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American Morning

Oil Fields on Fire in Southern Iraq

Aired March 21, 2003 - 09:01   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.


PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. What you're looking at is part of the reality of a war with Saddam Hussein. At least 30 oil fields on fire in southern Iraq where there have been a number of battles in the last 24 hours. We'll bring you up to date on all that.
Again, thanks for joining us. I'm Paula Zahn in New York -- Bill.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Paula, good morning. Again, I'm Bill Hemmer live here in Kuwait City. There have been substantial developments throughout the day here. And throughout the next hour, we'll certainly try and get you updated on all the information we have. It's changing by the moment.

A developing story throughout the entire region, here. You heard Leon mention, a short time ago, about the casualty. The first combat casualty. A U.S. Marine losing his life in southern Iraq.

Let's get to Dr. Sanjay Gupta, who broke this story, first, several hours ago -- Sanjay, hello, again, to you.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good afternoon, Bill. Yes, about three hours ago is when we broke that story.

No matter how you feel about this war, this is one of the grim realities. Casualties, injuries, deaths. A Marine, A First Expeditionary Force Marine was actually killed in action.

That happened -- we reported that about three hours ago. It turns out it was probably in sporadic oil field fighting. It happened in southern Iraq. It happened sometime this morning.

Now, those are the details that we have. Any other details would probably be inappropriate, Bill, at this point, but those are the details that we have, at this point.

One of the grim realities of wars. Bill, as you know, one of the reasons that I'm out here is to really talk about how casualties, how injuries, how these sort of things are handled. We're going to be doing that, hopefully not any more casualties, but we're going to be telling you more about that over the next couple of days -- Bill.

HEMMER: Sanjay, we talked about the mood change. You say you have not noted anything considerably since that news came about. But as far as notification for next of kin, we know the identification has been withheld. Do you know, right now, how that process works? How you get the message back from northern Kuwait, southern Iraq all the way back to the U.S. home?

GUPTA: Well, there is a very specific protocol for this sort of thing. It's something that, as journalists, we are told about even before we spent some time with the Marines. The Marines certainly have a protocol in terms of identifying next of kin, and informing next of kin, before we can tell anything more than that. You know, that's a really important part. There is a specific protocol. Obviously, a lot of paperwork. A lot of notifications take place with regard to something like this. But that process is already in place is what I'm told. The identification is being withheld, at this time, again, for very obvious reasons -- Bill.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta at Camp Iwo Jima with the U.S. Marines. One other note, here, 12 other casualties in a completely different operation. A U.S. Marine helicopter crashed in the middle of the night, last night. Four U.S. crew members, all Marines, killed. Eight British soldiers killed, as well, on board that CH-46 Sea Knight Marine chopper -- Paula.

ZAHN: Thanks so much, Bill. I don't know how much you've heard from there about Chris Burns reporting, but he told us in the last hour that President Bush on Wednesday night gave the go-ahead for the initial attack on Iraq with a margin of only three minutes to allow the F-117s stealth fighters time to make their mission.

And some conflicting views, this morning, what may have happened to Saddam Hussein. Iraqi officials say he is alive and well, that he survived Wednesday night's attack. But U.S. sources he may have been injured or perhaps even killed. The working assumption, we're told by Barbara Starr at the Pentagon is that he is alive.

Let's go to John King who is standing by at the White House for the very latest on all these threads to the story.

Good morning, John.

JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Paula.

Let me begin by following up on the reporting from Bill and Sanjay. We are told that in his first briefing, this morning, very early this morning, President Bush was informed of the deaths of that Marine in combat and the deaths of the U.S. and British forces in that helicopter crash.

A senior administration official telling us the president voices his condolences and sympathies to the families. And this official also saying this is a reminder the president believes that we are war, and that he has spoken, in the past, to the American people to be prepared for sacrifices.

Now, as for the situation inside Iraq, White House officials are very reluctant, especially in any public way to discuss any operational details. But we are told, behind the scenes by several senior officials, that at a minimum, the White House is quite confident those dramatic strikes on Wednesday night have caused significant damage, significant communications problems and significant chaos within the Iraqi leadership.

Is Saddam Hussein alive? They say, here, at the White House, probably. But they don't have a good answer. How is command and control operation functioning? They believe it has been significantly impacted by this in a negative way.

That is one of the questions as to whether they will go to the much more aggressive phase of the military campaign. If they believe the Iraqi military still has the capability, they, of course, will do that.

Now, on the president's schedule this morning, there's a meeting in the Oval Office in the next hour with the bipartisan leadership of Congress. Mr. Bush will update them on the progress in the war, so far. And, Paula, we are told to look for reporters to be allowed into that meeting for, at least, a brief session to get a statement, this morning, from the president -- Paula.

ZAHN: John, can you shed me more light on that report we heard, much earlier this morning, about that very limited window of opportunity the strike at that small complex of buildings where the CIA was led to believe Saddam Hussein might have been with family members.

KING: We are told by a senior official it was quite a dramatic scene. CIA Director Tenet, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld asked for an urgent meeting with the president, when they received this intelligence. This rushed over to the White House. The rest of the War Council came in. They came up with this plan, very quickly.

General Tommy Franks told Secretary Rumsfeld in a phone conversation he needed an answer by 7:15. If he was to turn the planes around, program the cruise missiles, get this thing, he needed an answer by 7:15.

Mr. Bush kept asking about the intelligence. Are you sure senior officials are there? Do you think it's likely Saddam Hussein is there? Can we do this consistent with the mission of the war plan? Finally, Mr. Bush was satisfied with the intelligence.

At 7:12 PM, three minutes before the deadline, he turned to Secretary Rumsfeld, and he said, let's go. And the orders were passed on to General Franks.

ZAHN: Final thought, John, about the postponement of the beginning of the shock and awe campaign. I know you said it is the belief of the administration, right now, at a minimum, at least significant chaos was caused by those strikes on Wednesday night. How long do you think it will be before the administration gives us an idea, if they do believe there's any shakiness in the leadership of Iraq>

KING: Well, you heard Secretary Rumsfeld, yesterday, essentially confirming that intelligence agents are e-mailing senior members of the Iraqi military. Having cell phone conversations with senior members of the Iraqi military. They are trying to get a sense as to whether there is still a commitment in the Iraqi military to fight. They want to have a better assessment about that, before they launch a massive bombing campaign because if they can keep the destruction of Baghdad, the destruction of Iraq, civilian casualties that inevitably would result to a minimum, they believe, both from a military strategic standpoint and politically in the Arab world and around the world, they would be in a much better position. They're, of course, not going to U.S. troops at risk. If they make the assessment the Iraqi military still has its core leadership intact, you will see a much more aggressive bombing campaign quite soon.

ZAHN: Clearly, the defense department's not going to give us this war plan, here, but do you see a scenario, John, where it could be many days, if this campaign does end up starting that it might be postponed till?

KING: Well, Barbara and Jamie could give you much better information at the Pentagon, but the assumption here is the more you roll those troops into northern Iraq around the major Iraqi cities, the more you put them at risk. So the bottom line here would be no. That if those troops are getting closer and closer and the assumption is made that the Iraqi military is still a coordinated fighting force, then you will see an effort to take it out.

ZAHN: Thanks so much, John King reporting from the White House. We'll have to get back to you in the next half hour. Back to Bill, now, in the meantime -- Bill.

HEMMER: Paula, thank you. There's been significant movement around the entire country of Iraq, but specifically, in the southern part of the country. Southeastern edge. We know of fire fights that have broken in the towns of Umm Qasr. That's the port city. Further north, about 40 miles inland, the southeastern town of Basra. Both of these towns are considered strategically important, right now, to the U.S. and British troops.

Show you some videotape, right now, with the U.S. Marines. After a short battle, we are told, did win control of one of the ports at Umm Qasr. There are two. One, old. One, new.

One has been taken by the U.S. Marines. Strategically important as a shipping port, not only for the military movement that will come into that port, but also, the humanitarian effort that will kick off, we are told, sometime soon, as well.

In that same part of Iraq, a place called the Faw peninsula, British Marines have secured that area, as well. We know (UNINTELLIGIBLE) to our reporting with Christiane Amanpour here in Kuwait with the British Marines that jurisdiction, now, has been divided up for Iraq between the U.S. and the British. We're told, now, the British will be primarily responsible for the southeastern part of Iraq.

One other note, quickly, oil fields have been burning throughout Iraq. At one point, we were told maybe 30 were on fire. We do know, in southern Iraq, at least, four of these, right now, have been tended by U.S. Marines. Two have been extinguished. One is in the process, we are told. The other one still burns, though, in the southern part of the country.

Back to the inveds (ph), our journalists giving us critical information throughout this entire operation. One of them with the 101st Airborne Division, CNN's Ryan Chilcote back with us, now, somewhere in the desert sands of northern Kuwait.

Ryan, hello again.

RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bill, we're still in the assembly area, the 101st moved out of the camp in Kuwait into this assembly area in the middle of the desert.

I'm actually, right now, on top of an armored Humvee joined by Jose Miranda, PFC Jose Miranda. He is a gunner.

Why don't you tell us what you do? If there is military action in Iraq, and the 101st has to go, you'd be up front, yes?

PFC JOSE MIRANDA: Roger. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) guns is (UNINTELLIGIBLE). It's a grenade launcher. There are 249 (ph) automatic weapons. Like machine gun, it can be used as assault rifle, and I'm the gunner team.

RYAN: How do you feel about -- how safe do you feel, should you have to Iraq. I mean, we don't know yet if the 101st is going to be called to move forward. If you get that call and you are going to be on top of this vehicle with these weapons, how safe do you feel up here?

MIRANDA: I (UNINTELLIGIBLE) say I feel pretty safe because these are armored Humvee. But still go to get a shot. I mean, that's what I'm here for. That's my mission, and it got to be done, right.

RYAN: And in general, how do you feel about going to Iraq. People have, you know, different reasons, different ways of looking at what they might have to do up there. How do you feel about going up there?

MIRANDA: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) I say, I want to go up there, so I want to go (UNINTELLIGIBLE) my mission. I think that isn't fair that people have been, for all these years over there, with a dictator, and I got to stop. And we're here to make that happen.

RYAN: And just, lastly here, you know, it hasn't exactly been quiet since we left camp. All those scud alarms. How do you feel about those scud alarms? All the missile threats?

MIRANDA: Well, first time was a little, say, afraid. But then get used to it already. We got a little training here, too, a couple of times. Training alarms. We had some real ones, too. (UNINTELLIGIBLE)

RYAN: All right, well, Jose there referring to the fact that there have been four scud alarms in the last two days. Three of which were triggered, I've confirmed were triggered, by Ababil-100 missiles. That's according to the commanding general of the 101st Airborne. So even here in Kuwait, the soldiers, although they are in an assembly area. They are not in Iraq. They're not in action. They're not exactly out of harms way -- Bill.

HEMMER: Be safe, Ryan. Ryan Chilcote, again, with the 101st Airborne Division stationed in northern Kuwait. He's been with them ever since they left their base back at Ft. Campbell in the state of Kentucky -- Paula.

PAULA ZAHN: Thanks, Bill.

We want to bring you up-to-date, now, on what coalition forces are saying is a major victory. Flying over the port of Umm Qasr, this morning, is an American flag, after coalition forces gained control of this very important port. This is a key strategic location. Not only because it is Iraq's only access to the Persian Gulf, it also happens to be the gateway to Iraq's southern oil fields.

Jason Bellini is with the U.S. Marine Expeditionary Unit of the 15th Artillery. He joins us from that port city, right now.

Good morning -- Jason.

JASON BELLINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula. And it's good that we can, now, tell you about our mission. A mission we've known about for the entire time that we've been in bed with the Marines.

It, finally, kicked off this -- well, it was this afternoon. It was supposed to kick off this morning, but things became delayed by resistance that was met on the ground.

We came in by helicopter. We passed over the border between Kuwait and Iraq. We passed over villagers who we saw waving at us, who were waving flags from down below.

And then, we landed in the port of Umm Qasr, which had already been contained, which had already been entered by other Marines from the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, who came in just a few hours earlier.

Also, when we landed here, we began looking around, and the first thing that we saw was this warehouse that I'm next to, right here, where they're keeping entering prisoners of war, who they've captured. Captured here around the port and, also, on their way in.

The Marines tell us that they encountered some small arms fire and ambush, as one of them described it to me. But they were able to quickly contain it and able to take them and bring them here to this location. They'll be here, for now, and then moved to another larger facility, much later. There are about 50 of them, currently, in this location -- Paula.

ZAHN: We just saw the pictures of the 50 of them. Talk to us a little bit about some of that, what I guess was described as, light resistance on the ground. Did you see any of that? Or because you came in after the British, that had already happened?

BELLINI: Well, I'm with the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, and they broke up this mission into two parts. The first part was the ground assault. And the ground assault was conducted by the Fox Company. They came in, and they were the ones who encountered that small arms fire. They said that they were able to overcome it. But they said there was, also, much more than they had anticipated. In the briefings that we've been getting prior to coming here, it was suggested that we probably wouldn't encounter much resistance, so it came as a surprise and it delayed our arrival.

We came with the Delta Company -- I'm sorry, the Gulf Company. We flew with them in by helicopter. CH-53 helicopters. And by the time we arrived here, they had secured the landing platform for us. And now, as you can see, things are all quiet here, here at this port -- Paula.

ZAHN: Jason, I know earlier today, the British Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon said that, in fact, British troops, I guess, who led into this initial stage of the campaign, experienced stern resistance. Have you had the chance to talk to anybody on the ground about what happened before you got there?

BELLINI: I talked to one Marine here, and he said that he thought that, even though these Iraqi soldiers planned to ambush them, they caught them by surprise by how quickly they had arrived here at this point. And they said that even though gunfire was exchanged, they were able to contain them, able to take them as prisoners, very quickly.

So even though they did encounter resistance, they, themselves, these Marine, encountered no casualties of their own, and they were able to bring them here to the port and able, once they got here, to spread out throughout this port and to clear building by building, this port, and finding within them, some people who were just workers here at the port.

I guess not just an average day at work for them. Now, they're with some of these soldiers, who are all together inside this warehouse that's next to me here -- Paula.

ZAHN: Jason Bellini, embedded with the U.S. Marine Expeditionary Unit of the 15th Artillery, thanks so much for that report.

Back to Bill, now, in Kuwait.

HEMMER: All right, Paula, let's keep it in this country, right now, northern part of the country and Christiane Amanpour, who's now with the British Marines who, at some point, they could be moving en masse into Iraq and take control and jurisdiction of the southern part of the country. Christiane's been with them for hours, now, and joins us for an update on what she's learning.

Christiane, hello.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bill, we're at British Divisional Field Headquarters and talking about Umm Qasr, which is part of the area that the British will eventually end up controlling. Liberation of that city, as Jason has been talking about, was a joint operation. It was the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, but commanded by three commando of the British soldiers over here.

So that they have taken, and they have, as we have been talking about it all day. It's very strategically important because it's the biggest port. And what they need is not so much military incursions into Iraq, but they need to use it to bring in humanitarian aid, relief supplies and all the other kinds of supplies that they're going to need to sustain the civilians in this area.

Now, the British, overnight, took and control the Faw Peninsula, which is just across the water further east from Umm Qasr. That being an important strategic and economic target.

It's the main oil terminal of Iraq. And it's very, very important. And they wanted to take it before any damage could be done by that -- to it, rather, by any kind of Iraqi resistance.

And then, on another issue, just above Umm Qasr, there are U.S. and British forces moving up in that direction in order to make sure that around Basra is fine, but also importantly, to go and take and secure the Ramala oil fields, which are Iraq's most important oil fields, producing about 60 percent of Iraq's oil. So they want to control that. They want to make it does not become an environmental hazard, if they are torched, if there is that kind of thing going on with the Iraqis. And they want to make sure that it continues to be able to produce.

Now, we've a heard a lot about some burning oil wells, but as far as we can gather -- we've been pressing and pressing officials for that. They're saying that maybe some individual oil wells have been torched, but the important thing is the oil and gas separation points. Those are the important things, and if those were torched, which they don't believe have been, then that would cause an enormous environmental problem, and it would take an enormous amount of time to repair. And that's exactly what they're trying not to do, to cause damage to the infrastructure or to the resources of this country -- Bill.

HEMMER: Yes, Christiane, tell us, explain to us why that separation point is so critical and why is it so different from a regular oil well.

AMANPOUR: Well, it's kind of hard, if you're not an oil expert, which I'm not, and we've been trying to ask them exactly this question all the time. But it appears that there are different installations, if you like, when it comes to pumping and delivering oil. There are the actual wells and then, there are these points where they come together, and they need to be, the oil and gas separation, in order for the proper pressure to be kept on and in order for it to be able to continue along pipelines down to, for instance, the Faw, which is what we were talking about, the Faw Peninsula. And it's those points in the middle that are the very important ones, in terms of the kind of catastrophic destruction that they can be subjected to, if there is that willful kind of destruction. And, so far, we've been told that that hasn't happened, yet, or it's hard to know, though, first-hand, since we're not actually looking at it.

HEMMER: I think we're all going to get an education into oil very soon on all that.

Christiane, quickly on another topic, what are you hearing more about POWs, rocky soldiers surrendering. Early reports said 280, at one point alone. What more do you have on that?

AMANPOUR: Well, several incidents on the way in to Umm Qasr, towards the north, they did take, we were told here, 250 soldiers who were surrendering. The British have taken somewhere between 30 and 35 in the Faw Peninsula. And then, we were talking to the British Royal Engineers who enabled the Marine units to cross from Northern Kuwait into Iraq, basically by putting down the pontoon bridges, putting down, you know, breaching the big berms, the big huge sand mountains, if you like, that are on the border. And there, they said, there were also soldiers who they believed were trying to surrender and, certainly, they said, there were Iraqis, who once they crossed, they could see that the Iraqis had fled and had left their tank there. And they weren't coming towards the British troops, but they were, apparently, fleeing away. In any event, they weren't there when the British and the Americans got over those big berms and into southern Iraq.

HEMMER: Christiane Amanpour with the British Marines, thanks for that report.

One other note, here, Paula, we also know that some of these soldiers are literally crossing the border and going south into Kuwait and turning themselves over at that point. Quite interesting, right now. I'm not sure if you make that a POW or a defector, but nonetheless, some of that is taking place -- Paula.

ZAHN: Thanks so much, Bill.

Coming up here, this morning, the first coalition combat death. A Marine. We're going to have details on that.

And of course, Bill's been telling about this. A helicopter crashes in Kuwait. Twelve coalition forces killed. Mechanical failure, the likely cause. We'll go to live to the Pentagon for the latest on that.

Plus, as Bill also mentioned, waves of Iraqi soldiers surrendering. We'll have the latest numbers for you.

Back to our coverage, now.

The U.S. Army's 3rd Squadron, the 7th Cavalry raced across the Iraqi desert, yesterday. CNN's Walt Rodgers is with them and broadcasts live as they headed for Baghdad. He describes it as a steel wall. He said, you can see armored columns for miles on both sides. Throughout the day, he interviewed Captain Clay Lyle, a tank commander, who talked about facing action. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're prepared to deal with whatever we come up -- whatever we encounter to try to handle the situation. But try to view ourselves liberating the people of Iraq and trying to remove that regime, not invading Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: Well, as it turns out, Captain Lyle's wife, Stephanie, watched it all, live on TV. She joins us, this morning, from Ft. Stewart, Georgia.

So nice of you to join us, this morning. What was it like to hear your husband's voice, yesterday?

STEPHANIE LYLE, WIFE OF CAPT. CLAY LYLE: It's great to hear his voice. I haven't been able to talk to him for a couple of weeks, now.

ZAHN: A couple of weeks? Have you had any contact with him at all?

LYLE: I've received letters almost every other day, so that's better than nothing.

ZAHN: And of course, I guess no prospect of Internet communication, right now. We're looking at a lovely picture of your husband with your daughter, who is two years old.

Did you daughter -- clearly, these are images parents are careful about not letting their children see, but were you able to share any...

LYLE: Right.

ZAHN: ... any of this experience with your daughter, yesterday?

LYLE: Sure. I had taped an interview that Clay did, I believe, on Wednesday, and I let her watch that, yesterday, several times, so she was excited to see her Daddy.

ZAHN: How did Clay sound to you?

LYLE: He sounds great. He sounds a little tired, but he sounds very confident, and, you know, I feel confident that they know what they're doing, and they'll get the job done and be home soon.

ZAHN: I think they're all feeling that way, right now, and yet, you have to acknowledge the danger he's going into. Is that something that the two of you talked much about, before he was deployed?

LYLE: No. Really, before he deployed, we just tried to spend some quality family time together, and we didn't talk about it too much.

ZAHN: So the big question, this morning, is how are you getting along? You said it had been weeks since you had had an opportunity to talk with Clay, one on one. What's holding your family's life together?

LYLE: Friends. My friends here at Ft. Stewart. We all lean on one another. We have a great Family Readiness Group in place, and I have, you know, lots of support from all of my family.

ZAHN: And how's your little girl doing?

LYLE: She's doing great. I can't hear.

ZAHN: Oh, OK. Well, Stephanie...

LYLE: OK, there you are.

ZAHN: Oh, you can hear us, now. I guess at that age, it's really hard to explain to a child what Daddy's doing on the job. What do you think she understands?

LYLE: Right. She knows that her Daddy's in the desert with the soldiers, and I, you know, tell her that he'll be home soon, and I just try to, you know, keep her on a normal schedule everyday.

ZAHN: And I'm just curious, as we've watched Walt Rodgers roll through the desert with your husband, how much coverage you're actually watching? Is this something that is it all comforting to see? Or do you stay away from it?

LYLE: I've been watching it, and I've been videotaping it, so Clay will see it when he gets home. And it actually is a great comfort to me to be able to see what they're doing and to know that they're OK.

ZAHN: Well, you're very nice to spend part of your morning with us. I know you have a lot going on at home. Stephanie Lyle, again, good of you to join us and best of luck to you and your family and your whole community there.

LYLE: Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

ZAHN: Back to Leon, now, at CNN Center -- Leon.

LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Paula, the Pentagon is confirming the first coalition casualty of war. The victim was a U.S. Marine with the first Marine Expeditionary Force, and we're told this occurred during a battle for control of southern Iraqi oil fields. Those oil fields have been brought under control.

Twelve more coalition fighters were killed in a helicopter crash in Kuwait. This helicopter went down early this morning, about nine miles south of the Iraqi border. Four Americans and eight Britons were killed in the CH-46 chopper. The Pentagon is now looking into possible mechanical failure, there. They say no hostile fire was involved.

The U.S. intelligence, meanwhile, is trying to assess the fate of Saddam Hussein. The Iraqi information minister that spoke with the press, this morning, says that Saddam Hussein did survive that U.S. bombing on Wednesday. But some reports are suggesting that Saddam may have been injured, or maybe even killed in that bombing attack.

Stateside and around the world, as well, anti-war activists staging protests. Right now, tens of thousands of people are protesting in Cairo near the U.S. Embassy. Police there fired water cannons into the crowd, after demonstrators got a bit violent. The crowd hurled rocks and furniture at riot police. Other protests around the world have not been of the violent nature.

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Aired March 21, 2003 - 09:01   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. What you're looking at is part of the reality of a war with Saddam Hussein. At least 30 oil fields on fire in southern Iraq where there have been a number of battles in the last 24 hours. We'll bring you up to date on all that.
Again, thanks for joining us. I'm Paula Zahn in New York -- Bill.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Paula, good morning. Again, I'm Bill Hemmer live here in Kuwait City. There have been substantial developments throughout the day here. And throughout the next hour, we'll certainly try and get you updated on all the information we have. It's changing by the moment.

A developing story throughout the entire region, here. You heard Leon mention, a short time ago, about the casualty. The first combat casualty. A U.S. Marine losing his life in southern Iraq.

Let's get to Dr. Sanjay Gupta, who broke this story, first, several hours ago -- Sanjay, hello, again, to you.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good afternoon, Bill. Yes, about three hours ago is when we broke that story.

No matter how you feel about this war, this is one of the grim realities. Casualties, injuries, deaths. A Marine, A First Expeditionary Force Marine was actually killed in action.

That happened -- we reported that about three hours ago. It turns out it was probably in sporadic oil field fighting. It happened in southern Iraq. It happened sometime this morning.

Now, those are the details that we have. Any other details would probably be inappropriate, Bill, at this point, but those are the details that we have, at this point.

One of the grim realities of wars. Bill, as you know, one of the reasons that I'm out here is to really talk about how casualties, how injuries, how these sort of things are handled. We're going to be doing that, hopefully not any more casualties, but we're going to be telling you more about that over the next couple of days -- Bill.

HEMMER: Sanjay, we talked about the mood change. You say you have not noted anything considerably since that news came about. But as far as notification for next of kin, we know the identification has been withheld. Do you know, right now, how that process works? How you get the message back from northern Kuwait, southern Iraq all the way back to the U.S. home?

GUPTA: Well, there is a very specific protocol for this sort of thing. It's something that, as journalists, we are told about even before we spent some time with the Marines. The Marines certainly have a protocol in terms of identifying next of kin, and informing next of kin, before we can tell anything more than that. You know, that's a really important part. There is a specific protocol. Obviously, a lot of paperwork. A lot of notifications take place with regard to something like this. But that process is already in place is what I'm told. The identification is being withheld, at this time, again, for very obvious reasons -- Bill.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta at Camp Iwo Jima with the U.S. Marines. One other note, here, 12 other casualties in a completely different operation. A U.S. Marine helicopter crashed in the middle of the night, last night. Four U.S. crew members, all Marines, killed. Eight British soldiers killed, as well, on board that CH-46 Sea Knight Marine chopper -- Paula.

ZAHN: Thanks so much, Bill. I don't know how much you've heard from there about Chris Burns reporting, but he told us in the last hour that President Bush on Wednesday night gave the go-ahead for the initial attack on Iraq with a margin of only three minutes to allow the F-117s stealth fighters time to make their mission.

And some conflicting views, this morning, what may have happened to Saddam Hussein. Iraqi officials say he is alive and well, that he survived Wednesday night's attack. But U.S. sources he may have been injured or perhaps even killed. The working assumption, we're told by Barbara Starr at the Pentagon is that he is alive.

Let's go to John King who is standing by at the White House for the very latest on all these threads to the story.

Good morning, John.

JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Paula.

Let me begin by following up on the reporting from Bill and Sanjay. We are told that in his first briefing, this morning, very early this morning, President Bush was informed of the deaths of that Marine in combat and the deaths of the U.S. and British forces in that helicopter crash.

A senior administration official telling us the president voices his condolences and sympathies to the families. And this official also saying this is a reminder the president believes that we are war, and that he has spoken, in the past, to the American people to be prepared for sacrifices.

Now, as for the situation inside Iraq, White House officials are very reluctant, especially in any public way to discuss any operational details. But we are told, behind the scenes by several senior officials, that at a minimum, the White House is quite confident those dramatic strikes on Wednesday night have caused significant damage, significant communications problems and significant chaos within the Iraqi leadership.

Is Saddam Hussein alive? They say, here, at the White House, probably. But they don't have a good answer. How is command and control operation functioning? They believe it has been significantly impacted by this in a negative way.

That is one of the questions as to whether they will go to the much more aggressive phase of the military campaign. If they believe the Iraqi military still has the capability, they, of course, will do that.

Now, on the president's schedule this morning, there's a meeting in the Oval Office in the next hour with the bipartisan leadership of Congress. Mr. Bush will update them on the progress in the war, so far. And, Paula, we are told to look for reporters to be allowed into that meeting for, at least, a brief session to get a statement, this morning, from the president -- Paula.

ZAHN: John, can you shed me more light on that report we heard, much earlier this morning, about that very limited window of opportunity the strike at that small complex of buildings where the CIA was led to believe Saddam Hussein might have been with family members.

KING: We are told by a senior official it was quite a dramatic scene. CIA Director Tenet, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld asked for an urgent meeting with the president, when they received this intelligence. This rushed over to the White House. The rest of the War Council came in. They came up with this plan, very quickly.

General Tommy Franks told Secretary Rumsfeld in a phone conversation he needed an answer by 7:15. If he was to turn the planes around, program the cruise missiles, get this thing, he needed an answer by 7:15.

Mr. Bush kept asking about the intelligence. Are you sure senior officials are there? Do you think it's likely Saddam Hussein is there? Can we do this consistent with the mission of the war plan? Finally, Mr. Bush was satisfied with the intelligence.

At 7:12 PM, three minutes before the deadline, he turned to Secretary Rumsfeld, and he said, let's go. And the orders were passed on to General Franks.

ZAHN: Final thought, John, about the postponement of the beginning of the shock and awe campaign. I know you said it is the belief of the administration, right now, at a minimum, at least significant chaos was caused by those strikes on Wednesday night. How long do you think it will be before the administration gives us an idea, if they do believe there's any shakiness in the leadership of Iraq>

KING: Well, you heard Secretary Rumsfeld, yesterday, essentially confirming that intelligence agents are e-mailing senior members of the Iraqi military. Having cell phone conversations with senior members of the Iraqi military. They are trying to get a sense as to whether there is still a commitment in the Iraqi military to fight. They want to have a better assessment about that, before they launch a massive bombing campaign because if they can keep the destruction of Baghdad, the destruction of Iraq, civilian casualties that inevitably would result to a minimum, they believe, both from a military strategic standpoint and politically in the Arab world and around the world, they would be in a much better position. They're, of course, not going to U.S. troops at risk. If they make the assessment the Iraqi military still has its core leadership intact, you will see a much more aggressive bombing campaign quite soon.

ZAHN: Clearly, the defense department's not going to give us this war plan, here, but do you see a scenario, John, where it could be many days, if this campaign does end up starting that it might be postponed till?

KING: Well, Barbara and Jamie could give you much better information at the Pentagon, but the assumption here is the more you roll those troops into northern Iraq around the major Iraqi cities, the more you put them at risk. So the bottom line here would be no. That if those troops are getting closer and closer and the assumption is made that the Iraqi military is still a coordinated fighting force, then you will see an effort to take it out.

ZAHN: Thanks so much, John King reporting from the White House. We'll have to get back to you in the next half hour. Back to Bill, now, in the meantime -- Bill.

HEMMER: Paula, thank you. There's been significant movement around the entire country of Iraq, but specifically, in the southern part of the country. Southeastern edge. We know of fire fights that have broken in the towns of Umm Qasr. That's the port city. Further north, about 40 miles inland, the southeastern town of Basra. Both of these towns are considered strategically important, right now, to the U.S. and British troops.

Show you some videotape, right now, with the U.S. Marines. After a short battle, we are told, did win control of one of the ports at Umm Qasr. There are two. One, old. One, new.

One has been taken by the U.S. Marines. Strategically important as a shipping port, not only for the military movement that will come into that port, but also, the humanitarian effort that will kick off, we are told, sometime soon, as well.

In that same part of Iraq, a place called the Faw peninsula, British Marines have secured that area, as well. We know (UNINTELLIGIBLE) to our reporting with Christiane Amanpour here in Kuwait with the British Marines that jurisdiction, now, has been divided up for Iraq between the U.S. and the British. We're told, now, the British will be primarily responsible for the southeastern part of Iraq.

One other note, quickly, oil fields have been burning throughout Iraq. At one point, we were told maybe 30 were on fire. We do know, in southern Iraq, at least, four of these, right now, have been tended by U.S. Marines. Two have been extinguished. One is in the process, we are told. The other one still burns, though, in the southern part of the country.

Back to the inveds (ph), our journalists giving us critical information throughout this entire operation. One of them with the 101st Airborne Division, CNN's Ryan Chilcote back with us, now, somewhere in the desert sands of northern Kuwait.

Ryan, hello again.

RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bill, we're still in the assembly area, the 101st moved out of the camp in Kuwait into this assembly area in the middle of the desert.

I'm actually, right now, on top of an armored Humvee joined by Jose Miranda, PFC Jose Miranda. He is a gunner.

Why don't you tell us what you do? If there is military action in Iraq, and the 101st has to go, you'd be up front, yes?

PFC JOSE MIRANDA: Roger. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) guns is (UNINTELLIGIBLE). It's a grenade launcher. There are 249 (ph) automatic weapons. Like machine gun, it can be used as assault rifle, and I'm the gunner team.

RYAN: How do you feel about -- how safe do you feel, should you have to Iraq. I mean, we don't know yet if the 101st is going to be called to move forward. If you get that call and you are going to be on top of this vehicle with these weapons, how safe do you feel up here?

MIRANDA: I (UNINTELLIGIBLE) say I feel pretty safe because these are armored Humvee. But still go to get a shot. I mean, that's what I'm here for. That's my mission, and it got to be done, right.

RYAN: And in general, how do you feel about going to Iraq. People have, you know, different reasons, different ways of looking at what they might have to do up there. How do you feel about going up there?

MIRANDA: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) I say, I want to go up there, so I want to go (UNINTELLIGIBLE) my mission. I think that isn't fair that people have been, for all these years over there, with a dictator, and I got to stop. And we're here to make that happen.

RYAN: And just, lastly here, you know, it hasn't exactly been quiet since we left camp. All those scud alarms. How do you feel about those scud alarms? All the missile threats?

MIRANDA: Well, first time was a little, say, afraid. But then get used to it already. We got a little training here, too, a couple of times. Training alarms. We had some real ones, too. (UNINTELLIGIBLE)

RYAN: All right, well, Jose there referring to the fact that there have been four scud alarms in the last two days. Three of which were triggered, I've confirmed were triggered, by Ababil-100 missiles. That's according to the commanding general of the 101st Airborne. So even here in Kuwait, the soldiers, although they are in an assembly area. They are not in Iraq. They're not in action. They're not exactly out of harms way -- Bill.

HEMMER: Be safe, Ryan. Ryan Chilcote, again, with the 101st Airborne Division stationed in northern Kuwait. He's been with them ever since they left their base back at Ft. Campbell in the state of Kentucky -- Paula.

PAULA ZAHN: Thanks, Bill.

We want to bring you up-to-date, now, on what coalition forces are saying is a major victory. Flying over the port of Umm Qasr, this morning, is an American flag, after coalition forces gained control of this very important port. This is a key strategic location. Not only because it is Iraq's only access to the Persian Gulf, it also happens to be the gateway to Iraq's southern oil fields.

Jason Bellini is with the U.S. Marine Expeditionary Unit of the 15th Artillery. He joins us from that port city, right now.

Good morning -- Jason.

JASON BELLINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula. And it's good that we can, now, tell you about our mission. A mission we've known about for the entire time that we've been in bed with the Marines.

It, finally, kicked off this -- well, it was this afternoon. It was supposed to kick off this morning, but things became delayed by resistance that was met on the ground.

We came in by helicopter. We passed over the border between Kuwait and Iraq. We passed over villagers who we saw waving at us, who were waving flags from down below.

And then, we landed in the port of Umm Qasr, which had already been contained, which had already been entered by other Marines from the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, who came in just a few hours earlier.

Also, when we landed here, we began looking around, and the first thing that we saw was this warehouse that I'm next to, right here, where they're keeping entering prisoners of war, who they've captured. Captured here around the port and, also, on their way in.

The Marines tell us that they encountered some small arms fire and ambush, as one of them described it to me. But they were able to quickly contain it and able to take them and bring them here to this location. They'll be here, for now, and then moved to another larger facility, much later. There are about 50 of them, currently, in this location -- Paula.

ZAHN: We just saw the pictures of the 50 of them. Talk to us a little bit about some of that, what I guess was described as, light resistance on the ground. Did you see any of that? Or because you came in after the British, that had already happened?

BELLINI: Well, I'm with the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, and they broke up this mission into two parts. The first part was the ground assault. And the ground assault was conducted by the Fox Company. They came in, and they were the ones who encountered that small arms fire. They said that they were able to overcome it. But they said there was, also, much more than they had anticipated. In the briefings that we've been getting prior to coming here, it was suggested that we probably wouldn't encounter much resistance, so it came as a surprise and it delayed our arrival.

We came with the Delta Company -- I'm sorry, the Gulf Company. We flew with them in by helicopter. CH-53 helicopters. And by the time we arrived here, they had secured the landing platform for us. And now, as you can see, things are all quiet here, here at this port -- Paula.

ZAHN: Jason, I know earlier today, the British Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon said that, in fact, British troops, I guess, who led into this initial stage of the campaign, experienced stern resistance. Have you had the chance to talk to anybody on the ground about what happened before you got there?

BELLINI: I talked to one Marine here, and he said that he thought that, even though these Iraqi soldiers planned to ambush them, they caught them by surprise by how quickly they had arrived here at this point. And they said that even though gunfire was exchanged, they were able to contain them, able to take them as prisoners, very quickly.

So even though they did encounter resistance, they, themselves, these Marine, encountered no casualties of their own, and they were able to bring them here to the port and able, once they got here, to spread out throughout this port and to clear building by building, this port, and finding within them, some people who were just workers here at the port.

I guess not just an average day at work for them. Now, they're with some of these soldiers, who are all together inside this warehouse that's next to me here -- Paula.

ZAHN: Jason Bellini, embedded with the U.S. Marine Expeditionary Unit of the 15th Artillery, thanks so much for that report.

Back to Bill, now, in Kuwait.

HEMMER: All right, Paula, let's keep it in this country, right now, northern part of the country and Christiane Amanpour, who's now with the British Marines who, at some point, they could be moving en masse into Iraq and take control and jurisdiction of the southern part of the country. Christiane's been with them for hours, now, and joins us for an update on what she's learning.

Christiane, hello.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bill, we're at British Divisional Field Headquarters and talking about Umm Qasr, which is part of the area that the British will eventually end up controlling. Liberation of that city, as Jason has been talking about, was a joint operation. It was the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, but commanded by three commando of the British soldiers over here.

So that they have taken, and they have, as we have been talking about it all day. It's very strategically important because it's the biggest port. And what they need is not so much military incursions into Iraq, but they need to use it to bring in humanitarian aid, relief supplies and all the other kinds of supplies that they're going to need to sustain the civilians in this area.

Now, the British, overnight, took and control the Faw Peninsula, which is just across the water further east from Umm Qasr. That being an important strategic and economic target.

It's the main oil terminal of Iraq. And it's very, very important. And they wanted to take it before any damage could be done by that -- to it, rather, by any kind of Iraqi resistance.

And then, on another issue, just above Umm Qasr, there are U.S. and British forces moving up in that direction in order to make sure that around Basra is fine, but also importantly, to go and take and secure the Ramala oil fields, which are Iraq's most important oil fields, producing about 60 percent of Iraq's oil. So they want to control that. They want to make it does not become an environmental hazard, if they are torched, if there is that kind of thing going on with the Iraqis. And they want to make sure that it continues to be able to produce.

Now, we've a heard a lot about some burning oil wells, but as far as we can gather -- we've been pressing and pressing officials for that. They're saying that maybe some individual oil wells have been torched, but the important thing is the oil and gas separation points. Those are the important things, and if those were torched, which they don't believe have been, then that would cause an enormous environmental problem, and it would take an enormous amount of time to repair. And that's exactly what they're trying not to do, to cause damage to the infrastructure or to the resources of this country -- Bill.

HEMMER: Yes, Christiane, tell us, explain to us why that separation point is so critical and why is it so different from a regular oil well.

AMANPOUR: Well, it's kind of hard, if you're not an oil expert, which I'm not, and we've been trying to ask them exactly this question all the time. But it appears that there are different installations, if you like, when it comes to pumping and delivering oil. There are the actual wells and then, there are these points where they come together, and they need to be, the oil and gas separation, in order for the proper pressure to be kept on and in order for it to be able to continue along pipelines down to, for instance, the Faw, which is what we were talking about, the Faw Peninsula. And it's those points in the middle that are the very important ones, in terms of the kind of catastrophic destruction that they can be subjected to, if there is that willful kind of destruction. And, so far, we've been told that that hasn't happened, yet, or it's hard to know, though, first-hand, since we're not actually looking at it.

HEMMER: I think we're all going to get an education into oil very soon on all that.

Christiane, quickly on another topic, what are you hearing more about POWs, rocky soldiers surrendering. Early reports said 280, at one point alone. What more do you have on that?

AMANPOUR: Well, several incidents on the way in to Umm Qasr, towards the north, they did take, we were told here, 250 soldiers who were surrendering. The British have taken somewhere between 30 and 35 in the Faw Peninsula. And then, we were talking to the British Royal Engineers who enabled the Marine units to cross from Northern Kuwait into Iraq, basically by putting down the pontoon bridges, putting down, you know, breaching the big berms, the big huge sand mountains, if you like, that are on the border. And there, they said, there were also soldiers who they believed were trying to surrender and, certainly, they said, there were Iraqis, who once they crossed, they could see that the Iraqis had fled and had left their tank there. And they weren't coming towards the British troops, but they were, apparently, fleeing away. In any event, they weren't there when the British and the Americans got over those big berms and into southern Iraq.

HEMMER: Christiane Amanpour with the British Marines, thanks for that report.

One other note, here, Paula, we also know that some of these soldiers are literally crossing the border and going south into Kuwait and turning themselves over at that point. Quite interesting, right now. I'm not sure if you make that a POW or a defector, but nonetheless, some of that is taking place -- Paula.

ZAHN: Thanks so much, Bill.

Coming up here, this morning, the first coalition combat death. A Marine. We're going to have details on that.

And of course, Bill's been telling about this. A helicopter crashes in Kuwait. Twelve coalition forces killed. Mechanical failure, the likely cause. We'll go to live to the Pentagon for the latest on that.

Plus, as Bill also mentioned, waves of Iraqi soldiers surrendering. We'll have the latest numbers for you.

Back to our coverage, now.

The U.S. Army's 3rd Squadron, the 7th Cavalry raced across the Iraqi desert, yesterday. CNN's Walt Rodgers is with them and broadcasts live as they headed for Baghdad. He describes it as a steel wall. He said, you can see armored columns for miles on both sides. Throughout the day, he interviewed Captain Clay Lyle, a tank commander, who talked about facing action. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're prepared to deal with whatever we come up -- whatever we encounter to try to handle the situation. But try to view ourselves liberating the people of Iraq and trying to remove that regime, not invading Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: Well, as it turns out, Captain Lyle's wife, Stephanie, watched it all, live on TV. She joins us, this morning, from Ft. Stewart, Georgia.

So nice of you to join us, this morning. What was it like to hear your husband's voice, yesterday?

STEPHANIE LYLE, WIFE OF CAPT. CLAY LYLE: It's great to hear his voice. I haven't been able to talk to him for a couple of weeks, now.

ZAHN: A couple of weeks? Have you had any contact with him at all?

LYLE: I've received letters almost every other day, so that's better than nothing.

ZAHN: And of course, I guess no prospect of Internet communication, right now. We're looking at a lovely picture of your husband with your daughter, who is two years old.

Did you daughter -- clearly, these are images parents are careful about not letting their children see, but were you able to share any...

LYLE: Right.

ZAHN: ... any of this experience with your daughter, yesterday?

LYLE: Sure. I had taped an interview that Clay did, I believe, on Wednesday, and I let her watch that, yesterday, several times, so she was excited to see her Daddy.

ZAHN: How did Clay sound to you?

LYLE: He sounds great. He sounds a little tired, but he sounds very confident, and, you know, I feel confident that they know what they're doing, and they'll get the job done and be home soon.

ZAHN: I think they're all feeling that way, right now, and yet, you have to acknowledge the danger he's going into. Is that something that the two of you talked much about, before he was deployed?

LYLE: No. Really, before he deployed, we just tried to spend some quality family time together, and we didn't talk about it too much.

ZAHN: So the big question, this morning, is how are you getting along? You said it had been weeks since you had had an opportunity to talk with Clay, one on one. What's holding your family's life together?

LYLE: Friends. My friends here at Ft. Stewart. We all lean on one another. We have a great Family Readiness Group in place, and I have, you know, lots of support from all of my family.

ZAHN: And how's your little girl doing?

LYLE: She's doing great. I can't hear.

ZAHN: Oh, OK. Well, Stephanie...

LYLE: OK, there you are.

ZAHN: Oh, you can hear us, now. I guess at that age, it's really hard to explain to a child what Daddy's doing on the job. What do you think she understands?

LYLE: Right. She knows that her Daddy's in the desert with the soldiers, and I, you know, tell her that he'll be home soon, and I just try to, you know, keep her on a normal schedule everyday.

ZAHN: And I'm just curious, as we've watched Walt Rodgers roll through the desert with your husband, how much coverage you're actually watching? Is this something that is it all comforting to see? Or do you stay away from it?

LYLE: I've been watching it, and I've been videotaping it, so Clay will see it when he gets home. And it actually is a great comfort to me to be able to see what they're doing and to know that they're OK.

ZAHN: Well, you're very nice to spend part of your morning with us. I know you have a lot going on at home. Stephanie Lyle, again, good of you to join us and best of luck to you and your family and your whole community there.

LYLE: Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

ZAHN: Back to Leon, now, at CNN Center -- Leon.

LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Paula, the Pentagon is confirming the first coalition casualty of war. The victim was a U.S. Marine with the first Marine Expeditionary Force, and we're told this occurred during a battle for control of southern Iraqi oil fields. Those oil fields have been brought under control.

Twelve more coalition fighters were killed in a helicopter crash in Kuwait. This helicopter went down early this morning, about nine miles south of the Iraqi border. Four Americans and eight Britons were killed in the CH-46 chopper. The Pentagon is now looking into possible mechanical failure, there. They say no hostile fire was involved.

The U.S. intelligence, meanwhile, is trying to assess the fate of Saddam Hussein. The Iraqi information minister that spoke with the press, this morning, says that Saddam Hussein did survive that U.S. bombing on Wednesday. But some reports are suggesting that Saddam may have been injured, or maybe even killed in that bombing attack.

Stateside and around the world, as well, anti-war activists staging protests. Right now, tens of thousands of people are protesting in Cairo near the U.S. Embassy. Police there fired water cannons into the crowd, after demonstrators got a bit violent. The crowd hurled rocks and furniture at riot police. Other protests around the world have not been of the violent nature.

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