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CNN Live Today

Snowstorm Slows Progress

Aired March 25, 2003 - 10:01   ET

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


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


LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Here is what we have for you at this hour.
On the move and under fire, the U.S. 7th Cavalry is battling a blinding sandstorm. They've been in the sandstorm for hours now. And in this sandstorm, a hail of bullets.

Now, as these troops are pressing on toward Baghdad, we are live on the road to the Iraqi capital in just a matter of minutes.

Securing the south hasn't been very easy. U.S. Marines are continuing the battle for control of bridges in Nasiriya. That's a strategic town that spans the Euphrates River. The sandstorm has hampered fighting there, but the U.S. military says they are making progress nonetheless.

Britain's Tony Blair says more difficult days lie ahead for coalition forces. The prime minister says the troops will be up against resistance up until the end of the campaign. Those comments come as Mr. Blair prepares to meet with President Bush tomorrow. They'll be talking about postwar Iraq.

And now, in other news, we have this from the battle front to the Balkans. Police have arrested a suspect in connection with the killing of the Serbian prime minister two weeks ago. The suspect is said to be a former deputy commander of an elite unit of police troops under former president Slobodan Milosevic.

Stay with us. We go back now to Paula Zahn, standing by in New York with CNN's continuing coverage of war in Iraq.

PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning and welcome. I'm Paula Zahn.

Here at CNN, we're working through the flood of video pouring into our system to bring you some images of the day.

A howling snowstorm or -- excuse me, a howling sandstorm, which our own Walt Rodgers likened to a blizzard of sand, swirls much across much of Iraq, slowing the coalition assault by air and land.

Allied forces slowed to a crawl as they advanced on Baghdad. Combat missions from two aircraft carriers were canceled.

Images from behind the enemy lines. Iraq releases videotape of two U.S. Apache pilots captured yesterday. The men, one from Florida, one from Georgia, now bring to seven the total number of Americans declared as POWs.

And a new wave of warriors. The U.S. Navy is bringing in trained dolphins to hunt for mines in the waters around Umm Qasr. Navy officials say the animals will seek out floating mines and mark them for Navy divers to inspect.

Then, when worlds collide. Modern weaponry shares the battlefield with the native inhabitants of the Middle East. While coalition forces view camels mostly as a curious oddity, CNN's Art Harris says that especially in the early days of the drive to Baghdad, wandering herds could block roads and actually slow down the advance of speeding convoys.

Now, trying to get the view from the White House, let's check in with senior White House correspondent John King.

John, we understand the president is going to make an appearance in about 40 minutes from now. What's he expected to say?

JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: One, Paula, the president will try to rally the troops. Number two, he will try to tell the American people his estimate of how much this war will cost, at least over the next six months.

Mr. Bush has left the White House. He's at the Pentagon now in a classified briefing. Earlier today here at the White House, he had a meeting with his national security team. We saw Condoleezza Rice, his national security adviser, and Vice President Cheney heading into that morning session here.

A more detailed classified briefing at the Pentagon, and then Mr. Bush, about a little more than 35 minutes away from now, will deliver remarks in the Eisenhower Dining Room at the Pentagon. In those remarks, we are told by a senior official, Mr. Bush will salute the progress he thinks is being made in the war campaign. And he also will unveil officially the war budget he will ask the Congress to pass on an emergency basis.

Mr. Bush is asking for just below $75 billion. About $63 billion of that, $62.6 billion of the emergency request will go straight to the Defense Department, most of that to prosecute the war over the next six months in Iraq.

There is almost $8 billion in reconstruction and aid. That money falls under the State Department. Some goes for humanitarian assistance inside Iraq. A good deal of it goes to foreign aid to Israel, to Jordan, to Egypt, and other nations participating in the coalition or affected by the war effort.

There's also about $4 billion for homeland security, emergency funding here at home. Obviously the administration says there's an increased risk of terrorist attack during this war. Look for that number to grow in the Congress. Many Democrats and some Republicans say that's not enough money for homeland security improvements. Look for that number to grow as well. Mr. Bush will ask the Congress to pass this bill within a matter of three weeks. So far, both Democrats and Republicans say there will be some debate over the specifics, but they do think they'll get it here before Congress goes home for an Easter recess.

Also on the president's agenda, he will travel first tomorrow to the Central Command headquarters in Tampa, Florida, to rally the troops there and get a briefing on the war effort.

Then he will head directly to Camp David. The British prime minister, Tony Blair, arrives Wednesday night. He will go to the presidential retreat as well. He and Mr. Bush will have some casual conversation Wednesday night and more formal talks on Thursday. And then, we are told to expect some conversations with reporters, Blair and Bush, Thursday up at Camp David, Paula.

ZAHN: Let me just ask you about the language you've seen in this budget request. Some are saying that in it is an estimate by the Pentagon that combat operations could last for about 30 days. Can you clarify that for us, John?

KING: You won't find it in the budget documents. What the White House is saying is that this is funding for an operation for six months, and then, after six months, we run into the next fiscal year.

But what we are told is, in formulating this budget in conversations with key members of Congress and senior administration officials, the Pentagon is envisioning a -- the first phase of combat to go roughly 30 days, it's a rough guesstimate, they would say at the Pentagon. They have to make an estimate.

If you project a budget, you have to -- how many bullets will you need, how many bombs will you need, how much support of the troops from the field would you need? So you've heard Secretary Rumsfeld talk publicly about combat operations lasting weeks, not months.

One senior official calls this a high-intensity, short-duration conflict. And in trying to come up with a budget proposal, their guesstimate, and they say it's very rough right now, is that the first phase, where you have the most intense combat, will go roughly 30 days.

ZAHN: Finally, John, there's a lot of analysis this morning that this request was based on the conclusion that the government of the Iraqi president will not fold quickly. Can you add to our understanding of that?

KING: Well, that's one of the reasons you have six months of funding here and continued operations. This budget does not include any of the money for peacekeeping forces beyond six months from now. And everyone in the administration acknowledges U.S. troops will be there for a period of years.

The administration is adopting, if you will, a worst-case scenario in how it publicly talks about this. And you'll hear this from the president in just a few minutes, saying that the battle for Baghdad, the key phase of this war to topple the regime completely, could take longer and could be more dangerous than many, perhaps, in the public were believing, heading into this conflict.

As to how long, no one in the administration wants to set a hard figure, because then they, of course, would be judged by that figure. But we are told that we're just now beginning to get the siege of Baghdad. No one here wants to talk about how long that will take. But they say the president will emphasize today, tomorrow, Thursday, and beyond that it could take a while, and there could be more U.S. casualties.

ZAHN: Thanks. John. We'd love to you stand by, so we can talk you shortly, after the president deliver those remarks at 10:40 from the Pentagon.

Right now, we go back to Kuwait City and Bill -- Bill.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, Paula, one of the big stories today certainly has been the weather north of here in Iraq. It's been rather mild here in Kuwait City, not really feeling the full front of this just yet.

It's highlighted today in the local newspaper, "The Arab Times," it describes itself as the first English-language daily here in Kuwait. "Sand and Saddam Slow the March."

Now, we do expect this weather pattern to continue possibly for another 24 hours, maybe longer. We're waiting for word on that.

In the northern part of the country, even before you get to the Iraq border there, already it's kicking pretty hard. Christiane Amanpour is feeling the brunt of that. She's with the Brits, talking not only about the weather, Christiane, but also about this shift in military strategy as it applies to Basra. Hello again to you. Good evening.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bill, good evening from over here, the divisional field headquarters of the British.

And there are quite a lot of activities to report. There has been some engagements between the British and the Iraqis, who are resisting inside Basra. That is now the main area of concern for the British army. And they are being forced to change their tactics because of the stronger than expected resistance that they are facing there.

So Basra is now becoming a military objective, whereas earlier we were told that it was not, that the British had hoped to be welcomed in. But instead, because the Iraqi army 51st Division, which was defending Basra, has now withdrawn into Basra, along with its tanks, its artillery, and its infantry troops, and is engaging British forces outside in tank and artillery jewels, now the British have to go, want to go, and neutralize that in order, they say, to be able to take humanitarian aid in.

So they are having to change tactics, and they are acknowledging that the Iraqis are now trying to draw them into this battle on their own terms, trying to draw them into urban warfare.

And there are not only these Iraqi army elements but also the Saddam Fedayeen, the so-called irregular elements, in which they have these regime militias, if you like, who are used to being used for the suppression of internal dissent, are now being put into these cities to try to ward off any kind of incursions or attempt by the British and coalition forces to take those cities intact.

So that is what's going on. And, of course, as I say, the main objective is to try to get humanitarian aid into Basra. But as we were told today, that could take slightly longer than everybody had hoped here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COL. CHRIS VERNON, BRITISH MILITARY SPOKESMAN: We've always wanted to get humanitarian aid into Basra. That's why we took the port of Umm Qasr, so that we could bring it up there. We've achieved that. We can't get it into Basra because now they've pulled back military forces into Basra that we were not there when we embarked on this four days ago. The forces in there are both conventional and irregular. We've got to now wear those forces down to facilitate humanitarian entries into Basra.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AMANPOUR: So there you have it in a nutshell. Because of very stiff resistance inside Basra, because they've put themselves there in the middle of the civilian population, because the British forces do not want to cause civilian casualties, they don't want to go in there killing civilians. They've got a tough job to do now in trying to take out and destroy this resistance.

And as Colonel Vernon, you just heard say that finally, after several days of battling these pockets of resistance in the crucial port of Umm Qasr, they now say that they have that finally and fully under control, Bill.

HEMMER: All right, Christiane, thanks. Christiane Amanpour right near the Iraqi border with the British military.

We've heard this topic about humanitarian aid almost every hour now for the past couple of days. Best guess from CENTCOM today, quote, "a short number of days," end quote. They pushed him on it at that briefing today, but they would not get any more specific than "a short number of days."

Want to get back to desert. In Iraq, Dr. Sanjay Gupta back with us by way of telephone. And he has experienced the brunt of that sandstorm, knocking essentially all the medical equipment and supplies to the desert floor. Sanjay's back again this hour with more. Sanjay, What do you have?

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Bill.

Yes, lots of activity out here where we are in central Iraq, as you know, with the Devil Docs, that is -- they are the Naval doctors that support the Marines.

First of all, a little while ago, a few hours ago, we were told to hunker down, to put on all of our gear and get down. There had been a breach of a company-sized convoy actually heading our way, and apparently breached the perimeter. Several of the Marines -- again, this is not a combat unit but more of a medical unit -- went ahead and established an inner perimeter around the camp.

Again, a company-sized convoy was apparently spotted within the perimeter. And that breach, that sort of high alert, is still continuing here around this particular medical corps.

Also, Bill, as you mentioned, the sandstorm is just wreaking complete havoc on everything, knocking down a few huge tents, very large tents, tents that typically hold 100 people. They were holding lots of medical supplies. They were triage tents to basically take the wounded and assess them.

A couple of them, as you say, Bill, being knocked right down to the ground. Marines working very actively to try and get that equipment back into clean tents, clean that thing up, and establish the tents again. They are still working hard on that, Bill.

Right around me, you know, I'm standing in front of another tent called the Jump Ward tent. This particular tent is where Iraqi soldiers who are wounded are brought, ones who do not need operations, ones who are still awake enough to be able to speak, and intelligence officers as well as translators making their way in and out of the tent -- I'm watching that happen as we speak -- continuously trying to get any information that they can, collecting paperwork, etcetera.

Also, Bill, finally, there is a Red Cross truck just to my left here. I was talking to one of the doctors earlier about that truck. This truck contains two Marines who were killed in action. Earlier today, a temporary mortuary was being set up at this particular site for that reason as well, Bill.

HEMMER: Very, very sobering news at the end. Thank you, Sanjay. Be good out there and be safe too. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, as he mentioned, somewhere in south central Iraq with the Devil Docs, a unit of the U.S. Marines.

Now Paula again in New York -- Paula.

ZAHN: Thanks, Bill.

Walt Rodgers is also among those embedded reporters getting slapped around by this terrible weather. He's with the U.S. Army's 3rd Squad, 7th Cavalry. He joins us now.

We need to point out, you are going to have a very tough time seeing him because of the lack of visibility there. Earlier, he told us he could only see out maybe 40 yards in front of him. You're not going to see him, then, but you're going to hear what he and the troops he's accompanying have been subjected to over the last several hours. Walt, hello again.

WALTER RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Paula.

Actually, that sandstorm has been of aid to the U.S. forces, particularly the 7th Cavalry, as they had crossed the Euphrates River, breached the defense line that the Iraqis had set up. In point of fact, they came under extremely heavy fire. We were traveling in that convoy. There were mortars fired at us, machine guns on both sides of the road.

But what happened is, the sandstorm was so dense, according to an Army officer with whom I spoke, that it actually was like a smokescreen laid down protecting the 7th Cavalry's march northward as they were going in their vehicles.

What happened was, the Iraqis did not want to get closer to the road, that is to say, they didn't want to come within a visual sighting of the convoy, so they just fired wildly in the general direction of the noise of the convoy. The Iraqis standing off probably 200 to 300 meters back in bunkers, but that is no good if you can't see the target you are shooting at.

So it turns out all of the shooting that was coming our way was wild, haphazard, and did no damage, that is to say, no injuries, I shouldn't say no damage at all.

One interesting aspect of it was, they've shot off some aerials, the Iraqis shot off some of the aerials of the vehicles in the 7th convoy. And one of my -- one of the officers I know here was telling me that they shot off a whole box of his MREs, his meals and water. But that, of course, doesn't slow an army down that much.

But they came under great fire, and there are holes in some of the soft-skin vehicles. And that gauntlet was something to behold today, Paula.

ZAHN: Even the generals at the CENTCOM briefing, Walt, acknowledge it's not a very comfortable day out in the battlefield. Tell us physically what these troops have been up against. I know you talked about what you were subjected to in terms of incoming fire from the Iraqis, but just on a physical basis, dealing with the sand constantly blowing in your eyes and faces.

RODGERS: Well, Paula, the most difficult thing is simply seeing. And if you're riding in the top of a turret on a Bradley or a main battle tank, you have to look forward, and you have to be able to see. And if you can't see more than 40 meters, it means that a hostile force can come 40 meters or so and approach you and suddenly surprise you with an ambush.

The Iraqis didn't do that today. Generally they stood off. And that was a boon for the 7th Cavalry. And the 7th Cavalry does have optics which, even in a dust storm, they can see 200 to 300 meters away. So the Iraqis who were shooting at the 7th Cavalry were in for a bit of a surprise. They could only shoot at sounds, but the 7th Cav was shooting 50- caliber machine guns and even larger weapons, 25-millimeter cannons, and they were hitting the Iraqis even though they couldn't see them with the naked eye without enhanced vision goggles, Paula.

ZAHN: And Walter, how long this storm expected to last?

RODGERS: I heard 36 hours.

If I could add just a little footnote, Paula, when we approached the bridges with the 7th Cavalry last night, I described a fire fight, which was pretty severe. The sky was ablaze, crisscrossed with tracer fire, rocket-propelled grenades. The Air Force was called in. I wasn't sure how to gauge that. But I spoke with an Army major a few minutes who told me, in his words, quote, "I never want to have to go through that again," Paula.

ZAHN: And you explained that that bridge had been wired with all kinds of explosives, but it was never set off?

RODGERS: In -- that's correct. I'm told there were enormous satchel charges placed under the bridge and around its pilings and piers by the Iraqis, this bridge being over the Euphrates River, of course. And this was the Iraqi regime's defense line.

The problem was, the Iraqis just didn't have time to wire the satchel charges to blow the bridge. And it was actually Bone Crusher Troop of the 7th Cavalry which rushed across so quickly that they were able to seize it before the detonators could be connected. And, of course, the Army engineers very quickly and skillfully came up and neutralized the charges.

Then the rest of the troop, Apache Troop and Crazy Horse Troop, could also follow through, meaning the entire 7th Cavalry's on the north side of the Euphrates River, and Saddam Hussein's best efforts to stop the allied forces from crossing that defense line have failed, Paula.

ZAHN: Well, it sounds like you really have to bear down there and get ready to continue to face the onslaught of not only enemy fire, or fire from the Iraqis, but also the sandstorm.

And folks, just to give you an idea of just how fierce this storm is, Walt explained to us that the sun goes down about 16 -- 6:10 Iraqi time. That was about 10 minutes ago. And that is how pitch-black it is, mostly because of the sand.

Now, Jason Bellini is also fighting the elements this morning. He is with the U.S. Marine Expeditionary Unit of the 15th Artillery. He is on the move once again in southern Iraq. He joins us now by videophone with the very latest from there. Jason, what have you got?

JASON BELLINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Paula, the sandstorm has been hitting us here as well. After four very grueling, arduous, very long days, today was supposed to be a day for maintenance, for resupply, for the men in this infantry division to clean their weapons, and to catch up on a little bit of rest.

As it turns out, the weather hasn't cooperated with that, and their guns just got even more dirty today because we got rain, we got wind, we got sand. Just a really difficult situation for the men here.

We had just moved yesterday from Umm Qasr, where we -- where this particular unit had dealt with a very difficult situation, very, very difficult -- dealt with pockets of resistance and had to face combat with them head on over the last four days.

We're getting ready to move again, and so, as we're sort of weathering this storm, people are packing up and preparing for more travel. So there's real no -- really no rest for the weary here, Paula.

ZAHN: You say you are getting prepared for more travel, and CENTCOM tells us the coalition plan is running on track. But have you given any indication about how the next stage of what you are expected to do might be affected by this weather?

BELLINI: It's hard to say. The interesting thing has been for me that when we first embedded, we were told more or less what the plan was going to be, where we would start, where we -- where they expected to end up with follow-on missions. Well, the plan seems to be changing every day. And it's a bit frustrating for the Marines here, it just shows them just how fluid the situation is.

Just this morning, we got a complete change of plans from where we were supposed to be going, what we were supposed to be doing, a very radical shift that they weren't expecting. Again, probably an indication of how things are going right now, Paula.

ZAHN: Well, we wish you luck. Walt Rodgers says some of the worst thing about fighting these sandstorms is, you don't have any fluid left in your eye. And then he described the thunderstorms on top that, and he said it was just like having mud in your eyes at all times.

Jason Bellini, thanks so much.

Now, the Pentagon is saying that a coalition air strike successfully destroyed an Apache helicopter that had gone down in Iraq. It is standard practice to destroy such technology that could provide any help to the Iraqi forces. The pilots of that gun ship, however, remain in enemy hands, as evidenced by a videotape shot by Iraqi TV.

And earlier this morning, I spoke with the family of one of the men, 26-year-old Ronald D. Young, Jr., of Lithia Springs, Georgia. And I asked his father about how he learned of his son's capture.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RONALD DEWEY YOUNG SR., FATHER OF POW: I went to take care of some errands during the morning, and I'd been hoping all morning that it wasn't his aircraft. Of course, we had one out of six chances, because there were six Vampires in that unit.

And she -- when I came home, the -- one of the friends of my son said that the Army is in there. So I knew right then that, you know, it was a bad situation.

And they told us that he was missing in action. They didn't say he was POW or anything, just missing.

ZAHN: And then how long was it then that it took to find out that, in fact, he had been taken as a POW?

R. YOUNG: Well, that afternoon, we'd been hearing rumors that they had captured the pilots, and, you know, back and forth on the television. And at one time, they said -- one of the rumors said that they had a couple pictures of pilots who had dog tags from that area where he's from. And that -- but they didn't have any real clear cut pictures. So I didn't know if it was something trumped up, and they was -- had done something to them, and they were trying to pass someone else off as them, or if they were still uncaptured or what.

And I was worried about him just being alive at that point.

And a lady brought a tape in to us, and Susan Candiotti brought a tape in to us and showed us a picture of him as being a POW. And it was a great deal of relief at that point to me just to know he was alive.

ZAHN: Wow. You know, it's hard for us, the rest of us, to respond to that, knowing it was a relief that he was alive. You had so many doubts about that.

Mrs. Young, I think folks probably know out there the Apache is one of the most sophisticated helicopters in the world, and your son knew before going into Iraq that he probably would be involved in a dangerous mission. Did he ever talk about the possibility of what might happen once he was deployed?

KAYE YOUNG, MOTHER OF POW: We did. He actually had orders for Afghanistan after 9/11. And then they canceled the orders, and we then had a night that we just embraced and cried and shared feelings. And it just really touched my heart, and I'm glad for that.

And then when -- this time, we just decided we'd already talked about that. And, you know, of course, we talked about many things. And, you know, we're very close. All my children are very close. And I just -- I know that he was prepared for something to happen. He had told me that if he was ever asked to give his life for his country, that he hoped he'd be able to do that honorably.

And he seemed very glad to do that, if that was needed. He supports our president, and he feels like that he's a great leader. And, you know, he's just ready to do whatever he's asked to do.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: That family, yet another tower of strength. Young's crew mate, 30-year-old David S. Williams of Florida, was captured at the same time. And in our next hour, we'll be talking with his wife.

The Pentagon assembles to hear President Bush speak. That gets under way at 10:40 Eastern time, while troops in the field worry about orders that may have been given by Saddam Hussein. U.S. intelligence reports the Iraqi leader may have already given the order of when to use chemical weapons. We're going to look at the so-called trip wire.

And the U.S. Army's 3-7th Cav advances under cover of a blinding sandstorm and pushes through Iraqi defenses at the Euphrates River. Our own Walt Rodgers is embedded with the group and brings us a report on today's heavy fighting.

And as we mentioned, a little bit later on in this hour, President Bush delivers remarks at the Pentagon. We will carry that live, expected to get under way in just about 20 minutes from now.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: Thank you. All right, welcome back to Kuwait City. Once again, to our viewers at home, we're still awaiting the president. He will be at the Pentagon in about 10 or 15 minutes from now. And certainly we'll carry it live for you, his comments from there coming up in a moment.

But before we get there, a number of our embedded reporters now lined up for us to bring us the very latest from their perspective.

Number one in the chute right now is CNN's Ryan Chilcote, by way of telephone, embedded with the 3rd Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division. Again, by telephone, Ryan is in Iraq somewhere. What's the update now, Ryan? Good evening.

RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bill, first, I can tell you we are in southern Iraq, the 101st Airborne, which they've established just the day before yesterday, established a forward operating base that will henceforth known as A.O. Rakkasans, which is the name of the 100 -- 87th Infantry Regiment, it's one of their nicknames.

But as for the sandstorm, I can tell you, it's absolutely unbelievable. I wish I could be talking to you via television, but we had to pack up our dish because it just go so bad. The winds went up to 50 miles per hour over the course of about two minutes.

Actually, what happened was, I was in a briefing. The weather was fine, I went into a briefing. Came out, and the sky was -- I kid you not -- perfectly orange. And this was at 3:30 in the afternoon local time. Just like -- well, as if we were in a different world. As one soldier put it, This is the calm before the storm.

And then just within a half hour, the winds were up at 40, 50 miles per hour.

HEMMER: All right, Ryan, Ryan, I apologize for the interruption, but the president is early at the Pentagon. Let's pick things up there now and talk about the supplemental plan put forward on how to pay for things right now in Iraq.

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Aired March 25, 2003 - 10:01   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Here is what we have for you at this hour.
On the move and under fire, the U.S. 7th Cavalry is battling a blinding sandstorm. They've been in the sandstorm for hours now. And in this sandstorm, a hail of bullets.

Now, as these troops are pressing on toward Baghdad, we are live on the road to the Iraqi capital in just a matter of minutes.

Securing the south hasn't been very easy. U.S. Marines are continuing the battle for control of bridges in Nasiriya. That's a strategic town that spans the Euphrates River. The sandstorm has hampered fighting there, but the U.S. military says they are making progress nonetheless.

Britain's Tony Blair says more difficult days lie ahead for coalition forces. The prime minister says the troops will be up against resistance up until the end of the campaign. Those comments come as Mr. Blair prepares to meet with President Bush tomorrow. They'll be talking about postwar Iraq.

And now, in other news, we have this from the battle front to the Balkans. Police have arrested a suspect in connection with the killing of the Serbian prime minister two weeks ago. The suspect is said to be a former deputy commander of an elite unit of police troops under former president Slobodan Milosevic.

Stay with us. We go back now to Paula Zahn, standing by in New York with CNN's continuing coverage of war in Iraq.

PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning and welcome. I'm Paula Zahn.

Here at CNN, we're working through the flood of video pouring into our system to bring you some images of the day.

A howling snowstorm or -- excuse me, a howling sandstorm, which our own Walt Rodgers likened to a blizzard of sand, swirls much across much of Iraq, slowing the coalition assault by air and land.

Allied forces slowed to a crawl as they advanced on Baghdad. Combat missions from two aircraft carriers were canceled.

Images from behind the enemy lines. Iraq releases videotape of two U.S. Apache pilots captured yesterday. The men, one from Florida, one from Georgia, now bring to seven the total number of Americans declared as POWs.

And a new wave of warriors. The U.S. Navy is bringing in trained dolphins to hunt for mines in the waters around Umm Qasr. Navy officials say the animals will seek out floating mines and mark them for Navy divers to inspect.

Then, when worlds collide. Modern weaponry shares the battlefield with the native inhabitants of the Middle East. While coalition forces view camels mostly as a curious oddity, CNN's Art Harris says that especially in the early days of the drive to Baghdad, wandering herds could block roads and actually slow down the advance of speeding convoys.

Now, trying to get the view from the White House, let's check in with senior White House correspondent John King.

John, we understand the president is going to make an appearance in about 40 minutes from now. What's he expected to say?

JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: One, Paula, the president will try to rally the troops. Number two, he will try to tell the American people his estimate of how much this war will cost, at least over the next six months.

Mr. Bush has left the White House. He's at the Pentagon now in a classified briefing. Earlier today here at the White House, he had a meeting with his national security team. We saw Condoleezza Rice, his national security adviser, and Vice President Cheney heading into that morning session here.

A more detailed classified briefing at the Pentagon, and then Mr. Bush, about a little more than 35 minutes away from now, will deliver remarks in the Eisenhower Dining Room at the Pentagon. In those remarks, we are told by a senior official, Mr. Bush will salute the progress he thinks is being made in the war campaign. And he also will unveil officially the war budget he will ask the Congress to pass on an emergency basis.

Mr. Bush is asking for just below $75 billion. About $63 billion of that, $62.6 billion of the emergency request will go straight to the Defense Department, most of that to prosecute the war over the next six months in Iraq.

There is almost $8 billion in reconstruction and aid. That money falls under the State Department. Some goes for humanitarian assistance inside Iraq. A good deal of it goes to foreign aid to Israel, to Jordan, to Egypt, and other nations participating in the coalition or affected by the war effort.

There's also about $4 billion for homeland security, emergency funding here at home. Obviously the administration says there's an increased risk of terrorist attack during this war. Look for that number to grow in the Congress. Many Democrats and some Republicans say that's not enough money for homeland security improvements. Look for that number to grow as well. Mr. Bush will ask the Congress to pass this bill within a matter of three weeks. So far, both Democrats and Republicans say there will be some debate over the specifics, but they do think they'll get it here before Congress goes home for an Easter recess.

Also on the president's agenda, he will travel first tomorrow to the Central Command headquarters in Tampa, Florida, to rally the troops there and get a briefing on the war effort.

Then he will head directly to Camp David. The British prime minister, Tony Blair, arrives Wednesday night. He will go to the presidential retreat as well. He and Mr. Bush will have some casual conversation Wednesday night and more formal talks on Thursday. And then, we are told to expect some conversations with reporters, Blair and Bush, Thursday up at Camp David, Paula.

ZAHN: Let me just ask you about the language you've seen in this budget request. Some are saying that in it is an estimate by the Pentagon that combat operations could last for about 30 days. Can you clarify that for us, John?

KING: You won't find it in the budget documents. What the White House is saying is that this is funding for an operation for six months, and then, after six months, we run into the next fiscal year.

But what we are told is, in formulating this budget in conversations with key members of Congress and senior administration officials, the Pentagon is envisioning a -- the first phase of combat to go roughly 30 days, it's a rough guesstimate, they would say at the Pentagon. They have to make an estimate.

If you project a budget, you have to -- how many bullets will you need, how many bombs will you need, how much support of the troops from the field would you need? So you've heard Secretary Rumsfeld talk publicly about combat operations lasting weeks, not months.

One senior official calls this a high-intensity, short-duration conflict. And in trying to come up with a budget proposal, their guesstimate, and they say it's very rough right now, is that the first phase, where you have the most intense combat, will go roughly 30 days.

ZAHN: Finally, John, there's a lot of analysis this morning that this request was based on the conclusion that the government of the Iraqi president will not fold quickly. Can you add to our understanding of that?

KING: Well, that's one of the reasons you have six months of funding here and continued operations. This budget does not include any of the money for peacekeeping forces beyond six months from now. And everyone in the administration acknowledges U.S. troops will be there for a period of years.

The administration is adopting, if you will, a worst-case scenario in how it publicly talks about this. And you'll hear this from the president in just a few minutes, saying that the battle for Baghdad, the key phase of this war to topple the regime completely, could take longer and could be more dangerous than many, perhaps, in the public were believing, heading into this conflict.

As to how long, no one in the administration wants to set a hard figure, because then they, of course, would be judged by that figure. But we are told that we're just now beginning to get the siege of Baghdad. No one here wants to talk about how long that will take. But they say the president will emphasize today, tomorrow, Thursday, and beyond that it could take a while, and there could be more U.S. casualties.

ZAHN: Thanks. John. We'd love to you stand by, so we can talk you shortly, after the president deliver those remarks at 10:40 from the Pentagon.

Right now, we go back to Kuwait City and Bill -- Bill.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, Paula, one of the big stories today certainly has been the weather north of here in Iraq. It's been rather mild here in Kuwait City, not really feeling the full front of this just yet.

It's highlighted today in the local newspaper, "The Arab Times," it describes itself as the first English-language daily here in Kuwait. "Sand and Saddam Slow the March."

Now, we do expect this weather pattern to continue possibly for another 24 hours, maybe longer. We're waiting for word on that.

In the northern part of the country, even before you get to the Iraq border there, already it's kicking pretty hard. Christiane Amanpour is feeling the brunt of that. She's with the Brits, talking not only about the weather, Christiane, but also about this shift in military strategy as it applies to Basra. Hello again to you. Good evening.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bill, good evening from over here, the divisional field headquarters of the British.

And there are quite a lot of activities to report. There has been some engagements between the British and the Iraqis, who are resisting inside Basra. That is now the main area of concern for the British army. And they are being forced to change their tactics because of the stronger than expected resistance that they are facing there.

So Basra is now becoming a military objective, whereas earlier we were told that it was not, that the British had hoped to be welcomed in. But instead, because the Iraqi army 51st Division, which was defending Basra, has now withdrawn into Basra, along with its tanks, its artillery, and its infantry troops, and is engaging British forces outside in tank and artillery jewels, now the British have to go, want to go, and neutralize that in order, they say, to be able to take humanitarian aid in.

So they are having to change tactics, and they are acknowledging that the Iraqis are now trying to draw them into this battle on their own terms, trying to draw them into urban warfare.

And there are not only these Iraqi army elements but also the Saddam Fedayeen, the so-called irregular elements, in which they have these regime militias, if you like, who are used to being used for the suppression of internal dissent, are now being put into these cities to try to ward off any kind of incursions or attempt by the British and coalition forces to take those cities intact.

So that is what's going on. And, of course, as I say, the main objective is to try to get humanitarian aid into Basra. But as we were told today, that could take slightly longer than everybody had hoped here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COL. CHRIS VERNON, BRITISH MILITARY SPOKESMAN: We've always wanted to get humanitarian aid into Basra. That's why we took the port of Umm Qasr, so that we could bring it up there. We've achieved that. We can't get it into Basra because now they've pulled back military forces into Basra that we were not there when we embarked on this four days ago. The forces in there are both conventional and irregular. We've got to now wear those forces down to facilitate humanitarian entries into Basra.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AMANPOUR: So there you have it in a nutshell. Because of very stiff resistance inside Basra, because they've put themselves there in the middle of the civilian population, because the British forces do not want to cause civilian casualties, they don't want to go in there killing civilians. They've got a tough job to do now in trying to take out and destroy this resistance.

And as Colonel Vernon, you just heard say that finally, after several days of battling these pockets of resistance in the crucial port of Umm Qasr, they now say that they have that finally and fully under control, Bill.

HEMMER: All right, Christiane, thanks. Christiane Amanpour right near the Iraqi border with the British military.

We've heard this topic about humanitarian aid almost every hour now for the past couple of days. Best guess from CENTCOM today, quote, "a short number of days," end quote. They pushed him on it at that briefing today, but they would not get any more specific than "a short number of days."

Want to get back to desert. In Iraq, Dr. Sanjay Gupta back with us by way of telephone. And he has experienced the brunt of that sandstorm, knocking essentially all the medical equipment and supplies to the desert floor. Sanjay's back again this hour with more. Sanjay, What do you have?

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Bill.

Yes, lots of activity out here where we are in central Iraq, as you know, with the Devil Docs, that is -- they are the Naval doctors that support the Marines.

First of all, a little while ago, a few hours ago, we were told to hunker down, to put on all of our gear and get down. There had been a breach of a company-sized convoy actually heading our way, and apparently breached the perimeter. Several of the Marines -- again, this is not a combat unit but more of a medical unit -- went ahead and established an inner perimeter around the camp.

Again, a company-sized convoy was apparently spotted within the perimeter. And that breach, that sort of high alert, is still continuing here around this particular medical corps.

Also, Bill, as you mentioned, the sandstorm is just wreaking complete havoc on everything, knocking down a few huge tents, very large tents, tents that typically hold 100 people. They were holding lots of medical supplies. They were triage tents to basically take the wounded and assess them.

A couple of them, as you say, Bill, being knocked right down to the ground. Marines working very actively to try and get that equipment back into clean tents, clean that thing up, and establish the tents again. They are still working hard on that, Bill.

Right around me, you know, I'm standing in front of another tent called the Jump Ward tent. This particular tent is where Iraqi soldiers who are wounded are brought, ones who do not need operations, ones who are still awake enough to be able to speak, and intelligence officers as well as translators making their way in and out of the tent -- I'm watching that happen as we speak -- continuously trying to get any information that they can, collecting paperwork, etcetera.

Also, Bill, finally, there is a Red Cross truck just to my left here. I was talking to one of the doctors earlier about that truck. This truck contains two Marines who were killed in action. Earlier today, a temporary mortuary was being set up at this particular site for that reason as well, Bill.

HEMMER: Very, very sobering news at the end. Thank you, Sanjay. Be good out there and be safe too. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, as he mentioned, somewhere in south central Iraq with the Devil Docs, a unit of the U.S. Marines.

Now Paula again in New York -- Paula.

ZAHN: Thanks, Bill.

Walt Rodgers is also among those embedded reporters getting slapped around by this terrible weather. He's with the U.S. Army's 3rd Squad, 7th Cavalry. He joins us now.

We need to point out, you are going to have a very tough time seeing him because of the lack of visibility there. Earlier, he told us he could only see out maybe 40 yards in front of him. You're not going to see him, then, but you're going to hear what he and the troops he's accompanying have been subjected to over the last several hours. Walt, hello again.

WALTER RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Paula.

Actually, that sandstorm has been of aid to the U.S. forces, particularly the 7th Cavalry, as they had crossed the Euphrates River, breached the defense line that the Iraqis had set up. In point of fact, they came under extremely heavy fire. We were traveling in that convoy. There were mortars fired at us, machine guns on both sides of the road.

But what happened is, the sandstorm was so dense, according to an Army officer with whom I spoke, that it actually was like a smokescreen laid down protecting the 7th Cavalry's march northward as they were going in their vehicles.

What happened was, the Iraqis did not want to get closer to the road, that is to say, they didn't want to come within a visual sighting of the convoy, so they just fired wildly in the general direction of the noise of the convoy. The Iraqis standing off probably 200 to 300 meters back in bunkers, but that is no good if you can't see the target you are shooting at.

So it turns out all of the shooting that was coming our way was wild, haphazard, and did no damage, that is to say, no injuries, I shouldn't say no damage at all.

One interesting aspect of it was, they've shot off some aerials, the Iraqis shot off some of the aerials of the vehicles in the 7th convoy. And one of my -- one of the officers I know here was telling me that they shot off a whole box of his MREs, his meals and water. But that, of course, doesn't slow an army down that much.

But they came under great fire, and there are holes in some of the soft-skin vehicles. And that gauntlet was something to behold today, Paula.

ZAHN: Even the generals at the CENTCOM briefing, Walt, acknowledge it's not a very comfortable day out in the battlefield. Tell us physically what these troops have been up against. I know you talked about what you were subjected to in terms of incoming fire from the Iraqis, but just on a physical basis, dealing with the sand constantly blowing in your eyes and faces.

RODGERS: Well, Paula, the most difficult thing is simply seeing. And if you're riding in the top of a turret on a Bradley or a main battle tank, you have to look forward, and you have to be able to see. And if you can't see more than 40 meters, it means that a hostile force can come 40 meters or so and approach you and suddenly surprise you with an ambush.

The Iraqis didn't do that today. Generally they stood off. And that was a boon for the 7th Cavalry. And the 7th Cavalry does have optics which, even in a dust storm, they can see 200 to 300 meters away. So the Iraqis who were shooting at the 7th Cavalry were in for a bit of a surprise. They could only shoot at sounds, but the 7th Cav was shooting 50- caliber machine guns and even larger weapons, 25-millimeter cannons, and they were hitting the Iraqis even though they couldn't see them with the naked eye without enhanced vision goggles, Paula.

ZAHN: And Walter, how long this storm expected to last?

RODGERS: I heard 36 hours.

If I could add just a little footnote, Paula, when we approached the bridges with the 7th Cavalry last night, I described a fire fight, which was pretty severe. The sky was ablaze, crisscrossed with tracer fire, rocket-propelled grenades. The Air Force was called in. I wasn't sure how to gauge that. But I spoke with an Army major a few minutes who told me, in his words, quote, "I never want to have to go through that again," Paula.

ZAHN: And you explained that that bridge had been wired with all kinds of explosives, but it was never set off?

RODGERS: In -- that's correct. I'm told there were enormous satchel charges placed under the bridge and around its pilings and piers by the Iraqis, this bridge being over the Euphrates River, of course. And this was the Iraqi regime's defense line.

The problem was, the Iraqis just didn't have time to wire the satchel charges to blow the bridge. And it was actually Bone Crusher Troop of the 7th Cavalry which rushed across so quickly that they were able to seize it before the detonators could be connected. And, of course, the Army engineers very quickly and skillfully came up and neutralized the charges.

Then the rest of the troop, Apache Troop and Crazy Horse Troop, could also follow through, meaning the entire 7th Cavalry's on the north side of the Euphrates River, and Saddam Hussein's best efforts to stop the allied forces from crossing that defense line have failed, Paula.

ZAHN: Well, it sounds like you really have to bear down there and get ready to continue to face the onslaught of not only enemy fire, or fire from the Iraqis, but also the sandstorm.

And folks, just to give you an idea of just how fierce this storm is, Walt explained to us that the sun goes down about 16 -- 6:10 Iraqi time. That was about 10 minutes ago. And that is how pitch-black it is, mostly because of the sand.

Now, Jason Bellini is also fighting the elements this morning. He is with the U.S. Marine Expeditionary Unit of the 15th Artillery. He is on the move once again in southern Iraq. He joins us now by videophone with the very latest from there. Jason, what have you got?

JASON BELLINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Paula, the sandstorm has been hitting us here as well. After four very grueling, arduous, very long days, today was supposed to be a day for maintenance, for resupply, for the men in this infantry division to clean their weapons, and to catch up on a little bit of rest.

As it turns out, the weather hasn't cooperated with that, and their guns just got even more dirty today because we got rain, we got wind, we got sand. Just a really difficult situation for the men here.

We had just moved yesterday from Umm Qasr, where we -- where this particular unit had dealt with a very difficult situation, very, very difficult -- dealt with pockets of resistance and had to face combat with them head on over the last four days.

We're getting ready to move again, and so, as we're sort of weathering this storm, people are packing up and preparing for more travel. So there's real no -- really no rest for the weary here, Paula.

ZAHN: You say you are getting prepared for more travel, and CENTCOM tells us the coalition plan is running on track. But have you given any indication about how the next stage of what you are expected to do might be affected by this weather?

BELLINI: It's hard to say. The interesting thing has been for me that when we first embedded, we were told more or less what the plan was going to be, where we would start, where we -- where they expected to end up with follow-on missions. Well, the plan seems to be changing every day. And it's a bit frustrating for the Marines here, it just shows them just how fluid the situation is.

Just this morning, we got a complete change of plans from where we were supposed to be going, what we were supposed to be doing, a very radical shift that they weren't expecting. Again, probably an indication of how things are going right now, Paula.

ZAHN: Well, we wish you luck. Walt Rodgers says some of the worst thing about fighting these sandstorms is, you don't have any fluid left in your eye. And then he described the thunderstorms on top that, and he said it was just like having mud in your eyes at all times.

Jason Bellini, thanks so much.

Now, the Pentagon is saying that a coalition air strike successfully destroyed an Apache helicopter that had gone down in Iraq. It is standard practice to destroy such technology that could provide any help to the Iraqi forces. The pilots of that gun ship, however, remain in enemy hands, as evidenced by a videotape shot by Iraqi TV.

And earlier this morning, I spoke with the family of one of the men, 26-year-old Ronald D. Young, Jr., of Lithia Springs, Georgia. And I asked his father about how he learned of his son's capture.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RONALD DEWEY YOUNG SR., FATHER OF POW: I went to take care of some errands during the morning, and I'd been hoping all morning that it wasn't his aircraft. Of course, we had one out of six chances, because there were six Vampires in that unit.

And she -- when I came home, the -- one of the friends of my son said that the Army is in there. So I knew right then that, you know, it was a bad situation.

And they told us that he was missing in action. They didn't say he was POW or anything, just missing.

ZAHN: And then how long was it then that it took to find out that, in fact, he had been taken as a POW?

R. YOUNG: Well, that afternoon, we'd been hearing rumors that they had captured the pilots, and, you know, back and forth on the television. And at one time, they said -- one of the rumors said that they had a couple pictures of pilots who had dog tags from that area where he's from. And that -- but they didn't have any real clear cut pictures. So I didn't know if it was something trumped up, and they was -- had done something to them, and they were trying to pass someone else off as them, or if they were still uncaptured or what.

And I was worried about him just being alive at that point.

And a lady brought a tape in to us, and Susan Candiotti brought a tape in to us and showed us a picture of him as being a POW. And it was a great deal of relief at that point to me just to know he was alive.

ZAHN: Wow. You know, it's hard for us, the rest of us, to respond to that, knowing it was a relief that he was alive. You had so many doubts about that.

Mrs. Young, I think folks probably know out there the Apache is one of the most sophisticated helicopters in the world, and your son knew before going into Iraq that he probably would be involved in a dangerous mission. Did he ever talk about the possibility of what might happen once he was deployed?

KAYE YOUNG, MOTHER OF POW: We did. He actually had orders for Afghanistan after 9/11. And then they canceled the orders, and we then had a night that we just embraced and cried and shared feelings. And it just really touched my heart, and I'm glad for that.

And then when -- this time, we just decided we'd already talked about that. And, you know, of course, we talked about many things. And, you know, we're very close. All my children are very close. And I just -- I know that he was prepared for something to happen. He had told me that if he was ever asked to give his life for his country, that he hoped he'd be able to do that honorably.

And he seemed very glad to do that, if that was needed. He supports our president, and he feels like that he's a great leader. And, you know, he's just ready to do whatever he's asked to do.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: That family, yet another tower of strength. Young's crew mate, 30-year-old David S. Williams of Florida, was captured at the same time. And in our next hour, we'll be talking with his wife.

The Pentagon assembles to hear President Bush speak. That gets under way at 10:40 Eastern time, while troops in the field worry about orders that may have been given by Saddam Hussein. U.S. intelligence reports the Iraqi leader may have already given the order of when to use chemical weapons. We're going to look at the so-called trip wire.

And the U.S. Army's 3-7th Cav advances under cover of a blinding sandstorm and pushes through Iraqi defenses at the Euphrates River. Our own Walt Rodgers is embedded with the group and brings us a report on today's heavy fighting.

And as we mentioned, a little bit later on in this hour, President Bush delivers remarks at the Pentagon. We will carry that live, expected to get under way in just about 20 minutes from now.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: Thank you. All right, welcome back to Kuwait City. Once again, to our viewers at home, we're still awaiting the president. He will be at the Pentagon in about 10 or 15 minutes from now. And certainly we'll carry it live for you, his comments from there coming up in a moment.

But before we get there, a number of our embedded reporters now lined up for us to bring us the very latest from their perspective.

Number one in the chute right now is CNN's Ryan Chilcote, by way of telephone, embedded with the 3rd Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division. Again, by telephone, Ryan is in Iraq somewhere. What's the update now, Ryan? Good evening.

RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bill, first, I can tell you we are in southern Iraq, the 101st Airborne, which they've established just the day before yesterday, established a forward operating base that will henceforth known as A.O. Rakkasans, which is the name of the 100 -- 87th Infantry Regiment, it's one of their nicknames.

But as for the sandstorm, I can tell you, it's absolutely unbelievable. I wish I could be talking to you via television, but we had to pack up our dish because it just go so bad. The winds went up to 50 miles per hour over the course of about two minutes.

Actually, what happened was, I was in a briefing. The weather was fine, I went into a briefing. Came out, and the sky was -- I kid you not -- perfectly orange. And this was at 3:30 in the afternoon local time. Just like -- well, as if we were in a different world. As one soldier put it, This is the calm before the storm.

And then just within a half hour, the winds were up at 40, 50 miles per hour.

HEMMER: All right, Ryan, Ryan, I apologize for the interruption, but the president is early at the Pentagon. Let's pick things up there now and talk about the supplemental plan put forward on how to pay for things right now in Iraq.

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