraq and the Iraqi people and to help the Iraqi people install a democratic, free Iraq and unified Iraq. And...

WOODRUFF: Go ahead.

JIDDOU: And the people who were present told their personal stories about the atrocities of the regime of Saddam Hussein.

WOODRUFF: You left Iraq, as I mentioned, in 1978. You were working for the government, but you were not a member of the Baath Party.

JIDDOU: That's correct. And it was not only being a member of the Baath Party, but you have really to write reports about your coworkers. You have to basically have no conscience, just to do bad things for the Iraqi people. And that's why I didn't want to join the Baath Party.

WOODRUFF: From your meeting today with President Bush and others, who do you believe is going to run Iraq after this war?

JIDDOU: We really didn't talk about that, but my vision is that it's going to be a transitional government or transitional authority, basically, ruling Iraq for a little while until the Iraqi institution is established and the elections are done, and then the Iraqis will have their own representation and their own government.

WOODRUFF: How easy is it going to be for the people of Iraq to make a transition to a more democratic form of government, where you have real elections?

JIDDOU: I don't think it's going to be a piece of cake. I'm sure it's going to be some difficult times ahead of us. But all of us are committed to help the Iraqi people establish democracy. And we have seen it done before in Japan. We have seen it done in Germany, and we have seen it done in Philippines, and I'm sure it's going to be about time to have some democracy in Iraq. The Iraqis have had democracy 6,000 years ago. Hammurabi was the one who was told rules and regulations and laws for the whole world. And now, after 6,000 years, the Iraqis have Saddam Hussein.

WOODRUFF: And he's been in power, as we know for...

JIDDOU: For the last 35 years. Actually, he came in in '63.

WOODRUFF: And we know he's been in power for several decades. Well, Ramsey Jiddou, you raised some very interesting questions about just how hard that transition to democracy is going to be for a country that hasn't had it, as you said, for a very long time.

JIDDOU: Very long time.

WOODRUFF: We thank you so much, Mr. Jiddou for talking with us after your meeting at The White House with the president.

JIDDOU: Thank you so much.

WOODRUFF: Thank you.

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