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How Can Order Be Restored to Baghdad?; Can Al Kut Be Secured?

Aired April 11, 2003 - 13:40   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.


WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: In the absence of coalition forces to replace regime control has left a door of uncertainty wide open, at least for now. So how can order and security be restored and when?
Retired U.S. Army Major Dana Dillon served 20 years in the U.S. Army, the last six years over at the Pentagon where he specialized in Army intelligence and Army foreign affairs. He's joining us now live from Washington. Thanks so much, Major, for joining us.

Well, what can be done in the immediate term? When I say immediate, I mean the next hours, days, to try to restore some sort of order in the Iraqi capital?

MAJOR DANA DILLON, U.S. ARMY (RET.): Well, the first of all, CENTCOM has a moral and legal obligation to restore order there and they need to do it right away. Obviously, the Iraqis have gone from burning down, you know, Saddam's palaces to looting hospitals and other things. They need to -- they need to focus their attention on -- on -- on blocking certain areas off, like hospitals, schools, places of business. They have an obligation to protect private and public property and they need to have -- put patrols out on the streets and put in a curfew to keep people off the streets as much as possible. They need to get some of the burned out tanks off the road and the burned out trucks off the road so business can be restored. Those are the kind of things they need to do immediately.

BLITZER: In the -- in the -- maybe in the more short term, beyond the immediate, they need to get some peacekeepers in there, if you will.

Now we know that in the -- in the Balkans, in Kosovo, Bosnia there were NATO peacekeepers. Same was the case in Afghanistan. What about bringing in U.N. or NATO peacekeepers, since the U.S. military, as you know major, hates the idea of peacekeeping.

DILLON: Right.

Well, those -- those same soldiers that are there have done peace-keeping operations in other places -- example: Bosnia. So they -- they -- they are -- they know and they are familiar with those kinds of operations. Many of the commanders there probably have done it themselves.

They need to -- and those soldiers are trained and have done that. The soldiers are already there, the 3rd Infantry Division, the 1st Marines. They need to get -- get out in the streets and -- and restore order and public safety to -- to Baghdad.

I think they are trying to do that, but they -- they're sitting this balancing between trying to conduct operations, at the same time, trying to restore order. And they're going to have to start devoting more and more combat power to restoring order in the city.

BLITZER: Are you suggesting, Major, that there may not be enough U.S. military personnel to get the job done? As you know, the 4th Infantry division is now arriving from Fort Bliss, Texas. Do you believe they should just simply head out right away from Kuwait, up towards Baghdad and other cities, and try to take over that job of restoring order?

DILLON: Well, right now, I've only heard of -- and I don't know the exact layout -- but I've only heard of 3rd Infantry Division, the 1st Marines in Baghdad. There's also the 101st Airborne and 82nd Airborne are also in -- in country and very close to Baghdad. Those soldiers can probably be moved in. There are soldier in theater to do that kind of thing.

I mean, obviously, they're going to need to advance on Tikrit and eliminate what's left of the Saddam regime. But I think there's enough soldiers in -- in the country, and certainly, General Franks knows better than me where they're at and what they're doing. But I'm sure -- and I'm quite confident that they will move in enough soldiers in to restore order.

But, yes, they need to do it right away. And I think we'll see that in the upcoming hours.

BLITZER: And one final question, Major, before I let you go.

The fear of suicide bombers, obviously, very much on the minds of those young men and women patrolling the streets in Baghdad and other Iraqi cities. Can they effectively get this job done with that fear, which is a real fear, based on fact, hovering over them?

DILLON: Well, that, obviously, is going to be a hinder to operations and has also probably already caused the unwelcome death of innocent civilians because soldiers being too careful about who is approaching the city or mistakes made by civilians.

But yes, they still can do it under those condition. I think that the growing -- there will be a limited number of people willing to blow themselves up for a regime that's already gone. So, I'm thinking the suicide bombing will stop fairly rapidly and that the soldiers will no long have to deal with that as a day-to-day occurrence.

BLITZER: Let's hope you're right. Major Dana Dillon, retired, U.S. Army. Thanks for your expertise.

Let's go immediately...

DILLON: Thanks for having me on. BLITZER: ...to CNN's Art Harris. He's been covering a huge story in Al Kut, scene of some fierce battles. Art, tell us what the latest is right now in that very, very important part of Iraq.

ART HARRIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, the -- the latest is that tomorrow, the Marines are expected to get a huge welcome by religious and civic leaders of Al Kut and the Ba'ath Party is expected to relinquish its power to a Marine general. And that is -- that is the expected story.

The big unknown is terrorists within the city. The Marines were welcomed today in a show of just jubilation, throwing of flowers, and chanting of "Bush, Bush" in the smalltowns around Al Kut. But the Marines have it surrounded now. And where I am, in a tiny suburb outside, it is very quiet and they are expecting that it will be (UNINTELLIGIBLE) of several thousand possible terrorists there who want to be martyrs, possible Syrians, Jordanians, and others, from Sudan. This is what the marine intelligence has picked up. Unclear if these people will come out of the woodwork and attempt to use suicide bombings. But they say they are going to be ready for anything -- Wolf.

BLITZER: So as far as formal military resistance, what you're suggesting is unconditional surrender. Is that right?

HARRIS: Well, you know, it's tough to understand it. The way it's been described to me is that the Ba'ath Party is throwing in the towel and that the religious and civic leaders don't want any fighting in the city. And they are welcoming the Marines and the Marine general who is in charge of task force Tarawa.

So, you know, it's a little unclear, except that the officials want the Marines. But the unofficials, the terrorists within, apparently do not, and that is the big unknown, Wolf -- how they will respond.

Back to you.

BLITZER: Art Harris. CNN's Art Harris with the U.S. Marines. Here's there on the scene for us in Al Kut.

We'll be checking back with you, Art, periodically. Thanks very much. A still potentially very, very dangerous situation for those U.S. Marines.

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





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Aired April 11, 2003 - 13:40   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: In the absence of coalition forces to replace regime control has left a door of uncertainty wide open, at least for now. So how can order and security be restored and when?
Retired U.S. Army Major Dana Dillon served 20 years in the U.S. Army, the last six years over at the Pentagon where he specialized in Army intelligence and Army foreign affairs. He's joining us now live from Washington. Thanks so much, Major, for joining us.

Well, what can be done in the immediate term? When I say immediate, I mean the next hours, days, to try to restore some sort of order in the Iraqi capital?

MAJOR DANA DILLON, U.S. ARMY (RET.): Well, the first of all, CENTCOM has a moral and legal obligation to restore order there and they need to do it right away. Obviously, the Iraqis have gone from burning down, you know, Saddam's palaces to looting hospitals and other things. They need to -- they need to focus their attention on -- on -- on blocking certain areas off, like hospitals, schools, places of business. They have an obligation to protect private and public property and they need to have -- put patrols out on the streets and put in a curfew to keep people off the streets as much as possible. They need to get some of the burned out tanks off the road and the burned out trucks off the road so business can be restored. Those are the kind of things they need to do immediately.

BLITZER: In the -- in the -- maybe in the more short term, beyond the immediate, they need to get some peacekeepers in there, if you will.

Now we know that in the -- in the Balkans, in Kosovo, Bosnia there were NATO peacekeepers. Same was the case in Afghanistan. What about bringing in U.N. or NATO peacekeepers, since the U.S. military, as you know major, hates the idea of peacekeeping.

DILLON: Right.

Well, those -- those same soldiers that are there have done peace-keeping operations in other places -- example: Bosnia. So they -- they -- they are -- they know and they are familiar with those kinds of operations. Many of the commanders there probably have done it themselves.

They need to -- and those soldiers are trained and have done that. The soldiers are already there, the 3rd Infantry Division, the 1st Marines. They need to get -- get out in the streets and -- and restore order and public safety to -- to Baghdad.

I think they are trying to do that, but they -- they're sitting this balancing between trying to conduct operations, at the same time, trying to restore order. And they're going to have to start devoting more and more combat power to restoring order in the city.

BLITZER: Are you suggesting, Major, that there may not be enough U.S. military personnel to get the job done? As you know, the 4th Infantry division is now arriving from Fort Bliss, Texas. Do you believe they should just simply head out right away from Kuwait, up towards Baghdad and other cities, and try to take over that job of restoring order?

DILLON: Well, right now, I've only heard of -- and I don't know the exact layout -- but I've only heard of 3rd Infantry Division, the 1st Marines in Baghdad. There's also the 101st Airborne and 82nd Airborne are also in -- in country and very close to Baghdad. Those soldiers can probably be moved in. There are soldier in theater to do that kind of thing.

I mean, obviously, they're going to need to advance on Tikrit and eliminate what's left of the Saddam regime. But I think there's enough soldiers in -- in the country, and certainly, General Franks knows better than me where they're at and what they're doing. But I'm sure -- and I'm quite confident that they will move in enough soldiers in to restore order.

But, yes, they need to do it right away. And I think we'll see that in the upcoming hours.

BLITZER: And one final question, Major, before I let you go.

The fear of suicide bombers, obviously, very much on the minds of those young men and women patrolling the streets in Baghdad and other Iraqi cities. Can they effectively get this job done with that fear, which is a real fear, based on fact, hovering over them?

DILLON: Well, that, obviously, is going to be a hinder to operations and has also probably already caused the unwelcome death of innocent civilians because soldiers being too careful about who is approaching the city or mistakes made by civilians.

But yes, they still can do it under those condition. I think that the growing -- there will be a limited number of people willing to blow themselves up for a regime that's already gone. So, I'm thinking the suicide bombing will stop fairly rapidly and that the soldiers will no long have to deal with that as a day-to-day occurrence.

BLITZER: Let's hope you're right. Major Dana Dillon, retired, U.S. Army. Thanks for your expertise.

Let's go immediately...

DILLON: Thanks for having me on. BLITZER: ...to CNN's Art Harris. He's been covering a huge story in Al Kut, scene of some fierce battles. Art, tell us what the latest is right now in that very, very important part of Iraq.

ART HARRIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, the -- the latest is that tomorrow, the Marines are expected to get a huge welcome by religious and civic leaders of Al Kut and the Ba'ath Party is expected to relinquish its power to a Marine general. And that is -- that is the expected story.

The big unknown is terrorists within the city. The Marines were welcomed today in a show of just jubilation, throwing of flowers, and chanting of "Bush, Bush" in the smalltowns around Al Kut. But the Marines have it surrounded now. And where I am, in a tiny suburb outside, it is very quiet and they are expecting that it will be (UNINTELLIGIBLE) of several thousand possible terrorists there who want to be martyrs, possible Syrians, Jordanians, and others, from Sudan. This is what the marine intelligence has picked up. Unclear if these people will come out of the woodwork and attempt to use suicide bombings. But they say they are going to be ready for anything -- Wolf.

BLITZER: So as far as formal military resistance, what you're suggesting is unconditional surrender. Is that right?

HARRIS: Well, you know, it's tough to understand it. The way it's been described to me is that the Ba'ath Party is throwing in the towel and that the religious and civic leaders don't want any fighting in the city. And they are welcoming the Marines and the Marine general who is in charge of task force Tarawa.

So, you know, it's a little unclear, except that the officials want the Marines. But the unofficials, the terrorists within, apparently do not, and that is the big unknown, Wolf -- how they will respond.

Back to you.

BLITZER: Art Harris. CNN's Art Harris with the U.S. Marines. Here's there on the scene for us in Al Kut.

We'll be checking back with you, Art, periodically. Thanks very much. A still potentially very, very dangerous situation for those U.S. Marines.

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





Secured?>