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American Morning

Sea Mine Search Will Hold Up Shipments of Humanitarian Aid

Aired March 25, 2003 - 08:33   ET

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

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


PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning! Glad to have you with us. Welcome, I'm Paula Zahn. I really appreciate you joining us.
In the last few days we have gotten used to seeing amazing images from Walt Rogers as he travels with the Army's 3-7 Cavalry in Iraq. You might say he has topped himself this morning. Though most of the -- obviously the credit goes to the men and women in uniform.

Sometimes in the last several hours this Army column crossed the Euphrates River, a key stepping stone, we're told in securing southern Iraq. Through the thick haze of a sandstorm we have seen the 3-7 take on small arms fire from Iraqi fighters. And we have seen some of those same Iraqi fighters taken prisoner by U.S. forces. Three of them we're told in all.

A rare glimpse into the very dangerous these young men and women undertake. Something that most of us can never truly understand or even imagine.

Right now it's time to get back to Bill Hemmer who's standing by in Kuwait City.

So, Bill, just to give people context. You have lived through a number of cycles of sirens going off and the all clear sign being called. It was just about, what; an hour and a half ago that you got another one of those?

BILL HEMMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, 1:00 -- I'm sorry Paula, 4:00 local time. It's now about 4:35 check that again. I'm sorry, I can't tell time. Three o'clock local time, it's now 4:30, an hour so, then about an hour and a half ago. We had another one overnight 1:00 in the morning; still no word on the latest siren, Paula. And as we're on the air you know, the siren came, they gave us the warning and then about 30 seconds later the all clear was given.

Just to reiterate, to date, nothing has landed here in the civilian area of Kuwait City and certainly that is a good sign.

The weather certainly is a big story not only here but certainly in Iraq. And we're told that based on the forecast that things could stay pretty nasty for about 36 hours running. Which would take us well into Wednesday and possibly some clearing later in the day as we get toward the evening on Wednesday night.

Meanwhile, a lot of developments throughout the area. Port town of Umm Qasr, the British commander in that area says that port is open. He says it is secure. He says expects the first shipment of humanitarian aid to possibly arrive within 48 hours and that's going to be a good thing when you consider the amount of humanitarian aid right now sitting in storage houses in Kuwait.

In the waters off Umm Qasr, Coalition naval vessels have been hunting for sea mines. The U.S. says it will bring in trained dolphins to help with that job. So far, no mines have been found in the water. The more than 100 mines were found on board several Iraqi boats.

Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain earlier today live here on CNN, in a briefing from London, says a humanitarian disaster already exists inside of Iraq but he says it's not the result of the current military action. Rather, he says it's the way Iraq has administered the current U.N. Oil for Food program.

Earlier today Iraq appealed to U.N. to resume that program quite possibly, Paula, we're going to hear a lot more on this. And also what's happening and taking shape on the battlefield. Central Command will brief in Qatar in about 30 minutes, 9:00 AM Eastern Time. And certainly, we'll have that live for you when it gets under way.

Back to you now in New York.

ZAHN: Thanks, Bill.

We're going to go straight to Walt Rogers with the Army's 3-7 Calvary on the move toward Baghdad. He joins us now by videophone. It might be hard for some of you to make him out given how serious the sandstorm is right now.

But Walt, we're going to be able to hear you at a minimum.

WALT RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Paula. The Army has good news today after trying to figure out how-to bypass the town of al Samala (ph) on the Euphrates River. A flanking movement in the late hours of last night and this morning enabled the U.S. Army to break Saddam Hussein's Euphrates River defense line.

Recall that Saddam had sent his Fedayeen and his Republican Guard Units down to bolster the defense of those cities, to prevent the U.S. forces from going north of the Euphrates, using any of the bridges to go north of the Euphrates. But the U.S. Army's 3 Squadron 7 Calvary outflanked one of those cities, al Samala, crossed the Euphrates River and now has elements north of the Euphrates. Again, freeing it up to move in the general direct of Baghdad in the very near future. It was a close call.

There was a very severe fire last night. The convoy of the 7 Calvary came under enormous heavy machine gunfire, rocket-propelled grenades. There was a firefight, which made the night look like the Fourth of July, Tracer bullets lighting up the sky. The air force had to be called in. Artillery was called in. Eventually, some 400 Iraqi troops are said to have been killed, according to one Army source. And then the army moved closer to this bridge.

This morning, bone crusher troop of the 7 Calvary followed by Apache crossed the bridge, albeit under fire. But the good news is the demolition charges the Iraqis put on the bridge were never rigged. The army's engineers defused the demolition charges. The army got across quickly. But for about an hour, it was running a gauntlet of small arms fire and Moakley still.

This is a breakthrough for the army, breaking that Euphrates River defense line -- Paula.

ZAHN: Walt; let's come back to what you were told by a senior official about the success of this individual mission. I think he told you it should send a powerful message to Saddam Hussein. What did he tell you that message was?

RODGERS: Well, what's happened, because the army is across the Euphrates and Saddam had drawn that as his defense line, this is a harbinger, according to a senior with whom I spoke yesterday, once they cross the line, the senior officer said this is a harbinger that Saddam is going to lose southern Iraq and the next leap forward for the coalition forces, that is the British and the Americans, is a push on Baghdad.

But it is not always a straight line. These are flanking movements; enveloping movements, leapfrog one unit goes forward, another pauses. But again, the bull's-eye in the target is Baghdad and that's the direction the Army is headed. It's easier now because they've broken the Euphrates River defense line -- Paula.

ZAHN: Walt, people just joining us for the first time might even think that night has fallen there, which is not the case. What you find yourself in the middle of is a blinding sandstorm. Give people a sense of how dense the air is.

RODGERS: At 4:00 in the afternoon, recall the sun doesn't set in Iraq till about 10 after 6:00, so normally it would be extraordinarily bright here. At 4:00 in the afternoon I had to get out my flashlight to read my watch just to tell the time of day.

The vision here is 40 meters, no more. And of course, that sand has driven virtually everyone, all of the civilian vehicles off roads in this part of the country. But it has shut things down enormously. The sand is choking, there's nothing, it follows equipment in, it follows you.

I was mentioning earlier that I've run out of fluid in my eyes. It's like your car washer fluid under the hood having no more fluid to clean your wind screen. That's the way our eyes are here, so dense is the dust, they're just sealing closed with mud eyelashes -- Paula.

ZAHN: Well, let me tell you this Walt, you are so obscured by that sand, not only can't we see your eyes; we can't see your face. I'm just curious what kind of respiratory problems people night be having as a result of this.

RODGERS: Well, I suppose the Iraqis are used to this. These sandstorms are quite common throughout the Middle East. You have the homseins (ph) that come out of Sahara that blanket places like Egypt and and the Lavont and actually sweep up into southern Europe. You have terrible sandstorms in Saudi Arabia.

The Iraqi sandstorms I must say I have to give the Iraqis credit, this is the second sandstorm I've been in in this country and both are the two worst I've ever seen.

As far as respiratory illnesses, I suppose you have to check there -- check with their doctors. But I can tell you the U.S. Army is hourly almost cleaning the air filters on their tanks, so clogging is this dust -- Paula.

ZAHN: Finally, Walt we're going to re-loop that tape to show our audience what was seen unfolding live in our 7:00 hour and that is as you were moving with the 3-7 and you came upon these Iraqi soldiers.

I think you told us in your earlier live shot that they were accused of carrying truck loads of weapons. Did they surrender or were they captured? What exactly happened?

RODGERS: The actual capture took place ahead of us because we were more than 40 meters behind them, not very far behind. We just couldn't tell but we were brought forward and they said, would you like to see the prisoners we've have taken?

We found the Iraqi prisoners lying on the ground, plastic bands around their wrists. But otherwise they appeared in pretty good shape. None of the soldiers we have at this point speaks Arabic. So, I doubt any early intelligence counsel gleaned from them. But we were told by the officers and the men of this unit that the Calvary captured them and they were driving a truck and that they were -- that truck was filled with weapons, heavy weaponry -- Paula.

ZAHN: Walt, take care. I hope the fluid returns to your eye soon. We look forward to hearing your reports and please take some cover from that blinding sand.

Bill I thought it was also interesting to note, one thing that Walt told us in the last hour, he was saying because the sandstorm is so bad that these Iraqi soldiers are able to get much closer to the road than they normally would. They're not quite as vulnerable now that you can barely see out there and that that may have led to the capture that Walter came upon as they were headed north.

HEMMER: Yes. The other thing he pointed out quite clearly in a report several hours ago is that one member of the U.S. Army there was on top of his Bradley fighting vehicle throughout the entire night standing sentry essentially and provided an awful lot of cover for that convoy whether they were still, whether they were moving.

He had been stationary for 30 hours running. Why, we're not clear. And why he's moving again now is not clear. But we know he has crossed a portion of the Euphrates River somewhere in south central Iraq. That's about as accurate as we can get on the geography.

Meanwhile, we reported earlier about the words from the Iraqi vice president earlier today, criticizing many Arab countries for not coming to the aid of Iraq and the aid of Saddam Hussein.

Now, this entire issue of Iraq has been a very fractured opinion throughout the entire Arab world, all 22 countries.

Rym Brahimi is gauging reaction. She is live today in Amman, Jordan for that and more. She was listening to the words from Iraq today.

Rym, hello and good afternoon to you.

RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon to you. Bill indeed, a very outspoken Iraqi Vice President Taha Yasin Ramadan. He and other Iraqi officials accusing the other Arab countries of not having done anything, accusing them in their Council Of Ministers in their ministers meeting, rather of having just issued resolutions that had no significance, especially at this time when the war is already ongoing.

Now, Taha Yasin Ramadan, the Iraqi vice president also accused his -- Iraq's neighbor, Jordan of often expelling three Iraqi diplomats under U.S. pressure and of locking trade between Iraq...

HEMMER: Rym, I apologize. Rym, I'm sorry for the interruption here. Dr. Sanjay Gupta just checking in. He's with at a forward hospital base at Sensou with the U.S. Marines. Sanjay, what do you have?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Bill, yes. We're in the middle of an unbelievable sandstorm, first of all in central Iraq as winds about 100 may be miles an hour. There are huge tents out here that support the Medical Corps, some of these 100-man, 100-person tents. Two of them have blown over with all of the medical equipment. The storm is that bad, Bill.

Listen, I've been reporting a little bit about Iraqis being brought here and getting treatments. A couple of interesting things. One is for the Iraqi soldiers who are wounded but do not need operations; they are taken to a specific tent called the Jump Wards tent. What happens from there is that they get their wounds treated but they also are visited by intelligence officers and translators. Paperwork is collected. Any intelligence that can be collected is collected at the same type. That is being done continuously right behind me, right where I'm standing you know, in front of the jump ward.

Also, Bill, to my right, there's a Red Cross truck. I was talking to some of the doctors about this truck and they informed me that in fact on this particular medical site this is also the site of a temporary mortuary, Bill. Two Marine KIAs are in that truck. Some of the KIAs are being brought here killed in action Marines are in this truck here on the site as well. This medical unit obviously taking care of a lot of patients but also receiving some of the unfortunate casualties as well -- Bill.

HEMMER: Wow, Sanjay. That's certainly disturbing, the last part of your report there. But if you can go back to the very beginning when you mentioned this equipment and these beds falling into the desert dust of the sandstorms.

How in the world from a medical perspective, do doctors get this equipment clean again, knowing the sandstorm's not going to letup for some time?

GUPTA: it is very challenging. And I will tell you that these -- literally over the last eight hours, several Marines have been working continuously on that.

The operating room tents that I have been talking so much about Bill, they are still intact, they are standing. There are Marines literally standing by the stakes that holds those tents and continuously pounding them in with sledgehammers. That is being done continuously.

The tents that fell over were more medical triage tents. That equipment is taken into clean tents, cleaned with alcohol, tents re- established and the equipment is brought back in. It's not easy, Bill. It is not easy.

You know, yourself, this sand is just really blowing around. It's very fine. It gets everywhere, including into your eyes, your nose and certainly all over the equipment as well. I've never seen anything like this. This sand -- I mean, it's 100 mile an hour winds, sometimes you can't even walk in a straight line because of the winds here -- Bill.

HEMMER: And Sanjay, I'm assuming that operations have to be shut down at that point. Is that a fair assessment or can they continue in any sense, given the weather conditions?

GUPTA: Well, the problem is not so much right now. The operating room being able to run, it's being able to get anything here, Bill. Ambulances as well as helicopters are virtually at a standstill. We have not seen any action -- anything really coming in over the last several hours because of the storm. I think people just can't seem to even negotiate their way over here at this point, sort of an interesting problem. The operating rooms themselves could run, if necessary.

Bill, also being told to me right now that is we have a perimeter. You're familiar with perimeters around the camp basically to secure it. We have heard, not too long ago, that there's been a breach of that perimeter by some unknown Iraqi force at this point. That's what I'm being told. I don't know any more details than that. And several Marines right now are running in front of me going to I guess, reestablish that perimeter. I'll certainly try and keep you posted on that.

But other than that, really the sandstorm and the effects of that sandstorm on the Medical Corps are really what we're seeing more than anything else.

HEMMER: Wow. Well, stay safe. Sanjay, thanks and thanks for checking in. Dr. Sanjay Gupta embedded with the U.S. Marines.

Let's bring in our military analyst, Brigadier General David Grange at the CNN Center.

Listen, you're watching this stuff from half a world away but you have experience in this as well. What kind of hazards, what kind of difficulties are represented over the next two days when we see sandstorm like these?

David, hello.

BRIG. GEN. DAVID GRANGE, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, the sandstorms this particular case, just like Sanjay said, it's going to make it difficult to perform the medical duties. But I'll you, I have seen medical duties performed in the jungles, in snow, in desert in austere conditions of weather and terrain, and they will make it happen if it's a life or death situation.

And what makes it tough is that in these type of sand storms in the situation, enemy units can get very close, just like Walt said with the 3-7 Cavalry, can get close to a friendly unit.

HEMMER: Yes. And listen, you can't put on night vision goggles to detect that, especially when the daytime is out here, when the sun's going to poke through a little bit through that sandstorm.

From an aerial perspective though, we've heard that some aircraft are now grounded on board the carrier the USS Theodore Roosevelt. What kind of difficulties is this weather going to present to coalition force over the next two days? And how much will their progress be impeded?

GRANGE: Well, the weather will obviously affect their operations. However, if there is a emergency call for support from some sector in the theater, air support would be launched because the weather where Sanjay is, may not be exactly where Walter is, may not be exactly how it is in northern Iraq.

And so, it's going change. Though it's a sandstorm that's going through the entire region, it will not be at same all the time, same level of wind, same amount of sand on a constant basis. And something can get out.

I've taken off in helicopters sideways in emergency situations just because the mission was that important. And that's the thing about the brotherhood of war. You have people that will risk their life to save their comrades. So yes it will degrade operations. But if they can do it, they will.

HEMMER: Thank you, General. David Grange, our military analyst at the CNN Center.

And again, I'm apologizing for interrupting some of our reporters but when our embeds appear and when they pop up, oftentimes we have no indication when they may arrive to us here. But when they do, we have to take them to get their story on the air, otherwise it's quite possible we will lose that signal and lose that valuable information. Thank you to the general, Rym Brahimi and Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

Let's get a short break here. More of AMERICAN MORNING live in Kuwait and also live with Paula back in New York. Back in a moment after this.

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Aired March 25, 2003 - 08:33   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning! Glad to have you with us. Welcome, I'm Paula Zahn. I really appreciate you joining us.
In the last few days we have gotten used to seeing amazing images from Walt Rogers as he travels with the Army's 3-7 Cavalry in Iraq. You might say he has topped himself this morning. Though most of the -- obviously the credit goes to the men and women in uniform.

Sometimes in the last several hours this Army column crossed the Euphrates River, a key stepping stone, we're told in securing southern Iraq. Through the thick haze of a sandstorm we have seen the 3-7 take on small arms fire from Iraqi fighters. And we have seen some of those same Iraqi fighters taken prisoner by U.S. forces. Three of them we're told in all.

A rare glimpse into the very dangerous these young men and women undertake. Something that most of us can never truly understand or even imagine.

Right now it's time to get back to Bill Hemmer who's standing by in Kuwait City.

So, Bill, just to give people context. You have lived through a number of cycles of sirens going off and the all clear sign being called. It was just about, what; an hour and a half ago that you got another one of those?

BILL HEMMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, 1:00 -- I'm sorry Paula, 4:00 local time. It's now about 4:35 check that again. I'm sorry, I can't tell time. Three o'clock local time, it's now 4:30, an hour so, then about an hour and a half ago. We had another one overnight 1:00 in the morning; still no word on the latest siren, Paula. And as we're on the air you know, the siren came, they gave us the warning and then about 30 seconds later the all clear was given.

Just to reiterate, to date, nothing has landed here in the civilian area of Kuwait City and certainly that is a good sign.

The weather certainly is a big story not only here but certainly in Iraq. And we're told that based on the forecast that things could stay pretty nasty for about 36 hours running. Which would take us well into Wednesday and possibly some clearing later in the day as we get toward the evening on Wednesday night.

Meanwhile, a lot of developments throughout the area. Port town of Umm Qasr, the British commander in that area says that port is open. He says it is secure. He says expects the first shipment of humanitarian aid to possibly arrive within 48 hours and that's going to be a good thing when you consider the amount of humanitarian aid right now sitting in storage houses in Kuwait.

In the waters off Umm Qasr, Coalition naval vessels have been hunting for sea mines. The U.S. says it will bring in trained dolphins to help with that job. So far, no mines have been found in the water. The more than 100 mines were found on board several Iraqi boats.

Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain earlier today live here on CNN, in a briefing from London, says a humanitarian disaster already exists inside of Iraq but he says it's not the result of the current military action. Rather, he says it's the way Iraq has administered the current U.N. Oil for Food program.

Earlier today Iraq appealed to U.N. to resume that program quite possibly, Paula, we're going to hear a lot more on this. And also what's happening and taking shape on the battlefield. Central Command will brief in Qatar in about 30 minutes, 9:00 AM Eastern Time. And certainly, we'll have that live for you when it gets under way.

Back to you now in New York.

ZAHN: Thanks, Bill.

We're going to go straight to Walt Rogers with the Army's 3-7 Calvary on the move toward Baghdad. He joins us now by videophone. It might be hard for some of you to make him out given how serious the sandstorm is right now.

But Walt, we're going to be able to hear you at a minimum.

WALT RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Paula. The Army has good news today after trying to figure out how-to bypass the town of al Samala (ph) on the Euphrates River. A flanking movement in the late hours of last night and this morning enabled the U.S. Army to break Saddam Hussein's Euphrates River defense line.

Recall that Saddam had sent his Fedayeen and his Republican Guard Units down to bolster the defense of those cities, to prevent the U.S. forces from going north of the Euphrates, using any of the bridges to go north of the Euphrates. But the U.S. Army's 3 Squadron 7 Calvary outflanked one of those cities, al Samala, crossed the Euphrates River and now has elements north of the Euphrates. Again, freeing it up to move in the general direct of Baghdad in the very near future. It was a close call.

There was a very severe fire last night. The convoy of the 7 Calvary came under enormous heavy machine gunfire, rocket-propelled grenades. There was a firefight, which made the night look like the Fourth of July, Tracer bullets lighting up the sky. The air force had to be called in. Artillery was called in. Eventually, some 400 Iraqi troops are said to have been killed, according to one Army source. And then the army moved closer to this bridge.

This morning, bone crusher troop of the 7 Calvary followed by Apache crossed the bridge, albeit under fire. But the good news is the demolition charges the Iraqis put on the bridge were never rigged. The army's engineers defused the demolition charges. The army got across quickly. But for about an hour, it was running a gauntlet of small arms fire and Moakley still.

This is a breakthrough for the army, breaking that Euphrates River defense line -- Paula.

ZAHN: Walt; let's come back to what you were told by a senior official about the success of this individual mission. I think he told you it should send a powerful message to Saddam Hussein. What did he tell you that message was?

RODGERS: Well, what's happened, because the army is across the Euphrates and Saddam had drawn that as his defense line, this is a harbinger, according to a senior with whom I spoke yesterday, once they cross the line, the senior officer said this is a harbinger that Saddam is going to lose southern Iraq and the next leap forward for the coalition forces, that is the British and the Americans, is a push on Baghdad.

But it is not always a straight line. These are flanking movements; enveloping movements, leapfrog one unit goes forward, another pauses. But again, the bull's-eye in the target is Baghdad and that's the direction the Army is headed. It's easier now because they've broken the Euphrates River defense line -- Paula.

ZAHN: Walt, people just joining us for the first time might even think that night has fallen there, which is not the case. What you find yourself in the middle of is a blinding sandstorm. Give people a sense of how dense the air is.

RODGERS: At 4:00 in the afternoon, recall the sun doesn't set in Iraq till about 10 after 6:00, so normally it would be extraordinarily bright here. At 4:00 in the afternoon I had to get out my flashlight to read my watch just to tell the time of day.

The vision here is 40 meters, no more. And of course, that sand has driven virtually everyone, all of the civilian vehicles off roads in this part of the country. But it has shut things down enormously. The sand is choking, there's nothing, it follows equipment in, it follows you.

I was mentioning earlier that I've run out of fluid in my eyes. It's like your car washer fluid under the hood having no more fluid to clean your wind screen. That's the way our eyes are here, so dense is the dust, they're just sealing closed with mud eyelashes -- Paula.

ZAHN: Well, let me tell you this Walt, you are so obscured by that sand, not only can't we see your eyes; we can't see your face. I'm just curious what kind of respiratory problems people night be having as a result of this.

RODGERS: Well, I suppose the Iraqis are used to this. These sandstorms are quite common throughout the Middle East. You have the homseins (ph) that come out of Sahara that blanket places like Egypt and and the Lavont and actually sweep up into southern Europe. You have terrible sandstorms in Saudi Arabia.

The Iraqi sandstorms I must say I have to give the Iraqis credit, this is the second sandstorm I've been in in this country and both are the two worst I've ever seen.

As far as respiratory illnesses, I suppose you have to check there -- check with their doctors. But I can tell you the U.S. Army is hourly almost cleaning the air filters on their tanks, so clogging is this dust -- Paula.

ZAHN: Finally, Walt we're going to re-loop that tape to show our audience what was seen unfolding live in our 7:00 hour and that is as you were moving with the 3-7 and you came upon these Iraqi soldiers.

I think you told us in your earlier live shot that they were accused of carrying truck loads of weapons. Did they surrender or were they captured? What exactly happened?

RODGERS: The actual capture took place ahead of us because we were more than 40 meters behind them, not very far behind. We just couldn't tell but we were brought forward and they said, would you like to see the prisoners we've have taken?

We found the Iraqi prisoners lying on the ground, plastic bands around their wrists. But otherwise they appeared in pretty good shape. None of the soldiers we have at this point speaks Arabic. So, I doubt any early intelligence counsel gleaned from them. But we were told by the officers and the men of this unit that the Calvary captured them and they were driving a truck and that they were -- that truck was filled with weapons, heavy weaponry -- Paula.

ZAHN: Walt, take care. I hope the fluid returns to your eye soon. We look forward to hearing your reports and please take some cover from that blinding sand.

Bill I thought it was also interesting to note, one thing that Walt told us in the last hour, he was saying because the sandstorm is so bad that these Iraqi soldiers are able to get much closer to the road than they normally would. They're not quite as vulnerable now that you can barely see out there and that that may have led to the capture that Walter came upon as they were headed north.

HEMMER: Yes. The other thing he pointed out quite clearly in a report several hours ago is that one member of the U.S. Army there was on top of his Bradley fighting vehicle throughout the entire night standing sentry essentially and provided an awful lot of cover for that convoy whether they were still, whether they were moving.

He had been stationary for 30 hours running. Why, we're not clear. And why he's moving again now is not clear. But we know he has crossed a portion of the Euphrates River somewhere in south central Iraq. That's about as accurate as we can get on the geography.

Meanwhile, we reported earlier about the words from the Iraqi vice president earlier today, criticizing many Arab countries for not coming to the aid of Iraq and the aid of Saddam Hussein.

Now, this entire issue of Iraq has been a very fractured opinion throughout the entire Arab world, all 22 countries.

Rym Brahimi is gauging reaction. She is live today in Amman, Jordan for that and more. She was listening to the words from Iraq today.

Rym, hello and good afternoon to you.

RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon to you. Bill indeed, a very outspoken Iraqi Vice President Taha Yasin Ramadan. He and other Iraqi officials accusing the other Arab countries of not having done anything, accusing them in their Council Of Ministers in their ministers meeting, rather of having just issued resolutions that had no significance, especially at this time when the war is already ongoing.

Now, Taha Yasin Ramadan, the Iraqi vice president also accused his -- Iraq's neighbor, Jordan of often expelling three Iraqi diplomats under U.S. pressure and of locking trade between Iraq...

HEMMER: Rym, I apologize. Rym, I'm sorry for the interruption here. Dr. Sanjay Gupta just checking in. He's with at a forward hospital base at Sensou with the U.S. Marines. Sanjay, what do you have?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Bill, yes. We're in the middle of an unbelievable sandstorm, first of all in central Iraq as winds about 100 may be miles an hour. There are huge tents out here that support the Medical Corps, some of these 100-man, 100-person tents. Two of them have blown over with all of the medical equipment. The storm is that bad, Bill.

Listen, I've been reporting a little bit about Iraqis being brought here and getting treatments. A couple of interesting things. One is for the Iraqi soldiers who are wounded but do not need operations; they are taken to a specific tent called the Jump Wards tent. What happens from there is that they get their wounds treated but they also are visited by intelligence officers and translators. Paperwork is collected. Any intelligence that can be collected is collected at the same type. That is being done continuously right behind me, right where I'm standing you know, in front of the jump ward.

Also, Bill, to my right, there's a Red Cross truck. I was talking to some of the doctors about this truck and they informed me that in fact on this particular medical site this is also the site of a temporary mortuary, Bill. Two Marine KIAs are in that truck. Some of the KIAs are being brought here killed in action Marines are in this truck here on the site as well. This medical unit obviously taking care of a lot of patients but also receiving some of the unfortunate casualties as well -- Bill.

HEMMER: Wow, Sanjay. That's certainly disturbing, the last part of your report there. But if you can go back to the very beginning when you mentioned this equipment and these beds falling into the desert dust of the sandstorms.

How in the world from a medical perspective, do doctors get this equipment clean again, knowing the sandstorm's not going to letup for some time?

GUPTA: it is very challenging. And I will tell you that these -- literally over the last eight hours, several Marines have been working continuously on that.

The operating room tents that I have been talking so much about Bill, they are still intact, they are standing. There are Marines literally standing by the stakes that holds those tents and continuously pounding them in with sledgehammers. That is being done continuously.

The tents that fell over were more medical triage tents. That equipment is taken into clean tents, cleaned with alcohol, tents re- established and the equipment is brought back in. It's not easy, Bill. It is not easy.

You know, yourself, this sand is just really blowing around. It's very fine. It gets everywhere, including into your eyes, your nose and certainly all over the equipment as well. I've never seen anything like this. This sand -- I mean, it's 100 mile an hour winds, sometimes you can't even walk in a straight line because of the winds here -- Bill.

HEMMER: And Sanjay, I'm assuming that operations have to be shut down at that point. Is that a fair assessment or can they continue in any sense, given the weather conditions?

GUPTA: Well, the problem is not so much right now. The operating room being able to run, it's being able to get anything here, Bill. Ambulances as well as helicopters are virtually at a standstill. We have not seen any action -- anything really coming in over the last several hours because of the storm. I think people just can't seem to even negotiate their way over here at this point, sort of an interesting problem. The operating rooms themselves could run, if necessary.

Bill, also being told to me right now that is we have a perimeter. You're familiar with perimeters around the camp basically to secure it. We have heard, not too long ago, that there's been a breach of that perimeter by some unknown Iraqi force at this point. That's what I'm being told. I don't know any more details than that. And several Marines right now are running in front of me going to I guess, reestablish that perimeter. I'll certainly try and keep you posted on that.

But other than that, really the sandstorm and the effects of that sandstorm on the Medical Corps are really what we're seeing more than anything else.

HEMMER: Wow. Well, stay safe. Sanjay, thanks and thanks for checking in. Dr. Sanjay Gupta embedded with the U.S. Marines.

Let's bring in our military analyst, Brigadier General David Grange at the CNN Center.

Listen, you're watching this stuff from half a world away but you have experience in this as well. What kind of hazards, what kind of difficulties are represented over the next two days when we see sandstorm like these?

David, hello.

BRIG. GEN. DAVID GRANGE, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, the sandstorms this particular case, just like Sanjay said, it's going to make it difficult to perform the medical duties. But I'll you, I have seen medical duties performed in the jungles, in snow, in desert in austere conditions of weather and terrain, and they will make it happen if it's a life or death situation.

And what makes it tough is that in these type of sand storms in the situation, enemy units can get very close, just like Walt said with the 3-7 Cavalry, can get close to a friendly unit.

HEMMER: Yes. And listen, you can't put on night vision goggles to detect that, especially when the daytime is out here, when the sun's going to poke through a little bit through that sandstorm.

From an aerial perspective though, we've heard that some aircraft are now grounded on board the carrier the USS Theodore Roosevelt. What kind of difficulties is this weather going to present to coalition force over the next two days? And how much will their progress be impeded?

GRANGE: Well, the weather will obviously affect their operations. However, if there is a emergency call for support from some sector in the theater, air support would be launched because the weather where Sanjay is, may not be exactly where Walter is, may not be exactly how it is in northern Iraq.

And so, it's going change. Though it's a sandstorm that's going through the entire region, it will not be at same all the time, same level of wind, same amount of sand on a constant basis. And something can get out.

I've taken off in helicopters sideways in emergency situations just because the mission was that important. And that's the thing about the brotherhood of war. You have people that will risk their life to save their comrades. So yes it will degrade operations. But if they can do it, they will.

HEMMER: Thank you, General. David Grange, our military analyst at the CNN Center.

And again, I'm apologizing for interrupting some of our reporters but when our embeds appear and when they pop up, oftentimes we have no indication when they may arrive to us here. But when they do, we have to take them to get their story on the air, otherwise it's quite possible we will lose that signal and lose that valuable information. Thank you to the general, Rym Brahimi and Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

Let's get a short break here. More of AMERICAN MORNING live in Kuwait and also live with Paula back in New York. Back in a moment after this.

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