COALITION PROVISIONAL AUTHORITY BRIEFING WITH BRIGADIER GENERAL MARK KIMMITT, DEPUTY DIRECTOR FOR OPERATIONS; DAN SENOR, SENIOR ADVISER TO COALITION PROVISIONAL AUTHORITY LOCATION: BAGHDAD, IRAQ TIME: 11:40 A.M. EST DATE: FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2003 (C) COPYRIGHT 2003, FEDERAL NEWS SERVICE, INC., 1919 M ST. NW; SUITE 220; WASHINGTON, DC - 20036, USA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ANY REPRODUCTION, REDISTRIBUTION OR RETRANSMISSION IS EXPRESSLY PROHIBITED. UNAUTHORIZED REPRODUCTION, REDISTRIBUTION OR RETRANSMISSION CONSTITUTES A MISAPPROPRIATION UNDER APPLICABLE UNFAIR COMPETITION LAW, AND FEDERAL NEWS SERVICE, INC. RESERVES THE RIGHT TO PURSUE ALL REMEDIES AVAILABLE TO IT IN RESPECT TO SUCH MISAPPROPRIATION. FEDERAL NEWS SERVICE, INC. IS A PRIVATE FIRM AND IS NOT AFFILIATED WITH THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. NO COPYRIGHT IS CLAIMED AS TO ANY PART OF THE ORIGINAL WORK PREPARED BY A UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT OFFICER OR EMPLOYEE AS PART OF THAT PERSON'S OFFICIAL DUTIES. FOR INFORMATION ON SUBSCRIBING TO FNS, PLEASE CALL JACK GRAEME AT 202-347-1400. THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. ------------------------- (Note: This event was fed in progress.) GEN. KIMMITT: (In progress) -- the situation remains relatively stable, but our forces continue offensive operations and are in active pursuit of enemy targets and intelligence. In the past 24 hours, the coalition has conducted 1,584 patrols, 44 raids, and captured 210 anti-coalition suspects. In the North, the 101st Airborne Division conducted 194 patrols, several cordon and search operations, and detained 10 individuals in the past 24 hours. Of note: These ongoing operations are based on, to a large degree, intelligence provided by local Iraqis. Iraqi citizens also turned in large amounts of weapons and ammunition. Coalition and Iraqi security forces also guarded 349 fixed sites, with Iraqi Facility Protection Services or the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps guarding 303 of these sites. Additionally, Mosul Public Safety Academy, funded and equipped by coalition forces in the North, graduated 120 additional police officers. This brings the total number of trained police in that zone to over 2,700. The Nineveh Province Small Business Loan Commission, a joint effort between coalition forces and local Iraqi officials, will distribute its first loan checks on the 23rd of this month. Ninety- three thousand dollars has been approved for distribution to 46 small businesses for business development. Examples of the loan approved include loans for dairy farming, plastic manufacturing, mosaic masonry and poultry farming. In the Northeast zone, Operation Ivy Cyclone II continues. During the past 24 hours, the division conducted 413 patrols, 14 raids against anti-coalition forces, captured 38 individuals, five of whom were targeted for anti-coalition activities. As part of those operations, one United States soldier was killed by a booby trap during a combat patrol near Al-Galibah (sp) yesterday. North of Samarra, coalition soldiers observed seven individuals carrying rocket-propelled grenades and weapons. In the ensuing firefight, three enemy were killed, an the remaining four are being pursued by coalition forces. A patrol discovered an ammunition crate containing 900 rounds and captured two individuals. Of note: One of the men captured was a captain in the former Special Republican Guard. Eight additional individuals were captured during the subsequent raid of their homes. Weapons and paraphernalia with Saddam Hussein's photo on it were also seized. In another incident, coalition forces discovered a well containing a substantial amount of explosives and munitions near Tikrit. Among the munitions found were 1,400 blocks of C-4 plastic explosives and eight anti-tank mines. In Baghdad, the 1st Armored Division conducted Operation Iron Hammer. Units conducted 12 offensive operations, 547 patrols, and 24 enemy personnel, including enemy -- including individuals believed to have ties to the rocket attack on the Al-Rashid Hotel, were captured. Two soldiers were slightly wounded in these operations. As you know, earlier this morning, there were two rocket attacks, one on the Palestine Hotel and the other on the Iraqi Oil Ministry. Two to three rockets were fired at the Palestine Hotel, with one of the rockets missing and hitting the nearby Sheraton Hotel. One U.S. civilian in the Palestine Hotel was critically injured, and a civilian in the Sheraton Hotel received minor injuries. The civilian is being treated at our 28th Combat Support Hospital and is expected to be evacuated to Landstuhl. At about the same time as the attack on the Palestine Hotel, the Iraqi Oil Ministry was hit by seven to 10 rockets. There were no known casualties, and Iraq fire department units responded to the scene. The launchers used in both attacks were recovered by coalition forces. In summary, our current information indicates that between nine and 14 rockets were fired at two targets -- the Palestine Hotel and the Iraqi Oil Ministry. Fifteen rockets were found undetonated on two donkey carts nearby. Two additional donkey carts were found in another part of town -- on other parts of town; one with 21 rockets aimed at the Kurdish party headquarters building, and another with an explosive device attached, near the University of Law. Both of these were defused without incident. In the West, the 82nd Airborne conducted 18 offensive operations, 171 patrols, 11 joint patrols with the Iraqi border guard and Iraqi police. During this time, 110 enemy personnel were captured, four were killed, and three were wounded. Yesterday, the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, in coordination with the 82nd Airborne, began Operation Rifle Blitz. Soldiers began conducting a series of raids on high-value targets, and then transitioned to cordon and search operations. Forces captured 96 personnel, large amounts of weapons and ammunition, and seven Syrian passports. As you know, late on 19 November, the compound of Sheikh Majid (sp), sheikh of sheikhs for the Al Anbar province, was attacked by a car bomb. The explosion damaged the sheikh's guest house and a neighbor's house. Two Iraqis were killed, to include children, and nine others wounded. But the sheikh and his immediate family were not injured in the attack. Elements of the 3rd Brigade conducted joint operations with the United States Air Force and dropped three 500-pound bombs on a house west of Iskandariyah, where anti-coalition forces had used the house to construct and detonate explosive devices. Thirty 155-mm artillery rounds had been discovered in the house prior to the bombs being dropped on the house. As part of our offensive operations, the 1st Brigade of the 1st Infantry Division sustained casualties from two booby traps during a combat patrol west of Ar Ramadi on Highway 10. One soldier was killed and two were wounded in the attack. The wounded are in stable condition. The Multinational Division Central-South forces conducted 111 mounted and dismounted patrols, 11 joint patrols, and executed 80 checkpoints during the past 24 hours. Late on 19 November, explosive disposal teams, supported by coalition forces, defused a booby trap located 50 kilometers north of Al Hillah. Yesterday, 15 kilometers north of Al Hillah, an additional explosive device detonated as a convoy traveled between Baghdad and Babylon. Local police in Al Hillah discovered six additional possible explosive devices. The division notes that the number of explosive devices employed by anti-coalition forces in the division area of responsibility has recently increased. Twenty-nine percent of the identified civil military projects in Multinational Division Central-South have been completed at a cost of approximately $9 million. The majority of these projects have been education, public health, and other infrastructure projects. An additional $9 million will be spent between now and the end of the year for additional projects being scoped at this time. In the southeast zone, Dutch forces conducted several patrols along the main supply route in order to interdict criminal activity east of Qadar (ph). The forces assisted the Iraqi police in intercepting four carjackers on the route. Additionally, the 20th Armored Brigade found two suspected car bombs and explosives in Basra. Both were destroyed without incident. Thank you. We'd be happy to answer your questions. Please. Q Peter Biles (sp), BBC. Exactly how close was the donkey cart to the security perimeter around the two hotels this morning? GEN. KIMMITT: It is my information that they were approximately 2- to 300 meters from the hotels. Q Lourdes Navarra (sp), AP. I'm a bit confused. So there was the one that hit -- the donkey cart rockets that his the Al Rasheed (sic) -- or rather the Palestine hotel, the other one that hit the oil ministry, and then there were four others that you discovered, or two? GEN. KIMMITT: There were two additional. There were four donkeys with explosives today. Three had rockets on them. One donkey had been rigged as an explosive device. So one was aimed at the Palestine. One was aimed at the oil ministry. One was aimed at the KDP headquarters. One was aimed at the University of Law. Q Could you comment on the use of donkeys? I mean, is this something that you're going to be looking into now? GEN. KIMMITT: Certainly. This is an adaptive enemy. We've said this all along. The enemy wants to use any opportunity he can to get around our security, and he's an inventive, ingenious enemy. But he has now showed us another one of his tactics, techniques and procedures, and I would guess that he won't be using that again any time soon. He will try something different. We'll continue to look at our intelligence, and we'll continue to try to stay one step ahead of the enemy. Yeah. Q Sir, do you know anything about the people that did these attacks today? Because, for instance, at the Palestine hotel, the donkey was placed 10 meters in front of the Iraqi guards guarding one of the entrances. GEN. KIMMITT: Well, we certainly don't know anything, and that's the intelligence we're trying to collect. But all of you living in Baghdad know that there are a significant number of donkey carts going up and down the street every day. I've been told that one of the donkey carts was -- the multiple-launch rocket system that they had on it was disguised as a generator. These are ingenious people. Yeah. Q (Inaudible) -- from El Periodico. I'm not sure I understood well. Was anyone arrested this morning in connection with the attack at the Palestine? GEN. KIMMITT: I checked just before we can in. There are some rumors of persons being arrested in connection with this. We have no information from either the 1st -- the 1st Armored Division confirms that they do not have anybody under custody. And the 1st Armored Division also tells me that they do not believe that the Iraqi police have anybody in custody at this time. Yeah. Q Any idea about profiles of somebody responsible for these kind of attacks today -- they hit the oil ministry on a Friday when people were not showing up at work -- versus the people doing the suicide bombs, who seemed to be going for maximum number of civilian casualties. Do you think these are different organizations? GEN. KIMMITT: We have no idea whether there is any causal link or any connection between these organizations. But let's talk about probably the motivation behind the attacks today. These are spectacular attacks. Clearly, the enemy's been taking a look at our operations and realize that we are clamping down. They realize they can't attack us and defeat us in a conventional sense. What they're trying to do is break our will. They're trying to capture the headlines. But these attacks, with the exception of a seriously injured civilian, have had, frankly, no tactical value, and they're militarily insignificant. What is the purpose of firing rockets at an empty ministry building on a Friday, which is the equivalent of a European Sunday? They're trying to grab headlines. And if they're not trying to grab headlines, let's talk about what kind of motivation would people that claim to be supportive of Iraq -- what would they gain by shooting at their own Iraqi ministry, oil ministry? So they're looking for headlines. They're looking to grab headlines. They're looking for the spectacular results. Q I think you said that one of the donkeys was rigged up with some kind of explosive device. Could you tell us a bit more about that, and also the way the other rockets were concealed on the other carts? GEN. KIMMITT: Sure. The explosive device that I've -- I have read reports that suggest that he had a propane tank rigged with explosives, with the idea being that you would detonate the propane tank, loud boom, loud flash, dead donkey. Q I understand that the -- GEN. KIMMITT: Turn on your mike, please. Q I understand that the rockets that were -- that you were just saying that were aimed at the Oil Ministry were actually aimed at the military base right next to it, and that most of them fell inside that area, and very few of them that I saw also hit the building itself. GEN. KIMMITT: Sure. Understand that when you're firing rockets off of the back of a donkey cart, you're not using the most accurate systems available. We can only suggest where they landed, not suggest the motivation of where they were aimed at. Quite frankly, as General Dempsey said the other night, where these land are not only a surprise to coalition troops, they're also a surprise to the people that fire them. So whether they were aimed at the Iraqi Oil Ministry or at a coalition base nearby, the pattern of the other three attacks, one at the Palestine Hotel, with reporters in it; the other -- another at the university of -- the College of Law -- tells us that they were going after soft targets today, not hard coalition targets. Christine (sp)? Q I just want to get some more specifics about these other carts. How far was the cart from the University of Law? And similar questions about how far was it from the Oil Ministry. How many rockets are involved in each of those three? And where was the explosive device donkey? Which attack was that? GEN. KIMMITT: Rather than go into the innumerable details involved in each one of those, we can talk about that afterwards and we can give you that information. But clearly, these rockets have a range of anywhere between 8 and 15 kilometers when used -- if these are the 107s that we suspect. And that's our indication, that they're 107 rockets. So they're able to be fired outside of the cordon, outside the security ring that we typically put around the hotels. But because of their inaccuracy, we can't push that -- we're not going to push that cordon much further out. Q And 107s would be what, Soviet era -- GEN. KIMMITT: Sure. Yeah, exactly right. It could be a Katyusha. We've also seen ASTROS. ASTROS is a rocket -- a 122- millimeter rocket that was plentiful in the Iraqi army, actually made in Brazil. So, we'll get all that information and try to feed it to you as the days go on. Q About the bombing yesterday in Kirkuk, can you confirm whether or not it was a suicide bombing? And do you think it's definitely the kind of attack against coalition and allied Iraqi targets, or could it have been any other kind of violence maybe unique to that area? GEN. KIMMITT: We really don't have those answers right now. I would only be speculating in terms of what the motivations were. Q Luke Baker from Reuters. The other day, Ambassador Bremer said that Iraq was about 90 percent safe, secure and stable. Do you think after these attacks that's true? GEN. KIMMITT: Absolutely. If you take a look at city of 5.5 million people, you had four rocket attacks, two rocket attacks in the space of one day in a very small area, as General Dempsey said the other day, about 90 percent of the districts in Baghdad are safe. Q So one or two rocket attacks in a city is not bad? GEN. KIMMITT: One or two rocket attacks in a city in a country that's just recovering from a major combat operation at this point is more than we would like. And we are constantly pushing our security to get that number reduced. And that's all I would say. Yeah? Q Can we just ask what the condition of the animals used in these attacks were? And is there any way that you can gain any intelligence from examining them or whatever? GEN. KIMMITT: I've got to say this -- "shaken, not stirred." They're all alive. One of them is, quite frankly, pretty shook up -- (laughter) -- but they -- all indications are that the donkeys will recover. (More laughter.) And they're under coalition control at this time. Yeah? Q You said that a number of anti-coalition people were captured, a number of enemies, a number of individuals. Can you differentiate between the three? Can you differentiate between the three? GEN. KIMMITT: Well, yes. It's almost time dependent. We capture quite a few people in the course of conduct of the operation. There is initial filtration on the battlefield to determine if these people are in fact just collateral -- that they're innocent people that just got sweeped up as part of the operation, and they're typically released. Then, those that we suspect, for whatever tactical intelligence we found on them or actions that we've observed them doing, we will detain them. We will then interrogate them, and then we'll try to determine if they're foreign fighters, former region loyalists, simple criminals or terrorists. Q So what is the difference between an individual who is captured, an enemy, and an anti-coalition person? GEN. KIMMITT: It would indicate to me that the report that we currently have, we've already got some evidence, perhaps taken off that fighter, that he was, perhaps affiliated with a certain organization, or had an old identity card from the former Saddam military, so on and so forth. Does that answer your question? Q No, it doesn't. GEN. KIMMITT: Ask it again. Q There are three different types. So if someone is an individual and is captured, then I assume that you don't have anything on him, but he's been taken, arrested, detained. GEN. KIMMITT: Yeah. Q If someone is an enemy or defined as an anti-coalition person, and they are detained, how would you differentiate between them? GEN. KIMMITT: Well, in the latter case, we would probably have seen that person either near an IED shooting at us, wounded, that person had actually used force against our troops. In the case of a person captured, it may have been as part of the search that that person may have been in the same house as a bomb- maker. Now that person may have something to do with it; may have nothing to do with it. So we say "captured." Does that help? (No audible reply.) Yes. Q (Inaudible) -- from AFP. My question is, recently you said that you might contemplate a pull-out from Ramadi because the number of attacks has increased. Is that still the case now? GEN. KIMMITT: There's nothing today that changes General Swannack's assessment that the relationship that he has and the situation in Ar Ramadi would cause him to change his assessment that sometime near the turn of the year, he might have the opportunity to pull back. And frankly, let's be certain about what happened today. Today was a normal day of combat operations around the zone of operations. We had some very dramatic attacks here in Baghdad, but frankly, militarily insignificant. So that has not changed the whole texture and the whole nature of the operation that we're fighting here. Some areas are very peaceful. Some areas, we have a tremendous, tremendous relationship with the local officials. And some areas, we have a tremendous number of people working there for the police service and for the facility protection service and the CDC. It's those areas that we can start the process of transfer of control to local Iraqi authorities. But that's not everywhere. Some areas are very passive; some areas are more active. So that's a judgment made and a recommendation made by each of the division commanders in their area of operations. Q (Inaudible.) It may be militarily insignificant, but can you tell me what would be the psychological impact. I mean, at the time you're looking for people to come here to help with the reconstruction process, if not even the hotels are safe, what kind of psychological impact that gives to the process? GEN. KIMMITT: Exactly right. And that's exactly what the terrorists are trying to do, is convince people that they have something to fear by coming here. But the facts are not born out by the psychological effect that they are trying to produce. That's what a terrorist does. He or she creates terror. And what we're trying to suggest and what we are suggesting is that the facts on the ground is that this is a relatively stable country. We are trying to create a safe and secure environment. While we are creating that safe and secure environment, we are getting on with the process of providing essential services, restoring the economy and passing governance to the people of Iraq. MR. SENOR: I would just add that Iraq is -- as President Bush frequently says -- the central front in the war on terror, but it's not the only front. And if you look since September 11th, 2001, in addition to Washington, D.C., and New York City, the cities that have been hit by terrorism are Bali, Jakarta, Casablanca, Bombay, Mombasa, Najaf, Jerusalem, Riyadh and Istanbul in the last week or so. So there's a war on terror, a global war on terror going on. And if we do not stay here and finish this job, that list will just get longer. I'd refer you to a op-ed that appeared in the Wall Street Journal yesterday by Jalal Talabani, the current president of the Governing Council and the leader of the political party in the north that was hit by a terrorist attack just the other day. He wrote, "Iraq is now the central front both in the war against terrorism and the struggle for a better Middle East. The terrorists will not stop fighting if the U.S. troops are withdrawn. Rather, they will be emboldened to believe that they can win this conflict." Rajib (sp). Q I got one for both of you guys. General, do you see any relation between this morning's attacks and Iron Hammer, what you guys have been doing here in the city for the past week or so? And Dan, you mentioned that Bremer is meeting and will be meeting with members of the GC. Some of the GC members in the past few days have expressed a little frustration at what they feel was the speed, the haste at which the agreement was arrived at last Saturday. Would Bremer be at all amenable to reopening any parts of that agreement for further amendment or change based on concerns from any members of the council? MR. SENOR: The impetus for the agreement was based on the fact that in the last couple weeks, it had come to our attention that a substantial body of thought within Iraq believed that if there was to be a constitutional convention, the delegates to that convention must be directly elected. That was the basis for the discussions Ambassador Bremer had with Washington, D.C., and the consultations he had here with the Iraqi Governing Council. But the Governing Council approached him with this problem and needed a way to address the problem, an alternate route. And they agreed upon it as a collective. While the ambassador went back and forth between Washington and the Governing Council to make sure everyone was on the same page, this proposal was endorsed fully by the Governing Council. Now, there will be details to be worked out. There is some -- you know, there are still some fluid elements to the process, no doubt, but the crux of the agreement has been agreed to by the majority of the Governing Council members. Now there's strong support for it. And the ambassador thinks the priority now is getting to work on the basic law and setting up a path for the -- accelerated path to sovereignty. GEN. KIMMITT: To answer your question, is there a relationship between Iron Hammer and the attacks that went on this morning, I can't read the mind of the terrorists, but let me offer one plausible explanation. The terrorists are looking and saying, "General Dempsey and his people are cracking down in the city, they're providing more security. I depend on the terror and intimidation of the people of Baghdad to provide me the sanctuary that I need, so I've got to go out and do something spectacular for the purpose of trying to convince the citizens of Baghdad as well as the foreign forces that I can strike at will." It's a psychological game between the enemy and the adversary. But he's going to fail. He's going to fail because our will is unaffected by these attacks. We are here to do a job. I would suspect that within a couple of days there's a good chance that General Dempsey and his people will roll these people up. And so does it have a connection to Iron Hammer? If it causes the terrorist to start being worried that his cells are being rolled up, then there is a connection. And then the terrorist himself may realize that his grip and his intimidation tactics are coming to an end. MR. SENOR: Rajib (sp), I'd also add that one thing the terrorists understand is the majority of Iraqi people want this to succeed. Just look at this morning, where the three -- the first three fire trucks on the scene at the Oil Ministry were not coalition fire trucks, they were Iraqi fire trucks and Iraqi fire departments represented. Look at the 14,000 reconstruction projects that have been completed in the past six months, not just by the coalition, but working hand in hand with the Iraqi people, almost a hundred projects completed per day. And I would refer you also to a poll that was just published today in The London Telegraph. According to a survey, a polling survey by the Research Center of Baghdad University, 71.5 percent of Iraqis, according to this poll, questioned, believe that the American occupation was necessary, at least for a while. This is compared to 42 percent of Iraqis in a similar survey by the same center in June. So Iraqis understand what's at stake, and this is consistent with polling data, albeit primitive polling data. We recognize that polling in this country is primitive, but it's consistent with the polling data and the anecdotal information we have been seeing for a while. Iraqis want us here to get the job done. They understand what's at stake. The terrorists understand what's at stake. And those Iraqis who want to participate in protecting their own country know what's at stake. That's why the trend curve you've been seeing for Iraqis who are volunteering to work in their own security forces looks like this, not like this. All right? Every day we're getting more and more Iraqis who want to participate in their own security, and they are participating not based on, you know, gunpoint-to-the-head conscription, but based on a voluntary system. Q Could I just check a couple of details about the attack? The general said that two or three rounds were fired at the Palestine, of which one of them appeared to go astray and hit the Sheraton. While I was in the Palestine this morning, there was certainly at least three clear holes in various bits of the building, which indicate that there might have been rather more missiles than that. Also, could you check -- could you tell us whether the injured man is a KBR contractor? We understand he is. GEN. KIMMITT: I don't know what civilian firm -- I was told he had a civilian status, was a contractor. Don't know who he works for. Whether it was three rounds, whether it was four rounds, let's let the investigation take its course. The latest report that we have was that it was three. And I was running on the side of the river at that time, was probably about half a mile away from that. I thought I heard three. It may have been four. MR. SENOR: We have time for one more question. Go ahead. Q At General Dempsey's briefing yesterday, he showed us some fairly convincing footage of a high-technology response, under Iron Hammer, to some of these low-tech threats. You couldn't have a much more low-tech threat than a donkey. So my question is, is a high-tech army well organized to confront this kind of low-tech attack? GEN. KIMMITT: That's a good question. The linkage is actionable intelligence. No matter how high tech you are, no matter how proficient you are, no matter how professional your soldiers are -- and every country that has contributed to this coalition has sent their best professional soldiers -- we are still dependent to a great degree on actionable intelligence. And we get actionable intelligence from many ways, the best source being our HUMIT, our human intelligence. And that's why it's so important for us to continue to build the Iraqi forces, the police services, the CDC, the FPS, the border police, because those people are the ones that are giving us the intelligence, as well as the good citizens of Baghdad who are tired of being intimidated by these terrorists. But, do we have enough actionable intelligence? No. The lack of actionable intelligence, does that allow donkeys to sneak in and fire rockets? Yes. A very clever enemy who knows that we don't have the best intelligence in the world will find some seams, will run some vulnerabilities. But our intelligence is getting better every day. We continue to work with the Iraqis to improve those intelligence capabilities. No commander on the ground has enough actionable intelligence, and we'll continue to fight for it, we'll continue to work with the Iraqis to earn it, and we'll just continue to fight this, whether it's with a high-tech army or a low-tech army. MR. SENOR: Thanks, everybody. GEN. KIMMITT: Thanks. #### END