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CNN Saturday Morning News

Rumsfeld Leaves for Persian Gulf

Aired April 26, 2003 - 08:00   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.


ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: The new Iraq. A U.S. soldier says today's explosion in Baghdad happened because someone intentionally fired flares into a weapons cache. Well, the new tension comes as Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld leaves for the Gulf region.
And CNN's Kathleen Koch is at the Pentagon with more details -- good morning, Kathleen.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Anderson.

Well, regarding this explosion in Baghdad, it does take some time to determine just what happens in incidents like this. So at this point, neither the Pentagon nor Central Command can confirm any of the details, exactly how it happened or how many people were killed or injured or if any U.S. service members were injured.

Now, as you said, it is reported that an assailant purposefully fired a flare into this ordinance dump. A Central Command official tells me that this does, indeed, show that Baghdad is still a very dangerous place to be, that there are still people there who are loyal to the regime and want to cause trouble for U.S. forces. And he also said that it will take a while for the coalition to bring safety and order to Baghdad.

This, of course, does come on the heels yesterday of another round of captures of regime leaders, including Farouk Hijazi, who you see there, former operations chief of Saddam Hussein's intelligence service. Hijazi flew into Syria. He requested asylum but was denied and then somehow ended up in Iraq, where U.S. forces were able to take him under their control.

The defense secretary, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld was asked yesterday if this is proof that neighbors like Syria are now supporting coalition efforts to bring democracy to Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: There's no question but that with the neighbors, you see a mixture of things. You see some things that are, something that was going on that was adverse to the interests of the Iraqi people and certainly adverse to the interests of the coalition, that in some cases have stopped. So you would say gee, that's a good thing. That's a plus.

And then there are some things that are still continuing, which are minuses. So it's a mixture of things that you see and it's not a perfectly clear picture as to either the country of Syria or Iran.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOCH: Secretary Rumsfeld leaves this morning on a week long visit to the region. The Pentagon is not releasing his itinerary for security reasons. However, it is, has been made clear, though, that the Secretary is at least making his first visit to Iraq since the fighting began more than a month ago. And, Anderson, one thing, of course, on his itinerary is that he will definitely be meeting with U.S. forces there -- back to you.

COOPER: No doubt about that. And I was in Kabul when he -- actually, in Qatar when he came to meet, and he responds very well to U.S. forces and they respond well to him. He's quite good at giving speeches in front of troops.

KOCH: Is that so?

COOPER: Kathleen Koch at the Pentagon, thanks very much.

We want to take you to the White House now, where our correspondent Chris Burns is efforting reaction on this morning's Baghdad blast -- Good morning, Chris.

CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Anderson.

No initial comment yet back from the White House. However, President Bush has said and continually has said that Iraq remains a very dangerous place. The president, in speeches since the conflict started to wind down, had said that it still remains a dangerous place, the troops are still out there facing possible peril, trying to stabilize the country. It's going to take some time. The president is going to be traveling to Dearborn, Michigan on Monday to speak with Arab-Americans, including Iraqi-Americans, to talk about the reconstruction of Iraq, which could take some time, rebuilding that government, rebuilding the country.

Also traveling on Thursday to San Diego to spend the night on the USS Lincoln, the aircraft carrier coming back from the Gulf. He'll be meeting with the forces there, the soldiers coming back and congratulating them, also possibly giving some kind of a speech talking about how the conflict has gone well. However, the White House continues to say and has said as late as yesterday that the president will not declare any kind of end of the conflict. They're avoiding even the word victory until General Tommy Franks and the U.S. Central Command and the other commanders tell the president that they are at the point where the conflict is over and they are now turning the page and shifting toward reconstruction.

But it is a drawn out process and perhaps this blast indicates that perhaps the, if not the conflict, that it still remains a dangerous place in Iraq, and that is why President Bush is, one reason why he is reluctant to declare any kind of victory right now.

COOPER: All right, Chris Burns at the White House, thanks very much.

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 26, 2003 - 08:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: The new Iraq. A U.S. soldier says today's explosion in Baghdad happened because someone intentionally fired flares into a weapons cache. Well, the new tension comes as Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld leaves for the Gulf region.
And CNN's Kathleen Koch is at the Pentagon with more details -- good morning, Kathleen.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Anderson.

Well, regarding this explosion in Baghdad, it does take some time to determine just what happens in incidents like this. So at this point, neither the Pentagon nor Central Command can confirm any of the details, exactly how it happened or how many people were killed or injured or if any U.S. service members were injured.

Now, as you said, it is reported that an assailant purposefully fired a flare into this ordinance dump. A Central Command official tells me that this does, indeed, show that Baghdad is still a very dangerous place to be, that there are still people there who are loyal to the regime and want to cause trouble for U.S. forces. And he also said that it will take a while for the coalition to bring safety and order to Baghdad.

This, of course, does come on the heels yesterday of another round of captures of regime leaders, including Farouk Hijazi, who you see there, former operations chief of Saddam Hussein's intelligence service. Hijazi flew into Syria. He requested asylum but was denied and then somehow ended up in Iraq, where U.S. forces were able to take him under their control.

The defense secretary, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld was asked yesterday if this is proof that neighbors like Syria are now supporting coalition efforts to bring democracy to Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: There's no question but that with the neighbors, you see a mixture of things. You see some things that are, something that was going on that was adverse to the interests of the Iraqi people and certainly adverse to the interests of the coalition, that in some cases have stopped. So you would say gee, that's a good thing. That's a plus.

And then there are some things that are still continuing, which are minuses. So it's a mixture of things that you see and it's not a perfectly clear picture as to either the country of Syria or Iran.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOCH: Secretary Rumsfeld leaves this morning on a week long visit to the region. The Pentagon is not releasing his itinerary for security reasons. However, it is, has been made clear, though, that the Secretary is at least making his first visit to Iraq since the fighting began more than a month ago. And, Anderson, one thing, of course, on his itinerary is that he will definitely be meeting with U.S. forces there -- back to you.

COOPER: No doubt about that. And I was in Kabul when he -- actually, in Qatar when he came to meet, and he responds very well to U.S. forces and they respond well to him. He's quite good at giving speeches in front of troops.

KOCH: Is that so?

COOPER: Kathleen Koch at the Pentagon, thanks very much.

We want to take you to the White House now, where our correspondent Chris Burns is efforting reaction on this morning's Baghdad blast -- Good morning, Chris.

CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Anderson.

No initial comment yet back from the White House. However, President Bush has said and continually has said that Iraq remains a very dangerous place. The president, in speeches since the conflict started to wind down, had said that it still remains a dangerous place, the troops are still out there facing possible peril, trying to stabilize the country. It's going to take some time. The president is going to be traveling to Dearborn, Michigan on Monday to speak with Arab-Americans, including Iraqi-Americans, to talk about the reconstruction of Iraq, which could take some time, rebuilding that government, rebuilding the country.

Also traveling on Thursday to San Diego to spend the night on the USS Lincoln, the aircraft carrier coming back from the Gulf. He'll be meeting with the forces there, the soldiers coming back and congratulating them, also possibly giving some kind of a speech talking about how the conflict has gone well. However, the White House continues to say and has said as late as yesterday that the president will not declare any kind of end of the conflict. They're avoiding even the word victory until General Tommy Franks and the U.S. Central Command and the other commanders tell the president that they are at the point where the conflict is over and they are now turning the page and shifting toward reconstruction.

But it is a drawn out process and perhaps this blast indicates that perhaps the, if not the conflict, that it still remains a dangerous place in Iraq, and that is why President Bush is, one reason why he is reluctant to declare any kind of victory right now.

COOPER: All right, Chris Burns at the White House, thanks very much.

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