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American Morning

U.S. Sending Former General Anthony Zinni Back to Middle East

Aired March 08, 2002 - 07:33   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Back to what some are calling a war in the Middle East. The United States now is changing its policy in the Middle East.

For weeks, the U.S. has been saying it would not send former General Anthony Zinni back to the Middle East until there was a reduction in violence, but with the situation escalating, President Bush has reversed his position, saying in fact he will send Zinni back. That decision coming just days before Vice President Dick Cheney heads to the area.

And we are joined now by Michael Elliot of "Time" magazine. He happens to be "Time" magazine's editor at large -- good morning.

MICHAEL ELLIOT, "TIME" MAGAZINE: Good morning, Paula.

ZAHN: All right. Are you surprised by this move, or does it make sense, given that Vice President Cheney doesn't need a whole of lot of distractions on this trip, as he is trying to build up support for a potential attack on Iraq?

ELLIOT: Two things. I think you got it absolutely right at the start of that lead-in just now. This is now a war, when 20-25 people are dying a day. It makes it ridiculous to kind of call an interaction or sporadic violence. It's a true war going on between the Israelis and the Palestinians with scores of people dying.

Secondly, Vice President Cheney is doing a trip around the Middle East. He doesn't particularly want to be distracted by people saying to him, well, what are you Americans doing to stop the war? I mean, we know that he originally wanted to talk about Iraq. But I mean, there is a war going on, and people are going to be asking him what is Washington doing? So I think all of that has come together to make sense in terms of sending General Zinni back.

ZAHN: All right. We know that the Arabs, in particular, have been calling for more U.S. involvement lately. Realistically, what can Mr. Zinni do?

ELLIOT: Well, I think -- and here the administration obviously is right. I mean, until the Palestinians and the Israelis themselves decide that talking is better than fighting, there is a limited amount that he can do. But I think what he can do perhaps now that he was not able to do before, I think, is to convince them that if they are prepared to go to the bargaining table, all of the resources of the American administration, not just in Israel and Palestine, but in the region as a whole, will be brought about to bear to try and move the process forward.

I think there is now a sense that the administration is prepared to be genuinely engaged and to try to find something.

ZAHN: And without U.S. engagement, the Saudi Arabian plan goes nowhere?

ELLIOT: I think that's the history of the Middle East in the last 20 years. If you go right back to Camp David and even before is that Israel needs, wants an involvement by the Americans in settling its future, and that Arab states too feel that United States involvement is absolutely essential. So I don't think there is any -- you know, the Europeans, the U.N., I don't think there is any real alternative.

ZAHN: I want to move to another hot spot now, what's going on in Afghanistan. You have an interesting story on the "Times" Web site...

ELLIOT: Sure do.

ZAHN: ... about a Taliban hero that I'd like for you...

ELLIOT: Yes.

ZAHN: ... to tell us more about within the context of this enormous reinforcement...

ELLIOT: Well, we, you know...

ZAHN: ... of 1,000 Afghan troops that have just been sent into the area to buttress the American troops.

ELLIOT: We said this a second ago that there was a war going on in the Middle East. This is a real battle. I mean, the Anaconda battle, the battle of Shahi Kot, the valley where it's taking place. You now have, let's see, about well over 1,000 American forces, 200- 300 of the allied special forces, probably 2,000 at least I would say Afghan allied forces, going against an indeterminate number of Taliban and al Qaeda fighters.

Now, what we reported is that there is this charismatic young Taliban commander called Saifur Rahman, who is the son of a very well known Afghan warlord. And he retreated to this valley after November, a valley where there are a number of small villages, refused to surrender, and gradually people have been kind of joining him over the last three or four months.

ZAHN: From where, Michael? Have they come in from (UNINTELLIGIBLE)?

ELLIOT: From all over. My suspicion is that some people came from Kandahar and the region of Kandahar when that fell. I suspect that some al Qaeda and Taliban supporters slipped over the border into Pakistan and have come back. In other words, you know, the mule trains, the smuggling routes that go from Pakistan to Afghanistan, you can go backwards and forward.

So people have been coming in (UNINTELLIGIBLE). And so now, you have a very substantial force measured in the hundreds in an area, where it is extremely easy for people to find shelter, caves, what have you.

ZAHN: And...

(CROSSTALK)

ELLIOT: And come out and do kind of really significant guerrilla fighting against the American forces.

ZAHN: And once again, we are not being given any timeline at all as to how long this might drag on. I guess the latest estimate I heard from someone at the Pentagon was perhaps weeks.

ELLIOT: We'll see.

ZAHN: Have a good weekend.

ELLIOT: You too.

ZAHN: Hate to end it on that note. Michael Elliot, "Time" magazine -- spending a little time with us this morning.

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