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American Morning

7th Calvary Now Closer to Baghdad

Aired March 24, 2003 - 07:12   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.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Walter Rodgers embedded with the 7th Calvary, south of Baghdad somewhere, exact location not known today. Here is Walter by way of videophone for an update.
Walt -- what do you have?

WALTER RODGERS, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Bill.

The U.S. Army 7th Calvary's northward motion has stalled. They're in virtually the same position they were over 24 hours. Indeed it's now been nearly 30 hours in this position.

The commander of the 7th Calvary about this time yesterday was predicting his unit would be far north of where it remains now. The reason that they have stalled is that they are trying to pass through an Iraqi city on the move north. They must go through that city.

And the problem is that the Iraqis have moved in some rather crack troops, far more than the Army first thought was there. First, they thought there were 150 to 200 troops, regular troops. Now, it's between 400 or 500 Iraqi troops in the city, and these are Republican Guard troops and Fedayeen officers. So the Army is having tough going.

Another reason the Army is being slowed down in this particular region is that in this same city the Iraqis are embedding civilians into military positions. So if the Army wanted to call in heavy air power to knock out the Iraqi positions, they are called off almost immediately because the Iraqis are using civilians as screens.

We had an example of that this morning. We were in one area on a scouting mission with the Army looking for a way north. All of a sudden what appeared to be a very pastoral scene of some Iraqi farmers exploded with RPG, rocket-propelled grenade rounds and small fire all around us. It was a little alarming -- Bill.

HEMMER: Walter Rodgers with the 7th Calvary. We'll check back in later by way of videophone. Walt, thank you.

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 24, 2003 - 07:12   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Walter Rodgers embedded with the 7th Calvary, south of Baghdad somewhere, exact location not known today. Here is Walter by way of videophone for an update.
Walt -- what do you have?

WALTER RODGERS, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Bill.

The U.S. Army 7th Calvary's northward motion has stalled. They're in virtually the same position they were over 24 hours. Indeed it's now been nearly 30 hours in this position.

The commander of the 7th Calvary about this time yesterday was predicting his unit would be far north of where it remains now. The reason that they have stalled is that they are trying to pass through an Iraqi city on the move north. They must go through that city.

And the problem is that the Iraqis have moved in some rather crack troops, far more than the Army first thought was there. First, they thought there were 150 to 200 troops, regular troops. Now, it's between 400 or 500 Iraqi troops in the city, and these are Republican Guard troops and Fedayeen officers. So the Army is having tough going.

Another reason the Army is being slowed down in this particular region is that in this same city the Iraqis are embedding civilians into military positions. So if the Army wanted to call in heavy air power to knock out the Iraqi positions, they are called off almost immediately because the Iraqis are using civilians as screens.

We had an example of that this morning. We were in one area on a scouting mission with the Army looking for a way north. All of a sudden what appeared to be a very pastoral scene of some Iraqi farmers exploded with RPG, rocket-propelled grenade rounds and small fire all around us. It was a little alarming -- Bill.

HEMMER: Walter Rodgers with the 7th Calvary. We'll check back in later by way of videophone. Walt, thank you.

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