-Leading To War-

9/8/2002

Gen. Richard Myers

This Week - ABC

No website at this time - transcript from Lexus-Nexus

ABC News Transcripts

SAM DONALDSON

(Off Camera) Cokie, joining us now is the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Richard Myers. Welcome, General Myers.

GENERAL RICHARD MYERS,

CHAIRMAN, JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF

Sam, good to be here, thank you.

SAM DONALDSON

(Off Camera) What about these reports that Saddam has been trying to buy aluminum tubes for centrifuges to enrich uranium, of course, to make an atomic bomb?

GENERAL RICHARD MYERS

We've known for, for quite some time that he's got chemical and biological weapons and a, and an interest in nuclear weapons, and this is very consistent with what we've known all along, and I think represents the facts as they are.

SAM DONALDSON

(Off Camera) Well, the reports say that he actually wasn't able to purchase this material. Does that track with your information?

GENERAL RICHARD MYERS

I believe that's correct. But it doesn't, his intent, though, is to, is to, uh, better his nuclear program, and he's gonna go to any means to do that, we think.

SAM DONALDSON

(Off Camera) Intent is very important in the debate that's going on, General, as you know. Let's take a look at what President Bush said yesterday at Camp David, when he was standing with Tony Blair, Britain's Prime Minister.

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH, UNITED STATES

I would remind you that when the inspectors first went into Iraq and were denied, finally denied access, a report came out of the atomic, uh, the, uh, the, the, the IAEA, that they were six months away from developing a weapon. I don't know what more evidence we need.

SAM DONALDSON

(Off Camera) Would you make the President as saying by that, that they have an atomic weapon, because the IAEA said they were six months away from developing one?

GENERAL RICHARD MYERS

I think the, the evidence is we don't, we don't think so, but let me just say that our intelligence is always imperfect, and we usually find out, uh, that, uh, that what we don't know is the most troublesome, and in this case, so we don't know. But, uh, our estimate is that at this point he does not have a nuclear weapon, but he wants one.

SAM DONALDSON

(Off Camera) Well, when the President said that's all the evidence we need, that was a rhetorical flourish, or what?

GENERAL RICHARD MYERS

No, I think it goes back to the whole intent issue. And one of the things we learned from September 11th was that, uh, uh, the intent of the terrorists and those who would supply him with weapons of mass destruction is very, very clear. They're, uh, to wipe out our way of life, uh, uh, friends and allies, innocence, um, and so when you, when you put that intent with capabilities, such as Iraq has, and chemical and biological and, uh, the quest for nuclear weapons, then you have to be very, very concerned.

SAM DONALDSON

(Off Camera) Senator Zell Miller, the Democrat of Georgia, writes an op-ed piece in "The Washington Post" this morning, in which he lists a number of questions he says his constituents down at Marianne's Restaurant in Georgia have asked him. Most of them are policy questions. But the first one is certainly a military matter. I just want to ask you. He says even if Hussein has nukes, does he have the capability of reaching New York or Los Angeles or Atlanta?"

GENERAL RICHARD MYERS

I think the folks at Marianne's Restaurant, or wherever it is, are asking the right questions. My answer to that would be, it goes back to the nexus between terrorists and, and, and weapons of mass destruction. We know that terrorists would like to kill thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, perhaps more, of, of innocent people, both Americans and our friends and allies. We, we know that for certainly. We've seen it in their words, we've seen it in their documents. And so what you have to worry about is terrorists getting their hands on these weapons of mass destruction. Now . . .

SAM DONALDSON

(Off Camera) But can they deliver them, General? I guess that's what the intent of the question . . .

GENERAL RICHARD MYERS

There are lots of ways to deliver these weapons. We can think about traditional Cold War ways, using intercontinental ballistic missiles and so forth, but there are other ways, I mean, their agents could carry in biological or chemical, uh, agents and, and, uh, disperse them. Perhaps you could even do the same with nuclear devices, so it's, it's all a big worry, and let me just go back. The intent is very clear. There is no doubt about the terrorists' intent.

SAM DONALDSON

(Off Camera) I saw a story the other day, talking about drones that Saddam Hussein may have perfected to spread biological and chemical weapons in the area of nearby Iraq. What can you tell us about those?

GENERAL RICHARD MYERS

We know that since the '80s, 1980s that Iraq has had an interest in unmanned aerial vehicles. In fact, their interest almost predates our interest in unmanned aerial vehicles, and we know they have experimented with spray tanks and so forth, and so we think that's an avenue that they're pursuing, as well. So, I mean, it's a, a broad spectrum of delivery capabilities that they're looking at.

SAM DONALDSON

(Off Camera) General, in 1991, during that war, as you'll recall, we never did find many of the locations of Saddam's scud missile launchers. Do you know where they are today? If an attack occurs and Saddam decides to loose them, can we preempt his delivery of them to say, Israel?

GENERAL RICHARD MYERS

We will be better today than we were, uh, 10, 12 years ago.

SAM DONALDSON

Is better good enough?

GENERAL RICHARD MYERS

Absolutely better. Uh, and, it, you know, we don't know yet, but let me just say this, we, we think he has some scud missiles left and some number of launchers. There has been a lot of work in the last decade on exactly how to do exactly what you say, and that is to find, uh, launch sites and then preempt so he cannot, uh, threaten his neighbor, either Israel or Kuwait or Saudi Arabia or Turkey, whoever, Jordan, and if it ever came to that, if the President ever decided we had to take action against Iraq, that would be job number one.

SAM DONALDSON

(Off Camera) The President has made it clear he intends to change the regime, and he says doing nothing is not an option. What is the capability, in your estimate, of Iraq's ability with its army, its air force, to combat any military move we should make against it?

GENERAL RICHARD MYERS

This is getting into the areas where I've gotta be very careful, 'cause as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, anything I say along these lines operationally, of course, can be, can be used, uh, by adversaries and others, so . . .

SAM DONALDSON

(Off Camera) I understand, sir, but, of course, Iraq clearly must know its own capabilities, so to ask you to give your estimate of its capability might not give it information it doesn't have.

GENERAL RICHARD MYERS

I, um, we think their capabilities today are much less than they were, uh, during Desert Storm. On the other hand, the US armed forces and the armed forces of our friends and allies are much stronger. I'll give you one example. We used about five percent of the munitions we used in Desert Storm were precision-guided munitions, and in Afghanistan, approximately 55 percent to 65 percent of our munitions were precision-guided munitions, so a lot has changed on the US armed forces side, and on his side, of course, he has been somewhat hampered by the, um, restrictions put on him in the oil-for-food program, although he has found ways to circumvent much of that. But we think he is a much weakened military, and the only thing I would say, if the President decides that military action is needed against Iraq, US armed forces and our allies will prevail.

SAM DONALDSON

(Off Camera) Urban combat, according to "Time" magazine's latest issue, is what you, meaning military planners, fear the most from the standpoint of potential casualties and difficulty. Tell us about urban combat, if it, if it comes to fighting within the City of Baghdad, for instance.

GENERAL RICHARD MYERS

This is going to get into operational matters I've just got to stay away from, and, and I would just caution people that there are lots of ways, uh, uh, to defeat an enemy, to have the effects on the battlefield that you want to have. Door-to-door fighting would be one of those ways. There are many other ways, and I can guarantee you that, uh, that, you know, we're, we're looking at all those options with respect not just to Iraq, but how we conduct warfare in the 21st century.

SAM DONALDSON

(Off Camera) I bring it up, because of course, sir, one of the parts of the debate is whether casualties, and to what extent it would occur. And the American public, I think, probably is interested in that. This report in "Time" also says that Pentagon planners fear that traditionally there could be 30 percent casualties in an urban combat situation. The Pentagon regularly makes estimates of casualties. I know they did during the Gulf War. Can you give us any indication of what you think might happen?

GENERAL RICHARD MYERS

Well, again, I, I think this starts to get into operational, uh, matters. In a, in a hypothetical situation, since the President hasn't said to take any action against Iraq, but in general, uh, you know, an urban situation is a, is a very, very tough situation. But it's one for the last, uh, decade at least that the army and the US marine corps have worked on very hard, as well as the US air force and the, and the navy. So it's, it's not a, it's not a situation we're unfamiliar with, but, but nothing, uh, nothing dictates that that's where we go. I mean, that, uh, in terms of your objectives, that you may not have to go there, so . . .

SAM DONALDSON

(Off Camera) Well, the objective the President has made clear is to change the regime, which clearly Saddam Hussein is a target, is the head of the regime at the moment.

GENERAL RICHARD MYERS

Right, but I, but I don't think that equates to urban warfare necessarily. There are other ways to, to do, uh, a military job, disregarding Iraq for a while, but there are other ways to get the effects we want, and, and this is probably as much as I probably oughta say.

SAM DONALDSON

(Off Camera) All right, sir. One, one of them of course could be use of special forces, special units, elite units. And I saw a report the other day that some leaders of some of these units are frustrated by having to continue to look for Osama bin Laden, let's say, in Afghanistan, when we don't have specific information as to where his whereabouts might be, and some have been reported to tell "The New York Times" at least, that they think it could better be used, these units, someplace else.

GENERAL RICHARD MYERS

Well, you know, as this war on terrorism evolves, as the adversary changes its tactics and its techniques, we've got to change ours, as well. And you might use special forces for one thing today, and you might be using them for something else in the future. And we continually evaluate that, and I can guarantee you that the Secretary of Defense and the senior military leadership are focused on that almost on a daily basis on, on how we use our forces, and how we best use them.

SAM DONALDSON

(Off Camera) General Myers, good soldiers like you, which currently say that you will do and carry out a mission that your civilian leaders ask you to. I understand that. But my question now is, do we have enough forces fighting in Afghanistan to continue that operation if the President should decide to mount a military operation against Iraq, to fulfill our other obligations around the world and to stay on guard against threats we may not even perceive? Are we up to speed?

GENERAL RICHARD MYERS

We, to put it in your terms, we are up to speed. We have looked at it over the last many months, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, all of us together review this regularly. We have the forces to carry out the strategy that came out of the quarter annual Defense Review right after the Bush Administration came in and right after Secretary Rumsfeld came to the Pentagon. We can, we have the forces. We have the readiness, and we have the people that are willing and able to carry out that strategy, which means we can do more than one thing at a time.

SAM DONALDSON

(Off Camera) General Myers, the regrettable incident lately in Afghanistan where a wedding party was killed, your report Friday said that there was anti-aircraft fire on US forces from that compound or near enough so that it had to be hit, and yet your own report says that two to four hours after the incident, and I quote it, "there were no weapons or spent cartridges of any type readily observed within the compound." What do you make of that?

GENERAL RICHARD MYERS

What I make of that is this is not an unusual tactic for the terrorists to use. They have hidden behind civilians before, and they will do it in the future.

SAM DONALDSON

(Off Camera) Did they remove the weapons, remove the cartridges within two to four hours?

GENERAL RICHARD MYERS

We have found, uh, we have gone into places where we think there are casualties, enemy casualties, and found that they are, there's, there's, there's no trace of blood. There's no trace of enemies. They are very quick to police up the area. There is no doubt, though, that these aircraft were fired upon. They saw it from the air. They saw it by . . .

SAM DONALDSON

(Off Camera) Intentionally fired on?

GENERAL RICHARD MYERS

Yes, intentionally fired on, they saw it from the air, they saw it from our observers on the ground and Afghan eyewitnesses said yes, they were shooting at the aircraft. That's what the investigation shows. It's really unfortunate that, that innocents were, were killed in that.

SAM DONALDSON

(Off Camera) General Myers, thanks very much for being with us today.

GENERAL RICHARD MYERS

Sam, thank you and thanks for the privilege to be here on your last show.

SAM DONALDSON

Always good to see you, first, last or always.

GENERAL RICHARD MYERS

Thank you, sir.