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American Morning
Regime Change in Iraq
Aired March 19, 2003 - 07:19 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: His days as a dictator may be numbered, but Saddam Hussein remains defiant. Iraq's leader is choosing fight over flight, at least it appears so at this hour, rejecting the ultimatum from President Bush to leave his country or face war.
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer says it is not the best exit strategy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARI FLEISCHER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Saddam Hussein has led Iraq to many mistakes in the past, principally by developing weapons of mass destruction. Saddam Hussein, if he doesn't leave the country, will make his final mistake. The president continues to hope he will.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZAHN: So, how will the U.S.-led coalition go about the business of regime change?
From Chicago to tell us how the first days of a war could play out, our own military analyst, retired Army Brigadier General David Grange.
Good morning -- General. Thanks so much for joining us.
BRIG. GEN. DAVID GRANGE, U.S. ARMY (RET.): Good morning to you.
ZAHN: Let's talk a little bit about what happened in Desert Storm, the coalition forces missing their opportunity to get Saddam Hussein and his sons. Do you have any more confidence that this time around they'll be successful?
GRANGE: Well, this time around that's one of the stated objectives. You know, in '91 it was not an objective, or at least the stated objective to capture or eliminate Saddam Hussein or any of his immediate family. It was to liberate Kuwait. This time he is a primary objective, just like weapons of mass destruction and regime change, which involves him, of course.
So, the effort to go after him, whether it be from the air or from the ground, is a primary mission, and I think a lot of resources will be placed in order to accomplish that mission.
ZAHN: There is a front page story in "USA Today" that says that commando teams from the Army's elite Delta Force have been assigned to hunt and if necessary kill Saddam Hussein and his sons and some of Iraq's top military and political leaders. And the paper goes on to say that the Delta Force has been training for this mission for many years.
Do you have much stock in this report?
GRANGE: Well, the counterterrorist forces of the United States of America, and there are several, train to go after not only terrorist organizations and leaders, to rescue hostages, but they also go in to high-value targets, what they call high-value targets, and that's what Saddam Hussein is in this case. So, again, the effort of very specialized teams that are trained to do this type of work will be tasked to do just that: go after Saddam Hussein. And so, you probably have the best you can possibly have getting ready to perform this mission.
ZAHN: General Grange, also in this article it says -- quote -- "The expectation is to kill him within days of the start of the war" -- that according to a senior Pentagon official. And it goes on to say, "It is what Delta has been training 24/7 to do."
GRANGE: Yes, whether they kill Saddam Hussein or not, usually the techniques are to capture someone. If someone resists and it endangers the lives of those on the mission, then that person would be killed. And so, he could be captured or he could be killed depending on the situation, how he resists and what kind of security is actually around Saddam, which I would think would be quite extensive.
ZAHN: General David Grange, we'll be checking back with you a little bit later on this morning. Thanks again for your time this morning.
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 March 19, 2003 - 07:19 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: His days as a dictator may be numbered, but Saddam Hussein remains defiant. Iraq's leader is choosing fight over flight, at least it appears so at this hour, rejecting the ultimatum from President Bush to leave his country or face war.
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer says it is not the best exit strategy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARI FLEISCHER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Saddam Hussein has led Iraq to many mistakes in the past, principally by developing weapons of mass destruction. Saddam Hussein, if he doesn't leave the country, will make his final mistake. The president continues to hope he will.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZAHN: So, how will the U.S.-led coalition go about the business of regime change?
From Chicago to tell us how the first days of a war could play out, our own military analyst, retired Army Brigadier General David Grange.
Good morning -- General. Thanks so much for joining us.
BRIG. GEN. DAVID GRANGE, U.S. ARMY (RET.): Good morning to you.
ZAHN: Let's talk a little bit about what happened in Desert Storm, the coalition forces missing their opportunity to get Saddam Hussein and his sons. Do you have any more confidence that this time around they'll be successful?
GRANGE: Well, this time around that's one of the stated objectives. You know, in '91 it was not an objective, or at least the stated objective to capture or eliminate Saddam Hussein or any of his immediate family. It was to liberate Kuwait. This time he is a primary objective, just like weapons of mass destruction and regime change, which involves him, of course.
So, the effort to go after him, whether it be from the air or from the ground, is a primary mission, and I think a lot of resources will be placed in order to accomplish that mission.
ZAHN: There is a front page story in "USA Today" that says that commando teams from the Army's elite Delta Force have been assigned to hunt and if necessary kill Saddam Hussein and his sons and some of Iraq's top military and political leaders. And the paper goes on to say that the Delta Force has been training for this mission for many years.
Do you have much stock in this report?
GRANGE: Well, the counterterrorist forces of the United States of America, and there are several, train to go after not only terrorist organizations and leaders, to rescue hostages, but they also go in to high-value targets, what they call high-value targets, and that's what Saddam Hussein is in this case. So, again, the effort of very specialized teams that are trained to do this type of work will be tasked to do just that: go after Saddam Hussein. And so, you probably have the best you can possibly have getting ready to perform this mission.
ZAHN: General Grange, also in this article it says -- quote -- "The expectation is to kill him within days of the start of the war" -- that according to a senior Pentagon official. And it goes on to say, "It is what Delta has been training 24/7 to do."
GRANGE: Yes, whether they kill Saddam Hussein or not, usually the techniques are to capture someone. If someone resists and it endangers the lives of those on the mission, then that person would be killed. And so, he could be captured or he could be killed depending on the situation, how he resists and what kind of security is actually around Saddam, which I would think would be quite extensive.
ZAHN: General David Grange, we'll be checking back with you a little bit later on this morning. Thanks again for your time this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
