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CNN Live At Daybreak

War Recap

Aired March 20, 2003 - 05:40   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to go check in briefly with Bill Hemmer who is standing by live in Kuwait City.
Bill, I take it you saw that conference as well?

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, certainly did, Anderson. I think it goes to show the long list of press conferences over the past several days coming out of Iraq. The focus does not appear to be changing on a day-to-day basis. Clearly this is an Iraqi government not only trying to communicate to the world, but also to its people, and most importantly, to its military throughout the country, trying to get them to stay strong and in line right now in trying to trump the successes. Sometimes we have seen that sometimes the words come out and then later they're retracted based on what we get from the Pentagon. So we will certainly do our very best to balance all of this.

In the meantime though, a lot of -- excuse me -- a lot of developments over the past day.

Miles O'Brien now a look back the past 24 hours and the critical points of the movement so far in the war in Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Recapping developments so far today, 3:04 a.m. Eastern Time, Iraqi TV broadcasts a speech by Saddam Hussein. He praises the Iraqi armed forces. Urges Iraqis to fight coalition forces and predicts Iraqi victory. Analysts say they will study this speech to determine when it was made and if it really is the Iraqi president.

4:00 a.m., Iraqi TV shows pictures of a downed coalition helicopter south of Baghdad. It apparently crash-landed amidst an intense U.S. helicopter-Iraqi tank battle witnessed by CNN's Karl Penhaul near Karbala. CNN's Tom Mintier reports U.S. Central Command confirms one Apache helicopter is missing in Iraq. No word on the chopper pilots.

6:05 a.m., Bill Hemmer reports Kuwaiti airspace was penetrated half an hour before by an Iraqi missile which was shot down by a Kuwaiti Patriot missile. He later reports Patriots shot down two more Iraqi missiles and a fourth failed to reach Kuwaiti airspace.

6:20 a.m., British Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon says today's speech by Saddam Hussein was definitely on tape. And analysts still haven't determined if it's really the Iraqi president. 07:15 a.m., CNN's Alessio Vinci, traveling with the 2nd Marine Division, reports a second day of heavy fighting around the southern city of Nasiriya. Today the Marines exchange mortar fire with several Iraqi units and called in air support from Cobra helicopters.

09:05 Eastern, U.S. Commander General Tommy Franks says despite sporadic resistance, Polish and forces are making rapid progress. He also shows targets being destroyed and says small special operations teams are accomplishing wonderful things in northern and western Iraq.

1:19 p.m. Eastern, Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz announces President Saddam Hussein and his top aids are alive and in control of the government.

3:22 p.m., Abu Dhabi TV showed video of two U.S. pilots it said were captured by Iraq after their Apache helicopter went down. They appeared to be in good condition. After notifying their families, the Pentagon identified the men as David Williams from Florida and Ronald Young Jr. from Georgia. The video was shot by Iraqi TV in Baghdad.

3:30 p.m., the Pentagon acknowledged five Syrian civilians were accidentally killed when their bus drove onto a bridge just as a coalition plane released its bombs over northwest Iraq. Fifteen others on the bus were wounded.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired March 20, 2003 - 05:40   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to go check in briefly with Bill Hemmer who is standing by live in Kuwait City.
Bill, I take it you saw that conference as well?

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, certainly did, Anderson. I think it goes to show the long list of press conferences over the past several days coming out of Iraq. The focus does not appear to be changing on a day-to-day basis. Clearly this is an Iraqi government not only trying to communicate to the world, but also to its people, and most importantly, to its military throughout the country, trying to get them to stay strong and in line right now in trying to trump the successes. Sometimes we have seen that sometimes the words come out and then later they're retracted based on what we get from the Pentagon. So we will certainly do our very best to balance all of this.

In the meantime though, a lot of -- excuse me -- a lot of developments over the past day.

Miles O'Brien now a look back the past 24 hours and the critical points of the movement so far in the war in Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Recapping developments so far today, 3:04 a.m. Eastern Time, Iraqi TV broadcasts a speech by Saddam Hussein. He praises the Iraqi armed forces. Urges Iraqis to fight coalition forces and predicts Iraqi victory. Analysts say they will study this speech to determine when it was made and if it really is the Iraqi president.

4:00 a.m., Iraqi TV shows pictures of a downed coalition helicopter south of Baghdad. It apparently crash-landed amidst an intense U.S. helicopter-Iraqi tank battle witnessed by CNN's Karl Penhaul near Karbala. CNN's Tom Mintier reports U.S. Central Command confirms one Apache helicopter is missing in Iraq. No word on the chopper pilots.

6:05 a.m., Bill Hemmer reports Kuwaiti airspace was penetrated half an hour before by an Iraqi missile which was shot down by a Kuwaiti Patriot missile. He later reports Patriots shot down two more Iraqi missiles and a fourth failed to reach Kuwaiti airspace.

6:20 a.m., British Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon says today's speech by Saddam Hussein was definitely on tape. And analysts still haven't determined if it's really the Iraqi president. 07:15 a.m., CNN's Alessio Vinci, traveling with the 2nd Marine Division, reports a second day of heavy fighting around the southern city of Nasiriya. Today the Marines exchange mortar fire with several Iraqi units and called in air support from Cobra helicopters.

09:05 Eastern, U.S. Commander General Tommy Franks says despite sporadic resistance, Polish and forces are making rapid progress. He also shows targets being destroyed and says small special operations teams are accomplishing wonderful things in northern and western Iraq.

1:19 p.m. Eastern, Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz announces President Saddam Hussein and his top aids are alive and in control of the government.

3:22 p.m., Abu Dhabi TV showed video of two U.S. pilots it said were captured by Iraq after their Apache helicopter went down. They appeared to be in good condition. After notifying their families, the Pentagon identified the men as David Williams from Florida and Ronald Young Jr. from Georgia. The video was shot by Iraqi TV in Baghdad.

3:30 p.m., the Pentagon acknowledged five Syrian civilians were accidentally killed when their bus drove onto a bridge just as a coalition plane released its bombs over northwest Iraq. Fifteen others on the bus were wounded.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com