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CNN Live Sunday

Negotiations Required To Ensure Walker's Safety

Aired January 20, 2002 - 17:04   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 LIN, CNN ANCHOR: As we were saying, it took intense negotiations to work out the plan to move John Walker back to the United States. CNN military analyst General Wesley Clark is in Little Rock, Arkansas right now. General Clark is also the author of "Waging Modern War" good afternoon.

Good afternoon, General.

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Hi, Carol.

LIN: Very Interesting the way the Defense Secretary and John Ashcroft have been talking about this John Walker transfer. Why do you think that these negotiations have been so intense between Justice and the military? What is it they are worried about in transferring him?

CLARK: I think they want to ensure that they have custody, and they have security for John Walker. I think it's a good thing for the Defense Department to turn him over to the Justice Department. I'm sure there has been a lot of pushing inside the Defense Department on Justice to make the decision and go ahead and move out on this thing.

But from the Justice Department perspective it's complicated. You have to have a place to bring him in the United States. It's not clear how much citizen cinema there will be against John Walker, how many threats there will be to his life or something like this when he is tried back here. And there will be a lot of attention on this trial. So, it's handoff to the Justice Department.

LIN: Is there any concern there might be as Qaeda sympathizers in this country who might actually try to help John Walker in some way, maybe even try to help him escape?

CLARK: I think that always has to be a concern, Carol, but in this case I think it is balanced by the concern that there will be a lot of people here who will take what he did very seriously and be very angry about it.

LIN: What are risks, then, in the transfer? He has to go from this battleship to somewhere in Afghanistan or Pakistan where FBI agents are going to pick him up and move him to the United States?

CLARK: There is a physical risk. There is probably some legal risk, because now, the question is, what if he speaks, what if he says something what if he doesn't have an attorney there? Is it admissible or not? So, it's a matter of making sure all the bases are covered before he is moved.

LIN: All right, let's talk about this helicopter crash outside of Bagram Air Base. It involved this helicopter, you are probably familiar with it, the Super Stallion CH-53E. This is the second time they have problems with this helicopter during Operation Enduring Freedom.

CLARK: We have put hundreds of thousands of hours on out helicopter fleet with all work being done by the Marines there. And these are old helicopters. They are under very high usage condition. They are flying some very tough flight profiles that put a lot of strain on the birds and helicopters, they just -- they do have mechanical difficulties -- they do.

LIN: Where is usually the problem?

CLARK: It tends to be normally with hydraulics, because the hydraulics are under a lot of pressure. They are the control systems that actually maneuver the rotor blades back and forth and most of us who have flown on Marine helicopters in the past -- not this one in particular -- but different types of helicopters, including CH-46's, know that they bleed hydraulic fluid. And that has been the typical problem in the past.

LIN: How do you think this investigation is going to be handled, and why wouldn't they ground the other similar helicopters until they really determine the cause?

CLARK: I don't know the answer to that Carol. Normally, if you thin it is a fleet-wide problem, that there is something about it that you can't anticipate, that seems novel, that could be a fleet-wide problem, would you ground the whole fleet. You could make an exception to that based on essential combat requirements. Perhaps that exception has been made here.

On the other hand, this may be something that is not perceived to be a fleet-wide problem. It could be that the mode of failure, once they have gotten to the crash site is so transparent that it doesn't necessitate grounding the fleet. It's hard to say from here.

LIN: We don't have enough information to base a decision on that.

General, I'm just wondering what you make of these reports about Saudi Arabia possibly asking U.S. forces to leave that country. Do you believe these reports?

CLARK: I think there is dissatisfaction in Saudi Arabia with the pressure they are getting from the United States. Prince Bandar and others have made it very clear that they consider that they are going out of their way to help the United States. But on the other hand, we know there is dissatisfaction here with the Saudi's posture.

So I think where there is smoke, there is a little fire there, but I don't see an imminent pullout. What I see instead is a moderation of our posture there, perhaps and a greater attention to build common interest with the Saudis as we move ahead in the war on terrorism.

LIN: Where do you think this is coming from because this has been at the heart of bin Laden's complaint, the U.S. military presence in Saudi Arabia.

CLARK: I think there are dissonant voices inside the Saudi government. There are some in the Saudi government who have always been less comfortable with the American presence. They have had a long-term relationship with their mullahs, most of whom are Wahabi fundamentalists, many of whom have supported a more extreme form of Islam compatible with some of the things that Osama Bin Laden had said and so I think they are trying to balance off competing pressures in the way the Saudis typically do. They try to give a little to both sides and in this case they are giving little bit to their conservative side at home.

LIN: All right, thank you very much, General Clark. You covered a lot of ground today for us. Appreciate it.

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