*EPF507 03/19/2004
Myers Emphasizes Progress in Iraq, War Against Terror
(Joint Chiefs Chairman interviewed March 19 on ABC, CNN, Fox) (260)

The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff says that the United States will stay in Iraq "until the job is done," and that "we will ultimately be successful."

Air Force General Richard Myers was interviewed on ABC's "Good Morning America," CNN's "American Morning" and on the "FOX & Friends" morning news program March 19, the one-year anniversary of the launch of "Operation Iraqi Freedom." Asked to name the biggest mistakes the United States had made during the war, he told ABC "it's hard to say there were a lot of mistakes made" given that Saddam Hussein is in custody and his regime is gone. But he also acknowledged that Iraq's security situation "has been challenging." He told CNN security improvements "must continue."

Asked about rumors that the second-ranking al-Qaeda terrorist, Ayman al-Zawahiri, is trapped along the Pakistani-Afghan border, Myers told CNN, "I think we have to wait and see." If al-Zawahiri is captured it "would be good news," the officer said, because he might know where Osama bin Laden is or was, and he might have other useful documents or materials that might lead to other wanted leaders. Capturing the number two leader of al-Qaeda "would be one more step in dealing with these international terrorists," Myers told ABC, but it would not defeat al-Qaeda nor end the war on terrorism.

(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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