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Q: What is the assessment of when Saddam might use chemical weapons on your troops?

General Conway: Some say the moment you cross the international border. Other say the moment you cross the Euphrates River. Some say when you would actually threaten Baghdad. My personal view is that the period of greatest threat is when we would start to engage a Republican Guard division...Based on what I read, I think there would be more trust in a Republican Guard commander than there would be in another. We certainly want to make sure that if we haven't seen it by the time we cross the line, that we are prepared when we come up against that first Republican Guard outfit, wherever that might be.

Q: Have you watched any movement of Iraqi military units during the last few days?

General Conway: I think he's going to a war footing. Essentially, a lot of his forces are in garrison right now. They will go to dispersal sites, they will go to prepared underground positions to try to ride out any extended bombing campaign that might take place. They would emerge, then, when they think it's appropriate. There's movement all around the country, in just about all sectors.

Q: What is the likelihood of large-scale bloodletting and tribal warfare once Saddam is deposed?

General Conway: If we see that type of thing, our moral responsibility is to halt it. We're concerned we may have to face that situation and stop it from happening. And perhaps create some antagonistic relationships early on, but that won't overcome the moral imperative to do the right thing...My read is that it will not be tribal warfare. If anything, it would be more against the [ruling] Baath Party members. You have Shiite and Sunni [Muslims] living side by side who have gotten along for centuries, I suppose. But it's those who have brutalized both sects that I think could pay a price for it, if left unchallenged.

Q: The forces advancing on Baghdad would potentially have to make several river crossings. Is there enough bridging for U.S. Army and Marine forces?

General Conway: There are a lot of avenues of approach in Iraq that require a good deal of engineer effort...There's only a certain number [of bridging resources] in the theater, and we're trying to reasonably split those resources with the Army. And there's a conversation that needs to be had in the next couple of days about how that needs to happen...Bridging is a shortfall CFLCC [Coalition Forces Land Component Command] wide.

Q: How big a concern is it that advancing forces will be overwhelmed with surrendering Iraqi forces?

General Conway: If we take tens of thousands of EPWs [enemy prisoners of war], we have the additional burden and responsibility of putting them in EPW camps. The sanitation, the feeding, the guarding, the water, all those things become our responsibility. If Iraqi forces, should we cross the line, decided they want out of it, what we would much rather do is negotiate with Iraqi commanders a capitulation agreement...They would return to their barracks. We would separate them from their weapons, and we'd still have responsibility for their welfare. Their officers would be allowed to retain their sidearms to keep order. We think we afford them a certain amount of dignity in a situation like that, as opposed to standing around with their hands in their pockets in a POW camp.

Q: Do you expect a final, apocalyptic battle for Baghdad?

General Conway: We simply don't know, but you certainly have to plan for that eventuality, if you accept that the closer you get to Baghdad the better his troops, and the more loyalty that exists in those troops...I'll tell you, for all of our training, for all our experimentation, there are no golden BBs for how you do it quickly, successfully and without casualties. I'll tell you one thing, if we wound up having to take down the city of Baghdad, that has a population in excess of 5 million people, block by block and house by house, we have failed.

Q: Do you expect the Marines to have a large role in a post-Saddam occupation?

General Conway: I think we will. For how long will certainly remain to be seen. To what degree is the subject of much discussion right now...I think it's still a decision that's being made in Washington and London. We'll, of course be ready to respond either way. If I had a vote, I'd say let's get out of here. Let's backload the MPS [Maritime Pre-Positioning Ships], get it in shape, and get these kids home because we have regular deployments that need to be met.

Q: Do your troops fear that there is not public support for the war?

General Conway: When I went out to groups [of troops], it's something I wanted to speak to them about. What our troops need to understand is that the overwhelming number of civilians are behind them. And I think they are even behind them as their military, if they are not behind the administration in what is taking place...So these stories that they've read about people throwing blood on marines coming back from Vietnam or calling them "baby killers"–that's an era past, and these young folks don't have to worry about that.