Return to Transcripts main page
Live From...
Interview With Richard Myers
Aired July 30, 2003 - 13:22 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.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Next now, to the hunt for al Qaeda terrorists and their elusive leader Osama bin Laden. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff says if Osama bin Laden is still alive, he is being very careful. In a wide ranging interview with our Jamie McIntyre, Myers talked about Osama bin Laden, al Qaeda and the U.S. presence in Afghanistan.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: What was your main purpose for coming here? You wanted to take a firsthand look at what?
GEN. RICHARD MYERS, JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: Well, I wanted to see -- I mean, I was around when these things were conceived. I didn't conceive them, they were done here, in-country. But I can remember being briefed on them. And I just wanted to get, you know, a little more hands on, a little more firsthand look at how they did their job, to tell them thank you.
This is a, as you can tell from the surroundings, this is not an easy environment to live in. This was the heart of the al Qaeda and Taliban. Guardez (ph) was the heart of their operation here in Afghanistan. And so here we have a provincial reconstruction team, working with the local populous, out to -- around here, to several hundred kilometers, and bringing hope to those families and to those children.
MCINTYRE: Now when I first came to the Pentagon, there seemed to be an aversion in the military to the idea of nation-building. Has the U.S. military gotten over that?
MYERS: Well, I think the issue really is -- the last thing you want to have happen in Afghanistan, or for that matter in Iraq -- but here in Afghanistan, because that's where we are, is to have this go back to a place where terrorists can gather, they can plan, they can train, and do those sorts of things.
So, you know, part of that is trying to bring, you know, some -- some government to a land that for last 24 years has really been ravaged. And I think if you look at the statistics before that period, they were -- they ranked among one of the most poorest countries on the planet.
And so they're trying to bring hope and peace to this land and enable a government in the provinces to provide the kind of services that most governments have to provide to their people. So that's the reason we're here.
MCINTYRE: Have you seen any resurgence of the Taliban?
MYERS: Well, there are remnants, but their very, very -- they're onsies and twosies. There's not large numbers of these people that have been effective at all. In fact we haven't seen them in large numbers, nor large numbers of al Qaeda.
That was predicted this spring that we would see a resurgent -- actually we haven't, if you look at the numbers from last October until now in terms of incidents, that's about flat. So we haven't seen that and when we do see it, we deal with it very effectively.
MCINTYRE: Still though it looks, flying over the country today, looks like there's a big job to be done here. Is there any prospect of the U.S. military getting out of this country anytime soon?
MYERS: Well, that -- I think that's to be determined. We -- I think the president has said and others have said, You know, we're here for the long haul. We want a better Afghanistan. But we're not here alone. This is an international issue. The U.N. is here. We're here.
And so who's to say exactly how our force structure will be maintained here? A lot will have to do with how fast some of the construction efforts happen, and how the security situation improves, how fast the Afghan national army stands up, the police training, how well that goes. All those will be factors that will probably have an impact and the variables that will be an equation as to how soon we downsize.
MCINTYRE: A lot focus...
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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 July 30, 2003 - 13:22 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Next now, to the hunt for al Qaeda terrorists and their elusive leader Osama bin Laden. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff says if Osama bin Laden is still alive, he is being very careful. In a wide ranging interview with our Jamie McIntyre, Myers talked about Osama bin Laden, al Qaeda and the U.S. presence in Afghanistan.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: What was your main purpose for coming here? You wanted to take a firsthand look at what?
GEN. RICHARD MYERS, JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: Well, I wanted to see -- I mean, I was around when these things were conceived. I didn't conceive them, they were done here, in-country. But I can remember being briefed on them. And I just wanted to get, you know, a little more hands on, a little more firsthand look at how they did their job, to tell them thank you.
This is a, as you can tell from the surroundings, this is not an easy environment to live in. This was the heart of the al Qaeda and Taliban. Guardez (ph) was the heart of their operation here in Afghanistan. And so here we have a provincial reconstruction team, working with the local populous, out to -- around here, to several hundred kilometers, and bringing hope to those families and to those children.
MCINTYRE: Now when I first came to the Pentagon, there seemed to be an aversion in the military to the idea of nation-building. Has the U.S. military gotten over that?
MYERS: Well, I think the issue really is -- the last thing you want to have happen in Afghanistan, or for that matter in Iraq -- but here in Afghanistan, because that's where we are, is to have this go back to a place where terrorists can gather, they can plan, they can train, and do those sorts of things.
So, you know, part of that is trying to bring, you know, some -- some government to a land that for last 24 years has really been ravaged. And I think if you look at the statistics before that period, they were -- they ranked among one of the most poorest countries on the planet.
And so they're trying to bring hope and peace to this land and enable a government in the provinces to provide the kind of services that most governments have to provide to their people. So that's the reason we're here.
MCINTYRE: Have you seen any resurgence of the Taliban?
MYERS: Well, there are remnants, but their very, very -- they're onsies and twosies. There's not large numbers of these people that have been effective at all. In fact we haven't seen them in large numbers, nor large numbers of al Qaeda.
That was predicted this spring that we would see a resurgent -- actually we haven't, if you look at the numbers from last October until now in terms of incidents, that's about flat. So we haven't seen that and when we do see it, we deal with it very effectively.
MCINTYRE: Still though it looks, flying over the country today, looks like there's a big job to be done here. Is there any prospect of the U.S. military getting out of this country anytime soon?
MYERS: Well, that -- I think that's to be determined. We -- I think the president has said and others have said, You know, we're here for the long haul. We want a better Afghanistan. But we're not here alone. This is an international issue. The U.N. is here. We're here.
And so who's to say exactly how our force structure will be maintained here? A lot will have to do with how fast some of the construction efforts happen, and how the security situation improves, how fast the Afghan national army stands up, the police training, how well that goes. All those will be factors that will probably have an impact and the variables that will be an equation as to how soon we downsize.
MCINTYRE: A lot focus...
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
