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CNN Saturday Morning News

Military Objectives at Pentagon

Aired April 12, 2003 - 05:06   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.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Most of Iraq is now under coalition control, but the battle goes on for Saddam Hussein's ancestral home of Tikrit.
Let's get an update now from the Pentagon with CNN's Kathleen Koch.

And, Kathleen, coalition forces think this may be the major last stand. Is there a sense that it will be today, though?

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, they're pulling back a little bit. There had been really references by the military to Tikrit as a "fortress city." Saddam Hussein had spent a lot of money fortifying this city, making it very strong, putting lots of reinforcements, and initially the belief was lots of troops there.

But now military strategists are -- they have new information, new intelligence, that's leading them to believe that any pockets of resistance there may simply be evaporation, melting away, as the few remaining soldiers believe that they no longer have anything or perhaps anyone to fight for, and that does bring us to the point of Saddam Hussein. Could he, could his family members, could any remaining Baath Party loyalist be holed up there in Tikrit?

Very intriguing information that Marty Savidge just put forward.

The U.S. military has, though, been able to pick up some conversations between low-level Iraqi leaders, saying that they believe that Saddam Hussein has been killed.

However, the defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, is not convinced.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: I do not personally have -- not personally seen enough intelligence from reliable sources, and not single-source conclusions, but multiple sources, that are reliable that would enable me to walk up and say that I have conviction that he's dead. I also lack conviction that he's alive. I promise you I'm not keeping anything from you. If I had conviction I would say so, and I don't, and I see a lot of information.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOCH: One place Saddam Hussein, though, is showing up, or will soon be showing up, is on a new deck of cards that is being issued by the Pentagon. They're going out to soldiers in the field in Iraq. There you see Saddam Hussein, the ace of spades, his sons, Uday and Qusay, will be the aces of hearts and clubs. And it has, again, 52 members of the ruling elite, sometimes faces, sometimes just their names.

And this is a tactic that has been used before by the military. During the Cold War they put images of Russian tanks and Russian missiles on playing cards to help troops learn those, learn how to recognize them. So this is basically putting a new face on an old tool -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Exactly. You know, it just continues to seem so strange. You know, they have this deck of cards with 52 of Iraq's elite leaders, and they're all gone at the same time or missing. It sort of makes you believe there was some sort of order put out for them all to disappear at one time.

KOCH: Carol, there was a belief here at the Pentagon that they did have in place many members of the Baath Party, Saddam Hussein, those who were close to him, that they had plans on how they would react if Baghdad fell, where they would go, if they would use -- there are said to be many systems of underground tunnels and bunkers in Baghdad, and perhaps going outside the city and connecting it to surrounding areas.

So the belief was firm that they did have some sort of a standby plan, an escape plan in place, though obviously the Pentagon doesn't know what it was or where they've gone.

COSTELLO: Yes, but coalition forces are searching those underground bunkers now in Baghdad and elsewhere throughout Iraq. Thank you, Kathleen Koch reporting live from the Pentagon 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 April 12, 2003 - 05:06   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Most of Iraq is now under coalition control, but the battle goes on for Saddam Hussein's ancestral home of Tikrit.
Let's get an update now from the Pentagon with CNN's Kathleen Koch.

And, Kathleen, coalition forces think this may be the major last stand. Is there a sense that it will be today, though?

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, they're pulling back a little bit. There had been really references by the military to Tikrit as a "fortress city." Saddam Hussein had spent a lot of money fortifying this city, making it very strong, putting lots of reinforcements, and initially the belief was lots of troops there.

But now military strategists are -- they have new information, new intelligence, that's leading them to believe that any pockets of resistance there may simply be evaporation, melting away, as the few remaining soldiers believe that they no longer have anything or perhaps anyone to fight for, and that does bring us to the point of Saddam Hussein. Could he, could his family members, could any remaining Baath Party loyalist be holed up there in Tikrit?

Very intriguing information that Marty Savidge just put forward.

The U.S. military has, though, been able to pick up some conversations between low-level Iraqi leaders, saying that they believe that Saddam Hussein has been killed.

However, the defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, is not convinced.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: I do not personally have -- not personally seen enough intelligence from reliable sources, and not single-source conclusions, but multiple sources, that are reliable that would enable me to walk up and say that I have conviction that he's dead. I also lack conviction that he's alive. I promise you I'm not keeping anything from you. If I had conviction I would say so, and I don't, and I see a lot of information.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOCH: One place Saddam Hussein, though, is showing up, or will soon be showing up, is on a new deck of cards that is being issued by the Pentagon. They're going out to soldiers in the field in Iraq. There you see Saddam Hussein, the ace of spades, his sons, Uday and Qusay, will be the aces of hearts and clubs. And it has, again, 52 members of the ruling elite, sometimes faces, sometimes just their names.

And this is a tactic that has been used before by the military. During the Cold War they put images of Russian tanks and Russian missiles on playing cards to help troops learn those, learn how to recognize them. So this is basically putting a new face on an old tool -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Exactly. You know, it just continues to seem so strange. You know, they have this deck of cards with 52 of Iraq's elite leaders, and they're all gone at the same time or missing. It sort of makes you believe there was some sort of order put out for them all to disappear at one time.

KOCH: Carol, there was a belief here at the Pentagon that they did have in place many members of the Baath Party, Saddam Hussein, those who were close to him, that they had plans on how they would react if Baghdad fell, where they would go, if they would use -- there are said to be many systems of underground tunnels and bunkers in Baghdad, and perhaps going outside the city and connecting it to surrounding areas.

So the belief was firm that they did have some sort of a standby plan, an escape plan in place, though obviously the Pentagon doesn't know what it was or where they've gone.

COSTELLO: Yes, but coalition forces are searching those underground bunkers now in Baghdad and elsewhere throughout Iraq. Thank you, Kathleen Koch reporting live from the Pentagon 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.