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CNN Sunday Morning

Bush Receives Detailed Plan for Attacking Iraq

Aired September 22, 2002 - 07:08   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.


CALLAWAY: Administration officials confirmed to CNN that President Bush has received detailed plans of military operations against Iraq. Administration officials would not disclose the specifics of that plan, but they did say that the initial goals are to cut off Iraq's command and communications infrastructure and neutralize missile launchers.
Here to talk more about this, military analyst, retired Brigadier General David Grange. Thank you for being with us, General.

BRIG. GEN. DAVID GRANGE, U.S. ARMY (RET): Good morning.

CALLAWAY: Now what they have confirmed on this plan is really nothing new for any type of military operations. So let's talk about what probably would happen in an attack in Iraq and how it would -- how it would differ from the Gulf War. Would the target be different? Would this not be really an attack on the country, but rather on the Hussein government?

GRANGE: Well, the mission is quite different. The mission, the first time around, was to get the Iraqi army out of Kuwait. That was the primary purpose. This time it's a regime change, and then we're going to be in the country for awhile, I would hope, during a consolidation phase to make sure that whatever is coming next is set up properly, and to do that, again, hopefully, with some kind of coalition force. So the mission's quite different, though the enemy is the same.

CALLAWAY: Let's talk about the plan that General Tommy Franks has apparently given President Bush. Now we know that this is not the official plan, that there's going to be revisions. What you have read about this plan so far is anything different or surprising to you on the plan? There's a lot of talk about airstrikes and air superiority.

GRANGE: Well, there'll always be air superiority before an operation kicks off, and there'll be a lot of airstrikes. But there'll also -- that'll be in conjunction with, I think a robust ground operation, both special operating forces, as well as ...

CALLAWAY: Right.

GRANGE: ... heavy fast moving armored forces.

CALLAWAY: That's what I wanted to get to, was the covert operations part of this plan, very important. GRANGE: Yes, it is, and what'll happen, I think, is you'll have isolation operations take place in key areas in Baghdad and other places, Basra, Tikrit, just to isolate his command and control, some of his loyal units and keep pieces of terrain that'll be required later on for follow-on phases.

CALLAWAY: Is the U.S. preparing to go this alone? Certainly, the only -- the only idea at this point -- the only plan at this point is that the British may be coming along on the plan, but is this, you know, a separate plan that the U.S. prepares to go into this country alone?

GRANGE: Well, you know, hopefully, we'll have some international support. We want not only the nation itself to support the military if this goes down. Otherwise, without national support ourselves, it won't be successful, but also some international support. However, at least the United States, some country has to have the resolve to stand tough with Saddam Hussein. He has a jingoist Kong type mentality, and it's really kind of the only thing you understand, so someone has to be the tough guy, and that falls on the United States.

CALLAWAY: Let's talk about where this plan would be launched from. Turkey appears to be very important in this plan.

GRANGE: Turkey is very important. Though be it, the avenues of approach from the north are a little more restrictive than the south, I think would be advantageous to any of our efforts would be multiple directions -- from Turkey, from Kuwait, from hopefully Jordan or from the west in some forward operating base inside Iraq itself.

CALLAWAY: Isn't controlling Israel going to be an issue in this situation?

GRANGE: Big time. I think that you're going to have obviously Saddam try to drag Israel into the war. It benefits him to do so, to try to split any kind of alliance that may come about, even if it's -- especially a fragile one. And so yes, it's going to be very difficult.

CALLAWAY: We're seeing and hearing all kinds of numbers on this plan, of the number of troops that can be involved in this, everything from 250,000 troops. Realistically, what kind of dedication, what type -- how many troops would have to be involved in this kind of plan?

GRANGE: Well, I think the way to look at it, it's you know you have the trigger pullers, the fighters, and you have a lot of support that goes into making that happen. So, you know, it's going to be smaller, I believe, than the first time around, and what's key is not really the numbers, but the type of force mix ...

CALLAWAY: Right.

GRANGE: The decision guided munitions from Air Force, Special Operating forces and at least some type of armored force. So I think what you have to look at in the future is what's going to be the transition force once the enemy is defeated.

CALLAWAY: And military forces would also play a role after the encasement is over and building a new government there.

GRANGE: Right. The follow-on to the conflict, the new government, the new democratic governance, whatever that looks like, try to get the economy going, making sure that the country doesn't split up or any outside countries try to influence it where they shouldn't. So that's going to take some people, as well as disarming everyone that may surrender or is captured, and dismantling, destroying, removing weapons of mass destruction.

CALLAWAY: All right, General, thank you for being with us this morning, General David Grange.

GRANGE: My pleasure.

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 September 22, 2002 - 07:08   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CALLAWAY: Administration officials confirmed to CNN that President Bush has received detailed plans of military operations against Iraq. Administration officials would not disclose the specifics of that plan, but they did say that the initial goals are to cut off Iraq's command and communications infrastructure and neutralize missile launchers.
Here to talk more about this, military analyst, retired Brigadier General David Grange. Thank you for being with us, General.

BRIG. GEN. DAVID GRANGE, U.S. ARMY (RET): Good morning.

CALLAWAY: Now what they have confirmed on this plan is really nothing new for any type of military operations. So let's talk about what probably would happen in an attack in Iraq and how it would -- how it would differ from the Gulf War. Would the target be different? Would this not be really an attack on the country, but rather on the Hussein government?

GRANGE: Well, the mission is quite different. The mission, the first time around, was to get the Iraqi army out of Kuwait. That was the primary purpose. This time it's a regime change, and then we're going to be in the country for awhile, I would hope, during a consolidation phase to make sure that whatever is coming next is set up properly, and to do that, again, hopefully, with some kind of coalition force. So the mission's quite different, though the enemy is the same.

CALLAWAY: Let's talk about the plan that General Tommy Franks has apparently given President Bush. Now we know that this is not the official plan, that there's going to be revisions. What you have read about this plan so far is anything different or surprising to you on the plan? There's a lot of talk about airstrikes and air superiority.

GRANGE: Well, there'll always be air superiority before an operation kicks off, and there'll be a lot of airstrikes. But there'll also -- that'll be in conjunction with, I think a robust ground operation, both special operating forces, as well as ...

CALLAWAY: Right.

GRANGE: ... heavy fast moving armored forces.

CALLAWAY: That's what I wanted to get to, was the covert operations part of this plan, very important. GRANGE: Yes, it is, and what'll happen, I think, is you'll have isolation operations take place in key areas in Baghdad and other places, Basra, Tikrit, just to isolate his command and control, some of his loyal units and keep pieces of terrain that'll be required later on for follow-on phases.

CALLAWAY: Is the U.S. preparing to go this alone? Certainly, the only -- the only idea at this point -- the only plan at this point is that the British may be coming along on the plan, but is this, you know, a separate plan that the U.S. prepares to go into this country alone?

GRANGE: Well, you know, hopefully, we'll have some international support. We want not only the nation itself to support the military if this goes down. Otherwise, without national support ourselves, it won't be successful, but also some international support. However, at least the United States, some country has to have the resolve to stand tough with Saddam Hussein. He has a jingoist Kong type mentality, and it's really kind of the only thing you understand, so someone has to be the tough guy, and that falls on the United States.

CALLAWAY: Let's talk about where this plan would be launched from. Turkey appears to be very important in this plan.

GRANGE: Turkey is very important. Though be it, the avenues of approach from the north are a little more restrictive than the south, I think would be advantageous to any of our efforts would be multiple directions -- from Turkey, from Kuwait, from hopefully Jordan or from the west in some forward operating base inside Iraq itself.

CALLAWAY: Isn't controlling Israel going to be an issue in this situation?

GRANGE: Big time. I think that you're going to have obviously Saddam try to drag Israel into the war. It benefits him to do so, to try to split any kind of alliance that may come about, even if it's -- especially a fragile one. And so yes, it's going to be very difficult.

CALLAWAY: We're seeing and hearing all kinds of numbers on this plan, of the number of troops that can be involved in this, everything from 250,000 troops. Realistically, what kind of dedication, what type -- how many troops would have to be involved in this kind of plan?

GRANGE: Well, I think the way to look at it, it's you know you have the trigger pullers, the fighters, and you have a lot of support that goes into making that happen. So, you know, it's going to be smaller, I believe, than the first time around, and what's key is not really the numbers, but the type of force mix ...

CALLAWAY: Right.

GRANGE: The decision guided munitions from Air Force, Special Operating forces and at least some type of armored force. So I think what you have to look at in the future is what's going to be the transition force once the enemy is defeated.

CALLAWAY: And military forces would also play a role after the encasement is over and building a new government there.

GRANGE: Right. The follow-on to the conflict, the new government, the new democratic governance, whatever that looks like, try to get the economy going, making sure that the country doesn't split up or any outside countries try to influence it where they shouldn't. So that's going to take some people, as well as disarming everyone that may surrender or is captured, and dismantling, destroying, removing weapons of mass destruction.

CALLAWAY: All right, General, thank you for being with us this morning, General David Grange.

GRANGE: My pleasure.

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