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American Morning

Talk with Former British SAS Commander

Aired April 08, 2003 - 08:44   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 the question of the morning, is Saddam Hussein still alive? Four bombs, a ton each, leveled a building in Baghdad yesterday. U.S. officials said they had time- sensitive intelligence that senior Iraqi leadership, possibly even Saddam Hussein and his sons were meeting that building. Who was behind that information and how reliable was it? Andy McNab, a former commander for the British Special Air Service, fought in the Gulf War, conducted many covert operations similar to this. He joins us in London. He is in silhouette, because he believe his life is still in danger.
Andy, thank you very much for joining us this morning.

ANDY MCNAB, FMR. BRITISH SAS COMMANDER: Thank you for having me.

ZAHN: Andy, I wanted to start off with something which is in one of our newspapers this morning, "USA Today," basically saying that CIA, paramilitary forces and Delta Force commandos were tracking Saddam's communications. They went on to say that the men, I guess referring to the Iraqi leadership, were discussing how to flee the city when the bombs hit the home and a restaurant attached to it. Describe to us how you think this all came about.

MCNAB: Well, I think the whole sort of information-gathering effort around Saddam Hussein has been going on well before the war started. And certainly special forces would react to the information that has been collected. Obviously, if it comes from one human source, that has to be confirm by using other sources, whether it's technical or other human sources. And then a decision's made at a command level that you're going to get special forces in there, you're going to fine this house, this target, and then call in an airstrike.

ZAHN: Then how do you develop this one human source? Because that has been confirmed to CNN, that's how the whole attack got started in the first place, and then, as you said, was cross- referenced with other sources.

MCNAB: A lot of the high command within the Iraqi military they're about the only people who carry cell phones around Iraq. And the system itself, you know, is easy tapped in by the Americans. And the fact is that you know, they are getting phone calls even before the war, saying, look ultimately, we're going to win, you need to come on to our side. There will be deals done with high-ranking military officials to get that information. It's a constant war that's been going on not since the -- this war started. But this war's been going on for years, trying to get the mind of the Iraqi military.

ZAHN: You have reason to believe then this was reliable human intelligence?

MCNAB: Yes, I think certainly the military planners were going to get the go or no-go on an operation like this are going to look at the information and look at percentages of success, and make the decision whether it's going to happen or not.

Certainly if these attacks continued and we must continuously sort of missing Saddam that would devalue the effect of these type of attacks. Is the plan have got to sit down. It's never going to be 100 percent firm, but they've got to look at the percentages and say, OK, we're 70 percent, 80 percent, 90 percent sure. Well, let's get on and do it.

ZAHN: And walk us through the next step of what will happen when someone attempts to confirm weather Saddam Hussein or any of his sons or the Iraqi leadership were in the building in the first place.

MCNAB: Certainly there would be sort of technology that will be trying to identify the target. But ultimately, if you want to do a surgical strike, what you've got to do is get men on the ground to identify the target. Once those guys get there, whether it's people like Special Air Service or certainly in this case probably be Delta Force. If it's number 16, whatever road it is, you've dot to get somebody on the ground to identify it and mark that target. And that can be done in many different ways. It's certainly marking with lasers, with GPS sticks on it so this ordinance can drop.

Sometimes it these operations that are quickly formed and guys have got to get out there, in some cases, it could be simply getting a machine gun firing a lot of tracer. And as that aircraft comes in, you're just saying to the aircraft, watch my tracer. And as that bounces off the target, the aircraft can then get into a an attack profile and hit it.

ZAHN: Andy, finally this morning, why do cow think your life is still at risk? You did a lot of work during the first Desert Storm.

MCNAB: Yes. I spent a lot of time in the northwest of Baghdad, trying to stop the SCUDS from firing into Israel, and was eventually captured out there and spent six weeks in an interrogation center in Baghdad.

But a lot of the operations or the Special Air Service has been involved with is this covert war of antiterrorism. And it's been going on for decades now. And certainly, individual operations that I've been involved with, there is a threat against my life. And overall, the type of operations that a Special Air Service get involved with, there have been reprisals.

ZAHN: Andy McNab, thanks for sharing your story with us, and thanks for helping us better understand what might have happened in Baghdad last night. Very much appreciate your input.

MCNAB: Thank you.

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 April 8, 2003 - 08:44   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Back to the question of the morning, is Saddam Hussein still alive? Four bombs, a ton each, leveled a building in Baghdad yesterday. U.S. officials said they had time- sensitive intelligence that senior Iraqi leadership, possibly even Saddam Hussein and his sons were meeting that building. Who was behind that information and how reliable was it? Andy McNab, a former commander for the British Special Air Service, fought in the Gulf War, conducted many covert operations similar to this. He joins us in London. He is in silhouette, because he believe his life is still in danger.
Andy, thank you very much for joining us this morning.

ANDY MCNAB, FMR. BRITISH SAS COMMANDER: Thank you for having me.

ZAHN: Andy, I wanted to start off with something which is in one of our newspapers this morning, "USA Today," basically saying that CIA, paramilitary forces and Delta Force commandos were tracking Saddam's communications. They went on to say that the men, I guess referring to the Iraqi leadership, were discussing how to flee the city when the bombs hit the home and a restaurant attached to it. Describe to us how you think this all came about.

MCNAB: Well, I think the whole sort of information-gathering effort around Saddam Hussein has been going on well before the war started. And certainly special forces would react to the information that has been collected. Obviously, if it comes from one human source, that has to be confirm by using other sources, whether it's technical or other human sources. And then a decision's made at a command level that you're going to get special forces in there, you're going to fine this house, this target, and then call in an airstrike.

ZAHN: Then how do you develop this one human source? Because that has been confirmed to CNN, that's how the whole attack got started in the first place, and then, as you said, was cross- referenced with other sources.

MCNAB: A lot of the high command within the Iraqi military they're about the only people who carry cell phones around Iraq. And the system itself, you know, is easy tapped in by the Americans. And the fact is that you know, they are getting phone calls even before the war, saying, look ultimately, we're going to win, you need to come on to our side. There will be deals done with high-ranking military officials to get that information. It's a constant war that's been going on not since the -- this war started. But this war's been going on for years, trying to get the mind of the Iraqi military.

ZAHN: You have reason to believe then this was reliable human intelligence?

MCNAB: Yes, I think certainly the military planners were going to get the go or no-go on an operation like this are going to look at the information and look at percentages of success, and make the decision whether it's going to happen or not.

Certainly if these attacks continued and we must continuously sort of missing Saddam that would devalue the effect of these type of attacks. Is the plan have got to sit down. It's never going to be 100 percent firm, but they've got to look at the percentages and say, OK, we're 70 percent, 80 percent, 90 percent sure. Well, let's get on and do it.

ZAHN: And walk us through the next step of what will happen when someone attempts to confirm weather Saddam Hussein or any of his sons or the Iraqi leadership were in the building in the first place.

MCNAB: Certainly there would be sort of technology that will be trying to identify the target. But ultimately, if you want to do a surgical strike, what you've got to do is get men on the ground to identify the target. Once those guys get there, whether it's people like Special Air Service or certainly in this case probably be Delta Force. If it's number 16, whatever road it is, you've dot to get somebody on the ground to identify it and mark that target. And that can be done in many different ways. It's certainly marking with lasers, with GPS sticks on it so this ordinance can drop.

Sometimes it these operations that are quickly formed and guys have got to get out there, in some cases, it could be simply getting a machine gun firing a lot of tracer. And as that aircraft comes in, you're just saying to the aircraft, watch my tracer. And as that bounces off the target, the aircraft can then get into a an attack profile and hit it.

ZAHN: Andy, finally this morning, why do cow think your life is still at risk? You did a lot of work during the first Desert Storm.

MCNAB: Yes. I spent a lot of time in the northwest of Baghdad, trying to stop the SCUDS from firing into Israel, and was eventually captured out there and spent six weeks in an interrogation center in Baghdad.

But a lot of the operations or the Special Air Service has been involved with is this covert war of antiterrorism. And it's been going on for decades now. And certainly, individual operations that I've been involved with, there is a threat against my life. And overall, the type of operations that a Special Air Service get involved with, there have been reprisals.

ZAHN: Andy McNab, thanks for sharing your story with us, and thanks for helping us better understand what might have happened in Baghdad last night. Very much appreciate your input.

MCNAB: Thank you.

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