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CNN Live Today

Night Falls in Baghdad

Aired March 29, 2003 - 11:00   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.


PAUL ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, 11:00 a.m. on the East Coast, 8:00 a.m. In the West, 7:00 p.m. in Iraq. Today is Saturday, March 29. And good morning, I'm Paula Zahn in New York. Joining me this hour, Bill Hemmer in Kuwait City, Leon Harris in Atlanta, who gets things started with a look at what is happening right now.
Leon, good morning.

LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Paula. Good morning, Bill. Good morning, folks at home. Here now are the latest developments. The U.S. Central Command says that four U.S. soldiers were killed today in a suicide bomb attack in central Iraq. This happened at a military checkpoint in Najaf. The soldiers approached two people who were in a vehicle and the vehicle exploded when the driver asked for help.

Plus, fierce fighting continues in Nasiriya. U.S. Marines have recovered more bodies of their comrades killed in an earlier ambush. CNN's Alessio Vinci says that remains were recovered today from two shallow graves. Yesterday, searchers found what believed to be the bodies of seven Marines.

Workers today cleared away debris left after a missile hit a shopping mall in Kuwait City in the first missile attack -- actually, the first missile to land in a populated area of Kuwait since the start of the war. The mall was closed at the time. Only one person was treated for minor injuries.

U.S. and British forces continue to target stiff Iraqi resistance around Basra. A British military official says the goal is to eradicate Iraq's ruling Ba'ath Party from that province. And yesterday, Central Command says U.S. forces destroyed a two-story building in Basra where as many as 200 Iraqi fighters were meeting inside.

And badly needed humanitarian aid is trickling into Iraq now. Military officials say the opening at the port at Umm Qasr allowed 12 aid distribution routes to get opened up. Also, the United Nations has approved a resolution to restart Iraq's Oil-For-food Program.

Coming up in the next hour of CNN's coverage of the war in Iraq, we'll have the latest on that humanitarian aid that started to make its way now to starving and thirsty Iraqis, some of whom are expressing anger at the allies. And we'll update you from the northern front where Kurds say that they are pressing farther into Iraqi territory. Service personnel are among the missing in Iraq and so are some journalists from this country and elsewhere. We'll have the latest on the searches for all of them. That's coming up in our next hour of coverage. Our coverage continues now with Paula in New York -- Paula.

ZAHN: And welcome back. U.S. Marines have recovered the bodies of more of their colleagues killed in fighting in Nasiriya. CNN's Alessio Vinci is embedded with the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force and he filed this report a short time ago.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: U.S. Marines here in Nasiriya are spending a considerable amount of time in trying to recover some of the bodies of their fallen comrades who were killed in action here last Sunday during a bloody firefight between Marines and Iraqi forces.

On Friday, U.S. Marines went back into Nasiriya and recovered what they say were the remains of five, maybe six Marines. Five of the bodies were recovered inside the burned out truck, armored vehicle that they were traveling in, that was hit by an Iraqi rocket-propelled grenade. And as they were recovering those bodies, Iraqi civilians approached those Marines and pointed them towards two shallow graves. The Marines digged those graves and they found the remains of what they say could have been the remains of at least other two Marines.

And then, on Saturday morning, taking some considerable risk because they had to go back into town again, U.S. Marines went back in there and they found two more shallow graves, also two graves that were pointed by Iraqi civilians to the U.S. Marines and they recovered there what they believe are the remains of at least one, maybe two Marines. And U.S. commanders here are now telling us that they believe that almost all of the nine Marines killed in action, their bodies, may have been recovered.

The U.S. Marines also conducted some house-to-house searches near the sights where the ambush took place, where that armored vehicle was hit because they believe that during the firefight, some of the Marines had to take cover inside one of the houses. And indeed, when they went into the houses today, looking for some more bodies, all what they could find were some personal belongings there -- the military flight jackets, some mop suits, some chemical suits, some gas masks and even some mail that the Marines had written or had received from their families back home from here. From here, the bodies of the Marines are handed over to the mortuary affairs who will conduct a DNA test for positive identification and then prepare their bodies for the final journey back home to the United States.

I'm Allesio Vinci, CNN with the U.S. Marines in Nasiriya, Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: Alessio, thanks so much. Back to Bill now in Kuwait City -- Bill. BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Paula, a little bit past 7:00 local time. Take our viewers live to Baghdad right now. Night has fallen there on the Iraqi capital. We do know dark plumes of smoke are drifting across the skies in Baghdad a short time ago. We also know in the past several hours explosions have been heard in and around the capital city and we do know now also that the Iraqis are claiming more than 50 civilians killed in a bombing of a neighborhood yesterday. Listening to U.S. Central Commander earlier today, still no verification on the U.S. part as to where this explosion occurred or as why it occurred or whether or not these were wayward Tomahawk cruise missiles in that neighborhood in Baghdad. We'll watch that for you.

Meanwhile, we're watching a front here in Kuwait as well. Just about an hour ago, another Iraqi missile penetrated Kuwaiti airspace not from the sky; we're told, by a U.S. Patriot missile. The latest count now -- 14 Iraqi missiles over the past nine days here in Kuwait. Ten of the 14 intercepted by Patriot missiles, either operated by the U.S. or by the Kuwaitis here in this tiny desert country.

Early morning hours, though, 1:40 a.m. local time, not the same case. An Iraqi missile for first time made contact with a civilian population here in Kuwait City, slamming into a popular shopping mall. Luckily no one was there at the time or hardly anyone was there at the time. We do know of one injury and after that only structural damage done to that mall. Dr. Sanjay Gupta was one of the first on the scene in the early morning hours. He's back with us again tonight.

Sanjay, good evening.

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good evening, Bill. Well, it's a much different scene here tonight. No surprise. A very quiet -- remember the video now from last night. Really very, very -- there was pandemonium around. There was civilian security immediately on the scene, followed by military security. There was a bridge just behind my photographer, Rick Blackburn, that was actually hit by this particular missile. Part of the bridge was actually taken out. You can see a lot of the images there. Very, very different tonight. Bill, this has become all so real for many of the people here as well as us.

Just behind me here now the shopping mall, the portico that we've been talking so much about, cars actually pull up into that particular area and the man shooting the film that you're seeing now, Rick Blackburn, actually pulled up into a car himself just yesterday before this actually happened. This has become so real for everyone here. And thankfully, as you mentioned, Bill, only one person hurt and only with minor injuries.

We did hear the air raids just a little while ago and sort of interestingly, Bill, you know, they got the all clear signal just a few minutes later, but people really didn't seem that anxious. People really weren't running for cover. There's sort of the sense. People are looking to the sky a little bit, but not an overwhelming sense of panic despite the events over the last 17 hours -- Bill. HEMMER: Sanjay, quickly, knowing this missile was flying no higher than 100 feet off the water, essentially a 100 feet off the ground at the time, has that impacted people in their impression, their opinion right now as to bringing them more cause for concern?

GUPTA: Well, you know, I've asked -- I've been spending a good portion of the afternoon actually talking about that. And, you know, the people are starting to understand that this missile was a very low flying missile, likely low flying missile. But still, despite that, despite the fact that they understand that some people were a little scared yesterday at the time, but as you can -- right around me now there are literally 50 to 100 people just standing around. They've been here all day. They hear those air raid sirens. They're not -- they don't seem overly concerned. You get the sense, Bill, that this is a group of people who have seen this before and are expecting to see it again.

The cleanup crew was so organized. The civilian security pretty well organized at the same time. They sort of almost seemed ready for this -- Bill.

HEMMER: Point well taken at the end there, Sanjay. Thanks. Dr. Sanjay Gupta down the street here in Kuwait City.

Back in Iraq now. Ryan Chilcote checking back in again live with the 101st Airborne.

Ryan, what do you have?

RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bill, the 101st Airborne has been busy. Last night, elements of the 101st Airborne's aviation brigade went after some units southwest of Baghdad using their Apache attack helicopters like the one you see behind me. This was their first deep attack. A deep attack is when you use these Apaches behind Iraqi lines to take out targets, their first attack since they arrived in the country.

With us, we have Lieutenant Colonel Steve Smith. He is the battalion commander of the Second Battalion of the 101st Aviation Brigade and his battalion took part in that operation, in that mission.

What can you tell us about that mission?

LT. COL. STEVE SMITH, 101ST AIRBORNE: Well, we were supposed to attack targets south of Karbala. And we went in with our two companies from our battalion and shortly after we got on station, we started engaging targets well south of Karbala and a couple of elements did take fire. We -- I saw some AAA from elements that were to my east. And then I also saw some AAA from an element that I had in the west. Also, we had an aircraft that we think received some RPG fire in the center sector. And then we just continued to work targets in and around -- or correction, south of Karbala.

CHILCOTE: Can you describe what kind of targets you were after and what you were able to strike in this mission? SMITH: Well, what we're trying to do is basically set the conditions for the movement north. And, you know, our Army, the way we fight is we trick forces with artillery, with close air support, and with Apaches so that our ground maneuver forces can continue to push forward. And that's what we were doing last night.

We -- the mission we did last night, we did in concert with artillery, seed fires, suppression of enemy air defenses. And we also did it in conjunction with the Air Force and Navy fighters on station, close air support. So we were talking to -- excuse me -- to the fighters in the air and working closely with them. And, you know, they were able to see targets that we weren't able to see because of their difference aspect. We were able to see targets along the highway and they were able to pick out targets at other areas, so it was complementary during the attack.

CHILCOTE: OK, real quickly, I'm not sure everyone knows what an Apache attack helicopter is and how you use it. Can you describe -- you know I know you were in the cockpit on that mission -- what is looks like, how high you guys are flying. Real quickly, give people a flavor of what it's like to be on the mission.

SMITH: Well, we were flying last night between 50 and 100 feet above the ground. On the route there we were flying about 120 knots, 115 knots, so we were moving along at a pretty good speed. And once we got into the objective area, we slowed our speed, tried to keep our cockpits as dark as possible to prevent any light from escaping out of the cockpit because we think that the Iraqis might have some night vision goggle devices that they can see us, so try to keep moving and use wingman techniques to observe and engage targets.

CHILCOTE: All right. Well, thank you very much. Be safe, Colonel. That was Lieutenant Colonel Steve Smith. He is the commander of the 2nd Battalion of the 101st Aviation Brigade. They were out last night with their first deep attack inside Iraq -- Bill.

HEMMER: Ryan, thanks. Ryan Chilcote. Quickly, Lisa Rose Weaver is checking in by way of telephone. She's with the Army 5th Core, 52nd Air Defense Artillery.

Most importantly, Lisa, you are around the town of Najaf. We've been reporting on the suicide car bombing from earlier. What do you have tonight? Good evening.

LISA ROSE WEAVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Wolf, well, this morning now, several hours ago, five U.S. soldiers of the 3rd Infantry Division were -- died when a suicide bomber exploded a vehicle at a military checkpoint in the town of Najaf. There were two Iraqis dressed as civilians in the vehicle who approached the soldiers at the checkpoint and the car exploded. U.S. Central Command is reporting that at least one of the Iraqis is -- has also died.

Now, the town is a center of activity for the Saddam Fedayeen Group, not clear from the U.S. Central Command report whether the suicide bomber is from that group. But it highlights, in any case, the nature of the threat against U.S. forces in Iraq, even behind what we think now of as the front line. There are, in addition, to conventional Iraqi forces to contend with, also these smaller militia groups fiercely loyal to Saddam Hussein, obviously, in this case, willing to die for the cause, operating in small bands of five to seven men, using civilian vehicles. This is a potential threat that the forces with which I am embedded also contend with, not in a direct way, where air defense, but where we got our own tactics by infantry and air lookouts in this desert location, especially at night with unfamiliar vehicles approaching the areas. So, again, even though U.S. forces have moved fairly deeply into the country from the south and through central Iraq, nonetheless, these pockets of resistance remain -- Wolf.

HEMMER: All right. It's Bill. Thanks, Lisa. Lisa Rose Weaver again embedded with the Army's 5th Core near the town of Najaf.

Finally, word from Baghdad earlier today when the news started spreading about the suicide bombing, taking the lives of four U.S. soldiers. The Iraqis are saying -- I'm quoting now -- "This is just the beginning." Back to you now in New York.

ZAHN: Thanks, Bill. Lots of activity today at an airfield in northern Iraq secured a little bit earlier this week by U.S. forces. Jane Arraf joins us with an update from the northern front -- Jane, hello.

JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Paula. We're on the edge of this airfield and you can't see very much right now, but that's for security reasons because it is totally dark. But in just a few hours, there will be transport planes landing again in the dark, trying to unload everything, wearing night vision goggles. And what they're doing is turning what was just a few days ago a flat and empty air strip into what could be a base for forces for a northern base to move forward from here.

Now, this is the 173rd Airborne. They parachuted in in a very dramatic airdrop. And right now they've secured the perimeter. They're providing security and they're setting up logistics and other things they will need to keep bringing in the forces, according to one of the people here, public affairs officer, Major Rob Gowan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAJ. ROBERT GOWAN, 173RD AIRBORNE BRIGADE: We're continuing to build our combat power here at the airfield. We have aircraft coming in, bringing in more vehicles, more equipment, more ammunition, supplies, food, water, things of that nature. And we're just continuing to improve our positions here. We're conducting patrols in the local area and just getting on with our mission.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARRAF: Now, the question is what exactly that mission might be. This is not the northern force that had been expected. Those would have been the 60,000 troops coming by land through Turkey. This is something else altogether and it could either be a start of a significant force, officials say, or it could be just a force that could contain and coordinate with any Kurdish forces here -- Paula.

ZAHN: Thanks so much for the update. Jane Arraf. We're going to get the very latest now from the Pentagon. That's where Barbara Starr joins us live.

Good morning again, Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning again, Paula. Well, a reminder -- a sad reminder here this morning, there is another conflict U.S. soldiers are involved in. Word arriving here about an hour ago, two U.S. Special Forces killed in Afghanistan earlier today when their convoy was ambushed and came under small arms -- machine gun and rocket-propelled grenade fire -- from unknown assailants. Another man was wounded and is being treated.

Now, earlier today at the U.S. Central Command briefing in Qatar, there was some fascinating video of an attack by U.S. Rangers. You see it here against a suspected enemy target in western Iraq. All of this, of course, being filmed by the military through night vision equipment. Not the type of front line fighting that we usually get to see. Very, very significant fire apparently being shown there. But the majority of the conversation at CENTCOM today was about whether or not there is a bombing pause, whether there is a pause in the campaign. Officials saying at the briefing that there is no pause. Individual units may be in place on the field while they get resupplied, more ammo, more food, more water, but that the campaign goes on and the air strikes are continuing. Here's what Major General Renaurt had to say at the briefing earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAJ. GEN. VICTOR E. RENAURT, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: I don't believe there is any intent to pause on the battlefield. We will continue to focus our operations. Sometimes they will be focused in the west, sometimes in the north, sometimes in the south, sometimes all together. And so, you have to be careful to characterize movement on any part of the battlefield as a pause or acceleration for that matter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: Paula, we expect another operational update here in the Pentagon Briefing Room within the next hour and a half or so. And we're told we may -- we don't know for sure -- we may get some initial results on these two incidents in recent days of bombings that have impacted Iraqi civilians in Baghdad. The military has been looking into both of those incidents. The U.S. military trying to determine if any of its weapons were involved. There may be preliminary results. We're not sure -- Paula.

ZAHN: Barbara, we had heard some of the statistics Rym Brahimi is reporting that the Iraqis released today. Has anybody in the U.S. administration shot those numbers down? They had well over 257 civilians being killed at one point.

STARR: Officials here will tell you that it's impossible for them to determine the veracity of those statistics for these couple of reasons. One, they do not know. They're not positive yet if it was any U.S. weapons gone astray or any unintended damage from U.S. weapons that may have caused any civilian casualties. And, of course, they say they cannot verify how individual Iraqis on the ground may have received their injuries. Nonetheless, they do say they're very concerned. They're investigating both incidents and they do hope to have results to share with the news media.

ZAHN: Barbara Starr, thanks so much.

Coming up, we are keeping an eye on the skies over Baghdad and we'll keep you up to date on the latest developments in the war on Iraq. Also ahead, the eyes and ears for the world. We're going to hear from more of our many reporters embedded with the U.S. military. Our special coverage of the war in Iraq continues right after this short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ZAHN: And welcome back. The United Nations Security Council is moving ahead now with its Oil-For-Food Program for Iraq. The program uses oil revenue to pay for food and medicine for about two-thirds of the Iraqi people. Other humanitarian aid has begun arriving at Iraq's southern port of Umm Qasr today. Just this morning a Red Cross team is trying to get into Basra with spare parts for the water treatment plant there. Carol Bellamy is the director of UNICEF, which has 200 staffers inside Iraq. She joins us in our New York studios to discuss the aid situation -- nice of you to stop by.

CAROL BELLAMY, UNICEF DIRECTOR: Thank you.

ZAHN: So what is the status of any of the aid in the region?

BELLAMY: Well, actually, there's still humanitarian assistance or aid, as you say going on inside of Iraq through the U.N. staff members, UNICEF, World Food Programs, others, who've remained. All the internationals had to leave but there are local staff, Iraqi staff, who have been going -- visiting hospitals, making sure the food that was still in the country was arriving to the people.

As you just mentioned, the Red Cross is working on trying to repair these water systems in southern Iraq, very important crisis going on there.

ZAHN: Because people desperately need water right now. How bad is it?

BELLAMY: Well, it's bad in some parts of southern Iraq. The food chain is still OK, but if it keeps going on for long, without new replenishments, that will be a problem. The bigger emergency problem now is water. There are some places in southern Iraq around Basra that have not had water for five or six days.

ZAHN: Are you aware of any people being sick as a result of that? BELLAMY: Well, we have reports of children becoming dehydrated. They are the most vulnerable. They're not the only ones. We know that the people are going to get water from water sources that aren't very good. The problem in Iraq is that most of the water is treated. So there is available water, but the water is not pure water. And so that's going to have health consequences.

ZAHN: And although you say the food chain is in tact, is it your understanding there are still families going hungry?

BELLAMY: Well, it -- clearly, there are families under great stress at this point. What I'm saying is that most of the people in Iraq who literally depend absolutely on this Oil-For-Food Program for their food did store away some supplies. But as they're forced out of their homes, as they're forced to move, as the supplies run out, obviously, they are put in more jeopardy.

ZAHN: What is your chief concern as this war goes on?

BELLAMY: Well, it's the length of the war, obviously, because the medicines that were distributed by UNICEF, by the World Health Organization are going to disappear. The food that they were saving will disappear. The water systems which are so dependent on electrical systems, if they are hit, whether on purpose or by mistake, that system could go down. So it's the length of time that people may not have humanitarian assistance.

ZAHN: And there's another challenge some of us haven't thought a whole lot about and that is the challenge of giving -- distributing this aid and having no sense of gratitude expressed at all. There were some pretty dicey situations with the Kuwaitis right in trying to aid some of the hungry and thirsty.

BELLAMY: Absolutely. The Kuwaiti Red Crescent, the equivalent of the Red Cross, went in. They were taking water. They were taking food. First of all, they weren't necessarily welcomed in. Secondly, the strongest people, the people that were probably in the least need of the assistance got the food and got the water. So it's -- you really have to be very careful as you try and deliver humanitarian assistance.

ZAHN: Help us understand the environment in which your workers are working in today. Two hundred of them on the ground. Now, are they primarily in urban areas or are they spread throughout the country?

BELLAMY: Well, Iraq is primarily an urban country. The majority of people live in urban areas. Our workers and most of the U.N. workers, even the local workers, are not in the south at this point. So I mean there is -- there are security incidents that we want -- have to take into account. We hope to be able to do some security assessments through the U.N. over the next couple of days. So we have workers in the north. We have workers in Baghdad. Mostly in the south, at least around Basra is the Red Cross. The Red Cross has a mandate that allows it to be in a fighting area.

ZAHN: Well, we wish you luck. Thank you for spending a little time with us this morning.

BELLAMY: Thank you.

ZAHN: Carol Bellamy of UNICEF, the executive director.

Back to you now, Bill.

HEMMER: All right, Paula. Listen, you guys were talking about southeastern Iraq and the region of Basra, we want to check in right now with a member embedded with the British military, that's Greg Millam, a reporter on the scene there.

I'm not sure exactly where you are, Greg, but what's the situation there tonight?

GREG MILAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, if anyone thought the situation in the southern oil fields around Rumaylah would be a simple one to control, they're wrong. The man in charge of the Royal Irish Regiment with whom I'm embedded said today he's fighting on three fronts. Not only is there a conventional war going on to the north of the oil fields, there's also a counterterrorism effort going on to control some members of the Ba'ath Party in this area. And then, the humanitarian work has begun and that's bringing in some problems too in trying to get these towns and villages around here back up on their feet.

Add into all of that, there's still an awful lot of armament and weaponry and ammunition lurking in the fields around here and that's posing a danger to all of the coalition forces here.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MILAM (voice-over): Seemingly deserted, these battered buildings hold a deadly threat to the British forces in Iraq.

SGT. GEOFF BANHAM, ROYAL ENGINEERS: This is what we're coming across, a lot of these -- 30 mill, 60 mill, 80 mill, even 120 mill. But there's plenty still out there that all have to be recovered because they can be re-used.

MILAM (on camera): And do you know when this place was last used? I mean do you know how long this has been here?

BANHAM: I'm not too sure, but judging by some of the -- it's been here quite a long time, so whether it's been used recently by them, there was an Intel up-brief saying that they would possibly be coming back to try and get this kit to use against them.

MILAM (voice-over): Grenades, mortars, all sorts of ammunition abandoned by Iraqi soldiers there for the taking. The job of these Royal Engineers is to clear this and many other mountains of armaments and destroy them. Some are too unstable to be move moved and have to be blown up on the spot. The rest is carried way out into the desert.

(on camera): And today's (UNINTELLIGIBLE) conflict, this kind of work become and more important. With the coalition forces moving forward, the last thing they want is weaponry like this lurking behind them.

CAPT. ANDY GOOCH, ROYAL ENGINEERS: With the amount of ammunition and weapons that left about, if they use those systems now, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) weapon, it would have given us a considerable amount of trouble trying to take positions.

MILAM (voice-over): With much of the weaponry there is only one safe thing to do. No one in the British forces here is willing to take any risks.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MILAM: Now the focus tonight is largely on that counterterrorism operation I was talking about. They fought the Royal Irish Regiment. They dealt with a large number of the Ba'ath Party members in this area and bear in mind this area of the Ba'ath Party controls up to Nasiriya and over towards Basra in smashing the headquarters a couple of nights ago.

Now, what they've discovered is that the head of security of the Ba'ath Party is back in town and has made a promise that he will kill a British soldier. Now, they sent our patrols -- remembering, the Royal Irish Regiment, of course, has history of patrolling places like Northern Ireland. They sent out patrols to try to track him down. They believe in capturing something like 60 weapons over the last few days, they can bring that under control and restore some stability to this area.

HEMMER: All right, Greg Milam reporting there in southeastern Iraq with the British military, updating us on what's happening not only today, but also into the evening hours tonight.

Meanwhile, Iraq is saying that coalition air strikes and cruise missiles are responsible for killing more than 50 civilians in a neighborhood on the outskirts of Baghdad yesterday. Central Command says they still have not completed their investigation to determine whether or not these were missiles fired by British and U.S planes and whether or not Iraq is using some sort of sabotage to win their own people over and keep them on their side.

Meanwhile, there is Arab reaction to this and for more on that, Rula Amin is tracking it. She is live tonight in Jordan with more.

Rula, good evening.

RULA AMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good evening, Bill. Bill, the number of civilian casualties is on the rise, people who are killed in this war. And while Iraq and the United States continue their argument on who is to blame and whose missile hits what, Iraqi civilians, their deaths, the casualties -- civilian casualties in Iraq is on the rise, to civilians who are definitely paying a price there.

Now, one of those people is the Alduan (ph) family. This is a family that -- they have told reporters that they fled Baghdad, went to the outskirts of town into a residential neighborhood, farmland, almost. Now, they are, most of them, in the hospital. The father says that his daughter, 14-year-old, was killed. Her brother was injured and many other family members were also injured. This is what the father had to say about there war.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Our house is located in a farm area. After the prayer, we were sitting for breakfast. We heard the plane. And we were hit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AMIN: Now, Iraq's information minister, Muhammed al-Sahhaf, said that only in the last 24 hours 68 civilians were killed and more than 107 were injured. This is only in Baghdad and only in the last 24 hours. In Baghdad, there is still very heavy bombardments on the city overnight and during the day today. Iraq has said that they have been able to shoot down more than 100 cruise missiles and they say they are doing so by burning oil, that they have dug trenches all around Baghdad. They filled it with oil and now they're burning this oil, hoping that the flames, which you can see now in the pictures, was going to misguide the cruise missiles that the U.S. and the coalition forces are sending there. We're not sure if this trick actually works but you can tell the skies of Baghdad is filled with this black smoke from the burning oil in those trenches -- Bill.

HEMMER: Rula, I don't have much time on this one though, but Baghdad is saying that thousands of Arabs are willing to come to Iraq and pick up the fight and help the Iraqis. Is there any evidence that you've seen in the Arab world that would support that?

AMIN: Well, Bill, we have been hearing from people we speak to on the streets saying that they are willing to go if their government would let them. We have also heard reports that people have been going through Syria -- volunteers who want to fight with Iraqis. And in the last few weeks, just before the war started, we know that some Lebanese, some Syrians, some Jordanians, did actually get to Baghdad and said that they were going to fight with the Iraqis. There is very strong resentments here against this war and very much sympathy to Iraq -- Bill.

HEMMER: Rula Amin live in Jordan watching Arab reaction for us tonight.

Let's get back to New York now. Here's Paula again -- Paula.

ZAHN: Thanks so much, Bill. Coming up, we're keeping an eye on the skies over Baghdad and we will keep you up to date on the latest developments in the war on Iraq. Journalists in jeopardy, Terry Anderson, former hostage and co-chair of the Committee to Protect Journalists, will be joining us. And we leave you now with this shot with some of folks that stopped by our studios today, in fact, right now, to wish a very happy birthday to Robert Bass, who is celebrating his 24th birthday in Kuwait. He's a member of the 1st Medical Battalion for the Marines. Happy Birthday Robert Bass.

HARRIS: CNN's continuing coverage of the war in Iraq. The latest on a morning suicide attack in central Iraq. President Bush holds a videoconference with war planners at Camp David. Christiane Amanpour is with British forces as fighting continues in southern Iraq. These stories and more today at noon Eastern. Stay with CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ZAHN: Welcome back. Thirty-six minutes past the hour. We're going to quickly get to another one of our embedded reporters. Gary Tuchman is with the Air Force and he joins us now by way of videophone.

Good morning, Gary.

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Paula, good morning to you. For the 11th straight night, warplanes are storming down the runway at this huge airbase near the border of Iraq. In the most recent 24-hour period, the Air Force is telling us there were 1,500 sorties over Iraq, 500 of them were sorties using bombs and missiles, strike sorties, the other 1,000, support sorties.

Now, late last night my cameraman, Demur Loredik (ph), my producer, Alex Quade (ph), and I were permitted to go along on one of those sorties.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TUCHMAN (voice-over): As they got ready to head over hostile territory, 10 men aboard this Air Force HC-130 search and rescue and refueling plane start to feel their adrenaline rushing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just make sure we're flying over spots that we're supposed to go to.

TUCHMAN: The crew looks out for the unlikely prospect of Iraqi aircraft and the more likely prospect of Iraqi missiles or artillery.

(on camera): Does your mind is set change across the border into Iraq?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, since I am in an area, which I don't know where the enemy could be. From the time I get to the airplane until I get out of the airplane, I'm thinking the same way.

TUCHMAN: Which is?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The hair on the back of my neck, if it starts standing up, then something's going wrong.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): As a precaution, the crew starts turning the huge plane in circles to see what the targets do. Ultimately, it's discovered the targets are U.S. combat helicopters. Minutes later, the search and rescue helicopter arrives for its refueling. Watch the flash from our night vision camera as the planes fuel line connects with the chopper. Both aircraft fly at 125 miles per hour, gingerly over enemy land. At times they're only 50 feet apart, but the chopper's rotor blades even closer. Looking with the naked eye out of the plane, the helicopter is impossible to see. The pitch- black maneuver ends after 10 minutes.

(on camera): What stops though -- we know the Iraqis have fired sand missiles and fired AAA aircraft all throughout this war. They haven't hit anybody. But isn't it risky flying so low knowing they have that ammunition to fire at you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Again, we know where we're going. We know where they're at, so we simply avoid them. And if for some reason they do get off a lucky shot or they do see us, we have defense systems on board the airplane to defeat their ammunition.

TUCHMAN: We all fly with bulletproof vests in case the plane goes down. We also fly with parachutes in case we need to get out before the plane goes down.

(voice-over): But three airmen aboard this plane have parachutes for a different reason. They are the pararescue jumpers or PJs who jump off the plane for rescue missions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean it's probably the most -- the best feeling in the world knowing that your purpose is really defined at that moment.

TUCHMAN: No rescues were necessary on this sortie. The plane arrived back to base safely.

(on camera): Do you have any fear?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody has a little bit of fear, but I think it's a good thing in this circumstance.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): This crew could be back on another mission in as few as 24 hours.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TUCHMAN: Now, last week those search and rescue choppers rescued seven Special Operations crewmembers. They extracted them from a fire fight and brought them back to this base. By the way, those helicopters are nicknamed Jollies. That's short for Jolly Green Giant because they're very big and very green.

Paula, back to you.

ZAHN: You got that right. Thanks, Gary Tuchman. Gary, giving us a rare view inside that whole rescue process.

Back to Bill now Kuwait City -- Bill.

HEMMER: Paula, we know that between the U.S. and the British right now in Iraq, about 125,000 strong in terms of troop strength. We also know and we're told anyway in the next several weeks that number is going to balloon to well over 200,000. Daryn Kagan today met up way few members of the United States Marine Corps, who are now here arriving in Kuwait.

Good evening to you.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening to you. It's good to see you.

When we think about these new troops, Marines, sailors, coming in, we think about the big good-bye they might have had at home. But we don't realize that a lot of these guys and women have already been out for a number of months. And we met up with one unit like that today. Let's take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN (voice-over): When you're a Marine serving all around the world, you grab a few winks, anywhere, anyway, anytime you can even if your mattress is a pile of gravel.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's kind of the norm for us. Gravel, sand, swamp, mud, it doesn't matter. You sleep when you can sleep.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Elevation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Elevation.

KAGAN: They're Marines from the 24th Expeditionary Unit. You might say they've seen it all.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One, one, five, zero.

KAGAN: They deployed from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, last August. They went to Kosovo as part of the peace support mission. They also did exercises in Kenya, Djibouti, somewhere in the Gulf region and most recently, the Horn of Africa. But they haven't seen war. These Marines were close to the end of their deployment, possibly days away from going home when orders came to head to Kuwait. They arrived early Saturday morning, clearly exhausted, yet ready to serve.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We know we've been on a long deployment but now it's time for us to serve our country.

KAGAN: The Marines we spoke with don't know exactly what they'll be doing or where they're going. Chances are they'll soon be in Iraq, guarding the supply columns, bringing food, fuel and ammunition to troops on the Southern approach to Baghdad. That has been especially dangerous duty for coalition personnel. Two have been killed, five are POWs, eight are missing in action. These Marines believe their long tour has led to this assignment.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've been very fortunate very blessed to have participated in a number of real world operations not just training exercises, but real world operations. And as long as you're working and a Marine knows he's contributing, his morale is high.

KAGAN: The Gulf War could be the last real world operation for these Marines before they head home for a much needed rest in their own beds.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: The 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit is part of a huge readiness group that includes three ships, 2,300 Marines and 2,000 sailors, a huge group.

HEMMER: Did you note any sense of apprehension or were they anxious to join the fight?

KAGAN: Well, you could see just how tired they were. That was part of it, but as you heard that Marine, the captain say, a Marine that gets to be part of the big battle, of the big important mission, is a happy Marine.

HEMMER: Well, they're about to see it very soon. Nice to see you, by the way.

KAGAN: Good to see you here in Kuwait.

HEMMER: You've been working, I guess, on the East Coast, that would be the...

KAGAN: Overnight shift.

HEMMER: ... the evening hours so to speak.

KAGAN: Midnight Eastern is when I come on.

HEMMER: All right. OK, Daryn.

KAGAN: So that's why I'm missing in action.

HEMMER: Nice to see you. All right, Daryn Kagan watching the Marines here.

All right, quickly, Paula, before we get back to New York City, we want to take you live again to Baghdad. We're getting reports through Reuters anywhere; some journalists on the ground are reporting four explosions in the past several minutes. It's nighttime there. Coming up almost on 8:00, about 17 minutes before the hour in Baghdad. This follows a string of reports we've been getting throughout the day here about explosions in and around the capital city. This is something we shall watch for our viewers throughout the night here in Kuwait and also on the ground in Iraq. I'm going to say good-bye, Paula. See you tomorrow, on Sunday. This is becoming habit for me, by the way. We'll see you then, 7:00 a.m. Eastern Time.

ZAHN: Hey, listen, we don't mind seeing you everything morning at 7:00 a.m., Bill. Thanks so much, make way for Wolf.

HEMMER: You got it.

ZAHN: He'll join us at the top of the hour. Have a good rest of the night there. Back to what we are trying to follow out of Baghdad right now. You see the live shot of what things look like there, eight hours later, what is that, 7:44 local time there. Iraq's vice president today threatened more suicide attacks against U.S. led forces. Four U.S. soldiers were killed earlier today at a checkpoint near Najaf when bombers detonated a car packed with explosives and Iraq says that was just the beginning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TAHA YASSIN RAMADAN, IRAQI VICE PRESIDENT, (through translator): We express our happiness with the expressions that is being voiced by the Arab people. And thousands of Arab volunteers are arriving to Iraq to join us in our fight to resist the evils of Americans and the British. And in a few days, we would see many of these volunteers after they have given up from the Arab governments. But I call on the Arab nation to rise and stand up in this battle, this decisive battle.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: Today, suicide bombing was the first against coalition forces since the war in Iraq began. We want to share with you a story that Christiane Amanpour reported just about a half hour ago that I think contrasts with what you just heard from the Iraqi vice president. And she, who actually witnessed on videotape an encounter of two of Saddam's paramilitary forces, actually, arriving near a checkpoint, handing over their identification, saying they were members of that particular brand of paramilitary force and basically said they wanted safe passage.

We're keeping our eye on the skyline of Baghdad after reports of four explosions, according to Reuters in the last 10 minutes. We'll bring you up to date on that as soon as we have more information.

Meanwhile, reporters in the front lines of this war are seeing the fight firsthand. That view by its very nature puts journalists in jeopardy. At least two have been killed covering the conflict, British correspondent, Terry Lloyd and Australian cameraman, Paul Moran. Two "News Day" journalists are also missing today in Iraq. They are Matt McAllester and photographer, Moises Saman. Journalists for an Arab and Italian news agencies are also missing.

Terry Anderson joins us now from Athens, Ohio. He is honorary co-chair of the Committee to Protect Journalists. He served as a combat correspondent in Vietnam and he later spent seven years as a hostage in Beirut.

Terry, always good to see you. Good morning.

TERRY ANDERSON, COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS: Good morning, Paula.

ZAHN: First of all, your reaction to some of these latest reports of either journalists killed covering the story or now missing in action. ANDERSON: It happens in every war. Unfortunately, the journalists are on the front line or even out in front of the front line trying to find and tell the truth. They put themselves in danger and sometimes some of them pay for it. As you say, two of them already have been killed in this war. We have anywhere from a half a dozen to 13 missing. The Committee is trying to track them and find out what happened to them.

ZAHN: And Terry, for folks who may not understand the kind of commitment these journalists make to getting the story, share with us how deeply passionate they are about what they do for a living and why they think it's so important to potentially risk their lives to get the story done.

ANDERSON: It's a question that people always ask you, why do you do this? It's not for the thrill. It isn't, in fact, exciting. It is sometimes terrible to see the violence and the dead bodies and the destruction. But most of the journalists I know who are out there doing this are doing it because they are passionate about finding and telling the truth. They think it's important. They do it because they have a need to tell the world what is happening. You don't see them doing it for fun or the thrill of being shot at. They do it because they feel they have to.

ZAHN: Let's talk a little bit about who you think is more vulnerable at this point, those journalists embedded with coalition forces or those that have decided to report on their own.

ANDERSON: Well, they're doing two different jobs, both of which of are necessary. The embedded journalists are going in with the troops. That's dangerous. But these troops out there are -- they're highly trained and very well equipped. The people who are going out on their own, I think, are taking a bigger risk. It is a fluid war. There are -- there are non-regular forces out there, irregular militiamen, guerrilla types, you don't know when you're going to run into them. You don't know what their attitude is going to be, whether they're going to respect your neutrality or treat you as spies. It is a dangerous business. And it's dangerous for those in Baghdad. We know that several have been picked up by Iraqi authorities for one reason or another and we don't know where they are. We're trying to track them.

But all three of these sets of journalists are necessary in order to tell the complete story. Those embedded journalists with the Americans are talking only to Americans. That's necessary. You need to know what they're doing and their point. Those in Baghdad are trying to show what's happening on the ground. And those wandering out some place in between are also telling an important part of the story and you have to listen to all three of them. All three of them are risking their lives.

They're doing it in a calculated manner, I believe. I've never met a journalist going out to cover a war who didn't think seriously about what he was doing, whether or not what he was doing was important enough to take the risk that he or she was running. They know what they're doing. They're good, most of the journalists out there. News agencies and news media don't send third-rate reporters to cover a war. They send their best. So they know what they're doing. They're experienced at it. And they know they're taking a risk. They think it's important enough to do that.

ZAHN: Finally, this morning, Terry, there's been a lot of criticism of the embedded process. Despite some of the remarkable video we have just seen from our own Alessio Vinci who is embedded with Marines, he actually took us on a house-to-house search of Nasiriya early today, which was quite dramatic and something I don't think any of us had ever witnessed before. But there are those out there who feel that that -- just the embedding process in and of itself sanitizes what the audience sees. Do you agree with that assessment?

ANDERSON: Well, it depends on how good a job the journalists are doing and how good a job the hit military is dealing with the journalists. That is another concern of the Committee to Protect Journalists, how the U.S. authorities treat the journalists who are with them and the journalists who are not embedded.

I think, as I said before, the embedded journalists are telling an important story and many of them are doing it very well. I would expect, as this war gets more and more difficult if it does, that you'll see a higher level of tension between the U.S. military and the embedded journalists. The military has them there because they think they're useful to the military. They think that they need them. When the story gets less flattering and when you see bad things happening to Americans, I think the military's attitude is going to be a little tougher about it and we'll see some tension there as the journalists try to do their job just as they have been.

They're important. They need to work at keeping their objectivity and I think you can see them doing it. It's very hard -- I've been with the Marines in combat. It's very hard to go with a unit like that and not have sympathy for these soldiers, these fine young men, highly trained, doing something they're convinced is absolutely right. But as a journalist, you need to keep your independence and your objectivity. You have to report on the bad as well as the good. And I know from personal experience when you're with American forces and you start reporting on the bad, they get upset about it.

ZAHN: Yeah. Well, Terry Anderson, we appreciate all of your insights this morning. Thank you for spending some time with us here this morning.

ANDERSON: My pleasure.

ZAHN: Appreciate it. We're going take a short break. We'll be right back in about a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ZAHN: Welcome back. Some of the hazards of war resonate far from the battlefield to the home front where families wrestle with the dangers facing their loved ones. CNN helped bridge that gap, at least temporarily between Sergeant Craig Martin of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit and his wife, Kaycee Martin, in California. They talked by videophone.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: You're eight months pregnant, I believe. How has this been for you?

KAYCEE MARTIN, MARINE'S WIFE: It's been difficult. It's hard without him. I'm doing OK, but it would be much better if he was home with me.

COOPER: If I could just ask, I mean -- and, you know, I don't want to pry, so anytime I ask something you don't want to say, just tell me to shut up. But what is it like for you watching all this coverage, I mean watching -- you know, the access, the pictures we are seeing are really historic in what we're able to see. Is it more -- does it make it more difficult or does it make it easier?

K. MARTIN: It's very difficult. It's hard. The whole time though you're just sitting there. I'm trying to catch a glimpse just to see if maybe one of the people on TV is him. But you know, he tells me, "Don't watch, don't watch, you know, it's going to be difficult," but like I said, it's just too hard. I want to be able to see just to make sure he's OK, just catch a glimpse of him.

COOPER: How does he look to you right now?

K. MARTIN: He looks all right, but dirty.

SGT. CRAIG MARTIN, 15TH MARINE EXPEDITIONARY UNIT: I lost my tooth.

K. MARTIN: Oh, beautiful, thanks. Thanks for showing me.

COOPER: How'd you lose your tooth?

C. MARTIN: Sorry.

COOPER: Can I ask how did you lose your tooth?

C. MARTIN: When we came across the breach, the enemy launched some 155 artillery rounds at us. It came pretty close and the concussion knocked my tooth out.

K. MARTIN: Great.

C. MARTIN: Yes.

K. MARTIN: It doesn't sound like you're being too careful.

C. MARTIN: It was fun though. We're all right.

COOPER: Well, Sergeant, I don't know if you see your wife sort of shaking her head.

C. MARTIN: As careful as I can be. I'm all good.

COOPER: Sergeant Martin, is there anything else you would...

C. MARTIN: I love you.

COOPER: ... is there anything else you would like to say either to your wife or all the people who are watching this? I know this is awkward, you know, doing this on TV and I hate to put you in this position but feel free.

C. MARTIN: Yes, I've got a couple of things real quick. To my old man, this is not a distraction. To my wife, we'll be home soon and I love you. That's all I got to say.

COOPER: Well, that says a lot. Kaycee, anything else you want to say?

K. MARTIN: I love you very much. I miss you very much. Everyone is praying for you and I just want you to come home safe and soon so you can see our new baby.

C. MARTIN: One more thing. You look really beautiful right now.

K. MARTIN: Thanks. I'd like to say the same to you.

C.MARTIN: It's stylish. Don't worry, we'll take it home...

K. MARTIN: Well, just come home soon.

C. MARTIN: ... without a doubt.

K. MARTIN: Well, just come home soon.

C. MARTIN: I'll try, baby.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: Wow! Gets you right here. In addition to the baby on the way, the Martins also have a 3-year-old daughter. That wraps it up for from here from me. I hope to see you all back here again tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. Eastern. Wolf Blitzer getting ready to take over coverage 60 seconds from now.

Hi, Wolf. How are you doing today?

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Good. Everything is strong. I got to get my microphone, though. I got it right here.

ZAHN: Oh, yes, you need it.

BLITZER: I'm looking forward to the next few hours.

ZAHN: It's kind of a long night for those of you on duty last night in Kuwait City.

BLITZER: It got a little exciting here, a little bit too exciting. We can do without that.

ZAHN: Yes, I bet you can. Wolf will bring us up to date on what happened in the middle of the night there at a shopping mall. Thanks again for joining us today.

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 29, 2003 - 11:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAUL ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, 11:00 a.m. on the East Coast, 8:00 a.m. In the West, 7:00 p.m. in Iraq. Today is Saturday, March 29. And good morning, I'm Paula Zahn in New York. Joining me this hour, Bill Hemmer in Kuwait City, Leon Harris in Atlanta, who gets things started with a look at what is happening right now.
Leon, good morning.

LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Paula. Good morning, Bill. Good morning, folks at home. Here now are the latest developments. The U.S. Central Command says that four U.S. soldiers were killed today in a suicide bomb attack in central Iraq. This happened at a military checkpoint in Najaf. The soldiers approached two people who were in a vehicle and the vehicle exploded when the driver asked for help.

Plus, fierce fighting continues in Nasiriya. U.S. Marines have recovered more bodies of their comrades killed in an earlier ambush. CNN's Alessio Vinci says that remains were recovered today from two shallow graves. Yesterday, searchers found what believed to be the bodies of seven Marines.

Workers today cleared away debris left after a missile hit a shopping mall in Kuwait City in the first missile attack -- actually, the first missile to land in a populated area of Kuwait since the start of the war. The mall was closed at the time. Only one person was treated for minor injuries.

U.S. and British forces continue to target stiff Iraqi resistance around Basra. A British military official says the goal is to eradicate Iraq's ruling Ba'ath Party from that province. And yesterday, Central Command says U.S. forces destroyed a two-story building in Basra where as many as 200 Iraqi fighters were meeting inside.

And badly needed humanitarian aid is trickling into Iraq now. Military officials say the opening at the port at Umm Qasr allowed 12 aid distribution routes to get opened up. Also, the United Nations has approved a resolution to restart Iraq's Oil-For-food Program.

Coming up in the next hour of CNN's coverage of the war in Iraq, we'll have the latest on that humanitarian aid that started to make its way now to starving and thirsty Iraqis, some of whom are expressing anger at the allies. And we'll update you from the northern front where Kurds say that they are pressing farther into Iraqi territory. Service personnel are among the missing in Iraq and so are some journalists from this country and elsewhere. We'll have the latest on the searches for all of them. That's coming up in our next hour of coverage. Our coverage continues now with Paula in New York -- Paula.

ZAHN: And welcome back. U.S. Marines have recovered the bodies of more of their colleagues killed in fighting in Nasiriya. CNN's Alessio Vinci is embedded with the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force and he filed this report a short time ago.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: U.S. Marines here in Nasiriya are spending a considerable amount of time in trying to recover some of the bodies of their fallen comrades who were killed in action here last Sunday during a bloody firefight between Marines and Iraqi forces.

On Friday, U.S. Marines went back into Nasiriya and recovered what they say were the remains of five, maybe six Marines. Five of the bodies were recovered inside the burned out truck, armored vehicle that they were traveling in, that was hit by an Iraqi rocket-propelled grenade. And as they were recovering those bodies, Iraqi civilians approached those Marines and pointed them towards two shallow graves. The Marines digged those graves and they found the remains of what they say could have been the remains of at least other two Marines.

And then, on Saturday morning, taking some considerable risk because they had to go back into town again, U.S. Marines went back in there and they found two more shallow graves, also two graves that were pointed by Iraqi civilians to the U.S. Marines and they recovered there what they believe are the remains of at least one, maybe two Marines. And U.S. commanders here are now telling us that they believe that almost all of the nine Marines killed in action, their bodies, may have been recovered.

The U.S. Marines also conducted some house-to-house searches near the sights where the ambush took place, where that armored vehicle was hit because they believe that during the firefight, some of the Marines had to take cover inside one of the houses. And indeed, when they went into the houses today, looking for some more bodies, all what they could find were some personal belongings there -- the military flight jackets, some mop suits, some chemical suits, some gas masks and even some mail that the Marines had written or had received from their families back home from here. From here, the bodies of the Marines are handed over to the mortuary affairs who will conduct a DNA test for positive identification and then prepare their bodies for the final journey back home to the United States.

I'm Allesio Vinci, CNN with the U.S. Marines in Nasiriya, Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: Alessio, thanks so much. Back to Bill now in Kuwait City -- Bill. BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Paula, a little bit past 7:00 local time. Take our viewers live to Baghdad right now. Night has fallen there on the Iraqi capital. We do know dark plumes of smoke are drifting across the skies in Baghdad a short time ago. We also know in the past several hours explosions have been heard in and around the capital city and we do know now also that the Iraqis are claiming more than 50 civilians killed in a bombing of a neighborhood yesterday. Listening to U.S. Central Commander earlier today, still no verification on the U.S. part as to where this explosion occurred or as why it occurred or whether or not these were wayward Tomahawk cruise missiles in that neighborhood in Baghdad. We'll watch that for you.

Meanwhile, we're watching a front here in Kuwait as well. Just about an hour ago, another Iraqi missile penetrated Kuwaiti airspace not from the sky; we're told, by a U.S. Patriot missile. The latest count now -- 14 Iraqi missiles over the past nine days here in Kuwait. Ten of the 14 intercepted by Patriot missiles, either operated by the U.S. or by the Kuwaitis here in this tiny desert country.

Early morning hours, though, 1:40 a.m. local time, not the same case. An Iraqi missile for first time made contact with a civilian population here in Kuwait City, slamming into a popular shopping mall. Luckily no one was there at the time or hardly anyone was there at the time. We do know of one injury and after that only structural damage done to that mall. Dr. Sanjay Gupta was one of the first on the scene in the early morning hours. He's back with us again tonight.

Sanjay, good evening.

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good evening, Bill. Well, it's a much different scene here tonight. No surprise. A very quiet -- remember the video now from last night. Really very, very -- there was pandemonium around. There was civilian security immediately on the scene, followed by military security. There was a bridge just behind my photographer, Rick Blackburn, that was actually hit by this particular missile. Part of the bridge was actually taken out. You can see a lot of the images there. Very, very different tonight. Bill, this has become all so real for many of the people here as well as us.

Just behind me here now the shopping mall, the portico that we've been talking so much about, cars actually pull up into that particular area and the man shooting the film that you're seeing now, Rick Blackburn, actually pulled up into a car himself just yesterday before this actually happened. This has become so real for everyone here. And thankfully, as you mentioned, Bill, only one person hurt and only with minor injuries.

We did hear the air raids just a little while ago and sort of interestingly, Bill, you know, they got the all clear signal just a few minutes later, but people really didn't seem that anxious. People really weren't running for cover. There's sort of the sense. People are looking to the sky a little bit, but not an overwhelming sense of panic despite the events over the last 17 hours -- Bill. HEMMER: Sanjay, quickly, knowing this missile was flying no higher than 100 feet off the water, essentially a 100 feet off the ground at the time, has that impacted people in their impression, their opinion right now as to bringing them more cause for concern?

GUPTA: Well, you know, I've asked -- I've been spending a good portion of the afternoon actually talking about that. And, you know, the people are starting to understand that this missile was a very low flying missile, likely low flying missile. But still, despite that, despite the fact that they understand that some people were a little scared yesterday at the time, but as you can -- right around me now there are literally 50 to 100 people just standing around. They've been here all day. They hear those air raid sirens. They're not -- they don't seem overly concerned. You get the sense, Bill, that this is a group of people who have seen this before and are expecting to see it again.

The cleanup crew was so organized. The civilian security pretty well organized at the same time. They sort of almost seemed ready for this -- Bill.

HEMMER: Point well taken at the end there, Sanjay. Thanks. Dr. Sanjay Gupta down the street here in Kuwait City.

Back in Iraq now. Ryan Chilcote checking back in again live with the 101st Airborne.

Ryan, what do you have?

RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bill, the 101st Airborne has been busy. Last night, elements of the 101st Airborne's aviation brigade went after some units southwest of Baghdad using their Apache attack helicopters like the one you see behind me. This was their first deep attack. A deep attack is when you use these Apaches behind Iraqi lines to take out targets, their first attack since they arrived in the country.

With us, we have Lieutenant Colonel Steve Smith. He is the battalion commander of the Second Battalion of the 101st Aviation Brigade and his battalion took part in that operation, in that mission.

What can you tell us about that mission?

LT. COL. STEVE SMITH, 101ST AIRBORNE: Well, we were supposed to attack targets south of Karbala. And we went in with our two companies from our battalion and shortly after we got on station, we started engaging targets well south of Karbala and a couple of elements did take fire. We -- I saw some AAA from elements that were to my east. And then I also saw some AAA from an element that I had in the west. Also, we had an aircraft that we think received some RPG fire in the center sector. And then we just continued to work targets in and around -- or correction, south of Karbala.

CHILCOTE: Can you describe what kind of targets you were after and what you were able to strike in this mission? SMITH: Well, what we're trying to do is basically set the conditions for the movement north. And, you know, our Army, the way we fight is we trick forces with artillery, with close air support, and with Apaches so that our ground maneuver forces can continue to push forward. And that's what we were doing last night.

We -- the mission we did last night, we did in concert with artillery, seed fires, suppression of enemy air defenses. And we also did it in conjunction with the Air Force and Navy fighters on station, close air support. So we were talking to -- excuse me -- to the fighters in the air and working closely with them. And, you know, they were able to see targets that we weren't able to see because of their difference aspect. We were able to see targets along the highway and they were able to pick out targets at other areas, so it was complementary during the attack.

CHILCOTE: OK, real quickly, I'm not sure everyone knows what an Apache attack helicopter is and how you use it. Can you describe -- you know I know you were in the cockpit on that mission -- what is looks like, how high you guys are flying. Real quickly, give people a flavor of what it's like to be on the mission.

SMITH: Well, we were flying last night between 50 and 100 feet above the ground. On the route there we were flying about 120 knots, 115 knots, so we were moving along at a pretty good speed. And once we got into the objective area, we slowed our speed, tried to keep our cockpits as dark as possible to prevent any light from escaping out of the cockpit because we think that the Iraqis might have some night vision goggle devices that they can see us, so try to keep moving and use wingman techniques to observe and engage targets.

CHILCOTE: All right. Well, thank you very much. Be safe, Colonel. That was Lieutenant Colonel Steve Smith. He is the commander of the 2nd Battalion of the 101st Aviation Brigade. They were out last night with their first deep attack inside Iraq -- Bill.

HEMMER: Ryan, thanks. Ryan Chilcote. Quickly, Lisa Rose Weaver is checking in by way of telephone. She's with the Army 5th Core, 52nd Air Defense Artillery.

Most importantly, Lisa, you are around the town of Najaf. We've been reporting on the suicide car bombing from earlier. What do you have tonight? Good evening.

LISA ROSE WEAVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Wolf, well, this morning now, several hours ago, five U.S. soldiers of the 3rd Infantry Division were -- died when a suicide bomber exploded a vehicle at a military checkpoint in the town of Najaf. There were two Iraqis dressed as civilians in the vehicle who approached the soldiers at the checkpoint and the car exploded. U.S. Central Command is reporting that at least one of the Iraqis is -- has also died.

Now, the town is a center of activity for the Saddam Fedayeen Group, not clear from the U.S. Central Command report whether the suicide bomber is from that group. But it highlights, in any case, the nature of the threat against U.S. forces in Iraq, even behind what we think now of as the front line. There are, in addition, to conventional Iraqi forces to contend with, also these smaller militia groups fiercely loyal to Saddam Hussein, obviously, in this case, willing to die for the cause, operating in small bands of five to seven men, using civilian vehicles. This is a potential threat that the forces with which I am embedded also contend with, not in a direct way, where air defense, but where we got our own tactics by infantry and air lookouts in this desert location, especially at night with unfamiliar vehicles approaching the areas. So, again, even though U.S. forces have moved fairly deeply into the country from the south and through central Iraq, nonetheless, these pockets of resistance remain -- Wolf.

HEMMER: All right. It's Bill. Thanks, Lisa. Lisa Rose Weaver again embedded with the Army's 5th Core near the town of Najaf.

Finally, word from Baghdad earlier today when the news started spreading about the suicide bombing, taking the lives of four U.S. soldiers. The Iraqis are saying -- I'm quoting now -- "This is just the beginning." Back to you now in New York.

ZAHN: Thanks, Bill. Lots of activity today at an airfield in northern Iraq secured a little bit earlier this week by U.S. forces. Jane Arraf joins us with an update from the northern front -- Jane, hello.

JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Paula. We're on the edge of this airfield and you can't see very much right now, but that's for security reasons because it is totally dark. But in just a few hours, there will be transport planes landing again in the dark, trying to unload everything, wearing night vision goggles. And what they're doing is turning what was just a few days ago a flat and empty air strip into what could be a base for forces for a northern base to move forward from here.

Now, this is the 173rd Airborne. They parachuted in in a very dramatic airdrop. And right now they've secured the perimeter. They're providing security and they're setting up logistics and other things they will need to keep bringing in the forces, according to one of the people here, public affairs officer, Major Rob Gowan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAJ. ROBERT GOWAN, 173RD AIRBORNE BRIGADE: We're continuing to build our combat power here at the airfield. We have aircraft coming in, bringing in more vehicles, more equipment, more ammunition, supplies, food, water, things of that nature. And we're just continuing to improve our positions here. We're conducting patrols in the local area and just getting on with our mission.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARRAF: Now, the question is what exactly that mission might be. This is not the northern force that had been expected. Those would have been the 60,000 troops coming by land through Turkey. This is something else altogether and it could either be a start of a significant force, officials say, or it could be just a force that could contain and coordinate with any Kurdish forces here -- Paula.

ZAHN: Thanks so much for the update. Jane Arraf. We're going to get the very latest now from the Pentagon. That's where Barbara Starr joins us live.

Good morning again, Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning again, Paula. Well, a reminder -- a sad reminder here this morning, there is another conflict U.S. soldiers are involved in. Word arriving here about an hour ago, two U.S. Special Forces killed in Afghanistan earlier today when their convoy was ambushed and came under small arms -- machine gun and rocket-propelled grenade fire -- from unknown assailants. Another man was wounded and is being treated.

Now, earlier today at the U.S. Central Command briefing in Qatar, there was some fascinating video of an attack by U.S. Rangers. You see it here against a suspected enemy target in western Iraq. All of this, of course, being filmed by the military through night vision equipment. Not the type of front line fighting that we usually get to see. Very, very significant fire apparently being shown there. But the majority of the conversation at CENTCOM today was about whether or not there is a bombing pause, whether there is a pause in the campaign. Officials saying at the briefing that there is no pause. Individual units may be in place on the field while they get resupplied, more ammo, more food, more water, but that the campaign goes on and the air strikes are continuing. Here's what Major General Renaurt had to say at the briefing earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAJ. GEN. VICTOR E. RENAURT, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: I don't believe there is any intent to pause on the battlefield. We will continue to focus our operations. Sometimes they will be focused in the west, sometimes in the north, sometimes in the south, sometimes all together. And so, you have to be careful to characterize movement on any part of the battlefield as a pause or acceleration for that matter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: Paula, we expect another operational update here in the Pentagon Briefing Room within the next hour and a half or so. And we're told we may -- we don't know for sure -- we may get some initial results on these two incidents in recent days of bombings that have impacted Iraqi civilians in Baghdad. The military has been looking into both of those incidents. The U.S. military trying to determine if any of its weapons were involved. There may be preliminary results. We're not sure -- Paula.

ZAHN: Barbara, we had heard some of the statistics Rym Brahimi is reporting that the Iraqis released today. Has anybody in the U.S. administration shot those numbers down? They had well over 257 civilians being killed at one point.

STARR: Officials here will tell you that it's impossible for them to determine the veracity of those statistics for these couple of reasons. One, they do not know. They're not positive yet if it was any U.S. weapons gone astray or any unintended damage from U.S. weapons that may have caused any civilian casualties. And, of course, they say they cannot verify how individual Iraqis on the ground may have received their injuries. Nonetheless, they do say they're very concerned. They're investigating both incidents and they do hope to have results to share with the news media.

ZAHN: Barbara Starr, thanks so much.

Coming up, we are keeping an eye on the skies over Baghdad and we'll keep you up to date on the latest developments in the war on Iraq. Also ahead, the eyes and ears for the world. We're going to hear from more of our many reporters embedded with the U.S. military. Our special coverage of the war in Iraq continues right after this short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ZAHN: And welcome back. The United Nations Security Council is moving ahead now with its Oil-For-Food Program for Iraq. The program uses oil revenue to pay for food and medicine for about two-thirds of the Iraqi people. Other humanitarian aid has begun arriving at Iraq's southern port of Umm Qasr today. Just this morning a Red Cross team is trying to get into Basra with spare parts for the water treatment plant there. Carol Bellamy is the director of UNICEF, which has 200 staffers inside Iraq. She joins us in our New York studios to discuss the aid situation -- nice of you to stop by.

CAROL BELLAMY, UNICEF DIRECTOR: Thank you.

ZAHN: So what is the status of any of the aid in the region?

BELLAMY: Well, actually, there's still humanitarian assistance or aid, as you say going on inside of Iraq through the U.N. staff members, UNICEF, World Food Programs, others, who've remained. All the internationals had to leave but there are local staff, Iraqi staff, who have been going -- visiting hospitals, making sure the food that was still in the country was arriving to the people.

As you just mentioned, the Red Cross is working on trying to repair these water systems in southern Iraq, very important crisis going on there.

ZAHN: Because people desperately need water right now. How bad is it?

BELLAMY: Well, it's bad in some parts of southern Iraq. The food chain is still OK, but if it keeps going on for long, without new replenishments, that will be a problem. The bigger emergency problem now is water. There are some places in southern Iraq around Basra that have not had water for five or six days.

ZAHN: Are you aware of any people being sick as a result of that? BELLAMY: Well, we have reports of children becoming dehydrated. They are the most vulnerable. They're not the only ones. We know that the people are going to get water from water sources that aren't very good. The problem in Iraq is that most of the water is treated. So there is available water, but the water is not pure water. And so that's going to have health consequences.

ZAHN: And although you say the food chain is in tact, is it your understanding there are still families going hungry?

BELLAMY: Well, it -- clearly, there are families under great stress at this point. What I'm saying is that most of the people in Iraq who literally depend absolutely on this Oil-For-Food Program for their food did store away some supplies. But as they're forced out of their homes, as they're forced to move, as the supplies run out, obviously, they are put in more jeopardy.

ZAHN: What is your chief concern as this war goes on?

BELLAMY: Well, it's the length of the war, obviously, because the medicines that were distributed by UNICEF, by the World Health Organization are going to disappear. The food that they were saving will disappear. The water systems which are so dependent on electrical systems, if they are hit, whether on purpose or by mistake, that system could go down. So it's the length of time that people may not have humanitarian assistance.

ZAHN: And there's another challenge some of us haven't thought a whole lot about and that is the challenge of giving -- distributing this aid and having no sense of gratitude expressed at all. There were some pretty dicey situations with the Kuwaitis right in trying to aid some of the hungry and thirsty.

BELLAMY: Absolutely. The Kuwaiti Red Crescent, the equivalent of the Red Cross, went in. They were taking water. They were taking food. First of all, they weren't necessarily welcomed in. Secondly, the strongest people, the people that were probably in the least need of the assistance got the food and got the water. So it's -- you really have to be very careful as you try and deliver humanitarian assistance.

ZAHN: Help us understand the environment in which your workers are working in today. Two hundred of them on the ground. Now, are they primarily in urban areas or are they spread throughout the country?

BELLAMY: Well, Iraq is primarily an urban country. The majority of people live in urban areas. Our workers and most of the U.N. workers, even the local workers, are not in the south at this point. So I mean there is -- there are security incidents that we want -- have to take into account. We hope to be able to do some security assessments through the U.N. over the next couple of days. So we have workers in the north. We have workers in Baghdad. Mostly in the south, at least around Basra is the Red Cross. The Red Cross has a mandate that allows it to be in a fighting area.

ZAHN: Well, we wish you luck. Thank you for spending a little time with us this morning.

BELLAMY: Thank you.

ZAHN: Carol Bellamy of UNICEF, the executive director.

Back to you now, Bill.

HEMMER: All right, Paula. Listen, you guys were talking about southeastern Iraq and the region of Basra, we want to check in right now with a member embedded with the British military, that's Greg Millam, a reporter on the scene there.

I'm not sure exactly where you are, Greg, but what's the situation there tonight?

GREG MILAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, if anyone thought the situation in the southern oil fields around Rumaylah would be a simple one to control, they're wrong. The man in charge of the Royal Irish Regiment with whom I'm embedded said today he's fighting on three fronts. Not only is there a conventional war going on to the north of the oil fields, there's also a counterterrorism effort going on to control some members of the Ba'ath Party in this area. And then, the humanitarian work has begun and that's bringing in some problems too in trying to get these towns and villages around here back up on their feet.

Add into all of that, there's still an awful lot of armament and weaponry and ammunition lurking in the fields around here and that's posing a danger to all of the coalition forces here.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MILAM (voice-over): Seemingly deserted, these battered buildings hold a deadly threat to the British forces in Iraq.

SGT. GEOFF BANHAM, ROYAL ENGINEERS: This is what we're coming across, a lot of these -- 30 mill, 60 mill, 80 mill, even 120 mill. But there's plenty still out there that all have to be recovered because they can be re-used.

MILAM (on camera): And do you know when this place was last used? I mean do you know how long this has been here?

BANHAM: I'm not too sure, but judging by some of the -- it's been here quite a long time, so whether it's been used recently by them, there was an Intel up-brief saying that they would possibly be coming back to try and get this kit to use against them.

MILAM (voice-over): Grenades, mortars, all sorts of ammunition abandoned by Iraqi soldiers there for the taking. The job of these Royal Engineers is to clear this and many other mountains of armaments and destroy them. Some are too unstable to be move moved and have to be blown up on the spot. The rest is carried way out into the desert.

(on camera): And today's (UNINTELLIGIBLE) conflict, this kind of work become and more important. With the coalition forces moving forward, the last thing they want is weaponry like this lurking behind them.

CAPT. ANDY GOOCH, ROYAL ENGINEERS: With the amount of ammunition and weapons that left about, if they use those systems now, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) weapon, it would have given us a considerable amount of trouble trying to take positions.

MILAM (voice-over): With much of the weaponry there is only one safe thing to do. No one in the British forces here is willing to take any risks.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MILAM: Now the focus tonight is largely on that counterterrorism operation I was talking about. They fought the Royal Irish Regiment. They dealt with a large number of the Ba'ath Party members in this area and bear in mind this area of the Ba'ath Party controls up to Nasiriya and over towards Basra in smashing the headquarters a couple of nights ago.

Now, what they've discovered is that the head of security of the Ba'ath Party is back in town and has made a promise that he will kill a British soldier. Now, they sent our patrols -- remembering, the Royal Irish Regiment, of course, has history of patrolling places like Northern Ireland. They sent out patrols to try to track him down. They believe in capturing something like 60 weapons over the last few days, they can bring that under control and restore some stability to this area.

HEMMER: All right, Greg Milam reporting there in southeastern Iraq with the British military, updating us on what's happening not only today, but also into the evening hours tonight.

Meanwhile, Iraq is saying that coalition air strikes and cruise missiles are responsible for killing more than 50 civilians in a neighborhood on the outskirts of Baghdad yesterday. Central Command says they still have not completed their investigation to determine whether or not these were missiles fired by British and U.S planes and whether or not Iraq is using some sort of sabotage to win their own people over and keep them on their side.

Meanwhile, there is Arab reaction to this and for more on that, Rula Amin is tracking it. She is live tonight in Jordan with more.

Rula, good evening.

RULA AMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good evening, Bill. Bill, the number of civilian casualties is on the rise, people who are killed in this war. And while Iraq and the United States continue their argument on who is to blame and whose missile hits what, Iraqi civilians, their deaths, the casualties -- civilian casualties in Iraq is on the rise, to civilians who are definitely paying a price there.

Now, one of those people is the Alduan (ph) family. This is a family that -- they have told reporters that they fled Baghdad, went to the outskirts of town into a residential neighborhood, farmland, almost. Now, they are, most of them, in the hospital. The father says that his daughter, 14-year-old, was killed. Her brother was injured and many other family members were also injured. This is what the father had to say about there war.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Our house is located in a farm area. After the prayer, we were sitting for breakfast. We heard the plane. And we were hit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AMIN: Now, Iraq's information minister, Muhammed al-Sahhaf, said that only in the last 24 hours 68 civilians were killed and more than 107 were injured. This is only in Baghdad and only in the last 24 hours. In Baghdad, there is still very heavy bombardments on the city overnight and during the day today. Iraq has said that they have been able to shoot down more than 100 cruise missiles and they say they are doing so by burning oil, that they have dug trenches all around Baghdad. They filled it with oil and now they're burning this oil, hoping that the flames, which you can see now in the pictures, was going to misguide the cruise missiles that the U.S. and the coalition forces are sending there. We're not sure if this trick actually works but you can tell the skies of Baghdad is filled with this black smoke from the burning oil in those trenches -- Bill.

HEMMER: Rula, I don't have much time on this one though, but Baghdad is saying that thousands of Arabs are willing to come to Iraq and pick up the fight and help the Iraqis. Is there any evidence that you've seen in the Arab world that would support that?

AMIN: Well, Bill, we have been hearing from people we speak to on the streets saying that they are willing to go if their government would let them. We have also heard reports that people have been going through Syria -- volunteers who want to fight with Iraqis. And in the last few weeks, just before the war started, we know that some Lebanese, some Syrians, some Jordanians, did actually get to Baghdad and said that they were going to fight with the Iraqis. There is very strong resentments here against this war and very much sympathy to Iraq -- Bill.

HEMMER: Rula Amin live in Jordan watching Arab reaction for us tonight.

Let's get back to New York now. Here's Paula again -- Paula.

ZAHN: Thanks so much, Bill. Coming up, we're keeping an eye on the skies over Baghdad and we will keep you up to date on the latest developments in the war on Iraq. Journalists in jeopardy, Terry Anderson, former hostage and co-chair of the Committee to Protect Journalists, will be joining us. And we leave you now with this shot with some of folks that stopped by our studios today, in fact, right now, to wish a very happy birthday to Robert Bass, who is celebrating his 24th birthday in Kuwait. He's a member of the 1st Medical Battalion for the Marines. Happy Birthday Robert Bass.

HARRIS: CNN's continuing coverage of the war in Iraq. The latest on a morning suicide attack in central Iraq. President Bush holds a videoconference with war planners at Camp David. Christiane Amanpour is with British forces as fighting continues in southern Iraq. These stories and more today at noon Eastern. Stay with CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ZAHN: Welcome back. Thirty-six minutes past the hour. We're going to quickly get to another one of our embedded reporters. Gary Tuchman is with the Air Force and he joins us now by way of videophone.

Good morning, Gary.

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Paula, good morning to you. For the 11th straight night, warplanes are storming down the runway at this huge airbase near the border of Iraq. In the most recent 24-hour period, the Air Force is telling us there were 1,500 sorties over Iraq, 500 of them were sorties using bombs and missiles, strike sorties, the other 1,000, support sorties.

Now, late last night my cameraman, Demur Loredik (ph), my producer, Alex Quade (ph), and I were permitted to go along on one of those sorties.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TUCHMAN (voice-over): As they got ready to head over hostile territory, 10 men aboard this Air Force HC-130 search and rescue and refueling plane start to feel their adrenaline rushing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just make sure we're flying over spots that we're supposed to go to.

TUCHMAN: The crew looks out for the unlikely prospect of Iraqi aircraft and the more likely prospect of Iraqi missiles or artillery.

(on camera): Does your mind is set change across the border into Iraq?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, since I am in an area, which I don't know where the enemy could be. From the time I get to the airplane until I get out of the airplane, I'm thinking the same way.

TUCHMAN: Which is?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The hair on the back of my neck, if it starts standing up, then something's going wrong.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): As a precaution, the crew starts turning the huge plane in circles to see what the targets do. Ultimately, it's discovered the targets are U.S. combat helicopters. Minutes later, the search and rescue helicopter arrives for its refueling. Watch the flash from our night vision camera as the planes fuel line connects with the chopper. Both aircraft fly at 125 miles per hour, gingerly over enemy land. At times they're only 50 feet apart, but the chopper's rotor blades even closer. Looking with the naked eye out of the plane, the helicopter is impossible to see. The pitch- black maneuver ends after 10 minutes.

(on camera): What stops though -- we know the Iraqis have fired sand missiles and fired AAA aircraft all throughout this war. They haven't hit anybody. But isn't it risky flying so low knowing they have that ammunition to fire at you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Again, we know where we're going. We know where they're at, so we simply avoid them. And if for some reason they do get off a lucky shot or they do see us, we have defense systems on board the airplane to defeat their ammunition.

TUCHMAN: We all fly with bulletproof vests in case the plane goes down. We also fly with parachutes in case we need to get out before the plane goes down.

(voice-over): But three airmen aboard this plane have parachutes for a different reason. They are the pararescue jumpers or PJs who jump off the plane for rescue missions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean it's probably the most -- the best feeling in the world knowing that your purpose is really defined at that moment.

TUCHMAN: No rescues were necessary on this sortie. The plane arrived back to base safely.

(on camera): Do you have any fear?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody has a little bit of fear, but I think it's a good thing in this circumstance.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): This crew could be back on another mission in as few as 24 hours.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TUCHMAN: Now, last week those search and rescue choppers rescued seven Special Operations crewmembers. They extracted them from a fire fight and brought them back to this base. By the way, those helicopters are nicknamed Jollies. That's short for Jolly Green Giant because they're very big and very green.

Paula, back to you.

ZAHN: You got that right. Thanks, Gary Tuchman. Gary, giving us a rare view inside that whole rescue process.

Back to Bill now Kuwait City -- Bill.

HEMMER: Paula, we know that between the U.S. and the British right now in Iraq, about 125,000 strong in terms of troop strength. We also know and we're told anyway in the next several weeks that number is going to balloon to well over 200,000. Daryn Kagan today met up way few members of the United States Marine Corps, who are now here arriving in Kuwait.

Good evening to you.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening to you. It's good to see you.

When we think about these new troops, Marines, sailors, coming in, we think about the big good-bye they might have had at home. But we don't realize that a lot of these guys and women have already been out for a number of months. And we met up with one unit like that today. Let's take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN (voice-over): When you're a Marine serving all around the world, you grab a few winks, anywhere, anyway, anytime you can even if your mattress is a pile of gravel.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's kind of the norm for us. Gravel, sand, swamp, mud, it doesn't matter. You sleep when you can sleep.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Elevation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Elevation.

KAGAN: They're Marines from the 24th Expeditionary Unit. You might say they've seen it all.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One, one, five, zero.

KAGAN: They deployed from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, last August. They went to Kosovo as part of the peace support mission. They also did exercises in Kenya, Djibouti, somewhere in the Gulf region and most recently, the Horn of Africa. But they haven't seen war. These Marines were close to the end of their deployment, possibly days away from going home when orders came to head to Kuwait. They arrived early Saturday morning, clearly exhausted, yet ready to serve.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We know we've been on a long deployment but now it's time for us to serve our country.

KAGAN: The Marines we spoke with don't know exactly what they'll be doing or where they're going. Chances are they'll soon be in Iraq, guarding the supply columns, bringing food, fuel and ammunition to troops on the Southern approach to Baghdad. That has been especially dangerous duty for coalition personnel. Two have been killed, five are POWs, eight are missing in action. These Marines believe their long tour has led to this assignment.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've been very fortunate very blessed to have participated in a number of real world operations not just training exercises, but real world operations. And as long as you're working and a Marine knows he's contributing, his morale is high.

KAGAN: The Gulf War could be the last real world operation for these Marines before they head home for a much needed rest in their own beds.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: The 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit is part of a huge readiness group that includes three ships, 2,300 Marines and 2,000 sailors, a huge group.

HEMMER: Did you note any sense of apprehension or were they anxious to join the fight?

KAGAN: Well, you could see just how tired they were. That was part of it, but as you heard that Marine, the captain say, a Marine that gets to be part of the big battle, of the big important mission, is a happy Marine.

HEMMER: Well, they're about to see it very soon. Nice to see you, by the way.

KAGAN: Good to see you here in Kuwait.

HEMMER: You've been working, I guess, on the East Coast, that would be the...

KAGAN: Overnight shift.

HEMMER: ... the evening hours so to speak.

KAGAN: Midnight Eastern is when I come on.

HEMMER: All right. OK, Daryn.

KAGAN: So that's why I'm missing in action.

HEMMER: Nice to see you. All right, Daryn Kagan watching the Marines here.

All right, quickly, Paula, before we get back to New York City, we want to take you live again to Baghdad. We're getting reports through Reuters anywhere; some journalists on the ground are reporting four explosions in the past several minutes. It's nighttime there. Coming up almost on 8:00, about 17 minutes before the hour in Baghdad. This follows a string of reports we've been getting throughout the day here about explosions in and around the capital city. This is something we shall watch for our viewers throughout the night here in Kuwait and also on the ground in Iraq. I'm going to say good-bye, Paula. See you tomorrow, on Sunday. This is becoming habit for me, by the way. We'll see you then, 7:00 a.m. Eastern Time.

ZAHN: Hey, listen, we don't mind seeing you everything morning at 7:00 a.m., Bill. Thanks so much, make way for Wolf.

HEMMER: You got it.

ZAHN: He'll join us at the top of the hour. Have a good rest of the night there. Back to what we are trying to follow out of Baghdad right now. You see the live shot of what things look like there, eight hours later, what is that, 7:44 local time there. Iraq's vice president today threatened more suicide attacks against U.S. led forces. Four U.S. soldiers were killed earlier today at a checkpoint near Najaf when bombers detonated a car packed with explosives and Iraq says that was just the beginning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TAHA YASSIN RAMADAN, IRAQI VICE PRESIDENT, (through translator): We express our happiness with the expressions that is being voiced by the Arab people. And thousands of Arab volunteers are arriving to Iraq to join us in our fight to resist the evils of Americans and the British. And in a few days, we would see many of these volunteers after they have given up from the Arab governments. But I call on the Arab nation to rise and stand up in this battle, this decisive battle.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: Today, suicide bombing was the first against coalition forces since the war in Iraq began. We want to share with you a story that Christiane Amanpour reported just about a half hour ago that I think contrasts with what you just heard from the Iraqi vice president. And she, who actually witnessed on videotape an encounter of two of Saddam's paramilitary forces, actually, arriving near a checkpoint, handing over their identification, saying they were members of that particular brand of paramilitary force and basically said they wanted safe passage.

We're keeping our eye on the skyline of Baghdad after reports of four explosions, according to Reuters in the last 10 minutes. We'll bring you up to date on that as soon as we have more information.

Meanwhile, reporters in the front lines of this war are seeing the fight firsthand. That view by its very nature puts journalists in jeopardy. At least two have been killed covering the conflict, British correspondent, Terry Lloyd and Australian cameraman, Paul Moran. Two "News Day" journalists are also missing today in Iraq. They are Matt McAllester and photographer, Moises Saman. Journalists for an Arab and Italian news agencies are also missing.

Terry Anderson joins us now from Athens, Ohio. He is honorary co-chair of the Committee to Protect Journalists. He served as a combat correspondent in Vietnam and he later spent seven years as a hostage in Beirut.

Terry, always good to see you. Good morning.

TERRY ANDERSON, COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS: Good morning, Paula.

ZAHN: First of all, your reaction to some of these latest reports of either journalists killed covering the story or now missing in action. ANDERSON: It happens in every war. Unfortunately, the journalists are on the front line or even out in front of the front line trying to find and tell the truth. They put themselves in danger and sometimes some of them pay for it. As you say, two of them already have been killed in this war. We have anywhere from a half a dozen to 13 missing. The Committee is trying to track them and find out what happened to them.

ZAHN: And Terry, for folks who may not understand the kind of commitment these journalists make to getting the story, share with us how deeply passionate they are about what they do for a living and why they think it's so important to potentially risk their lives to get the story done.

ANDERSON: It's a question that people always ask you, why do you do this? It's not for the thrill. It isn't, in fact, exciting. It is sometimes terrible to see the violence and the dead bodies and the destruction. But most of the journalists I know who are out there doing this are doing it because they are passionate about finding and telling the truth. They think it's important. They do it because they have a need to tell the world what is happening. You don't see them doing it for fun or the thrill of being shot at. They do it because they feel they have to.

ZAHN: Let's talk a little bit about who you think is more vulnerable at this point, those journalists embedded with coalition forces or those that have decided to report on their own.

ANDERSON: Well, they're doing two different jobs, both of which of are necessary. The embedded journalists are going in with the troops. That's dangerous. But these troops out there are -- they're highly trained and very well equipped. The people who are going out on their own, I think, are taking a bigger risk. It is a fluid war. There are -- there are non-regular forces out there, irregular militiamen, guerrilla types, you don't know when you're going to run into them. You don't know what their attitude is going to be, whether they're going to respect your neutrality or treat you as spies. It is a dangerous business. And it's dangerous for those in Baghdad. We know that several have been picked up by Iraqi authorities for one reason or another and we don't know where they are. We're trying to track them.

But all three of these sets of journalists are necessary in order to tell the complete story. Those embedded journalists with the Americans are talking only to Americans. That's necessary. You need to know what they're doing and their point. Those in Baghdad are trying to show what's happening on the ground. And those wandering out some place in between are also telling an important part of the story and you have to listen to all three of them. All three of them are risking their lives.

They're doing it in a calculated manner, I believe. I've never met a journalist going out to cover a war who didn't think seriously about what he was doing, whether or not what he was doing was important enough to take the risk that he or she was running. They know what they're doing. They're good, most of the journalists out there. News agencies and news media don't send third-rate reporters to cover a war. They send their best. So they know what they're doing. They're experienced at it. And they know they're taking a risk. They think it's important enough to do that.

ZAHN: Finally, this morning, Terry, there's been a lot of criticism of the embedded process. Despite some of the remarkable video we have just seen from our own Alessio Vinci who is embedded with Marines, he actually took us on a house-to-house search of Nasiriya early today, which was quite dramatic and something I don't think any of us had ever witnessed before. But there are those out there who feel that that -- just the embedding process in and of itself sanitizes what the audience sees. Do you agree with that assessment?

ANDERSON: Well, it depends on how good a job the journalists are doing and how good a job the hit military is dealing with the journalists. That is another concern of the Committee to Protect Journalists, how the U.S. authorities treat the journalists who are with them and the journalists who are not embedded.

I think, as I said before, the embedded journalists are telling an important story and many of them are doing it very well. I would expect, as this war gets more and more difficult if it does, that you'll see a higher level of tension between the U.S. military and the embedded journalists. The military has them there because they think they're useful to the military. They think that they need them. When the story gets less flattering and when you see bad things happening to Americans, I think the military's attitude is going to be a little tougher about it and we'll see some tension there as the journalists try to do their job just as they have been.

They're important. They need to work at keeping their objectivity and I think you can see them doing it. It's very hard -- I've been with the Marines in combat. It's very hard to go with a unit like that and not have sympathy for these soldiers, these fine young men, highly trained, doing something they're convinced is absolutely right. But as a journalist, you need to keep your independence and your objectivity. You have to report on the bad as well as the good. And I know from personal experience when you're with American forces and you start reporting on the bad, they get upset about it.

ZAHN: Yeah. Well, Terry Anderson, we appreciate all of your insights this morning. Thank you for spending some time with us here this morning.

ANDERSON: My pleasure.

ZAHN: Appreciate it. We're going take a short break. We'll be right back in about a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ZAHN: Welcome back. Some of the hazards of war resonate far from the battlefield to the home front where families wrestle with the dangers facing their loved ones. CNN helped bridge that gap, at least temporarily between Sergeant Craig Martin of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit and his wife, Kaycee Martin, in California. They talked by videophone.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: You're eight months pregnant, I believe. How has this been for you?

KAYCEE MARTIN, MARINE'S WIFE: It's been difficult. It's hard without him. I'm doing OK, but it would be much better if he was home with me.

COOPER: If I could just ask, I mean -- and, you know, I don't want to pry, so anytime I ask something you don't want to say, just tell me to shut up. But what is it like for you watching all this coverage, I mean watching -- you know, the access, the pictures we are seeing are really historic in what we're able to see. Is it more -- does it make it more difficult or does it make it easier?

K. MARTIN: It's very difficult. It's hard. The whole time though you're just sitting there. I'm trying to catch a glimpse just to see if maybe one of the people on TV is him. But you know, he tells me, "Don't watch, don't watch, you know, it's going to be difficult," but like I said, it's just too hard. I want to be able to see just to make sure he's OK, just catch a glimpse of him.

COOPER: How does he look to you right now?

K. MARTIN: He looks all right, but dirty.

SGT. CRAIG MARTIN, 15TH MARINE EXPEDITIONARY UNIT: I lost my tooth.

K. MARTIN: Oh, beautiful, thanks. Thanks for showing me.

COOPER: How'd you lose your tooth?

C. MARTIN: Sorry.

COOPER: Can I ask how did you lose your tooth?

C. MARTIN: When we came across the breach, the enemy launched some 155 artillery rounds at us. It came pretty close and the concussion knocked my tooth out.

K. MARTIN: Great.

C. MARTIN: Yes.

K. MARTIN: It doesn't sound like you're being too careful.

C. MARTIN: It was fun though. We're all right.

COOPER: Well, Sergeant, I don't know if you see your wife sort of shaking her head.

C. MARTIN: As careful as I can be. I'm all good.

COOPER: Sergeant Martin, is there anything else you would...

C. MARTIN: I love you.

COOPER: ... is there anything else you would like to say either to your wife or all the people who are watching this? I know this is awkward, you know, doing this on TV and I hate to put you in this position but feel free.

C. MARTIN: Yes, I've got a couple of things real quick. To my old man, this is not a distraction. To my wife, we'll be home soon and I love you. That's all I got to say.

COOPER: Well, that says a lot. Kaycee, anything else you want to say?

K. MARTIN: I love you very much. I miss you very much. Everyone is praying for you and I just want you to come home safe and soon so you can see our new baby.

C. MARTIN: One more thing. You look really beautiful right now.

K. MARTIN: Thanks. I'd like to say the same to you.

C.MARTIN: It's stylish. Don't worry, we'll take it home...

K. MARTIN: Well, just come home soon.

C. MARTIN: ... without a doubt.

K. MARTIN: Well, just come home soon.

C. MARTIN: I'll try, baby.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: Wow! Gets you right here. In addition to the baby on the way, the Martins also have a 3-year-old daughter. That wraps it up for from here from me. I hope to see you all back here again tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. Eastern. Wolf Blitzer getting ready to take over coverage 60 seconds from now.

Hi, Wolf. How are you doing today?

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Good. Everything is strong. I got to get my microphone, though. I got it right here.

ZAHN: Oh, yes, you need it.

BLITZER: I'm looking forward to the next few hours.

ZAHN: It's kind of a long night for those of you on duty last night in Kuwait City.

BLITZER: It got a little exciting here, a little bit too exciting. We can do without that.

ZAHN: Yes, I bet you can. Wolf will bring us up to date on what happened in the middle of the night there at a shopping mall. Thanks again for joining us today.

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