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American Morning

Interview with General Ricardo Sanchez

Aired December 15, 2003 - 07:02   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.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: So, what happens next for Saddam Hussein? And what does his capture mean for U.S. troop operations in Iraq?
Earlier this morning, I spoke with General Ricardo Sanchez, the commander of the coalition ground forces in Baghdad, and I asked him about the reports that Saddam told U.S. troops he wanted to negotiate when he was first found.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GEN. RICARDO SANCHEZ, COMMANDER, U.S. FORCES IN IRAQ: Well, that's some of the reports that we've heard. I know the first time I saw him when we brought him into his cell, we asked him who he was, and he very clearly told us that he was Saddam Hussein, the president of Iraq. And, no, at no time during my interfaces with him has he said anything about negotiating.

O'BRIEN: Is he a POW now? What's his status?

SANCHEZ: Well, he is being accorded all of the rights of a prisoner of war, and we're going to treat him humanely. We're going to treat him in accordance with the Geneva Convention, but his actual end-state status is yet to be determined, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Obviously, sir, I know you can't be specific about where he is being held, but give me a sense of the kind of facility where he's being held. Is he in the country still?

SANCHEZ: Well, he's being held, as you know, at an undisclosed location where we've made all of the provisions to ensure that his health is maintained, that we keep him safe, and that we make sure that we are getting from him the information that will be necessary for to us continue with accomplishing the mission we've been assigned here. The location is undisclosed, and we need to continue with that status.

SANCHEZ: Let's talk a little bit about this report that I read Sunday afternoon. You went with four of the new leaders of Iraq, and Paul Bremer as well, to have a visit. Was part of that visit to Saddam Hussein to confirm his identity? Is that right?

SANCHEZ: That was part of the process, but we were pretty certain that it was Saddam Hussein that we had. We had already had four of our high-value detainees positively identify him. His two half-brothers had unhesitatingly identified him as Saddam. So, we were pretty sure. But we needed to make sure that the Governing Council representatives believed that we had Saddam, and it was a very emotional meeting.

O'BRIEN: You, in fact, offered from this report, at least it says, that you offered the members of the Governing Council the opportunity to stand behind a window or to kind of take a look at him by camera as opposed to going face to face, and they said no. They said they wanted to talk to him face to face. Did that surprise you at all? And give me a further sense of that meeting.

SANCHEZ: No, it was an opportunity that we gave them to choose whether they wanted to have a face-to-face meeting or a camera meeting with him, and they chose -- they asked us to choose. And when we asked them whether they wanted to go face to face, they went ahead and accepted that suggestion.

It was, as I stated, an emotional meeting with him. He was talkative with them. And it was, I think, a moment of closure for them to understand that, in fact, Saddam was there, that he was being detained by the coalition forces, and that he could no longer bring terror and oppression to their country.

O'BRIEN: What happens next here? Do you find that he is producing information? Do you think this is going to end the insurgency, if not in the short term, in the long term?

SANCHEZ: Well, I think what we've accomplished clearly by arresting Saddam is that we've eliminated the source of this fear that has pervaded across Iraq for at least 35 years, and that still continued to hinder our progress toward security and stability. No, I don't think we will see an immediate end to the violence here in the country, as was exemplified by the two car bomb attacks that have occurred today.

But I do believe over time we'll be able to move the country of Iraq and the people of Iraq towards reconciliation with their past, and that is exactly what has to happen in order for us to achieve prosperity and in order for us to achieve a democratic, prosperous country.

O'BRIEN: Before his capture, there were many who thought he was leading, or directing at least, the insurgents to some degree. Now that he's been found with $750,000 in U.S. currency on him, do you think, in fact, he was leading in more than a sort of an emotional sense the insurgency? And do you think that money was being used for his own movement around the country, or do you think it was to pay off insurgents?

SANCHEZ: Well, at this point, Soledad, it's still a little bit too early to tell exactly what his interfaces were. Clearly, as we've stated over and over, his intentions were out there being communicated, and we believe that there were some -- there was some financial support that was being provided to the former regime elements that are conducting operations out there. But at this point, it's still very early for me to say conclusively that he was or was not leading the resistance.

O'BRIEN: Has your strategy at all changed in order to overcome the insurgency now that you've got the capture of Saddam Hussein?

SANCHEZ: No, at this point, we have not changed our strategy at all. I think it's important for us to work very closely with the Iraqi people to move very quickly towards reconciliation and to extend our hands to begin to cooperate with some of these insurgents and give them the opportunity to give up this path of violence that they have been on so aggressively for the last six or seven months.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Coming up in our next hour, we're going to talking with Major General Ray Ordierno in Tikrit. He is the commander of the 4th Infantry Division troops who captured Saddam. Of course, that was General Ricardo Sanchez talking to us a little bit earlier 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 December 15, 2003 - 07:02   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: So, what happens next for Saddam Hussein? And what does his capture mean for U.S. troop operations in Iraq?
Earlier this morning, I spoke with General Ricardo Sanchez, the commander of the coalition ground forces in Baghdad, and I asked him about the reports that Saddam told U.S. troops he wanted to negotiate when he was first found.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GEN. RICARDO SANCHEZ, COMMANDER, U.S. FORCES IN IRAQ: Well, that's some of the reports that we've heard. I know the first time I saw him when we brought him into his cell, we asked him who he was, and he very clearly told us that he was Saddam Hussein, the president of Iraq. And, no, at no time during my interfaces with him has he said anything about negotiating.

O'BRIEN: Is he a POW now? What's his status?

SANCHEZ: Well, he is being accorded all of the rights of a prisoner of war, and we're going to treat him humanely. We're going to treat him in accordance with the Geneva Convention, but his actual end-state status is yet to be determined, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Obviously, sir, I know you can't be specific about where he is being held, but give me a sense of the kind of facility where he's being held. Is he in the country still?

SANCHEZ: Well, he's being held, as you know, at an undisclosed location where we've made all of the provisions to ensure that his health is maintained, that we keep him safe, and that we make sure that we are getting from him the information that will be necessary for to us continue with accomplishing the mission we've been assigned here. The location is undisclosed, and we need to continue with that status.

SANCHEZ: Let's talk a little bit about this report that I read Sunday afternoon. You went with four of the new leaders of Iraq, and Paul Bremer as well, to have a visit. Was part of that visit to Saddam Hussein to confirm his identity? Is that right?

SANCHEZ: That was part of the process, but we were pretty certain that it was Saddam Hussein that we had. We had already had four of our high-value detainees positively identify him. His two half-brothers had unhesitatingly identified him as Saddam. So, we were pretty sure. But we needed to make sure that the Governing Council representatives believed that we had Saddam, and it was a very emotional meeting.

O'BRIEN: You, in fact, offered from this report, at least it says, that you offered the members of the Governing Council the opportunity to stand behind a window or to kind of take a look at him by camera as opposed to going face to face, and they said no. They said they wanted to talk to him face to face. Did that surprise you at all? And give me a further sense of that meeting.

SANCHEZ: No, it was an opportunity that we gave them to choose whether they wanted to have a face-to-face meeting or a camera meeting with him, and they chose -- they asked us to choose. And when we asked them whether they wanted to go face to face, they went ahead and accepted that suggestion.

It was, as I stated, an emotional meeting with him. He was talkative with them. And it was, I think, a moment of closure for them to understand that, in fact, Saddam was there, that he was being detained by the coalition forces, and that he could no longer bring terror and oppression to their country.

O'BRIEN: What happens next here? Do you find that he is producing information? Do you think this is going to end the insurgency, if not in the short term, in the long term?

SANCHEZ: Well, I think what we've accomplished clearly by arresting Saddam is that we've eliminated the source of this fear that has pervaded across Iraq for at least 35 years, and that still continued to hinder our progress toward security and stability. No, I don't think we will see an immediate end to the violence here in the country, as was exemplified by the two car bomb attacks that have occurred today.

But I do believe over time we'll be able to move the country of Iraq and the people of Iraq towards reconciliation with their past, and that is exactly what has to happen in order for us to achieve prosperity and in order for us to achieve a democratic, prosperous country.

O'BRIEN: Before his capture, there were many who thought he was leading, or directing at least, the insurgents to some degree. Now that he's been found with $750,000 in U.S. currency on him, do you think, in fact, he was leading in more than a sort of an emotional sense the insurgency? And do you think that money was being used for his own movement around the country, or do you think it was to pay off insurgents?

SANCHEZ: Well, at this point, Soledad, it's still a little bit too early to tell exactly what his interfaces were. Clearly, as we've stated over and over, his intentions were out there being communicated, and we believe that there were some -- there was some financial support that was being provided to the former regime elements that are conducting operations out there. But at this point, it's still very early for me to say conclusively that he was or was not leading the resistance.

O'BRIEN: Has your strategy at all changed in order to overcome the insurgency now that you've got the capture of Saddam Hussein?

SANCHEZ: No, at this point, we have not changed our strategy at all. I think it's important for us to work very closely with the Iraqi people to move very quickly towards reconciliation and to extend our hands to begin to cooperate with some of these insurgents and give them the opportunity to give up this path of violence that they have been on so aggressively for the last six or seven months.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Coming up in our next hour, we're going to talking with Major General Ray Ordierno in Tikrit. He is the commander of the 4th Infantry Division troops who captured Saddam. Of course, that was General Ricardo Sanchez talking to us a little bit earlier 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.