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CNN Live At Daybreak
British: Some Iraqi Troops Surrender in Basra
Aired March 26, 2003 - 06:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: As we have been telling you all morning long, there has been a lot of activity around Basra and in Basra. It is unclear exactly what is happening in the city, but for the latest, we go to reporter Richard Gaisford near Basra with British troops.
Richard -- what is the latest?
RICHARD GAISFORD, INT REPORTER: Some very interesting and significant developments this morning as you are waking up in America, Anderson.
The first being that a senior British officer here with Royal Scots Dragoon Guard has told me that Iraqi soldiers are now coming out of the city with their hands in the air surrendering to British troops on the outskirts of the city. So that is very significant of course.
The second point of information, which goes hand-in-hand with that, is this humanitarian effort. We're told now that 50 percent of the water supply of Basra has now been reconnected. That's a joint effort between coalition forces and the United Nations. They've been working together to get that happening, and that is obviously very important in this battle for the hearts and minds of the Iraqis living in Basra.
Something else I want to tell you that happened overnight. As well as this uprising that we've been reporting for the last 12 hours or so in Basra, there was also a strike called in on the Baath Party headquarters. That, of course, is Saddam Hussein's ruling party headquarters within the city.
And the vehicle that is important to you would be this behind me. It's the Humvee, and it's the U.S. Marines Corps Humvee, and that certainly was the vehicle that they used to call in that strike. It was a JDAM missile that was called in. That is a 2,000-pound bomb that had a guidance system on it dropped by an F-18 right through the roof of the building, and from there it exploded and took the whole building with it, totally wiped off the face of the map of Basra.
The good news, we're being told just in the last hour, is that there was no collateral damage, no damage to any other buildings around. There's a school and a hospital on one side of it. That hasn't been hit, and we're told there were no civilian casualties.
So again, something of a moral victory in this battle that surrounds Basra. COOPER: Well, that certainly is good news for coalition forces, Richard, as you have been reporting, but you know -- and as we have been reporting over the last 24 hours or so. It would seem that the strategy of those Iraqi regular forces had been to withdraw into the city, try to seek the cover of civilian forces, so the fact that an airstrike could be targeted -- that a missile could be targeted on the Baath Party headquarters, eliminate it without collateral damage is obviously good news as far as coalition forces would be concerned.
For those Americans who are just waking up, Richard, if you could, bring us back over the last 12 hours or so, this word of an uprising on the streets of Basra against Iraqi regular forces. What can you tell us about it, and what do you know?
GAISFORD: Well, I was -- I'm with the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards battle group. That's one part of the famous Desert Rats, the 7th Armored Brigade. Last night we had artillery fire going in towards Basra. We came out and asked what was going on, and we were told it is an uprising, a public uprising within the city itself, and that Iraqi forces there are trying to put it down with mortar attacks, and also with artillery.
And believe it or not, they were using artillery guns that would normally fire right up into the sky for miles and miles, putting them horizontal and firing them at the crowd.
So obviously the Brits didnt like that. They started to fire back to take out those positions. They think they were successful with that.
And as part of that whole campaign in Basra last night, we also saw them bomb the Baath Party headquarters as well.
So a lot of action overnight there in Basra, but it seems that things are developing now as we speak with these troops giving themselves up, with talk still of the uprising, the water being connected, and everything that's going on, it's quite a busy day in this particular part of Iraq.
COOPER: Richard, we had heard a figure that as many as 1,000 irregular Iraqi forces had withdrawn into the city. This was some many hours ago. Do you have any sense of how many so far have given up?
GAISFORD: No. This is stuff that's just coming in to us now. I'm sure the figures will be with us in the next hour or so. I know that in battle group headquarters behind me they'll be listening to the radios, getting all of the latest information. And I'm sure as soon as we've got it, we'll give it to you.
COOPER: OK, and just one more thing, Richard. I'm not sure if you are in the same area as this other event that happened. But we have been reading some quotes from Colonel Chris Vernon who was talking about the capture -- a rather interesting operation apparently against a man described as a senior Baath Party leader from his office around Az Zubayr, around Az Zubayr. Apparently he was captured, 20 irregulars were killed in the operation.
Do you have anything on that?
GAISFORD: Only that there was a surgical strike that they knew exactly -- they had the intelligence of exactly where this man was. They had the force to go and deal with it. Apart from that, I'm sure you've got all of the facts there.
I'm afraid -- I'm totally embedded with one particular unit, the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards. The information I get comes from them. What I get to see comes from them. And what happens outside I'm afraid is just a little limited for me.
COOPER: All right, understand. Richard Gaisford, a busy day for you, I'm sure. Appreciate you joining us, and we'll probably check in with you shortly.
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 - 06:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: As we have been telling you all morning long, there has been a lot of activity around Basra and in Basra. It is unclear exactly what is happening in the city, but for the latest, we go to reporter Richard Gaisford near Basra with British troops.
Richard -- what is the latest?
RICHARD GAISFORD, INT REPORTER: Some very interesting and significant developments this morning as you are waking up in America, Anderson.
The first being that a senior British officer here with Royal Scots Dragoon Guard has told me that Iraqi soldiers are now coming out of the city with their hands in the air surrendering to British troops on the outskirts of the city. So that is very significant of course.
The second point of information, which goes hand-in-hand with that, is this humanitarian effort. We're told now that 50 percent of the water supply of Basra has now been reconnected. That's a joint effort between coalition forces and the United Nations. They've been working together to get that happening, and that is obviously very important in this battle for the hearts and minds of the Iraqis living in Basra.
Something else I want to tell you that happened overnight. As well as this uprising that we've been reporting for the last 12 hours or so in Basra, there was also a strike called in on the Baath Party headquarters. That, of course, is Saddam Hussein's ruling party headquarters within the city.
And the vehicle that is important to you would be this behind me. It's the Humvee, and it's the U.S. Marines Corps Humvee, and that certainly was the vehicle that they used to call in that strike. It was a JDAM missile that was called in. That is a 2,000-pound bomb that had a guidance system on it dropped by an F-18 right through the roof of the building, and from there it exploded and took the whole building with it, totally wiped off the face of the map of Basra.
The good news, we're being told just in the last hour, is that there was no collateral damage, no damage to any other buildings around. There's a school and a hospital on one side of it. That hasn't been hit, and we're told there were no civilian casualties.
So again, something of a moral victory in this battle that surrounds Basra. COOPER: Well, that certainly is good news for coalition forces, Richard, as you have been reporting, but you know -- and as we have been reporting over the last 24 hours or so. It would seem that the strategy of those Iraqi regular forces had been to withdraw into the city, try to seek the cover of civilian forces, so the fact that an airstrike could be targeted -- that a missile could be targeted on the Baath Party headquarters, eliminate it without collateral damage is obviously good news as far as coalition forces would be concerned.
For those Americans who are just waking up, Richard, if you could, bring us back over the last 12 hours or so, this word of an uprising on the streets of Basra against Iraqi regular forces. What can you tell us about it, and what do you know?
GAISFORD: Well, I was -- I'm with the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards battle group. That's one part of the famous Desert Rats, the 7th Armored Brigade. Last night we had artillery fire going in towards Basra. We came out and asked what was going on, and we were told it is an uprising, a public uprising within the city itself, and that Iraqi forces there are trying to put it down with mortar attacks, and also with artillery.
And believe it or not, they were using artillery guns that would normally fire right up into the sky for miles and miles, putting them horizontal and firing them at the crowd.
So obviously the Brits didnt like that. They started to fire back to take out those positions. They think they were successful with that.
And as part of that whole campaign in Basra last night, we also saw them bomb the Baath Party headquarters as well.
So a lot of action overnight there in Basra, but it seems that things are developing now as we speak with these troops giving themselves up, with talk still of the uprising, the water being connected, and everything that's going on, it's quite a busy day in this particular part of Iraq.
COOPER: Richard, we had heard a figure that as many as 1,000 irregular Iraqi forces had withdrawn into the city. This was some many hours ago. Do you have any sense of how many so far have given up?
GAISFORD: No. This is stuff that's just coming in to us now. I'm sure the figures will be with us in the next hour or so. I know that in battle group headquarters behind me they'll be listening to the radios, getting all of the latest information. And I'm sure as soon as we've got it, we'll give it to you.
COOPER: OK, and just one more thing, Richard. I'm not sure if you are in the same area as this other event that happened. But we have been reading some quotes from Colonel Chris Vernon who was talking about the capture -- a rather interesting operation apparently against a man described as a senior Baath Party leader from his office around Az Zubayr, around Az Zubayr. Apparently he was captured, 20 irregulars were killed in the operation.
Do you have anything on that?
GAISFORD: Only that there was a surgical strike that they knew exactly -- they had the intelligence of exactly where this man was. They had the force to go and deal with it. Apart from that, I'm sure you've got all of the facts there.
I'm afraid -- I'm totally embedded with one particular unit, the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards. The information I get comes from them. What I get to see comes from them. And what happens outside I'm afraid is just a little limited for me.
COOPER: All right, understand. Richard Gaisford, a busy day for you, I'm sure. Appreciate you joining us, and we'll probably check in with you shortly.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
