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CNN Live Sunday
Garner to Be Replaced by Paul Bremer
Aired May 11, 2003 - 16:01 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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: After only weeks as Iraq's civil administrator, retired General Jay Garner will be replaced by former U.S. diplomat Paul Bremer. Administration officials say the power shift was always part of the plan, but others say the timetable has been moved up due to criticism of the interim administration. CNN's Chris Plante is live at the Pentagon with more on that -- Chris.
CHRIS PLANTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All right, Fredricka. That's right. There's been some frustration with the pace of reconstruction in Iraq. Parts of Baghdad. Pardon me. Parts of Baghdad still without reliable electricity. Some areas without fuel, some areas still without water, and that's a little behind the timetable some would like to see. General Garner has only been on the ground there for three weeks, but Paul Bremer, former diplomat, now in the region to start taking the process over from General Garner. It originally had been hoped that General Garner might stay on and work under Ambassador Bremer. That doesn't appear to be the case any longer.
It's now expected that Mr. Bremer will come in, a two to three week transition period will take place, and Jay Garner will leave, leaving Mr. Bremer in charge -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: And now, Chris, there is talk of the U.S. military, which has been leading the search for weapons of mass destruction maybe handing off a good part of the responsibility. What's the story on that?
PLANTE: Well, there's a military-led unit in charge of searching suspected sites throughout the country of Iraq. They have scoured scores of sites throughout the country looking for weapons of mass destruction. They have produced very little in the way of a smoking gun so far, but now the search is broadening in some sense and a new, what they're calling the Iraqi survey group which will include about a thousand mostly civilian inspectors, will come into Iraq and essentially taking over the search which will be broader and will focus to a large extent on documents that may have already been found, documents they expect to they will continue to uncover and interrogations and interviews with Iraqis, both officials from the former regime and ordinary Iraqis who the Pentagon is still hopeful they'll lead the U.S. Officials to, if not caches of chemical weapons than proof of the existence of a variety of chemical weapons programs. Fredricka?
WHITFIELD: All right, Chris Plante from the Pentagon.
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 May 11, 2003 - 16:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: After only weeks as Iraq's civil administrator, retired General Jay Garner will be replaced by former U.S. diplomat Paul Bremer. Administration officials say the power shift was always part of the plan, but others say the timetable has been moved up due to criticism of the interim administration. CNN's Chris Plante is live at the Pentagon with more on that -- Chris.
CHRIS PLANTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All right, Fredricka. That's right. There's been some frustration with the pace of reconstruction in Iraq. Parts of Baghdad. Pardon me. Parts of Baghdad still without reliable electricity. Some areas without fuel, some areas still without water, and that's a little behind the timetable some would like to see. General Garner has only been on the ground there for three weeks, but Paul Bremer, former diplomat, now in the region to start taking the process over from General Garner. It originally had been hoped that General Garner might stay on and work under Ambassador Bremer. That doesn't appear to be the case any longer.
It's now expected that Mr. Bremer will come in, a two to three week transition period will take place, and Jay Garner will leave, leaving Mr. Bremer in charge -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: And now, Chris, there is talk of the U.S. military, which has been leading the search for weapons of mass destruction maybe handing off a good part of the responsibility. What's the story on that?
PLANTE: Well, there's a military-led unit in charge of searching suspected sites throughout the country of Iraq. They have scoured scores of sites throughout the country looking for weapons of mass destruction. They have produced very little in the way of a smoking gun so far, but now the search is broadening in some sense and a new, what they're calling the Iraqi survey group which will include about a thousand mostly civilian inspectors, will come into Iraq and essentially taking over the search which will be broader and will focus to a large extent on documents that may have already been found, documents they expect to they will continue to uncover and interrogations and interviews with Iraqis, both officials from the former regime and ordinary Iraqis who the Pentagon is still hopeful they'll lead the U.S. Officials to, if not caches of chemical weapons than proof of the existence of a variety of chemical weapons programs. Fredricka?
WHITFIELD: All right, Chris Plante from the Pentagon.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
