Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live At Daybreak

U.S. Forces Seize Significant Air Fields

Aired March 21, 2003 - 06:23   ET

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

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


ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to go to the Pentagon. Chris Plante apparently has some new information for us at this hour.
Chris, what do you have?

CHRIS PLANTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Anderson, overnight U.S. and British forces have been very busy. U.S. forces have swooped into western Iraq and seized two significant air fields there. These two air fields designated as H2 and H3, considered to be very significant for ongoing operations and potentially for humanitarian operations later on.

But, importantly, the second air field, designated H3, is considered by U.S. intelligence to be a potential site for weapons of mass destruction. This was going to be one of the priorities of the U.S. military going in, attempting to seize locations where they believed weapons of mass destruction may be stored or manufactured.

Additionally, the oil fields in southern Iraq to the west of Basra which were set on fire by Iraqi troops, have also been seized by U.S. Marines. This all taking place over the last 12 hours or so. This is also where the U.S. Marine was killed in combat, the first combat death of this conflict, although four U.S. Marines and eight British commandos killed also in a helicopter crash much earlier.

Troops also in northern Iraq taking up positions there. A lot of very quick movement going on throughout the country. Nine oil wells on fire in the south. Marines in control of the oil fields there, two of the oil fields. Two air fields in western Iraq, key air fields, taken by U.S. Army forces, taken by air. It's unclear right now, to me at least, whether these were airborne paratroopers or helicopter assault troops, 82nd Airborne or 101st Airborne units -- Anderson.

COOPER: Chris, the British defense secretary, speaking to the House of Commons about 20 minutes or so ago, said that the conflict, the battle taking place in Qasr (ph) is still going on, likely to be over soon, he said, but still going on at this hour.

Do you have any, has the Pentagon said anything about that at this point?

PLANTE: Not that conflicts specifically, Anderson, but it's clear that there is combat going on in a number of areas throughout the country. I don't believe that any of these places were taken entirely without resistance. It's clear that the oil fields in the south, nine oil wells set on fire where one Marine was killed, clearly there was some resistance there. There is resistance, we've been getting sporadic reports of isolated incidents of Iraqi troops firing on U.S. and British forces. So they're not rolling up as easily as perhaps was projected, at least in certain instances. But, again, at least hundreds of Iraqi prisoners now under U.S. military control. It's a quickly evolving situation -- Anderson.

COOPER: Chris Plante at the Pentagon, thanks very much.

Of course, casualties inevitable, I suppose, but, you know, you think of one American family waking up this morning and their lives forever changed.

COSTELLO: Yes, we want to find out more about what happened to that Marine who was killed in combat.

Sanjay Gupta is in Kuwait at Camp Iwo Jima.

He has more information for us right now -- what happened to this Marine, Sanjay?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning. Good afternoon from Iowa Jima, Carol.

We, what we do know at this point is that a Marine has been killed in action. That is to be distinguished from the four Marines that were involved in that unfortunate hospital -- I'm sorry -- helicopter crash earlier. This Marine was killed in action. We'd the have any further details as far as exact locations, certainly no other identifiable features. Just that, in fact, it has happened.

There's going to be a complete release of information probably within the next several hours. But we certainly did want to tell you about this, the Marines here at Camp Iwo Jima did tell us this information and we wanted to share it with you all, as well.

That's all we know at this point, though, Carol.

COSTELLO: Well, Sanjay, we heard Chris Plante say that the death happened somewhere in southern Iraq. Is that what you're hearing?

GUPTA: That, we do know that it was north of Farir (ph), in the northern part of the desert of Kuwait. Our understanding is that it was a, someplace in the southern part of Iraq, although the exact location has not been divulged to us. Again, that release of information will be coming to us shortly and we're going to give you that information as soon as we hear it. We're waiting for the proper channels to provide that information. Obviously, a very sensitive issue, one of the most sensitive issues, in fact, that we have encountered since we've been here in the northern desert of Kuwait.

People taking their time for obvious reasons with this piece of information, especially the identifiable features of this information. But we will get you that information as soon as we have it -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Sanjay, how did word of this come to you and Camp Iwo Jima?

GUPTA: Well, there is an entire process. You know, we have Marines here. They are part of the entire structure. Obviously, there's a public affairs infrastructure here that's part of the Marines. They essentially get information and they think about it, I think, long and hard and decide which information they're actually going to release. We've been talking to the Marines, doing our own sort of research, our own homework, our own reporting, obviously. This information came to us via that infrastructure here at Camp Iwo Jima.

That obviously came to us a little while ago, as you know, the first time that we spoke about this -- Carol.

COSTELLO: So the rest of the battle group was informed, too. I mean you have to wonder how they're feeling about this. It must be a terrible thing to hear as you're going to go into combat.

GUPTA: Yes, you know, not only is it a terrible thing and can be somewhat of a demoralizing thing, a lot of these guys work together. A lot of these guys train together. Some of these guys live together, even back Stateside. Some of the Marines that we're talking to think that they might know who this is. Obviously, this is one of the most sensitive areas of information that we divulge as reporters and we try to be very careful with this. A lot of different reasons, some of the very ones that you're bringing up, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Dr. Sanjay Gupta joining us live from northern Kuwait from Camp Iwo Jima to tell us about the first American casualty in combat, a U.S. Marine.

COOPER: Let's get a look at what is happening at this hour.

As Carol just mentioned, a U.S. Marine has been killed in action, the first combat casualty of the war. The fatality was confirmed by the First Marine Expeditionary Force.

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







Aired March 21, 2003 - 06:23   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to go to the Pentagon. Chris Plante apparently has some new information for us at this hour.
Chris, what do you have?

CHRIS PLANTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Anderson, overnight U.S. and British forces have been very busy. U.S. forces have swooped into western Iraq and seized two significant air fields there. These two air fields designated as H2 and H3, considered to be very significant for ongoing operations and potentially for humanitarian operations later on.

But, importantly, the second air field, designated H3, is considered by U.S. intelligence to be a potential site for weapons of mass destruction. This was going to be one of the priorities of the U.S. military going in, attempting to seize locations where they believed weapons of mass destruction may be stored or manufactured.

Additionally, the oil fields in southern Iraq to the west of Basra which were set on fire by Iraqi troops, have also been seized by U.S. Marines. This all taking place over the last 12 hours or so. This is also where the U.S. Marine was killed in combat, the first combat death of this conflict, although four U.S. Marines and eight British commandos killed also in a helicopter crash much earlier.

Troops also in northern Iraq taking up positions there. A lot of very quick movement going on throughout the country. Nine oil wells on fire in the south. Marines in control of the oil fields there, two of the oil fields. Two air fields in western Iraq, key air fields, taken by U.S. Army forces, taken by air. It's unclear right now, to me at least, whether these were airborne paratroopers or helicopter assault troops, 82nd Airborne or 101st Airborne units -- Anderson.

COOPER: Chris, the British defense secretary, speaking to the House of Commons about 20 minutes or so ago, said that the conflict, the battle taking place in Qasr (ph) is still going on, likely to be over soon, he said, but still going on at this hour.

Do you have any, has the Pentagon said anything about that at this point?

PLANTE: Not that conflicts specifically, Anderson, but it's clear that there is combat going on in a number of areas throughout the country. I don't believe that any of these places were taken entirely without resistance. It's clear that the oil fields in the south, nine oil wells set on fire where one Marine was killed, clearly there was some resistance there. There is resistance, we've been getting sporadic reports of isolated incidents of Iraqi troops firing on U.S. and British forces. So they're not rolling up as easily as perhaps was projected, at least in certain instances. But, again, at least hundreds of Iraqi prisoners now under U.S. military control. It's a quickly evolving situation -- Anderson.

COOPER: Chris Plante at the Pentagon, thanks very much.

Of course, casualties inevitable, I suppose, but, you know, you think of one American family waking up this morning and their lives forever changed.

COSTELLO: Yes, we want to find out more about what happened to that Marine who was killed in combat.

Sanjay Gupta is in Kuwait at Camp Iwo Jima.

He has more information for us right now -- what happened to this Marine, Sanjay?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning. Good afternoon from Iowa Jima, Carol.

We, what we do know at this point is that a Marine has been killed in action. That is to be distinguished from the four Marines that were involved in that unfortunate hospital -- I'm sorry -- helicopter crash earlier. This Marine was killed in action. We'd the have any further details as far as exact locations, certainly no other identifiable features. Just that, in fact, it has happened.

There's going to be a complete release of information probably within the next several hours. But we certainly did want to tell you about this, the Marines here at Camp Iwo Jima did tell us this information and we wanted to share it with you all, as well.

That's all we know at this point, though, Carol.

COSTELLO: Well, Sanjay, we heard Chris Plante say that the death happened somewhere in southern Iraq. Is that what you're hearing?

GUPTA: That, we do know that it was north of Farir (ph), in the northern part of the desert of Kuwait. Our understanding is that it was a, someplace in the southern part of Iraq, although the exact location has not been divulged to us. Again, that release of information will be coming to us shortly and we're going to give you that information as soon as we hear it. We're waiting for the proper channels to provide that information. Obviously, a very sensitive issue, one of the most sensitive issues, in fact, that we have encountered since we've been here in the northern desert of Kuwait.

People taking their time for obvious reasons with this piece of information, especially the identifiable features of this information. But we will get you that information as soon as we have it -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Sanjay, how did word of this come to you and Camp Iwo Jima?

GUPTA: Well, there is an entire process. You know, we have Marines here. They are part of the entire structure. Obviously, there's a public affairs infrastructure here that's part of the Marines. They essentially get information and they think about it, I think, long and hard and decide which information they're actually going to release. We've been talking to the Marines, doing our own sort of research, our own homework, our own reporting, obviously. This information came to us via that infrastructure here at Camp Iwo Jima.

That obviously came to us a little while ago, as you know, the first time that we spoke about this -- Carol.

COSTELLO: So the rest of the battle group was informed, too. I mean you have to wonder how they're feeling about this. It must be a terrible thing to hear as you're going to go into combat.

GUPTA: Yes, you know, not only is it a terrible thing and can be somewhat of a demoralizing thing, a lot of these guys work together. A lot of these guys train together. Some of these guys live together, even back Stateside. Some of the Marines that we're talking to think that they might know who this is. Obviously, this is one of the most sensitive areas of information that we divulge as reporters and we try to be very careful with this. A lot of different reasons, some of the very ones that you're bringing up, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Dr. Sanjay Gupta joining us live from northern Kuwait from Camp Iwo Jima to tell us about the first American casualty in combat, a U.S. Marine.

COOPER: Let's get a look at what is happening at this hour.

As Carol just mentioned, a U.S. Marine has been killed in action, the first combat casualty of the war. The fatality was confirmed by the First Marine Expeditionary Force.

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