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American Morning

Interview with Victoria Clarke

Aired June 17, 2003 - 07:35   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.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Back to Iraq right now and the dangers still being faced by U.S. troops there. Forty American soldiers have been killed since the end of the war's major battles back in mid- April.
From the Pentagon this morning, spokesperson Victoria Clarke, who, by the way, is resigning very soon for family matters. Torrie Clarke is our guest today from D.C.

Great to have you here. Good morning to you.

VICTORIA CLARKE, PENTAGON SPOKESWOMAN: Good morning.

HEMMER: Let's talk about Iraq real quickly. How long do you believe right now it will take before the peace is secured across that country?

CLARKE: Oh, it's hard to tell, and I think smart people don't try to put a time on it. What they acknowledge, as most people do, is that it's a very, very difficult circumstance. You don't move from 30 years of oppression and torture and despotism to a free and open and democratic society overnight. So, it will take time. There are pocket there. There are some of the remaining Baathist elements and Saddam Fedayeen. So, we'll continue to work hard at it, but it will take time.

HEMMER: To try to put a time limit on this, how long will U.S. troops be there?

CLARKE: Oh, I can't put a time limit on that.

HEMMER: Years?

CLARKE: Can't put a time limit on it.

HEMMER: If we're going to go two years, would you take the higher or the lower on that?

CLARKE: You know, it just doesn't make any sense. There are too many variables. But I'll repeat what we've said often, which is, we will stay as long as it takes, but we don't want to stay one day longer. As we've said again and again -- and I think more and more of the Iraqi people understand -- we want to create the conditions so they can get that country up and running again for themselves. And then we want to get out. We have no aspirations for the land. We have no aspirations for the resources. We just want to help them get on a stable footing again. HEMMER: Let me try it from a different angle here. There was a "New York Times" story this past Sunday that talked about morale among U.S. soldiers there. What is your read right now on how high how or how low right now morale might be serving in that country?

CLARKE: Well, I can only tell you what our personal experience has been here, and we were just over there a few weeks ago with Secretary Rumsfeld, and we see and hear from a lot of people over there, I think the morale is pretty high. You know, you could go into any group of people, you could probably go to CNN and out of 500 people find a handful who say they don't like how things are going. That's just human nature.

But overwhelmingly, I think the morale is very high. These are incredibly dedicated, committed people, who know the job they're doing is important, who know they are bringing important things to the Iraqi people, and I think they feel very good about what they're doing.

HEMMER: You mentioned your boss, Donald Rumsfeld. Back in March -- I want to read you a statement that he made about WMD, weapons of mass destruction -- he says: "We know where they are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat."

You wrote in "The New York Times" a few days ago -- I'm quoting now: "It is far too early to make any judgments about WMD. We have an extensive effort under way. Let's allow our team to finish the job before drawing conclusions."

Is this weeks, is this months, is this years before this answer is definitive?

CLARKE: Oh, again, it will take time. You're talking about a very, very large country. You're talking about a situation in which you have the Iraqi regime that spent year after year after year, enormous resources and a lot of money in denying and deceiving countries, the United Nations, organizations around the world, repeatedly as to the whereabouts of their weapons of mass destruction. So, it will take some time.

The key to it is the people who are involved these programs at different levels. We have been interviewing a lot of people. That will take time as well. You start to put these parts and pieces together, and then we can make sense of the picture.

And, again, I think it's about expectations. There are some people who -- and not a lot of them -- but some people have kind of short attention spans and they want everything overnight. The world just isn't that simple.

HEMMER: Not us, right?

CLARKE: Not you. I said a few people, not naming names.

HEMMER: Listen, you're going on to family matters, and that's the reason why you're coming on today with us. I want to give you a quick chance to answer this question: Is it true before you started there two years ago that you knew nothing about the military and nothing about the Pentagon?

CLARKE: Well, that -- one comment has been taken a little out of context. I knew very little about the details of the military. And, as I said, I couldn't tell you how to disassemble the tail rotor on an Apache. What I did know was that the men and women in the U.S. military were extraordinary, and I knew I wanted to work for them. And, you know, as I said a couple of times to some friends of mine, if I knew when I was 18 what I know now, I probably would have joined the military. And I'm too old for that, but it's an extraordinary experience to have worked for them for these two years.

HEMMER: Well, well, listen...

CLARKE: Well, I knew that coming in, and it's been reinforced over the last couple of years.

HEMMER: Listen, we want to wish you the best of luck. There are rumors in Washington, and that town loves a good rumor here. Ari Fleisher is out this summer. Are we going to see him pop up at the White House?

CLARKE: I don't think so. You know, I'm not...

HEMMER: Is that a no, or an I don't think so?

CLARKE: Well, I think -- you know, it is not up to me to decide who gets that job and to announce it, but I think they've got a pretty good candidate in mind, and it's not the person you're talking to.

HEMMER: Yes, would you take it if it came your way?

CLARKE: It's not on option.

HEMMER: It's not an option, we'll leave at that. Torrie Clarke, thanks, and thanks for being a good sport through all of this. And hopefully at some point we'll get an answer not only on troop deployment in Iraq, but also weapons of mass destruction and what that answer holds for us. Thanks again. Best of luck to you and your family.

CLARKE: 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 June 17, 2003 - 07:35   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Back to Iraq right now and the dangers still being faced by U.S. troops there. Forty American soldiers have been killed since the end of the war's major battles back in mid- April.
From the Pentagon this morning, spokesperson Victoria Clarke, who, by the way, is resigning very soon for family matters. Torrie Clarke is our guest today from D.C.

Great to have you here. Good morning to you.

VICTORIA CLARKE, PENTAGON SPOKESWOMAN: Good morning.

HEMMER: Let's talk about Iraq real quickly. How long do you believe right now it will take before the peace is secured across that country?

CLARKE: Oh, it's hard to tell, and I think smart people don't try to put a time on it. What they acknowledge, as most people do, is that it's a very, very difficult circumstance. You don't move from 30 years of oppression and torture and despotism to a free and open and democratic society overnight. So, it will take time. There are pocket there. There are some of the remaining Baathist elements and Saddam Fedayeen. So, we'll continue to work hard at it, but it will take time.

HEMMER: To try to put a time limit on this, how long will U.S. troops be there?

CLARKE: Oh, I can't put a time limit on that.

HEMMER: Years?

CLARKE: Can't put a time limit on it.

HEMMER: If we're going to go two years, would you take the higher or the lower on that?

CLARKE: You know, it just doesn't make any sense. There are too many variables. But I'll repeat what we've said often, which is, we will stay as long as it takes, but we don't want to stay one day longer. As we've said again and again -- and I think more and more of the Iraqi people understand -- we want to create the conditions so they can get that country up and running again for themselves. And then we want to get out. We have no aspirations for the land. We have no aspirations for the resources. We just want to help them get on a stable footing again. HEMMER: Let me try it from a different angle here. There was a "New York Times" story this past Sunday that talked about morale among U.S. soldiers there. What is your read right now on how high how or how low right now morale might be serving in that country?

CLARKE: Well, I can only tell you what our personal experience has been here, and we were just over there a few weeks ago with Secretary Rumsfeld, and we see and hear from a lot of people over there, I think the morale is pretty high. You know, you could go into any group of people, you could probably go to CNN and out of 500 people find a handful who say they don't like how things are going. That's just human nature.

But overwhelmingly, I think the morale is very high. These are incredibly dedicated, committed people, who know the job they're doing is important, who know they are bringing important things to the Iraqi people, and I think they feel very good about what they're doing.

HEMMER: You mentioned your boss, Donald Rumsfeld. Back in March -- I want to read you a statement that he made about WMD, weapons of mass destruction -- he says: "We know where they are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat."

You wrote in "The New York Times" a few days ago -- I'm quoting now: "It is far too early to make any judgments about WMD. We have an extensive effort under way. Let's allow our team to finish the job before drawing conclusions."

Is this weeks, is this months, is this years before this answer is definitive?

CLARKE: Oh, again, it will take time. You're talking about a very, very large country. You're talking about a situation in which you have the Iraqi regime that spent year after year after year, enormous resources and a lot of money in denying and deceiving countries, the United Nations, organizations around the world, repeatedly as to the whereabouts of their weapons of mass destruction. So, it will take some time.

The key to it is the people who are involved these programs at different levels. We have been interviewing a lot of people. That will take time as well. You start to put these parts and pieces together, and then we can make sense of the picture.

And, again, I think it's about expectations. There are some people who -- and not a lot of them -- but some people have kind of short attention spans and they want everything overnight. The world just isn't that simple.

HEMMER: Not us, right?

CLARKE: Not you. I said a few people, not naming names.

HEMMER: Listen, you're going on to family matters, and that's the reason why you're coming on today with us. I want to give you a quick chance to answer this question: Is it true before you started there two years ago that you knew nothing about the military and nothing about the Pentagon?

CLARKE: Well, that -- one comment has been taken a little out of context. I knew very little about the details of the military. And, as I said, I couldn't tell you how to disassemble the tail rotor on an Apache. What I did know was that the men and women in the U.S. military were extraordinary, and I knew I wanted to work for them. And, you know, as I said a couple of times to some friends of mine, if I knew when I was 18 what I know now, I probably would have joined the military. And I'm too old for that, but it's an extraordinary experience to have worked for them for these two years.

HEMMER: Well, well, listen...

CLARKE: Well, I knew that coming in, and it's been reinforced over the last couple of years.

HEMMER: Listen, we want to wish you the best of luck. There are rumors in Washington, and that town loves a good rumor here. Ari Fleisher is out this summer. Are we going to see him pop up at the White House?

CLARKE: I don't think so. You know, I'm not...

HEMMER: Is that a no, or an I don't think so?

CLARKE: Well, I think -- you know, it is not up to me to decide who gets that job and to announce it, but I think they've got a pretty good candidate in mind, and it's not the person you're talking to.

HEMMER: Yes, would you take it if it came your way?

CLARKE: It's not on option.

HEMMER: It's not an option, we'll leave at that. Torrie Clarke, thanks, and thanks for being a good sport through all of this. And hopefully at some point we'll get an answer not only on troop deployment in Iraq, but also weapons of mass destruction and what that answer holds for us. Thanks again. Best of luck to you and your family.

CLARKE: 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.