William Cohen: Patience Important in Najaf, Fallujah
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: To give us a sense of the complex picture emerging in Fallujah and even the rest of Iraq, a great deal of controversy on another story in the U.S. presidential race about the past conflict, the Vietnam War, we're going to talk a lot about those issues with our regular guest, former U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen. Secretary Cohen, Scott Peterson just now in Fallujah was saying U.S. commanders on the ground are pretty much changing their minds every day. They're issuing deadlines, threatening an offensive, and then deciding, no, let's go the diplomatic way. Then they're attacked by insurgents, are forced to retaliate. Give us your sense of the tactical approach in Fallujah.</s>WILLIAM COHEN, FORMER SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Well, I think as you've indicated, it tends to change day-by-day, depending on what kind of signals come out of the insurgents. If there is a period of quietude, as such, they think there may be some opportunity to solve this diplomatically, then they tend to back away. If they see the kind of attacks that were launched yesterday by the insurgents, then their instinct is, well, it's time to take them on militarily. My own opinion is if there's going to be a military confrontation, I would think that the military commanders would want to beef up the military presence of the U.S. forces, if they're going to go into a city. Urban street to street fighting, house to house, is going to be very dangerous for all concerned, especially innocent Iraqi people, as well as the Marines who will be going in, doing the fighting. So we'll have to see how it unfolds day by day, but I think, given their druthers, the -- the military would like to see it solved diplomatically, if possible. They will go in militarily if absolutely necessary.</s>VERJEE: U.S. troops, in spite of fighting a gun battle with militiamen near Najaf today, appeared to be taking a softer tactical approach toward Najaf, where they're really looking toward more mainstream Shia clerics to isolate Muqtada al-Sadr from the rest of the Shias. The local leaders themselves have reasons to be rid of him, too. And what do you think of the U.S. strategy in Najaf and if it will work?</s>COHEN: Well, I think it's one of the only options available right now. The notion of going into that city, which is regarded as a holy city as such, and then to engage in the kind of destruction that might be necessary to confront al-Sadr's militia at that point, could be very devastating for the United States and coalition forces. So I think they're looking to see if they can't isolate him but then call upon the moderate Iraqis, the Shia, to try and force a diplomatic resolution. Once again, I think the military operation runs the risk of -- of the old Roman legions. They made a desert, and they called it peace. We've got to be careful that as military power is exercised anywhere in Iraq, that we don't end up losing more of the hearts and minds than actually is being won. So this is something that the United States and coalition forces ought to be very concerned about.</s>VERJEE: Truly, you would be familiar with the kind of planning here, and the timeline involved. Does there appear to be a timeline? At what point will the U.S. military just run out of patience and say, "OK, we need to take this decision"? Especially given the fact that there are questions about the degree of influence of local leaders in both Fallujah and Najaf actually have on insurgents?</s>COHEN: The timeline is such that I think the Marines and the coalition forces would be patient. As it's been indicated by General Kimmitt, patience is not eternal, but nonetheless, it's quite flexible. And I think that most of the military try to exercise as much patience and to extend this as long as it's conceivably possible in order to avoid a fixed battle in a city that is so highly regarded by all of the Iraqi people, certainly the Shia, as a holy city. So it's something that I think requires patience, and right now it appears as if the coalition forces are exercising it.</s>VERJEE: We'll have to leave it there. Former U.S. secretary of defense, William Cohen, thank you. END TO ORDER VIDEOTAPES AND TRANSCRIPTS OF CNN INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMMING, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE THE SECURE ONLINE ORDER FROM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com