Special Defense Department Briefing

Federal News Service

SECTION: DEPARTMENT DEFENSE BRIEFING

HEADLINE: SPECIAL DEFENSE DEPARTMENT BRIEFING
 
TOPIC: RECENT CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION TO IRAQ
 
PARTICIPANTS: SENATOR LINCOLN CHAFEE (R-RI); SENATOR LARRY CRAIG (R-ID); SENATOR MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY); SENATOR CRAIG THOMAS (R-WY)
 
MODERATOR: POWELL MOORE, ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE FOR LEGISLATIVE AFFAIRS
 
LOCATION: THE BRIEFING ROOM OF THE PENTAGON, ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA

BODY:
SEN. CHAFEE: Thank you. We had a terrific trip, Senator McConnell hosting us on the trip. And just the fact that we were able to go to Baghdad and to Mosul says a lot. In fact, the secretary of Defense was urging us to tell our colleagues to also go, make the effort to go to Afghanistan, go to Iraq. And overflying in helicopters the Ba'athist stronghold of Mosul says a lot by itself.

I was also struck, as an opponent of the war, that the people that we did meet with are happy to get the heavy boot of Saddam Hussein off their necks, and that came through very strongly. However, it's all still not a bed of roses. Somebody is still killing us over there. And I think if we're going to turn the corner, as Ambassador Bremer says, we count on human intelligence, and that's a big word for they got to -- the Iraqi people have to rat-out the bad guys. And that's -- I think if we're going to turn the corner, we have to continue to invest in Iraq so that we can count on that human intelligence because that's going to make the difference.

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Q Senator Chafee, what was your impression?

SEN. CHAFEE: Yes, I'd like to answer that because I did go there remembering, for us political trivia buffs, what brought down Governor Romney in 1968 --

SEN. MCCONNELL: He said he'd been brainwashed. (Laughter.)

SEN. CHAFEE: He said we've been brainwashed -- one word, and it was the end of his campaign. Because he had done to Vietnam back when he was governor and said everything's fine, and it was coming back to haunt him. When they asked him, "How come you didn't know more when you went?" that was the poor choice of words he used.

So I had that in the back of my mind; when we go, we're going to get a certain picture.

And you have to work to get beyond that picture. And I can honestly say, as Senator McConnell says -- the first time I saw a bus went by our convoy, we're going in one direction on the road in Baghdad, and a bus full of Iraqis went by, and a hand stuck out the window with a thumbs-up. And with my neck I did a swivel, and said, well, maybe that's a middle digit in Baghdad, I don't know, but it LOOKS positive! (Laughter.) But then that was repeated over and over again as we -- actually, we got lost going to a school. I think we were lost, anyway. (Laughs.)

SEN. : We were lost. We were lost.

SEN. CHAFEE: We couldn't find the school, and the children coming out. And so that was the strong impression I got. That we can't underestimate the brutality of the Saddam Hussein regime. But there's other issues as to what we voted on, but that -- I'm speaking to that issue.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Q There has also been -- well, increasing security problems, a lot of car bombs and that sort of thing. Did you get a sense from the comanders that that is a problem that is growing or something that they have a handle on?

SEN. MCCONNELL: Well, let me point out what I think you all have already reported and Senator Craig, I believe, has already mentioned here this morning, that both the attempt to bomb the Baghdad Hotel and the attempt to bomb the Turkish embassy were thwarted by Afghan -- by Iraqi security.

Yeah, the bombing was attempted but in many respects was largely unsuccessful. And the security for that was being provided by this growing number of Iraqis who are in this force. No one is denying that this is a problem, but I think the -- they're doing a pretty good job of thwarting those attempted attacks.

(Cross talk.)

SEN. CHAFEE: Could I answer that -- (inaudible)?

SEN. MCCONNELL: Yeah, Lincoln.

SEN. CHAFEE: We did get, while we were there -- the day after there had been a protest against army pay by Iraqi army people, and what was a little bit alarming to our occupational forces there was the coordination of it. This protest happened within 20 minutes of each other all over the country. These -- they couldn't have been spontaneous, because they were within -- we said there was a theory that they were within 20 minutes of each, these protests against some kind of pay issue.

And so there is some concern about increasing sophistication of the opposition. And we're made aware of that.

SEN. MCCONNELL: All that issue, though -- I mean, how healthy is that? In a free Iraq, having a protest because you're not being paid enough -- that certainly would have never happened in Saddam Hussein's Iraq. They feel they can go out and complain about pay. That sounds like the United States to me.