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Posted on 04/09/2003 11:33:35 PM PDT by TheMole
If medals are awarded for coolness under fire, then the officers of Central Command who face the world press corps daily have earned more than a few. Reporters from all over the world are allowed to ask anything, and some of their questions have been incredible. Here are some that were tossed at Gen. Tommy Franks, Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks and Maj. Gen. Victor Renuart in recent days, along with the essence of their replies.
March 27. Was this missile site that you've destroyed known to or visited by U.N. weapons inspectors? And, if so, why did you destroy it?
Brooks: "I don't know if it was inspected by U.N. inspectors or not. ... We destroyed it because it could be potentially used."
March 28. What do you say to the suggestion that you have seriously underestimated the level of Iraqi resistance and the size of the force that the coalition needs to deal with it?
Brooks: "I am certain that there is no underestimation in that regard."
A Magic Number In The Gulf War
March 28. Some American reports say if coalition casualties exceed 150 - that's the number in the Gulf War in 1991 - the U.S. government will face a big problem. Could you give some comment about that?
Brooks: "There is not a fixed number that's out there that will cause a change in the operation related to Desert Storm."
March 28. When do you think this war is going to end?
Brooks: "It's going to take as long as it takes."
March 29. "I wonder if you could talk a little bit to this pause in the advance ... and also whether as an airman you might also consider now advisable a pause in air operations to avoid more civilian bloodshed, which hands to your adversary ... the moral high ground which you claim."
Renuart: "I wouldn't assign moral high ground to anybody that ... allows the kind of terror to occur in some of these towns that we have seen. I think with respect to a pause ... there is no pause on the battlefield."
March 29. Would you be surprised if this war turned into - the duration of this war turned into another Vietnam War?
Renuart: "I really don't think there is any parallel between this operation and Vietnam."
March 30. Firstly, as a military commander, secondly as someone that was born in Midland, Texas, what would your reaction be if the greatest force, military force in the world, started marching towards your hometown?
Franks: "It's difficult for me actually to relate it to Midland, Texas, because out around my home in Midland, Texas, there is no regime that is quite as ruthless and committed to that ruthlessness as the regime we see in Baghdad."
March 31. Today there are reports that 4,000 suicide bombers have come from all over the Arab world into Iraq. And what does this say to you about U.S. efforts to win the hearts and minds of the Arab world?
Brooks: "What we're seeing throughout the country, as we are having more and more success, is that the Iraqi people are welcoming the departure of the regime and its destruction."
March 31. If thousands of suicide bombers do show up on the battlefield, what's the military significance of that?
Brooks: "It's not a very effective military tactic at all. It's a terror tactic, and it won't be effective."
April 1. How can you explain the death of between 500 to 700 civilian Iraqis and injuring many more thousands? And how do you find this consistent with the Geneva Convention?
Brooks: "Our approach has been and will continue to be one that tries to minimize the impact on civilian populations and other structures that we don't intend to affect. It's a result of combat action. It's also a result of decisions being made by the Iraqi regime to use civilians as shields."
April 1. If as CentCom officials have been saying, allied troops are prepared to pay a heavy price in taking Baghdad, what does that say about the total number of civilian casualties we'll be willing to accept in order to win this war? Will it be a high number?
Brooks: "Our designs are to minimize the casualties to civilians as much as we can. We'd like to see that be zero. That is not something that's ever been achieved in warfare. We believe that our efforts have driven it as low as it has ever been driven in warfare."
April 3. If the plan to take down Baghdad didn't succeed, and the coalition would have to retreat, and without giving a detailed description of the location, where would the coalition troops retreat to, since most of the cities around Baghdad are only partially secure - not completely taken by U.S.-led forces?
Brooks: "Right now we are on plan, and we are doing fine. So I am not even going to consider what it is you ask."
April 4. What we have seen in Iraq is exactly what's going on in Palestine by Israeli occupation. Are you considering the fact that many Iraqis are now united against you?
Brooks: "It can't be compared to anything else."
April 4. This is day 15. Can you say that Americans at home are safer today than they were 15 days ago?
Brooks: "Absolutely, we believe that we are safer as a result of this action."
April 5: Can you tell us where those troops (the 3rd Infantry Division) are now?
Renuart: "Moving wherever they need to."
April 5. If the troops move from the south towards the center and then back out west, does that mean that they are no longer in the area of the center of the city?
Places Of Their Choosing
Renuart: "Coalition troops are in fact in the vicinity of Baghdad, do in fact have the ability to come into the city at places of their choosing."
April 6. Can you tell me what the strategic idea is behind those kind of parades through town?
Brooks: "It was a combat action. It certainly demonstrated our ability to operate within Baghdad ... and to inflict severe damage."
April 8. How can you guarantee the safety of the journalists?
Brooks: "The journalists that are with us are not inherently safe, because it's a dangerous business, and they are moving with forces that are in danger. Journalists that are moving on the battlefield, we don't know about. Some of them are operating independently, in a very, very dangerous and often contested area. Where we have knowledge of that, I think we can do what we can to try to prevent injuring journalists and any other noncombatants."
The war correspondents in the Persian Gulf area are mostly bright individuals who have the wit to ask intelligent questions. But a remarkable number of them at CentCom headquarters in Qatar - far from harm's way - seem to have ignored Noel Coward's admonition about dallying in the noonday sun.
Here's that reference;
"Mad Dogs And Englishmen"
-Noel Coward
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