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American Morning
Interview with General Ricardo Sanchez
Aired July 23, 2003 - 08:58 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: General Sanchez now back with us, our guest live in Baghdad.
Sir, thank you for your time.
At the outset, a question you heard a few moments ago: Why not show the photos?
GEN. RICARDO SANCHEZ, COMMANDER, COALITION TASK FORCE: Well, Bill, as we all know, there's an issue with U.S. forces showing photographs.
I'll tell you that we're considering a range of options on how it is that we're going to prove to the Iraqi people that we did, in fact, kill Uday and Qusay. All options are being considered at this point.
HEMMER: How concerned are you that the doubt may linger on behalf of the Iraqi people?
SANCHEZ: Well, I think we're going to prove conclusively that, in fact, we have the two sons.
HEMMER: Was it the owner of that house who turned them in?
SANCHEZ: Well, that is information that I could not communicate to you at this point.
HEMMER: There are certain reports that came out yesterday and again late last night that the informant was indeed a person who was helping to aid them at one time. Can you confirm that?
SANCHEZ: No, I have read those reports and those are press reports and speculation at this point.
HEMMER: You mentioned that four U.S. soldiers were wounded yesterday trying to enter the home. What is their condition, General?
SANCHEZ: Well, they're all -- three of them were returned to duty, another one will be returned to duty. He is not in any danger at all.
HEMMER: There was another audio tape released earlier today said to be the voice of Saddam Hussein perhaps recorded three days ago. What does that say right now about perhaps the behind-the-scenes effort of the number 1 ace in your deck of 55 trying to encourage more attacks against U.S. GIs?
SANCHEZ: Well, I think the question of whether we're going to see continued fighting or not is an easy one to answer.
We will continue to see fighting. There may, in fact, be a spike here in the coming days given the desperate nature of the regime in its attempt to regain power.
There will be no opportunity whatsoever for the regime to succeed. As I've stated over and over again, we will not fail in this mission.
HEMMER: You, during that briefing a few moments ago, were asked the question as to whether or not -- why you would not take these two sons alive. Can you give us a better answer than what we heard, a more descriptive answer than we heard during the briefing as to why that train of logic was followed?
SANCHEZ: Well, these were decisions that are made in the heat of the battle, and the young commanders on the ground -- and actually some senior commanders on the ground made the decision this was the right approach. And there is absolutely no faulting the decisions that have been made, especially when you're given a mission of killing or capturing these high-value targets.
HEMMER: I know you don't want to talk too much about it...
SANCHEZ: If we had had a mission...
HEMMER: I know you don't want to talk too much about the...
SANCHEZ: If we had had a mission to capture...
HEMMER: OK, I'm sorry. It's getting a little ugly, us stepping over each other. I apologize again.
I know you don't want to give us too much information about the informant, General, but can you tell us about what the incentive was on behalf of him or her to give you the information and lead you to this home in Mosul?
SANCHEZ: No, not at this point. I couldn't divulge any information on the motivation for the informant coming in to talk to us.
HEMMER: Do you believe the money, $30 million, will be paid out and soon?
SANCHEZ: Well, I know that that is being worked at this point in time, and I would expect that that probably will have a favorable response.
HEMMER: You also said that the area around this compound has been cordoned off. Can you give us a better reason as to why that's happening, what threats you still may believe exist there?
SANCHEZ: Oh, no, we don't expect that there are any threats remaining. We have cleared that site completely. But we continue to exploit it, make sure that we've gathered whatever remaining intelligence may be in there, especially given the destructive nature of the attack. We've got to sift through there and make sure that we've collected everything possible for our follow-on operations.
HEMMER: General, you've been very patient with us.
SANCHEZ: But there is no enemy left.
HEMMER: I know you got to run, but what can you tell us about number 11, the news you broke during the briefing today?
SANCHEZ: All I can tell you is that we've confirmed capture of number 11 at this point in time and more will follow here in the coming day or two.
HEMMER: Thank you, sir.
Good luck to you and your men over there.
Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez live in Baghdad.
SANCHEZ: OK, Bill.
Thank you very much.
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 23, 2003 - 08:58 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: General Sanchez now back with us, our guest live in Baghdad.
Sir, thank you for your time.
At the outset, a question you heard a few moments ago: Why not show the photos?
GEN. RICARDO SANCHEZ, COMMANDER, COALITION TASK FORCE: Well, Bill, as we all know, there's an issue with U.S. forces showing photographs.
I'll tell you that we're considering a range of options on how it is that we're going to prove to the Iraqi people that we did, in fact, kill Uday and Qusay. All options are being considered at this point.
HEMMER: How concerned are you that the doubt may linger on behalf of the Iraqi people?
SANCHEZ: Well, I think we're going to prove conclusively that, in fact, we have the two sons.
HEMMER: Was it the owner of that house who turned them in?
SANCHEZ: Well, that is information that I could not communicate to you at this point.
HEMMER: There are certain reports that came out yesterday and again late last night that the informant was indeed a person who was helping to aid them at one time. Can you confirm that?
SANCHEZ: No, I have read those reports and those are press reports and speculation at this point.
HEMMER: You mentioned that four U.S. soldiers were wounded yesterday trying to enter the home. What is their condition, General?
SANCHEZ: Well, they're all -- three of them were returned to duty, another one will be returned to duty. He is not in any danger at all.
HEMMER: There was another audio tape released earlier today said to be the voice of Saddam Hussein perhaps recorded three days ago. What does that say right now about perhaps the behind-the-scenes effort of the number 1 ace in your deck of 55 trying to encourage more attacks against U.S. GIs?
SANCHEZ: Well, I think the question of whether we're going to see continued fighting or not is an easy one to answer.
We will continue to see fighting. There may, in fact, be a spike here in the coming days given the desperate nature of the regime in its attempt to regain power.
There will be no opportunity whatsoever for the regime to succeed. As I've stated over and over again, we will not fail in this mission.
HEMMER: You, during that briefing a few moments ago, were asked the question as to whether or not -- why you would not take these two sons alive. Can you give us a better answer than what we heard, a more descriptive answer than we heard during the briefing as to why that train of logic was followed?
SANCHEZ: Well, these were decisions that are made in the heat of the battle, and the young commanders on the ground -- and actually some senior commanders on the ground made the decision this was the right approach. And there is absolutely no faulting the decisions that have been made, especially when you're given a mission of killing or capturing these high-value targets.
HEMMER: I know you don't want to talk too much about it...
SANCHEZ: If we had had a mission...
HEMMER: I know you don't want to talk too much about the...
SANCHEZ: If we had had a mission to capture...
HEMMER: OK, I'm sorry. It's getting a little ugly, us stepping over each other. I apologize again.
I know you don't want to give us too much information about the informant, General, but can you tell us about what the incentive was on behalf of him or her to give you the information and lead you to this home in Mosul?
SANCHEZ: No, not at this point. I couldn't divulge any information on the motivation for the informant coming in to talk to us.
HEMMER: Do you believe the money, $30 million, will be paid out and soon?
SANCHEZ: Well, I know that that is being worked at this point in time, and I would expect that that probably will have a favorable response.
HEMMER: You also said that the area around this compound has been cordoned off. Can you give us a better reason as to why that's happening, what threats you still may believe exist there?
SANCHEZ: Oh, no, we don't expect that there are any threats remaining. We have cleared that site completely. But we continue to exploit it, make sure that we've gathered whatever remaining intelligence may be in there, especially given the destructive nature of the attack. We've got to sift through there and make sure that we've collected everything possible for our follow-on operations.
HEMMER: General, you've been very patient with us.
SANCHEZ: But there is no enemy left.
HEMMER: I know you got to run, but what can you tell us about number 11, the news you broke during the briefing today?
SANCHEZ: All I can tell you is that we've confirmed capture of number 11 at this point in time and more will follow here in the coming day or two.
HEMMER: Thank you, sir.
Good luck to you and your men over there.
Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez live in Baghdad.
SANCHEZ: OK, Bill.
Thank you very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
