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CNN Live At Daybreak

Coalition Casualties in Kuwait

Aired March 21, 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.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: It is five o'clock Eastern time. It's time to start our next hour.
Coalition casualties in Kuwait tops our war update at this hour. A U.S. marine CH-46 helicopter crashed early today, killing all aboard. The four U.S. crew members and eight British troops are the first coalition fatalities of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Pentagon officials say there was no indication of hostile fire.

Soldiers from the U.S. Army's Seventh Cavalry are rolling through the southern Iraqi desert towards Baghdad. The Seventh met just token opposition as it crossed over the border from Kuwait. Army sources tell CNN the U.S. destroyed a half dozen Iraqi military vehicles and a number of tanks.

British troops have secured the beachhead on Iraq's Faw Peninsula, the nation's only Persian Gulf coast. Some Iraqi troops were taken prisoner. Britain's ministry of defense says it's not clear how many, though. Dozens of Iraqi troops also surrendered today in northern Kuwait, apparently crossing the border from Iraq.

A British wire service tells CNN that the stars and stripes are flying right, are flying right now over the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr. Reuters reporter Adrian Croft says he saw the U.S. flag go up after Marines took control of the facilities. The Marines apparently encountered only light resistance as they and British forces established a beachhead on the Faw Peninsula, as I said, Iraq's only outlet to the Persian Gulf.

And most Americans apparently support the war in Iraq. A new CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll finds more than three in four respondents favor the U.S. decision to invade Iraq.

However, thousands, tens of thousands of people have staged anti- war protests across the country. About 10,000 demonstrators took to the streets of Chicago alone. And in San Francisco, police arrested more than 1,000 protesters. More demonstrations are expected today.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone.

I'm Anderson Cooper from the CNN Center in Atlanta.

COSTELLO: And I'm Carol Costello.

Thank you for joining us this morning.

COOPER: There is so much happening at this hour, Seventh Cavalry moving very quickly now, continuing to move very quickly, as they have been for the last several hours, moving toward Baghdad. We have U.S. Marines raising the flag, this according to Reuters, raising the flag in Umm Qasr. That port city on the road to Basra in the south. And Nic Robertson waiting in Baghdad itself, word that there is supposed to be some sort of statement made by Iraqi officials there. We have been waiting for that for several hours now. It could happen in this next hour. We will, of course, bring that to you as events warrant.

And we're going to check in now with Bill Hemmer, who is standing by in Kuwait -- excuse me, we have the Iraqi news conference.

Let's take it now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We wish to provide you with some photos and we have also the videotapes of the Iraqis, victims of yesterday's barbaric bombardment on civilian targets in Baghdad. These are samples, examples of who is this villain, George Bush, and his, all his gang.

I present to you my colleague, the minister of interior. His Excellency also will explain to you some aspects in regard to south of Iraq, north of Iraq and some questions may you wish to ask His Excellency about the lies they are repeating in the media about Umm Qasr and Basra and Nusul (ph) and so on.

But first, I'll continue. Ladies and gentlemen, those are the people who were targeted by criminal George Bush and his gang and his mercenaries in Kuwait and in the Gulf. They said we have targeted military places. These are the military places. We will provide you also with the videotapes, as I have mentioned. This is the way they are operating. This is the real targets of those villains in Washington and in London.

MOHAMMED AL-SAHAF, IRAQI INFORMATION MINISTER: Brothers and sisters, these pictures for the Arabic media, they are just a few pictures. The interior minister will give you more details. These are some of the pictures which we tried to visit at the hospital. Thirty-seven injured yesterday. Here they are. And the gangster George Bush says and he...

COOPER: Bill Hemmer is standing by in Kuwait City, where some sirens are also airing at this hour -- Bill.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, hey, Anderson, two minutes ago they went off again in downtown Kuwait City. This is the signal that says danger is here. A series of air raid sirens over the past 24 hours. This is the second time since the sun has come up today that we've heard this call here.

In addition to that, you might be able to hear the hotel fire alarm. We have tried to work some sort of synchronicity within the hotel to allow any of our CNN colleagues and workers here in the hotel to know that when the air raid sirens go off in town, you'll hear this fire alarm in the hotel, as well.

A number of our colleagues at this point, some of them sleeping right now after very long shifts overnight, take cover in the parking garage downstairs. Oftentimes we make our own decisions based on the information we have to assess what we have and decide for ourselves whether or not we believe now is the time to get off the air and take cover.

I'm going to take you back to yesterday, though, Anderson, though. The information we're getting about these missiles coming in from the north are described to us now as Chinese made missiles. We'll talk a little more about those, Silkworm missiles, we're told.

It's important information. I'll try and describe it a little more for that a little later for you...

COOPER: Bill, this is Anderson...

HEMMER: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) now to go back to you, Anderson, so go.

COOPER: Yes, let's go, we're going to go back to the press conference live in Baghdad.

AL-SAHAF: President Saddam Hussein. They targeted and they for god had protected them. They targeted the houses of his family. But they are safe. They are safe. This is, again, this is the level, this is the real reputation of this gang. This is the real level and reputation of those villains. You consider them superpowers? Well, this is a disgrace, really. This is a complete disgrace.

They are a superpower of villains, really. They are a superpower of Al Capone. This is a typical American official, Al Capone, Israeli, he is the typical official American in our days. This villain in the White House, this is the level of his attacks in Iraq.

Well, we are not going to give him the chance or to other villains around him. We will continue capturing his villains, his mercenaries and he will face the tragedy.

(THROUGH TRANSLATOR): (UNINTELLIGIBLE), we issued a statement and we said that these gangsters and cowards targeted the residence of President Saddam Hussein and his family. They tried to suggest that they targeted him personally. Their motive is to assassinate the president so they could invade Iraq. We will not let them get out of the -- they will see, they will get their end by their aggression against Iraq.

Those cowards and villains, they declared that they've confiscated Iraqi property and assets. I'm not surprised. I'm not surprised. This is the action of a gang. I think the world now believes, I'm convinced, what kind of people we are dealing with. These are close and trying to accuse the others, their desperation they accuse the others and it shows how desperate they are and how they're losing their nerve and that explains their behavior.

So stealing Iraqi assets in banks, either in the United States or elsewhere, it's either old assets when we were dealing with, in dollars. The Iraqi authorities will respond to that the way they know best. But I would like to say that Iraq reserves the legal right to take the necessary measures to deal with this and you will see and we will show these villains how this, their action will backfire on them.

My second point that I would like to emphasize, they say that forces have entered Iraq. I will not say much about this, because my colleague here will tell you more about it. I will say that point I told you before, I'll repeat it again. We are faced with a big question -- how can we deal with these mercenaries? They're not soldiers. They do not come under international law. What are we going to do to them?

I think they will be treated as mercenaries and war criminals. The question is, god willing, and it will be clear will they be tried before Iraqi war criminals? We will decide. We are studying this now, but certainly they don't come under international law.

Yesterday, the attorney general in the American administration tried to suggest that their aggression against Iraq comes under international law, which is not true. He is deluding himself. They don't come under international law. And our study will show how and prove how we are going to treat them and what kind of law do they come under. They are mercenaries and war criminals and the legal, the international law that could be applied to them, it will be clarified very soon.

Before I ask my colleague, the interior minister, to brief you, I...

COSTELLO: OK, we're going to break away from that Iraqi news conference. You were hearing from Mohammed al-Sahaf, who is Iraqi information minister. Perhaps the most important thing he said was Saddam is safe. Of course, we didn't see Saddam in person, so we don't know about that.

What you're looking at right now is southern Iraq in the desert from the Seventh Cavalry.

Our Walter Rodgers is traveling with the Seventh Cavalry as they head onwards towards Baghdad.

Right now, though, we want to go to Martin Savidge.

Now, this is the first time we've heard from Martin in four days. He's with a Marine unit. We can't tell you exactly where he is, but you, too, Martin, are somewhere in southern Iraq.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. We crossed the border about an hour ago into southern Iraq. We passed through the first town, which would be of Safwan. As we came into the town, there weren't a lot of people out, but there were people there that you could see on the streets. They were waving at the convoy of military vehicles as they were passing through. Some of them were...

(AUDIO INTERFERENCE)

SAVIDGE: It's part of the Marine division inside our own vehicle. And we were trying to move our way to another objective, which we're not going to get into at this point. Last night, we were supposed to move in, but due to heavy opposition at the scene along the border, we couldn't push in. Heavy artillery as well as a massive aerial bombardment was brought down on the opposing forces of the Iraqis and once the situation was deemed clear, we were able to push in, which is what we're doing now.

You can see, if you look just over here, security is still extremely tight. It is very tense here. There are still opposition military units in the area, which is of great concern, and, of course, they are worried about Iraqi military units that are still operating in this area.

But you are looking at the Marines here from the First Battalion, Seventh Marines, as they push their way farther into southern Iraq -- back to you.

COSTELLO: Martin, I hope your transmission stays clear because I have a couple of questions for you.

You said as the Marines went by, people were waving at them. Can you get into more of that for us?

SAVIDGE: Well, it was really not clear what the reception was going to be from the population here, especially since last night the fighting that occurred up around the border was very heavy at times. And it was feared that the reaction of the local populace may not be in a positive way.

But once the initial forces pushed into Safwan, which is the first town that they would clear, having crossed the Kuwaiti-Iraq border, it became quite evident that the people, if not relieved, were at least not angry at seeing the military forces.

There were white flags that were hanging from homes and from buildings. There were people that came out on the streets. Many of them had been warned, though, to stay indoors, not to go outside, not to approach U.S. forces. This is a precautionary measure as much for the U.S. military and coalition forces as it is also for the people themselves.

COSTELLO: Another question for you...

SAVIDGE: Now, the convoy is beginning to move. We're going to try and move with them.

Go ahead.

COSTELLO: OK, sorry, Martin.

Another question I had, you said heavy opposition. That brings to mind casualties. Can you talk about that at all?

SAVIDGE: We have not heard any reports of casualties. Last night as we moved...

(AUDIO INTERFERENCE) COSTELLO: We're having technical difficulties, as you can see. We're going to see if the signal clears up. As you might imagine, it's difficult to get a clear signal from so far away from the United States.

Martin, can you speak for us again to see if your signal has cleared up?

SAVIDGE: I was saying that last night as we began to move into southern Iraq, there was a report of at least 180, maybe 200 Iraqi tanks that were coming from the north, heading south to the border. It looked like it was going to be a major confrontation. That's what forced our convoy to come to...

(AUDIO INTERFERENCE)

SAVIDGE: ... for about five, maybe eight hours. We had to dig in because there were continued threats of SCUD attacks. There were also chemical warnings. We were constantly donning then taking off the chemical gear, putting back on the gas masks, diving into fox holes, getting out of fox holes. There was a great deal of heavy firing going on. Much of it, though, was outgoing fire coming from U.S. and coalition forces. Heavy artillery, 155 millimeter Howitzers, an incredible pounding that was delivered to Safwan Hill, which is a major outpost for the Iraqi military that overlooks all of northern Kuwait. That was devastated last night in air attack after air attack and any ground forces that were seen on the part of the Iraqi military were attacked and engaged.

It was said to be a target rich environment and the attacks went on throughout the night. Flashes of light nearly constant. The rolling thunder of heavy artillery as well as bombardment coming from the air. And it continued into the daylight hours today.

Once it settled down, that's when our military column began to move and that's when we finally pushed into southern Iraq.

As of right now, we have not met any hostile forces. But we are continuing to push on. Forces remain on a very high alert.

COSTELLO: And, Martin, one more question for you. This is not a traditional, well, a traditional type mission for the Marines. Usually they go into enemy territory by sea. This time they went in by land and by all accounts everything went smoothly.

SAVIDGE: It did, indeed. It has gone smoothly. As they always say, the first casualty in any military operation is the plan. Things perhaps did not start initially as was planned, but they have quickly adapted, brought in the heavy firepower, brought in the air wing of the Marines and were able to suppress whatever Iraqi opposition they met. And now they have regrouped and are pushing on and things are moving as well to schedule as they can possibly make them. There are other objectives that need to be reached and time is very critical here.

One of the things we did note is that there is such a flood of coalition military armor coming into southern Iraq that at times the highway is jammed like rush hour in downtown Atlanta, bumper to bumper military vehicles moving along the highways of southern Iraq. It is an impressive force to see moving in.

COSTELLO: Definitely so.

Martin Savidge reporting live from somewhere in southern Iraq, near the city of Safwan.

And the picture you were seeing beside Martin was from the Seventh Cavalry in southern Iraq, also (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...

COOPER: Quick...

COSTELLO: Go ahead.

COOPER: A quick programming note. At 7:00 a.m. we are expecting statements from French President Jacques Chirac. CNN will attempt to bring that to you live. 7:30 a.m. we expect to hear from Tony Blair, Britain's prime minister. We will bring that to you live, as well.

Let's go to Christiane Amanpour now live in northern Kuwait -- Christiane.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, well, interesting listening to Marty talking about being in Safwan, which is where they took the surrender at the end of the Gulf War from the Iraqis. From our vantage point, we're at the divisional field headquarters of the British forces. They have already launched across the border overnight and they have already secured the Faw Peninsula, which is Iraq's main oil pumping terminal. They are also now going with other forces into Umm Qasr, which is Iraq's biggest commercial port.

This is something which the bulk of the force taking Umm Qasr are U.S. They're the Fifteenth Marine Expeditionary Unit and they have encountered some resistance as they tried to take Umm Qasr. But we're being told that it has, it is going well, that they are proceeding, but they have taken more resistance than they expected. They have also taken the surrender, we're told, or at least the capture of some 250 Iraqi soldiers.

Now, another U.S. operation, U.S. Marines overnight launched in towards the Ramallah (ph) oil fields. That, of course, a very important economic objective for all the reasons we've been talking about for so long, to keep those oil fields intact. Not just, of course, environmental stability, but to protect Iraq's national resources. And that also was one of the reasons why they went to get the Faw Peninsula, which is Iraq's oil, main oil pumping terminal.

So all in all, we're being told, the objectives are being secured. It's going pretty well and the objective right now that they're trying to secure is Umm Qasr, Iraq's biggest commercial port, and they need it for bringing in all sorts of provisions, humanitarian provisions and civilian provisions as they go along -- back to you, Carol and Anderson. COOPER: All right, Christiane Amanpour live in northern Kuwait.

Thanks very much.

We're going to go now to Bill Hemmer, who is in Kuwait City, for some new information -- Bill.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Anderson, listen, for the folks just waking up on the U.S. side of this Iraqi war right now, you're going to find some fascinating pictures and images on CNN throughout the day today. Our journalists embedded with these various units, like Marty Savidge, which you just heard from, with the U.S. Marines.

Walter Rodgers right now has been traveling for hours now, Third Infantry Division, Seventh Cavalry, working their way up through the southern portion of Iraq. The images that Walter has given us have just been absolutely incredible. The information we're getting on the inside comes, in large part, based on our journalists embedded with the military.

Walter right now joins us live as they continue to move at what appears to be a pretty firm clip right now, Bradley fighting vehicles, maybe 40 miles an hour through the desert -- Walter, what's your situation now?

WALTER RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bill, imagine for a moment a giant wave of steel sweeping across the southern Iraqi desert and imagine that almost hourly that wave grows in strength and numbers. As we ride through this desert, we can see that the Third Infantry Division's heavy mechanized units have moved up. This giant wave of steel that grows every hour is ever pushing northward, ever pushing toward the Iraqi capital.

The total goal is obviously to intimidate the Iraqis and pressure them and if that doesn't work then they can smash the Iraqi regime, so powerful is this force which is building out here in the desert. It is bold, it is audacious, it is fast and it is traveling far.

The policy of these armored units of the Seventh Cavalry, with whom I'm with now, and the Third Infantry Division, a heavy mechanized division, is if there is a demonstrably hostile force out there, then the Army is going to kill them. Their goal is to find the enemy, grab him by the nose, they say, and this, according to one senior officer, after grabbing him by the nose, we don't let the Iraqis go anywhere.

The Seventh Cavalry's mission is to find the Iraqis and to persuade them to give up and if they don't persuade, if the Iraqis don't give up, then they will be pounded, according to the officers we're traveling with -- Bill.

HEMMER: Walter, there was a concern prior to this conflict beginning that the rate of speed would be so fast that you would actually outrun your fuel supply to the rear. Is that still a concern right now where you are?

RODGERS: That's a negative, Bill. We had a ROM about an hour or so back. A ROM is military acronym for refuel on the move. There was a massive fleet of tanker trucks that brought up new fuel for the tanks, the armored vehicles and so forth. Every one of these vehicles has been refueled. They can punch forward for another eight hours now nonstop, and that appears to be what they intend on doing.

They are looking out, they're reaching out, trying to find Iraqi units who might be here in southern Iraq. That is their goal. And now they've been joined very closely by the Third Infantry Division and they have hundreds and hundreds of tanks.

So you see this giant wave of steel just rolling across the desert toward Baghdad. Again, it's difficult to show how many tanks are out here because of the clouds of dust that each of these armored vehicles kicks up. And the desert has a horizon of maybe two kilometers, a mile and a half. But you drive up to the ridge on there, you look beyond that, and there are even more tanks in almost every direction.

So it is, as one officer said to us, a bold, audacious, fast and far reaching armored movement all headed towards Baghdad -- Bill.

HEMMER: Walter, also, the other concern was you mentioned the dust in the desert there clogging the air filters and actually at some points possibly stopping these vehicles from going forward. How have they dealt with that right now? What's the system they're using and how much of a problem has that been?

RODGERS: Well, there's regular service and maintenance on these vehicles. It has not been a problem at this point. There has been no, we haven't seen any of the tanks fall out. Indeed, they are all rolling forward as fast as they can.

You did raise a good point when you said that it's possible that the armored units of the Third Squadron, Seventh Cavalry do outrace their fuel tanks. But they are taking territory while they are outracing the fuel tankers and then when the fuel tank -- then the Calvary stops, the tankers catch up and then they do the refueling. That has given the Third Infantry Division, the heavy mechanized division, an opportunity to move up, as well.

That's why I used that analogy of a growing giant wave of steel, which, as I say, grows hourly and is coming like a giant wave moving northward towards the Iraqi capital -- Bill.

HEMMER: Yes, Walter, you're traveling with a photograph, Charlie Miller. On the technical side, I'm just fascinated at how you were able to give us these images. Can you give us a basic 101 course about how you're able to do it right now, moving the way you are?

RODGERS: Sure, Bill. It's easy. We have two means of transmitting images. One, on the roll, which is on a video phone, and we were very, very fortunate. We knew we wanted this particular embed, the Seventh Cavalry, because we knew they were the tip of the tip of the spear. And what Charlie is doing is holding a small mini cam out the window, bracing it as best he can on the car frame, which accounts for some of the jiggling in the picture. But even those 68 ton, 69 ton Abrams tanks are bouncing along, not as much as we are, but there's not a perfect smooth ride out here.

Charlie's riding out the passenger side window in the front. Jeff Barwise (ph), our engineer, is making all the pictures fly through the air. He does magic. And he's out of CNN Atlanta. And between the two of them, their pictures are what -- they're bringing these images to you as we roll through the desert. It's a total CNN team and these are very exclusive pictures -- Bill.

HEMMER: Yes, Walter, another point here, the British are saying earlier today that they might be in Baghdad within three to four days. I know logistics and your geography, we cannot be specific. But are you hearing a similar thing, that it may come in three or four days, or quite possibly sooner than that, given your rate of speed?

RODGERS: That's an excellent question, Bill, and it really depends on whether the regime in Baghdad, Saddam Hussein's government, collapses. If that regime collapses, then it's entirely possible that these armored units could be in Baghdad in two to three or four days. That really all depends on whether the Iraqi units like the Republican Guard, their better armored units, decide to make a stand south of Baghdad.

My guess is, the British are coming in from the east-southeast, these units that we are with are approaching more directly from the south and they will be slamming in. Now, whether the British and the United States coordinate, which you think they would do, but there will be -- there is a rush to Baghdad under way as we speak. I rather hope it doesn't turn into an Anglo-American race to see who gets there first because that would, that might be militarily reckless.

But it really depends on what sort of resistance the Iraqi Army throws up as any army approaches, whether it's the British Army or the U.S. Army. It really depends on what sort of resistance the Iraqis throw up. But the Iraqis have some very fine military units south of Baghdad, the famous Medina Division, which earned its stripes very honorably in the last Gulf War, and then to the west of that is the Hamarabi Division.

These are crack Republican Guard divisions and inside backing them up are the special Republican Guard units in the city itself. So no one should have any illusions that this is going to be a cake walk. The U.S. Army believes, and particularly the commander of the Seventh Cavalry, Lieutenant Colonel Terry Furrow (ph) said he is expecting the Iraqis to put up a fight, and a very stiff fight. Everything you read suggests the Iraqis are not likely to roll over and play dead, even in the face of this huge armored force moving in their direction, unless, of course, there's a regime collapse or a regime change in Baghdad.

Then it will be a race for Baghdad and if the regime of Saddam Hussein does collapse, then these units will probably switch to a different contingency plan. Indeed, we believe they're going to switch to a different contingency plan and it will be a race to Baghdad just to try to stabilize the situation here in Iraq, given the various ethnic rivalries -- Bill.

HEMMER: Absolutely phenomenal coverage.

Walter Rodgers, again, moving his way through southern Iraq. We are told that Walter, along with his team of Charlie and Jeff, these guys are advancing further with this scouting unit than any other embedded journalists seen throughout this conflict and clearly you can see right now the advantage of having journalists with their units right now, moving through Iraq.

It is a tremendous source of information for us here at CNN.

A couple more important points I want to pass along to you. Kuwaiti government now confirming with CNN the last air raid siren we heard, which went off about 25 minutes ago, 1:04 local time in the afternoon, the first indication we're getting right now that this was a SCUD missile fired into Kuwait. We're also told that it was knocked out of the sky by a Patriot missile battery.

The reason I mention a SCUD for the first time is because prior to this time there's been some confusion about what we're told is a different type of Iraqi arsenal missile, ones that travel with much less range. The SCUD, however, has much greater distance, if you go back to the Persian Gulf War of 1991.

One other point I want to make quickly now, we're talking about these oil fires in Iraq. I want to read to you the latest information CNN has right now. Quickly, I just want to get to it. I know I've got to go back to Atlanta.

We're told now that four oil refineries set on fire in southern Iraq earlier today. U.S. Marines have brought two of the fires under control right now. They're traveling with these specially trained firefighters groups called oil capping teams. They're responding right now. They're working on putting out a third right now that's said to be under control, but not extinguished yet. So that leaves one more of the four still remaining.

It might explain, Anderson and Carol, why we see the lifting of the darkening skies behind us here in Kuwait City. Quite possibly they're being very effective in extinguishing these fires, which may eliminate and lessen the smoke we're seeing here.

More when we get it -- back to you now at the CNN Center.

COOPER: All right, Bill, thanks very much.

And we are going to stay with those pictures of Walter Rodgers' on the side of our screen. And Walter, if you're still listening, we want you to stand by because we're going to come back to you shortly.

I should point out, and we want to put those pictures up from the Seventh Cavalry, put them back on the screen, the man commanding those tanks and those Bradley vehicles is Army Captain Clay Lyle.

Now, we spoke by phone with his wife as she watched her husband lead the charge across the desert on CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOICE OF STEPHANIE LYLE, WIFE OF CAPT. CLAY LYLE: I am proud of 37 Cav and Third Infantry Division. And I just can't believe that we're able to see this on TV. This is great.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: This is great. Stephanie Lyle will be on AMERICAN MORNING coming up with Paula Zahn in about an hour and a half at the 7:00 a.m. hour.

We're going to continue to check in with Walter Rodgers also as the tanks and the Bradley vehicles continue pushing closer to their target, Baghdad -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Right now, though, Anderson, we want to check in with Ryan Chilcote, who is with the 101st Airborne Division, Third Brigade.

He's in the Kuwaiti desert -- and you've been in a bunker for an hour now. Are you half way out?

RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're in actually what's called an assembly area. We've been here since yesterday. This is where the 101st, up till this point, was in, were in camps. They've moved out, at least some elements of the 101st Airborne have moved out into this assembly area and they are poised here to move into Iraq should they get the word.

With us today we have PFC Frank Caruso.

Why don't you describe where we are and why we are where we are right now in these defensive positions?

PFC FRANK CARUSO, 101ST AIRBORNE: Well, right now we're just maintaining a defensive posture in case something was to happen like a SCUD attack. We've dug hasties, fighting positions, in for cover from any type of attack from a SCUD or anything else that would happen.

CHILCOTE: Can you show me like your hasty here and what sort of goes into making a hasty?

CARUSO: Yes. All we do is grab our e-tool and we...

CHILCOTE: That's all right.

CARUSO: ... go ahead and get our sector to fire, pretty much. The whole squad lines up and we assign sectors and once you fire and then you start digging in. It's just a real quick method of getting some extra protection if you had to hurry up and fight somebody that's attacking you.

CHILCOTE: Sure. And we've been under SCUD alert here for, what, just about two hours?

CARUSO: Right.

CHILCOTE: Describe what your day has been like. It's just quarter to two now here. Since this morning, what's your day been like?

CARUSO: Since today we've just been getting ready, prepared, checking equipment, getting things straight on the trucks and just doing weapons maintenance and pretty much waiting around, waiting for the word.

CHILCOTE: The first sounding of the SCUD alert about two hours ago, what was going through your head? What was that like?

CARUSO: Well, we just do what we usually do, get down and, you know, go ahead and put your pro mask on and get ready and, you know, just wait and see what happens.

CHILCOTE: It's almost kind of like habit forming at this point, isn't it? We went through this yesterday.

CARUSO: Yup.

CHILCOTE: I mean do you feel like this is becoming a habit or?

CARUSO: It is, and at the same time it's good because the more you practice, the more, you know, the quicker you get with this. So it's only going to save your life eventually.

CHILCOTE: Let's see what else, you have changed clothing, changed your gear.

CARUSO: Yes.

CHILCOTE: Why don't you tell us about what you're in now and why.

CARUSO: Right now we're in MOPP One, which is M-O-P-P. It's an acronym for mission oriented protective posture. And it's just our protective over garment, which is boots, I mean, trousers and a top. And it's just to protect us from like any kind of chemical attack for, and our pro mask is just worn, we pop that on later on if we need to.

CHILCOTE: Just to explain to people, these are basically the chemical suits that we've heard so much about, very hot, obviously, in the dead of summer. We're not quite to summer yet...

COSTELLO: Ryan, may I interrupt you?

CHILCOTE: We are in the shade but...

COSTELLO: Ryan, may I interrupt you? Ryan? Ryan? I want Ryan Chilcote to stand by because we have some important breaking news to tell you about right now -- Anderson.

COOPER: That's right, we're getting a report from our Dr. Sanjay Gupta, who is also embedded, and we're going to go to him live. I'm not sure exactly where he is. Let's just check in with him.

Dr. Gupta, are you there?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Anderson, I'm in the northern desert of Kuwait, at Camp Iwo Jima. The Marines here have just confirmed for me the First Marine Expeditionary Force has confirmed that a Marine has been killed in action. They do not know exactly, they're not telling me, at least, exactly when it happened. Obviously they're not divulging any further details of identification. But they are confirming now for the first time it appears that the first Marine has actually been killed in action -- Anderson.

COOPER: Sanjay, this, of course, follows the first casualties that we heard about in an accident, which was that chopper going down, four crewmen aboard, eight British troops going aboard it. But as you said, this is the first, if -- and you said it's been confirmed to you, this would be the first casualty in action.

GUPTA: That is correct. They are making, drawing a distinction between the chopper accident that you are referring to and this particular incident, that one being an accident. A helicopter accident is how they're referring to it. this one actually being a Marine KIA, killed in action.

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Aired March 21, 2003 - 05:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: It is five o'clock Eastern time. It's time to start our next hour.
Coalition casualties in Kuwait tops our war update at this hour. A U.S. marine CH-46 helicopter crashed early today, killing all aboard. The four U.S. crew members and eight British troops are the first coalition fatalities of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Pentagon officials say there was no indication of hostile fire.

Soldiers from the U.S. Army's Seventh Cavalry are rolling through the southern Iraqi desert towards Baghdad. The Seventh met just token opposition as it crossed over the border from Kuwait. Army sources tell CNN the U.S. destroyed a half dozen Iraqi military vehicles and a number of tanks.

British troops have secured the beachhead on Iraq's Faw Peninsula, the nation's only Persian Gulf coast. Some Iraqi troops were taken prisoner. Britain's ministry of defense says it's not clear how many, though. Dozens of Iraqi troops also surrendered today in northern Kuwait, apparently crossing the border from Iraq.

A British wire service tells CNN that the stars and stripes are flying right, are flying right now over the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr. Reuters reporter Adrian Croft says he saw the U.S. flag go up after Marines took control of the facilities. The Marines apparently encountered only light resistance as they and British forces established a beachhead on the Faw Peninsula, as I said, Iraq's only outlet to the Persian Gulf.

And most Americans apparently support the war in Iraq. A new CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll finds more than three in four respondents favor the U.S. decision to invade Iraq.

However, thousands, tens of thousands of people have staged anti- war protests across the country. About 10,000 demonstrators took to the streets of Chicago alone. And in San Francisco, police arrested more than 1,000 protesters. More demonstrations are expected today.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone.

I'm Anderson Cooper from the CNN Center in Atlanta.

COSTELLO: And I'm Carol Costello.

Thank you for joining us this morning.

COOPER: There is so much happening at this hour, Seventh Cavalry moving very quickly now, continuing to move very quickly, as they have been for the last several hours, moving toward Baghdad. We have U.S. Marines raising the flag, this according to Reuters, raising the flag in Umm Qasr. That port city on the road to Basra in the south. And Nic Robertson waiting in Baghdad itself, word that there is supposed to be some sort of statement made by Iraqi officials there. We have been waiting for that for several hours now. It could happen in this next hour. We will, of course, bring that to you as events warrant.

And we're going to check in now with Bill Hemmer, who is standing by in Kuwait -- excuse me, we have the Iraqi news conference.

Let's take it now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We wish to provide you with some photos and we have also the videotapes of the Iraqis, victims of yesterday's barbaric bombardment on civilian targets in Baghdad. These are samples, examples of who is this villain, George Bush, and his, all his gang.

I present to you my colleague, the minister of interior. His Excellency also will explain to you some aspects in regard to south of Iraq, north of Iraq and some questions may you wish to ask His Excellency about the lies they are repeating in the media about Umm Qasr and Basra and Nusul (ph) and so on.

But first, I'll continue. Ladies and gentlemen, those are the people who were targeted by criminal George Bush and his gang and his mercenaries in Kuwait and in the Gulf. They said we have targeted military places. These are the military places. We will provide you also with the videotapes, as I have mentioned. This is the way they are operating. This is the real targets of those villains in Washington and in London.

MOHAMMED AL-SAHAF, IRAQI INFORMATION MINISTER: Brothers and sisters, these pictures for the Arabic media, they are just a few pictures. The interior minister will give you more details. These are some of the pictures which we tried to visit at the hospital. Thirty-seven injured yesterday. Here they are. And the gangster George Bush says and he...

COOPER: Bill Hemmer is standing by in Kuwait City, where some sirens are also airing at this hour -- Bill.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, hey, Anderson, two minutes ago they went off again in downtown Kuwait City. This is the signal that says danger is here. A series of air raid sirens over the past 24 hours. This is the second time since the sun has come up today that we've heard this call here.

In addition to that, you might be able to hear the hotel fire alarm. We have tried to work some sort of synchronicity within the hotel to allow any of our CNN colleagues and workers here in the hotel to know that when the air raid sirens go off in town, you'll hear this fire alarm in the hotel, as well.

A number of our colleagues at this point, some of them sleeping right now after very long shifts overnight, take cover in the parking garage downstairs. Oftentimes we make our own decisions based on the information we have to assess what we have and decide for ourselves whether or not we believe now is the time to get off the air and take cover.

I'm going to take you back to yesterday, though, Anderson, though. The information we're getting about these missiles coming in from the north are described to us now as Chinese made missiles. We'll talk a little more about those, Silkworm missiles, we're told.

It's important information. I'll try and describe it a little more for that a little later for you...

COOPER: Bill, this is Anderson...

HEMMER: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) now to go back to you, Anderson, so go.

COOPER: Yes, let's go, we're going to go back to the press conference live in Baghdad.

AL-SAHAF: President Saddam Hussein. They targeted and they for god had protected them. They targeted the houses of his family. But they are safe. They are safe. This is, again, this is the level, this is the real reputation of this gang. This is the real level and reputation of those villains. You consider them superpowers? Well, this is a disgrace, really. This is a complete disgrace.

They are a superpower of villains, really. They are a superpower of Al Capone. This is a typical American official, Al Capone, Israeli, he is the typical official American in our days. This villain in the White House, this is the level of his attacks in Iraq.

Well, we are not going to give him the chance or to other villains around him. We will continue capturing his villains, his mercenaries and he will face the tragedy.

(THROUGH TRANSLATOR): (UNINTELLIGIBLE), we issued a statement and we said that these gangsters and cowards targeted the residence of President Saddam Hussein and his family. They tried to suggest that they targeted him personally. Their motive is to assassinate the president so they could invade Iraq. We will not let them get out of the -- they will see, they will get their end by their aggression against Iraq.

Those cowards and villains, they declared that they've confiscated Iraqi property and assets. I'm not surprised. I'm not surprised. This is the action of a gang. I think the world now believes, I'm convinced, what kind of people we are dealing with. These are close and trying to accuse the others, their desperation they accuse the others and it shows how desperate they are and how they're losing their nerve and that explains their behavior.

So stealing Iraqi assets in banks, either in the United States or elsewhere, it's either old assets when we were dealing with, in dollars. The Iraqi authorities will respond to that the way they know best. But I would like to say that Iraq reserves the legal right to take the necessary measures to deal with this and you will see and we will show these villains how this, their action will backfire on them.

My second point that I would like to emphasize, they say that forces have entered Iraq. I will not say much about this, because my colleague here will tell you more about it. I will say that point I told you before, I'll repeat it again. We are faced with a big question -- how can we deal with these mercenaries? They're not soldiers. They do not come under international law. What are we going to do to them?

I think they will be treated as mercenaries and war criminals. The question is, god willing, and it will be clear will they be tried before Iraqi war criminals? We will decide. We are studying this now, but certainly they don't come under international law.

Yesterday, the attorney general in the American administration tried to suggest that their aggression against Iraq comes under international law, which is not true. He is deluding himself. They don't come under international law. And our study will show how and prove how we are going to treat them and what kind of law do they come under. They are mercenaries and war criminals and the legal, the international law that could be applied to them, it will be clarified very soon.

Before I ask my colleague, the interior minister, to brief you, I...

COSTELLO: OK, we're going to break away from that Iraqi news conference. You were hearing from Mohammed al-Sahaf, who is Iraqi information minister. Perhaps the most important thing he said was Saddam is safe. Of course, we didn't see Saddam in person, so we don't know about that.

What you're looking at right now is southern Iraq in the desert from the Seventh Cavalry.

Our Walter Rodgers is traveling with the Seventh Cavalry as they head onwards towards Baghdad.

Right now, though, we want to go to Martin Savidge.

Now, this is the first time we've heard from Martin in four days. He's with a Marine unit. We can't tell you exactly where he is, but you, too, Martin, are somewhere in southern Iraq.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. We crossed the border about an hour ago into southern Iraq. We passed through the first town, which would be of Safwan. As we came into the town, there weren't a lot of people out, but there were people there that you could see on the streets. They were waving at the convoy of military vehicles as they were passing through. Some of them were...

(AUDIO INTERFERENCE)

SAVIDGE: It's part of the Marine division inside our own vehicle. And we were trying to move our way to another objective, which we're not going to get into at this point. Last night, we were supposed to move in, but due to heavy opposition at the scene along the border, we couldn't push in. Heavy artillery as well as a massive aerial bombardment was brought down on the opposing forces of the Iraqis and once the situation was deemed clear, we were able to push in, which is what we're doing now.

You can see, if you look just over here, security is still extremely tight. It is very tense here. There are still opposition military units in the area, which is of great concern, and, of course, they are worried about Iraqi military units that are still operating in this area.

But you are looking at the Marines here from the First Battalion, Seventh Marines, as they push their way farther into southern Iraq -- back to you.

COSTELLO: Martin, I hope your transmission stays clear because I have a couple of questions for you.

You said as the Marines went by, people were waving at them. Can you get into more of that for us?

SAVIDGE: Well, it was really not clear what the reception was going to be from the population here, especially since last night the fighting that occurred up around the border was very heavy at times. And it was feared that the reaction of the local populace may not be in a positive way.

But once the initial forces pushed into Safwan, which is the first town that they would clear, having crossed the Kuwaiti-Iraq border, it became quite evident that the people, if not relieved, were at least not angry at seeing the military forces.

There were white flags that were hanging from homes and from buildings. There were people that came out on the streets. Many of them had been warned, though, to stay indoors, not to go outside, not to approach U.S. forces. This is a precautionary measure as much for the U.S. military and coalition forces as it is also for the people themselves.

COSTELLO: Another question for you...

SAVIDGE: Now, the convoy is beginning to move. We're going to try and move with them.

Go ahead.

COSTELLO: OK, sorry, Martin.

Another question I had, you said heavy opposition. That brings to mind casualties. Can you talk about that at all?

SAVIDGE: We have not heard any reports of casualties. Last night as we moved...

(AUDIO INTERFERENCE) COSTELLO: We're having technical difficulties, as you can see. We're going to see if the signal clears up. As you might imagine, it's difficult to get a clear signal from so far away from the United States.

Martin, can you speak for us again to see if your signal has cleared up?

SAVIDGE: I was saying that last night as we began to move into southern Iraq, there was a report of at least 180, maybe 200 Iraqi tanks that were coming from the north, heading south to the border. It looked like it was going to be a major confrontation. That's what forced our convoy to come to...

(AUDIO INTERFERENCE)

SAVIDGE: ... for about five, maybe eight hours. We had to dig in because there were continued threats of SCUD attacks. There were also chemical warnings. We were constantly donning then taking off the chemical gear, putting back on the gas masks, diving into fox holes, getting out of fox holes. There was a great deal of heavy firing going on. Much of it, though, was outgoing fire coming from U.S. and coalition forces. Heavy artillery, 155 millimeter Howitzers, an incredible pounding that was delivered to Safwan Hill, which is a major outpost for the Iraqi military that overlooks all of northern Kuwait. That was devastated last night in air attack after air attack and any ground forces that were seen on the part of the Iraqi military were attacked and engaged.

It was said to be a target rich environment and the attacks went on throughout the night. Flashes of light nearly constant. The rolling thunder of heavy artillery as well as bombardment coming from the air. And it continued into the daylight hours today.

Once it settled down, that's when our military column began to move and that's when we finally pushed into southern Iraq.

As of right now, we have not met any hostile forces. But we are continuing to push on. Forces remain on a very high alert.

COSTELLO: And, Martin, one more question for you. This is not a traditional, well, a traditional type mission for the Marines. Usually they go into enemy territory by sea. This time they went in by land and by all accounts everything went smoothly.

SAVIDGE: It did, indeed. It has gone smoothly. As they always say, the first casualty in any military operation is the plan. Things perhaps did not start initially as was planned, but they have quickly adapted, brought in the heavy firepower, brought in the air wing of the Marines and were able to suppress whatever Iraqi opposition they met. And now they have regrouped and are pushing on and things are moving as well to schedule as they can possibly make them. There are other objectives that need to be reached and time is very critical here.

One of the things we did note is that there is such a flood of coalition military armor coming into southern Iraq that at times the highway is jammed like rush hour in downtown Atlanta, bumper to bumper military vehicles moving along the highways of southern Iraq. It is an impressive force to see moving in.

COSTELLO: Definitely so.

Martin Savidge reporting live from somewhere in southern Iraq, near the city of Safwan.

And the picture you were seeing beside Martin was from the Seventh Cavalry in southern Iraq, also (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...

COOPER: Quick...

COSTELLO: Go ahead.

COOPER: A quick programming note. At 7:00 a.m. we are expecting statements from French President Jacques Chirac. CNN will attempt to bring that to you live. 7:30 a.m. we expect to hear from Tony Blair, Britain's prime minister. We will bring that to you live, as well.

Let's go to Christiane Amanpour now live in northern Kuwait -- Christiane.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, well, interesting listening to Marty talking about being in Safwan, which is where they took the surrender at the end of the Gulf War from the Iraqis. From our vantage point, we're at the divisional field headquarters of the British forces. They have already launched across the border overnight and they have already secured the Faw Peninsula, which is Iraq's main oil pumping terminal. They are also now going with other forces into Umm Qasr, which is Iraq's biggest commercial port.

This is something which the bulk of the force taking Umm Qasr are U.S. They're the Fifteenth Marine Expeditionary Unit and they have encountered some resistance as they tried to take Umm Qasr. But we're being told that it has, it is going well, that they are proceeding, but they have taken more resistance than they expected. They have also taken the surrender, we're told, or at least the capture of some 250 Iraqi soldiers.

Now, another U.S. operation, U.S. Marines overnight launched in towards the Ramallah (ph) oil fields. That, of course, a very important economic objective for all the reasons we've been talking about for so long, to keep those oil fields intact. Not just, of course, environmental stability, but to protect Iraq's national resources. And that also was one of the reasons why they went to get the Faw Peninsula, which is Iraq's oil, main oil pumping terminal.

So all in all, we're being told, the objectives are being secured. It's going pretty well and the objective right now that they're trying to secure is Umm Qasr, Iraq's biggest commercial port, and they need it for bringing in all sorts of provisions, humanitarian provisions and civilian provisions as they go along -- back to you, Carol and Anderson. COOPER: All right, Christiane Amanpour live in northern Kuwait.

Thanks very much.

We're going to go now to Bill Hemmer, who is in Kuwait City, for some new information -- Bill.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Anderson, listen, for the folks just waking up on the U.S. side of this Iraqi war right now, you're going to find some fascinating pictures and images on CNN throughout the day today. Our journalists embedded with these various units, like Marty Savidge, which you just heard from, with the U.S. Marines.

Walter Rodgers right now has been traveling for hours now, Third Infantry Division, Seventh Cavalry, working their way up through the southern portion of Iraq. The images that Walter has given us have just been absolutely incredible. The information we're getting on the inside comes, in large part, based on our journalists embedded with the military.

Walter right now joins us live as they continue to move at what appears to be a pretty firm clip right now, Bradley fighting vehicles, maybe 40 miles an hour through the desert -- Walter, what's your situation now?

WALTER RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bill, imagine for a moment a giant wave of steel sweeping across the southern Iraqi desert and imagine that almost hourly that wave grows in strength and numbers. As we ride through this desert, we can see that the Third Infantry Division's heavy mechanized units have moved up. This giant wave of steel that grows every hour is ever pushing northward, ever pushing toward the Iraqi capital.

The total goal is obviously to intimidate the Iraqis and pressure them and if that doesn't work then they can smash the Iraqi regime, so powerful is this force which is building out here in the desert. It is bold, it is audacious, it is fast and it is traveling far.

The policy of these armored units of the Seventh Cavalry, with whom I'm with now, and the Third Infantry Division, a heavy mechanized division, is if there is a demonstrably hostile force out there, then the Army is going to kill them. Their goal is to find the enemy, grab him by the nose, they say, and this, according to one senior officer, after grabbing him by the nose, we don't let the Iraqis go anywhere.

The Seventh Cavalry's mission is to find the Iraqis and to persuade them to give up and if they don't persuade, if the Iraqis don't give up, then they will be pounded, according to the officers we're traveling with -- Bill.

HEMMER: Walter, there was a concern prior to this conflict beginning that the rate of speed would be so fast that you would actually outrun your fuel supply to the rear. Is that still a concern right now where you are?

RODGERS: That's a negative, Bill. We had a ROM about an hour or so back. A ROM is military acronym for refuel on the move. There was a massive fleet of tanker trucks that brought up new fuel for the tanks, the armored vehicles and so forth. Every one of these vehicles has been refueled. They can punch forward for another eight hours now nonstop, and that appears to be what they intend on doing.

They are looking out, they're reaching out, trying to find Iraqi units who might be here in southern Iraq. That is their goal. And now they've been joined very closely by the Third Infantry Division and they have hundreds and hundreds of tanks.

So you see this giant wave of steel just rolling across the desert toward Baghdad. Again, it's difficult to show how many tanks are out here because of the clouds of dust that each of these armored vehicles kicks up. And the desert has a horizon of maybe two kilometers, a mile and a half. But you drive up to the ridge on there, you look beyond that, and there are even more tanks in almost every direction.

So it is, as one officer said to us, a bold, audacious, fast and far reaching armored movement all headed towards Baghdad -- Bill.

HEMMER: Walter, also, the other concern was you mentioned the dust in the desert there clogging the air filters and actually at some points possibly stopping these vehicles from going forward. How have they dealt with that right now? What's the system they're using and how much of a problem has that been?

RODGERS: Well, there's regular service and maintenance on these vehicles. It has not been a problem at this point. There has been no, we haven't seen any of the tanks fall out. Indeed, they are all rolling forward as fast as they can.

You did raise a good point when you said that it's possible that the armored units of the Third Squadron, Seventh Cavalry do outrace their fuel tanks. But they are taking territory while they are outracing the fuel tankers and then when the fuel tank -- then the Calvary stops, the tankers catch up and then they do the refueling. That has given the Third Infantry Division, the heavy mechanized division, an opportunity to move up, as well.

That's why I used that analogy of a growing giant wave of steel, which, as I say, grows hourly and is coming like a giant wave moving northward towards the Iraqi capital -- Bill.

HEMMER: Yes, Walter, you're traveling with a photograph, Charlie Miller. On the technical side, I'm just fascinated at how you were able to give us these images. Can you give us a basic 101 course about how you're able to do it right now, moving the way you are?

RODGERS: Sure, Bill. It's easy. We have two means of transmitting images. One, on the roll, which is on a video phone, and we were very, very fortunate. We knew we wanted this particular embed, the Seventh Cavalry, because we knew they were the tip of the tip of the spear. And what Charlie is doing is holding a small mini cam out the window, bracing it as best he can on the car frame, which accounts for some of the jiggling in the picture. But even those 68 ton, 69 ton Abrams tanks are bouncing along, not as much as we are, but there's not a perfect smooth ride out here.

Charlie's riding out the passenger side window in the front. Jeff Barwise (ph), our engineer, is making all the pictures fly through the air. He does magic. And he's out of CNN Atlanta. And between the two of them, their pictures are what -- they're bringing these images to you as we roll through the desert. It's a total CNN team and these are very exclusive pictures -- Bill.

HEMMER: Yes, Walter, another point here, the British are saying earlier today that they might be in Baghdad within three to four days. I know logistics and your geography, we cannot be specific. But are you hearing a similar thing, that it may come in three or four days, or quite possibly sooner than that, given your rate of speed?

RODGERS: That's an excellent question, Bill, and it really depends on whether the regime in Baghdad, Saddam Hussein's government, collapses. If that regime collapses, then it's entirely possible that these armored units could be in Baghdad in two to three or four days. That really all depends on whether the Iraqi units like the Republican Guard, their better armored units, decide to make a stand south of Baghdad.

My guess is, the British are coming in from the east-southeast, these units that we are with are approaching more directly from the south and they will be slamming in. Now, whether the British and the United States coordinate, which you think they would do, but there will be -- there is a rush to Baghdad under way as we speak. I rather hope it doesn't turn into an Anglo-American race to see who gets there first because that would, that might be militarily reckless.

But it really depends on what sort of resistance the Iraqi Army throws up as any army approaches, whether it's the British Army or the U.S. Army. It really depends on what sort of resistance the Iraqis throw up. But the Iraqis have some very fine military units south of Baghdad, the famous Medina Division, which earned its stripes very honorably in the last Gulf War, and then to the west of that is the Hamarabi Division.

These are crack Republican Guard divisions and inside backing them up are the special Republican Guard units in the city itself. So no one should have any illusions that this is going to be a cake walk. The U.S. Army believes, and particularly the commander of the Seventh Cavalry, Lieutenant Colonel Terry Furrow (ph) said he is expecting the Iraqis to put up a fight, and a very stiff fight. Everything you read suggests the Iraqis are not likely to roll over and play dead, even in the face of this huge armored force moving in their direction, unless, of course, there's a regime collapse or a regime change in Baghdad.

Then it will be a race for Baghdad and if the regime of Saddam Hussein does collapse, then these units will probably switch to a different contingency plan. Indeed, we believe they're going to switch to a different contingency plan and it will be a race to Baghdad just to try to stabilize the situation here in Iraq, given the various ethnic rivalries -- Bill.

HEMMER: Absolutely phenomenal coverage.

Walter Rodgers, again, moving his way through southern Iraq. We are told that Walter, along with his team of Charlie and Jeff, these guys are advancing further with this scouting unit than any other embedded journalists seen throughout this conflict and clearly you can see right now the advantage of having journalists with their units right now, moving through Iraq.

It is a tremendous source of information for us here at CNN.

A couple more important points I want to pass along to you. Kuwaiti government now confirming with CNN the last air raid siren we heard, which went off about 25 minutes ago, 1:04 local time in the afternoon, the first indication we're getting right now that this was a SCUD missile fired into Kuwait. We're also told that it was knocked out of the sky by a Patriot missile battery.

The reason I mention a SCUD for the first time is because prior to this time there's been some confusion about what we're told is a different type of Iraqi arsenal missile, ones that travel with much less range. The SCUD, however, has much greater distance, if you go back to the Persian Gulf War of 1991.

One other point I want to make quickly now, we're talking about these oil fires in Iraq. I want to read to you the latest information CNN has right now. Quickly, I just want to get to it. I know I've got to go back to Atlanta.

We're told now that four oil refineries set on fire in southern Iraq earlier today. U.S. Marines have brought two of the fires under control right now. They're traveling with these specially trained firefighters groups called oil capping teams. They're responding right now. They're working on putting out a third right now that's said to be under control, but not extinguished yet. So that leaves one more of the four still remaining.

It might explain, Anderson and Carol, why we see the lifting of the darkening skies behind us here in Kuwait City. Quite possibly they're being very effective in extinguishing these fires, which may eliminate and lessen the smoke we're seeing here.

More when we get it -- back to you now at the CNN Center.

COOPER: All right, Bill, thanks very much.

And we are going to stay with those pictures of Walter Rodgers' on the side of our screen. And Walter, if you're still listening, we want you to stand by because we're going to come back to you shortly.

I should point out, and we want to put those pictures up from the Seventh Cavalry, put them back on the screen, the man commanding those tanks and those Bradley vehicles is Army Captain Clay Lyle.

Now, we spoke by phone with his wife as she watched her husband lead the charge across the desert on CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOICE OF STEPHANIE LYLE, WIFE OF CAPT. CLAY LYLE: I am proud of 37 Cav and Third Infantry Division. And I just can't believe that we're able to see this on TV. This is great.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: This is great. Stephanie Lyle will be on AMERICAN MORNING coming up with Paula Zahn in about an hour and a half at the 7:00 a.m. hour.

We're going to continue to check in with Walter Rodgers also as the tanks and the Bradley vehicles continue pushing closer to their target, Baghdad -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Right now, though, Anderson, we want to check in with Ryan Chilcote, who is with the 101st Airborne Division, Third Brigade.

He's in the Kuwaiti desert -- and you've been in a bunker for an hour now. Are you half way out?

RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're in actually what's called an assembly area. We've been here since yesterday. This is where the 101st, up till this point, was in, were in camps. They've moved out, at least some elements of the 101st Airborne have moved out into this assembly area and they are poised here to move into Iraq should they get the word.

With us today we have PFC Frank Caruso.

Why don't you describe where we are and why we are where we are right now in these defensive positions?

PFC FRANK CARUSO, 101ST AIRBORNE: Well, right now we're just maintaining a defensive posture in case something was to happen like a SCUD attack. We've dug hasties, fighting positions, in for cover from any type of attack from a SCUD or anything else that would happen.

CHILCOTE: Can you show me like your hasty here and what sort of goes into making a hasty?

CARUSO: Yes. All we do is grab our e-tool and we...

CHILCOTE: That's all right.

CARUSO: ... go ahead and get our sector to fire, pretty much. The whole squad lines up and we assign sectors and once you fire and then you start digging in. It's just a real quick method of getting some extra protection if you had to hurry up and fight somebody that's attacking you.

CHILCOTE: Sure. And we've been under SCUD alert here for, what, just about two hours?

CARUSO: Right.

CHILCOTE: Describe what your day has been like. It's just quarter to two now here. Since this morning, what's your day been like?

CARUSO: Since today we've just been getting ready, prepared, checking equipment, getting things straight on the trucks and just doing weapons maintenance and pretty much waiting around, waiting for the word.

CHILCOTE: The first sounding of the SCUD alert about two hours ago, what was going through your head? What was that like?

CARUSO: Well, we just do what we usually do, get down and, you know, go ahead and put your pro mask on and get ready and, you know, just wait and see what happens.

CHILCOTE: It's almost kind of like habit forming at this point, isn't it? We went through this yesterday.

CARUSO: Yup.

CHILCOTE: I mean do you feel like this is becoming a habit or?

CARUSO: It is, and at the same time it's good because the more you practice, the more, you know, the quicker you get with this. So it's only going to save your life eventually.

CHILCOTE: Let's see what else, you have changed clothing, changed your gear.

CARUSO: Yes.

CHILCOTE: Why don't you tell us about what you're in now and why.

CARUSO: Right now we're in MOPP One, which is M-O-P-P. It's an acronym for mission oriented protective posture. And it's just our protective over garment, which is boots, I mean, trousers and a top. And it's just to protect us from like any kind of chemical attack for, and our pro mask is just worn, we pop that on later on if we need to.

CHILCOTE: Just to explain to people, these are basically the chemical suits that we've heard so much about, very hot, obviously, in the dead of summer. We're not quite to summer yet...

COSTELLO: Ryan, may I interrupt you?

CHILCOTE: We are in the shade but...

COSTELLO: Ryan, may I interrupt you? Ryan? Ryan? I want Ryan Chilcote to stand by because we have some important breaking news to tell you about right now -- Anderson.

COOPER: That's right, we're getting a report from our Dr. Sanjay Gupta, who is also embedded, and we're going to go to him live. I'm not sure exactly where he is. Let's just check in with him.

Dr. Gupta, are you there?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Anderson, I'm in the northern desert of Kuwait, at Camp Iwo Jima. The Marines here have just confirmed for me the First Marine Expeditionary Force has confirmed that a Marine has been killed in action. They do not know exactly, they're not telling me, at least, exactly when it happened. Obviously they're not divulging any further details of identification. But they are confirming now for the first time it appears that the first Marine has actually been killed in action -- Anderson.

COOPER: Sanjay, this, of course, follows the first casualties that we heard about in an accident, which was that chopper going down, four crewmen aboard, eight British troops going aboard it. But as you said, this is the first, if -- and you said it's been confirmed to you, this would be the first casualty in action.

GUPTA: That is correct. They are making, drawing a distinction between the chopper accident that you are referring to and this particular incident, that one being an accident. A helicopter accident is how they're referring to it. this one actually being a Marine KIA, killed in action.

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