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CNN Saturday Morning News

An Overview of the Area Surrounding Afghanistan

Aired October 13, 2001 - 10:18   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.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Could the war on terrorism be expanded to targets outside Afghanistan, and what countries have what ties to terrorism that most concern the experts?

Kyra Phillips has been looking into that, and she joins us right now -- Kyra.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Marty. That's right. We are going to address that and we're going to address it on our new set. We want to introduce this to you. This is what we are calling our map floor. Now, this is not only helping me as a journalist but we hope that it's going to help all of you, our viewers, better understand this region, the dynamics of this region.

As you know, we have been focusing a lot of our attention here on Afghanistan. But as we talk with our experts, particularly our CNN military experts, the issue of weapons of mass destruction is something that is being talked about now not only within Afghanistan, but you know, all the surrounding countries -- Syria, Iraq, Iran. We're going to talk about these now with General Don Shepperd.

Good morning, sir.

MAJ. GEN. DON SHEPPERD (RET.), CNN ANALYST: Good morning, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, why don't we go ahead and start off in Syria or in Iraq, rather Iraq. You spent time at the Pentagon during the time of the war against Iraq. Is this of great concern?

SHEPPERD: Very much concern. We know that during the Iraq -- during the Gulf War, they had stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons. We thought they would employ them. We were concerned about it for our troops. The U.N. sanctions came off. They still have those. We're worried about it. If you're going to deal with it -- you deal with terrorism; you have to be very, concerned about Iraq. They're also pursuing nuclear weapons and we know that.

PHILLIPS: Are we talking about the plutonium and uranium that they got during the -- or the black market -- on the black market?

SHEPPERD: It's possible to get that through the black market. You still have to make it into a weapon. The Israelis hit the Osiric reactor (ph) in 1982. We hit the nuclear research facilities again during the Gulf War. But now, the -- we don't know what they've got in the way of facilities there or exactly where they are because the sanctions are off. We have to find out and we have to bring this chemical, biological and nuclear capability of Iraq to a halt.

PHILLIPS: And delivering small pox that's been a concern. Ammunition to do that?

SHEPPERD: It was rumored during the War that they had that capability. We don't know for sure but clearly, they were intending whatever they had to be delivered against Israel. And again, this is a major concern if we're concerned about terrorism in the world.

PHILLIPS: You mentioned that Israel -- Iran, this is a country that the United States and Israel has been keeping their eyes on, right?

SHEPPERD: Yes, Iran's the big country in the area, the big power, if you will. Now, remember, these are Persians and these are Arabs over here. But again, chemical and biological weapons here that we know for sure. We know for sure about chemical. They were employed in the Iraq-Iran War. And they are also pursing nuclear capability. So here you have two powers. Both of which are involved in support of terrorism. Both of which have chemical -- rumored biological capabilities and both pursuing nuclear capabilities. This is a major concern for everybody in the world right here.

PHILLIPS: All right, moving from Iran, let's take it back over here to Syria. No evidence yet though of biological weapons or any nuclear test weapons.

SHEPPERD: Chemical, for sure. Nuclear, we don't think so. Biological, possible. But again, Syria is the key for support for terrorism in the Bekka Valley and the Lebanon area. And of course, the Israeli-Arab conflict overlies everything in this area. Again, a major support of terrorism in this area and it has to be dealt with. We're trying to do it diplomatically. The president has talked about the new president of Syria and trying to bring new diplomats into the new world. We hope so, so we don't have to deal with any of these things militarily. On the other hand, this has to be dealt with.

PHILLIPS: And you mentioned about stockpiles there. Are we talking about VX and mustard gas?

SHEPPERD: Yes, we're talking about chemical weapons and mustard gas of the type that you talked about there in all of these areas.

PHILLIPS: OK, now we definitely have to talk about Libya as we head back over to Afghanistan. Of course, that's more to the west. It's not exactly on our map, but why is Libya of concern?

SHEPPERD: Libya did Pan Am 103. We got one of them. There's others in Libya but they also have been a major of terrorism everywhere in ways that we know about. They also have chemical facilities in Libya. And again, all of these that we've talked about, if you are serious about terrorism, you must deal with them diplomatically, financially, economically and militarily if necessary. But you've got to get the terrorists and the terrorist support out of these, just like the president said, if we're serious.

PHILLIPS: Now, talking about weapons of mass destruction, from a soldier's point-of-view, they are ready for this, correct?

SHEPPERD: They're ready for it. Now, during the Gulf War, our soldiers expected to come back and be under chemical attack. The people that launched on the first strike, some of the kids that were in my organization, came back and they fully expected to land and be under chemical attack when they landed. They were prepared for it. They're trained for it. The military has trained for years. It's not easy.

It's a stupid way of war because it invites massive retaliation of other types. But we know how to operate in a chemical environment and mainly; the effects of it are localized.

PHILLIPS: General Don Shepperd, thank you so much, sir.

SHEPPERD: Pleasure.

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