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CNN Sunday Morning
Interview With Jeff Sessions
Aired August 03, 2003 - 10:07 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.
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN ANCHOR: Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama is visiting Iraq and Afghanistan to get a firsthand look at U.S. peace keeping forces and to get a feel for how much money Congress should spend on the missions.
Senator Sessions now joins us from Baghdad.
Senator Sessions, thanks very much for joining us. You're a member of the Armed Forces Committee. Tell me why you're over there and what you hope to find out on this trip?
SEN. JEFF SESSIONS (R), ALABAMA: Well, first, I want to see how the troops are doing and make sure things are going as well as we can hope for for them. They seem to be doing well on the streets and have good morale everyone I've talked to, but we do know that any given moment their lives can be in danger by some of the assassins that are out there.
It does seem that the city has established council. There are 88 neighborhood councils in Baghdad, for example. They have elected a city council. So it does seem that a government is being established.
CALLEBS: So taking a route to some degree -- I think a lot of people are going to have trouble believing that spirits are still up among the troops out there. There have been a number of reports that those soldiers, Marines have been over there quite some time and many eager to get home after fighting a war and now operating in Baghdad and the surrounding cities?
SESSION: Well, I know some of them have just got to be frustrated and ready to come home. The ones I met understood their mission, looking forward to coming home as soon as possible, but understood that it was important what they were doing. And I didn't -- no one complained to me about it.
Several said they were looking forward to getting home, but -- and really in response to my questioning them. So I think it's amazing how well they've done and the officers are saying the same thing. They're very proud of the morale and the determination and professionalism of the soldiers.
CALLEBS: Senator Sessions, instead of going over with a great deal of lawmakers it's a small group. Are there advantages there?
SESSION: Yes. You get -- I got to do some things I wanted to do. One of them was to look into the establishment of a police force for Iraq. I don't believe we can bring our soldiers home ultimately until we have a police force here.
And now I visited a training center, met the general in charge of the Iraqi police, who was shot in the leg the other night on a raid, seizing a lot of dangerous weapons. He is determined and the leadership seems to be doing well.
They're training 30,000 right now and have really completed that training. So they need to get 60,000 Iraqi police up and trained to be professionals and if that can be done, it will really relieve a lot of pressure.
CALLEBS: What's your concern about the -- I guess the certain degree of support that Saddam Hussein still has over there?
SESSION: There are people here that are Ba'athist loyalists. There may be some coming in from other countries who are Islamic extremists, who just want to take -- be part of this battle and drag it out.
But for the most part the feel you get on the streets is good. I know that danger could break out any moment for our soldiers, but it does look good on the streets as we drove around today.
CALLEBS: And the hunt continues for Saddam Hussein, as well as Osama bin. Laden and from Iraq you plan to go to Afghanistan. What do you hope to find out there?
SESSIONS: Well, I'll just say this about the police officers. I was very impressed with them and I think if we can work with an Iraqi police force, who knows the language and knows the people, they are more likely to be able to get the intelligence that will lead us to Saddam Hussein.
So I'm excited about that possibility and their ability to identify some of these shooters, too.
CALLEBS: Senator Sessions, thanks very much for joining us from Baghdad today. Best of luck on your fact-finding mission over there.
SESSIONS: 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 August 3, 2003 - 10:07 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN ANCHOR: Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama is visiting Iraq and Afghanistan to get a firsthand look at U.S. peace keeping forces and to get a feel for how much money Congress should spend on the missions.
Senator Sessions now joins us from Baghdad.
Senator Sessions, thanks very much for joining us. You're a member of the Armed Forces Committee. Tell me why you're over there and what you hope to find out on this trip?
SEN. JEFF SESSIONS (R), ALABAMA: Well, first, I want to see how the troops are doing and make sure things are going as well as we can hope for for them. They seem to be doing well on the streets and have good morale everyone I've talked to, but we do know that any given moment their lives can be in danger by some of the assassins that are out there.
It does seem that the city has established council. There are 88 neighborhood councils in Baghdad, for example. They have elected a city council. So it does seem that a government is being established.
CALLEBS: So taking a route to some degree -- I think a lot of people are going to have trouble believing that spirits are still up among the troops out there. There have been a number of reports that those soldiers, Marines have been over there quite some time and many eager to get home after fighting a war and now operating in Baghdad and the surrounding cities?
SESSION: Well, I know some of them have just got to be frustrated and ready to come home. The ones I met understood their mission, looking forward to coming home as soon as possible, but understood that it was important what they were doing. And I didn't -- no one complained to me about it.
Several said they were looking forward to getting home, but -- and really in response to my questioning them. So I think it's amazing how well they've done and the officers are saying the same thing. They're very proud of the morale and the determination and professionalism of the soldiers.
CALLEBS: Senator Sessions, instead of going over with a great deal of lawmakers it's a small group. Are there advantages there?
SESSION: Yes. You get -- I got to do some things I wanted to do. One of them was to look into the establishment of a police force for Iraq. I don't believe we can bring our soldiers home ultimately until we have a police force here.
And now I visited a training center, met the general in charge of the Iraqi police, who was shot in the leg the other night on a raid, seizing a lot of dangerous weapons. He is determined and the leadership seems to be doing well.
They're training 30,000 right now and have really completed that training. So they need to get 60,000 Iraqi police up and trained to be professionals and if that can be done, it will really relieve a lot of pressure.
CALLEBS: What's your concern about the -- I guess the certain degree of support that Saddam Hussein still has over there?
SESSION: There are people here that are Ba'athist loyalists. There may be some coming in from other countries who are Islamic extremists, who just want to take -- be part of this battle and drag it out.
But for the most part the feel you get on the streets is good. I know that danger could break out any moment for our soldiers, but it does look good on the streets as we drove around today.
CALLEBS: And the hunt continues for Saddam Hussein, as well as Osama bin. Laden and from Iraq you plan to go to Afghanistan. What do you hope to find out there?
SESSIONS: Well, I'll just say this about the police officers. I was very impressed with them and I think if we can work with an Iraqi police force, who knows the language and knows the people, they are more likely to be able to get the intelligence that will lead us to Saddam Hussein.
So I'm excited about that possibility and their ability to identify some of these shooters, too.
CALLEBS: Senator Sessions, thanks very much for joining us from Baghdad today. Best of luck on your fact-finding mission over there.
SESSIONS: 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
