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American Morning
Analysis of Military Resources in Northern Iraq
Aired March 27, 2003 - 9:19 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Back to a live shot from Baghdad showing the smoke that continues to hover over the Baghdad skyline. This about two hours after we heard our first reports of several explosions in central Baghdad and the northern part of the city. We're going to try to get more information from the Pentagon on that.
Right now, we're going to get more of military perspective from Brigadier General David Grange, CNN military analyst, and our own Renay San Miguel at CNN Center this morning -- good morning, gentlemen.
RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning to you, Paula. Thank you very much.
A lot of activity all around the country of Iraq, but we're going to start with the northern portion, because that's where those paratroopers went in. We have some satellite imagery courtesy of earthviewer.com and digitalglobe.com, showing where exactly in the north. The 173rd of the Army's Airborne Brigade went in; 1,000 U.S. paratroopers now have an airfield near there.
BRIG. GEN. DAVID GRANGE (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: They're securing the airfield, Renay, to help facilitate future operations. It doesn't mean that this unit is going to go against large Republican Guard units, but it does mean that they are foothold for further on deployment of heavy units from the coalition forces.
SAN MIGUEL: And a drop is never easy, as dropping in a parachute jump. And it's never really easy in any sense. But it's in Kurdish- controlled territory for the most part, so at least they didn't have to deal with a lot Iraqi soldiers in the neighborhood.
GRANGE: Didn't have to deal with ground fire. However, the approaches into the drop zone would be dangerous, and that's why the aircraft were probably low when they delivered the paratroopers.
SAN MIGUEL: OK. Come back to the map table now and we'll talk a little bit more about what we've seen so far in the last 12 to 24 hours. We had the C-17s dropping those paratroopers. We also had some bombings near Mosul. The idea up there is to help soften things up for the -- any other northern activity.
GRANGE: That's correct. There is some Republican Guard units south of Mosul and down towards Tikrit, as well as other Republican Guard units. And they've been firing missiles and artillery fire out of these areas. And so strikes have been going in there; that's correct. SAN MIGUEL: OK. Then we talk a little bit more about the central. We also heard Vince Brooks, the brigadier general who had the briefing today for Central Command, talking about activity in Najaf and Nasiriya over the last 12 hours.
GRANGE: I think right now it's still skirmishes. There was some type of a smaller force that came down from Karbala, from the Medina Division that attacked the 3rd Infantry Division. And there's fighting all along that front.
Constant fighting. A lot of it we don't hear about, as well as the front for the Marine Corps, the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) over in this area right here towards Al Kut. Same thing. Fighting a long that Highway 7 as well.
SAN MIGUEL: And we've got some video showing the intensity of that fighting at Nasiriya. As if this wasn't enough to worry about, then we just heard Alessio Vinci talk about there's a lot of civilians trying to get back into Nasiriya. And as we have heard reported, the Fedayeen are disguising themselves as civilians. So you not only have the nerve-racking, but also the time consuming factor of trying to figure out who's who.
GRANGE: A very complex battlefield. Very difficult for the Marines in this area to distinguish between friend and foe. At the same time, trying to keep civilian casualties down, protect their own force and accomplish their mission. And so these type of operations take some time.
SAN MIGUEL: All right. We will get back to you later on in the morning with some more situation reports. General Grange, thanks for your help.
GRANGE: Thank you.
SAN MIGUEL: Paula, back on over to you.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, gentlemen.
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 27, 2003 - 9:19 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Back to a live shot from Baghdad showing the smoke that continues to hover over the Baghdad skyline. This about two hours after we heard our first reports of several explosions in central Baghdad and the northern part of the city. We're going to try to get more information from the Pentagon on that.
Right now, we're going to get more of military perspective from Brigadier General David Grange, CNN military analyst, and our own Renay San Miguel at CNN Center this morning -- good morning, gentlemen.
RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning to you, Paula. Thank you very much.
A lot of activity all around the country of Iraq, but we're going to start with the northern portion, because that's where those paratroopers went in. We have some satellite imagery courtesy of earthviewer.com and digitalglobe.com, showing where exactly in the north. The 173rd of the Army's Airborne Brigade went in; 1,000 U.S. paratroopers now have an airfield near there.
BRIG. GEN. DAVID GRANGE (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: They're securing the airfield, Renay, to help facilitate future operations. It doesn't mean that this unit is going to go against large Republican Guard units, but it does mean that they are foothold for further on deployment of heavy units from the coalition forces.
SAN MIGUEL: And a drop is never easy, as dropping in a parachute jump. And it's never really easy in any sense. But it's in Kurdish- controlled territory for the most part, so at least they didn't have to deal with a lot Iraqi soldiers in the neighborhood.
GRANGE: Didn't have to deal with ground fire. However, the approaches into the drop zone would be dangerous, and that's why the aircraft were probably low when they delivered the paratroopers.
SAN MIGUEL: OK. Come back to the map table now and we'll talk a little bit more about what we've seen so far in the last 12 to 24 hours. We had the C-17s dropping those paratroopers. We also had some bombings near Mosul. The idea up there is to help soften things up for the -- any other northern activity.
GRANGE: That's correct. There is some Republican Guard units south of Mosul and down towards Tikrit, as well as other Republican Guard units. And they've been firing missiles and artillery fire out of these areas. And so strikes have been going in there; that's correct. SAN MIGUEL: OK. Then we talk a little bit more about the central. We also heard Vince Brooks, the brigadier general who had the briefing today for Central Command, talking about activity in Najaf and Nasiriya over the last 12 hours.
GRANGE: I think right now it's still skirmishes. There was some type of a smaller force that came down from Karbala, from the Medina Division that attacked the 3rd Infantry Division. And there's fighting all along that front.
Constant fighting. A lot of it we don't hear about, as well as the front for the Marine Corps, the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) over in this area right here towards Al Kut. Same thing. Fighting a long that Highway 7 as well.
SAN MIGUEL: And we've got some video showing the intensity of that fighting at Nasiriya. As if this wasn't enough to worry about, then we just heard Alessio Vinci talk about there's a lot of civilians trying to get back into Nasiriya. And as we have heard reported, the Fedayeen are disguising themselves as civilians. So you not only have the nerve-racking, but also the time consuming factor of trying to figure out who's who.
GRANGE: A very complex battlefield. Very difficult for the Marines in this area to distinguish between friend and foe. At the same time, trying to keep civilian casualties down, protect their own force and accomplish their mission. And so these type of operations take some time.
SAN MIGUEL: All right. We will get back to you later on in the morning with some more situation reports. General Grange, thanks for your help.
GRANGE: Thank you.
SAN MIGUEL: Paula, back on over to you.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, gentlemen.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
