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CNN Live At Daybreak
Conflict Underway
Aired March 20, 2003 - 05:00 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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning folks. This is a historic day, this Thursday, March 20. The U.S.-led attack on Iraq has begun.
I'm Leon Harris here at the CNN global headquarters in Atlanta.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Carol Costello.
We start with a check of the war news at this hour. Here is the latest information for you.
Just a short time ago, Iraq answered the U.S.-led first strike on Iraq. Kuwaiti defense officials report two conventional rockets landed near Kuwaiti military bases north of Kuwait City -- alerts were issued.
CNN medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is with the U.S. Marines in northern Kuwait. He's been told there are no injuries. He also tell us he and the Marines heard the rockets roar overhead.
And listen to that. This is how the strike on Iraq sounded as the war opened about seven and a half hours ago now. Air raid sirens blared before dawn in Baghdad, as U.S. marines struck selected targets there and south of the city.
Ah, and take a look at that, more than 40 Tomahawk cruise missiles were fired from six U.S. warships in the Red Sea and Persian Gulf. Two F-117 Stealth fighters also dropped two thousand pound bunker buster bombs.
Pentagon sources call it a decapitation strike aimed at killing senior Iraqi leaders, including President Saddam Hussein.
HARRIS: Now, this strike came about three hours after President Bush addressed the nation last night from the White House. President Bush said last night coalition forces were hitting selected targets to undermine Saddam Hussein's ability to wage war.
And Washington now wants to know when was this Saddam Hussein's speech taped. Iraqi TV broadcast this nearly three hours after the U.S. missile strike. But Saddam Hussein made no specific reference to that attack and that's sparking some speculation about whether or not he is still alive at this hour.
All right, let's go right now to Bill Hemmer, who's standing by in Kuwait City, where they've actually been hearing sirens in the last hour or two. Let's go check in with him now and see what the very latest is -- hello, Bill. BILL HEMMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Leon, thanks.
First things first right now, there are no sirens right now in Kuwait City. Thirty minutes ago there was a series of three different waves of sirens. They lasted 12 minutes in length. Now the all clear has been given here in Kuwait City.
Despite that, activities still on the roads. We've seen people out. Earlier today, outside of Kuwait City, we saw people reporting to work, although the number of people out today and the traffic is significantly lower than at any other point that we have seen here in Kuwait.
I want to update you right now with Sanjay Gupta's reporting. He is embedded with the U.S. Marines at a location called Camp Iwo Jima. It's in the northern part of the Kuwaiti desert, about 25 miles south of the Iraqi border. His location only an approximate guess as to where Sanjay's located.
Here's what we're hearing now from the U.S. Marines. Camp Commando is the main logistics center set up by the U.S. Marines back in November and December of last year. It's that command and control center for the U.S. Marines that's now indicating a lot of the movements we see.
We are told that these Iraqi missiles, two of them hit near (ph) in the Kuwaiti desert but no injuries reported, no fatalities reported either.
Again, the word of two missiles being launched and fired over the heads of U.S. Marines in the northern Kuwaiti desert.
That's the word we're getting from Sanjay. They were told to take cover at that time.
The other information we're getting, CNN's Ryan Chilcote, embedded with the U.S. Marines, excuse me, the U.S. Army, 101st Airborne Division, Ryan is reporting, based on two different sources, that a Patriot missile has been fired at some sort of incoming missile from the Iraqi side. Perhaps it was a Scud. Perhaps it was some other type of missile. But the word from Ryan based on two sources is that a Patriot missile has been fired in northern Kuwait.
Let's bring you up to date right now on the word we're getting about the missile attacks, these Tomahawk cruise missiles that were launched at Baghdad several hours ago. It was about 5:30 a.m. local time here in Kuwait, the same time locally in Baghdad. We're told 42 different cruise missiles were launched by three different vessels, two operating in the Red Sea, one in the Persian Gulf. A ship and a sub in the Red Sea and a cruiser operating in the Persian Gulf hitting targets in downtown Baghdad as well as targets just south of Baghdad.
What the target was at the time is not certain, but the Pentagon is saying through sources with Chris Plante that Iraqi leadership clearly were in the gun sights of the U.S. military. That's the reason for the launch of these missiles. All of this coming prior to the deadline for that 48 hour ultimatum came and went, about two and half hours, again, before that 8:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time deadline came. We saw the launch from, again, from the cruiser, the ship and the U.S. submarine.
The all clear has been sounded here in Kuwait City -- Leon. More when we get it live here in Kuwait -- back to you now at the CNN Center.
HARRIS: You've got it.
Thanks, Bill.
We'll get back to you in just a bit.
HEMMER: Sure.
HARRIS: Carol, over to you.
COSTELLO: Well, you know, Bill was talking about these Tomahawk missiles, I just want to tell you what technological wonders they are. They're able to fly at just under the speed of sound, hugging the ground to deliver a 1,000 pound warhead onto a preprogrammed target. Now, we know most of those bombs fell in downtown Iraq.
That's where Rym Brahimi is standing by live right now -- Rym, what did you hear?
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, it's now been four hours since we heard the all clear signal. But let me take you back through this first night of attacks launched by the United States.
Now, just before sunrise, at about 5:30 a.m. local time here, we heard a distant detonation. It was something like anti-aircraft fire. And then there was air raid sirens. That was followed again by anti- aircraft. Then there was a lull for a few minutes and then a very intense round of anti-aircraft fire. You could even see the orange tracer fire in the sky.
Then there was an explosion. Now, we are not clear so far whether that was an explosion coming out of impact or whether it was anti-aircraft. And daylight slowly began to emerge at that point.
Now, about half an hour after the first all clear signal, President Saddam Hussein addressed the Iraqi people. His speech was broadcast on Iraqi TV. The president saying that President Bush had underestimated the Iraqi people, calling on Iraqis to pull out their swords and to fight what he called the U.S. Zionist invaders. He also addressed what he called friends and allied countries, calling on them to see how the United States, in his view, ignored their efforts to avert a war. Also, portraying this as a battle between the United States on the one hand and Arabs, Muslims and humanity at large on the other -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Rym, going back to the bombing itself, can you see any damage in Baghdad? Have you been able to go out onto the streets? BRAHIMI: From where we are, Carol, we can't see any damage for the time being. Now, we're told we might be able to see some of the places that have been damaged. That's still being worked out, the details of that. But from where we are, we're quite central here in Baghdad, our position is, from the hotel, and we can't see very much.
What's striking, though, Carol, is it's about one, 10 past one o'clock in the afternoon here in Baghdad and this is usually a really busy time of day. There's traffic, so much traffic, it's very, very difficult to get from one place of the city to the other. And right now there are almost no cars in the streets.
COSTELLO: I understand.
BRAHIMI: And no people at all.
COSTELLO: Rym, I'm getting some feedback in my ear. I don't know if our audience is hearing the feedback, as well. We're going to wrap it up with you.
Rym Brahimi reporting live out of Baghdad.
Not seeing any damage as of yet, but she certainly heard those 42 Tomahawk cruise missiles hitting their targets in downtown Baghdad. We don't know what they hit right now, but we do know Saddam Hussein appeared on Iraqi television. Now, we don't know if he was on tape or if it was alive broadcast. We just don't know.
We're going to take a break right now, is that right?
OK. We're going to toss to Leon.
HARRIS: Actually, yes, we're going to try to see if we can get a hold of our Walt Rodgers, who is out with the Seventh Cavalry to find out exactly what's going on there. We do know that the bulk of the U.S. troops who are sitting there assembling in that region have been massing there in Kuwait near the border.
Let's go now to Walt and see what's happening there -- Walt, hello.
WALTER RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Leon.
Within the past, oh, 30 to 40 minutes, I was walking through the encampment of the Seventh Cavalry and in the distance I heard two or three loud explosions. They sounded like artillery but I couldn't be sure. I wandered back to our vehicle and the Army started yelling at us go to mach four. That means full chemical suits. First come on our boots, then come on our chemical weapons pants and our chemical weapons parka, then we pull on our gas masks and then we put on our hood and gloves over that.
We went to a mach four. We were told to get inside our vehicles and put on our body armor, as well. They were concerned that perhaps there was going to be an artillery barrage against the Seventh Cavalry. As I say, this unit was not hit, but they say they were launched against.
Now, there has since come word to us from, again, soldiers here that they heard a Scud was launched and perhaps Patriot missiles were fired against it, which might explain why we heard more than one explosion.
But we were in our chemical weapons suits for at least 20 minutes and it was not a test. We were told to get into those suits because we had been launched against. Whatever was launched, whether it was an artillery shell or a Scud, as some soldiers say, it was well over the horizon, although certainly loud enough to hear. Not very close, but wind direction being what it is, you can't be sure of the threat. And, again, the Seventh Cavalry was told to go to mach four, full chemical suits and gas masks as well -- Leon.
HARRIS: Walter, just for the benefit of those who are just joining us right now, we want to see if we can put that map back up again with Walter's picture there so we can get an idea of exactly where Walter is. Walt, can you give us an idea exactly where you are in proximity to the border with Iraq right now?
RODGERS: We can but it would be wrong. We can't tell you exactly where we are.
HARRIS: Understood.
RODGERS: We are very close to the Iraqi border. We're in northern Kuwait and I can't be more specific than that. That would help the hostile forces on the other side who, according to the Army, just launched against us. They say it was a Scud, but that has not been confirmed. Nonetheless, Seventh Cavalry and CNN with it went into full chemical weapons uniforms. Boots go on first, then the trousers, then the parka, then the gas mask and the gloves after that, and we were told to get into our vehicles, put on our body armor as well, Kevlar vest, Kevlar helmets. We do not have the hard skinned vehicles like the Bradleys like the Army does or the tanks. We're in a very soft skinned humvee. So we just sort of sat there like good boys and girls and took a little sip out of the water because, of course, this is very dehydrating and we'll probably be in these chemical suits most of the day -- Leon.
HARRIS: Yes, but that's exactly the reason why you drill and why you train and why you go through those procedures, and we're glad to see that everybody did do that according to plan.
We'll get back to you later on and please check in the mine you hear something again, Walt.
Walter Rodgers out there with the Seventh Cavalry.
COSTELLO: Talking about hearing and seeing something, Leon, Dr. Sanjay Gupta is embedded with the Marines at Camp Iwo Jima in northern Kuwait.
You actually saw the bomb going overhead. I just can't even imagine how you felt, Sanjay. DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, it was sort of an interesting morning, I'll tell you, because people certainly were anticipatory given the fact that 4:00 a.m. reflected 48 hours after the president's speech. So people were already a little nervous about things.
At about 10:28, six and a half hours later, we were walking around. We wear our Kevlar and things like that, but not our full gear. And we heard and saw something. We heard a very loud noise and then we saw something traveling about 300 feet overhead. It appeared to be grayish green colored and it looked like a missile, but I'd never seen one before, but that's what it looked like. It had yellow stripes on it, as well.
Shortly after that, we heard a thud. It appeared to be coming from the south. We couldn't see that. The reason we couldn't see it is because we were already in bunkers. We heard a bunker, bunker, bunker call. That means everyone puts on their helmets, everyone puts on their Kevlar. We also heard a mask, gas mask call. So everyone put on their masks. Within the nine seconds that we've been hearing so much about everyone got into the bunkers.
Shortly after that, we heard missiles inbound, missiles inbound. That was a noise that we were hearing coming off the p.a. system. Everyone was obviously very nervous at that time. We were about 45 minutes sitting in the bunker, quite warm with our masks on. After that we were told, 45 minutes later, we could take our masks off and about 15 minutes after that, we were told that we were clear.
Let me add, as well, that a Marine did come by and say that hits had been confirmed. What we have found out since that time, now, over the last couple of hours is that, in fact, they were more than one missile actually fired, an NBC team -- that stands for nuclear, biological, chemical team -- was dispatched to the area. No chemical munitions were found at that point.
We did see a medevac helicopter take off about 300 meters from where I'm standing now. That helicopter has not yet returned so, but we are hearing that there have been no injuries or casualties from these missiles.
Also, since that time there have been two additional bunker calls, meaning twice more we've put on our gear and gotten back into the bunkers. Right now we are in an all clear situation, although we do intermittently hear sirens in the background -- back to you.
COSTELLO: Just to clarify so our audience understands, those hits you were talking about occurred in Kuwait somewhere, but you don't know exactly where yet?
GUPTA: That's right. We are in the northern desert of Kuwait. We are at a Marine camp. For obvious reasons, we're told not to disclose our location. But it did appear that this "hit" did take place south of us. That would be between us and Kuwait City. That's all we can really hear. Again, we couldn't see it. We heard the impact. It appeared to be traveling in a north to south direction, so that is our conclusion at this point -- back to you.
COSTELLO: Sanjay, do you know if the Marines you're staying with were targeted? I mean have you had any word on that?
GUPTA: No, we've not had any word that these Marines were targeted by any means. I think everyone sort of just was following protocol at the time that this happened. The missile did fly overhead. We are in the northern desert of Kuwait, as are other Marine camps and other military camps, both the United States and other countries, as well. But we have no reason to believe at this time that we were specifically targeted.
COSTELLO: Sanjay Gupta, you stay safe.
Sanjay Gupta reporting live from northern Kuwait from Camp Iwo Jima -- Leon.
HARRIS: All right, let's get the latest report on the action that the 101st Airborne is seeing and hearing, at least, out there this afternoon there.
Our Ryan Chilcote is standing by.
Let's check in with him now that we have him with us -- Ryan, are you there?
RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Leon.
Well, just about 40 minutes ago, the unit that I was in, we were standing outside just actually waiting around when we heard a very loud alarm. That's the alarm that indicates a Scud attack. Everyone immediately donned their masks and headed for the bunker.
About five minutes after we arrived inside the bunker, a soldier came up with a radio and he said there's been a Scud attack, one Scud missile, and that it had been downed by a Patriot, a volley of Patriot missiles.
Later, I was told, and now I've got this from three different military sources, that, indeed, one Patriot missile, according to the unit that I'm with, was, what -- rather, one Scud missile was downed, apparently by three Patriot missiles. It did impact and now what we think is that that's just the residue of what was left of that missile did impact the ground. No casualties -- Leon.
HARRIS: All right, good deal.
Thank you very much, Ryan.
Get back to us the next time you hear something new.
COSTELLO: Yes, we're going to toss to a break right now.
When we come back, we'll be joined live in Kuwait by Daryn Kagan and Bill Hemmer and they'll have much more for you as those sirens go off again and again this morning. HARRIS: And they should have something new there, because I'm being told that Daryn actually went out to find out exactly where those Scuds may have been coming from.
So stay with us, folks. We'll have much more coming up for you and live reports just after this break. Don't go away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: We're back here live in Kuwait City. Just to update our viewers, in case you're just waking up in the U.S., we heard about 50 minutes ago sirens echoing throughout Kuwait City. They lasted in three different ways for a period of about 12 minutes but then the all clear signal was given that things here apparently had died down or the threat, whatever the threat was, had been averted.
Let's talk with Daryn Kagan right now -- and, Daryn, you had gone out recently in the streets of Kuwait City to find out just where, indeed, these missiles that Sanjay Gupta was reporting had landed and targeted.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right.
HEMMER: And on your way, you found what?
KAGAN: Yes, well, we were trying to pick up the story where Sanjay left off, talking about where these perhaps missiles or rockets had landed. So we were headed to that area between where the Marines would be north of here and Kuwait City.
We didn't even get out of the city. When we heard the sirens, we called back here to the CNN base. You guys weren't hearing the sirens yet, but our producer, Khalid al-Khouder (ph), was the first to hear it. He's a Kuwaiti local so he's really aware and knew right away. We pulled over. A very quick lesson, by the way, in throwing on all the body armor and getting ready. It was not that long. It was maybe three or five minutes before we did start hearing the all clear.
But I think we have first sound. Let's show the tape. If we could listen a little bit so folks at home -- this is what we were hearing.
(AIRING TAPE OF SIRENS)
KAGAN: That sound is attack in progress. That's when you know to take cover, to put on, in our case, our body armor and get ready. You saw then local Kuwaitis, here some of them weren't that concerned. But as the sirens kept going on, just in a matter of minutes the mood changed. There you see some trying to get to some type of shelter.
Not too long after this we heard the next siren and that's the one you listen for. That the all clear, meaning that it's OK, danger has passed for now. But even after that, we suddenly started to see life here in Kuwait City starting to change. This was right by the court, the Shuwait Court (ph) of Kuwait City and we saw probably hundreds of workers being let go, not in a panic, just the people there in charge saying you know what? Today's not a day for work, let's go home, let them go to safety.
HEMMER: It might come as a surprise to many viewers back home that with Kuwait City practically on the front lines of the conflict that people would actually show up for work today.
KAGAN: Exactly.
HEMMER: We should point out that people have gone to work today, not in large numbers, because the traffic's down, the foot traffic is down.
KAGAN: It's lighter.
HEMMER: But still people are showing up for work. And as you found out today, a number of them have decided to take the day off at that point.
KAGAN: Right. I could just even tell the difference in just about 10 minutes from the time we were heading out of town to the time we decided to come back here to our CNN headquarters to share this with our viewers. The traffic picked up. A lot of people have made the decision to try to get out of town. And I think the significance of that -- and you and I had a chance to talk about this before we went on the air -- these rocket and missile systems, as we understand it, are not accurate, and it's possible that the Iraqis shot one to the north of the city, perhaps this one was south. And we're not sure on that yet. But this is a conjecture.
And it's possible that they're trying to calibrate and get a better sight on Kuwait City.
HEMMER: And oftentimes they watch broadcasts like these to find out the information as to where the missile or the Scud landed in order to reconfigure or recalibrate that launching site.
KAGAN: Right. It's certainly not our intention to help people who are trying to shoot at us.
HEMMER: Indeed, you're right.
Just to point out right now, we're hearing from the U.S. Marines camp commander, which is one of the main forward Marine bases here for logistics on the ground in Kuwait City, it's about 35 miles from our location here, but they're saying that the missile landed quite close to their location there. It's possible, we've been heard about -- we've been told about this, we've been warned about it, that quite possibly the U.S. troops stationed in northern Kuwait would be a target. And it appears, anyway, in the early stages of this conflict, indeed, they have.
Whether or not Kuwait City at some point comes into the scenario is something that we will wait to see what happens here.
KAGAN: We will wait and see.
HEMMER: Thank you, Daryn. KAGAN: Absolutely.
HEMMER: Let's get back to Leon and Carol at the CNN Center.
COSTELLO: All right, thanks so much, Bill Hemmer.
Let's talk about the U.S. strikes some more. It happened about 9:02 Eastern Time last night. Forty-two Tomahawks shot from four different ships in the Persian Gulf, including two submarines underwater. And it must have been quite a show of air power when those missiles were going off of those ships and off of those submarines.
We want to go to Frank Buckley, who is aboard the USS Constellation. I know some of the Tomahawk missiles were fired from the USS Milius and the USS Donald Cook. How about the USS Constellation?
FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the USS Constellation is an aircraft carrier. No Tomahawks coming off the USS Constellation. But a couple of the warships that did launch Tomahawks are in the Constellation battle group. There are two cruisers, two destroyers, and, as you say, two Los Angeles class attack subs that lobbed Tomahawk cruise missiles into Iraq.
Here is Rear Admiral Barry Costello, the Constellation battle group commander telling us the names of those warships.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REAR ADMIRAL BARRY COSTELLO, USS CONSTELLATION: Tomahawk strikes came from six different ships and those six ships are the Cook, the Cowpens (ph), the Cheyenne, the Milius, the Bunker Hill and the Montpelier. Those are the names of the ships. I cannot go into the specific number of missiles that they fired nor their exact locations.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BUCKLEY: The EA-6-B prowler, which is the radar jamming aircraft, was also employed last night. This is an aircraft that went off of the deck of the USS Constellation. They are part of the lancer squadron. We are told by Admiral Costello that these aircraft went in support of the F-117 Stealth aircraft that deployed the bunker busting bombs. So that is how the Constellation itself actually contributed aircraft for this first strike, which, as you have been saying, was a strike, a decapitation strike after targets of opportunity, not a part of the so-called shock and awe campaign that is expected to come in the air was with very specific planned targets that have been planned for some time.
Also last night, we are told that some, actually during the past 24 hours there were 24...
COSTELLO: Frank, I'm sorry...
BUCKLEY: There were 24 different... COSTELLO: Frank, I'm sorry. Frank, I'm sorry, we're going to have to interrupt. The air sirens are sounding again in Kuwait.
We want to go back live to Bill Hemmer -- Bill, what's going on there?
HEMMER: Yes, hey, Carol, listen, this could become tedious after a while, but we have heard sirens yet again, 1:25 local time here in Kuwait City. This follows the initial wave that we heard about 55 minutes ago. Again, it's unclear from our perspective right where what this all means. But we can tell you that based on the information we're getting from our colleagues in the field with the U.S. military and also with the Kuwaiti information minister here that some of these sirens are in direct response to these missiles that have been launched, landing in northern Kuwait.
You heard Daryn Kagan on our air just a short time ago talking about her experience in town, about the strong possibility right now -- hang on one second. OK. I'm being told right now that we're going to go ahead and take just a slight precaution here. We're hearing the sirens yet again, Carol.
COSTELLO: Oh, yes, get out of there, Bill.
HEMMER: We'll get you more when we get it -- back to you at the CNN Center.
COSTELLO: All right, stay safe there, Bill Hemmer.
HEMMER: We're not going to go anywhere, we're just going to check it out.
You've got it.
COSTELLO: Stay safe there, Bill.
Oh, we -- Leon.
HARRIS: Let's go now to our Sanjay Gupta, who has been in bed with a mash unit and he is actually the first person who reported to us early this morning the sighting of those two missiles, possibly Scuds, that actually went overhead.
Let's go to him now and see what he's hearing right now from where his perspective happens to be -- Sanjay, are you there?
GUPTA: Yes, I'm here. You know, we just got another bunker call. This is the fourth bunker call of the day now. We are in the bunkers. We have our (AUDIO GAP) we're hearing thuds and booms around us. There aren't sirens that we can hear at this time, but this is the first time we're hearing (AUDIO GAP) so many thuds and booms sort of around us. Can't exactly tell where.
Just to reiterate, it was at 10:28 this morning that we actually were able to see something, later confirmed to be a missile, grayish green in color, with three stripes on it. Since then we've had three bunker calls. We are now in our fourth bunker call. We are not wearing our masks at this time because we have not been told to. But as I said, noise, just another thud, I just heard now, appears to be coming in the southern direction from here -- back to you.
HARRIS: All right, good deal.
Thank you, Sanjay.
You be careful. Take care of yourself, if you have to.
We'll get back to you in just a bit.
Let's go back now to our Ryan Chilcote. I believe Ryan is still with the 101st -- and, Ryan, are you there on the phone with us right now?
CHILCOTE: Hello.
HARRIS: Hello, Ryan. Excuse me, Ryan, Leon Harris here back in Atlanta.
Are you able to talk right now?
CHILCOTE: ... just got it about two months ago, two minutes ago, rather, kind of alarming obviously. But the same kind of alarm that we heard 40 minutes ago went off. It's an alarm that indicates a Scud attack. No other indications other than that alarm. But there was some kind of attack. We all donned our benchmarks and headed to the very same bunker, about 25 yards away from us, where we're awaiting further information and further instructions -- Leon.
HARRIS: All right, so, Ryan, it's very clear to you that the alarm that you've received is one that's warning you that it's time now to get your gas mask on?
CHILCOTE: That's right. I mean that's what you do. The alarm, this is like seeing a deja vu, just 40 minutes ago we had the very same kind of alarm. It is the alarm that indicates a Scud attack. The U.S. military uses three different kinds of alarms. This one indicates Scud attack. Soldiers know when that alarm goes off, as it did just two minutes ago, they're supposed to put on their masks, put on the gas masks that they always have with them. We've got, according to the military, nine seconds to do that, and then they're supposed to head to the nearest bunker.
That's exactly what I did and the other embedded journalists. And that's where we are right now, we're here in our gas masks in the bunker awaiting further information and further instructions.
HARRIS: And, Ryan, have you heard any kinds of any ordinance at all being fired? Have you heard any impacts at all, from your perspective?
CHILCOTE: Absolutely not. I mean I have a little bit of a vantage point. I'm looking out of the bunker. But I did not hear any impact or see any impact that I can confirm. The only indication of the Scud attack, if there was one, was this alarm, this alarm that the military uses to indicate a Scud attack.
HARRIS: All right, Ryan, we have to cut you off. We've got more attacks to report right now -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Yes, we want to go back to Bill Hemmer to check to see if he's OK, because I understand he also had to don a gas mask -- Bill?
HEMMER: Yes?
COSTELLO: Tell us what's happening.
HEMMER: Hey, listen, yes, hey, Carol, Leon.
Sorry.
Go ahead, Chris. We're OK.
Listen, just heard a loud explosion in central Kuwait City, off to our right here. I would say it went off about three minutes ago. Not sure what it was, but it was quite audible from our location here. A number of our CNN colleagues have now taken cover. We have a plan here...
COSTELLO: Bill...
HEMMER: ... in place...
COSTELLO: Bill, we're going to have...
HEMMER: ... to evacuate in the event that there is danger.
COSTELLO: Bill, we're going to have to jump in...
HEMMER: They have gone to the basement...
COSTELLO: ... because we have breaking developments in other places.
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Aired March 20, 2003 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning folks. This is a historic day, this Thursday, March 20. The U.S.-led attack on Iraq has begun.
I'm Leon Harris here at the CNN global headquarters in Atlanta.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Carol Costello.
We start with a check of the war news at this hour. Here is the latest information for you.
Just a short time ago, Iraq answered the U.S.-led first strike on Iraq. Kuwaiti defense officials report two conventional rockets landed near Kuwaiti military bases north of Kuwait City -- alerts were issued.
CNN medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is with the U.S. Marines in northern Kuwait. He's been told there are no injuries. He also tell us he and the Marines heard the rockets roar overhead.
And listen to that. This is how the strike on Iraq sounded as the war opened about seven and a half hours ago now. Air raid sirens blared before dawn in Baghdad, as U.S. marines struck selected targets there and south of the city.
Ah, and take a look at that, more than 40 Tomahawk cruise missiles were fired from six U.S. warships in the Red Sea and Persian Gulf. Two F-117 Stealth fighters also dropped two thousand pound bunker buster bombs.
Pentagon sources call it a decapitation strike aimed at killing senior Iraqi leaders, including President Saddam Hussein.
HARRIS: Now, this strike came about three hours after President Bush addressed the nation last night from the White House. President Bush said last night coalition forces were hitting selected targets to undermine Saddam Hussein's ability to wage war.
And Washington now wants to know when was this Saddam Hussein's speech taped. Iraqi TV broadcast this nearly three hours after the U.S. missile strike. But Saddam Hussein made no specific reference to that attack and that's sparking some speculation about whether or not he is still alive at this hour.
All right, let's go right now to Bill Hemmer, who's standing by in Kuwait City, where they've actually been hearing sirens in the last hour or two. Let's go check in with him now and see what the very latest is -- hello, Bill. BILL HEMMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Leon, thanks.
First things first right now, there are no sirens right now in Kuwait City. Thirty minutes ago there was a series of three different waves of sirens. They lasted 12 minutes in length. Now the all clear has been given here in Kuwait City.
Despite that, activities still on the roads. We've seen people out. Earlier today, outside of Kuwait City, we saw people reporting to work, although the number of people out today and the traffic is significantly lower than at any other point that we have seen here in Kuwait.
I want to update you right now with Sanjay Gupta's reporting. He is embedded with the U.S. Marines at a location called Camp Iwo Jima. It's in the northern part of the Kuwaiti desert, about 25 miles south of the Iraqi border. His location only an approximate guess as to where Sanjay's located.
Here's what we're hearing now from the U.S. Marines. Camp Commando is the main logistics center set up by the U.S. Marines back in November and December of last year. It's that command and control center for the U.S. Marines that's now indicating a lot of the movements we see.
We are told that these Iraqi missiles, two of them hit near (ph) in the Kuwaiti desert but no injuries reported, no fatalities reported either.
Again, the word of two missiles being launched and fired over the heads of U.S. Marines in the northern Kuwaiti desert.
That's the word we're getting from Sanjay. They were told to take cover at that time.
The other information we're getting, CNN's Ryan Chilcote, embedded with the U.S. Marines, excuse me, the U.S. Army, 101st Airborne Division, Ryan is reporting, based on two different sources, that a Patriot missile has been fired at some sort of incoming missile from the Iraqi side. Perhaps it was a Scud. Perhaps it was some other type of missile. But the word from Ryan based on two sources is that a Patriot missile has been fired in northern Kuwait.
Let's bring you up to date right now on the word we're getting about the missile attacks, these Tomahawk cruise missiles that were launched at Baghdad several hours ago. It was about 5:30 a.m. local time here in Kuwait, the same time locally in Baghdad. We're told 42 different cruise missiles were launched by three different vessels, two operating in the Red Sea, one in the Persian Gulf. A ship and a sub in the Red Sea and a cruiser operating in the Persian Gulf hitting targets in downtown Baghdad as well as targets just south of Baghdad.
What the target was at the time is not certain, but the Pentagon is saying through sources with Chris Plante that Iraqi leadership clearly were in the gun sights of the U.S. military. That's the reason for the launch of these missiles. All of this coming prior to the deadline for that 48 hour ultimatum came and went, about two and half hours, again, before that 8:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time deadline came. We saw the launch from, again, from the cruiser, the ship and the U.S. submarine.
The all clear has been sounded here in Kuwait City -- Leon. More when we get it live here in Kuwait -- back to you now at the CNN Center.
HARRIS: You've got it.
Thanks, Bill.
We'll get back to you in just a bit.
HEMMER: Sure.
HARRIS: Carol, over to you.
COSTELLO: Well, you know, Bill was talking about these Tomahawk missiles, I just want to tell you what technological wonders they are. They're able to fly at just under the speed of sound, hugging the ground to deliver a 1,000 pound warhead onto a preprogrammed target. Now, we know most of those bombs fell in downtown Iraq.
That's where Rym Brahimi is standing by live right now -- Rym, what did you hear?
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, it's now been four hours since we heard the all clear signal. But let me take you back through this first night of attacks launched by the United States.
Now, just before sunrise, at about 5:30 a.m. local time here, we heard a distant detonation. It was something like anti-aircraft fire. And then there was air raid sirens. That was followed again by anti- aircraft. Then there was a lull for a few minutes and then a very intense round of anti-aircraft fire. You could even see the orange tracer fire in the sky.
Then there was an explosion. Now, we are not clear so far whether that was an explosion coming out of impact or whether it was anti-aircraft. And daylight slowly began to emerge at that point.
Now, about half an hour after the first all clear signal, President Saddam Hussein addressed the Iraqi people. His speech was broadcast on Iraqi TV. The president saying that President Bush had underestimated the Iraqi people, calling on Iraqis to pull out their swords and to fight what he called the U.S. Zionist invaders. He also addressed what he called friends and allied countries, calling on them to see how the United States, in his view, ignored their efforts to avert a war. Also, portraying this as a battle between the United States on the one hand and Arabs, Muslims and humanity at large on the other -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Rym, going back to the bombing itself, can you see any damage in Baghdad? Have you been able to go out onto the streets? BRAHIMI: From where we are, Carol, we can't see any damage for the time being. Now, we're told we might be able to see some of the places that have been damaged. That's still being worked out, the details of that. But from where we are, we're quite central here in Baghdad, our position is, from the hotel, and we can't see very much.
What's striking, though, Carol, is it's about one, 10 past one o'clock in the afternoon here in Baghdad and this is usually a really busy time of day. There's traffic, so much traffic, it's very, very difficult to get from one place of the city to the other. And right now there are almost no cars in the streets.
COSTELLO: I understand.
BRAHIMI: And no people at all.
COSTELLO: Rym, I'm getting some feedback in my ear. I don't know if our audience is hearing the feedback, as well. We're going to wrap it up with you.
Rym Brahimi reporting live out of Baghdad.
Not seeing any damage as of yet, but she certainly heard those 42 Tomahawk cruise missiles hitting their targets in downtown Baghdad. We don't know what they hit right now, but we do know Saddam Hussein appeared on Iraqi television. Now, we don't know if he was on tape or if it was alive broadcast. We just don't know.
We're going to take a break right now, is that right?
OK. We're going to toss to Leon.
HARRIS: Actually, yes, we're going to try to see if we can get a hold of our Walt Rodgers, who is out with the Seventh Cavalry to find out exactly what's going on there. We do know that the bulk of the U.S. troops who are sitting there assembling in that region have been massing there in Kuwait near the border.
Let's go now to Walt and see what's happening there -- Walt, hello.
WALTER RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Leon.
Within the past, oh, 30 to 40 minutes, I was walking through the encampment of the Seventh Cavalry and in the distance I heard two or three loud explosions. They sounded like artillery but I couldn't be sure. I wandered back to our vehicle and the Army started yelling at us go to mach four. That means full chemical suits. First come on our boots, then come on our chemical weapons pants and our chemical weapons parka, then we pull on our gas masks and then we put on our hood and gloves over that.
We went to a mach four. We were told to get inside our vehicles and put on our body armor, as well. They were concerned that perhaps there was going to be an artillery barrage against the Seventh Cavalry. As I say, this unit was not hit, but they say they were launched against.
Now, there has since come word to us from, again, soldiers here that they heard a Scud was launched and perhaps Patriot missiles were fired against it, which might explain why we heard more than one explosion.
But we were in our chemical weapons suits for at least 20 minutes and it was not a test. We were told to get into those suits because we had been launched against. Whatever was launched, whether it was an artillery shell or a Scud, as some soldiers say, it was well over the horizon, although certainly loud enough to hear. Not very close, but wind direction being what it is, you can't be sure of the threat. And, again, the Seventh Cavalry was told to go to mach four, full chemical suits and gas masks as well -- Leon.
HARRIS: Walter, just for the benefit of those who are just joining us right now, we want to see if we can put that map back up again with Walter's picture there so we can get an idea of exactly where Walter is. Walt, can you give us an idea exactly where you are in proximity to the border with Iraq right now?
RODGERS: We can but it would be wrong. We can't tell you exactly where we are.
HARRIS: Understood.
RODGERS: We are very close to the Iraqi border. We're in northern Kuwait and I can't be more specific than that. That would help the hostile forces on the other side who, according to the Army, just launched against us. They say it was a Scud, but that has not been confirmed. Nonetheless, Seventh Cavalry and CNN with it went into full chemical weapons uniforms. Boots go on first, then the trousers, then the parka, then the gas mask and the gloves after that, and we were told to get into our vehicles, put on our body armor as well, Kevlar vest, Kevlar helmets. We do not have the hard skinned vehicles like the Bradleys like the Army does or the tanks. We're in a very soft skinned humvee. So we just sort of sat there like good boys and girls and took a little sip out of the water because, of course, this is very dehydrating and we'll probably be in these chemical suits most of the day -- Leon.
HARRIS: Yes, but that's exactly the reason why you drill and why you train and why you go through those procedures, and we're glad to see that everybody did do that according to plan.
We'll get back to you later on and please check in the mine you hear something again, Walt.
Walter Rodgers out there with the Seventh Cavalry.
COSTELLO: Talking about hearing and seeing something, Leon, Dr. Sanjay Gupta is embedded with the Marines at Camp Iwo Jima in northern Kuwait.
You actually saw the bomb going overhead. I just can't even imagine how you felt, Sanjay. DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, it was sort of an interesting morning, I'll tell you, because people certainly were anticipatory given the fact that 4:00 a.m. reflected 48 hours after the president's speech. So people were already a little nervous about things.
At about 10:28, six and a half hours later, we were walking around. We wear our Kevlar and things like that, but not our full gear. And we heard and saw something. We heard a very loud noise and then we saw something traveling about 300 feet overhead. It appeared to be grayish green colored and it looked like a missile, but I'd never seen one before, but that's what it looked like. It had yellow stripes on it, as well.
Shortly after that, we heard a thud. It appeared to be coming from the south. We couldn't see that. The reason we couldn't see it is because we were already in bunkers. We heard a bunker, bunker, bunker call. That means everyone puts on their helmets, everyone puts on their Kevlar. We also heard a mask, gas mask call. So everyone put on their masks. Within the nine seconds that we've been hearing so much about everyone got into the bunkers.
Shortly after that, we heard missiles inbound, missiles inbound. That was a noise that we were hearing coming off the p.a. system. Everyone was obviously very nervous at that time. We were about 45 minutes sitting in the bunker, quite warm with our masks on. After that we were told, 45 minutes later, we could take our masks off and about 15 minutes after that, we were told that we were clear.
Let me add, as well, that a Marine did come by and say that hits had been confirmed. What we have found out since that time, now, over the last couple of hours is that, in fact, they were more than one missile actually fired, an NBC team -- that stands for nuclear, biological, chemical team -- was dispatched to the area. No chemical munitions were found at that point.
We did see a medevac helicopter take off about 300 meters from where I'm standing now. That helicopter has not yet returned so, but we are hearing that there have been no injuries or casualties from these missiles.
Also, since that time there have been two additional bunker calls, meaning twice more we've put on our gear and gotten back into the bunkers. Right now we are in an all clear situation, although we do intermittently hear sirens in the background -- back to you.
COSTELLO: Just to clarify so our audience understands, those hits you were talking about occurred in Kuwait somewhere, but you don't know exactly where yet?
GUPTA: That's right. We are in the northern desert of Kuwait. We are at a Marine camp. For obvious reasons, we're told not to disclose our location. But it did appear that this "hit" did take place south of us. That would be between us and Kuwait City. That's all we can really hear. Again, we couldn't see it. We heard the impact. It appeared to be traveling in a north to south direction, so that is our conclusion at this point -- back to you.
COSTELLO: Sanjay, do you know if the Marines you're staying with were targeted? I mean have you had any word on that?
GUPTA: No, we've not had any word that these Marines were targeted by any means. I think everyone sort of just was following protocol at the time that this happened. The missile did fly overhead. We are in the northern desert of Kuwait, as are other Marine camps and other military camps, both the United States and other countries, as well. But we have no reason to believe at this time that we were specifically targeted.
COSTELLO: Sanjay Gupta, you stay safe.
Sanjay Gupta reporting live from northern Kuwait from Camp Iwo Jima -- Leon.
HARRIS: All right, let's get the latest report on the action that the 101st Airborne is seeing and hearing, at least, out there this afternoon there.
Our Ryan Chilcote is standing by.
Let's check in with him now that we have him with us -- Ryan, are you there?
RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Leon.
Well, just about 40 minutes ago, the unit that I was in, we were standing outside just actually waiting around when we heard a very loud alarm. That's the alarm that indicates a Scud attack. Everyone immediately donned their masks and headed for the bunker.
About five minutes after we arrived inside the bunker, a soldier came up with a radio and he said there's been a Scud attack, one Scud missile, and that it had been downed by a Patriot, a volley of Patriot missiles.
Later, I was told, and now I've got this from three different military sources, that, indeed, one Patriot missile, according to the unit that I'm with, was, what -- rather, one Scud missile was downed, apparently by three Patriot missiles. It did impact and now what we think is that that's just the residue of what was left of that missile did impact the ground. No casualties -- Leon.
HARRIS: All right, good deal.
Thank you very much, Ryan.
Get back to us the next time you hear something new.
COSTELLO: Yes, we're going to toss to a break right now.
When we come back, we'll be joined live in Kuwait by Daryn Kagan and Bill Hemmer and they'll have much more for you as those sirens go off again and again this morning. HARRIS: And they should have something new there, because I'm being told that Daryn actually went out to find out exactly where those Scuds may have been coming from.
So stay with us, folks. We'll have much more coming up for you and live reports just after this break. Don't go away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: We're back here live in Kuwait City. Just to update our viewers, in case you're just waking up in the U.S., we heard about 50 minutes ago sirens echoing throughout Kuwait City. They lasted in three different ways for a period of about 12 minutes but then the all clear signal was given that things here apparently had died down or the threat, whatever the threat was, had been averted.
Let's talk with Daryn Kagan right now -- and, Daryn, you had gone out recently in the streets of Kuwait City to find out just where, indeed, these missiles that Sanjay Gupta was reporting had landed and targeted.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right.
HEMMER: And on your way, you found what?
KAGAN: Yes, well, we were trying to pick up the story where Sanjay left off, talking about where these perhaps missiles or rockets had landed. So we were headed to that area between where the Marines would be north of here and Kuwait City.
We didn't even get out of the city. When we heard the sirens, we called back here to the CNN base. You guys weren't hearing the sirens yet, but our producer, Khalid al-Khouder (ph), was the first to hear it. He's a Kuwaiti local so he's really aware and knew right away. We pulled over. A very quick lesson, by the way, in throwing on all the body armor and getting ready. It was not that long. It was maybe three or five minutes before we did start hearing the all clear.
But I think we have first sound. Let's show the tape. If we could listen a little bit so folks at home -- this is what we were hearing.
(AIRING TAPE OF SIRENS)
KAGAN: That sound is attack in progress. That's when you know to take cover, to put on, in our case, our body armor and get ready. You saw then local Kuwaitis, here some of them weren't that concerned. But as the sirens kept going on, just in a matter of minutes the mood changed. There you see some trying to get to some type of shelter.
Not too long after this we heard the next siren and that's the one you listen for. That the all clear, meaning that it's OK, danger has passed for now. But even after that, we suddenly started to see life here in Kuwait City starting to change. This was right by the court, the Shuwait Court (ph) of Kuwait City and we saw probably hundreds of workers being let go, not in a panic, just the people there in charge saying you know what? Today's not a day for work, let's go home, let them go to safety.
HEMMER: It might come as a surprise to many viewers back home that with Kuwait City practically on the front lines of the conflict that people would actually show up for work today.
KAGAN: Exactly.
HEMMER: We should point out that people have gone to work today, not in large numbers, because the traffic's down, the foot traffic is down.
KAGAN: It's lighter.
HEMMER: But still people are showing up for work. And as you found out today, a number of them have decided to take the day off at that point.
KAGAN: Right. I could just even tell the difference in just about 10 minutes from the time we were heading out of town to the time we decided to come back here to our CNN headquarters to share this with our viewers. The traffic picked up. A lot of people have made the decision to try to get out of town. And I think the significance of that -- and you and I had a chance to talk about this before we went on the air -- these rocket and missile systems, as we understand it, are not accurate, and it's possible that the Iraqis shot one to the north of the city, perhaps this one was south. And we're not sure on that yet. But this is a conjecture.
And it's possible that they're trying to calibrate and get a better sight on Kuwait City.
HEMMER: And oftentimes they watch broadcasts like these to find out the information as to where the missile or the Scud landed in order to reconfigure or recalibrate that launching site.
KAGAN: Right. It's certainly not our intention to help people who are trying to shoot at us.
HEMMER: Indeed, you're right.
Just to point out right now, we're hearing from the U.S. Marines camp commander, which is one of the main forward Marine bases here for logistics on the ground in Kuwait City, it's about 35 miles from our location here, but they're saying that the missile landed quite close to their location there. It's possible, we've been heard about -- we've been told about this, we've been warned about it, that quite possibly the U.S. troops stationed in northern Kuwait would be a target. And it appears, anyway, in the early stages of this conflict, indeed, they have.
Whether or not Kuwait City at some point comes into the scenario is something that we will wait to see what happens here.
KAGAN: We will wait and see.
HEMMER: Thank you, Daryn. KAGAN: Absolutely.
HEMMER: Let's get back to Leon and Carol at the CNN Center.
COSTELLO: All right, thanks so much, Bill Hemmer.
Let's talk about the U.S. strikes some more. It happened about 9:02 Eastern Time last night. Forty-two Tomahawks shot from four different ships in the Persian Gulf, including two submarines underwater. And it must have been quite a show of air power when those missiles were going off of those ships and off of those submarines.
We want to go to Frank Buckley, who is aboard the USS Constellation. I know some of the Tomahawk missiles were fired from the USS Milius and the USS Donald Cook. How about the USS Constellation?
FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the USS Constellation is an aircraft carrier. No Tomahawks coming off the USS Constellation. But a couple of the warships that did launch Tomahawks are in the Constellation battle group. There are two cruisers, two destroyers, and, as you say, two Los Angeles class attack subs that lobbed Tomahawk cruise missiles into Iraq.
Here is Rear Admiral Barry Costello, the Constellation battle group commander telling us the names of those warships.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REAR ADMIRAL BARRY COSTELLO, USS CONSTELLATION: Tomahawk strikes came from six different ships and those six ships are the Cook, the Cowpens (ph), the Cheyenne, the Milius, the Bunker Hill and the Montpelier. Those are the names of the ships. I cannot go into the specific number of missiles that they fired nor their exact locations.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BUCKLEY: The EA-6-B prowler, which is the radar jamming aircraft, was also employed last night. This is an aircraft that went off of the deck of the USS Constellation. They are part of the lancer squadron. We are told by Admiral Costello that these aircraft went in support of the F-117 Stealth aircraft that deployed the bunker busting bombs. So that is how the Constellation itself actually contributed aircraft for this first strike, which, as you have been saying, was a strike, a decapitation strike after targets of opportunity, not a part of the so-called shock and awe campaign that is expected to come in the air was with very specific planned targets that have been planned for some time.
Also last night, we are told that some, actually during the past 24 hours there were 24...
COSTELLO: Frank, I'm sorry...
BUCKLEY: There were 24 different... COSTELLO: Frank, I'm sorry. Frank, I'm sorry, we're going to have to interrupt. The air sirens are sounding again in Kuwait.
We want to go back live to Bill Hemmer -- Bill, what's going on there?
HEMMER: Yes, hey, Carol, listen, this could become tedious after a while, but we have heard sirens yet again, 1:25 local time here in Kuwait City. This follows the initial wave that we heard about 55 minutes ago. Again, it's unclear from our perspective right where what this all means. But we can tell you that based on the information we're getting from our colleagues in the field with the U.S. military and also with the Kuwaiti information minister here that some of these sirens are in direct response to these missiles that have been launched, landing in northern Kuwait.
You heard Daryn Kagan on our air just a short time ago talking about her experience in town, about the strong possibility right now -- hang on one second. OK. I'm being told right now that we're going to go ahead and take just a slight precaution here. We're hearing the sirens yet again, Carol.
COSTELLO: Oh, yes, get out of there, Bill.
HEMMER: We'll get you more when we get it -- back to you at the CNN Center.
COSTELLO: All right, stay safe there, Bill Hemmer.
HEMMER: We're not going to go anywhere, we're just going to check it out.
You've got it.
COSTELLO: Stay safe there, Bill.
Oh, we -- Leon.
HARRIS: Let's go now to our Sanjay Gupta, who has been in bed with a mash unit and he is actually the first person who reported to us early this morning the sighting of those two missiles, possibly Scuds, that actually went overhead.
Let's go to him now and see what he's hearing right now from where his perspective happens to be -- Sanjay, are you there?
GUPTA: Yes, I'm here. You know, we just got another bunker call. This is the fourth bunker call of the day now. We are in the bunkers. We have our (AUDIO GAP) we're hearing thuds and booms around us. There aren't sirens that we can hear at this time, but this is the first time we're hearing (AUDIO GAP) so many thuds and booms sort of around us. Can't exactly tell where.
Just to reiterate, it was at 10:28 this morning that we actually were able to see something, later confirmed to be a missile, grayish green in color, with three stripes on it. Since then we've had three bunker calls. We are now in our fourth bunker call. We are not wearing our masks at this time because we have not been told to. But as I said, noise, just another thud, I just heard now, appears to be coming in the southern direction from here -- back to you.
HARRIS: All right, good deal.
Thank you, Sanjay.
You be careful. Take care of yourself, if you have to.
We'll get back to you in just a bit.
Let's go back now to our Ryan Chilcote. I believe Ryan is still with the 101st -- and, Ryan, are you there on the phone with us right now?
CHILCOTE: Hello.
HARRIS: Hello, Ryan. Excuse me, Ryan, Leon Harris here back in Atlanta.
Are you able to talk right now?
CHILCOTE: ... just got it about two months ago, two minutes ago, rather, kind of alarming obviously. But the same kind of alarm that we heard 40 minutes ago went off. It's an alarm that indicates a Scud attack. No other indications other than that alarm. But there was some kind of attack. We all donned our benchmarks and headed to the very same bunker, about 25 yards away from us, where we're awaiting further information and further instructions -- Leon.
HARRIS: All right, so, Ryan, it's very clear to you that the alarm that you've received is one that's warning you that it's time now to get your gas mask on?
CHILCOTE: That's right. I mean that's what you do. The alarm, this is like seeing a deja vu, just 40 minutes ago we had the very same kind of alarm. It is the alarm that indicates a Scud attack. The U.S. military uses three different kinds of alarms. This one indicates Scud attack. Soldiers know when that alarm goes off, as it did just two minutes ago, they're supposed to put on their masks, put on the gas masks that they always have with them. We've got, according to the military, nine seconds to do that, and then they're supposed to head to the nearest bunker.
That's exactly what I did and the other embedded journalists. And that's where we are right now, we're here in our gas masks in the bunker awaiting further information and further instructions.
HARRIS: And, Ryan, have you heard any kinds of any ordinance at all being fired? Have you heard any impacts at all, from your perspective?
CHILCOTE: Absolutely not. I mean I have a little bit of a vantage point. I'm looking out of the bunker. But I did not hear any impact or see any impact that I can confirm. The only indication of the Scud attack, if there was one, was this alarm, this alarm that the military uses to indicate a Scud attack.
HARRIS: All right, Ryan, we have to cut you off. We've got more attacks to report right now -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Yes, we want to go back to Bill Hemmer to check to see if he's OK, because I understand he also had to don a gas mask -- Bill?
HEMMER: Yes?
COSTELLO: Tell us what's happening.
HEMMER: Hey, listen, yes, hey, Carol, Leon.
Sorry.
Go ahead, Chris. We're OK.
Listen, just heard a loud explosion in central Kuwait City, off to our right here. I would say it went off about three minutes ago. Not sure what it was, but it was quite audible from our location here. A number of our CNN colleagues have now taken cover. We have a plan here...
COSTELLO: Bill...
HEMMER: ... in place...
COSTELLO: Bill, we're going to have...
HEMMER: ... to evacuate in the event that there is danger.
COSTELLO: Bill, we're going to have to jump in...
HEMMER: They have gone to the basement...
COSTELLO: ... because we have breaking developments in other places.
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