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U.S. officials: Iraq war no 'cakewalk'
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Any potential war with Iraq will not be a "cakewalk" and the U.S. military must be prepared for a variety of contingencies if hostilities erupt, the United States' two top defense officials said Tuesday. "I would just say there's nobody involved in the military planning ... that would say that this sort of endeavor -- if we are asked to do it -- would be a cakewalk," said Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Tuesday. Myers was joined by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld at a news conference. Rumsfeld emphasized that any possible war is risky and that battlefield analogies to the 1991 Gulf War wouldn't apply this time around. "Any war is a dangerous thing, and it puts peoples' lives at risk," Rumsfeld said. "Second, I think that it is very difficult to have good knowledge as to exactly how Iraqi forces will behave." Between 60,000 to 80,000 Iraqi troops surrendered in a matter of days during the 1991 war, Rumsfeld said, but "what would happen this time is entirely an open question." The two defense officials spoke as U.N. weapons inspectors continued their search in Iraq for possible weapons of mass destruction, and as U.S. and other international officials reviewed an Iraqi declaration on the status of its weapons program. Rumsfeld also said the United States supports expatriating extended family members of Iraqi scientists who might have valuable knowledge on Iraqi weapons programs. "You certainly wouldn't want to take a single person out and expect he's going to tell you the truth if his family's still back in Iraq," Rumsfeld said. "We know for a fact that the most important information that inspectors have ever gotten on what's going on in Iraq have come from defectors and from people who've had personal knowledge inside the country. ... You've got to get them out and you've got to get their families out." Hans Blix, the head of the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspections Commission, has asked for the names of scientists currently and formerly associated with Iraq's chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programs. Blix has asked to have the names by the end of the month. The Iraqis have indicated informally to U.N. inspectors in Baghdad that they are working on the list.
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