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CNN Live At Daybreak
President Bush's Schedule Today
Aired March 26, 2003 - 05:40 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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: OK, we got some new pictures in to CNN. We showed them just briefly a short time ago. We want to show them to you once again.
This is from inside Baghdad. We're not exactly sure where. Apparently this is the aftermath of a coalition bombing run. It seems to be a residential neighborhood. We saw an injured Iraqi -- what appears to be an injured Iraqi being carried away. And you can see the rubble of those buildings, people in the streets, blood on the ground. And again, we're not exactly sure where this is in Baghdad, but these are the latest pictures we're getting in from the damage there from coalition bombing runs.
Want to show you a live picture of Baghdad right now, because all morning long we've been talking a lot about the weather. There's a huge sandstorm ongoing there again today. You see the orange haze, that is the dust in the air, the sandstorm in place. It's not halting all operations this morning, but it certainly has halted a lot of flights overhead.
All right, we want to throw it live to Kuwait City right now.
The weather was bad earlier this morning, Bill Hemmer, but apparently it's clearing up there.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, it is, Carol. And I will tell you, we woke up at dawn today and what we saw was just unbelievable outside of our windows here. Now listen, what they're going through in Iraq pales in compare -- well we pale in comparison to what they're experiencing right now. But suffice to say when we looked outside of our windows, I mean the wind was just howling. And as compared to yesterday, what we saw was the air just filled up with this dust that you can see still behind me here.
And you talked with that one reporter, I don't know what his name was, but he was in south central Iraq. He talked about the rain that they experienced last night blowing some of that dust out of there. That's what you need essentially, you need that moisture in the air or you need a good strong wind to get the dust going through. If the air is still, it tends to linger. And we saw that last week, and essentially you get this haze that develops here. And it's certainly going to be another issue throughout the day today as we look at this weather pattern to the north.
And yes, go ahead. I'm hearing something. All right, I guess it wasn't to me. A different Bill I guess.
Let's get to Dana Bash at the White House for the latest on what's going on there today.
Dana, good morning, hello to you.
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Bill, good morning.
Well, it's been one week since the commander-in-chief started this war, started -- officially called for a military action to begin. And he is going to head south to see and be seen with some of his troops. He is going to go to MacDill Air Force Base. That is the home of Central Command. That, of course, is where Tommy Franks usually is. That's where Central Command generally runs the entire region where you are, Bill, but now of course Tommy Franks is in Doha, Qatar, running the war, running the military campaign for the president in Iraq.
Now the president is going to have some briefings with some of the military brass down in Tampa, Florida, which is, of course, where the Air Force base is. He is going to have some lunch in the mess, as he usually does when he goes to military bases. And he is going to make a speech to rally the troops and probably strike a similar theme that we've heard him make over the past few days, and his top aides, saying that there is progress being made in the war, that -- but that Americans need to understand that it's probably going to take a while and it could be a dangerous and sort of long road ahead. That is the theme that we expect to hear from the president today.
Now tonight he is going to have a very important meeting, he is going to meet at Camp David with his top ally in this -- in this campaign, that is British Prime Minister Tony Blair. The two men will meet tonight there and they will have meetings on Thursday as well.
U.S. and British officials tell us that the two men are going to talk of course about war strategy, but also they are going to talk about post-war Iraq, how to deal with not only the humanitarian aid but also the reconstruction projects and the Iraqi government, how -- all of the details on how they believe that should be prosecuted. Particularly Tony Blair said in a briefing yesterday that he wants to talk about doing all this through the United Nations. That will be, we are told, some of the top topics that the two men will be discussing at Camp David -- Bill.
HEMMER: Dana, thanks. Dana Bash in Washington watching the movements of the president for us.
Another note here, we're going to talk about Basra throughout the day here and also going to talk about this humanitarian effort. It has been in various warehouses thought Kuwait City, large amounts of humanitarian aid that has essentially been stuck in neutral. We talked with one group on behalf of the Kuwaitis earlier today. They want to take this huge convoy of humanitarian aid into Umm Qasr and they want to do it right now, but the weather has hampered them and so, too, has the environment inside of Iraq as one can well imagine. Umm Qasr, the port city, the only port city for the Iraqis, by the way, has been hampered by this what the military likes to refer to as onesies and twosies, groups of one or two men who are still putting up somewhat of a fight in these various locations, within warehouses or within homes inside of Umm Qasr.
Now tomorrow and Thursday, Carol, they do anticipate a continued effort to make sure the waterway is cleared of these mines. In fact, they're using dolphins to go through the area as well and help out the divers locate mines in case they need to be taken out and taken care of. It's possible on Thursday a ship from the British Royal Navy, the Sir Galahad, may come into that port. And if it does, it could help not only secure the place but also bring in that well needed humanitarian aid. It's something that gets a lot of attention here in Kuwait City and -- but at this point, it's something also that has a lot of pitfalls right now based on security.
More on all of that throughout the morning here, back to you now at the CNN Center.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Bill, thanks very much. It's Anderson.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired March 26, 2003 - 05:40 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: OK, we got some new pictures in to CNN. We showed them just briefly a short time ago. We want to show them to you once again.
This is from inside Baghdad. We're not exactly sure where. Apparently this is the aftermath of a coalition bombing run. It seems to be a residential neighborhood. We saw an injured Iraqi -- what appears to be an injured Iraqi being carried away. And you can see the rubble of those buildings, people in the streets, blood on the ground. And again, we're not exactly sure where this is in Baghdad, but these are the latest pictures we're getting in from the damage there from coalition bombing runs.
Want to show you a live picture of Baghdad right now, because all morning long we've been talking a lot about the weather. There's a huge sandstorm ongoing there again today. You see the orange haze, that is the dust in the air, the sandstorm in place. It's not halting all operations this morning, but it certainly has halted a lot of flights overhead.
All right, we want to throw it live to Kuwait City right now.
The weather was bad earlier this morning, Bill Hemmer, but apparently it's clearing up there.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, it is, Carol. And I will tell you, we woke up at dawn today and what we saw was just unbelievable outside of our windows here. Now listen, what they're going through in Iraq pales in compare -- well we pale in comparison to what they're experiencing right now. But suffice to say when we looked outside of our windows, I mean the wind was just howling. And as compared to yesterday, what we saw was the air just filled up with this dust that you can see still behind me here.
And you talked with that one reporter, I don't know what his name was, but he was in south central Iraq. He talked about the rain that they experienced last night blowing some of that dust out of there. That's what you need essentially, you need that moisture in the air or you need a good strong wind to get the dust going through. If the air is still, it tends to linger. And we saw that last week, and essentially you get this haze that develops here. And it's certainly going to be another issue throughout the day today as we look at this weather pattern to the north.
And yes, go ahead. I'm hearing something. All right, I guess it wasn't to me. A different Bill I guess.
Let's get to Dana Bash at the White House for the latest on what's going on there today.
Dana, good morning, hello to you.
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Bill, good morning.
Well, it's been one week since the commander-in-chief started this war, started -- officially called for a military action to begin. And he is going to head south to see and be seen with some of his troops. He is going to go to MacDill Air Force Base. That is the home of Central Command. That, of course, is where Tommy Franks usually is. That's where Central Command generally runs the entire region where you are, Bill, but now of course Tommy Franks is in Doha, Qatar, running the war, running the military campaign for the president in Iraq.
Now the president is going to have some briefings with some of the military brass down in Tampa, Florida, which is, of course, where the Air Force base is. He is going to have some lunch in the mess, as he usually does when he goes to military bases. And he is going to make a speech to rally the troops and probably strike a similar theme that we've heard him make over the past few days, and his top aides, saying that there is progress being made in the war, that -- but that Americans need to understand that it's probably going to take a while and it could be a dangerous and sort of long road ahead. That is the theme that we expect to hear from the president today.
Now tonight he is going to have a very important meeting, he is going to meet at Camp David with his top ally in this -- in this campaign, that is British Prime Minister Tony Blair. The two men will meet tonight there and they will have meetings on Thursday as well.
U.S. and British officials tell us that the two men are going to talk of course about war strategy, but also they are going to talk about post-war Iraq, how to deal with not only the humanitarian aid but also the reconstruction projects and the Iraqi government, how -- all of the details on how they believe that should be prosecuted. Particularly Tony Blair said in a briefing yesterday that he wants to talk about doing all this through the United Nations. That will be, we are told, some of the top topics that the two men will be discussing at Camp David -- Bill.
HEMMER: Dana, thanks. Dana Bash in Washington watching the movements of the president for us.
Another note here, we're going to talk about Basra throughout the day here and also going to talk about this humanitarian effort. It has been in various warehouses thought Kuwait City, large amounts of humanitarian aid that has essentially been stuck in neutral. We talked with one group on behalf of the Kuwaitis earlier today. They want to take this huge convoy of humanitarian aid into Umm Qasr and they want to do it right now, but the weather has hampered them and so, too, has the environment inside of Iraq as one can well imagine. Umm Qasr, the port city, the only port city for the Iraqis, by the way, has been hampered by this what the military likes to refer to as onesies and twosies, groups of one or two men who are still putting up somewhat of a fight in these various locations, within warehouses or within homes inside of Umm Qasr.
Now tomorrow and Thursday, Carol, they do anticipate a continued effort to make sure the waterway is cleared of these mines. In fact, they're using dolphins to go through the area as well and help out the divers locate mines in case they need to be taken out and taken care of. It's possible on Thursday a ship from the British Royal Navy, the Sir Galahad, may come into that port. And if it does, it could help not only secure the place but also bring in that well needed humanitarian aid. It's something that gets a lot of attention here in Kuwait City and -- but at this point, it's something also that has a lot of pitfalls right now based on security.
More on all of that throughout the morning here, back to you now at the CNN Center.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Bill, thanks very much. It's Anderson.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
