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CNN Live At Daybreak
British: Umm Qasr Safe, Open
Aired March 25, 2003 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: It is 5:00 a.m. here on the East Coast.
Let's take a look at the latest developments at this hour.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We do have this just in to CNN. And I want to read you this from the wire. This is from Reuters. We understand now that the southern Iraqi port town of Umm Qasr, where U.S. and British forces have faced Iraqi resistance for days is now safe and open. That's according to a British commander.
Brigadier General Jim Dutton, commander of the British Royal Marines 3rd Commando Brigade told reporters that he hoped the first ship bringing humanitarian aid into Iraq would arrive within the next 48 hours. Again, Umm Qasr, which is in the southeastern part of Iraq and is a major port there, one of the major ports of Iraq, humanitarian aid should be coming in there and coalition forces have now taken control of that.
But just to the north in Basra, that's certainly not the case. Basra, as a matter of fact, is now considered a legitimate military target. That is the word from British military officials, who have determined that Iraqi forces are regrouping in the city. It's not immediately clear how coalition forces will attempt to wear down Iraqi military forces inside Basra.
And we have confirmation a British soldier was killed on Monday in an operation near Basra. It happened while British troops were trying to capture two men believed to be senior members of the Baath Party, which is, of course, Saddam Hussein's power base. At least one of those men was captured.
And Kuwaitis have begun sending humanitarian aid to Iraq, even though a senior Iraqi official says the country doesn't need it. The plan is to provide about 45,000 meals a day to be delivered to Iraqis as soon as it is feasible and safe. And as I just said, the port of Umm Qasr now is under coalition control, and that means humanitarian aid should be coming into that port within 48 hours.
Back to the battle zone now. U.S. Marines face a new fight in Syria. CNN's Art Harris is in -- or Nasiriya, rather. CNN's Art Harris is embedded with the U.S. Marines in that area. He says as the Marines drove through the city there was gunfire all around them and the Iraqis have destroyed several U.S. vehicles. We also understand a terrible sandstorm is happening right there now, along with rain. Nasty conditions in Nasiriya this morning. Also, the U.S. Navy is planning on enlisting trained dolphins to locate mines in the waters around Umm Qasr. Mine sweeping operations by U.S. and Australian forces have been under way in that port city since the beginning of the war. Coalition forces plan to us Umm Qasr as a port for humanitarian aid.
COOPER: A lot has been happening. Coming up in the next hour on CNN's coverage on the war in Iraq, U.S. intelligence suggests Iraqi forces may, and we say may, use chemical weapons on U.S. troops if they get near Baghdad. Chris Plante shares what he's heard on that possibility straight ahead in a live report from the Pentagon.
Also, get the results of a CNN poll. We asked Americans how many casualties they expect in this war. The feedback is interesting, to say the least. We'll have that coming up.
We'll also be taking you to the front lines for live reports from our embedded reporters. Nobody has more people deployed in the field. Our coverage of the war in Iraq continues right now.
COSTELLO: And you're looking at a live picture out of Baghdad, where Operation Iraqi Freedom enters its sixth day. A peaceful shot here, but we understand bombs are being dropped on Baghdad throughout the morning, the target supposedly Saddam Hussein International Airport.
COOPER: Good morning, everyone.
It is 1:00 p.m. in Baghdad, as you see there, 5:00 a.m. here on the East Coast of the United States, Tuesday, March 25th.
From CNN global headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Anderson Cooper.
COSTELLO: And I'm Carol Costello.
Thanks so much for joining us this morning.
Time now for an early briefing on the stories that will be news later today.
President Bush unveils his new war budget request this morning at the Pentagon. Officials say it'll be about $75 billion and he wants congressional approval by April 11. Also at the Pentagon, the daily war briefing will be held at 1:30 p.m. Eastern Time. CNN will bring that to you live, as always. And this month's consumer confidence report comes out today. We'll see what effect, if any, the war is having on consumers. We know what effect it's having on the stock market right now.
COOPER: That's right.
We're going to look right now at where coalition forces are operating right now in Iraq. The U.S. Army's 101st Airborne is moving toward Baghdad from the southwest. Let's take a look at this graphic right here. They're moving toward Baghdad from the southwest, the 101st Airborne right there. It's on the left. The Third Army's lead element, the 7th Cavalry, and the first Marines battling Iraqi forces in Nasiriya.
Now, U.S. forces have an air field in western Iraq, that's H3 in the graphic on the left hand side of your screen. It also appears more special forces are pouring into the north. This is a relatively new development. U.S. General Tommy Franks says American, British and Australian special forces are operating in the north as well as across Iraq.
That's a quick look at what's happening across Iraq right now.
COSTELLO: And also a little more than an hour ago, an Iraqi government official talked about the humanitarian aid the U.S. and Britain say they want to bring into Iraq at Umm Qasr. Basically that Iraqi official says his country doesn't need the aid.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MUHAMMED MEHDI SALIH, IRAQI TRADE MINISTER: The evil administration represented by Bush and Blair are hunting the people of Iraq, not just by bombs that they are dropping every day on the citizens and invading their holy land, which they are going to be buried in, but now they are preventing food and medicine from the people of Iraq.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: And he's talking about the U.N.'s Oil For Food program, which he thinks should be started up again.
Let's go live to Jordan now to check in with Rym Brahimi -- Rym, you're pretty much of an expert on all things Iraq. You've certainly been stationed in Baghdad for a long time and you're out of there right now.
What do you make of that press conference and the one that happened after it?
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, a couple of points, Carol. Definitely the trade minister keen to send the message that Iraq has prepared also for the eventuality of disruption of food. Now, that was one of the main fears not only of humanitarian aid workers, but, of course, this would have consequences on the Iraqi government.
The main concern of the Iraqi government has been with regard to the civilian population, to make sure that they don't need to go out for anything, that they don't need to demand food, that they can stay at home and have what they need. That would also probably prevent risks of social unrest in their view.
Now, the trade minister made the point that despite the disruption of the Oil For Food program, despite the disruption of the food distribution throughout Iraq by the United Nations and other international humanitarian aid groups, well, the Iraqi government has provided for Iraqi people. He has, the Iraqi government has made sure that six months worth of foodstuffs have been distributed to various cities in order to make sure Iraqi people do not need extra help from anyone else outside of the Iraqi government.
COSTELLO: And Rym...
BRAHIMI: Let's go to the -- yes? Go ahead, Carol.
COSTELLO: I was just going to clarify the Oil For Food program. Kofi Annan, the secretary general of the United Nations, suspended that at the start of these hostilities. That Iraqi trade minister wants Kofi Annan to start it up again. But that's unlikely to happen, isn't it?
BRAHIMI: Well, it would be very difficult, Carol, indeed. When the humanitarian aid workers that are in charge of the Oil For Food program in Iraq pulled out, the Iraqi foreign minister was furious, wrote a letter to the U.N. secretary general complaining about that, saying that it contradicted the United Nations' responsibilities to help the Iraqi people.
As you know, the Oil For Food program was set up to help the Iraqi people compensate for the sanctions imposed by the United Nations and it has helped them survive the sanctions in the past years, since '96, when the Oil For Food program came into effect.
COSTELLO: OK, thanks for clarifying the...
BRAHIMI: Now, of course, they would like it to start again but...
COSTELLO: Right. The other point that I want to make clear is that we recently got word from Reuters that the port city of Umm Qasr is now under coalition control and they say that humanitarian aid will be brought in in the next 48 hours.
The Iraqi trade minister says Iraq doesn't want that humanitarian aid.
BRAHIMI: Well, that was exactly my next point, Carol. You see, Umm Qasr is very strategic because that is where all the Oil for Food, the food that was coming in under that program was coming in and then being distributed from there to the rest of Iraq. Now, of course, the fact that now that is not under Iraqi control directly anymore, that it's still in question, and that now the coalition forces want to be the ones distributing humanitarian aid, of course, that poses a great problem of sovereignty for the Iraqi government, which would be why the trade minister has rejected that offer.
And then, of course, there's what the vice president, Taha Yassin Ramadan, has said about the trade between Jordan and Iraq. He is accusing Jordan of having stopped that trade and, of course, Iraq had been supplied recently, Iraq was supplying Jordan with oil and in exchange for that it was receiving a lot of goods from Jordan. Now, that's stopped because Jordan thinks that the road between Baghdad and Amman basically is not safe anymore. And that's why the vice president came out to denounce the halt of that trade -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Understand. Rym Brahimi, thanks for your insight.
Reporting live from Jordan this morning.
COOPER: All right, we're going go check in with our old friend Bill Hemmer, who is live in Kuwait City, as he has been since the beginning of this conflict -- Bill, what's the latest?
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Anderson, hello.
Carol, hello, as well.
Welcome to Tuesday here in Kuwait.
Already getting indications from the British military that there is some sort of shift in strategy in southeastern Iraq.
Christiane Amanpour broke this story first about two hours ago. She is still in Kuwait with the British military.
We pick things up now with Christiane to find out what's happening and what she's being told -- hello.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bill, indeed, the British have had to change tactics because of the stiffer than expected resistance from the Iraqis, and most particularly because the Iraqis have pulled back into Basra, Iraq's second biggest town in the south. And what's happened is they had expected, the British had briefed us several days ago, that elements of the 51st Iraqi Army division had surrendered and melted away.
Well, it turns out that, in fact, these troops have moved back into the civilian population of Basra. They've gone with their, all their heavy equipment, their tanks, artillery and their infantry. And from there they are challenging British forces.
Now, that means the British have now called Basra a military target, in order to wear down those Iraqi troops, they hope, and then to open up the way for the delivery of humanitarian aid this is a shift because originally the British had said they were going to bypass Basra, in a sense, and not take it on militarily and just hope that they would be welcomed, that the any kind of military resistance would melt away, surrender, come on side, so to speak. This has not happened.
Now, of course, this means that it is a potential problem for U.K. forces because it's not only difficult and high risk to fight in urban areas, but it means that Iraq has now taken the advantage when it comes to Basra. In other words, they're bringing in the reporter to fight on the Iraqi terms and Iraq has always wanted to bring them into street fighting, estimating that, A, they could cause significant casualties on the U.S., or, indeed, U.K. forces, or they would force the U.K. or U.S. forces to cause significant civilian casualties, which they don't want to do.
This is what the British colonel, Chris Vernon, who's a military spokesman, told us about how they were now going to have to engage the Iraqi forces in Basra.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COL. CHRIS VERNON, BRITISH MILITARY SPOKESMAN: We're on the outskirts of Basra. We're seizing fleeting opportunities as he brings his tanks out to the rear outskirts, engaging with direct fire tanks and, indeed, artillery, but only onto the outskirts, where we're pretty clear we're not going to inflict collateral damage on civilians.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AMANPOUR: Now, they have had other engagements in Basra. They have had 11 exchanges of artillery between the Iraqi and the British forces. That was over a 10 hour period yesterday. That's quite heavy fighting. And they also have launched an offensive, the British forces, against a town south of Basra called Azuber (ph), and that was aimed at Baath Party buildings. They were trying to take out key Baath Party officials. These are the officials of the ruling Iraqi Baath Party. They apparently took one.
Now, the aim of that is to try to separate the political leadership from the civilians in that area.
So that's what's going on in our sector of Iraq -- Bill.
HEMMER: Sounds like quite a bit.
Thanks, Christiane.
Christiane Amanpour again with the British military.
Meanwhile back here in Kuwait, several hours ago Iraqi television put a broadcast up of the two latest American POWs. These are the pilots who were piloting that American Apache helicopter that went down yesterday inside of Iraq.
They are described as Chief Warrant Officers David Williams of Florida, age 30, and Chief Warrant Officer Ronald Young, Jr. from Georgia, age 26.
Now, the Apache had some sort of landing in southern Iraq yesterday. Where, we're not sure. But we, it's our understanding somewhere about 60, maybe 80 miles south of Baghdad. The Pentagon says it appeared to be mechanical, not shot down, as the Iraqis claim. Yesterday at a briefing in Baghdad they say farmers took down this Apache chopper. The Pentagon says that is flat out not true.
This adds now to the list of POWs taken on Sunday. All five with the U.S. Army, Specialist Joseph Hudson, Private First Class Patrick Miller, Specialist Shoshana Johnson, Specialist Edgar Henderson and Sergeant James Riley. All taken in an ambush as they were working on a convoy at the rear, going to the southern town of Nasiriya.
We still understand yet again today there have been sporadic fire fights within the town of Nasiriya, where the U.S. Marines right now are trying to take at least two separate bridges right there in the southern part of Iraq, considered very key supply routes going up on that highway north eventually toward Baghdad.
The ambush picture we saw, we have seen now for the past two days running of that convoy when it was hit, again, deep on that supply route in southern Iraq.
We are going to talk with one family member, a family member related to one of these pilots now being held by the Iraqis. Again, two Apache helicopter pilots taken and shown on Iraqi television earlier today.
We'll get more on this. We're also going to get more, Carol, on the story you're talking about. Umm Qasr said to be in control of the coalition forces right now, quite critical in this effort to get humanitarian aid moving.
A bit later in our hour, Daryn Kagan is at a warehouse here in Kuwait City to talk about these massive amounts of humanitarian aid that are essentially sitting there on the floor of this warehouse waiting to move but at this point they have not gone yet. More on that when we get it.
But now back to Anderson and Carol at the CNN Center.
COOPER: All right, Bill, thanks very much.
You know, Tommy Franks, in his first press conference the other day, said that the key to the coalition's strategy has got to be -- is flexibility and that it is a very flexible plan. We are seeing that certainly today. Apparently word from CNN correspondents aboard some aircraft carriers that there is a shift in the air campaign, perhaps less bombing of fixed targets, more hitting targets of opportunity, close air support for troops on the ground.
Also, as Christiane just reported, changes perhaps now in seeing Basra as a military target. There's a lot changing, a lot moving very fast on the ground despite these sandstorms, which are affecting a lot of the troops in the south central part of Iraq.
Let's go to Chris Plante, who is at the Pentagon, for an update -- Chris, what do you have?
CHRIS PLANTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, just adding to what you were saying there, Anderson, one of the favorite sayings that the military has is no plan survives first contact with the enemy, and that's certainly the case in this instance. But the, on the top of the ledger today at the Pentagon is the threat of chemical weapons. There are intelligence reports coming from U.S. intelligence that suggest that the Iraqi leadership has passed orders along to some of their top commanders in the Republican Guard unit surrounding Baghdad that if the coalition forces, U.S. and British ground forces pass a certain point, which they are calling a red line -- they're saying there's a red line that's been drawn around the city of Baghdad, U.S. intelligence is -- and that if the coalition forces come past this point, that the Republican Guard units are instructed to use chemical weapons against them.
This is, of course, a matter of great concern, it has been all along in this conflict. Great lengths have been gone to by the coalition forces in preparation for this possibility, but there's sort of a new alarm being sounded by intelligence that this threat is back, even though we've seen no evidence of it so far in this conflict -- Anderson.
COOPER: All right, Chris Plante live at the Pentagon.
Thanks very much for the update.
We should just let our viewers know, we just found out at 6:30 a.m. Eastern Time Jack Straw is going to be making statements at the House of Commons. That's 6:30 a.m. Eastern Time, in about an hour and 10 minutes or so, and we will bring those comments to you live, Jack Straw from Great Britain.
Right?
COSTELLO: Oh, we want to take you now to northern Iraq. We were just getting word on where we're going next.
We're going to Kevin Sites, who's been -- well, you've been hearing some artillery fire and some bombs dropping, I guess, all morning long.
Are things quiet now, Kevin?
KEVIN SITES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Things have been quiet for about the last hour, Carol. But probably for the most of the morning and some of the afternoon we've heard a series of explosions going off in the direction of Kirkuk. To remind our viewers again, we're about 40 kilometers away from Kirkuk.
There has been much talk about the opening of a northern front. This could be the beginning of an air war that actually sets up that northern front.
Now, what's happened here as far as we can tell has not been as significant or as extreme as what's been happening in Mosul. Our colleagues Ben Wedeman and Brent Sadler have been reporting on a very fierce bombing attack that has occurred there last night. The bombing that's been seen from our position here has been somewhat infrequent, perhaps in an hour, maybe six to eight explosions, and then several explosions following that, you know, every half an hour or so.
But it is definitely in the direction of Kirkuk, which is directly west of us, as well as in the direction southeast of possibly the Iraqi Almathena (ph) Brigade or, I'm sorry, the Almathena (ph) Division. That's a fully equipped Iraqi division that is between us and Kirkuk and that will be a division that will have to be dealt with if there is going to be a coalition advance towards Kirkuk.
Now, also, yesterday morning the position where we are, there is a front line Iraqi force right in front of us on a hilltop position. They are lightly equipped with a Dushka machine gun and anti-aircraft weapons and they were actually bombed, according to our Peshmerga sources, with about six to eight bombs on this ridge top. The Peshmergas say they saw the Iraqis bringing down their wounded away from that line of fire. But we were here about 45 minutes after that and we could see them walking around on that hilltop fairly nonchalantly.
But, again, there is talk about opening of a northern front. If that's the case, this is at least the air war beginning of that northern front. We've yet to see a lot of forces on the ground, or really any forces on the ground aside from the presence of the U.S. Marine general yesterday farther north from here announcing the presence of U.S. forces here. In what way they'll work with the Peshmerga, we're not quite sure yet. But we'll wait to see that in the coming days -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, I know I've lost audio contact with Kevin, so I'm going to have to wrap him up. And when he says the establishment of a northern front, he means that coalition forces are softening Iraqi targets out there so that perhaps coalition forces can advance to Baghdad from the north.
And, of course, Kirkuk is very important because of the oil fields there -- Anderson.
COOPER: We want to give just a sense of the broad overview of what is going on in Iraq right now.
For that, we turn to our military desk.
CNN's Renay San Miguel and Brigadier General David Grange -- Renay.
RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Anderson.
Yes, it's -- our job is to take the big picture look here.
Joining us is our military analyst, Retired Army General David Grange.
And a couple of the events that we've reported over just the past couple of hours, Basra now a legitimate military target, according to Christiane Amanpour and her quoting British military sources. Before it was just we're going to leave the heavy battles for another time in Basra, just kind of move on and surround it. Now they have to go into the city.
BRIG. GEN. DAVID GRANGE, U.S. ARMY (RET.): Yes, I think how they go into the city, though, is not what a lot of people may be perceiving. The city is surrounded. However, the coalition forces don't have control of it. But the problem with Basra is that you don't want to do a house to house clearing operation.
So I think you're going to see two types of tactics used. One's going to be you're going to see specialized task forces organized to go in to take down specific known targets of resistance of the paramilitary forces. And then you're going to see an effort to get the people to continue internally to put pressure on these paramilitary forces because they really want to get that, get that off their back. They really want to be liberated.
SAN MIGUEL: OK. And we want to give -- we have some satellite imagery provided by Earthviewer.com and Digital Globe of the city of Basra here. As you see, I mean I'm not sure from what you can look at here, how does the city itself and what's around it, you know, describe, dictate the tactics, I guess, in other words?
GRANGE: Well, yes, again, it's, you know, it's a large city, 1.2 million, I believe. And so they have to be very careful of how much, how many troops get absorbed into this fight.
SAN MIGUEL: Sure.
GRANGE: And it could just eat up thousands of troops. And so the idea is, again, is that they go in after specific targets once they get the intelligence that, in fact, that's a valid target, and that's a very tough process. But this is asymmetric warfare conducted by the enemy. And asymmetric warfare is something they have to do in order to negate our robust capability.
So that's why the enemy's doing this and it's a tough fight. But there are special tactics to use against this type of force.
SAN MIGUEL: It could be the very first case that we've been talking about since, you know, the possibility of hostilities, of urban combat, modern, 21st century urban combat coming into play here.
GRANGE: Yes, urban combat, but, again, in specific areas, not broad brush, house to house, street to street fight.
SAN MIGUEL: Got you.
Let's come back to the map here and we'll talk about Nasiriya. Another day of heavy fighting there, according to Alessio Vinci, who is embedded with the troops there. And also the weather becoming an issue now with Nasiriya and with the fighting in general, not just sandstorms and heavy winds, but rain and mud for those tanks.
GRANGE: Yes. That's right. You know, you think of desert when you think of Iraq. But there's areas here, especially around the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers that is very tough for armored vehicles to move. And so certain routes are at a premium to move these heavy armored powerful weapons around. And so mud is a factor and you're going to see a lot of recovery operations, in other words, getting these vehicles out of mud or, depending on the combat situation, destroying them in place.
SAN MIGUEL: OK. We'll move on now to the north. There's been a lot of activity in the north now with the bombing and also, we understand, up to 1,000 American troops on the ground. The importance of establishing a northern front as if, later on, you want to attack Baghdad now from three directions, not just two. GRANGE: That's right. And this thousand troops, they're not a thousand fighters. There's a specific command and control element, and that's necessary to start coordinating cohesive efforts between the Kurds and coalition forces to deconflict air strikes, to make sure people are not just running wild around a battlefield, but actually are focused on specific objectives that are key to victory in the north. And then a lot of those personnel are, will call in air strikes.
SAN MIGUEL: OK.
GRANGE: Combat controllers and special forces to do just that. And then working with those people. There's a lot of future humanitarian assistance representatives in the -- civil affairs personnel in order to do that with the Kurds.
SAN MIGUEL: So a wide range of officials, not just those who are, you know, as the phrase, boots on the ground.
GRANGE: Yes, not trigger, just trigger pullers.
SAN MIGUEL: Got you.
GRANGE: Yes.
SAN MIGUEL: Got you. Got you. And we just, we heard Kevin Sites talk about some heavy air strikes that apparently are being called in around Kirkuk and Mosul, as well. So some softening up apparently going on there.
We want to wrap up now with Baghdad. Again, we have some satellite imagery of what's going on, from what Frank Buckley has told us, they're starting to, the aircraft are starting to target around Saddam International Airport.
The strategic importance here?
GRANGE: Yes, well all the airports are key terrain. And there's many around Baghdad, especially military bases to the south. The International Airport, of course, is a critical piece of key terrain for future operations around Baghdad. It may be used in the future to move in coalition forces as a jumping point. It's outside of Baghdad. It may be key to control the western approaches to Baghdad.
SAN MIGUEL: OK. We will have to leave it there.
But we are going to come back to you later on in the morning, talk more about what we've heard about the possibility of chemical weapons coming into play, the so-called red line that's been drawn around Baghdad.
GRANGE: The red line, yes.
SAN MIGUEL: We'll talk with you later.
But General Grange, thanks for joining us this morning. GRANGE: Thank you, Renay.
SAN MIGUEL: Anderson, Carol, back on over to you.
COOPER: All right, and we are going to go to a press conference now for the Iraqi information minister.
Let's listen in.
MOHAMMED SAAED AL SAHAF, IRAQI INFORMATION MINISTER (through translator): Our heroes, the Baathists, did very well in Almathana (ph) country, especially on the southern outskirts. And once we get all the information, we'll provide you with all, with details.
In the Surgh (ph) area...
(speaking in English): The second war theater, battlefield, is Suprasurgh (ph) after Mothena (ph). And there there is a bridge which links the surroundings with the highway with the Euphrates cities. A battle has taken place there and the Arabashush Party (ph) five times have...
(CROSSTALK)
SAHAF: ... and destroyed three...
(CROSSTALK)
SAHAF: The more important thing is among...
(CROSSTALK)
SAHAF: ... destroyed one of the...
(CROSSTALK)
SAHAF: Her name is Massoud Hamid Abdullah (ph). She is an Iraqi lady. She is a hero, a heroine. Massoud Hamid Abdullah (ph).
QUESTION: Minister, can you bring her to Baghdad?
(CROSSTALK)
SAHAF: Massoud Hamid Abdullah (ph).
QUESTION: What did she destroy?
SAHAF: She destroyed one of the RPGs in Suprasurgh in the south.
QUESTION: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)?
SAHAF: In Nasiriya...
(speaking in Arabic)
COSTELLO: All right, we're listening to the Iraqi information minister, Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf. As you can tell, we're having some problems getting the translation to you. We're working on that. We will get it for you momentarily.
Let's listen.
SAHAF (through translator): She hit one of these armored vehicles with an RPG. In Nasiriya City yesterday the mercenaries intensified their air bombardment on the civilian neighborhoods. Even it was night but the heroes of the Baath Party resisted. In the same sector there is a road intersection. There is a road that goes from Nasiriya to Shabaush (ph). There were a force, a group of these Americans and the heroes of the Baath Party and the people, as if they knew that this going to go that way, they resisted them and killed three of them, maybe more. And the Americans ran away.
There is an intersection in Nasiriya where the road, at the crossroad, the Americans went there and the Baath Party fighters were expecting them so they attacked them and killed three of them. More information will be available later.
In English briefly, because it's very (UNINTELLIGIBLE) for the Arab media
(CROSSTALK)
SAHAF: Briefly, in another place in the south...
(CROSSTALK)
SAHAF (through translator): In another area in the south around Nasiriya and across the road in Jabayash (ph), some Americans were dropped there and were received by some of the Baath Party fighters, where they attacked them and killed three of them.
The other thing is we will tell you later. I will come with more information. They did notice the following. I would like you to pay our fighters, the Baath Party fighters and the people fighting the colonialists, I would like you to pay attention to this fact. They noticed the colonialist forces, American colonialist forces started to make sounds of explosions. They said that this is a strategic of shock and run. These losers, they have some canisters where they make it sound explosions, as if there is bombing. And nothing happens. No destruction. You would find some nails and some pieces of wood. But what is more important for them is the sound.
Therefore these losers, they expect that by making these explosive sounds, that people will be afraid and get paralyzed and will fall apart. But in reality what happened is that the fighters of the Baath Party and our people and the tribesmen discovered this game and then they used it against the Americans to scare them. Wait for some surprises how the American game is going to be reflected on them. The shock is their shock now. They are really shocked. They are shocked that nobody received them with flowers but with bullets. Now we know the game and they're going to be shocked.
I would like to tell you that these kind of bombs that they are using extensively is only just empty shells and this is a losing game.
I have a comment about this matter. It seems that the prime minister of Britain said in the parliament that he expects a decisive battle. I say yes, it is a decisive battle. This he should ask where are the bodies of the dead British soldiers? This battle is going to be decisive, but it's going to be against them.
Yesterday, I told you that about the air bombardment. Yesterday they attacked civilian neighborhoods in Baghdad in the area of Suprasurgh and there are three wounded in this area in this area. In Nanayra (ph) there is nine wounded and one martyr. In Najaf, air bombardment and battles, 29 wounded and six martyrs. In other areas they bombed civilians with, we have 50 injured. This is yesterday's casualties.
As far as Baghdad...
(CROSSTALK)
SAHAF: ... 29 injured and six martyrs and in al-Anbar, 50 injured and eight martyrs. Thank you.
COOPER: You've been listening to a press conference from the Iraqi information minister.
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Aired March 25, 2003 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: It is 5:00 a.m. here on the East Coast.
Let's take a look at the latest developments at this hour.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We do have this just in to CNN. And I want to read you this from the wire. This is from Reuters. We understand now that the southern Iraqi port town of Umm Qasr, where U.S. and British forces have faced Iraqi resistance for days is now safe and open. That's according to a British commander.
Brigadier General Jim Dutton, commander of the British Royal Marines 3rd Commando Brigade told reporters that he hoped the first ship bringing humanitarian aid into Iraq would arrive within the next 48 hours. Again, Umm Qasr, which is in the southeastern part of Iraq and is a major port there, one of the major ports of Iraq, humanitarian aid should be coming in there and coalition forces have now taken control of that.
But just to the north in Basra, that's certainly not the case. Basra, as a matter of fact, is now considered a legitimate military target. That is the word from British military officials, who have determined that Iraqi forces are regrouping in the city. It's not immediately clear how coalition forces will attempt to wear down Iraqi military forces inside Basra.
And we have confirmation a British soldier was killed on Monday in an operation near Basra. It happened while British troops were trying to capture two men believed to be senior members of the Baath Party, which is, of course, Saddam Hussein's power base. At least one of those men was captured.
And Kuwaitis have begun sending humanitarian aid to Iraq, even though a senior Iraqi official says the country doesn't need it. The plan is to provide about 45,000 meals a day to be delivered to Iraqis as soon as it is feasible and safe. And as I just said, the port of Umm Qasr now is under coalition control, and that means humanitarian aid should be coming into that port within 48 hours.
Back to the battle zone now. U.S. Marines face a new fight in Syria. CNN's Art Harris is in -- or Nasiriya, rather. CNN's Art Harris is embedded with the U.S. Marines in that area. He says as the Marines drove through the city there was gunfire all around them and the Iraqis have destroyed several U.S. vehicles. We also understand a terrible sandstorm is happening right there now, along with rain. Nasty conditions in Nasiriya this morning. Also, the U.S. Navy is planning on enlisting trained dolphins to locate mines in the waters around Umm Qasr. Mine sweeping operations by U.S. and Australian forces have been under way in that port city since the beginning of the war. Coalition forces plan to us Umm Qasr as a port for humanitarian aid.
COOPER: A lot has been happening. Coming up in the next hour on CNN's coverage on the war in Iraq, U.S. intelligence suggests Iraqi forces may, and we say may, use chemical weapons on U.S. troops if they get near Baghdad. Chris Plante shares what he's heard on that possibility straight ahead in a live report from the Pentagon.
Also, get the results of a CNN poll. We asked Americans how many casualties they expect in this war. The feedback is interesting, to say the least. We'll have that coming up.
We'll also be taking you to the front lines for live reports from our embedded reporters. Nobody has more people deployed in the field. Our coverage of the war in Iraq continues right now.
COSTELLO: And you're looking at a live picture out of Baghdad, where Operation Iraqi Freedom enters its sixth day. A peaceful shot here, but we understand bombs are being dropped on Baghdad throughout the morning, the target supposedly Saddam Hussein International Airport.
COOPER: Good morning, everyone.
It is 1:00 p.m. in Baghdad, as you see there, 5:00 a.m. here on the East Coast of the United States, Tuesday, March 25th.
From CNN global headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Anderson Cooper.
COSTELLO: And I'm Carol Costello.
Thanks so much for joining us this morning.
Time now for an early briefing on the stories that will be news later today.
President Bush unveils his new war budget request this morning at the Pentagon. Officials say it'll be about $75 billion and he wants congressional approval by April 11. Also at the Pentagon, the daily war briefing will be held at 1:30 p.m. Eastern Time. CNN will bring that to you live, as always. And this month's consumer confidence report comes out today. We'll see what effect, if any, the war is having on consumers. We know what effect it's having on the stock market right now.
COOPER: That's right.
We're going to look right now at where coalition forces are operating right now in Iraq. The U.S. Army's 101st Airborne is moving toward Baghdad from the southwest. Let's take a look at this graphic right here. They're moving toward Baghdad from the southwest, the 101st Airborne right there. It's on the left. The Third Army's lead element, the 7th Cavalry, and the first Marines battling Iraqi forces in Nasiriya.
Now, U.S. forces have an air field in western Iraq, that's H3 in the graphic on the left hand side of your screen. It also appears more special forces are pouring into the north. This is a relatively new development. U.S. General Tommy Franks says American, British and Australian special forces are operating in the north as well as across Iraq.
That's a quick look at what's happening across Iraq right now.
COSTELLO: And also a little more than an hour ago, an Iraqi government official talked about the humanitarian aid the U.S. and Britain say they want to bring into Iraq at Umm Qasr. Basically that Iraqi official says his country doesn't need the aid.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MUHAMMED MEHDI SALIH, IRAQI TRADE MINISTER: The evil administration represented by Bush and Blair are hunting the people of Iraq, not just by bombs that they are dropping every day on the citizens and invading their holy land, which they are going to be buried in, but now they are preventing food and medicine from the people of Iraq.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: And he's talking about the U.N.'s Oil For Food program, which he thinks should be started up again.
Let's go live to Jordan now to check in with Rym Brahimi -- Rym, you're pretty much of an expert on all things Iraq. You've certainly been stationed in Baghdad for a long time and you're out of there right now.
What do you make of that press conference and the one that happened after it?
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, a couple of points, Carol. Definitely the trade minister keen to send the message that Iraq has prepared also for the eventuality of disruption of food. Now, that was one of the main fears not only of humanitarian aid workers, but, of course, this would have consequences on the Iraqi government.
The main concern of the Iraqi government has been with regard to the civilian population, to make sure that they don't need to go out for anything, that they don't need to demand food, that they can stay at home and have what they need. That would also probably prevent risks of social unrest in their view.
Now, the trade minister made the point that despite the disruption of the Oil For Food program, despite the disruption of the food distribution throughout Iraq by the United Nations and other international humanitarian aid groups, well, the Iraqi government has provided for Iraqi people. He has, the Iraqi government has made sure that six months worth of foodstuffs have been distributed to various cities in order to make sure Iraqi people do not need extra help from anyone else outside of the Iraqi government.
COSTELLO: And Rym...
BRAHIMI: Let's go to the -- yes? Go ahead, Carol.
COSTELLO: I was just going to clarify the Oil For Food program. Kofi Annan, the secretary general of the United Nations, suspended that at the start of these hostilities. That Iraqi trade minister wants Kofi Annan to start it up again. But that's unlikely to happen, isn't it?
BRAHIMI: Well, it would be very difficult, Carol, indeed. When the humanitarian aid workers that are in charge of the Oil For Food program in Iraq pulled out, the Iraqi foreign minister was furious, wrote a letter to the U.N. secretary general complaining about that, saying that it contradicted the United Nations' responsibilities to help the Iraqi people.
As you know, the Oil For Food program was set up to help the Iraqi people compensate for the sanctions imposed by the United Nations and it has helped them survive the sanctions in the past years, since '96, when the Oil For Food program came into effect.
COSTELLO: OK, thanks for clarifying the...
BRAHIMI: Now, of course, they would like it to start again but...
COSTELLO: Right. The other point that I want to make clear is that we recently got word from Reuters that the port city of Umm Qasr is now under coalition control and they say that humanitarian aid will be brought in in the next 48 hours.
The Iraqi trade minister says Iraq doesn't want that humanitarian aid.
BRAHIMI: Well, that was exactly my next point, Carol. You see, Umm Qasr is very strategic because that is where all the Oil for Food, the food that was coming in under that program was coming in and then being distributed from there to the rest of Iraq. Now, of course, the fact that now that is not under Iraqi control directly anymore, that it's still in question, and that now the coalition forces want to be the ones distributing humanitarian aid, of course, that poses a great problem of sovereignty for the Iraqi government, which would be why the trade minister has rejected that offer.
And then, of course, there's what the vice president, Taha Yassin Ramadan, has said about the trade between Jordan and Iraq. He is accusing Jordan of having stopped that trade and, of course, Iraq had been supplied recently, Iraq was supplying Jordan with oil and in exchange for that it was receiving a lot of goods from Jordan. Now, that's stopped because Jordan thinks that the road between Baghdad and Amman basically is not safe anymore. And that's why the vice president came out to denounce the halt of that trade -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Understand. Rym Brahimi, thanks for your insight.
Reporting live from Jordan this morning.
COOPER: All right, we're going go check in with our old friend Bill Hemmer, who is live in Kuwait City, as he has been since the beginning of this conflict -- Bill, what's the latest?
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Anderson, hello.
Carol, hello, as well.
Welcome to Tuesday here in Kuwait.
Already getting indications from the British military that there is some sort of shift in strategy in southeastern Iraq.
Christiane Amanpour broke this story first about two hours ago. She is still in Kuwait with the British military.
We pick things up now with Christiane to find out what's happening and what she's being told -- hello.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bill, indeed, the British have had to change tactics because of the stiffer than expected resistance from the Iraqis, and most particularly because the Iraqis have pulled back into Basra, Iraq's second biggest town in the south. And what's happened is they had expected, the British had briefed us several days ago, that elements of the 51st Iraqi Army division had surrendered and melted away.
Well, it turns out that, in fact, these troops have moved back into the civilian population of Basra. They've gone with their, all their heavy equipment, their tanks, artillery and their infantry. And from there they are challenging British forces.
Now, that means the British have now called Basra a military target, in order to wear down those Iraqi troops, they hope, and then to open up the way for the delivery of humanitarian aid this is a shift because originally the British had said they were going to bypass Basra, in a sense, and not take it on militarily and just hope that they would be welcomed, that the any kind of military resistance would melt away, surrender, come on side, so to speak. This has not happened.
Now, of course, this means that it is a potential problem for U.K. forces because it's not only difficult and high risk to fight in urban areas, but it means that Iraq has now taken the advantage when it comes to Basra. In other words, they're bringing in the reporter to fight on the Iraqi terms and Iraq has always wanted to bring them into street fighting, estimating that, A, they could cause significant casualties on the U.S., or, indeed, U.K. forces, or they would force the U.K. or U.S. forces to cause significant civilian casualties, which they don't want to do.
This is what the British colonel, Chris Vernon, who's a military spokesman, told us about how they were now going to have to engage the Iraqi forces in Basra.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COL. CHRIS VERNON, BRITISH MILITARY SPOKESMAN: We're on the outskirts of Basra. We're seizing fleeting opportunities as he brings his tanks out to the rear outskirts, engaging with direct fire tanks and, indeed, artillery, but only onto the outskirts, where we're pretty clear we're not going to inflict collateral damage on civilians.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AMANPOUR: Now, they have had other engagements in Basra. They have had 11 exchanges of artillery between the Iraqi and the British forces. That was over a 10 hour period yesterday. That's quite heavy fighting. And they also have launched an offensive, the British forces, against a town south of Basra called Azuber (ph), and that was aimed at Baath Party buildings. They were trying to take out key Baath Party officials. These are the officials of the ruling Iraqi Baath Party. They apparently took one.
Now, the aim of that is to try to separate the political leadership from the civilians in that area.
So that's what's going on in our sector of Iraq -- Bill.
HEMMER: Sounds like quite a bit.
Thanks, Christiane.
Christiane Amanpour again with the British military.
Meanwhile back here in Kuwait, several hours ago Iraqi television put a broadcast up of the two latest American POWs. These are the pilots who were piloting that American Apache helicopter that went down yesterday inside of Iraq.
They are described as Chief Warrant Officers David Williams of Florida, age 30, and Chief Warrant Officer Ronald Young, Jr. from Georgia, age 26.
Now, the Apache had some sort of landing in southern Iraq yesterday. Where, we're not sure. But we, it's our understanding somewhere about 60, maybe 80 miles south of Baghdad. The Pentagon says it appeared to be mechanical, not shot down, as the Iraqis claim. Yesterday at a briefing in Baghdad they say farmers took down this Apache chopper. The Pentagon says that is flat out not true.
This adds now to the list of POWs taken on Sunday. All five with the U.S. Army, Specialist Joseph Hudson, Private First Class Patrick Miller, Specialist Shoshana Johnson, Specialist Edgar Henderson and Sergeant James Riley. All taken in an ambush as they were working on a convoy at the rear, going to the southern town of Nasiriya.
We still understand yet again today there have been sporadic fire fights within the town of Nasiriya, where the U.S. Marines right now are trying to take at least two separate bridges right there in the southern part of Iraq, considered very key supply routes going up on that highway north eventually toward Baghdad.
The ambush picture we saw, we have seen now for the past two days running of that convoy when it was hit, again, deep on that supply route in southern Iraq.
We are going to talk with one family member, a family member related to one of these pilots now being held by the Iraqis. Again, two Apache helicopter pilots taken and shown on Iraqi television earlier today.
We'll get more on this. We're also going to get more, Carol, on the story you're talking about. Umm Qasr said to be in control of the coalition forces right now, quite critical in this effort to get humanitarian aid moving.
A bit later in our hour, Daryn Kagan is at a warehouse here in Kuwait City to talk about these massive amounts of humanitarian aid that are essentially sitting there on the floor of this warehouse waiting to move but at this point they have not gone yet. More on that when we get it.
But now back to Anderson and Carol at the CNN Center.
COOPER: All right, Bill, thanks very much.
You know, Tommy Franks, in his first press conference the other day, said that the key to the coalition's strategy has got to be -- is flexibility and that it is a very flexible plan. We are seeing that certainly today. Apparently word from CNN correspondents aboard some aircraft carriers that there is a shift in the air campaign, perhaps less bombing of fixed targets, more hitting targets of opportunity, close air support for troops on the ground.
Also, as Christiane just reported, changes perhaps now in seeing Basra as a military target. There's a lot changing, a lot moving very fast on the ground despite these sandstorms, which are affecting a lot of the troops in the south central part of Iraq.
Let's go to Chris Plante, who is at the Pentagon, for an update -- Chris, what do you have?
CHRIS PLANTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, just adding to what you were saying there, Anderson, one of the favorite sayings that the military has is no plan survives first contact with the enemy, and that's certainly the case in this instance. But the, on the top of the ledger today at the Pentagon is the threat of chemical weapons. There are intelligence reports coming from U.S. intelligence that suggest that the Iraqi leadership has passed orders along to some of their top commanders in the Republican Guard unit surrounding Baghdad that if the coalition forces, U.S. and British ground forces pass a certain point, which they are calling a red line -- they're saying there's a red line that's been drawn around the city of Baghdad, U.S. intelligence is -- and that if the coalition forces come past this point, that the Republican Guard units are instructed to use chemical weapons against them.
This is, of course, a matter of great concern, it has been all along in this conflict. Great lengths have been gone to by the coalition forces in preparation for this possibility, but there's sort of a new alarm being sounded by intelligence that this threat is back, even though we've seen no evidence of it so far in this conflict -- Anderson.
COOPER: All right, Chris Plante live at the Pentagon.
Thanks very much for the update.
We should just let our viewers know, we just found out at 6:30 a.m. Eastern Time Jack Straw is going to be making statements at the House of Commons. That's 6:30 a.m. Eastern Time, in about an hour and 10 minutes or so, and we will bring those comments to you live, Jack Straw from Great Britain.
Right?
COSTELLO: Oh, we want to take you now to northern Iraq. We were just getting word on where we're going next.
We're going to Kevin Sites, who's been -- well, you've been hearing some artillery fire and some bombs dropping, I guess, all morning long.
Are things quiet now, Kevin?
KEVIN SITES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Things have been quiet for about the last hour, Carol. But probably for the most of the morning and some of the afternoon we've heard a series of explosions going off in the direction of Kirkuk. To remind our viewers again, we're about 40 kilometers away from Kirkuk.
There has been much talk about the opening of a northern front. This could be the beginning of an air war that actually sets up that northern front.
Now, what's happened here as far as we can tell has not been as significant or as extreme as what's been happening in Mosul. Our colleagues Ben Wedeman and Brent Sadler have been reporting on a very fierce bombing attack that has occurred there last night. The bombing that's been seen from our position here has been somewhat infrequent, perhaps in an hour, maybe six to eight explosions, and then several explosions following that, you know, every half an hour or so.
But it is definitely in the direction of Kirkuk, which is directly west of us, as well as in the direction southeast of possibly the Iraqi Almathena (ph) Brigade or, I'm sorry, the Almathena (ph) Division. That's a fully equipped Iraqi division that is between us and Kirkuk and that will be a division that will have to be dealt with if there is going to be a coalition advance towards Kirkuk.
Now, also, yesterday morning the position where we are, there is a front line Iraqi force right in front of us on a hilltop position. They are lightly equipped with a Dushka machine gun and anti-aircraft weapons and they were actually bombed, according to our Peshmerga sources, with about six to eight bombs on this ridge top. The Peshmergas say they saw the Iraqis bringing down their wounded away from that line of fire. But we were here about 45 minutes after that and we could see them walking around on that hilltop fairly nonchalantly.
But, again, there is talk about opening of a northern front. If that's the case, this is at least the air war beginning of that northern front. We've yet to see a lot of forces on the ground, or really any forces on the ground aside from the presence of the U.S. Marine general yesterday farther north from here announcing the presence of U.S. forces here. In what way they'll work with the Peshmerga, we're not quite sure yet. But we'll wait to see that in the coming days -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, I know I've lost audio contact with Kevin, so I'm going to have to wrap him up. And when he says the establishment of a northern front, he means that coalition forces are softening Iraqi targets out there so that perhaps coalition forces can advance to Baghdad from the north.
And, of course, Kirkuk is very important because of the oil fields there -- Anderson.
COOPER: We want to give just a sense of the broad overview of what is going on in Iraq right now.
For that, we turn to our military desk.
CNN's Renay San Miguel and Brigadier General David Grange -- Renay.
RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Anderson.
Yes, it's -- our job is to take the big picture look here.
Joining us is our military analyst, Retired Army General David Grange.
And a couple of the events that we've reported over just the past couple of hours, Basra now a legitimate military target, according to Christiane Amanpour and her quoting British military sources. Before it was just we're going to leave the heavy battles for another time in Basra, just kind of move on and surround it. Now they have to go into the city.
BRIG. GEN. DAVID GRANGE, U.S. ARMY (RET.): Yes, I think how they go into the city, though, is not what a lot of people may be perceiving. The city is surrounded. However, the coalition forces don't have control of it. But the problem with Basra is that you don't want to do a house to house clearing operation.
So I think you're going to see two types of tactics used. One's going to be you're going to see specialized task forces organized to go in to take down specific known targets of resistance of the paramilitary forces. And then you're going to see an effort to get the people to continue internally to put pressure on these paramilitary forces because they really want to get that, get that off their back. They really want to be liberated.
SAN MIGUEL: OK. And we want to give -- we have some satellite imagery provided by Earthviewer.com and Digital Globe of the city of Basra here. As you see, I mean I'm not sure from what you can look at here, how does the city itself and what's around it, you know, describe, dictate the tactics, I guess, in other words?
GRANGE: Well, yes, again, it's, you know, it's a large city, 1.2 million, I believe. And so they have to be very careful of how much, how many troops get absorbed into this fight.
SAN MIGUEL: Sure.
GRANGE: And it could just eat up thousands of troops. And so the idea is, again, is that they go in after specific targets once they get the intelligence that, in fact, that's a valid target, and that's a very tough process. But this is asymmetric warfare conducted by the enemy. And asymmetric warfare is something they have to do in order to negate our robust capability.
So that's why the enemy's doing this and it's a tough fight. But there are special tactics to use against this type of force.
SAN MIGUEL: It could be the very first case that we've been talking about since, you know, the possibility of hostilities, of urban combat, modern, 21st century urban combat coming into play here.
GRANGE: Yes, urban combat, but, again, in specific areas, not broad brush, house to house, street to street fight.
SAN MIGUEL: Got you.
Let's come back to the map here and we'll talk about Nasiriya. Another day of heavy fighting there, according to Alessio Vinci, who is embedded with the troops there. And also the weather becoming an issue now with Nasiriya and with the fighting in general, not just sandstorms and heavy winds, but rain and mud for those tanks.
GRANGE: Yes. That's right. You know, you think of desert when you think of Iraq. But there's areas here, especially around the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers that is very tough for armored vehicles to move. And so certain routes are at a premium to move these heavy armored powerful weapons around. And so mud is a factor and you're going to see a lot of recovery operations, in other words, getting these vehicles out of mud or, depending on the combat situation, destroying them in place.
SAN MIGUEL: OK. We'll move on now to the north. There's been a lot of activity in the north now with the bombing and also, we understand, up to 1,000 American troops on the ground. The importance of establishing a northern front as if, later on, you want to attack Baghdad now from three directions, not just two. GRANGE: That's right. And this thousand troops, they're not a thousand fighters. There's a specific command and control element, and that's necessary to start coordinating cohesive efforts between the Kurds and coalition forces to deconflict air strikes, to make sure people are not just running wild around a battlefield, but actually are focused on specific objectives that are key to victory in the north. And then a lot of those personnel are, will call in air strikes.
SAN MIGUEL: OK.
GRANGE: Combat controllers and special forces to do just that. And then working with those people. There's a lot of future humanitarian assistance representatives in the -- civil affairs personnel in order to do that with the Kurds.
SAN MIGUEL: So a wide range of officials, not just those who are, you know, as the phrase, boots on the ground.
GRANGE: Yes, not trigger, just trigger pullers.
SAN MIGUEL: Got you.
GRANGE: Yes.
SAN MIGUEL: Got you. Got you. And we just, we heard Kevin Sites talk about some heavy air strikes that apparently are being called in around Kirkuk and Mosul, as well. So some softening up apparently going on there.
We want to wrap up now with Baghdad. Again, we have some satellite imagery of what's going on, from what Frank Buckley has told us, they're starting to, the aircraft are starting to target around Saddam International Airport.
The strategic importance here?
GRANGE: Yes, well all the airports are key terrain. And there's many around Baghdad, especially military bases to the south. The International Airport, of course, is a critical piece of key terrain for future operations around Baghdad. It may be used in the future to move in coalition forces as a jumping point. It's outside of Baghdad. It may be key to control the western approaches to Baghdad.
SAN MIGUEL: OK. We will have to leave it there.
But we are going to come back to you later on in the morning, talk more about what we've heard about the possibility of chemical weapons coming into play, the so-called red line that's been drawn around Baghdad.
GRANGE: The red line, yes.
SAN MIGUEL: We'll talk with you later.
But General Grange, thanks for joining us this morning. GRANGE: Thank you, Renay.
SAN MIGUEL: Anderson, Carol, back on over to you.
COOPER: All right, and we are going to go to a press conference now for the Iraqi information minister.
Let's listen in.
MOHAMMED SAAED AL SAHAF, IRAQI INFORMATION MINISTER (through translator): Our heroes, the Baathists, did very well in Almathana (ph) country, especially on the southern outskirts. And once we get all the information, we'll provide you with all, with details.
In the Surgh (ph) area...
(speaking in English): The second war theater, battlefield, is Suprasurgh (ph) after Mothena (ph). And there there is a bridge which links the surroundings with the highway with the Euphrates cities. A battle has taken place there and the Arabashush Party (ph) five times have...
(CROSSTALK)
SAHAF: ... and destroyed three...
(CROSSTALK)
SAHAF: The more important thing is among...
(CROSSTALK)
SAHAF: ... destroyed one of the...
(CROSSTALK)
SAHAF: Her name is Massoud Hamid Abdullah (ph). She is an Iraqi lady. She is a hero, a heroine. Massoud Hamid Abdullah (ph).
QUESTION: Minister, can you bring her to Baghdad?
(CROSSTALK)
SAHAF: Massoud Hamid Abdullah (ph).
QUESTION: What did she destroy?
SAHAF: She destroyed one of the RPGs in Suprasurgh in the south.
QUESTION: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)?
SAHAF: In Nasiriya...
(speaking in Arabic)
COSTELLO: All right, we're listening to the Iraqi information minister, Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf. As you can tell, we're having some problems getting the translation to you. We're working on that. We will get it for you momentarily.
Let's listen.
SAHAF (through translator): She hit one of these armored vehicles with an RPG. In Nasiriya City yesterday the mercenaries intensified their air bombardment on the civilian neighborhoods. Even it was night but the heroes of the Baath Party resisted. In the same sector there is a road intersection. There is a road that goes from Nasiriya to Shabaush (ph). There were a force, a group of these Americans and the heroes of the Baath Party and the people, as if they knew that this going to go that way, they resisted them and killed three of them, maybe more. And the Americans ran away.
There is an intersection in Nasiriya where the road, at the crossroad, the Americans went there and the Baath Party fighters were expecting them so they attacked them and killed three of them. More information will be available later.
In English briefly, because it's very (UNINTELLIGIBLE) for the Arab media
(CROSSTALK)
SAHAF: Briefly, in another place in the south...
(CROSSTALK)
SAHAF (through translator): In another area in the south around Nasiriya and across the road in Jabayash (ph), some Americans were dropped there and were received by some of the Baath Party fighters, where they attacked them and killed three of them.
The other thing is we will tell you later. I will come with more information. They did notice the following. I would like you to pay our fighters, the Baath Party fighters and the people fighting the colonialists, I would like you to pay attention to this fact. They noticed the colonialist forces, American colonialist forces started to make sounds of explosions. They said that this is a strategic of shock and run. These losers, they have some canisters where they make it sound explosions, as if there is bombing. And nothing happens. No destruction. You would find some nails and some pieces of wood. But what is more important for them is the sound.
Therefore these losers, they expect that by making these explosive sounds, that people will be afraid and get paralyzed and will fall apart. But in reality what happened is that the fighters of the Baath Party and our people and the tribesmen discovered this game and then they used it against the Americans to scare them. Wait for some surprises how the American game is going to be reflected on them. The shock is their shock now. They are really shocked. They are shocked that nobody received them with flowers but with bullets. Now we know the game and they're going to be shocked.
I would like to tell you that these kind of bombs that they are using extensively is only just empty shells and this is a losing game.
I have a comment about this matter. It seems that the prime minister of Britain said in the parliament that he expects a decisive battle. I say yes, it is a decisive battle. This he should ask where are the bodies of the dead British soldiers? This battle is going to be decisive, but it's going to be against them.
Yesterday, I told you that about the air bombardment. Yesterday they attacked civilian neighborhoods in Baghdad in the area of Suprasurgh and there are three wounded in this area in this area. In Nanayra (ph) there is nine wounded and one martyr. In Najaf, air bombardment and battles, 29 wounded and six martyrs. In other areas they bombed civilians with, we have 50 injured. This is yesterday's casualties.
As far as Baghdad...
(CROSSTALK)
SAHAF: ... 29 injured and six martyrs and in al-Anbar, 50 injured and eight martyrs. Thank you.
COOPER: You've been listening to a press conference from the Iraqi information minister.
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