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CNN Live At Daybreak

U.S., Kurds May Open Northern Front

Aired March 27, 2003 - 05:00   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: The U.S. and the Kurds may join forces to open a northern front against Iraqi troops in the north.
An incredible scene overnight near Nasiriya, where coalition forces continue to hammer away at Iraqi positions. It was in Nasiriya where coalition forces continued to hammer away at Iraqi positions. It was in Nasiriya that U.S. forces say they found the Iraqis using a hospital as a military post, complete with weapons, munitions and stockpiles of chemical protective suits.

American military officials say they simply don't know what caused an explosion yesterday in a residential marketplace in Baghdad. Iraqi television reports 15 civilians were killed. The Pentagon acknowledges it has targeted Iraqi missiles and launchers placed in some residential areas, but says this explosion may have been caused by an Iraqi missile or shell. We'll have an update on this from CENTCOM Command headquarters in

Just a bit.

Relief supply ships bound for Iraq are being held up by mines in the Persian Gulf. You heard Anderson talking about that. The British vessel Sir Galahad is loaded with about 200 tons of humanitarian aid. A convoy of trucks loaded with relief supplies relief supplies from Kuwait was allowed into Iraq yesterday.

And at the Pentagon, Joint Chiefs Vice Chairman General Peter Pace says Iraq has executed some prisoners of war. General Pace did not elaborate. But earlier, Pentagon sources told CNN they were looking into a report that Iraqi troops shot and killed seven U.S. soldiers as they were surrendering with their hands up.

At Iraq's military headquarters in Nasiriya, U.S. Marines have found a chilling picture reminiscent of the scenes from 9/11. Take a look at this. This mural depicts a plane crashing into a building that looks like the World Trade Center. The plane's logo and coloring resembles that of Iraqi Airlines.

And it has been three days since "Newsday" heard from a reporter and a photographer covering the war in Baghdad. "Newsday" is investigating reports the two were expelled from Iraq and were escorted to the border of Syria or Jordan. A freelance photographer also reported missing.

And former New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan has died. He served four terms in the Senate, advised four presidents, was U.N. ambassador, Harvard professor and he authored 19 books. Senator Moynihan died yesterday afternoon. He was 76 years old.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I mean, a lifetime of service that man has given to the country.

COSTELLO: Yes.

COOPER: It's very sad.

We've got a lot of news to bring you in the next hour.

Coming up, we'll get the latest on the U.S. Army paratroopers who have jumped into northern Iraq. That's a story Brent Sadler has been bringing us all morning. Amazing pictures he brought back with him.

We're also going to take you to the front lines for updates from our embedded reporters. Keep in mind, CNN does have an unparalleled number of reporters in the war zone to keep you informed.

Hey, look at that odd graphic there. Plus, there's a snag in efforts to get a shipment of humanitarian aid to Iraqi citizens. We've been telling you about that for the last couple of hours. We're going to tell you all about the concerns.

CNN's coverage of the war in Iraq continues right now.

COSTELLO: And good morning to you and welcome back.

You're looking at a live picture of downtown Baghdad as Operation Iraqi Freedom enters its eighth day.

COOPER: And good morning to you. It is about, well, I guess you said it, it's a little past 1:00 p.m. -- I wasn't paying attention -- in Baghdad. It's five, three past five here on the East Coast.

I'm Anderson Cooper from CNN global headquarters in Atlanta.

COSTELLO: And I'm Carol Costello.

Again, thanks so much for joining us this morning.

Time now for an early briefing on stories that will be news later today.

President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair are meeting this morning at Camp David. They'll hold a joint news conference at 11:00 a.m. Eastern time. A U.N. session on Iraq also resumes today. The Security Council is giving nations a chance to express their governments' positions on the Iraq war.

And anti-war protesters will be back on the streets of New York City today. Some major marches are being planned.

COOPER: Now, here's something you will not want to miss. Three U.S. troops wounded in combat in Iraq are going to hold a news conference one hour from now at 6:00 a.m. Eastern. We will, of course, take you live to Landstuhl, Germany for that. It should be quite dramatic. That'll be the first time we've heard from any of those, the soldiers and Marines, the troops who have been wounded and brought to Germany for treatment.

COSTELLO: Yes. Where are we going now? Are we going to throw to Bill Hemmer in Kuwait?

We are going to Bill Hemmer in Kuwait, where there has been some grim excitement this morning -- tell us about it, Bill.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Carol, Anderson, hello and welcome to yet another day here.

Just about 90 minutes ago there was another Iraqi missile fired into Kuwaiti air space. We are told yet again that this was not from the sky, by a Patriot missile battery. It is somewhat ironic that our crew was at a location just about 20 minutes prior to this Iraqi missile being launched and some videotape we can show you, in the central part of Kuwait.

There have been several Patriot missiles launched from this location alone and the Kuwaitis now armed and equipped with these $3 million Patriot missiles are taking a lot of pride right now in the fact that they believe now they can defend their country.

Quite interesting to note the strategy. For every Iraqi missile that incomes, comes into this area here in Kuwait that essentially violates the air space, there are two Patriot missiles launched to go ahead and take it out of the sky. And the new devices that we've heard so far are the Pat 3. now, the Pat 3 is designed not to just knock the incoming missile from the air, but to literally collide into the warhead, make it explode over the skies above and render it useless and harmless to the people living here.

Now, we're told as of yesterday of 10 that entered Kuwaiti air space, seven have been knocked from the sky and now this might make eight based on the information we're getting. We'll get you more on that as we get it here in Kuwait.

Meanwhile, the northern part of Iraq continues to be a very hotbed story. We're seeing more people come in there, members of the 173rd Airborne Brigade out of Italy dropping from the sky and collecting themselves when the daylight came up. Some dramatic videotape to show you. One thousand paratroopers leaving a C-17 over northern Iraq. This was in, by the way, Kurdish held territory about 40 miles north of the demarcation point between Kurdish controlled territory and Iraqi controlled territory. Dramatic tape by way of a night scope inside the C-17 as 1,000 paratroopers dropped into the darkness of the evening sky.

Now, we also understand within the 173rd, it's 2,000 total. A thousand went in last night. Maybe more will come in later tonight, but that's something we do not know. But clearly the northern front continues to be a hotbed of activity and CNN's Brent Sadler has been watching and tracking that for weeks now.

He joins us live to tell us what he has observed in the past 12 to 24 hours -- Brent, good afternoon.

BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Bill.

Well, this was a very dramatic entry into the war by the 1,000 paratroopers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade out of Italy. They came in here about 12 hours ago. The actual jump altitude was round about 1,200 feet from their aircraft. They came in in waves of 100 paratroopers at a time. And I'm now going to show you what happened at the start of the mission and what happened when I caught up with them on the ground.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's pretty much, you know, you've got to get going. There's a certain amount of time that you get from one end of the drop until the other so you've got to exit real quick.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, it was definitely different than our training jumps in some of our other places we have. It is a country that we're at war with. But since we jumped in the Kurdish controlled area we felt a little bit better that we wouldn't be shot at as we are descending from the sky.

SADLER: Hi. Good morning.

Brent Sadler from CNN.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just a second, please. This chute has gone all over the place.

How are you doing?

SADLER: Welcome to Iraq.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you very much.

SADLER: How does it feel to get down here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's nice. It's nice. A little different temperature, but it's nice.

SADLER: Now, what's the routine now? You're on the ground. How are the men feeling? What are they likely to see happening here as the hours develop this day?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, all the men are feeling fine. We landed with all of our equipment. We are digging in positions right now to just set up a perimeter first and then we'll just take everything day by day as the situation develops.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We really don't know what to expect. You don't train to expect things. You just train for everything so you can react to anything that the command may throw at you. It's really strange that we're actually here. It doesn't seem like we're in Iraq. But hopefully, I really look forward to seeing how the plan develops and see what our part is going to be in the whole play. (END VIDEOTAPE)

SADLER: Well, those 1,000 paratroopers got down in one piece. They hit pretty soft ground after two days of torrential rain here, but they were pretty much caked in mud. They quickly began cleaning their equipment, their webbing and also sorting out their weaponry, pretty light at this moment.

However, there were a few bumps and scrapes and bruises from the landing. The drop zone really scattered with rocks. But nothing serious. Perhaps one or two sprained ankles, but all down in one piece and they were all very pleased to be down in one piece.

Interesting that one of the paratroopers told me he was surprised he wasn't landing in sand and was quite shocked to see mountains either side of the air strip capped with snow.

Now, at about the same time as I was talking to those paratroopers about one and a half hour's drive from here, my colleague, Ben Wedeman, was watching an air strike, another day of air strikes against Iraq's northern front. And we can take a look at those explosions, which happened several hours ago. Again, this appeared to be a continuation of a process of softening up of targets on the very front line positions that Saddam Hussein's three army corps along the 500 miles front line still hold.

Very heavy explosions. Huge plumes of smoke really coming up from those positions. No real clear idea yet of what was being hit, but one can see the ridge line now is stable. We're not hearing any more activity right now. But certainly yet another day, about five consecutive days, I think it is, by my count -- I've been out here every one of those days -- of air strikes against this front line.

So really two things going on, the beginning of the implementation of Plan B, a deployment of U.S. paratroopers here, rather than what should have happened with Plan A, the deployment of more than 60,000 U.S. ground troops with heavy equipment and heavy weapons. Plan B now just getting under way and we do expect to see a buildup of these forces and equipment in these next coming days -- back to you, Bill.

HEMMER: Brent, thanks.

Brent Sadler on the northern front. And now we know that they have secured that air field. It will be a question of time before you hear things like more tanks being flown in by way of helicopter, more things brought in. Also, in terms of Bradley fighting vehicles, armed personnel carriers, now that they have secured that air strip, it's a question of time now before that happens.

Meanwhile, quickly on the weather, we continue to get this haze from the sandstorm of yesterday. We do expect things to clear out a bit later today. It's a little bit past one o'clock in the afternoon. The forecast, anyway, says it's going to blow out of here later. Whether that happens or not is something we'll wait and see.

Clearing skies and conditions, though, into Friday and for about the next five days after that.

Central Command is going to brief today, 7:00 a.m. Eastern Time down in Qatar and certainly here on CNN we will have that live for you, as well -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Bill Hemmer reporting live from Kuwait.

We'll check back with you in a short time.

We want to check in with Walter Rodgers now. We haven't heard from him since at least 2:00 a.m. when I began broadcasting, 2:00 a.m. Eastern time, that is.

Walt Rodgers, of course, with the 7th Cavalry. He's on the phone live with us right now -- give us an update, Walter.

WALTER RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Carol.

After punching to within 60 miles of Baghdad within the last 48 hours, the U.S. Army's 7th Cavalry has now been strongly reinforced by the Third Infantry Division. And the area north of al-Najaf, south of Baghdad, just an hour's drive south of Baghdad, is now firmly in the hands of the United States Army.

There was a dodgy moment last night before the reinforcements arrived when Army intelligence reported that a thousand vehicle convoy was moving south from Baghdad towards al-Najaf. The Cavalry thought they were in for a major confrontation and that, indeed, the Iraqi forces would try to reseize the bridge which the Cavalry had been holding for over 48 hours.

At that point, huge air strikes were called in. I spoke with some air traffic controllers with the Air Force on the ground here. They said they brought in wave after wave of heavy B-52 bombers. And whatever vehicles were in that convoy moving south of Baghdad threateningly toward the 7th Cavalry were pounded almost into oblivion. And then for the rest of the night, we could hear multiple launch rocket systems roaring over our heads. That's rocket artillery, 155 millimeter artillery, again, firing far out in advance of the bridgehead that the Cavalry was holding, again, destroying a substantial part of that convoy before it ever got close enough to threaten the 7th Cavalry or counterattack and reseize the bridge, which was so crucial to holding al-Najaf.

So, again, 7th Cavalry has been reinforced by Third Division. The 7th Cavalry is now in the rear of what they're doing. I can see soldiers in the tanks fiddling with the, with some of the wheels. All the gun bores, the 120 millimeter gun bores have to be realigned. All the machine guns have to be cleaned. The air filters on the tanks have to be cleaned. In 24 to 48 hours we expect new marching orders and the compass direction here for the 7th Cavalry is always north toward Baghdad -- Carol.

COSTELLO: A couple of questions for you, Walter, about that intelligence that turned out to be wrong. How difficult is it to get accurate information to you and the troops? RODGERS: Well, first, I'm not sure that was wrong, entirely wrong. I was sitting there listening to the commander's radio. The Army firmly believed that a 1,000 vehicle convoy was moving in its direction. There was something there. The Air Force was called in and pounded whatever it was that was there.

Now, the difficulty in determining the composition of the Iraqi convoy which was moving south was the sandstorm. Visibility, again, last night, when the threat was occurring, was, again, less than the length of a football field. That made it difficult to determine much beyond the fact that there was something moving in the direction of the 7th Cavalry.

There was a plane in the air called a JSTAR and what this does, it's the equivalent of an AWACs early warning system for airplanes, except this is an early warning system for ground vehicles. But in the sandstorm it's very difficult to get good imagery. But they could see 1,000 vehicles headed their way. Again, we don't know if these were armed personnel carriers, EMPs, tanks or artillery. The Iraqi Army has all of those. And that would have constituted a serious threat, even if a small fraction of those were tanks, because at one point the grid that we were holding, that is, at one point we were camped out right by the bridgehead, the 7th Cavalry was holding, and there were only three main battle tanks and two Bradley fighting vehicles until the Third Division's reinforcements came up and relieved them -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Walter Rodgers, thanks for that update.

Walter Rodgers with the 7th Cavalry.

COOPER: All right, we're going to go to a short break.

Before we do, Becky Diamond standing by in the waters somewhere near Umm Qasr -- Becky.

BECKY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Becky Diamond standing on the HMAS Kanimbla. I'm going to tell you about a mine threat in the waterways leading to Umm Qasr. Stick around.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: And we want to bring you up to date now on humanitarian aid in Umm Qasr. Earlier this morning, British Central Command, there was a British Central Command briefing by Air Marshal Brian Burridge and he said additional mines were discovered in the Umm Qasr port outside the shipping channel, which, of course, would delay that delivery of more than 200 tons of humanitarian aid that's sitting on a British ship.

He believes it may be able to come in on Friday, but we just don't know yet.

CNN's Becky Diamond is in that area of the world near Umm Qasr and she's watching the mine sweeping operations -- Becky, bring you up to date from your perspective. DIAMOND: Well, possible mines have been detected in the waterway leading to the port of Umm Qasr. Now, this threat of mines coupled with extremely low visibility has caused the delay Sir Galahad. That's the humanitarian ship that's carrying over 200 tons of aid to the Iraqi people.

Now, this ship, we were told, was supposed to have arrived yesterday. Then we were told today no, it's been delayed until tomorrow, because of this detection of possible mines in the waterway.

Now I'm on board the HMAS Kanimbla. It's an Australian amphibious ship and its task was coordinating the mine clearance and counter measures of the KAA waterway. That's the strategic waterway going from the Persian Gulf up to Umm Qasr.

Now, the mine sweeping operations include mine sweepers. Those are U.S. Navy patrol boats, Coast Guard cutters as well as patrol boats with classic hulls and they use sophisticated sonar to detect mines or underwater threats.

In addition to that, there are helicopters that tug sleds in the water, also a very sophisticated electronic, acoustic and magnetic sonar, to detect mines. Once a mine is detected, divers are deployed. They attach an explosive device, step away and the mine is destroyed.

Now, there's a lot of concern in this waterway because late last week an Australian led boarding team searched an Iraqi barge and tugboat and discover 86 mines, buoyant mines and ground mines. This was a very significant discovery. There's nothing to say, no evidence to say that there are any mines that have been deployed in the actual waterway itself, but this ship, the Kanimbla, is tasked with clearing a path, a small channel, to lead up to Umm Qasr.

COSTELLO: And, Becky, I was just curious that big British ship carrying that humanitarian aid, can you see it from your vantage point? And tell us again about the frustration that the people there are feeling because of this.

DIAMOND: Well, I'm frustrated not being able to see the ship. We were told yesterday, of course, we would see it around 8:00 a.m. Then we were told today we would see it at 8:00 a.m. and hopefully we'll see it tomorrow. So I cannot see it. In fact, I don't know where it is.

I would say the mood on this ship is a sense of excitement from the sailors in terms of contributing to a human mission but combined with that is also a sense of frustration and waiting to do their jobs.

This ship is tasked, again, with spearing a channel in a waterway but the ship's being held back towards the beginning, the mouth of the KAA, instead of going up closer. In addition to that, there's a lot of concern on the ship of an actual mine hit. There was an alert yesterday, a red alert where everyone wore anti-flash fire repellent gear and hard hats in case of a possible mine attack and all the sailors sleeping below the water level have been ordered to sleep in the hangar deck. It's creating some anxiety.

COSTELLO: Understandable.

Becky Diamond reporting live for us from the Persian Gulf in the port of Umm Qasr.

COOPER: Thanks, Carol.

The 1st Battalion 7th Marines face an all night battle with Iraqi troops this week along a military supply line.

CNN's Martin Savidge is embedded with the unit. He joins us from southern Iraq with details -- Martin, thanks for joining us again.

I think it was Napoleon who said that an army marches on its stomach. It seems like these coalition forces need fuel more than anything else and that's what your unit, the unit you're with, has been trying to ensure. What happened?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. Fuel is an absolute must, obviously, with all the mechanized units that they have out here, rest, food, well, that's secondary. Right now they're getting the secondary items today. The weather has finally cleared up and there has been at least a slowdown in some of the action for this particular unit, which is why they're in this tactical assembly area, which is just an area where they pull off, secure and then can work on their machinery and work on themselves, which is what they're doing, and we're joining along with them.

As to these attacks from the Fedayeen, they have been a problem. The Fedayeen is a paramilitary unit. It is believed, according to Marine commanders here, that they are forcing people who were in the Iraqi Army in southern Iraq that may have simply walked away when this whole military offensive began on the ground, walked away and abandoned their units, forcing them to get back in the fight, but to do it with guerrilla warfare tactics.

And that's a problem because that sort of small militia groups striking along a very vital supply line can have and raise difficult issues.

Right now it's only being referred to as harassment. It is not serious. But still, it's something that the Marines don't want to put up with because they need the fuel. In this particular case, we were talking about a shipment of a quarter of a million gallons of diesel fuel, fuel necessary to continue the drive north and the push towards Baghdad or whatever the next objective may be.

They were running so low that there was actually a pause in operations until the fuel got here. The concern was the Fedayeen were going to target those fuel supplies and that would be a real problem for the U.S. Marines.

So we went with one Marine unit to safeguard the line that was being used to transport this fuel. We were going in ahead before the fuel trucks came up from northern Kuwait just to make sure that there weren't going to be any problems.

Well, there were problems, lots of problems. a lot of shooting broke out, especially when we got near a village. There was AK-47 gunfire coming in, RPGs were being fired across our way. This was all taking place at night so it was extremely dark that night because of the sandstorm on the day before. So night vision goggles almost worthless.

You have columns of armored vehicles racing through the darkness, exchanging gunfire with the Fedayeen and you're working in very hazardous terrain. It's swampy. It's trenches. It's mud holes. It's deep canals. It is like the surface of the moon the way it is cratered there, because this used to all be marshland that has now been drained. And in the fight and in the confusion, there are bound to be some accidents. There were. The armored column we were in ran into a Humvee. Then we got hit by another armored car. And then we ran into a house and several other armored vehicles, the APCs, armored personnel carriers, went off the road and into canals and ditches and upended.

However, the mission got done. The fuel got through. The Fedayeen were fought off and sent a very clear message, according to Marine commanders here, and that is if you mess with us, we're going to jump back at you twice as hard to make you think about doing it again. And they also launched a hearts and mind campaign, went into that village that they believed the Fedayeen had been operating out of and warned the civilians there that, look, you don't want these guys operating from your town because it makes your town a target. It makes the civilians who are non-combatants, potentially, a target, and no one wants that. So it would be wise not to offer any support and do what you can to get these guys out of here.

And that's the way it pretty much functioned. And it seems to have worked well, a combination of force and communication, because last night in this area, there was no reports of any major threats against the supply line -- Anderson.

COOPER: Just amazing, amazing Martin.

Just, we've got to go, but I've just got to ask you briefly, how long do you stay in that, or how long do you believe or, I don't even know if you can say, in that tactical assembly area? Is this a long haul or do the Marines there have to dig in and then it's anyone's guess how long they'll be there?

SAVIDGE: If you stand five minutes or five days, the Marines dig in. There is no difference. So the fact that they have dug in here is not an indication of any sort of longevity. They always do that. It could be a matter of hours. It could be a couple of days. We don't know.

COOPER: All right, no doubt trying to catch up on some much needed sleep.

Martin Savidge, thanks very much.

Appreciate it -- Carol.

COSTELLO: No doubt there.

So how do Americans feel about the war? We have the latest polls for you right after this break. You stay with us.

COOPER: Actually, first we're going to go to a British pool reporter, I believe, standing by. We just got this report in. Richard, I think you're somewhere near Basra.

What can you tell us? What's the latest?

Richard, this is Anderson Cooper in Atlanta. I don't know if you can hear me. Tell us what's the latest near where you are.

RICHARD GAISFORD: Anderson, I can hear you now. Yes.

I'm with the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards Battle Group. It's predominantly a tank regiment. If you look behind me here, you can see the Challenger 2 tank. That is a fierce some beast on the battlefield that has 60 rounds of the high explosive ammunition or something called a depleted uranium thin round, which effectively just takes anything out in its path. And that tank and 13 others like it have been in action this morning here on the outskirts of Basra. About 30 kilometers to the east of Basra they came across an infantry division and a division of Iraqi forces. They have destroyed 14 T55 tanks. You'll know those tanks because they're in 19 -- made in the 1960s. They came from Russia. Not particularly effective on the battlefield and certainly couldn't do much damage to a Challenger 2. They've also taken out five armed personnel carriers and most importantly, perhaps, four companies of embedded infantries, entrenched infantry. We're thinking maybe that runs into hundreds and hundreds of Iraqi soldiers that have been engaged and possibly taken out by the Royal Scots Tribune Guard this morning.

COOPER: Richard, where were this infantry entrenched? Because previously we've heard that the irregular forces and whatever regular Army there were had pulled back into the city. Is this city fighting or is this fighting on the outskirts?

GAISFORD: No, it's thought that this is -- this is something on the outskirts. This is 30 kilometers to the east. I guess that's 18, 20 miles to the east, towards the al-Faw Peninsula. The Royal Scotch Tribune Guards have been called to go there by the British Royal Marine commandos who've come across some stiff opposition and they needed the heavy armor in there.

Now, where these chaps, these Iraqi soldiers came from, no one's quite sure. Certainly where the tanks came from, no one's quite sure. It's possible they are part of the force that has been fleeing Basra. The east isn't particularly well guarded by British forces at the moment and that's possibly that they got out of the city, came that way and that's where they encountered the Royal Marines who then used the heavy armor from the Royal Scotch Dragoons to deal with them.

COOPER: Richard, you probably don't know this because you've probably been involved in action in the last couple of hours. At CENTCOM, Brian Burridge, the British air marshal, said that regular army units in Basra are being forced basically by these Fedayeen, by these militia, by the Baath militia to either get into their APCs to fight in some level, they seem disorganized, but it seems like someone is trying to force them to do that. The large numbers, the four companies that you said of entrenched infantry, were those regular army and if so, any sense of how well they fought, how well they resisted?

GAISFORD: Well, not particularly well. There were no casualties on the British side and we believe they were regular army forces. But the type of tank that was involved, the T55 tank, that would go to show this isn't a premium fighting force. The latest T numbers of the tanks that were given to the best mechanized, the best armored divisions. So perhaps, as you suggest, this is one of those regiments, one of these battalions that was actually forced out of Basra by those radicals and told to go and fight.

They did, perhaps, fight, but they didn't put up much resistance. The British forces here, the Royal Scotch Tribune Guards, have effectively wiped out this whole unit.

COOPER: Just one more question. Any sense of what is happening still inside the city of Basra? I know you probably have just been with this unit. You probably don't know. But I've got to ask.

GAISFORD: No, absolutely. We'd like to know, too, what's happening on the on the inside. I think military intelligence is certainly in there or the people who know what's going on. They are still making plans. We have no news yet as to when a military move will be made on the city and as of when we get that news, of course, we will bring it to you.

COOPER: All right, Richard Gaisford, appreciate you joining us.

And just to remind people, Brian Burridge, the British air marshal, earlier said, described what's gone on at Basra, he said, is the classic ambiguous battle space, difficult, confused situation there. At least one apparent victory, according to Richard Gaisford, for coalition forces. He says four companies of entrenched infantry, 14 T55 tanks wiped out.

Let's go to the break.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It is 5:31 Eastern Time. Here are at latest war developments at this hour.

An air field in northern Iraq is now in the hands of the U.S. Army. Members of the Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade parachuted into the Kurdish controlled area under the cover of darkness. The military will now begin flying troops and equipment to the field to better establish a northern front. And this was the scene in Nasiriya overnight, as U.S. troops battled Iraqi forces. This is the same area where seven U.S. troops were killed and five captured during an ambush last Sunday. And the Associated Press is reporting more fighting in Najaf. It captured pictures of a misfire inside a U.S. Army artillery vehicle. The A.P. says two soldiers were injured, but the injuries are not life threatening.

The Pentagon says it doesn't know whether a stray U.S. missile or an Iraqi anti-aircraft shell landed in a marketplace in a residential area of Baghdad. Iraqi television says 15 people were killed in yesterday's attack. The Pentagon says it did not target the market or the area around it.

Relief supply ships bound for Iraq are being held up by mines in the Persian Gulf. The British vessel Sir Galahad is loaded with about 200 tons of humanitarian aid. A convoy of trucks loaded with relief supplies from Kuwait was allowed into Iraq yesterday.

And at Iraq's military headquarters in Nasiriya, U.S. Marines have found a chilling picture reminiscent of the scenes from 9/11. Take a look. This mural depicts a plane crashing into a building that looks like the World Trade Center. The plane's logo and coloring resembles that of Iraqi Airlines.

And it appears two "Newsday" journalists covering the war in Iraq are missing. "Newsday" says it hasn't heard from its reporter and photographer since Monday. It's investigating reports the two were expelled from Iraq and were escorted to the border of Syria or Jordan.

And former New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan has died. He was a four term senator, U.N. ambassador, Harvard professor and he authored 19 books and advised four presidents. Senator Moynihan died yesterday. He was 76 years old.

COOPER: Well, in war news we've got a lot to bring you in the next half hour. Coming up, get the latest on the U.S. Army paratroops who jumped into northern Iraq. We're also going to take you to the front lines for updates from our embedded reporters. You just saw one British reporter, Richard Gaisford, reporting on the battle outside Basra. Keep in mind, CNN has an unparalleled number of reporters in the war zone keeping you informed.

Plus, there's a snag in efforts to get a shipment of humanitarian aid to Iraqi citizens. We'll tell you all about those concerns. CNN's coverage of the war in Iraq continues right now.

And let's give you a quick reminder, three U.S. troops who were wounded in combat in Iraq, they're going to hold a news conference at 6:00 a.m. Eastern. That's in about 25 minutes. We're going to bring it to you live from Landstuhl, Germany.

And let's take a -- let's quickly go to Bill Hemmer, who's standing by in Kuwait City -- Bill, a lot of action there this morning, as well.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, you're right, Anderson. Two hours ago another Iraqi missile fired into Kuwaiti air space. We are told that the least two Patriot missiles fired to intercept that, did make contact with the Iraqi missile and knocked it harmlessly from the sky. One of those Patriot missiles fired from a location in the central part of this country and it's no coincidence earlier today we were at that location, actually getting ready to do a story on what we are told has been a high ratio of success on behalf of the Patriots thus far.

The U.S. has the Patriots here in Kuwait, and so, too, do the Kuwaitis, as well, and they are quite proud right now to say that they have knocked Iraqi missiles out of the sky, fired on behalf of the Kuwaitis.

Now, the newest version known as the Pat 3 Patriot missile, a pretty expensive thing here, about $3 million a pop. But part of the advanced technology that has gone into this missile over the past 12 years is to enable the Patriot 3, the Pat 3 to make a direct collision with the incoming missile and collide directly with the warhead many feet above the ground, sometimes 5,000, 10,000 feet over the air. And the idea there is to explode the warhead and if it does have any chemical or biological weapons on it it would disburse into the air well above any populated areas.

We are told again today no chemical, no biological, no word of injuries and no word of damage on the ground, either. But if, indeed, the word we're getting now is true, of the 11 missiles fired into Kuwaiti air space over the past seven days or so, eight of the 11 have been intercepted successfully by Patriots. Two others went harmlessly into the desert and the last one fell into the Persian Gulf.

Let's put that aside right now and bring in David Ignatius, "Washington Post" columnist, who has joined us here throughout the week live here in Kuwait City, a columnist who actually went into Iraq this past weekend. But, again, the focus today is on the current military operation and what's happening inside the battlefield.

David, we say good afternoon to you here in Kuwait.

DAVID IGNATIUS, "WASHINGTON POST": Hi, Bill.

HEMMER: There's a front page story in the "Washington Post" today, Thomas Rix wrote it, a colleague of yours, talking about those, well, some generals, frankly, at the Pentagon who are calling into question the length of this operation. What is being said right now based on the first seven days in a fair assessment about the battle plan in Iraq?

IGNATIUS: I think what Tom Ricks' piece was illustrating was a recognition that because there is resistance in the rear areas near Kuwait, all along the road to Baghdad, that this is going to be a campaign that's going to take some time to eradicate those pockets of resistance. That should not have been a big surprise. And people need to understand that Iraq is a police state. It's governed by a clandestine -- there's only one political party that's legal here, the Baath Party. It's clandestine. It's on every street corner, it's in every village, and those people are all still there.

When I was in Iraq over the weekend, people were talking about the possibility that the Baath Party operatives in Safwan were organizing a move against British troops at an interchange a few kilometers away. So, you know, clearly they're still there.

They're fighting for their lives. They're hated by ordinary Iraqis. That remains true. But, you know, they're tough. You know, these are tough police state fighters.

HEMMER: Tell me why it was said at the outset that these fighters were underestimated in their troop strength and the amount of dispersal that we're now seeing throughout the country.

IGNATIUS: I think, Bill, that there was an assumption that large Republican Guard units would flip early in the war, that they would either lay down their arms or they would actually join with the coalition in toppling Saddam. That hasn't happened. Why hasn't it happened? It's possible that these irregular Baath Party militia units, the Fedayeen we've been calling them, are standing behind the backs of regular army generals with pistols and saying you go forward or you die.

HEMMER: Forcing them.

IGNATIUS: You know, we've seen that in warfare. We saw it with Stalin's troops in Russia during the Second World War. We saw it with Hitler's troops. It was the same thing. We had political commissars demanding that professional military officers do things that they might not otherwise do.

HEMMER: One quick thing, reflecting on the article by Tom Ricks again, he quotes a senior officer as saying tell me how this ends. Is it premature to be talking like this, day seven?

IGNATIUS: You know, I think that what we can see is that it's going to end a long time from now, that eradicating these pockets of resistance from fighters who have nothing to lose in keeping fighting is a long-term job. And I think we need to think about how does it end. You know, it ends, hopefully, with other nations that have an interest in stability in this region helping the United States to create some kind of new Iraq.

HEMMER: Or if you get to Saddam Hussein, ultimately, as well.

IGNATIUS: Well, that's one way it ends.

HEMMER: All right, David, thanks.

David Ignatius from the "Washington Post."

We should explain to our viewers, the image you see behind us is intentional, only because another sandstorm has rolled its way in here into Kuwait City. You saw this image yesterday. The haze is sticking around today. Only in the past couple of hours it's started to build up again and get quite thick. Whether this moves out later today is something we will wait and see. CENTCOM is going to brief in about an hour and 20 minutes. We'll have it live for you when that happens, 7:00 a.m. Eastern time.

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Aired March 27, 2003 - 05:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The U.S. and the Kurds may join forces to open a northern front against Iraqi troops in the north.
An incredible scene overnight near Nasiriya, where coalition forces continue to hammer away at Iraqi positions. It was in Nasiriya where coalition forces continued to hammer away at Iraqi positions. It was in Nasiriya that U.S. forces say they found the Iraqis using a hospital as a military post, complete with weapons, munitions and stockpiles of chemical protective suits.

American military officials say they simply don't know what caused an explosion yesterday in a residential marketplace in Baghdad. Iraqi television reports 15 civilians were killed. The Pentagon acknowledges it has targeted Iraqi missiles and launchers placed in some residential areas, but says this explosion may have been caused by an Iraqi missile or shell. We'll have an update on this from CENTCOM Command headquarters in

Just a bit.

Relief supply ships bound for Iraq are being held up by mines in the Persian Gulf. You heard Anderson talking about that. The British vessel Sir Galahad is loaded with about 200 tons of humanitarian aid. A convoy of trucks loaded with relief supplies relief supplies from Kuwait was allowed into Iraq yesterday.

And at the Pentagon, Joint Chiefs Vice Chairman General Peter Pace says Iraq has executed some prisoners of war. General Pace did not elaborate. But earlier, Pentagon sources told CNN they were looking into a report that Iraqi troops shot and killed seven U.S. soldiers as they were surrendering with their hands up.

At Iraq's military headquarters in Nasiriya, U.S. Marines have found a chilling picture reminiscent of the scenes from 9/11. Take a look at this. This mural depicts a plane crashing into a building that looks like the World Trade Center. The plane's logo and coloring resembles that of Iraqi Airlines.

And it has been three days since "Newsday" heard from a reporter and a photographer covering the war in Baghdad. "Newsday" is investigating reports the two were expelled from Iraq and were escorted to the border of Syria or Jordan. A freelance photographer also reported missing.

And former New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan has died. He served four terms in the Senate, advised four presidents, was U.N. ambassador, Harvard professor and he authored 19 books. Senator Moynihan died yesterday afternoon. He was 76 years old.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I mean, a lifetime of service that man has given to the country.

COSTELLO: Yes.

COOPER: It's very sad.

We've got a lot of news to bring you in the next hour.

Coming up, we'll get the latest on the U.S. Army paratroopers who have jumped into northern Iraq. That's a story Brent Sadler has been bringing us all morning. Amazing pictures he brought back with him.

We're also going to take you to the front lines for updates from our embedded reporters. Keep in mind, CNN does have an unparalleled number of reporters in the war zone to keep you informed.

Hey, look at that odd graphic there. Plus, there's a snag in efforts to get a shipment of humanitarian aid to Iraqi citizens. We've been telling you about that for the last couple of hours. We're going to tell you all about the concerns.

CNN's coverage of the war in Iraq continues right now.

COSTELLO: And good morning to you and welcome back.

You're looking at a live picture of downtown Baghdad as Operation Iraqi Freedom enters its eighth day.

COOPER: And good morning to you. It is about, well, I guess you said it, it's a little past 1:00 p.m. -- I wasn't paying attention -- in Baghdad. It's five, three past five here on the East Coast.

I'm Anderson Cooper from CNN global headquarters in Atlanta.

COSTELLO: And I'm Carol Costello.

Again, thanks so much for joining us this morning.

Time now for an early briefing on stories that will be news later today.

President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair are meeting this morning at Camp David. They'll hold a joint news conference at 11:00 a.m. Eastern time. A U.N. session on Iraq also resumes today. The Security Council is giving nations a chance to express their governments' positions on the Iraq war.

And anti-war protesters will be back on the streets of New York City today. Some major marches are being planned.

COOPER: Now, here's something you will not want to miss. Three U.S. troops wounded in combat in Iraq are going to hold a news conference one hour from now at 6:00 a.m. Eastern. We will, of course, take you live to Landstuhl, Germany for that. It should be quite dramatic. That'll be the first time we've heard from any of those, the soldiers and Marines, the troops who have been wounded and brought to Germany for treatment.

COSTELLO: Yes. Where are we going now? Are we going to throw to Bill Hemmer in Kuwait?

We are going to Bill Hemmer in Kuwait, where there has been some grim excitement this morning -- tell us about it, Bill.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Carol, Anderson, hello and welcome to yet another day here.

Just about 90 minutes ago there was another Iraqi missile fired into Kuwaiti air space. We are told yet again that this was not from the sky, by a Patriot missile battery. It is somewhat ironic that our crew was at a location just about 20 minutes prior to this Iraqi missile being launched and some videotape we can show you, in the central part of Kuwait.

There have been several Patriot missiles launched from this location alone and the Kuwaitis now armed and equipped with these $3 million Patriot missiles are taking a lot of pride right now in the fact that they believe now they can defend their country.

Quite interesting to note the strategy. For every Iraqi missile that incomes, comes into this area here in Kuwait that essentially violates the air space, there are two Patriot missiles launched to go ahead and take it out of the sky. And the new devices that we've heard so far are the Pat 3. now, the Pat 3 is designed not to just knock the incoming missile from the air, but to literally collide into the warhead, make it explode over the skies above and render it useless and harmless to the people living here.

Now, we're told as of yesterday of 10 that entered Kuwaiti air space, seven have been knocked from the sky and now this might make eight based on the information we're getting. We'll get you more on that as we get it here in Kuwait.

Meanwhile, the northern part of Iraq continues to be a very hotbed story. We're seeing more people come in there, members of the 173rd Airborne Brigade out of Italy dropping from the sky and collecting themselves when the daylight came up. Some dramatic videotape to show you. One thousand paratroopers leaving a C-17 over northern Iraq. This was in, by the way, Kurdish held territory about 40 miles north of the demarcation point between Kurdish controlled territory and Iraqi controlled territory. Dramatic tape by way of a night scope inside the C-17 as 1,000 paratroopers dropped into the darkness of the evening sky.

Now, we also understand within the 173rd, it's 2,000 total. A thousand went in last night. Maybe more will come in later tonight, but that's something we do not know. But clearly the northern front continues to be a hotbed of activity and CNN's Brent Sadler has been watching and tracking that for weeks now.

He joins us live to tell us what he has observed in the past 12 to 24 hours -- Brent, good afternoon.

BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Bill.

Well, this was a very dramatic entry into the war by the 1,000 paratroopers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade out of Italy. They came in here about 12 hours ago. The actual jump altitude was round about 1,200 feet from their aircraft. They came in in waves of 100 paratroopers at a time. And I'm now going to show you what happened at the start of the mission and what happened when I caught up with them on the ground.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's pretty much, you know, you've got to get going. There's a certain amount of time that you get from one end of the drop until the other so you've got to exit real quick.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, it was definitely different than our training jumps in some of our other places we have. It is a country that we're at war with. But since we jumped in the Kurdish controlled area we felt a little bit better that we wouldn't be shot at as we are descending from the sky.

SADLER: Hi. Good morning.

Brent Sadler from CNN.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just a second, please. This chute has gone all over the place.

How are you doing?

SADLER: Welcome to Iraq.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you very much.

SADLER: How does it feel to get down here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's nice. It's nice. A little different temperature, but it's nice.

SADLER: Now, what's the routine now? You're on the ground. How are the men feeling? What are they likely to see happening here as the hours develop this day?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, all the men are feeling fine. We landed with all of our equipment. We are digging in positions right now to just set up a perimeter first and then we'll just take everything day by day as the situation develops.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We really don't know what to expect. You don't train to expect things. You just train for everything so you can react to anything that the command may throw at you. It's really strange that we're actually here. It doesn't seem like we're in Iraq. But hopefully, I really look forward to seeing how the plan develops and see what our part is going to be in the whole play. (END VIDEOTAPE)

SADLER: Well, those 1,000 paratroopers got down in one piece. They hit pretty soft ground after two days of torrential rain here, but they were pretty much caked in mud. They quickly began cleaning their equipment, their webbing and also sorting out their weaponry, pretty light at this moment.

However, there were a few bumps and scrapes and bruises from the landing. The drop zone really scattered with rocks. But nothing serious. Perhaps one or two sprained ankles, but all down in one piece and they were all very pleased to be down in one piece.

Interesting that one of the paratroopers told me he was surprised he wasn't landing in sand and was quite shocked to see mountains either side of the air strip capped with snow.

Now, at about the same time as I was talking to those paratroopers about one and a half hour's drive from here, my colleague, Ben Wedeman, was watching an air strike, another day of air strikes against Iraq's northern front. And we can take a look at those explosions, which happened several hours ago. Again, this appeared to be a continuation of a process of softening up of targets on the very front line positions that Saddam Hussein's three army corps along the 500 miles front line still hold.

Very heavy explosions. Huge plumes of smoke really coming up from those positions. No real clear idea yet of what was being hit, but one can see the ridge line now is stable. We're not hearing any more activity right now. But certainly yet another day, about five consecutive days, I think it is, by my count -- I've been out here every one of those days -- of air strikes against this front line.

So really two things going on, the beginning of the implementation of Plan B, a deployment of U.S. paratroopers here, rather than what should have happened with Plan A, the deployment of more than 60,000 U.S. ground troops with heavy equipment and heavy weapons. Plan B now just getting under way and we do expect to see a buildup of these forces and equipment in these next coming days -- back to you, Bill.

HEMMER: Brent, thanks.

Brent Sadler on the northern front. And now we know that they have secured that air field. It will be a question of time before you hear things like more tanks being flown in by way of helicopter, more things brought in. Also, in terms of Bradley fighting vehicles, armed personnel carriers, now that they have secured that air strip, it's a question of time now before that happens.

Meanwhile, quickly on the weather, we continue to get this haze from the sandstorm of yesterday. We do expect things to clear out a bit later today. It's a little bit past one o'clock in the afternoon. The forecast, anyway, says it's going to blow out of here later. Whether that happens or not is something we'll wait and see.

Clearing skies and conditions, though, into Friday and for about the next five days after that.

Central Command is going to brief today, 7:00 a.m. Eastern Time down in Qatar and certainly here on CNN we will have that live for you, as well -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Bill Hemmer reporting live from Kuwait.

We'll check back with you in a short time.

We want to check in with Walter Rodgers now. We haven't heard from him since at least 2:00 a.m. when I began broadcasting, 2:00 a.m. Eastern time, that is.

Walt Rodgers, of course, with the 7th Cavalry. He's on the phone live with us right now -- give us an update, Walter.

WALTER RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Carol.

After punching to within 60 miles of Baghdad within the last 48 hours, the U.S. Army's 7th Cavalry has now been strongly reinforced by the Third Infantry Division. And the area north of al-Najaf, south of Baghdad, just an hour's drive south of Baghdad, is now firmly in the hands of the United States Army.

There was a dodgy moment last night before the reinforcements arrived when Army intelligence reported that a thousand vehicle convoy was moving south from Baghdad towards al-Najaf. The Cavalry thought they were in for a major confrontation and that, indeed, the Iraqi forces would try to reseize the bridge which the Cavalry had been holding for over 48 hours.

At that point, huge air strikes were called in. I spoke with some air traffic controllers with the Air Force on the ground here. They said they brought in wave after wave of heavy B-52 bombers. And whatever vehicles were in that convoy moving south of Baghdad threateningly toward the 7th Cavalry were pounded almost into oblivion. And then for the rest of the night, we could hear multiple launch rocket systems roaring over our heads. That's rocket artillery, 155 millimeter artillery, again, firing far out in advance of the bridgehead that the Cavalry was holding, again, destroying a substantial part of that convoy before it ever got close enough to threaten the 7th Cavalry or counterattack and reseize the bridge, which was so crucial to holding al-Najaf.

So, again, 7th Cavalry has been reinforced by Third Division. The 7th Cavalry is now in the rear of what they're doing. I can see soldiers in the tanks fiddling with the, with some of the wheels. All the gun bores, the 120 millimeter gun bores have to be realigned. All the machine guns have to be cleaned. The air filters on the tanks have to be cleaned. In 24 to 48 hours we expect new marching orders and the compass direction here for the 7th Cavalry is always north toward Baghdad -- Carol.

COSTELLO: A couple of questions for you, Walter, about that intelligence that turned out to be wrong. How difficult is it to get accurate information to you and the troops? RODGERS: Well, first, I'm not sure that was wrong, entirely wrong. I was sitting there listening to the commander's radio. The Army firmly believed that a 1,000 vehicle convoy was moving in its direction. There was something there. The Air Force was called in and pounded whatever it was that was there.

Now, the difficulty in determining the composition of the Iraqi convoy which was moving south was the sandstorm. Visibility, again, last night, when the threat was occurring, was, again, less than the length of a football field. That made it difficult to determine much beyond the fact that there was something moving in the direction of the 7th Cavalry.

There was a plane in the air called a JSTAR and what this does, it's the equivalent of an AWACs early warning system for airplanes, except this is an early warning system for ground vehicles. But in the sandstorm it's very difficult to get good imagery. But they could see 1,000 vehicles headed their way. Again, we don't know if these were armed personnel carriers, EMPs, tanks or artillery. The Iraqi Army has all of those. And that would have constituted a serious threat, even if a small fraction of those were tanks, because at one point the grid that we were holding, that is, at one point we were camped out right by the bridgehead, the 7th Cavalry was holding, and there were only three main battle tanks and two Bradley fighting vehicles until the Third Division's reinforcements came up and relieved them -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Walter Rodgers, thanks for that update.

Walter Rodgers with the 7th Cavalry.

COOPER: All right, we're going to go to a short break.

Before we do, Becky Diamond standing by in the waters somewhere near Umm Qasr -- Becky.

BECKY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Becky Diamond standing on the HMAS Kanimbla. I'm going to tell you about a mine threat in the waterways leading to Umm Qasr. Stick around.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: And we want to bring you up to date now on humanitarian aid in Umm Qasr. Earlier this morning, British Central Command, there was a British Central Command briefing by Air Marshal Brian Burridge and he said additional mines were discovered in the Umm Qasr port outside the shipping channel, which, of course, would delay that delivery of more than 200 tons of humanitarian aid that's sitting on a British ship.

He believes it may be able to come in on Friday, but we just don't know yet.

CNN's Becky Diamond is in that area of the world near Umm Qasr and she's watching the mine sweeping operations -- Becky, bring you up to date from your perspective. DIAMOND: Well, possible mines have been detected in the waterway leading to the port of Umm Qasr. Now, this threat of mines coupled with extremely low visibility has caused the delay Sir Galahad. That's the humanitarian ship that's carrying over 200 tons of aid to the Iraqi people.

Now, this ship, we were told, was supposed to have arrived yesterday. Then we were told today no, it's been delayed until tomorrow, because of this detection of possible mines in the waterway.

Now I'm on board the HMAS Kanimbla. It's an Australian amphibious ship and its task was coordinating the mine clearance and counter measures of the KAA waterway. That's the strategic waterway going from the Persian Gulf up to Umm Qasr.

Now, the mine sweeping operations include mine sweepers. Those are U.S. Navy patrol boats, Coast Guard cutters as well as patrol boats with classic hulls and they use sophisticated sonar to detect mines or underwater threats.

In addition to that, there are helicopters that tug sleds in the water, also a very sophisticated electronic, acoustic and magnetic sonar, to detect mines. Once a mine is detected, divers are deployed. They attach an explosive device, step away and the mine is destroyed.

Now, there's a lot of concern in this waterway because late last week an Australian led boarding team searched an Iraqi barge and tugboat and discover 86 mines, buoyant mines and ground mines. This was a very significant discovery. There's nothing to say, no evidence to say that there are any mines that have been deployed in the actual waterway itself, but this ship, the Kanimbla, is tasked with clearing a path, a small channel, to lead up to Umm Qasr.

COSTELLO: And, Becky, I was just curious that big British ship carrying that humanitarian aid, can you see it from your vantage point? And tell us again about the frustration that the people there are feeling because of this.

DIAMOND: Well, I'm frustrated not being able to see the ship. We were told yesterday, of course, we would see it around 8:00 a.m. Then we were told today we would see it at 8:00 a.m. and hopefully we'll see it tomorrow. So I cannot see it. In fact, I don't know where it is.

I would say the mood on this ship is a sense of excitement from the sailors in terms of contributing to a human mission but combined with that is also a sense of frustration and waiting to do their jobs.

This ship is tasked, again, with spearing a channel in a waterway but the ship's being held back towards the beginning, the mouth of the KAA, instead of going up closer. In addition to that, there's a lot of concern on the ship of an actual mine hit. There was an alert yesterday, a red alert where everyone wore anti-flash fire repellent gear and hard hats in case of a possible mine attack and all the sailors sleeping below the water level have been ordered to sleep in the hangar deck. It's creating some anxiety.

COSTELLO: Understandable.

Becky Diamond reporting live for us from the Persian Gulf in the port of Umm Qasr.

COOPER: Thanks, Carol.

The 1st Battalion 7th Marines face an all night battle with Iraqi troops this week along a military supply line.

CNN's Martin Savidge is embedded with the unit. He joins us from southern Iraq with details -- Martin, thanks for joining us again.

I think it was Napoleon who said that an army marches on its stomach. It seems like these coalition forces need fuel more than anything else and that's what your unit, the unit you're with, has been trying to ensure. What happened?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. Fuel is an absolute must, obviously, with all the mechanized units that they have out here, rest, food, well, that's secondary. Right now they're getting the secondary items today. The weather has finally cleared up and there has been at least a slowdown in some of the action for this particular unit, which is why they're in this tactical assembly area, which is just an area where they pull off, secure and then can work on their machinery and work on themselves, which is what they're doing, and we're joining along with them.

As to these attacks from the Fedayeen, they have been a problem. The Fedayeen is a paramilitary unit. It is believed, according to Marine commanders here, that they are forcing people who were in the Iraqi Army in southern Iraq that may have simply walked away when this whole military offensive began on the ground, walked away and abandoned their units, forcing them to get back in the fight, but to do it with guerrilla warfare tactics.

And that's a problem because that sort of small militia groups striking along a very vital supply line can have and raise difficult issues.

Right now it's only being referred to as harassment. It is not serious. But still, it's something that the Marines don't want to put up with because they need the fuel. In this particular case, we were talking about a shipment of a quarter of a million gallons of diesel fuel, fuel necessary to continue the drive north and the push towards Baghdad or whatever the next objective may be.

They were running so low that there was actually a pause in operations until the fuel got here. The concern was the Fedayeen were going to target those fuel supplies and that would be a real problem for the U.S. Marines.

So we went with one Marine unit to safeguard the line that was being used to transport this fuel. We were going in ahead before the fuel trucks came up from northern Kuwait just to make sure that there weren't going to be any problems.

Well, there were problems, lots of problems. a lot of shooting broke out, especially when we got near a village. There was AK-47 gunfire coming in, RPGs were being fired across our way. This was all taking place at night so it was extremely dark that night because of the sandstorm on the day before. So night vision goggles almost worthless.

You have columns of armored vehicles racing through the darkness, exchanging gunfire with the Fedayeen and you're working in very hazardous terrain. It's swampy. It's trenches. It's mud holes. It's deep canals. It is like the surface of the moon the way it is cratered there, because this used to all be marshland that has now been drained. And in the fight and in the confusion, there are bound to be some accidents. There were. The armored column we were in ran into a Humvee. Then we got hit by another armored car. And then we ran into a house and several other armored vehicles, the APCs, armored personnel carriers, went off the road and into canals and ditches and upended.

However, the mission got done. The fuel got through. The Fedayeen were fought off and sent a very clear message, according to Marine commanders here, and that is if you mess with us, we're going to jump back at you twice as hard to make you think about doing it again. And they also launched a hearts and mind campaign, went into that village that they believed the Fedayeen had been operating out of and warned the civilians there that, look, you don't want these guys operating from your town because it makes your town a target. It makes the civilians who are non-combatants, potentially, a target, and no one wants that. So it would be wise not to offer any support and do what you can to get these guys out of here.

And that's the way it pretty much functioned. And it seems to have worked well, a combination of force and communication, because last night in this area, there was no reports of any major threats against the supply line -- Anderson.

COOPER: Just amazing, amazing Martin.

Just, we've got to go, but I've just got to ask you briefly, how long do you stay in that, or how long do you believe or, I don't even know if you can say, in that tactical assembly area? Is this a long haul or do the Marines there have to dig in and then it's anyone's guess how long they'll be there?

SAVIDGE: If you stand five minutes or five days, the Marines dig in. There is no difference. So the fact that they have dug in here is not an indication of any sort of longevity. They always do that. It could be a matter of hours. It could be a couple of days. We don't know.

COOPER: All right, no doubt trying to catch up on some much needed sleep.

Martin Savidge, thanks very much.

Appreciate it -- Carol.

COSTELLO: No doubt there.

So how do Americans feel about the war? We have the latest polls for you right after this break. You stay with us.

COOPER: Actually, first we're going to go to a British pool reporter, I believe, standing by. We just got this report in. Richard, I think you're somewhere near Basra.

What can you tell us? What's the latest?

Richard, this is Anderson Cooper in Atlanta. I don't know if you can hear me. Tell us what's the latest near where you are.

RICHARD GAISFORD: Anderson, I can hear you now. Yes.

I'm with the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards Battle Group. It's predominantly a tank regiment. If you look behind me here, you can see the Challenger 2 tank. That is a fierce some beast on the battlefield that has 60 rounds of the high explosive ammunition or something called a depleted uranium thin round, which effectively just takes anything out in its path. And that tank and 13 others like it have been in action this morning here on the outskirts of Basra. About 30 kilometers to the east of Basra they came across an infantry division and a division of Iraqi forces. They have destroyed 14 T55 tanks. You'll know those tanks because they're in 19 -- made in the 1960s. They came from Russia. Not particularly effective on the battlefield and certainly couldn't do much damage to a Challenger 2. They've also taken out five armed personnel carriers and most importantly, perhaps, four companies of embedded infantries, entrenched infantry. We're thinking maybe that runs into hundreds and hundreds of Iraqi soldiers that have been engaged and possibly taken out by the Royal Scots Tribune Guard this morning.

COOPER: Richard, where were this infantry entrenched? Because previously we've heard that the irregular forces and whatever regular Army there were had pulled back into the city. Is this city fighting or is this fighting on the outskirts?

GAISFORD: No, it's thought that this is -- this is something on the outskirts. This is 30 kilometers to the east. I guess that's 18, 20 miles to the east, towards the al-Faw Peninsula. The Royal Scotch Tribune Guards have been called to go there by the British Royal Marine commandos who've come across some stiff opposition and they needed the heavy armor in there.

Now, where these chaps, these Iraqi soldiers came from, no one's quite sure. Certainly where the tanks came from, no one's quite sure. It's possible they are part of the force that has been fleeing Basra. The east isn't particularly well guarded by British forces at the moment and that's possibly that they got out of the city, came that way and that's where they encountered the Royal Marines who then used the heavy armor from the Royal Scotch Dragoons to deal with them.

COOPER: Richard, you probably don't know this because you've probably been involved in action in the last couple of hours. At CENTCOM, Brian Burridge, the British air marshal, said that regular army units in Basra are being forced basically by these Fedayeen, by these militia, by the Baath militia to either get into their APCs to fight in some level, they seem disorganized, but it seems like someone is trying to force them to do that. The large numbers, the four companies that you said of entrenched infantry, were those regular army and if so, any sense of how well they fought, how well they resisted?

GAISFORD: Well, not particularly well. There were no casualties on the British side and we believe they were regular army forces. But the type of tank that was involved, the T55 tank, that would go to show this isn't a premium fighting force. The latest T numbers of the tanks that were given to the best mechanized, the best armored divisions. So perhaps, as you suggest, this is one of those regiments, one of these battalions that was actually forced out of Basra by those radicals and told to go and fight.

They did, perhaps, fight, but they didn't put up much resistance. The British forces here, the Royal Scotch Tribune Guards, have effectively wiped out this whole unit.

COOPER: Just one more question. Any sense of what is happening still inside the city of Basra? I know you probably have just been with this unit. You probably don't know. But I've got to ask.

GAISFORD: No, absolutely. We'd like to know, too, what's happening on the on the inside. I think military intelligence is certainly in there or the people who know what's going on. They are still making plans. We have no news yet as to when a military move will be made on the city and as of when we get that news, of course, we will bring it to you.

COOPER: All right, Richard Gaisford, appreciate you joining us.

And just to remind people, Brian Burridge, the British air marshal, earlier said, described what's gone on at Basra, he said, is the classic ambiguous battle space, difficult, confused situation there. At least one apparent victory, according to Richard Gaisford, for coalition forces. He says four companies of entrenched infantry, 14 T55 tanks wiped out.

Let's go to the break.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It is 5:31 Eastern Time. Here are at latest war developments at this hour.

An air field in northern Iraq is now in the hands of the U.S. Army. Members of the Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade parachuted into the Kurdish controlled area under the cover of darkness. The military will now begin flying troops and equipment to the field to better establish a northern front. And this was the scene in Nasiriya overnight, as U.S. troops battled Iraqi forces. This is the same area where seven U.S. troops were killed and five captured during an ambush last Sunday. And the Associated Press is reporting more fighting in Najaf. It captured pictures of a misfire inside a U.S. Army artillery vehicle. The A.P. says two soldiers were injured, but the injuries are not life threatening.

The Pentagon says it doesn't know whether a stray U.S. missile or an Iraqi anti-aircraft shell landed in a marketplace in a residential area of Baghdad. Iraqi television says 15 people were killed in yesterday's attack. The Pentagon says it did not target the market or the area around it.

Relief supply ships bound for Iraq are being held up by mines in the Persian Gulf. The British vessel Sir Galahad is loaded with about 200 tons of humanitarian aid. A convoy of trucks loaded with relief supplies from Kuwait was allowed into Iraq yesterday.

And at Iraq's military headquarters in Nasiriya, U.S. Marines have found a chilling picture reminiscent of the scenes from 9/11. Take a look. This mural depicts a plane crashing into a building that looks like the World Trade Center. The plane's logo and coloring resembles that of Iraqi Airlines.

And it appears two "Newsday" journalists covering the war in Iraq are missing. "Newsday" says it hasn't heard from its reporter and photographer since Monday. It's investigating reports the two were expelled from Iraq and were escorted to the border of Syria or Jordan.

And former New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan has died. He was a four term senator, U.N. ambassador, Harvard professor and he authored 19 books and advised four presidents. Senator Moynihan died yesterday. He was 76 years old.

COOPER: Well, in war news we've got a lot to bring you in the next half hour. Coming up, get the latest on the U.S. Army paratroops who jumped into northern Iraq. We're also going to take you to the front lines for updates from our embedded reporters. You just saw one British reporter, Richard Gaisford, reporting on the battle outside Basra. Keep in mind, CNN has an unparalleled number of reporters in the war zone keeping you informed.

Plus, there's a snag in efforts to get a shipment of humanitarian aid to Iraqi citizens. We'll tell you all about those concerns. CNN's coverage of the war in Iraq continues right now.

And let's give you a quick reminder, three U.S. troops who were wounded in combat in Iraq, they're going to hold a news conference at 6:00 a.m. Eastern. That's in about 25 minutes. We're going to bring it to you live from Landstuhl, Germany.

And let's take a -- let's quickly go to Bill Hemmer, who's standing by in Kuwait City -- Bill, a lot of action there this morning, as well.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, you're right, Anderson. Two hours ago another Iraqi missile fired into Kuwaiti air space. We are told that the least two Patriot missiles fired to intercept that, did make contact with the Iraqi missile and knocked it harmlessly from the sky. One of those Patriot missiles fired from a location in the central part of this country and it's no coincidence earlier today we were at that location, actually getting ready to do a story on what we are told has been a high ratio of success on behalf of the Patriots thus far.

The U.S. has the Patriots here in Kuwait, and so, too, do the Kuwaitis, as well, and they are quite proud right now to say that they have knocked Iraqi missiles out of the sky, fired on behalf of the Kuwaitis.

Now, the newest version known as the Pat 3 Patriot missile, a pretty expensive thing here, about $3 million a pop. But part of the advanced technology that has gone into this missile over the past 12 years is to enable the Patriot 3, the Pat 3 to make a direct collision with the incoming missile and collide directly with the warhead many feet above the ground, sometimes 5,000, 10,000 feet over the air. And the idea there is to explode the warhead and if it does have any chemical or biological weapons on it it would disburse into the air well above any populated areas.

We are told again today no chemical, no biological, no word of injuries and no word of damage on the ground, either. But if, indeed, the word we're getting now is true, of the 11 missiles fired into Kuwaiti air space over the past seven days or so, eight of the 11 have been intercepted successfully by Patriots. Two others went harmlessly into the desert and the last one fell into the Persian Gulf.

Let's put that aside right now and bring in David Ignatius, "Washington Post" columnist, who has joined us here throughout the week live here in Kuwait City, a columnist who actually went into Iraq this past weekend. But, again, the focus today is on the current military operation and what's happening inside the battlefield.

David, we say good afternoon to you here in Kuwait.

DAVID IGNATIUS, "WASHINGTON POST": Hi, Bill.

HEMMER: There's a front page story in the "Washington Post" today, Thomas Rix wrote it, a colleague of yours, talking about those, well, some generals, frankly, at the Pentagon who are calling into question the length of this operation. What is being said right now based on the first seven days in a fair assessment about the battle plan in Iraq?

IGNATIUS: I think what Tom Ricks' piece was illustrating was a recognition that because there is resistance in the rear areas near Kuwait, all along the road to Baghdad, that this is going to be a campaign that's going to take some time to eradicate those pockets of resistance. That should not have been a big surprise. And people need to understand that Iraq is a police state. It's governed by a clandestine -- there's only one political party that's legal here, the Baath Party. It's clandestine. It's on every street corner, it's in every village, and those people are all still there.

When I was in Iraq over the weekend, people were talking about the possibility that the Baath Party operatives in Safwan were organizing a move against British troops at an interchange a few kilometers away. So, you know, clearly they're still there.

They're fighting for their lives. They're hated by ordinary Iraqis. That remains true. But, you know, they're tough. You know, these are tough police state fighters.

HEMMER: Tell me why it was said at the outset that these fighters were underestimated in their troop strength and the amount of dispersal that we're now seeing throughout the country.

IGNATIUS: I think, Bill, that there was an assumption that large Republican Guard units would flip early in the war, that they would either lay down their arms or they would actually join with the coalition in toppling Saddam. That hasn't happened. Why hasn't it happened? It's possible that these irregular Baath Party militia units, the Fedayeen we've been calling them, are standing behind the backs of regular army generals with pistols and saying you go forward or you die.

HEMMER: Forcing them.

IGNATIUS: You know, we've seen that in warfare. We saw it with Stalin's troops in Russia during the Second World War. We saw it with Hitler's troops. It was the same thing. We had political commissars demanding that professional military officers do things that they might not otherwise do.

HEMMER: One quick thing, reflecting on the article by Tom Ricks again, he quotes a senior officer as saying tell me how this ends. Is it premature to be talking like this, day seven?

IGNATIUS: You know, I think that what we can see is that it's going to end a long time from now, that eradicating these pockets of resistance from fighters who have nothing to lose in keeping fighting is a long-term job. And I think we need to think about how does it end. You know, it ends, hopefully, with other nations that have an interest in stability in this region helping the United States to create some kind of new Iraq.

HEMMER: Or if you get to Saddam Hussein, ultimately, as well.

IGNATIUS: Well, that's one way it ends.

HEMMER: All right, David, thanks.

David Ignatius from the "Washington Post."

We should explain to our viewers, the image you see behind us is intentional, only because another sandstorm has rolled its way in here into Kuwait City. You saw this image yesterday. The haze is sticking around today. Only in the past couple of hours it's started to build up again and get quite thick. Whether this moves out later today is something we will wait and see. CENTCOM is going to brief in about an hour and 20 minutes. We'll have it live for you when that happens, 7:00 a.m. Eastern time.

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