Federal News Service Transcript - Recent Trip to Iraq

Federal News Service

July 3, 2003 Thursday

HEADLINE: PRESS CONFERENCE WITH SENATOR JOHN WARNER (R-VA); SENATOR CARL LEVIN (D-MI); SENATOR JAY ROCKEFELLER (D-WV); SENATOR SUSAN COLLINS (R-ME); SENATOR JACK REED (D-RI); SENATOR BEN NELSON (D-NE); SENATOR PAT ROBERTS (R-KS); AND SENATOR MARK DAYTON (D-MN)
 
TOPIC: RECENT TRIP TO IRAQ
 
LOCATION: SENATE RADIO/TV GALLERY, WASHINGTON, D.C.

SEN. REED: Well, thanks very much, Mr. Chairman. It was a privilege traveling with my colleagues, and it was an even greater privilege to visit with American forces in Iraq. I was particularly pleased to be able to see some of my Rhode Islanders, some National Guardsmen and women from our MP Brigade who were there.

The conventional battle is over, but the fighting goes on. There is insurgent action that is directed at our troops in a very calculated, very determined way. These insurgents are composed of unrepentant Baathists. They have nothing to lose. And based upon what we saw in terms of their conduct before, they will stoop to anything to survive and persevere—although Islamic fundamentalists and criminal elements.

Our military forces are taking the right approach. They are very aggressive in trying to sweep through, disrupt these networks, capture individuals and capture caches of weapons, and there are extraordinary amounts of weapons and ammunition in Iraq.

Now, the security situation is inextricably linked to the economic and social progress. You can't have one without the other. We cannot have security in Iraq without economic progress and political progress, and we can't have political progress or economic progress without security. The Iraq people are plagued by a residual fear of Saddam Hussein. But also I think they are standing back somewhat wary, trying to determine who will be the next face of Iraq. And also will their lives be improved? And at this junction in many places those lives have not yet been improved.

As my colleagues have indicated, there are three distinct areas in Iraq. In the north we visited with the 4th Infantry Division and soldiers of the 173rd Airborne Brigade, and they are making quite a bit progress. Their units are actually living in Kirkuk, small units. They feel safe enough and secure enough, and their presence establishes a sense of security so that the local police can also operate there.

But they have a thorny task. As Chairman Warner suggested and we were told, there are still over 2,344 ammunition supply points in that area, containing all sorts of ammunition that have to be secured. It just gives you an indication of the proliferation of small arms and conventional weapons throughout Iraq.

In the South, the British seem very confident of what's taking place and what will take place, although we—they had an incident just a few days ago in al-Amarah.

The Iranian influence has not been suggested by military leaders as being critical at this moment, although I think everyone recognizes Iran is intensely interested in what is happening in Iraq, particularly in southern Iraq. It is in the central part of Iraq, Baghdad and to the west and to the immediate south, where the critical struggle is taking place, where the security situation is most challenged. And we have to do our utmost to resolve that security situation.

Having undertaken this mission, we must follow through. It will take years and great resources, including a robust presence of American forces, even with international help. And we can anticipate waves of violence directed against our troops, and some of these could be intense waves of violence.

In some respects, we're in a race, a very complicated race. We're sprinting to establish a minimum level of order, security, economic process and a political process.

And when we finish that sprint, we'll begin a long marathon to sustain what we've built.

Thank you.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

SEN. REED: Well, the sense I have is that they are starting off at a very, very low level organization. But there's some signs that they are being better organized --

SEN. WARNER: They're learning.

SEN. REED: -- and they're learning. And that's discouraging to us to find that out. And there are basically three groups. There are the former Army, former Ba'athists. There are Islamic fundamentalists. And then there's just criminal elements. One fear is that these three groups will somehow find common cause against us. And that would be a significant problem. And perhaps the greatest problem, though, that at some point—and again, if we don't get the economy moving and start the social progress that we all think is so imperative, that these cells could tap into general unhappiness of the Iraqi people. And that would be a major obstacle to our progress in Iraq.

As the chairman said, a lot of the incidents, particularly up north, are situations where, from a military standpoint, they're completely ineffectual: firing RPGs at safe houses, barely hitting them, if at all, and then running away immediately. But there are other instances, particularly in the central area, where there's a much more—high level of sophistication.

Again, it comes down to a race against time. We have to go in and preempt these emerging cells, disrupt their communication, and arrest the individuals. If we don't, then they'll get more sophisticated, they'll get better coordinated, and we'll have a much more difficult challenge.

SEN. WARNER: Wouldn't you say that the briefing we got at the 4th ID about those three operations, the magnitude of them fit the exact description of what you say we've got to do?

SEN. REED: In the 4th ID they conducted three operations, combination air-ground operations with Special Forces. They isolated an area, went in and seized individuals who were actively plotting, seized caches of RPGs. Yes, they're doing that. And they continue to do that. But the real problem, I think, is our ability to move with intelligence in the central area of Baghdad, Fallujah, and towns immediately south of Baghdad. That's a much more contested area for our movement. And that's, frankly, where you see most of the effective attacks.