NBC Nightly News (6:30 PM ET) August 2, 2002
Military action to remove Saddam Hussein loaded with potential problems
TOM BROKAW, anchor: Almost everyone agrees any military action to successfully remove Saddam Hussein from power is loaded with potential problems, from the strength of Saddam's elite troops, to the cost, to the question of what comes after Saddam Hussein. NBC's Jim Miklaszewski tonight on the many plans under review at the Pentagon and the White House.
JIM MIKLASZEWSKI reporting: Tommy Franks, the general who would run the war, is set to go to the White House on Monday to present President Bush with the latest military plans to attack Iraq. But after months of discussion, Pentagon officials say Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is dissatisfied with every invasion plan he's seen so far. Asked about Iraq, Rumsfeld told Tom Brokaw he finds most military attack plans outdated.
Mr. DONALD RUMSFELD: I was not terribly impressed and--and we've shortened the cycle on which they'll be done, so they're less stale.
MIKLASZEWSKI: Specifically, sources say, Rumsfeld has rejected attack plans based on Desert Storm 11 years ago as too predictable and overkill. He's also rejected plans modeled after Afghanistan where small numbers of US Special Forces and air strikes would back up opposition forces to seize Baghdad and overthrow Saddam Hussein as unrealistic. Rumsfeld has told the generals an attack on Iraq will be like no other war they've ever fought before.
Ms. TORIE CLARKE (Pentagon Spokesperson): The secretary wants everyone to understand the sense of urgency about what we're doing here, that the threats out there are very, very real.
MIKLASZEWSKI: Despite concerns over preliminary planning, preparations for war are well under way by both the US and Iraq.
Exclusive aerial photos obtained by NBC News show construction of a sprawling $200 million US military base in southern Kuwait, barracks and warehouses to preposition an invasion force.
Mr. JOHN PIKE (Globalsecurity.org): It will give the United States the ability to quickly launch an attack against Iraq because all of the hardware is already in the theater and all you have to do is fly the troops in.
MIKLASZEWSKI: But Saddam Hussein is already digging in, dispersing troops and equipment and urgently working to improve his anti-aircraft missile defenses.
Brigadier General JOHN ROSA (US Air Force): The Iraqi air defense system is--is one of the toughest, most complex systems that--that--that we see in the world.
MIKLASZEWSKI: No final decisions have been made, but early plans call for a US invasion of Iraq by next spring. Jim Miklaszewski, NBC News, the Pentagon.
(c) Copyright 2002 National Broadcasting Co. Inc.
