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Interview With Rep. Stephen Lynch
Aired May 30, 2003 - 15:12 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: Seven members of Congress returned from Iraq this week, wrapping up the first official congressional visit there since the war ended.
Democratic Congressman Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts was a member of the delegation. He joins me now from Boston. Congressman Lynch, how safe is Iraq? You missed just by barely 30 minutes an ambush attack on one security checkpoint where it ended up one soldier killed, three were wounded. How safe is Iraq?
REP. STEPHEN LYNCH (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Well, first of all, I want to say my heart goes out to the families of those soldiers that were injured and the one person who was killed. There are still isolated incidents of resistance among Baath Party loyalists, and there is some evidence of some insurgency on the Iranian border, but I would say the country is 90 percent in control of the United States forces and coalition forces. There are still, though, elements of resistance that need to be dealt with.
WOODRUFF: What is the main job or jobs right now for U.S. forces still there, and who will be there for some time?
LYNCH: We have seen, at least from our time in Iraq and talking with the troops, that as the basic city services are put in place, plumbing, lights, running water, that the temper of the population there in Baghdad and across Iraq has actually moderated quite a bit.
So job one for the United States soldiers and coalition forces is to get that power back on. I was very, very impressed with how our people are handling not only their military objective, but also the administrative responsibilities they've been handed in getting this country back up on its feet, and also the humanitarian efforts that they've undertaken.
WOODRUFF: How -- are there enough troops there now, Congressman, to get the job done?
LYNCH: That was one of the things I was worried about. I had voted with President Bush to authorize the use of military force and I had seen the early reports, several weeks ago, about the lawlessness there in Baghdad and in Iraq.
I am pleased to say, though, that my own observations and the assessment of the military command there was that we have plenty of troops. We have about 160,000 troops in Iraq. We have about 100,000 supporting those troops in Kuwait. I think there are sufficient troops to guarantee stability there, and, also, to root out these remaining resistance groups.
WOODRUFF: How important is it to you that weapons of mass -- weapons of mass destruction be found in Iraq? Obviously, that was one of the principal rationales for this war in the first place.
LYNCH: Well, it would call into question, if we were unable to find them, the intelligence that we received from the CIA and other sources. So that's troubling, that they haven't been found yet. There seems to be confidence among the military establishment there in Iraq that they'll be able to find elements of that as well. We have found considerable mass graves, evidence of atrocities on the part of the regime. Although that was not our threshold cause for going in there, it certainly, I think, lends credence to our decision to go in there.
WOODRUFF: Well, we are going to have to leave it there. Representative Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts, who has just returned from a trip to Iraq, the first congressional delegation in there since the war ended. Thank you very much for talking with us.
LYNCH: Thank you, Judy.
WOODRUFF: We appreciate it.
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 30, 2003 - 15:12 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: Seven members of Congress returned from Iraq this week, wrapping up the first official congressional visit there since the war ended.
Democratic Congressman Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts was a member of the delegation. He joins me now from Boston. Congressman Lynch, how safe is Iraq? You missed just by barely 30 minutes an ambush attack on one security checkpoint where it ended up one soldier killed, three were wounded. How safe is Iraq?
REP. STEPHEN LYNCH (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Well, first of all, I want to say my heart goes out to the families of those soldiers that were injured and the one person who was killed. There are still isolated incidents of resistance among Baath Party loyalists, and there is some evidence of some insurgency on the Iranian border, but I would say the country is 90 percent in control of the United States forces and coalition forces. There are still, though, elements of resistance that need to be dealt with.
WOODRUFF: What is the main job or jobs right now for U.S. forces still there, and who will be there for some time?
LYNCH: We have seen, at least from our time in Iraq and talking with the troops, that as the basic city services are put in place, plumbing, lights, running water, that the temper of the population there in Baghdad and across Iraq has actually moderated quite a bit.
So job one for the United States soldiers and coalition forces is to get that power back on. I was very, very impressed with how our people are handling not only their military objective, but also the administrative responsibilities they've been handed in getting this country back up on its feet, and also the humanitarian efforts that they've undertaken.
WOODRUFF: How -- are there enough troops there now, Congressman, to get the job done?
LYNCH: That was one of the things I was worried about. I had voted with President Bush to authorize the use of military force and I had seen the early reports, several weeks ago, about the lawlessness there in Baghdad and in Iraq.
I am pleased to say, though, that my own observations and the assessment of the military command there was that we have plenty of troops. We have about 160,000 troops in Iraq. We have about 100,000 supporting those troops in Kuwait. I think there are sufficient troops to guarantee stability there, and, also, to root out these remaining resistance groups.
WOODRUFF: How important is it to you that weapons of mass -- weapons of mass destruction be found in Iraq? Obviously, that was one of the principal rationales for this war in the first place.
LYNCH: Well, it would call into question, if we were unable to find them, the intelligence that we received from the CIA and other sources. So that's troubling, that they haven't been found yet. There seems to be confidence among the military establishment there in Iraq that they'll be able to find elements of that as well. We have found considerable mass graves, evidence of atrocities on the part of the regime. Although that was not our threshold cause for going in there, it certainly, I think, lends credence to our decision to go in there.
WOODRUFF: Well, we are going to have to leave it there. Representative Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts, who has just returned from a trip to Iraq, the first congressional delegation in there since the war ended. Thank you very much for talking with us.
LYNCH: Thank you, Judy.
WOODRUFF: We appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
