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American Morning

Baghdad's Airport Remains Closed to Most Commercial Traffic

Aired October 09, 2003 - 08:07   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, where the U.S. military had hoped to reopen Baghdad's airport this summer. But it still remains closed to most commercial traffic. It is said and reported that's due to hundreds of shoulder fired anti-aircraft missiles that have disappeared in Iraq and now are unaccounted for.
Walter Slocombe, a senior Pentagon adviser in Iraq, joins us now live from Baghdad to talk about this and the mission as it continues there on the ground.

We appreciate your time.

And this story really breaking yesterday in the "New York Times."

What can you tell us about how you may or may not be able to account for these surface to air missiles, shoulder fired, and whether or not the airport will be opened any time soon?

WALTER SLOCOMBE, COALITION PROVISIONAL AUTHORITY: Well, there's no question that there are a lot of shoulder fired missiles in the world and in Iraq. We'll open the airport when we're satisfied, open the airport to commercial traffic when we're satisfied that it meets international safety standards. Planes fly in and out of the airfield in large numbers every day, including charter services, flights that bring in humanitarian goods and, of course, a lot of military aircraft.

HEMMER: It's my understanding, and many people have described Iraq the following way. They say it's an ammunition dump, a giant ammo dump throughout the entire country. If you buy that description, is it even possible today to say when U.S. forces serving there might be safe on the ground in Iraq?

SLOCOMBE: We lost another soldier today. We had policemen killed and we had a Spanish soldier shot, as well. Any loss is too many. But the fact is that most of this country is stable. People go about their life increasingly normal conditions. We have electricity back up to what it was before the war. We're getting fuel around. Schools are opening on schedule. The streets are full of people. The stores are full of goods. People are being fed.

This country has a long ways to go, but it's made immense progress.

HEMMER: When...

SLOCOMBE: And the contribution of America and the other coalition military will continue. But we're beginning to transfer the responsibility for security to Iraqis. You've got Iraqi police on the street, guards at buildings. The first battalion of the new Iraqi Army will begin operating in a few days.

HEMMER: The headlines, though, as you well know, every day, report the casualties. They report the violence. That gets the most of attention on most days when the news comes out of Iraq.

How are you able to balance what you're describing there as progress and good news with the death of yet another U.S. soldier, which I believe, if accurate, brings to 92 the number of dead U.S. troops in Iraq since the president declared the end of major combat operations on the 1st of May?

SLOCOMBE: Well, there's no question that the security situation is not what it should be and not what it will be in a few months. But the image of a country in chaos is simply wrong. And those of us who are here in Baghdad see every day, and people who come and visit see every day that the situation is much more balanced and much more complicated than the impression you might get.

I don't dispute that there are real problems and that these shootings are a terrible thing for the individuals involved and that our soldiers and the Iraqis who work with us and coalition soldiers are in real danger. But the picture is of an increasingly stable and normally operating society, and that's what we are working to try to advance.

HEMMER: With that answer, and if you weigh that against what the French are demanding and other countries, about returning power ASAP to the Iraqi Governing Council there and the Iraqi people themselves, how long do you believe is logical and reasonable before that can happen?

SLOCOMBE: We believe that if we follow the course which has been agreed between the coalition authorities and the Governing Council, we could have a writ -- a constitution written, approved by the Iraqi people and elections within a very short or historically short time, say within a year. But basically those decisions are up to Iraqis. The real issue in this country is not the degree of international control, because everybody agrees that the point is to get full sovereignty in the hands of an elected, democratic Iraqi government just as soon as possible. And that's the course we're on and that's the course we intend to stay on. And I think it's the course that's backed by the vast majority of the Iraqi people.

HEMMER: Walter Slocombe, coalition provisional authority, the senior adviser there on security matters, works hand in hand with Paul Bremer.

Appreciate your time.

Good luck to you and be safe. And we certainly would like to have you back again some time very soon here on AMERICAN MORNING.

SLOCOMBE: Thank you very much. HEMMER: You've got it.

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





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Aired October 9, 2003 - 08:07   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, where the U.S. military had hoped to reopen Baghdad's airport this summer. But it still remains closed to most commercial traffic. It is said and reported that's due to hundreds of shoulder fired anti-aircraft missiles that have disappeared in Iraq and now are unaccounted for.
Walter Slocombe, a senior Pentagon adviser in Iraq, joins us now live from Baghdad to talk about this and the mission as it continues there on the ground.

We appreciate your time.

And this story really breaking yesterday in the "New York Times."

What can you tell us about how you may or may not be able to account for these surface to air missiles, shoulder fired, and whether or not the airport will be opened any time soon?

WALTER SLOCOMBE, COALITION PROVISIONAL AUTHORITY: Well, there's no question that there are a lot of shoulder fired missiles in the world and in Iraq. We'll open the airport when we're satisfied, open the airport to commercial traffic when we're satisfied that it meets international safety standards. Planes fly in and out of the airfield in large numbers every day, including charter services, flights that bring in humanitarian goods and, of course, a lot of military aircraft.

HEMMER: It's my understanding, and many people have described Iraq the following way. They say it's an ammunition dump, a giant ammo dump throughout the entire country. If you buy that description, is it even possible today to say when U.S. forces serving there might be safe on the ground in Iraq?

SLOCOMBE: We lost another soldier today. We had policemen killed and we had a Spanish soldier shot, as well. Any loss is too many. But the fact is that most of this country is stable. People go about their life increasingly normal conditions. We have electricity back up to what it was before the war. We're getting fuel around. Schools are opening on schedule. The streets are full of people. The stores are full of goods. People are being fed.

This country has a long ways to go, but it's made immense progress.

HEMMER: When...

SLOCOMBE: And the contribution of America and the other coalition military will continue. But we're beginning to transfer the responsibility for security to Iraqis. You've got Iraqi police on the street, guards at buildings. The first battalion of the new Iraqi Army will begin operating in a few days.

HEMMER: The headlines, though, as you well know, every day, report the casualties. They report the violence. That gets the most of attention on most days when the news comes out of Iraq.

How are you able to balance what you're describing there as progress and good news with the death of yet another U.S. soldier, which I believe, if accurate, brings to 92 the number of dead U.S. troops in Iraq since the president declared the end of major combat operations on the 1st of May?

SLOCOMBE: Well, there's no question that the security situation is not what it should be and not what it will be in a few months. But the image of a country in chaos is simply wrong. And those of us who are here in Baghdad see every day, and people who come and visit see every day that the situation is much more balanced and much more complicated than the impression you might get.

I don't dispute that there are real problems and that these shootings are a terrible thing for the individuals involved and that our soldiers and the Iraqis who work with us and coalition soldiers are in real danger. But the picture is of an increasingly stable and normally operating society, and that's what we are working to try to advance.

HEMMER: With that answer, and if you weigh that against what the French are demanding and other countries, about returning power ASAP to the Iraqi Governing Council there and the Iraqi people themselves, how long do you believe is logical and reasonable before that can happen?

SLOCOMBE: We believe that if we follow the course which has been agreed between the coalition authorities and the Governing Council, we could have a writ -- a constitution written, approved by the Iraqi people and elections within a very short or historically short time, say within a year. But basically those decisions are up to Iraqis. The real issue in this country is not the degree of international control, because everybody agrees that the point is to get full sovereignty in the hands of an elected, democratic Iraqi government just as soon as possible. And that's the course we're on and that's the course we intend to stay on. And I think it's the course that's backed by the vast majority of the Iraqi people.

HEMMER: Walter Slocombe, coalition provisional authority, the senior adviser there on security matters, works hand in hand with Paul Bremer.

Appreciate your time.

Good luck to you and be safe. And we certainly would like to have you back again some time very soon here on AMERICAN MORNING.

SLOCOMBE: Thank you very much. HEMMER: You've got it.

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





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