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CNN Sunday Morning

Central Command: Iraq Buys U.S., British Uniforms

Aired March 09, 2003 - 10:13   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.


FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Another potential threat to U.S. forces, Iraqi troops wearing U.S. and British uniforms then committing atrocities against their own people. That's according to a report from the U.S. Central Command. What affect might that have on the war? For some answers let's turn to CNN military analyst, retired General Wesley Clark. His book, "Waging Modern War," recalls his experiences as commander of Operation Allied Force, the military action in response to the Kosovo crisis. General Clark joins us from Little Rock, Arkansas.
Good to see you, General.

GEN. WESLEY CLARK, (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Nice to see you, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, well, let's talk about this report and that these Iraqi troops, members of what is being called Fadayeen Saddam, wearing American and British uniforms. What is this group? How many are there and what are they capable of?

CLARK: Well, there might be 15 to 20,000 of them. They are irregular forces. This would be one of the kind of things they might do. And let's say they did buy a thousand U.S. uniforms and they would break up in small bands and as the U.S. forces pass through, they might appear in some areas, maybe in the Shi'a areas. They might try to kill local people, to sabotage, set explosives and blow up bridges and that kind of thing and they'd be doing it all in U.S. uniforms. So this would be a -- it would be political dynamite inside Iraq at that point.

WHITFIELD: And how difficult might it be for U.S. troops themselves in which to identify, you know, enemy versus their own people? I mean, how similar might these uniforms possibly look?

CLARK: Well, we've sold U.S. uniforms all over the world. A lot of countries they have them, so they might be the same uniforms. They're probable not going to have exactly the same patches. And when the soldiers get up close they're going to be able to tell that these are not Americans either by conversation, by the mannerisms or in fact we also have challenges and passwords that we use with each other.

WHITFIELD: And that, of course, is the potential danger though, having to get that close in which to have that kind of conversation. It only puts U.S. forces in greater threat, possibly even being killed by these decoys. CLARK: That's exactly right. It adds an element of tension and danger to all of the encounters that the U.S. forces have even with each other. And so it is a distracter. Is it a major distracter? Is it going to destroy the attack? Certainly not. If they go out and commit atrocities against local people, would that make our mission unsuccessful? Certainly not, but it does add a terribly complicating factor in the minds of the commanders and the troops over there.

WHITFIELD: And this isn't a new innovative tactic. I mean this is something that has been used before, seen in prior wars. The Koreans have been accused of doing that and evidence of that taking place with the Nazis as well. So you -- it would seem that U.S. military forces are being trained on this very type of decoy.

CLARK: Well, we know this may happen because, for example, in the case of practicing for potential conflict on the Korean Peninsula, it's always been assumed that the North Koreans would somehow manage to infiltrate, that some of them would be wearing South Korean uniforms and posing as South Korean soldiers. So we're aware of the tactic. It was used in World War II as well against the United States and we had challenge and password problems. But still, it's one more factor on a very complicated battlefield. It is difficult to deal with and it's something that we'd rather not deal with.

WHITFIELD: And another factor now compounding this situation is now this new report saying that al Qaeda operatives may be operating inside Iraq, that they have been seen operating inside Baghdad. Now, this is yet another threat that allied forces, including the U.S. would have to deal with.

CLARK: That's right, Fredricka, and this is not something that was unanticipated. We always knew that in the aftermath of this conflict or even as the first armor rolls through, there will be groups who will be struggling with each other and there will be groups who will want to make a statement by attacking the Americans. And so, we're always going to be on the lookout and make sure that we're doing everything we can to protect ourselves.

And the real fear that many of us have had is that in the aftermath of the victory over Saddam Hussein's forces, what we're going to have is an explosion of al Qaeda's recruitment in Iraq not only from the stay behind cells that are there, but from Islamic charities that come in. And so, I know that our leaders over there, the military and the civilian leaders, are working to try to get a hold of this, but this is a challenge for us.

WHITFIELD: And that presents another problem if indeed there is occupation and that led by U.S. forces. Then they have to continue to deal with that potential enemy.

CLARK: That's exactly right. When Saddam's forces are defeated, that won't be the end of the strive and the conflict there in all probability. We'll have various factions inside Iraq, which will be contending with each other. Some of them seeking revenge, some of them seeking political power and as I said, some of them seeking to make a statement against us and drive us out of the country. So this will be a difficult and troublesome time. It's nothing that we don't have the military power to handle, but it will put a lot of stresses, we expect, on what happens afterwards.

WHITFIELD: All right, General Clark, thank you very much. Good to see you.

CLARK: 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 March 9, 2003 - 10:13   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Another potential threat to U.S. forces, Iraqi troops wearing U.S. and British uniforms then committing atrocities against their own people. That's according to a report from the U.S. Central Command. What affect might that have on the war? For some answers let's turn to CNN military analyst, retired General Wesley Clark. His book, "Waging Modern War," recalls his experiences as commander of Operation Allied Force, the military action in response to the Kosovo crisis. General Clark joins us from Little Rock, Arkansas.
Good to see you, General.

GEN. WESLEY CLARK, (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Nice to see you, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, well, let's talk about this report and that these Iraqi troops, members of what is being called Fadayeen Saddam, wearing American and British uniforms. What is this group? How many are there and what are they capable of?

CLARK: Well, there might be 15 to 20,000 of them. They are irregular forces. This would be one of the kind of things they might do. And let's say they did buy a thousand U.S. uniforms and they would break up in small bands and as the U.S. forces pass through, they might appear in some areas, maybe in the Shi'a areas. They might try to kill local people, to sabotage, set explosives and blow up bridges and that kind of thing and they'd be doing it all in U.S. uniforms. So this would be a -- it would be political dynamite inside Iraq at that point.

WHITFIELD: And how difficult might it be for U.S. troops themselves in which to identify, you know, enemy versus their own people? I mean, how similar might these uniforms possibly look?

CLARK: Well, we've sold U.S. uniforms all over the world. A lot of countries they have them, so they might be the same uniforms. They're probable not going to have exactly the same patches. And when the soldiers get up close they're going to be able to tell that these are not Americans either by conversation, by the mannerisms or in fact we also have challenges and passwords that we use with each other.

WHITFIELD: And that, of course, is the potential danger though, having to get that close in which to have that kind of conversation. It only puts U.S. forces in greater threat, possibly even being killed by these decoys. CLARK: That's exactly right. It adds an element of tension and danger to all of the encounters that the U.S. forces have even with each other. And so it is a distracter. Is it a major distracter? Is it going to destroy the attack? Certainly not. If they go out and commit atrocities against local people, would that make our mission unsuccessful? Certainly not, but it does add a terribly complicating factor in the minds of the commanders and the troops over there.

WHITFIELD: And this isn't a new innovative tactic. I mean this is something that has been used before, seen in prior wars. The Koreans have been accused of doing that and evidence of that taking place with the Nazis as well. So you -- it would seem that U.S. military forces are being trained on this very type of decoy.

CLARK: Well, we know this may happen because, for example, in the case of practicing for potential conflict on the Korean Peninsula, it's always been assumed that the North Koreans would somehow manage to infiltrate, that some of them would be wearing South Korean uniforms and posing as South Korean soldiers. So we're aware of the tactic. It was used in World War II as well against the United States and we had challenge and password problems. But still, it's one more factor on a very complicated battlefield. It is difficult to deal with and it's something that we'd rather not deal with.

WHITFIELD: And another factor now compounding this situation is now this new report saying that al Qaeda operatives may be operating inside Iraq, that they have been seen operating inside Baghdad. Now, this is yet another threat that allied forces, including the U.S. would have to deal with.

CLARK: That's right, Fredricka, and this is not something that was unanticipated. We always knew that in the aftermath of this conflict or even as the first armor rolls through, there will be groups who will be struggling with each other and there will be groups who will want to make a statement by attacking the Americans. And so, we're always going to be on the lookout and make sure that we're doing everything we can to protect ourselves.

And the real fear that many of us have had is that in the aftermath of the victory over Saddam Hussein's forces, what we're going to have is an explosion of al Qaeda's recruitment in Iraq not only from the stay behind cells that are there, but from Islamic charities that come in. And so, I know that our leaders over there, the military and the civilian leaders, are working to try to get a hold of this, but this is a challenge for us.

WHITFIELD: And that presents another problem if indeed there is occupation and that led by U.S. forces. Then they have to continue to deal with that potential enemy.

CLARK: That's exactly right. When Saddam's forces are defeated, that won't be the end of the strive and the conflict there in all probability. We'll have various factions inside Iraq, which will be contending with each other. Some of them seeking revenge, some of them seeking political power and as I said, some of them seeking to make a statement against us and drive us out of the country. So this will be a difficult and troublesome time. It's nothing that we don't have the military power to handle, but it will put a lot of stresses, we expect, on what happens afterwards.

WHITFIELD: All right, General Clark, thank you very much. Good to see you.

CLARK: 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