National Public Radio - Weekend Edition Sunday

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HEADLINE: Senator Jack Reed, Democrat, Rhode Island, discusses the capture of Saddam Hussein

ANCHORS: LIANE HANSEN

BODY:
LIANE HANSEN, host:

Senator Jack Reed joins us now. He's a Democrat and a senior senator from Rhode Island. Senator Reed is a member of the Armed Services Committee and recently visited Iraq with Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Good morning, Senator.

Senator JACK REED (Democrat, Rhode Island): Good morning.

HANSEN: What's your immediate reaction to Saddam Hussein's capture?

Sen. REED: Well, it's a good development. It's relief after many, many months of searching for Saddam. It will, I hope, help break the psychological hold he's had over the people of Iraq. It will represent an opportunity to coalesce and strengthen those individuals in Iraq that want to help in the reconstruction of their country, but I don't think it will immediately cause a dissipation of the violence that's been directed against us. So I think we have to prepare for, you know, still the long haul.

HANSEN: Well, you being in Iraq just recently, what was your sense of the counterinsurgency and perhaps again the effect of this development?

Sen. REED: Well, there are increasing efforts to obtain information. One of the good aspects of this development was that Iraqis might be more willing to talk to us and give us information. Certainly, we're taking a much more aggressive posture in trying to root out the insurgents, cut off their financing, disrupt their planning, but one of the aspects of this, my impression at least, is that Saddam Hussein was not running this insurgency. He was fleeing and hiding as it turns out, in holes. So there's a still cadre of fairly ruthless and cleaver individuals who I don't think will stop and those are the frustrated Baathist Party members. And then there's a growing number-it's hard to determine how many-of international terrorists who are coming in who are using suicide bombings and other tactics to disrupt the political transition. So this is good news and it's an important element, but it doesn't represent the ultimate and decisive solution to our difficulties in Iraq.

HANSEN: What about the reconstruction efforts? What effect is this going to have?

Sen. REED: Well, again, I think with respect to reconstruction, it might give a renewed momentum. This is a very positive psychological development, a good way to go out aggressively and enlist more people to support our redevelopment efforts. Again, I think so much turns on disrupting and continuing to disrupt this insurgent network that has grown up outside of Saddam, not as a result of Saddam, and there's always a question of: At what point these efforts are less about Saddam and Ba'thist-ism and more about this notion of, 'Despite whatever you've done for us, you're an occupying power and the United States should leave quickly'? Really, that's the race we're in. We're in a race against trying to maintain our status as liberators and not fall into a status of occupiers which the broad-based of Iraqis would resent.

HANSEN: So is this then an opportunity perhaps to reconcentrate US military efforts?

Sen. REED: Well, my sense in the military efforts in Iraq were sort of several different tasks. One task was to track down Saddam Hussein for the psychological and political value of capturing him, but that was almost peripheral to trying to root out these terrorists, these groups, and also interdict the movement of supplies and money into Iraq. Those two tasks go on today. So I don't think it represents a, you know, sort of, 'Give us a new opportunity to refocus.' What it might do is allow us to take some of the resources that we've been devoting to, simply looking for Saddam, and put them now after identifying and capturing the new leaders of this insurgency that's erected against us.

HANSEN: Senator Jack Reed, Democrat and senior senator from Rhode Island. Senator Reed is a member of the Armed Services Committee and was recently in Iraq with New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Thank you very much, Senator.

Sen. REED: Thank you very much. Good morning.