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American Morning

Strike on Iraq: U.S. Marine Casualties on Battlefield

Aired March 23, 2003 - 10:00   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.


PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: More breaking news now. Bill Hemmer will take us through it -- - Bill.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, Paula, Alessio Vinci off CNN embedded with the U.S. Marines moving to the southern town of Nasiriyah. Reports we're getting right now of Marine casualties in the battlefield, not sure what the description we have, but Alessio is there and joins us.

Alessio, what do you have?

ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Bill, a significant change from our last report a couple of hours ago. The company of Marines that was actually ahead of ours a couple of hours ago came under heavy fire from Iraqi forces just outside the town of Nasiriyah. And I can report at this time that we do have the U.S. forces suffered a significant number of casualties. We're still trying to establish the precise number, but as you can imagine, this accident took place just within last couple of hours. We just arrived here on the scene of the attack and we're trying to establish with some of sources and some of the eyewitnesses here, and some other reporters embedded with that company, they're trying to give us a little bit of the details of what exactly -- - what happened.

But we're just describing to you what I'm looking at, the charred AAV, an amphibious assault vehicle, is basically one of those armored personnel carriers the Marines are using. It is totally destroyed. It's totally charcoaled, burned down. And according to one of the eyewitnesses, this was one of the armored that was hit by a rocket- propelled grenade.

Now, all this happened several hundreds of meters ahead of me. You will remember I was reporting earlier on hearing heavy gunfire, heavy fire. I did not -- - I was not in a position that I could see it. But this indeed, I have now managed to put myself forward a little bit and I am looking right now at this totally destroyed and burned out shell of an armored personnel carrier of the U.S. -- - United States Marines.

Again, a significant number of casualties, more than 10, I would say. And we are still trying to assess the correct number, Bill.

HEMMER: Now, Alessio, a couple things of here. I'm not sure how much more you can tell us, but let's back up a little bit. We talked to you about two hours ago and at that time, you said there was light fire and light resistance. Can you tell us what changed since then and have you been with this unit the entire time or was this from a different Marine unit?

VINCI: Well, that is correct. This is an entire battalion that comprises of several different companies and several different units. And the unit that I was with was a unit that was the second in the line to go through the town of Nasiriyah. And so, we were only experiencing some light fire, but in the distance I could hear the explosion of heavier guns. But obviously, I was not aware of what was going on until I arrived here, until we managed to cross the two bridges that separates one side from the other, the north side from the south side of the town. And when I arrived here, obviously, the scene completely different from the one back in town where we were, where again, we only suffered light fire. But here, obviously the unit was spearheaded, if you want.

The drive through Nasiriyah obviously got the worst -- - (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the worst and they were the worst hit. It is obviously very difficult for me now to assess exactly what happened in terms of how come this -- - that these Marines, you know, with the incredible amount of air power and air cover that there was at the time. Throughout this operation this morning, I saw at least six Cobra helicopters with machine guns that mounted on them hovering over the entire area, so a significant amount of air power. Yet, some of the Iraqi forces who had RPG (ph) managed to inflict a severe casualty at least in the first unit. And I would say only in this first unit of Marines, as opposed to the units that were following behind who only got hit with light fire -- - Bill.

HEMMER: And Alessio, this amphibious assault vehicle that you're describing, this AAV, as they call it in the military, otherwise known as an Amtrak, it is a significant piece of military hardware. It weighs many, many tons. Is it possible that one rocket-propelled grenade could inflict this much damage? That's my first question. And while I have you here, also, when you say at least 10 Marines may have been affected by this, does that indicate that this amphibious assault vehicle is actually transporting Marines through Nasiriyah at the time?

VINCI: Well, to answer the latter part of your question, yes. These vehicles are used to transport the troops. As a matter of fact, it is the same identical vehicle that we, the embedded journalists, are traveling with. We are indeed traveling inside these vehicles alongside the Marines. It is the preferred mean of infantry transportation, if you want, for these Marines.

As far as the capacity of an RPB (ph), yes, you're right, this is a significant piece of metal, but it is also meant to float. This is, of course, a vehicle that is used also for amphibious assaults, so it is not made of pure steel. And it does not have, if you want, the plates, the metal plates that would protect it against this kind of fire.

So I was just talking to one of the reporters as a matter of fact who witnessed part of the scene because he was indeed embedded with that unit that came under fire. And he said that basically he witnessed some of those shells going through the AAV, the amphibious vehicle, like a knife through melting butter. So indeed, a significant piece of equipment, but also very vulnerable to close fire and especially to a rocket-propelled grenade specially designed to stop these kind of vehicles -- - Bill.

HEMMER: All right, Alessio, thanks. Alessio Vinci traveling with the U.S. Marines and again, as he's reporting, an amphibious assault vehicle took on fire, possibly from a rocket-propelled grenade and there are casualties. Exact numbers not known right now. But as we get them, we'll pass them along to you. Certainly, this has to be quite disturbing news to the Pentagon yet again and for the families watching -- - to these reports that we're getting fresh and direct from the field of battle with our embedded journalists -- - Paula.

ZAHN: The kind of news we hate to report, the kind we fear we have to report. The idea that we can through live television see the progress of the 7th Calvary as it makes its way towards Baghdad, as he said, in hopes of regime change perhaps before they ever get there.

HEMMER: In the history of war, Paula, it's never been done like this. To see these images. To see them live. To see Walt Rodgers be essentially at the forefront of this ground war right now is just truly amazing. He paints an amazing picture too, Paula. Talking about these M1A1 tanks. The Army and the Marines will tell you it's the finest tank in the world. Each one weighs 70 tons. To have 200 of these rolling through the Iraqi desert creates one heck of an image.

Meanwhile, back here in Kuwait, there are certain units that have not advanced into Iraq just yet for reasons that military planners will not tell us but perhaps very soon they might be moving. That includes the 101st Airborne Division. And with that unit, embedded is CNN's Ryan Chilcote who can join us now live to tell us what's happening from his perspective.

Ryan, hello. Good afternoon.

RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Bill. The 101st -- soldiers from the 101st Airborne have moved into an assembly area in the Kuwaiti desert. They moved out of a camp yesterday. They're now in this assembly area and basically prepared, posed, if you will, to move into Iraq should they get the word.

We are actually on a five-ton truck that some of the soldiers came in on and with me two soldiers, two rifleman, two grunts, as they like to refer to themselves, two infantrymen of the 187th Infantry Regime. With me first let's talk to Specialist Joshua Blair. Joshua, tell me about the ride coming in here. What was it like?

SPECIALIST JOSHUA BLAIR, 101st AIRBORNE DIVISION. Pretty much it was bumpy and kind of loud because we were thinking quote/unquote it was going to be a scud alert or something like that on the way up here but we didn't have to worry about that too much. So it was a pretty bumpy ride up here.

CHILCOTE: Sure. And, Bill, just so you know there have been a total of four scud alerts since yesterday. The most recent just a couple of hours ago. That's where you're wearing this chemical suit. It's underneath the flack jacket. It's just a preventative measure should one of those scuds be carrying a chemical weapon. The soldiers already have these suits on and are ready to go.

Also with us with have Private Monroe Daniels and he has in front of him his backpack, which is almost larger than he is. Can you tell us about your backpack? How much it weighs? Maybe you can pick it up for us and show us some of the stuff it's got.

PFC MONROE DANIELS, 101ST AIRBORNE DIVISION: All right. Actually I don't know exactly how much it weighs but I'm carrying like ...

CHILCOTE: Can you pick it up for us?

DANIELS: ... pretty much a lot of stuff. It's not that heavy once you get it on. You want me to put it all the way on?

CHILCOTE: ... you can just pick it up. You don't actually have to put it on. I hope you get the idea of exactly how heavy that is. The 101st Airborne, they are light infantry and they like to carry everything on their back. How are you feeling right now holding that?

DANIELS: Getting a little tired right now.

CHILCOTE: Well he's a lot better shape than I am so that's pretty telling.

You know I wanted to ask you Monroe, I know you've been in the Army just nine months now. You know now you're sitting here in this assembly area, you might be going into Iraq. What do you feel about that? How do you feel about that?

DANIELS: Well it's kind of crazy because I first come into this unit and the next thing I know, bam, I'm over here. Got to go to war and just be glad when I get back home to my wife, you know.

CHILCOTE: You confident? You think you guys are going to be all right?

DANIELS: Yeah. I think we're going to be all right. Very confident.

BLAIR: Very confident.

CHILCOTE: Just to let you know -- well thank you very much you guys.

Just to let you know, Bill, even though we are in Kuwait, I mentioned the scud alert, this is not a safe place and our troops are not necessarily out of arms way even here. I mentioned earlier the four scud alerts. Those scud alerts, those alarms that prompted us putting on the protective gear and the gas mask for a short while, those were triggered by real missile attacks. I know of at least three obabill (ph) 100 missile attacks that prompted those alarms for these soldiers. So even here in Kuwait, out of Iraq, out of the direct conflict, the soldiers are not necessarily out of harms way -- Bill.

HEMMER: Ryan Chilcote embedded with the 101st Airborne Division. And I call tell you talking to the soldiers they want to go. They want to go north. That's what they'll tell you. Waiting around and sitting around does not do them much good they will tell you. Must be a true sense of anxiety as they await that call to move yet again -- Paula.

ZAHN: Thanks so much Bill.

The U.S. Embassy is saying that a dispute over the possible presence of Turkish troops in northern Iraq is put on hold a decision by Turkish lawmakers to allow U.S. warplanes to actually use Turkish airspace. Ben Wedeman is our man on the ground in the Kurdish controlled part of the Iraq, the northern part of Iraq and he joins us now with the very latest from there.

Ben, good morning.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Paula. We are here on the northern front but unlike the southern front, this front is pretty quiet. Now just to give you an idea of what's behind me. Basically in these hills, over there are Iraqi fortifications. We can fairly regularly see Iraqi soldiers walking between the positions. There has been just a little bit of gunfire this morning. The most significant development in this area was just before sunrise, at about 4:30 local time, some -- we heard some planes overhead and saw anti-aircraft fire coming up from the direction of Mosul, which is the largest city of the north of Iraq, about two-and-a-half to 3 million people. And so it appears that was the first bombing of the Mosul area.

Otherwise it's fairly quiet because facing off against these Iraqi positions are very lightly armed Kurdish troops. All they really have are some AK47 assault rifles and some rocket propelled grenades. They have not tanks. No armored personnel carriers. So if they're to advance, they will definitely need the presence of some sort of American force. Now originally Plan A was that 60,000 American troops would cross Turkey, enter northern Iraq and really have a pincher (ph) movement between the north and the south. Now that doesn't look like it's going to happen. The most optimistic scenario is that possibly 5,000 airborne troops would arrive to supplement a very small force of Special Forces. But at this point, that decision for over flights over Turkey that would have brought those troops is still work in progress so to speak. So until now, this northern front remains fairly quiet -- Paula.

ZAHN: I don't know how many details you might have on this for us this morning but what happened near the town of Kalak where a small group of Iraqi soldiers surrendered. Is there any confirmation you can give us of that?

WEDEMAN: No. There's a lot of rumors flying around but we have not confirmation whatsoever about any reports of Iraqi soldiers. We are in Kalak actually. Kalak is this town right over here that you saw a little while ago, which is literally right in the shadows of the Iraqi positions. But no reports of surrenders in any significant numbers.

In fact, just one little other bit of information is the town of Kalak is by and large deserted. We saw the most of its inhabitants of about 6,000 have left because they were worried that Iraqi forces in some final desperate act might use chemical weapons upon them. And that is a very real fear here, which has really emptied many of the Kurdish towns and cities of their population. People just trying to get as far as possible out of harms way -- Paula.

ZAHN: Final question for you just about any reaction you're hearing from the Kurds to that announcement by the U.S. Embassy about this decision by the Turks being put on hold to allow the use of Turkish airspaces until they figure out how they could possibly deploy Turkish troops?

WEDEMAN: Paula, we just heard from shots right from the direction of Kalak so don't be surprised if I have to duck out of the way. But anyway, to answer your questions. Yes. The Kurds are very aware of this situation regarding Turkey -- there's some more shots. I don't know if you can hear those.

Anyway, so -- looks like there is some firing over there. Now I do want to answer your question. Yes. The Kurds are very opposed to the idea of the entry of Turkish forces here. They've made it very clear to us on several occasions that they would oppose with their weapons any sort of Turkish entry into the north of the country. So hopefully, as far as the Kurds are concerned, that will not happen -- Paula.

ZAHN: All right, Ben. You're making us a little uneasy as you calmly describe hearing gunshot fires. I know that you are a smart man and very experienced at doing this. Never the less, we're going to let you take a pause here and see if you need to seek safety. Ben Wedeman reporting from the Kurdish controlled part of northern Iraq.

Coming up, causalities of war. Twelve coalition forces were killed in a helicopter crash in Kuwait. The Pentagon is now saying the helicopter was not shot down. It's very early on in the investigation but there was potentially a mechanical problem. Plus war plans; President Bush is getting briefed by his war council. We're going to go live to the White House. Plus the markets reacting to the conflict in Iraq. We're going to have a business report straight ahead in our next hour.

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 23, 2003 - 10:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: More breaking news now. Bill Hemmer will take us through it -- - Bill.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, Paula, Alessio Vinci off CNN embedded with the U.S. Marines moving to the southern town of Nasiriyah. Reports we're getting right now of Marine casualties in the battlefield, not sure what the description we have, but Alessio is there and joins us.

Alessio, what do you have?

ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Bill, a significant change from our last report a couple of hours ago. The company of Marines that was actually ahead of ours a couple of hours ago came under heavy fire from Iraqi forces just outside the town of Nasiriyah. And I can report at this time that we do have the U.S. forces suffered a significant number of casualties. We're still trying to establish the precise number, but as you can imagine, this accident took place just within last couple of hours. We just arrived here on the scene of the attack and we're trying to establish with some of sources and some of the eyewitnesses here, and some other reporters embedded with that company, they're trying to give us a little bit of the details of what exactly -- - what happened.

But we're just describing to you what I'm looking at, the charred AAV, an amphibious assault vehicle, is basically one of those armored personnel carriers the Marines are using. It is totally destroyed. It's totally charcoaled, burned down. And according to one of the eyewitnesses, this was one of the armored that was hit by a rocket- propelled grenade.

Now, all this happened several hundreds of meters ahead of me. You will remember I was reporting earlier on hearing heavy gunfire, heavy fire. I did not -- - I was not in a position that I could see it. But this indeed, I have now managed to put myself forward a little bit and I am looking right now at this totally destroyed and burned out shell of an armored personnel carrier of the U.S. -- - United States Marines.

Again, a significant number of casualties, more than 10, I would say. And we are still trying to assess the correct number, Bill.

HEMMER: Now, Alessio, a couple things of here. I'm not sure how much more you can tell us, but let's back up a little bit. We talked to you about two hours ago and at that time, you said there was light fire and light resistance. Can you tell us what changed since then and have you been with this unit the entire time or was this from a different Marine unit?

VINCI: Well, that is correct. This is an entire battalion that comprises of several different companies and several different units. And the unit that I was with was a unit that was the second in the line to go through the town of Nasiriyah. And so, we were only experiencing some light fire, but in the distance I could hear the explosion of heavier guns. But obviously, I was not aware of what was going on until I arrived here, until we managed to cross the two bridges that separates one side from the other, the north side from the south side of the town. And when I arrived here, obviously, the scene completely different from the one back in town where we were, where again, we only suffered light fire. But here, obviously the unit was spearheaded, if you want.

The drive through Nasiriyah obviously got the worst -- - (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the worst and they were the worst hit. It is obviously very difficult for me now to assess exactly what happened in terms of how come this -- - that these Marines, you know, with the incredible amount of air power and air cover that there was at the time. Throughout this operation this morning, I saw at least six Cobra helicopters with machine guns that mounted on them hovering over the entire area, so a significant amount of air power. Yet, some of the Iraqi forces who had RPG (ph) managed to inflict a severe casualty at least in the first unit. And I would say only in this first unit of Marines, as opposed to the units that were following behind who only got hit with light fire -- - Bill.

HEMMER: And Alessio, this amphibious assault vehicle that you're describing, this AAV, as they call it in the military, otherwise known as an Amtrak, it is a significant piece of military hardware. It weighs many, many tons. Is it possible that one rocket-propelled grenade could inflict this much damage? That's my first question. And while I have you here, also, when you say at least 10 Marines may have been affected by this, does that indicate that this amphibious assault vehicle is actually transporting Marines through Nasiriyah at the time?

VINCI: Well, to answer the latter part of your question, yes. These vehicles are used to transport the troops. As a matter of fact, it is the same identical vehicle that we, the embedded journalists, are traveling with. We are indeed traveling inside these vehicles alongside the Marines. It is the preferred mean of infantry transportation, if you want, for these Marines.

As far as the capacity of an RPB (ph), yes, you're right, this is a significant piece of metal, but it is also meant to float. This is, of course, a vehicle that is used also for amphibious assaults, so it is not made of pure steel. And it does not have, if you want, the plates, the metal plates that would protect it against this kind of fire.

So I was just talking to one of the reporters as a matter of fact who witnessed part of the scene because he was indeed embedded with that unit that came under fire. And he said that basically he witnessed some of those shells going through the AAV, the amphibious vehicle, like a knife through melting butter. So indeed, a significant piece of equipment, but also very vulnerable to close fire and especially to a rocket-propelled grenade specially designed to stop these kind of vehicles -- - Bill.

HEMMER: All right, Alessio, thanks. Alessio Vinci traveling with the U.S. Marines and again, as he's reporting, an amphibious assault vehicle took on fire, possibly from a rocket-propelled grenade and there are casualties. Exact numbers not known right now. But as we get them, we'll pass them along to you. Certainly, this has to be quite disturbing news to the Pentagon yet again and for the families watching -- - to these reports that we're getting fresh and direct from the field of battle with our embedded journalists -- - Paula.

ZAHN: The kind of news we hate to report, the kind we fear we have to report. The idea that we can through live television see the progress of the 7th Calvary as it makes its way towards Baghdad, as he said, in hopes of regime change perhaps before they ever get there.

HEMMER: In the history of war, Paula, it's never been done like this. To see these images. To see them live. To see Walt Rodgers be essentially at the forefront of this ground war right now is just truly amazing. He paints an amazing picture too, Paula. Talking about these M1A1 tanks. The Army and the Marines will tell you it's the finest tank in the world. Each one weighs 70 tons. To have 200 of these rolling through the Iraqi desert creates one heck of an image.

Meanwhile, back here in Kuwait, there are certain units that have not advanced into Iraq just yet for reasons that military planners will not tell us but perhaps very soon they might be moving. That includes the 101st Airborne Division. And with that unit, embedded is CNN's Ryan Chilcote who can join us now live to tell us what's happening from his perspective.

Ryan, hello. Good afternoon.

RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Bill. The 101st -- soldiers from the 101st Airborne have moved into an assembly area in the Kuwaiti desert. They moved out of a camp yesterday. They're now in this assembly area and basically prepared, posed, if you will, to move into Iraq should they get the word.

We are actually on a five-ton truck that some of the soldiers came in on and with me two soldiers, two rifleman, two grunts, as they like to refer to themselves, two infantrymen of the 187th Infantry Regime. With me first let's talk to Specialist Joshua Blair. Joshua, tell me about the ride coming in here. What was it like?

SPECIALIST JOSHUA BLAIR, 101st AIRBORNE DIVISION. Pretty much it was bumpy and kind of loud because we were thinking quote/unquote it was going to be a scud alert or something like that on the way up here but we didn't have to worry about that too much. So it was a pretty bumpy ride up here.

CHILCOTE: Sure. And, Bill, just so you know there have been a total of four scud alerts since yesterday. The most recent just a couple of hours ago. That's where you're wearing this chemical suit. It's underneath the flack jacket. It's just a preventative measure should one of those scuds be carrying a chemical weapon. The soldiers already have these suits on and are ready to go.

Also with us with have Private Monroe Daniels and he has in front of him his backpack, which is almost larger than he is. Can you tell us about your backpack? How much it weighs? Maybe you can pick it up for us and show us some of the stuff it's got.

PFC MONROE DANIELS, 101ST AIRBORNE DIVISION: All right. Actually I don't know exactly how much it weighs but I'm carrying like ...

CHILCOTE: Can you pick it up for us?

DANIELS: ... pretty much a lot of stuff. It's not that heavy once you get it on. You want me to put it all the way on?

CHILCOTE: ... you can just pick it up. You don't actually have to put it on. I hope you get the idea of exactly how heavy that is. The 101st Airborne, they are light infantry and they like to carry everything on their back. How are you feeling right now holding that?

DANIELS: Getting a little tired right now.

CHILCOTE: Well he's a lot better shape than I am so that's pretty telling.

You know I wanted to ask you Monroe, I know you've been in the Army just nine months now. You know now you're sitting here in this assembly area, you might be going into Iraq. What do you feel about that? How do you feel about that?

DANIELS: Well it's kind of crazy because I first come into this unit and the next thing I know, bam, I'm over here. Got to go to war and just be glad when I get back home to my wife, you know.

CHILCOTE: You confident? You think you guys are going to be all right?

DANIELS: Yeah. I think we're going to be all right. Very confident.

BLAIR: Very confident.

CHILCOTE: Just to let you know -- well thank you very much you guys.

Just to let you know, Bill, even though we are in Kuwait, I mentioned the scud alert, this is not a safe place and our troops are not necessarily out of arms way even here. I mentioned earlier the four scud alerts. Those scud alerts, those alarms that prompted us putting on the protective gear and the gas mask for a short while, those were triggered by real missile attacks. I know of at least three obabill (ph) 100 missile attacks that prompted those alarms for these soldiers. So even here in Kuwait, out of Iraq, out of the direct conflict, the soldiers are not necessarily out of harms way -- Bill.

HEMMER: Ryan Chilcote embedded with the 101st Airborne Division. And I call tell you talking to the soldiers they want to go. They want to go north. That's what they'll tell you. Waiting around and sitting around does not do them much good they will tell you. Must be a true sense of anxiety as they await that call to move yet again -- Paula.

ZAHN: Thanks so much Bill.

The U.S. Embassy is saying that a dispute over the possible presence of Turkish troops in northern Iraq is put on hold a decision by Turkish lawmakers to allow U.S. warplanes to actually use Turkish airspace. Ben Wedeman is our man on the ground in the Kurdish controlled part of the Iraq, the northern part of Iraq and he joins us now with the very latest from there.

Ben, good morning.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Paula. We are here on the northern front but unlike the southern front, this front is pretty quiet. Now just to give you an idea of what's behind me. Basically in these hills, over there are Iraqi fortifications. We can fairly regularly see Iraqi soldiers walking between the positions. There has been just a little bit of gunfire this morning. The most significant development in this area was just before sunrise, at about 4:30 local time, some -- we heard some planes overhead and saw anti-aircraft fire coming up from the direction of Mosul, which is the largest city of the north of Iraq, about two-and-a-half to 3 million people. And so it appears that was the first bombing of the Mosul area.

Otherwise it's fairly quiet because facing off against these Iraqi positions are very lightly armed Kurdish troops. All they really have are some AK47 assault rifles and some rocket propelled grenades. They have not tanks. No armored personnel carriers. So if they're to advance, they will definitely need the presence of some sort of American force. Now originally Plan A was that 60,000 American troops would cross Turkey, enter northern Iraq and really have a pincher (ph) movement between the north and the south. Now that doesn't look like it's going to happen. The most optimistic scenario is that possibly 5,000 airborne troops would arrive to supplement a very small force of Special Forces. But at this point, that decision for over flights over Turkey that would have brought those troops is still work in progress so to speak. So until now, this northern front remains fairly quiet -- Paula.

ZAHN: I don't know how many details you might have on this for us this morning but what happened near the town of Kalak where a small group of Iraqi soldiers surrendered. Is there any confirmation you can give us of that?

WEDEMAN: No. There's a lot of rumors flying around but we have not confirmation whatsoever about any reports of Iraqi soldiers. We are in Kalak actually. Kalak is this town right over here that you saw a little while ago, which is literally right in the shadows of the Iraqi positions. But no reports of surrenders in any significant numbers.

In fact, just one little other bit of information is the town of Kalak is by and large deserted. We saw the most of its inhabitants of about 6,000 have left because they were worried that Iraqi forces in some final desperate act might use chemical weapons upon them. And that is a very real fear here, which has really emptied many of the Kurdish towns and cities of their population. People just trying to get as far as possible out of harms way -- Paula.

ZAHN: Final question for you just about any reaction you're hearing from the Kurds to that announcement by the U.S. Embassy about this decision by the Turks being put on hold to allow the use of Turkish airspaces until they figure out how they could possibly deploy Turkish troops?

WEDEMAN: Paula, we just heard from shots right from the direction of Kalak so don't be surprised if I have to duck out of the way. But anyway, to answer your questions. Yes. The Kurds are very aware of this situation regarding Turkey -- there's some more shots. I don't know if you can hear those.

Anyway, so -- looks like there is some firing over there. Now I do want to answer your question. Yes. The Kurds are very opposed to the idea of the entry of Turkish forces here. They've made it very clear to us on several occasions that they would oppose with their weapons any sort of Turkish entry into the north of the country. So hopefully, as far as the Kurds are concerned, that will not happen -- Paula.

ZAHN: All right, Ben. You're making us a little uneasy as you calmly describe hearing gunshot fires. I know that you are a smart man and very experienced at doing this. Never the less, we're going to let you take a pause here and see if you need to seek safety. Ben Wedeman reporting from the Kurdish controlled part of northern Iraq.

Coming up, causalities of war. Twelve coalition forces were killed in a helicopter crash in Kuwait. The Pentagon is now saying the helicopter was not shot down. It's very early on in the investigation but there was potentially a mechanical problem. Plus war plans; President Bush is getting briefed by his war council. We're going to go live to the White House. Plus the markets reacting to the conflict in Iraq. We're going to have a business report straight ahead in our next hour.

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