Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Today

With the Air Force

Aired March 26, 2003 - 10:10   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.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Walter Rogers, deep in Iraq, not quite sure exactly, but Walt yesterday was giving us amazing videotape and amazing reports about the progress of the 7th Cav. Also, looks like in many respects, Walt is standing on Mars, given the amount of dust right now that's collecting in central Iraq.
And, Walt, we say hello and good evening again to you.

WALTER RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Bill.

The situation here appears to be increasingly tense. A few moments ago, out on the horizon, not far ahead of the U.S. Army's Third Squadron, 7th Cavalry, we heard more than a few explosions. It sounded like close air support out there again, in front of the U.S. cavalry. That means the Air Force is striking out there. The difficulty for us is in determining the size and scope of the hostile force in front of the 7th Cavalry. Part of the problem, again, is this dust storm. We can see visually no more than 75 meters, three- quarters of the length of a football field. But as I say, things are tense, and the Iraqis are pulling off numerous surprises.

Last night, the 7th Cavalry units, which were behind Apache -- I'm with the Apache troop -- the units to the rear holding other positions, Bone Crusher and Crazy Horse, came under a very severe counterattack from the Iraqis. The Iraqis were trying to cut off the 7th Cavalry and retake the Euphrates River bridges. Now, Bone Crusher and Crazy Horse troops put up rather heroic fights and were able to drive off the Iraqis.

But again, the Iraqis counterattacked last night, and the situation here is, again, one full of surprises. The Iraqis are changing their tactics constantly. They are trying to conduct a war of attrition against the U.S. Army as it moves forward. The army is now reporting that they have seen people -- suicide bus drivers packed with explosives, trying to crack into -- crash into Bradley fighting vehicles with explosives. There are reports of motorcyclists coming along, trying to ram the armored convoys. To the best of my knowledge, only one vehicle has come close. That was a bus of some sort that rammed a Bradley.

And that -- again that represents a new tactic. The Iraqis at this point are still using a basically guerrilla tactics against a conventional U.S. Army force. Those guerrilla tactics are aimed at conducting a war of attrition, weakening U.S. forces as they push farther north towards Baghdad.

Bill? HEMMER: Walt, we heard from Barbara Starr at the Pentagon saying that a lot of U.S. military officials did not estimate that the strength of the Fedayeen would be as strong as it is given the paramilitary. I'm not suggesting this is Fedayeen members coming at your group there, but the members of the military you're traveling with, did they anticipate this type of response?

RODGERS: At some point, yes. What they are seeing ahead of them now, what they're calling in the close air strikes, was anticipated. It was only a matter of when. And remember, this is the last stand for Saddam Hussein. His tactics -- his military tactics in this are rather good, considering he doesn't have many cards to play. But what he's doing is he is using guerrilla forces, regular soldiers in civilian clothes, they're conducting a war of attrition, trying to wear down the army, take out a tank here, a number of soldiers there and then weaken them so that when it comes to a major force-on-force battle against the Iraqis as this unit moves closer to Baghdad, under those circumstances, it would be a somewhat weakened U.S. force up against the Iraqi crack Republican Guard units.

Bill?

HEMMER: All right, Walter, just to button this up quickly, any injuries, any damage as a result of these attacks?

RODGERS: Not to 7th Cavalry, that I'm aware of. However, another brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division saw three or four soldiers hit with small arms fire today. I don't think any were killed but there were several injuries in another brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division off to our left. So it's heating up, Bill, it's getting very tense. And it's going to -- you're going to see an escalation of the fighting I strongly suspect.

Bill?

HEMMER: All right, Walter. Walt Rodgers with the 7th Cav in south central Iraq. Northern Iraq now, Chamchamal, right near the Iranian border, Kevin Sites has seen some activity over the past 24 hours. What's happening there, Kevin?

KEVIN SITES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bill, just to give you a quick preface, I know they're having sandstorms in the south. We're in the middle -- I'm in Chamchamal, it is 40 kilometer away from Kirkuk.

HEMMER: All right. Listen, Kevin, I think we're losing you there. I apologize for that. The signal dropped out. Kevin was on video phone. If we can get him back, let's go back to him. If not, all right, we'll try and check back in with Kevin in a moment here. Gary Tuchman meanwhile, at an air base near the Iraqi border.

Gary, good evening. What do you have for us?

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bill, hello to you. And a week into this war, the United States Air Force says it's very pleased with its performance. Officials saying they're in complete control of the skies. We come to you from a base right near the Iraqi border. You can see behind me, these are the tents where many of the 8, 000 service men and women live during the war. Behind there is the bunker, that's the bunker where they go when they hear the air raid sirens, they rush in there with their gas masks and their chemical suits.

Over the last 18 hours, we can tell you, the number of flights leaving from here have decreased, that's because the weather has been very bad. There was heavy rains, heavy winds, thunder and lightning.. Today it was very windy. The last two hours, the winds have finally died down and the flights are now remaining.

I want to give you a look at what it's like to live in a tent during wartime. What's interesting about this facility, it's mostly air force personnel, but there are also army people here, marines and navy people. And inside here, are two petty officers with the navy. We're going to bring you inside. And actually, I walked in before, and they were sitting here, watching television. That's what interesting about when people live in tents during wartime in the 21st century, they watch satellite television. They're watching CNN International right now so it's a different program than you're watching on CNN in the United States.

Your name, sir?

LEONARD BRUCE (ph), NAVY PETTY OFFICER: Bruce, Leonard Bruce (ph) (inaudible).

TUCHMAN: Let me ask you, you're a petty officer of the navy. What's the navy doing here at an air base in the middle of the desert?

BRUCE (ph): Well, sir, they've got -- in case one of jets from a carrier have to divert over here for low on fuel, they sent a couple of guys out here to ensure that they get back to the boat safely and they get serviced up or whatever they need.

TUCHMAN: So that's your responsibility, to service the navy planes?

BRUCE (ph): Yes, sir.

TUCHMAN: How many guys live in the tent?

BRUCE (ph): Six right now.

TUCHMAN: We're going to give you a look at what tent life looks like during wartime right in here. And you can see, nicely made beds. They keep this place very neat. We, as the members of the news media, we also live in tents, and I can tell you unequivocally guys,, our tents aren't anywhere near as neat. Thank you for talking with us, we appreciate it.

We want to tell you, that as we speak, the sun is going down here in the desert near the border of Iraq. And they expect lots of sorties out of here today. They have been averaging about 300 sorties out of this base alone. Yesterday it was only 144 because of the weather. But they're expecting a lot of flights to Iraq tonight. Bill, back to you.

HEMMER: All right. Gary, thanks. Gary Tuchman there at that air base.

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 - 10:10   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Walter Rogers, deep in Iraq, not quite sure exactly, but Walt yesterday was giving us amazing videotape and amazing reports about the progress of the 7th Cav. Also, looks like in many respects, Walt is standing on Mars, given the amount of dust right now that's collecting in central Iraq.
And, Walt, we say hello and good evening again to you.

WALTER RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Bill.

The situation here appears to be increasingly tense. A few moments ago, out on the horizon, not far ahead of the U.S. Army's Third Squadron, 7th Cavalry, we heard more than a few explosions. It sounded like close air support out there again, in front of the U.S. cavalry. That means the Air Force is striking out there. The difficulty for us is in determining the size and scope of the hostile force in front of the 7th Cavalry. Part of the problem, again, is this dust storm. We can see visually no more than 75 meters, three- quarters of the length of a football field. But as I say, things are tense, and the Iraqis are pulling off numerous surprises.

Last night, the 7th Cavalry units, which were behind Apache -- I'm with the Apache troop -- the units to the rear holding other positions, Bone Crusher and Crazy Horse, came under a very severe counterattack from the Iraqis. The Iraqis were trying to cut off the 7th Cavalry and retake the Euphrates River bridges. Now, Bone Crusher and Crazy Horse troops put up rather heroic fights and were able to drive off the Iraqis.

But again, the Iraqis counterattacked last night, and the situation here is, again, one full of surprises. The Iraqis are changing their tactics constantly. They are trying to conduct a war of attrition against the U.S. Army as it moves forward. The army is now reporting that they have seen people -- suicide bus drivers packed with explosives, trying to crack into -- crash into Bradley fighting vehicles with explosives. There are reports of motorcyclists coming along, trying to ram the armored convoys. To the best of my knowledge, only one vehicle has come close. That was a bus of some sort that rammed a Bradley.

And that -- again that represents a new tactic. The Iraqis at this point are still using a basically guerrilla tactics against a conventional U.S. Army force. Those guerrilla tactics are aimed at conducting a war of attrition, weakening U.S. forces as they push farther north towards Baghdad.

Bill? HEMMER: Walt, we heard from Barbara Starr at the Pentagon saying that a lot of U.S. military officials did not estimate that the strength of the Fedayeen would be as strong as it is given the paramilitary. I'm not suggesting this is Fedayeen members coming at your group there, but the members of the military you're traveling with, did they anticipate this type of response?

RODGERS: At some point, yes. What they are seeing ahead of them now, what they're calling in the close air strikes, was anticipated. It was only a matter of when. And remember, this is the last stand for Saddam Hussein. His tactics -- his military tactics in this are rather good, considering he doesn't have many cards to play. But what he's doing is he is using guerrilla forces, regular soldiers in civilian clothes, they're conducting a war of attrition, trying to wear down the army, take out a tank here, a number of soldiers there and then weaken them so that when it comes to a major force-on-force battle against the Iraqis as this unit moves closer to Baghdad, under those circumstances, it would be a somewhat weakened U.S. force up against the Iraqi crack Republican Guard units.

Bill?

HEMMER: All right, Walter, just to button this up quickly, any injuries, any damage as a result of these attacks?

RODGERS: Not to 7th Cavalry, that I'm aware of. However, another brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division saw three or four soldiers hit with small arms fire today. I don't think any were killed but there were several injuries in another brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division off to our left. So it's heating up, Bill, it's getting very tense. And it's going to -- you're going to see an escalation of the fighting I strongly suspect.

Bill?

HEMMER: All right, Walter. Walt Rodgers with the 7th Cav in south central Iraq. Northern Iraq now, Chamchamal, right near the Iranian border, Kevin Sites has seen some activity over the past 24 hours. What's happening there, Kevin?

KEVIN SITES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bill, just to give you a quick preface, I know they're having sandstorms in the south. We're in the middle -- I'm in Chamchamal, it is 40 kilometer away from Kirkuk.

HEMMER: All right. Listen, Kevin, I think we're losing you there. I apologize for that. The signal dropped out. Kevin was on video phone. If we can get him back, let's go back to him. If not, all right, we'll try and check back in with Kevin in a moment here. Gary Tuchman meanwhile, at an air base near the Iraqi border.

Gary, good evening. What do you have for us?

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bill, hello to you. And a week into this war, the United States Air Force says it's very pleased with its performance. Officials saying they're in complete control of the skies. We come to you from a base right near the Iraqi border. You can see behind me, these are the tents where many of the 8, 000 service men and women live during the war. Behind there is the bunker, that's the bunker where they go when they hear the air raid sirens, they rush in there with their gas masks and their chemical suits.

Over the last 18 hours, we can tell you, the number of flights leaving from here have decreased, that's because the weather has been very bad. There was heavy rains, heavy winds, thunder and lightning.. Today it was very windy. The last two hours, the winds have finally died down and the flights are now remaining.

I want to give you a look at what it's like to live in a tent during wartime. What's interesting about this facility, it's mostly air force personnel, but there are also army people here, marines and navy people. And inside here, are two petty officers with the navy. We're going to bring you inside. And actually, I walked in before, and they were sitting here, watching television. That's what interesting about when people live in tents during wartime in the 21st century, they watch satellite television. They're watching CNN International right now so it's a different program than you're watching on CNN in the United States.

Your name, sir?

LEONARD BRUCE (ph), NAVY PETTY OFFICER: Bruce, Leonard Bruce (ph) (inaudible).

TUCHMAN: Let me ask you, you're a petty officer of the navy. What's the navy doing here at an air base in the middle of the desert?

BRUCE (ph): Well, sir, they've got -- in case one of jets from a carrier have to divert over here for low on fuel, they sent a couple of guys out here to ensure that they get back to the boat safely and they get serviced up or whatever they need.

TUCHMAN: So that's your responsibility, to service the navy planes?

BRUCE (ph): Yes, sir.

TUCHMAN: How many guys live in the tent?

BRUCE (ph): Six right now.

TUCHMAN: We're going to give you a look at what tent life looks like during wartime right in here. And you can see, nicely made beds. They keep this place very neat. We, as the members of the news media, we also live in tents, and I can tell you unequivocally guys,, our tents aren't anywhere near as neat. Thank you for talking with us, we appreciate it.

We want to tell you, that as we speak, the sun is going down here in the desert near the border of Iraq. And they expect lots of sorties out of here today. They have been averaging about 300 sorties out of this base alone. Yesterday it was only 144 because of the weather. But they're expecting a lot of flights to Iraq tonight. Bill, back to you.

HEMMER: All right. Gary, thanks. Gary Tuchman there at that air base.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com