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CNN Live At Daybreak

Operation Iraqi Freedom has Begun

Aired March 20, 2003 - 06:14   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.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Where are we going now?
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: We're going now to the Pentagon, I believe,...

COSTELLO: OK.

HARRIS: ... where Chris Plante is standing by there. Chris has got the latest word for us now. And as a matter of fact, Chris was here moments ago with word coming in of a plane that had crossed the border that may have contained some sort of weapon.

Let's go to Chris now and see what he's learned in the last few minutes -- Chris.

CHRIS PLANTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All right, Leon.

Defense officials are confirming for us here the launch of a ballistic missile by Iraqi forces into Kuwaiti air space. They believe that a Patriot missile, Patriot PAC3 missile, effectively intercepted the incoming ballistic missile launched by the Iraqis and knocked it to the ground. That adds, hopefully, a little bit of clarity to whether the missile fell harmlessly to the ground on its own or not. They're not confirming whether it's a scud missile or not at this point. It could be a variety of other missiles, but they're investigating that and hope to get back to us with more details on that a little later on.

Additionally, as you just mentioned, defense officials have told us that a small plane, described as a Cessna, a small civilian style plane, did cross the border from Iraq, headed toward a Marine position and crashed apparently short of that Marine position before reaching the Marine position. The reason that they're greatly concerned about this is that Iraq is known to have converted small planes, like Cessnas, for use in disbursing chemical and/or biological weapons in the past. It's the type of aircraft that was used to attack Kurds in Northern Iraq many years ago.

It's not clear why the plane went down. It may have been a remotely piloted vehicle. They are not confirming at this point that it was in fact carrying chemical or biological weapons or even outfitted to carry chemical or biological weapons, but they are expressing grave concern that this may be a harbinger of things to come -- Leon.

HARRIS: All right. Chris, any word about whether or not that changes the timing of any plans for that particular group of Marines that witnessed this plane coming at them?

PLANTE: No word on that right now. It certainly is the kind of thing that could move up any timetable in the opening of the full- blown war against Iraq. But there is no clarity on that now.

HARRIS: How about any word about actually going out and securing the wreckage of that plane?

PLANTE: They're absolutely tending to that. They've gone to a full Mock 4 (ph), as we've been hearing throughout the morning here, full protective gear. And they're certainly addressing that issue, but they're taking their time. They're being cautious. Force protection is their No. 1 priority, and they'll get into the details that -- of that airplane when they can do so safely -- Leon.

HARRIS: Good deal. Thanks, Chris. Back to the phones for you and we'll check back with you later on. Chris Plante at the Pentagon -- Carol.

COSTELLO: And, Leon, we've just gotten word that the British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw will speak publicly soon. When he does that, of course we'll take it live.

Right now, though, we want to head to the White House to check in with Chris Burns.

Chris, I want you to take us through this, how the president decided to attack in this manner, so different from the shock and awe that all of us expected.

CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well absolutely, Carol, that would come to a big surprise, viewers turning on their TVs this morning, wondering where -- what happened to the shock and awe, 3,000 or thousands of bombs to be dropped in the first 48 hours, at least that was the plan.

Well, President Bush was given information yesterday afternoon at a war planning session in the afternoon in which he was told by the CIA that there was a -- some kind of a target, a major leadership target, as has been told to us, possibly including Saddam Hussein himself, that it was the time to strike now or miss that opportunity. That is why President Bush ordered that strike, expecting, though, however, this to be only the beginning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: At this hour, American and coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations to disarm Iraq, to free its people and to defend the world from grave danger. On my orders, coalition forces have begun striking selected targets of military importance to undermine Saddam Hussein's ability to wage war. These are opening stages of what will be a broad and concerted campaign.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BURNS: Senior administration officials saying that these -- the actual shock and awe could get under way some time as early as today. President Bush, of course, having many meetings today with national security advisors and others. He has -- the only thing that he has planned on the schedule, publicly anyway, is a dinner with the president of Cameroon this evening. The president of Cameroon, his country was part of the U.N. Security Council that was -- that rejected that new U.N. Security Council resolution. Interesting what their conversation will be about this evening -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Yes, and you know, Chris, we just got word that Russia is certainly not on board on this. Will the president come out and talk about that at all?

BURNS: Well a little bit early this morning for that. However, the president had spoken with Mr. Putin a couple of days ago and what we had heard is that he still plans to go to St. Petersburg, Russia for a summit with Mr. Putin in May. So interesting what subsequent conversations will be about.

Obviously the president reaching out to even the countries that were opposed to that U.N. war resolution that was proposed. Showing a reaching out because the U.S. will need plenty of help from other countries to rebuild Iraq and to police Iraq after the war -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Chris Burns reporting live from Washington this morning.

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 - 06:14   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Where are we going now?
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: We're going now to the Pentagon, I believe,...

COSTELLO: OK.

HARRIS: ... where Chris Plante is standing by there. Chris has got the latest word for us now. And as a matter of fact, Chris was here moments ago with word coming in of a plane that had crossed the border that may have contained some sort of weapon.

Let's go to Chris now and see what he's learned in the last few minutes -- Chris.

CHRIS PLANTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All right, Leon.

Defense officials are confirming for us here the launch of a ballistic missile by Iraqi forces into Kuwaiti air space. They believe that a Patriot missile, Patriot PAC3 missile, effectively intercepted the incoming ballistic missile launched by the Iraqis and knocked it to the ground. That adds, hopefully, a little bit of clarity to whether the missile fell harmlessly to the ground on its own or not. They're not confirming whether it's a scud missile or not at this point. It could be a variety of other missiles, but they're investigating that and hope to get back to us with more details on that a little later on.

Additionally, as you just mentioned, defense officials have told us that a small plane, described as a Cessna, a small civilian style plane, did cross the border from Iraq, headed toward a Marine position and crashed apparently short of that Marine position before reaching the Marine position. The reason that they're greatly concerned about this is that Iraq is known to have converted small planes, like Cessnas, for use in disbursing chemical and/or biological weapons in the past. It's the type of aircraft that was used to attack Kurds in Northern Iraq many years ago.

It's not clear why the plane went down. It may have been a remotely piloted vehicle. They are not confirming at this point that it was in fact carrying chemical or biological weapons or even outfitted to carry chemical or biological weapons, but they are expressing grave concern that this may be a harbinger of things to come -- Leon.

HARRIS: All right. Chris, any word about whether or not that changes the timing of any plans for that particular group of Marines that witnessed this plane coming at them?

PLANTE: No word on that right now. It certainly is the kind of thing that could move up any timetable in the opening of the full- blown war against Iraq. But there is no clarity on that now.

HARRIS: How about any word about actually going out and securing the wreckage of that plane?

PLANTE: They're absolutely tending to that. They've gone to a full Mock 4 (ph), as we've been hearing throughout the morning here, full protective gear. And they're certainly addressing that issue, but they're taking their time. They're being cautious. Force protection is their No. 1 priority, and they'll get into the details that -- of that airplane when they can do so safely -- Leon.

HARRIS: Good deal. Thanks, Chris. Back to the phones for you and we'll check back with you later on. Chris Plante at the Pentagon -- Carol.

COSTELLO: And, Leon, we've just gotten word that the British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw will speak publicly soon. When he does that, of course we'll take it live.

Right now, though, we want to head to the White House to check in with Chris Burns.

Chris, I want you to take us through this, how the president decided to attack in this manner, so different from the shock and awe that all of us expected.

CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well absolutely, Carol, that would come to a big surprise, viewers turning on their TVs this morning, wondering where -- what happened to the shock and awe, 3,000 or thousands of bombs to be dropped in the first 48 hours, at least that was the plan.

Well, President Bush was given information yesterday afternoon at a war planning session in the afternoon in which he was told by the CIA that there was a -- some kind of a target, a major leadership target, as has been told to us, possibly including Saddam Hussein himself, that it was the time to strike now or miss that opportunity. That is why President Bush ordered that strike, expecting, though, however, this to be only the beginning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: At this hour, American and coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations to disarm Iraq, to free its people and to defend the world from grave danger. On my orders, coalition forces have begun striking selected targets of military importance to undermine Saddam Hussein's ability to wage war. These are opening stages of what will be a broad and concerted campaign.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BURNS: Senior administration officials saying that these -- the actual shock and awe could get under way some time as early as today. President Bush, of course, having many meetings today with national security advisors and others. He has -- the only thing that he has planned on the schedule, publicly anyway, is a dinner with the president of Cameroon this evening. The president of Cameroon, his country was part of the U.N. Security Council that was -- that rejected that new U.N. Security Council resolution. Interesting what their conversation will be about this evening -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Yes, and you know, Chris, we just got word that Russia is certainly not on board on this. Will the president come out and talk about that at all?

BURNS: Well a little bit early this morning for that. However, the president had spoken with Mr. Putin a couple of days ago and what we had heard is that he still plans to go to St. Petersburg, Russia for a summit with Mr. Putin in May. So interesting what subsequent conversations will be about.

Obviously the president reaching out to even the countries that were opposed to that U.N. war resolution that was proposed. Showing a reaching out because the U.S. will need plenty of help from other countries to rebuild Iraq and to police Iraq after the war -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Chris Burns reporting live from Washington this morning.

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