this month, but he urged Washington to also tackle religious tensions in the troubled nation.
"I do know the man who is in charge of the renewed effort to find (the weapons of mass destruction), and I went out to see him the other day," said Brokaw, presenter and Managing Editor of NBC Nightly News, in an exclusive interview with BosNewsLife in Amman.
"They (the Americans) have seven and a half miles of documents. They are doing a very complete analyses. And he is a very honest professional, and he said: "I am confident that we have them." So I think there may be some news in that regard in about six week," Brokaw stressed in a July BosNewsLife interview, after returning to Jordan from Baghdad, Iraq.
"The first evidence of that will likely be biological. Anthrax, smallpox, agents of that kind and than , after that, chemical and even some physical weapons that are illegal. Missiles and that kind of things. I do think that they will get some concrete evidence (about) weapons of mass destruction," he predicted.
PHYSICAL EVIDENCE
"They (the Americans) don’t want to go public until they are confident that they have got scientists who are willing to publicly testify about what they did, physical evidence and documentation to back it up," Brokaw explained.
"The first evidence of that will likely be biological. Anthrax, smallpox, agents of that kind and than, after that, chemical and even some physical weapons that are illegal. Missiles and that kind of things. I do think that they will get some concrete evidence (about) weapons of mass destruction," he said.
Yet, the television anchor made clear that finding these arms was not enough to make Iraq more stable, saying he was concerned about religious violence in the Middle East nation. He warned that U.S. President George W. Bush and other officials have not "a clear idea" about fears among persecuted minority Christians as well as other groups that Iraq will turn into a more radical Islamic state.
NEW FEDERATION
"That’s an enormously important factor. I would not be surprised if ten years from now Iraq is a federation of some kind, with Shiites in the south, the Kurds in the north, and some combination of Sunnis and Christians and Shiites in the central part, maybe with a central governing council…," Brokaw said.
"I am not even sure that the president or his principal advisers have a clear idea about how this is going to turn out. This is a work in progress. We don’t have a light at the end of the tunnel yet. We only have a tunnel," said Brokaw, talking in the sound bites and his deep, rumbling, voice that marked him for generations.
Brokaw is also concerned about the daily attacks against U.S. soldiers as dozens have been killed since President George W. Bush declared an end to major hostilities, May 1. "If these deaths continue every day , how much ‘political will,’ will there be at home to have the Americans stay there?" he wondered.
"I think no one knows that better than the people who are representing the United States in Iraq. They are in a race against time because they got to have some physical sign of progress before the American people, and the Iraqi people give up on it."
ATTENTION "SLIPPING"
However the newsman seemed sad that the attention among Americans for the story of Iraq "is already slipping."
"That’s why I went (to Baghdad)…It is a big investment on the NBC Nightly News and other programs to remind Americans of the enormous investments that they have there. We have about 150,000 soldiers there, its costing us four billion Dollars a month," he said.
"The other difficult is that America is a big country and that it has a lot of challenges of its own, including its domestic economy. We are a culture that when one job is finished, rushes on to the next one. I think what will keep the American people engaged, are these ambush attacks (against U.S. troops). They are very unsettled by that, more and more, all the time."
But he also sees signs of hope and economic progress in Iraq, including the sale of satellite dishes and cell phones that were long banned under Saddam Hussein. "Its not just about Americans dying. There is also an effort to bring Iraqi policemen back to the job. The old Iraqi army got its back pay and than (the U.S.) is starting a new army, because they don’t want the old Iraqi army that has so much resentment…We have to stop making new enemies."
HAPPINESS AND WEARINESS
Brokaw: "I was twice (in Iraq) last year, when there was that pervasive climate of fear, now there is a climate of tentative happiness and some weariness."
He accused European media of not enough mentioning these positive developments as they apparently cover Iraq differently than NBC and other American networks. "I think that (Europeans) are less inclined to see some of the American successes and more inclined to dwell on the failures. That’s not unusual. I think that the president has irritated a lot of Europeans with the way he described what the way is…or is not."
He recalled a recent trip to Europe where he ran into a journalist from Belgium "who criticized" American policy. "I said: Look, I am not here to defend the American policies, at the other hand I trust that you are trying to defend Saddam Hussein and what he has done." She was more inclined to overlook Saddam Hussein’s rule because she was so outraged about the U.S. lead sanctions against Iraq. It’s a very complex situation, there is no question about it."
REBUILDING AND PATIENCE
Brokaw: "I was with an American general the other day who had posted on his bulletin board: rebuilding takes time, everyone must be patient. I think that’s true." As he inspected some new shirts received from a producer, Brokaw was asked if he wanted to return to Baghdad. "Yes, but I want to give it some more time to see how it changes. I think, three months from now will be interesting." Unless he is asked to carry out another assignment, somewhere around the globe.
