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CNN Live At Daybreak
At Least 10 Tomahawk Cruise Missiles Fired From Navy Battle Group
Aired March 28, 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: At least 10 Tomahawk cruise missiles were fired from a Navy battle group in the eastern Mediterranean.
Al Jazeera TV showed these pictures of a British drone that went down near Basra. The British Army and NATO use the Phoenix unmanned aerial vehicle to identify battlefield targets. No word yet on what caused the drone to crash.
Twelve U.S. Marines are reporting missing after another day of fighting near Nasiriya. Search teams have been combing the desert looking for them. Eleven of the 12 are with the Second Marine Expeditionary Brigade stationed at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.
And the siege of Basra does continue today, with British artillery homing and on Iraqi positions inside the city. An embedded reporter tells CNN the British commanders are getting good intelligence on what is happening inside the city and preparing a battle plan for routing out the remaining Iraqi forces.
Thirty thousand soldiers with the Army's Fourth Infantry Division based at Fort Hood, Texas have begun shipping out to the Gulf. The Pentagon says they'll be followed by another 100,000 ground forces over the next month.
And the Rolling Stones canceled concerts today and tomorrow in Hong Kong because of the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome in Asia. The group's Web site says large concert crowds risk exposing more people to the highly contagious illness. U.S. officials say 51 cases of SARS has been diagnosed in the United States so far.
And, of course, we're bringing you live reports on several fronts in the war in Iraq. So here is what's coming up in this hour.
Baghdad smokes and shakes in a bunker buster strike. Our Bill Hemmer has an update on the explosions in the Iraqi capital from Kuwait City. Also, our embedded reporters are taking you to the front lines in both north and south Iraq. And Iraqis desperate for food aid, a huge shipment is expected to arrive some time today and, of course, we are tracking it.
And good morning to you.
Welcome back.
You're looking at a live picture of downtown Baghdad as Operation Iraqi Freedom enters its ninth day. You can see haze over the city and smoke. We understand from Reuters a few explosions have gone on in the last two hours, but we're not sure on specifics as of yet.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And some major explosions overnight. Those two bunker busters, Carol, as you mentioned earlier. We're going to have more on that from Bill Hemmer shortly.
It is two past one in the afternoon Baghdad, two past 5:00 a.m. here on the East Coast of the United States. Friday, March 28th.
Good morning.
I'm Anderson Cooper.
COSTELLO: And I'm Carol Costello.
Thanks so much for joining us.
Time now for a look at stories that will be making news early today in our early briefing. President Bush will speak to the Veterans Service Organizations at the White House this afternoon and then he and the first lady head to Camp David for the weekend.
The Security Council is expected to vote today on a plan to resume Iraq's Oil For Food program. More than half of that country depends on this program.
And Americans will take to the streets again today to voice their opinions about the war. There are both anti-war protests and rallies for the troops planned from coast to coast.
COOPER: And we are following this story on the ground in Iraq and from all over Iraq, not only the big bombings in Baghdad and northern Iraq. First, let's go to the map, give you a visual sense of where coalition forces are right now inside the country.
See there the port of Umm Qasr? That is where the British humanitarian -- the British ship with humanitarian supplies is expected today, over 200 tons or so. We are expecting that in the next couple of hours. We're going to bring that to you as soon as we get it. Coalition forces are tracking the ship so it does not hit any possible sea mines. That's happening right now.
Moving inland we go, coalition forces still fighting, still in Basra, in Nasiriya and Najaf. A lot of action to talk about in the next hour. Also in northern Iraq, these are taped pictures, I believe, from about 24 hours ago, when the paratroopers first arrived. U.S. troops digging in at an air field. They parachuted under the cover of darkness on Wednesday night.
COSTELLO: OK, we want to bring you up to date about the bombing in Baghdad and what possibly is, are new explosions in the city.
Let's go to Kuwait City for that and Bill Hemmer -- good morning, Bill.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Carol, hello.
Welcome to Friday here.
You're going to be hearing a lot about the weather today. For the first time in days, Carol, we have absolutely stunning weather here in Kuwait City and we're told it's similar over the skies in Iraq. That means, according to military sources, that a large number of air strikes may be on the up tick today, as we again grow deeper in the day of Friday. And we're told a number of targets will be targeting in Iraq, including these Republican Guard divisions, the Hammurabi and the Medina, said to be the strongest of six. Medina is southwest of Baghdad. Hamarabi is north-northwest of the capital city. We will track that throughout the day.
We do know there have been explosions a short time ago in the Iraqi capital. Not quite sure based on the in bridge we're getting where or what was targeted. But we do know what happened last night around 10 o'clock local time. Two giant bunker buster bombs were dropped on central Baghdad. The Air Force describes these as bunker busters, one said to be a 4,500 pound bomb, dropped by B-2 Stealth bombers, satellite guided bombs.
Again, they struck around ten o'clock local time. A large area shook. A thick haze enveloped the sky. Some of the largest explosions to date, according to some of the eyewitnesses there in the Iraqi capital.
We're told a communications center was struck and some buildings near the interior ministry were damaged, possibly targeting Iraq's national communications network. We're told that communications center is what houses Iraq's telephone network, this along the east bank of the Tigris River.
Rym Brahimi spent an awful lot of time in Baghdad. She is gauging reaction on the latest bombing from last night and also Arab reaction throughout the Arab world.
And, Rym, yet again we have seen a large number of demonstrations in many of these capital cities -- good afternoon to you there.
What is your gauge at this point?
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon to you, Bill.
Well, for now, let's just talk about the reaction from Iraq -- from the official reaction, at any rate. You may have seen Iraq's information minister, Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf, denouncing those attacks, denouncing the United States for attacking what he said were just civilian areas. In particular, the minister made a few points talking to the press there.
First of all, he saluted what he said were the heroes who destroyed the U.S. tank and brought down, in his words, the U.S. Apache helicopter. He also said that when the U.S. says it's hitting government buildings, well, it's hitting buildings with people in it. He said does the U.S. think that just because they're government buildings, there's nobody inside? Well, there are people and there are civilians, there are citizens going about their business. As you know, Bill, a lot of the bombings took place overnight, but there's been also a whole morning of bombings on this Friday morning, which is a Muslim day of rest in Iraq. Now, he also, the minister also denounced the United States, saying they targeted civilian areas in the southern town of Najaf and used cluster bombs. But he said that both in Najaf and in a lot of other cities, the U.S.- led forces were met by resistance.
He also said, in response to a question by a reporter, that the port town in the south of Umm Qasr was still under Iraqi control. He said all the U.S. media reports that it's not, well, it is still under Iraqi control. The minister also gave a total number of injured and killed since the beginning of the campaign, 200 injured, sorry, 800 injured, that is, 800 injured, he said, throughout Iraq, and 230 killed or, in his words, martyred.
Now, as you know, all this, there is a lot of reaction to
What's been happening in Iraq in the Arab world, in the region as a whole. First of all, let me just show you this magazine, Bill, a magazine called "El Watalalabi (ph)," "The Arab Nation." "Baghdad: Mother of Cities Resists," calling on Baghdad, the mother of all cities, to resist. This is the front page of one of the magazines.
So just giving you an idea of what the mood is like here -- back to you, Bill.
HEMMER: Rym, thanks.
Rym Brahimi in Amman, Jordan updating us from her perspective there.
Meanwhile, back here in Kuwait, there could be good news for Kuwaitis. It's been almost 26 hours since an Iraqi missile was launched into Kuwaiti air space. About 26 hours since we heard our last air raid siren. We are told through military sources that they may have found, contacted and destroyed this launch site near the town of Basra that's been launching these Iraqi missiles here. At last count, I believe 11 penetrated the air space here. Of the 11, eight were said to be destroyed by Patriot missile batteries. Again, it's been quiet, relative to the air raid sirens. Whether it stays this way or not, Carol, is something that we shall wait and see here.
In the meantime, talk to you again in about 20 minutes -- Anderson, back to you now at the CNN Center.
COOPER: All right, thanks a lot, Bill.
Look forward to it.
You know, we have been following this story about humanitarian aid coming to Umm Qasr. As we've been telling you all morning, we are expecting it really any time in the next couple of hours. A British ship is going to be arriving with that, more than 200 tons or so of aid expected.
CNN's Becky Diamond is embedded on an Australian mine sweeper, the HMAS Kanimbla.
She joins us now on the phone. She has been following this story for days now -- Becky, what can you tell us? BECKY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, it was a very exciting morning on board the Kanimbla. I'm on what's called the foksal (ph). That's the forward deck of this amphibious ship. This ship has been tasked with coordinating the mine counter-measures in the northern Persian Gulf and in the waterway leading to Umm Qasr.
Now, because of possible mines that have been detected, the Sir Galahad -- that's the British ship that's carrying humanitarian aid up to the port -- has been delayed. And this morning the ship came through and it was a beautiful sight. There were a lot of sailors out on the foksal taking pictures and talking and sort of celebrating the moment.
They had worked very hard to clear a channel in this waterway and it was give or take for a few days as to when this ship would set sail. And the ship went along with a convoy of coalition ships. It was led by a British mine sweeper, then the Sir Galahad followed, and then there was a Kuwaiti and American and a British patrol boat following, as well -- Anderson.
COOPER: Yes, it has been quite an exciting couple of days, I imagine, for you, what with mine sweepers, divers in the water, even dolphins, everything going, trying to hunt out for these mines.
Do you have a visual on the Galahad, this British ship that is going to be coming in with this aid? I'm just trying to get a sense of where you are. Can you see it? Do you know when it's going to arrive?
DIAMOND: I saw it pass by the HMAS Kanimbla this morning. It was about 10 o'clock my time. That's about three hours ago. It came within about a thousand feet of our starboard side. We are closer to the bottom of this waterway. They say the waterway takes about -- it will take the Sir Galahad about six hours to transit. And when we saw it, it was probably a fifth or a sixth of the way through, at most. So I'm expecting it'll arrive in Umm Qasr some time around two o'clock local time. And we're, of course, eight hours ahead of Eastern time -- Anderson.
COOPER: And, Becky, I imagine the mission continues. I imagine you just keep sweeping for mines in the coming hours and the coming days and weeks. Is that correct?
DIAMOND: That is absolutely correct. Of course, the concern is rising that possible mines could be in this waterway. There's no evidence to show that there are mines here. There are some, there have been some objects that have been detonated by Australian Navy divers that contained explosives. Now, that doesn't mean it's a mine. It could be an ordinance dropped from a prior war. But that cut, the fear of possible mines coupled with the discovery last week of 86 buoyant and ground mines on an Iraqi tug and barge just north of here has raised the level of concern. This ship is having all the sailors that were sleeping below the water line move up to the hangar deck -- Anderson.
COOPER: All right, Becky Diamond, get on there.
Thanks for joining us this morning -- Carol.
COSTELLO: And we're pulling in more pictures of Baghdad this morning. We want to show you these pictures from Al-Arabia TV. This is out of Saudi Arabia. And you can see smoke in the skies. We're not sure what exactly is on fire, if anything, but we do know that one of the heaviest bombardments came overnight from coalition forces, who took out a number of targets there.
COOPER: And we should point out, it looks like that building is on fire, but I think that's an incorrect perception.
COSTELLO: Right.
COOPER: I think that building is simply in the foreground. I think the smoke is a good deal in the distance behind, just judging from...
COSTELLO: It looks that way, but we're really not sure right now.
In case you've been wondering, right now we know that 90,000 troops are now in Iraq, 75,000 of those troops United States troops.
We want to head back to northern Iraq to Kalar to check in with David Turnley once again. He's a Pulitzer Prize winning photographer. He joined us earlier this morning with some fascinating pictures.
And I know you don't have your, the TV camera up now. We can just get you by phone, right, David? But before we start -- oh, we do have you. You were -- I am surprised by that and I'm very glad because you were talking to the people behind you. You're in Kurdish controlled territory. Tell us more of what they're saying.
DAVID TURNLEY: Carol, we're standing right now in the town of Kifri, which is about two kilometers from the front line in the far eastern front, excuse me, the far eastern side of the northern front. Kifri is a town which is configured in a very sort of complex way. On the one hand, on the east you have Iran. Just a bit to the north you have the town of Halaja (ph), which is where Saddam Hussein had launched some chemical weapons attacks in 1988. And then, of course, this is the closest front line position to Baghdad, which is about 120 kilometers away.
The people here have been very anxious, of course, being this close to Baghdad that they were going to be susceptible once again to chemical weapon attacks. They've been surprised, and, I think, very happy to find that the war so far hasn't come to this region.
They're now very elated by the idea that Americans have arrived in the north. I think they, there's a lot of anticipation about what's actually going to happen in the coming days and some relief so far that things have gone better than they might have expected for themselves.
COSTELLO: You were speaking earlier to a man who spoke very good English. What did he tell you about the Kurds' feelings towards Americans specifically?
TURNLEY: The Kurds, as you well know, are a people that have had a complicated past, and particularly in the dynamics of Iraq and in this region. In that sense, the Kurds have their own aspirations. It's, you speak to some people who tell you very vehemently and very clearly that they aspire to their own independent state. You spoke to others who say they are content to join in the long run a greater Iraq.
In any case, for the time being, particularly after the history that they feel they've suffered under Saddam Hussein, again, particularly with these chemical weapons attacks in 1988, they feel very grateful for the support they're receiving from the Americans. There's some sense of the Americans here as liberators.
One of the very surreal aspects of being in this area is that people gather around their television sets in their living rooms and they receive over satellite television stations from, predominantly from the United States, CNN, Fox, etc. And so they're getting a rather surreal sort of take and perspective. Being here on the very front line of the war in the north but reporting coming from the United States.
COSTELLO: Understand.
David, I want to get to some of your still photographs, because they're quite amazing. We're going to put up one from the 1991 Gulf War, I believe. We can put that up. It's a very interesting photo which shows wounded troops inside the chopper. And I want David to describe it because it's quite emotional and probably -- again, this is from 1991, as I said -- David, go ahead and explain what this is.
TURNLEY: In the Gulf War in 1991, Carol, I spent two months with an elite MASH unit. It was 40 men and women, doctors and nurses, really the cream of the cream of the American medical corps. It was a unit that was able to put up an intensive care operating hospital in about 15 minutes. On the last day of the war I was awakened at 5:00 a.m. by a helicopter pilot asking me to fly evacuation missions with him. Around 11, we got a call and we responded deep in Iraq near al- Nasiriya, where when we touched down, we saw a Bradley fighting vehicle that essentially had been split in half by a missile. There were soldiers that were stood out the back of this fighting -- Bradley fighting vehicle.
We put two of the young men in the helicopter and then the medic went back to the Bradleys to recover the body of the driver that had been killed. As we -- as they put the body bag into the helicopter next to the two soldiers, in this image that were in front of me, we lifted off and the medic on the right handed the dog tags of the soldiers in the body bag over in front of the soldier on the left. And it was at that moment that he realized that this was his best friend who had been killed and it was the moment of that photograph. COSTELLO: Oh, that's just heartbreaking. You're also taking new pictures for CNN. And I believe that we have one to put up now. There it is. You, hopefully you know what picture I'm talking about. Tell us what this is.
TURNLEY: You're going to have to describe it. I'm very sorry. I'm only looking into a camera.
COSTELLO: It looks to -- it looks like we're...
TURNLEY: I have no idea what you're seeing.
COSTELLO: I understand. It looks like it's a series of photographs and it's of the Iraqi people and some of them are from within towns.
TURNLEY: Yes, these photographs were made on a trip across northern Iraq from the west to the east in the last two days. Essentially, people in towns not far from these front lines as they go about their daily business. The fact is that although we are very close to the front lines, life sort of carries on in a very sort of unusually usual kind of way. People, I think, are biding their time by going through the routines that they're accustomed to. They meet with each other in the marketplaces. They drink tea. They look for food. Food is scarce but available. And I think they listen to their radios and they share information that they're receiving about what's happening in the south.
COSTELLO: Well, David Turnley, thanks for giving us a fascinating slice of life from the part of the world that you're in right now, in northern Iraq.
And, you know, it's interesting to see all of those people just standing behind him just observing, because frankly there's not much to do right now.
COOPER: Well, I think any time a camera is in a town like that, it becomes sort of the center -- you know, a quiet town where not much is going on, it becomes the center of focus. It's like being in Kabul. You'll see, you know, the correspondent getting mobbed and it's always sort of a point of interest for people.
COSTELLO: Well, when bombing is so close at hand, I guess it's a surprise to me that people would be out on the streets anyway. But, indeed, they are.
COOPER: Well, CNN's coverage of Operation Iraqi Freedom continues in a moment. But first, some snapshots of war.
COMMERCIAL
COSTELLO: And it's now 5:20 Eastern time.
Welcome back to CNN's coverage of this war in Iraq.
We want to go back to Bob Franken, because he has new information. He's at an air base in southeastern Iraq now in coalition control and also with some Iraqi POWs.
Bring us up to date, Bob.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The POWs are, were kept at this air base until recently. They have just been removed. They were told that there are about 100 of them. They were captured a little bit north of here, as I understand it.
Now, something that's very interesting about this air base, there are tunnels under the air base. There has been a thorough search made by the various security people who have been here for less than a week. But anyway, they've conducted a thorough search and they say they've found nothing of any consequence in those tunnels.
Here's what we have learned. Even though this air base is just being secured, the first units of the search and rescue teams came here last Wednesday and immediately, as a matter of fact, went out on a mission. The result of that mission is still classified. We can tell you, however, they say that their efforts at search and rescue were a success. And, of course, the whole point of this field is that they're going to be 150 miles closer to the action than they were at their previous location, the airport, the air base we have to refer to as close to the Iraq border.
Well, we're well into Iraq now. This is going to become a good staging area for A-10s, the anti-tank planes. It's going to save about 300 miles or 150 miles each way on their various missions in support of the ground troops.
Now, one other thing I've done in the last short while I've checked out some of the buildings that were used by the Iraqis. Among the things that we found is Iraqi military paraphernalia similar, of course, to what the United States wears. They have what they call LVEs. There's a (UNINTELLIGIBLE) varied equipment that carries such things as the canteens, the flashlights, the pistols and the like.
We also have found gas masks and various kinds of kits, the same type that the United States uses in case of chemical warfare.
So, we're in the process of setting up. The fact of the matter is that the U.S. military is, we're told that they're going to be coming in here quite quickly now. Now that our caravan arrived, the one that took about three days. One of the vital things on that convoy was the jet fuel. There were several trucks of it, which, of course, are going to be vital to getting this place up and running -- Carol.
COSTELLO: And just to clarify, they found chemical suits and gas masks there, but nothing associated with weapons of mass destruction?
FRANKEN: Nothing except a sense of defensive material, the same type that the U.S. military carries.
COSTELLO: All right, briefing reporting live from somewhere in southeastern Iraq. COOPER: We've been following the story in northern Iraq a lot this morning. We're going to get an update now from Ben Wedeman, who is near Kalak, is it -- Ben? BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. We're at Kalak, which is about 28 miles to the east of the city of Mosul, which overnight received a fairly heavy bombing from what we could hear at our location right on the front lines. Our windows shook. You could really feel these deep thuds coming in from so far away. And this morning at about eight o'clock local time, 8:00 a.m., basically we saw these planes flying overhead and then they dropped interspersed between one another about half an hour, but bombs behind the ridge about 10 or 15 kilometers from us where we have been told by local smugglers, if you can believe what smugglers say, that there are large emplacements of Iraqi artillery and tanks.
Now, we also know that from other parts of the front line that in some areas that Iraqi forces have pulled back. In this area, however, there doesn't seem, that doesn't seem to be the case. I've been watching all morning long with my binoculars, noticing that after those initial air strikes, they've been walking along the ridge in quite a relaxed manner. It almost looks like they, like us, are enjoying this pleasant spring weather for once, after days of very heavy rainfall.
COOPER: Ben...
WEDEMAN: Now, meanwhile, at the air base of Harir (ph), we have news that the U.S. troops continue to arrive. One of our producers on the scene, Kim Norgard (ph), saying that he saw 10 trucks full of about 20 U.S. soldiers each from the 173rd Airborne Brigade heading toward the area of Zaho (ph), which is in, on the Turkish border within the Kurdish zone -- back to you, Anderson.
COOPER: So, Ben, my understanding is, from what you're saying, is that the Iraqi forces really, despite two days of bombardment in that area, Iraqi forces have not withdrawn and that they still remain on that ridge with some artillery, some weaponry still intact.
WEDEMAN: Yes, they say several of their positions were hit over the last three days. But certainly they don't show any signs of pulling back. In fact, they look rather relaxed this morning. Now, we've been watching them over the last few weeks, actually, more than a month, really, and we've seen them dig in, digging their trenches deeper, bringing in sand bags, more armaments. We've seen them bring in heavy mortars, anti-tank guns, heavy machine guns, none of which, to date, have been used very often. Some mortar rounds have fallen into the town of Kalak, but by and large fairly quiet here, and they show no signs, as I said, of pulling back.
COOPER: All right, interesting, Ben.
Keep us informed. We'll check back with you later -- Carol.
COSTELLO: And I, we're going to take a short break. But when we come back, we're going to check in with Washington with Chris Burns. The president has a full plate again today. He'll tell us all about it when we come back. COMMERCIAL
COSTELLO: 5:27 Eastern time. Before you head off to work, we want to bring you up to date about what will happen in Washington today. British Prime Minister Tony Blair, by the way, is back in London after meeting with President Bush at Camp David. After their meetings, each said Operation Iraqi Freedom may last for a while and they're willing to go the long haul until Saddam Hussein is removed.
We want to get more on this from CNN's White House correspondent Chris Burns -- Good morning, Chris.
CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
Yes, Prime Minister Tony Blair has returned to London. That was a very important face to face with President Bush yesterday, his first face to face since they last met just before the war. They were in the Azores closing ranks just before the war began, to put further pressure on Saddam Hussein. Of course, the diplomatic effort did not work. They went to war.
This is their first face to face, very important to show their resolve, especially after setbacks on the battlefield.
Here are the words of President Bush.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's not a matter of timetable, it's a matter of victory. And the Iraqi people have got to know that, see? They've got to know that they will be liberated and Saddam Hussein will be removed no matter how long it takes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNS: Meanwhile, the question of an interim government after Saddam, and that is a very important issue between the two countries, President Bush aiming mainly for a U.S.-led military force, a U.S.-led military authority that would lead to some kind of civilian government, interim government. The British do agree on that, but they would like, perhaps, more U.N. involvement.
Here are the words of Tony Blair.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TONY BLAIR, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Now, after that is the issue of the post-conflict administration, whereas we said in our resource statement it's important there again that the U.N. is involved and that any post-conflict administration in Iraq is endorsed by it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNS: However, both leaders remaining very vague about exactly what that government will look like. They would like to see, according to a senior administration official, they would like to see what it looks like on the ground after the war, what kind of people and officials there may be that they could use in a government, how the exiles could be worked into it, how the Kurds would fit into it. It's a very, very complex equation that they will be looking at the end of the conflict.
Meanwhile, President Bush is going to be meeting with veterans in the Rose Garden today, tapping them for further support in the war effort. Also, he's going on to Camp David later in the day -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, good enough.
Chris Burns, Chris reporting live from Washington, D.C. this morning.
COOPER: We're going to go to a short break.
When we come back, reports from Kuwait, from Qatar and all over the front lines in Iraq.
Be right back.
COMMERCIAL
COOPER: Here's what's happening in the war with Iraq. Coalition forces unleashed two so-called bunker buster bombs on Baghdad, triggering the most extensive explosion yet in the war. Take a look at that picture, an unbelievable plume of smoke. U.S. military officials say the bombs and cruise missiles were used to take out a major communications tower. That action was intended to hamper communications, obviously, between Saddam Hussein's regime and Iraq's military.
For the second day in a row, casks target Iraqi troops in a Kurdish controlled area of northern Iraq, as our own Ben Wedeman just reported live. He reported four large explosions were heard. He says a significant Iraqi buildup is taking place in the area.
Al Jazeera TV showed this video of a British drone that went down near Basra. The British Army and NATO used the Phoenix unmanned aerial vehicle to identify battlefield targets. There is no word yet on what caused the drone to crash.
The British ship Sir Galahad is expected in the tiny Iraqi port of Umm Qasr some time today. The ship is carrying 200 tons of food, water and medical supplies. Its arrival delayed for days as mine sweepers cleared the waters.
And Hans Blix says he'll step down as U.N. chief weapons inspector when his contract expires at the end of June. He made that announcement to a Japanese television network.
In New York, anti-war protesters staged so-called die-ins in various streets around Manhattan. Police made more than 200 arrests. The demonstrations part of an overall protest called "No Business As Usual" -- Carol. COSTELLO: Anderson, of course, we're bringing you live reports on several fronts in the war on Iraq. Here's what's coming up this hour.
Baghdad smokes and shakes in a bunker buster strike. Our Bill Hemmer has an update on the explosions in the Iraqi capital. He'll be reporting live from Kuwait City.
Also, our embedded reporters are taking you to the front lines in both northern and southern Iraq. And Iraqis desperate for food aid, that huge shipment we've been telling you about all morning long is expected to arrive some time today and, of course, we are tracking it.
And good morning to you.
Welcome back.
New pictures out of Baghdad right now. These are live pictures. It's 1:33 in the afternoon there. You can see heavy smoke in the air from a bombardment that's really gone on for the past 24 hours, the most intense of which happened yesterday, Thursday.
COOPER: Yes, it has been a busy 12 hours or so in Baghdad.
Good morning, everyone.
I'm Anderson Cooper at the CNN Center in Atlanta.
Today's Friday, March 28th.
COSTELLO: And I'm Carol Costello.
Thank you so much for joining us.
Time now for our early briefing, a look at stories that will be making news later today.
President Bush will speak to the Veterans Service Organizations at the White House this afternoon and then he and the first lady head to Camp David for the weekend.
The Security Council is expected to vote today on a plan to resume Iraq's Oil For Food program. More than half of that country depends on the program.
And Americans will take to the streets again today to voice their opinions about the war. There are both anti-war protests and rallies for the troops planned from coast to coast.
COOPER: First, let's go to the map and give you a visual sense of where coalition forces are right now inside Iraq, as close as we can tell you. You see the port city of Umm Qasr there? That is where the British ship with humanitarian supplies expected today, the Sir Galahad. Coalition forces are tracking the ship so it does not hit any possible sea mines. We've heard from our own Becky Diamond aboard an Australian mine sweeper earlier today. We move inland now. Coalition forces still in the areas of Basra, Nasiriya and Najaf. There has been a lot of activity, especially in Basra. We've been telling you about it in the last couple of hours. And take a look at these pictures from northern Iraq. Here's the ones Brent Sadler brought back for us about 24 hours ago or so, U.S. troops digging in at an air field after parachuting in under the cover of darkness Wednesday night, a significant movement, coalition forces say, moving into northern Iraq.
COSTELLO: OK, we want to talk more about the bombing in Baghdad and we want to head live to Kuwait City for that and check in again with Bill Hemmer -- Bill.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Carol, hello.
It's about 10 o'clock local time in downtown Baghdad, where eyewitnesses say the largest explosions to date took place. Military sources at the Pentagon and through CENTCOM in Qatar are confirming with CNN that two giant bunker buster bombs were dropped last night on downtown Baghdad. One described as 4,500 pounds, known as a GBU-37. We're told they targeted a communications center, a major link for the Iraqi national communications system, possibly the telephone network that runs throughout the entire country, also, buildings struck in and around the information ministry, damaged, as well. A large area shook last night. A thick haze enveloped the capital, much like what we had seen in the past several days when these Iraqi oil fires continued to smolder on the outskirts of town.
In addition today, just to bring you up to date, getting reports yet again, Carol, that more explosions are rocking the Iraqi capital. Where they're taking place and what their targets are, we do not know, but possibly we will learn more 7:00 a.m. Eastern time when Central Command does its briefing in Qatar.
Speaking of Qatar, quickly, to Tom Mintier, who's watching everything that moves down there. He joins us to tell us what he's learning today -- Tom, good afternoon.
TOM MINTIER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Bill.
What we're learning today is that the humanitarian component of this may be under way. In Umm Qasr, they have cleared away the mines out of the channel and they say that the British vessel Sir Galahad is going to be making its way into port shortly. And on that ship, 300 tons of food, water and medical supplies. The food and water from the Kuwaiti government, the medical supplies from WHO.
Now, yesterday they delayed that because of the finding another mine in the channel area. So they went in and using dolphins to sweep a lot of these mines out. So they've got it cleared. They've got the port ready and they're bringing this vessel in. So it will be a lot of materials.
In addition to that, overland, the British are saying that they're moving humanitarian supplies on the ground. They have humanitarian supplies with their units. They're trying to establish more clean drinking water in the area so that people can get some relief.
Also, as we heard last night from both President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, those who have expectations that this will be over rapidly, in a week or two weeks, may be mistaken. There is an apparent indication that this is going to take a while.
Now, the British military spokesman here, Group Captain Al Lockwood, gave us every indication that this is early days.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAPT. APPARENTLY LOCKWOOD, BRITISH MILITARY SPOKESMAN: We've just finished one week of this campaign. We have made enormous inroads into Iraq. Yes, we're meeting opposition, which is different. But we're military men. We're professionals. We need to adapt. We need to be flexible and we're taking care of it. We're on our time line and General Franks is more than satisfied with the progress we have made as a coalition so far.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MINTIER: They say they're on the time line. They say the time line was established before the conflict started. The addition of more troops on the ground, saying that was part of the plan all along. We'll be hearing from the U.S. coalition members later in the day, in about 90 minutes. We expect Brigadier General Vincent Brooks once again to be the briefer this afternoon and maybe give us some information on these bunker buster bombs that were used in Baghdad overnight -- Bill.
HEMMER: Tom, thanks.
Tom Mintier in Qatar, CENTCOM.
Another note here from Kuwait. It has fallen silent here in Kuwait City, silent in terms of air raid sirens. We've gone more than 26 hours now since we've heard anything move in Kuwait regarding Iraqi missiles. We are told through military sources that they may have finally located, found and destroyed this launch site that was launching missiles into Kuwait over the past seven, eight days running somewhere around the area of Basra. Again, they believe they've destroyed it, but we will wait and see if there are any more to enter the air space either today or going into the weekend tomorrow and Saturday.
Tom mentioned it. Once again, Carol and Anderson, 7:00 a.m. Eastern time live from CENTCOM. Get you up to date on everything that's moving in the region at that point -- back to you now at the CNN Center.
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CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: At least 10 Tomahawk cruise missiles were fired from a Navy battle group in the eastern Mediterranean.
Al Jazeera TV showed these pictures of a British drone that went down near Basra. The British Army and NATO use the Phoenix unmanned aerial vehicle to identify battlefield targets. No word yet on what caused the drone to crash.
Twelve U.S. Marines are reporting missing after another day of fighting near Nasiriya. Search teams have been combing the desert looking for them. Eleven of the 12 are with the Second Marine Expeditionary Brigade stationed at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.
And the siege of Basra does continue today, with British artillery homing and on Iraqi positions inside the city. An embedded reporter tells CNN the British commanders are getting good intelligence on what is happening inside the city and preparing a battle plan for routing out the remaining Iraqi forces.
Thirty thousand soldiers with the Army's Fourth Infantry Division based at Fort Hood, Texas have begun shipping out to the Gulf. The Pentagon says they'll be followed by another 100,000 ground forces over the next month.
And the Rolling Stones canceled concerts today and tomorrow in Hong Kong because of the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome in Asia. The group's Web site says large concert crowds risk exposing more people to the highly contagious illness. U.S. officials say 51 cases of SARS has been diagnosed in the United States so far.
And, of course, we're bringing you live reports on several fronts in the war in Iraq. So here is what's coming up in this hour.
Baghdad smokes and shakes in a bunker buster strike. Our Bill Hemmer has an update on the explosions in the Iraqi capital from Kuwait City. Also, our embedded reporters are taking you to the front lines in both north and south Iraq. And Iraqis desperate for food aid, a huge shipment is expected to arrive some time today and, of course, we are tracking it.
And good morning to you.
Welcome back.
You're looking at a live picture of downtown Baghdad as Operation Iraqi Freedom enters its ninth day. You can see haze over the city and smoke. We understand from Reuters a few explosions have gone on in the last two hours, but we're not sure on specifics as of yet.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And some major explosions overnight. Those two bunker busters, Carol, as you mentioned earlier. We're going to have more on that from Bill Hemmer shortly.
It is two past one in the afternoon Baghdad, two past 5:00 a.m. here on the East Coast of the United States. Friday, March 28th.
Good morning.
I'm Anderson Cooper.
COSTELLO: And I'm Carol Costello.
Thanks so much for joining us.
Time now for a look at stories that will be making news early today in our early briefing. President Bush will speak to the Veterans Service Organizations at the White House this afternoon and then he and the first lady head to Camp David for the weekend.
The Security Council is expected to vote today on a plan to resume Iraq's Oil For Food program. More than half of that country depends on this program.
And Americans will take to the streets again today to voice their opinions about the war. There are both anti-war protests and rallies for the troops planned from coast to coast.
COOPER: And we are following this story on the ground in Iraq and from all over Iraq, not only the big bombings in Baghdad and northern Iraq. First, let's go to the map, give you a visual sense of where coalition forces are right now inside the country.
See there the port of Umm Qasr? That is where the British humanitarian -- the British ship with humanitarian supplies is expected today, over 200 tons or so. We are expecting that in the next couple of hours. We're going to bring that to you as soon as we get it. Coalition forces are tracking the ship so it does not hit any possible sea mines. That's happening right now.
Moving inland we go, coalition forces still fighting, still in Basra, in Nasiriya and Najaf. A lot of action to talk about in the next hour. Also in northern Iraq, these are taped pictures, I believe, from about 24 hours ago, when the paratroopers first arrived. U.S. troops digging in at an air field. They parachuted under the cover of darkness on Wednesday night.
COSTELLO: OK, we want to bring you up to date about the bombing in Baghdad and what possibly is, are new explosions in the city.
Let's go to Kuwait City for that and Bill Hemmer -- good morning, Bill.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Carol, hello.
Welcome to Friday here.
You're going to be hearing a lot about the weather today. For the first time in days, Carol, we have absolutely stunning weather here in Kuwait City and we're told it's similar over the skies in Iraq. That means, according to military sources, that a large number of air strikes may be on the up tick today, as we again grow deeper in the day of Friday. And we're told a number of targets will be targeting in Iraq, including these Republican Guard divisions, the Hammurabi and the Medina, said to be the strongest of six. Medina is southwest of Baghdad. Hamarabi is north-northwest of the capital city. We will track that throughout the day.
We do know there have been explosions a short time ago in the Iraqi capital. Not quite sure based on the in bridge we're getting where or what was targeted. But we do know what happened last night around 10 o'clock local time. Two giant bunker buster bombs were dropped on central Baghdad. The Air Force describes these as bunker busters, one said to be a 4,500 pound bomb, dropped by B-2 Stealth bombers, satellite guided bombs.
Again, they struck around ten o'clock local time. A large area shook. A thick haze enveloped the sky. Some of the largest explosions to date, according to some of the eyewitnesses there in the Iraqi capital.
We're told a communications center was struck and some buildings near the interior ministry were damaged, possibly targeting Iraq's national communications network. We're told that communications center is what houses Iraq's telephone network, this along the east bank of the Tigris River.
Rym Brahimi spent an awful lot of time in Baghdad. She is gauging reaction on the latest bombing from last night and also Arab reaction throughout the Arab world.
And, Rym, yet again we have seen a large number of demonstrations in many of these capital cities -- good afternoon to you there.
What is your gauge at this point?
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon to you, Bill.
Well, for now, let's just talk about the reaction from Iraq -- from the official reaction, at any rate. You may have seen Iraq's information minister, Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf, denouncing those attacks, denouncing the United States for attacking what he said were just civilian areas. In particular, the minister made a few points talking to the press there.
First of all, he saluted what he said were the heroes who destroyed the U.S. tank and brought down, in his words, the U.S. Apache helicopter. He also said that when the U.S. says it's hitting government buildings, well, it's hitting buildings with people in it. He said does the U.S. think that just because they're government buildings, there's nobody inside? Well, there are people and there are civilians, there are citizens going about their business. As you know, Bill, a lot of the bombings took place overnight, but there's been also a whole morning of bombings on this Friday morning, which is a Muslim day of rest in Iraq. Now, he also, the minister also denounced the United States, saying they targeted civilian areas in the southern town of Najaf and used cluster bombs. But he said that both in Najaf and in a lot of other cities, the U.S.- led forces were met by resistance.
He also said, in response to a question by a reporter, that the port town in the south of Umm Qasr was still under Iraqi control. He said all the U.S. media reports that it's not, well, it is still under Iraqi control. The minister also gave a total number of injured and killed since the beginning of the campaign, 200 injured, sorry, 800 injured, that is, 800 injured, he said, throughout Iraq, and 230 killed or, in his words, martyred.
Now, as you know, all this, there is a lot of reaction to
What's been happening in Iraq in the Arab world, in the region as a whole. First of all, let me just show you this magazine, Bill, a magazine called "El Watalalabi (ph)," "The Arab Nation." "Baghdad: Mother of Cities Resists," calling on Baghdad, the mother of all cities, to resist. This is the front page of one of the magazines.
So just giving you an idea of what the mood is like here -- back to you, Bill.
HEMMER: Rym, thanks.
Rym Brahimi in Amman, Jordan updating us from her perspective there.
Meanwhile, back here in Kuwait, there could be good news for Kuwaitis. It's been almost 26 hours since an Iraqi missile was launched into Kuwaiti air space. About 26 hours since we heard our last air raid siren. We are told through military sources that they may have found, contacted and destroyed this launch site near the town of Basra that's been launching these Iraqi missiles here. At last count, I believe 11 penetrated the air space here. Of the 11, eight were said to be destroyed by Patriot missile batteries. Again, it's been quiet, relative to the air raid sirens. Whether it stays this way or not, Carol, is something that we shall wait and see here.
In the meantime, talk to you again in about 20 minutes -- Anderson, back to you now at the CNN Center.
COOPER: All right, thanks a lot, Bill.
Look forward to it.
You know, we have been following this story about humanitarian aid coming to Umm Qasr. As we've been telling you all morning, we are expecting it really any time in the next couple of hours. A British ship is going to be arriving with that, more than 200 tons or so of aid expected.
CNN's Becky Diamond is embedded on an Australian mine sweeper, the HMAS Kanimbla.
She joins us now on the phone. She has been following this story for days now -- Becky, what can you tell us? BECKY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, it was a very exciting morning on board the Kanimbla. I'm on what's called the foksal (ph). That's the forward deck of this amphibious ship. This ship has been tasked with coordinating the mine counter-measures in the northern Persian Gulf and in the waterway leading to Umm Qasr.
Now, because of possible mines that have been detected, the Sir Galahad -- that's the British ship that's carrying humanitarian aid up to the port -- has been delayed. And this morning the ship came through and it was a beautiful sight. There were a lot of sailors out on the foksal taking pictures and talking and sort of celebrating the moment.
They had worked very hard to clear a channel in this waterway and it was give or take for a few days as to when this ship would set sail. And the ship went along with a convoy of coalition ships. It was led by a British mine sweeper, then the Sir Galahad followed, and then there was a Kuwaiti and American and a British patrol boat following, as well -- Anderson.
COOPER: Yes, it has been quite an exciting couple of days, I imagine, for you, what with mine sweepers, divers in the water, even dolphins, everything going, trying to hunt out for these mines.
Do you have a visual on the Galahad, this British ship that is going to be coming in with this aid? I'm just trying to get a sense of where you are. Can you see it? Do you know when it's going to arrive?
DIAMOND: I saw it pass by the HMAS Kanimbla this morning. It was about 10 o'clock my time. That's about three hours ago. It came within about a thousand feet of our starboard side. We are closer to the bottom of this waterway. They say the waterway takes about -- it will take the Sir Galahad about six hours to transit. And when we saw it, it was probably a fifth or a sixth of the way through, at most. So I'm expecting it'll arrive in Umm Qasr some time around two o'clock local time. And we're, of course, eight hours ahead of Eastern time -- Anderson.
COOPER: And, Becky, I imagine the mission continues. I imagine you just keep sweeping for mines in the coming hours and the coming days and weeks. Is that correct?
DIAMOND: That is absolutely correct. Of course, the concern is rising that possible mines could be in this waterway. There's no evidence to show that there are mines here. There are some, there have been some objects that have been detonated by Australian Navy divers that contained explosives. Now, that doesn't mean it's a mine. It could be an ordinance dropped from a prior war. But that cut, the fear of possible mines coupled with the discovery last week of 86 buoyant and ground mines on an Iraqi tug and barge just north of here has raised the level of concern. This ship is having all the sailors that were sleeping below the water line move up to the hangar deck -- Anderson.
COOPER: All right, Becky Diamond, get on there.
Thanks for joining us this morning -- Carol.
COSTELLO: And we're pulling in more pictures of Baghdad this morning. We want to show you these pictures from Al-Arabia TV. This is out of Saudi Arabia. And you can see smoke in the skies. We're not sure what exactly is on fire, if anything, but we do know that one of the heaviest bombardments came overnight from coalition forces, who took out a number of targets there.
COOPER: And we should point out, it looks like that building is on fire, but I think that's an incorrect perception.
COSTELLO: Right.
COOPER: I think that building is simply in the foreground. I think the smoke is a good deal in the distance behind, just judging from...
COSTELLO: It looks that way, but we're really not sure right now.
In case you've been wondering, right now we know that 90,000 troops are now in Iraq, 75,000 of those troops United States troops.
We want to head back to northern Iraq to Kalar to check in with David Turnley once again. He's a Pulitzer Prize winning photographer. He joined us earlier this morning with some fascinating pictures.
And I know you don't have your, the TV camera up now. We can just get you by phone, right, David? But before we start -- oh, we do have you. You were -- I am surprised by that and I'm very glad because you were talking to the people behind you. You're in Kurdish controlled territory. Tell us more of what they're saying.
DAVID TURNLEY: Carol, we're standing right now in the town of Kifri, which is about two kilometers from the front line in the far eastern front, excuse me, the far eastern side of the northern front. Kifri is a town which is configured in a very sort of complex way. On the one hand, on the east you have Iran. Just a bit to the north you have the town of Halaja (ph), which is where Saddam Hussein had launched some chemical weapons attacks in 1988. And then, of course, this is the closest front line position to Baghdad, which is about 120 kilometers away.
The people here have been very anxious, of course, being this close to Baghdad that they were going to be susceptible once again to chemical weapon attacks. They've been surprised, and, I think, very happy to find that the war so far hasn't come to this region.
They're now very elated by the idea that Americans have arrived in the north. I think they, there's a lot of anticipation about what's actually going to happen in the coming days and some relief so far that things have gone better than they might have expected for themselves.
COSTELLO: You were speaking earlier to a man who spoke very good English. What did he tell you about the Kurds' feelings towards Americans specifically?
TURNLEY: The Kurds, as you well know, are a people that have had a complicated past, and particularly in the dynamics of Iraq and in this region. In that sense, the Kurds have their own aspirations. It's, you speak to some people who tell you very vehemently and very clearly that they aspire to their own independent state. You spoke to others who say they are content to join in the long run a greater Iraq.
In any case, for the time being, particularly after the history that they feel they've suffered under Saddam Hussein, again, particularly with these chemical weapons attacks in 1988, they feel very grateful for the support they're receiving from the Americans. There's some sense of the Americans here as liberators.
One of the very surreal aspects of being in this area is that people gather around their television sets in their living rooms and they receive over satellite television stations from, predominantly from the United States, CNN, Fox, etc. And so they're getting a rather surreal sort of take and perspective. Being here on the very front line of the war in the north but reporting coming from the United States.
COSTELLO: Understand.
David, I want to get to some of your still photographs, because they're quite amazing. We're going to put up one from the 1991 Gulf War, I believe. We can put that up. It's a very interesting photo which shows wounded troops inside the chopper. And I want David to describe it because it's quite emotional and probably -- again, this is from 1991, as I said -- David, go ahead and explain what this is.
TURNLEY: In the Gulf War in 1991, Carol, I spent two months with an elite MASH unit. It was 40 men and women, doctors and nurses, really the cream of the cream of the American medical corps. It was a unit that was able to put up an intensive care operating hospital in about 15 minutes. On the last day of the war I was awakened at 5:00 a.m. by a helicopter pilot asking me to fly evacuation missions with him. Around 11, we got a call and we responded deep in Iraq near al- Nasiriya, where when we touched down, we saw a Bradley fighting vehicle that essentially had been split in half by a missile. There were soldiers that were stood out the back of this fighting -- Bradley fighting vehicle.
We put two of the young men in the helicopter and then the medic went back to the Bradleys to recover the body of the driver that had been killed. As we -- as they put the body bag into the helicopter next to the two soldiers, in this image that were in front of me, we lifted off and the medic on the right handed the dog tags of the soldiers in the body bag over in front of the soldier on the left. And it was at that moment that he realized that this was his best friend who had been killed and it was the moment of that photograph. COSTELLO: Oh, that's just heartbreaking. You're also taking new pictures for CNN. And I believe that we have one to put up now. There it is. You, hopefully you know what picture I'm talking about. Tell us what this is.
TURNLEY: You're going to have to describe it. I'm very sorry. I'm only looking into a camera.
COSTELLO: It looks to -- it looks like we're...
TURNLEY: I have no idea what you're seeing.
COSTELLO: I understand. It looks like it's a series of photographs and it's of the Iraqi people and some of them are from within towns.
TURNLEY: Yes, these photographs were made on a trip across northern Iraq from the west to the east in the last two days. Essentially, people in towns not far from these front lines as they go about their daily business. The fact is that although we are very close to the front lines, life sort of carries on in a very sort of unusually usual kind of way. People, I think, are biding their time by going through the routines that they're accustomed to. They meet with each other in the marketplaces. They drink tea. They look for food. Food is scarce but available. And I think they listen to their radios and they share information that they're receiving about what's happening in the south.
COSTELLO: Well, David Turnley, thanks for giving us a fascinating slice of life from the part of the world that you're in right now, in northern Iraq.
And, you know, it's interesting to see all of those people just standing behind him just observing, because frankly there's not much to do right now.
COOPER: Well, I think any time a camera is in a town like that, it becomes sort of the center -- you know, a quiet town where not much is going on, it becomes the center of focus. It's like being in Kabul. You'll see, you know, the correspondent getting mobbed and it's always sort of a point of interest for people.
COSTELLO: Well, when bombing is so close at hand, I guess it's a surprise to me that people would be out on the streets anyway. But, indeed, they are.
COOPER: Well, CNN's coverage of Operation Iraqi Freedom continues in a moment. But first, some snapshots of war.
COMMERCIAL
COSTELLO: And it's now 5:20 Eastern time.
Welcome back to CNN's coverage of this war in Iraq.
We want to go back to Bob Franken, because he has new information. He's at an air base in southeastern Iraq now in coalition control and also with some Iraqi POWs.
Bring us up to date, Bob.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The POWs are, were kept at this air base until recently. They have just been removed. They were told that there are about 100 of them. They were captured a little bit north of here, as I understand it.
Now, something that's very interesting about this air base, there are tunnels under the air base. There has been a thorough search made by the various security people who have been here for less than a week. But anyway, they've conducted a thorough search and they say they've found nothing of any consequence in those tunnels.
Here's what we have learned. Even though this air base is just being secured, the first units of the search and rescue teams came here last Wednesday and immediately, as a matter of fact, went out on a mission. The result of that mission is still classified. We can tell you, however, they say that their efforts at search and rescue were a success. And, of course, the whole point of this field is that they're going to be 150 miles closer to the action than they were at their previous location, the airport, the air base we have to refer to as close to the Iraq border.
Well, we're well into Iraq now. This is going to become a good staging area for A-10s, the anti-tank planes. It's going to save about 300 miles or 150 miles each way on their various missions in support of the ground troops.
Now, one other thing I've done in the last short while I've checked out some of the buildings that were used by the Iraqis. Among the things that we found is Iraqi military paraphernalia similar, of course, to what the United States wears. They have what they call LVEs. There's a (UNINTELLIGIBLE) varied equipment that carries such things as the canteens, the flashlights, the pistols and the like.
We also have found gas masks and various kinds of kits, the same type that the United States uses in case of chemical warfare.
So, we're in the process of setting up. The fact of the matter is that the U.S. military is, we're told that they're going to be coming in here quite quickly now. Now that our caravan arrived, the one that took about three days. One of the vital things on that convoy was the jet fuel. There were several trucks of it, which, of course, are going to be vital to getting this place up and running -- Carol.
COSTELLO: And just to clarify, they found chemical suits and gas masks there, but nothing associated with weapons of mass destruction?
FRANKEN: Nothing except a sense of defensive material, the same type that the U.S. military carries.
COSTELLO: All right, briefing reporting live from somewhere in southeastern Iraq. COOPER: We've been following the story in northern Iraq a lot this morning. We're going to get an update now from Ben Wedeman, who is near Kalak, is it -- Ben? BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. We're at Kalak, which is about 28 miles to the east of the city of Mosul, which overnight received a fairly heavy bombing from what we could hear at our location right on the front lines. Our windows shook. You could really feel these deep thuds coming in from so far away. And this morning at about eight o'clock local time, 8:00 a.m., basically we saw these planes flying overhead and then they dropped interspersed between one another about half an hour, but bombs behind the ridge about 10 or 15 kilometers from us where we have been told by local smugglers, if you can believe what smugglers say, that there are large emplacements of Iraqi artillery and tanks.
Now, we also know that from other parts of the front line that in some areas that Iraqi forces have pulled back. In this area, however, there doesn't seem, that doesn't seem to be the case. I've been watching all morning long with my binoculars, noticing that after those initial air strikes, they've been walking along the ridge in quite a relaxed manner. It almost looks like they, like us, are enjoying this pleasant spring weather for once, after days of very heavy rainfall.
COOPER: Ben...
WEDEMAN: Now, meanwhile, at the air base of Harir (ph), we have news that the U.S. troops continue to arrive. One of our producers on the scene, Kim Norgard (ph), saying that he saw 10 trucks full of about 20 U.S. soldiers each from the 173rd Airborne Brigade heading toward the area of Zaho (ph), which is in, on the Turkish border within the Kurdish zone -- back to you, Anderson.
COOPER: So, Ben, my understanding is, from what you're saying, is that the Iraqi forces really, despite two days of bombardment in that area, Iraqi forces have not withdrawn and that they still remain on that ridge with some artillery, some weaponry still intact.
WEDEMAN: Yes, they say several of their positions were hit over the last three days. But certainly they don't show any signs of pulling back. In fact, they look rather relaxed this morning. Now, we've been watching them over the last few weeks, actually, more than a month, really, and we've seen them dig in, digging their trenches deeper, bringing in sand bags, more armaments. We've seen them bring in heavy mortars, anti-tank guns, heavy machine guns, none of which, to date, have been used very often. Some mortar rounds have fallen into the town of Kalak, but by and large fairly quiet here, and they show no signs, as I said, of pulling back.
COOPER: All right, interesting, Ben.
Keep us informed. We'll check back with you later -- Carol.
COSTELLO: And I, we're going to take a short break. But when we come back, we're going to check in with Washington with Chris Burns. The president has a full plate again today. He'll tell us all about it when we come back. COMMERCIAL
COSTELLO: 5:27 Eastern time. Before you head off to work, we want to bring you up to date about what will happen in Washington today. British Prime Minister Tony Blair, by the way, is back in London after meeting with President Bush at Camp David. After their meetings, each said Operation Iraqi Freedom may last for a while and they're willing to go the long haul until Saddam Hussein is removed.
We want to get more on this from CNN's White House correspondent Chris Burns -- Good morning, Chris.
CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
Yes, Prime Minister Tony Blair has returned to London. That was a very important face to face with President Bush yesterday, his first face to face since they last met just before the war. They were in the Azores closing ranks just before the war began, to put further pressure on Saddam Hussein. Of course, the diplomatic effort did not work. They went to war.
This is their first face to face, very important to show their resolve, especially after setbacks on the battlefield.
Here are the words of President Bush.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's not a matter of timetable, it's a matter of victory. And the Iraqi people have got to know that, see? They've got to know that they will be liberated and Saddam Hussein will be removed no matter how long it takes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNS: Meanwhile, the question of an interim government after Saddam, and that is a very important issue between the two countries, President Bush aiming mainly for a U.S.-led military force, a U.S.-led military authority that would lead to some kind of civilian government, interim government. The British do agree on that, but they would like, perhaps, more U.N. involvement.
Here are the words of Tony Blair.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TONY BLAIR, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Now, after that is the issue of the post-conflict administration, whereas we said in our resource statement it's important there again that the U.N. is involved and that any post-conflict administration in Iraq is endorsed by it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNS: However, both leaders remaining very vague about exactly what that government will look like. They would like to see, according to a senior administration official, they would like to see what it looks like on the ground after the war, what kind of people and officials there may be that they could use in a government, how the exiles could be worked into it, how the Kurds would fit into it. It's a very, very complex equation that they will be looking at the end of the conflict.
Meanwhile, President Bush is going to be meeting with veterans in the Rose Garden today, tapping them for further support in the war effort. Also, he's going on to Camp David later in the day -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, good enough.
Chris Burns, Chris reporting live from Washington, D.C. this morning.
COOPER: We're going to go to a short break.
When we come back, reports from Kuwait, from Qatar and all over the front lines in Iraq.
Be right back.
COMMERCIAL
COOPER: Here's what's happening in the war with Iraq. Coalition forces unleashed two so-called bunker buster bombs on Baghdad, triggering the most extensive explosion yet in the war. Take a look at that picture, an unbelievable plume of smoke. U.S. military officials say the bombs and cruise missiles were used to take out a major communications tower. That action was intended to hamper communications, obviously, between Saddam Hussein's regime and Iraq's military.
For the second day in a row, casks target Iraqi troops in a Kurdish controlled area of northern Iraq, as our own Ben Wedeman just reported live. He reported four large explosions were heard. He says a significant Iraqi buildup is taking place in the area.
Al Jazeera TV showed this video of a British drone that went down near Basra. The British Army and NATO used the Phoenix unmanned aerial vehicle to identify battlefield targets. There is no word yet on what caused the drone to crash.
The British ship Sir Galahad is expected in the tiny Iraqi port of Umm Qasr some time today. The ship is carrying 200 tons of food, water and medical supplies. Its arrival delayed for days as mine sweepers cleared the waters.
And Hans Blix says he'll step down as U.N. chief weapons inspector when his contract expires at the end of June. He made that announcement to a Japanese television network.
In New York, anti-war protesters staged so-called die-ins in various streets around Manhattan. Police made more than 200 arrests. The demonstrations part of an overall protest called "No Business As Usual" -- Carol. COSTELLO: Anderson, of course, we're bringing you live reports on several fronts in the war on Iraq. Here's what's coming up this hour.
Baghdad smokes and shakes in a bunker buster strike. Our Bill Hemmer has an update on the explosions in the Iraqi capital. He'll be reporting live from Kuwait City.
Also, our embedded reporters are taking you to the front lines in both northern and southern Iraq. And Iraqis desperate for food aid, that huge shipment we've been telling you about all morning long is expected to arrive some time today and, of course, we are tracking it.
And good morning to you.
Welcome back.
New pictures out of Baghdad right now. These are live pictures. It's 1:33 in the afternoon there. You can see heavy smoke in the air from a bombardment that's really gone on for the past 24 hours, the most intense of which happened yesterday, Thursday.
COOPER: Yes, it has been a busy 12 hours or so in Baghdad.
Good morning, everyone.
I'm Anderson Cooper at the CNN Center in Atlanta.
Today's Friday, March 28th.
COSTELLO: And I'm Carol Costello.
Thank you so much for joining us.
Time now for our early briefing, a look at stories that will be making news later today.
President Bush will speak to the Veterans Service Organizations at the White House this afternoon and then he and the first lady head to Camp David for the weekend.
The Security Council is expected to vote today on a plan to resume Iraq's Oil For Food program. More than half of that country depends on the program.
And Americans will take to the streets again today to voice their opinions about the war. There are both anti-war protests and rallies for the troops planned from coast to coast.
COOPER: First, let's go to the map and give you a visual sense of where coalition forces are right now inside Iraq, as close as we can tell you. You see the port city of Umm Qasr there? That is where the British ship with humanitarian supplies expected today, the Sir Galahad. Coalition forces are tracking the ship so it does not hit any possible sea mines. We've heard from our own Becky Diamond aboard an Australian mine sweeper earlier today. We move inland now. Coalition forces still in the areas of Basra, Nasiriya and Najaf. There has been a lot of activity, especially in Basra. We've been telling you about it in the last couple of hours. And take a look at these pictures from northern Iraq. Here's the ones Brent Sadler brought back for us about 24 hours ago or so, U.S. troops digging in at an air field after parachuting in under the cover of darkness Wednesday night, a significant movement, coalition forces say, moving into northern Iraq.
COSTELLO: OK, we want to talk more about the bombing in Baghdad and we want to head live to Kuwait City for that and check in again with Bill Hemmer -- Bill.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Carol, hello.
It's about 10 o'clock local time in downtown Baghdad, where eyewitnesses say the largest explosions to date took place. Military sources at the Pentagon and through CENTCOM in Qatar are confirming with CNN that two giant bunker buster bombs were dropped last night on downtown Baghdad. One described as 4,500 pounds, known as a GBU-37. We're told they targeted a communications center, a major link for the Iraqi national communications system, possibly the telephone network that runs throughout the entire country, also, buildings struck in and around the information ministry, damaged, as well. A large area shook last night. A thick haze enveloped the capital, much like what we had seen in the past several days when these Iraqi oil fires continued to smolder on the outskirts of town.
In addition today, just to bring you up to date, getting reports yet again, Carol, that more explosions are rocking the Iraqi capital. Where they're taking place and what their targets are, we do not know, but possibly we will learn more 7:00 a.m. Eastern time when Central Command does its briefing in Qatar.
Speaking of Qatar, quickly, to Tom Mintier, who's watching everything that moves down there. He joins us to tell us what he's learning today -- Tom, good afternoon.
TOM MINTIER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Bill.
What we're learning today is that the humanitarian component of this may be under way. In Umm Qasr, they have cleared away the mines out of the channel and they say that the British vessel Sir Galahad is going to be making its way into port shortly. And on that ship, 300 tons of food, water and medical supplies. The food and water from the Kuwaiti government, the medical supplies from WHO.
Now, yesterday they delayed that because of the finding another mine in the channel area. So they went in and using dolphins to sweep a lot of these mines out. So they've got it cleared. They've got the port ready and they're bringing this vessel in. So it will be a lot of materials.
In addition to that, overland, the British are saying that they're moving humanitarian supplies on the ground. They have humanitarian supplies with their units. They're trying to establish more clean drinking water in the area so that people can get some relief.
Also, as we heard last night from both President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, those who have expectations that this will be over rapidly, in a week or two weeks, may be mistaken. There is an apparent indication that this is going to take a while.
Now, the British military spokesman here, Group Captain Al Lockwood, gave us every indication that this is early days.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAPT. APPARENTLY LOCKWOOD, BRITISH MILITARY SPOKESMAN: We've just finished one week of this campaign. We have made enormous inroads into Iraq. Yes, we're meeting opposition, which is different. But we're military men. We're professionals. We need to adapt. We need to be flexible and we're taking care of it. We're on our time line and General Franks is more than satisfied with the progress we have made as a coalition so far.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MINTIER: They say they're on the time line. They say the time line was established before the conflict started. The addition of more troops on the ground, saying that was part of the plan all along. We'll be hearing from the U.S. coalition members later in the day, in about 90 minutes. We expect Brigadier General Vincent Brooks once again to be the briefer this afternoon and maybe give us some information on these bunker buster bombs that were used in Baghdad overnight -- Bill.
HEMMER: Tom, thanks.
Tom Mintier in Qatar, CENTCOM.
Another note here from Kuwait. It has fallen silent here in Kuwait City, silent in terms of air raid sirens. We've gone more than 26 hours now since we've heard anything move in Kuwait regarding Iraqi missiles. We are told through military sources that they may have finally located, found and destroyed this launch site that was launching missiles into Kuwait over the past seven, eight days running somewhere around the area of Basra. Again, they believe they've destroyed it, but we will wait and see if there are any more to enter the air space either today or going into the weekend tomorrow and Saturday.
Tom mentioned it. Once again, Carol and Anderson, 7:00 a.m. Eastern time live from CENTCOM. Get you up to date on everything that's moving in the region at that point -- back to you now at the CNN Center.
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