Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live Today
Bombardment Intensified in Baghdad
Aired March 31, 2003 - 11:15 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: We are monitoring Iraqi television today. And a short time ago, Iraqi TV ran some pictures, some videotape of President Saddam Hussein and his two sons, Uday and Qusay. Now, we do not know when this was taken, whether it was today or a week ago or at what time. No clear indication as to when they were taken, but we do know that based on the eyewitness accounts in Baghdad, the presidential palace of Qusay has been under a heavy barrage at least on two different occasions on Monday, one at the break of dawn, earlier today, and one in the midday, mid afternoon, when a giant plume of smoke, a huge white cloud was lifting above that presidential palace that is home to Qusay. And, again, the images from Iraqi TV and a short time ago.
We also noted twice since this conflict has begun, Iraqi TV has been knocked off the air, one including within the past 24 hours. We do know it went down for several hours, but we're told now within Iraq now, Iraqi television is up and running yet again.
More on the Baghdad issue today and the bombing that we have all witnessed, Rula Amin is standing by live in Jordan. She's been watching it as well.
Rula, your best assessment of what we've been gauging here in Baghdad?
RULA AMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Bill, the raids throughout the day have continued on Baghdad. The latest we have are pictures from al-Amin neighborhood, this is a neighborhood in Baghdad. Al- Jazeera, the Arab satellite channel, reporter said that four children were killed in this raid in this neighborhood. And according to the Iraqi officials, it's an explosion due to a missile, a coalition missile.
Now, throughout the night, the bombardment did continue, as well. It actually intensified. For the first time in history, the U.S. and Britain used three long-range bombers, B-1, B-2 and B-52, all at the same time, hitting at the same area in Baghdad. The targets have been Republican Guard sites, Iraqi TV, and Iraqi Information Ministry where the information minister just gave a press conference. He was saying that -- listing the successes that the Iraqi army had made against the U.S. forces, as the Iraqis put it, and this is what he had to say in describing these battles.
(START VIDEOTAPE)
NAJI SABRI, IRAQI FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): There was more of those aggressive forces, aggressive forces will avert a lot of losses. If they go further in the aggression, they will increase their losses, and the rift between them and the Arabs and Muslims will be bigger and they will increase in the hatred and the feelings of hatred between them and the Muslims and Arabs and all the people of the world.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AMIN: The Iraqi Foreign Minister praised the support Iraq had been getting from the Arab street. However, he was very critical of the Arab leaders, saying that at one point they will have to pay a price for not responding to the street demand that they should support Iraq.
The Iraqis are dismissing the defeat or any kind of defeat the U.S. is claiming. They say they are actually succeeding in forcing the U.S. troops back. And they say that even if the troops does advance in the desert, that will give the Iraqis more of a chance to hit back.
Bill?
HEMMER: Rula, thanks. Rula Amin from Jordan.
Meanwhile, back in Iraq, we do know that the coalition bombing of the northern front seems to pick up in intensity just about every day. And we're also getting some reports of some Iraqi pullback on that northern front. Ben Wedeman's been watching that in Kulak. He joins us now for an update tonight.
Good evening, Ben.
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good evening, Bill. Certainly it does appear that there is some sort of intensification in the attacks on Iraqi positions along the northern front. This afternoon, we saw some very large explosions as the F-14 Tomcats were bombing the hill behind me, hitting what we believe is one of the command positions, the command bunkers of the Iraqi army in this area.
This is basically three days in a row that we have really seen intense bombing, not just in this area, but throughout the northern part of the country, throughout, for instance, Mosul, the Iraqi controlled city that's about 28 miles behind me and also Kirkuk, as well.
One other interesting development, today I talked my way into a police station of the Kurdish authorities here and had a chance to speak to five young men, Iraqi soldiers who just this morning, about 12 hours ago, had deserted their positions. They told me that they had been under bombing by U.S. planes for six days, that for six days they were unable to sleep. For six days, basically their nerves were raw as they watched their comrades being killed and wounded by those bombs. They said that that has just been too much and they had fled their positions over to the Kurdish side.
Now, what they also told me though is that others who would like to desert didn't do so for fear of being executed by special squads from the Iraqi army whose task it is is to kill deserters.
Right now, I'm seeing a very large flash to the southeast of here. So certainly this intensification of the bombing continues and that's the sort of bombing that does seem to be encouraging Iraqi soldiers to desert.
Now, one other thing, I asked them if they had undergone -- these deserters -- at any point training for chemical warfare. They told me no, but since the bombing had begun, they had been given gas masks.
Bill?
HEMMER: Ben, quickly, do you have any estimation right now about the Iraqi troop strength in that region?
WEDEMAN: Well, our understanding is that at least this area behind me, this troop strength remains the same. But for instance, from the front area where these deserters come from that I've spoken to this morning, according to Kurdish officials, as many as 300 to 400 of the soldiers, Iraqi soldiers, in that front area had deserted and surrendered basically. We can't confirm that, however. As far as withdrawals, pullbacks they have been pulling back in various areas, for instance around Kirkuk, but as far as anything that's gone on in the last couple hours, not to the best of our knowledge.
Bill?
HEMMER: Ben Wedeman, thanks, watching the northern front for us.
We should point out that Central Command absolutely insists right now, not in Ben's location but further close to the capital city of Baghdad that some of the elite Republican Guard units are now drawn to the south, south of the city to try and draw reinforcements for items like the Medina Division that we've been told have been getting pounded for about 12, 13 days running. So that's something we will continue to track as well.
More in Kuwait City in a moment.
Here's Leon again from CNN Center.
Leon?.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Bill.
We're also tracking the movement of President Bush. He's expected to give his latest assessment of the military campaign in Iraq during a speech later on today. He's traveling to Philadelphia where he's going to be paying tribute to the Coast Guard. We'll have coverage of that here.
Let's check in right now with our senior White House correspondent, John King, to see what's happening at the White House this morning.
Hello, John. JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, Leon.
The president's backdrop will be the port of Philadelphia. That will be used to deliver a message. Mr. Bush will make the case that the war in Iraq is part of the broader war against terrorism. And he will make the case that the United States, because of its efforts in Iraq and in Afghanistan, is making the American people more safe.
Mr. Bush will be speaking to an audience of about 700 officers of the Coast Guard. No surprise that the Coast Guard has a key role in homeland security. Mr. Bush will also highlight, though, a relatively small, but he will say still important effort by the Coast Guard in the Persian Gulf to help out with Operation Iraqi Freedom.
White House officials this morning say the president will give his latest update on the war, and they say expect him to be optimistic about the overall battle plan, but, as we heard several times from the president last week, also trying to condition the American people for more fierce fighting in the days and perhaps weeks ahead. Mr. Bush will say this war is of an undetermined length, but he will make the case that the plan is going quite well.
Over the weekend, and into the beginning of the week, some media accounts again questioning the strategy, questioning whether there are divides within the administration. Senior officials tell us this is a president who does not like the hand wringing. Over the weekend he again directly endorsed the battle plan as laid out by the defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, and told Secretary Rumsfeld to proceed, we are told, with the movements toward Baghdad. Obviously, some key decisions to be made in the days ahead about how much to accelerate the progress of those troops toward Baghdad, but Ari Fleischer, the press secretary here, telling us this morning the president remains quite confident in the plan and quite confident that he maintains the support of the American people as we approach now the two-week mark.
Leon?
HARRIS: Well, John, having said all that, and based upon what you're hearing behind the scenes, how much then are we to read in all these reports that there is dissension within the administration about this plan right now? And we're also hearing now the reports in the Washington Post specifically this morning about senior members of the GOP and former government officials now coming out and trying to counsel or trying to at least get word into the White House that they believe that this is going on the wrong track, at least and perhaps diplomatically most of all?
KING: Well, I can't speak the words on television that many officials privately here who work in the White House have to say about officials who worked in previous administrations who are -- who are political operatives who are now trying to, as they would say here, Monday morning quarterback the war plan. It is not welcome inside the Bush White House to have all these former officials anonymously raising criticism in the newspapers. All I can tell you, Leon, is that we know the president has on a number of occasions gone around the table in these private meetings with his war council, asked if anybody had any questions about the plan, and everyone has been on board. Certainly there were some questions from field commanders raised last week, and that's something the White House would prefer not be said in public but it is also not uncommon in a war effort for those who are out in the field, those who are being shot at, to say things that might not exactly mesh with the message of the people who live comfortably in back here in Washington or even in their hotels in Qatar.
HARRIS: John King at the White House. Thanks, John. We'll check back with you later on.
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 31, 2003 - 11:15 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: We are monitoring Iraqi television today. And a short time ago, Iraqi TV ran some pictures, some videotape of President Saddam Hussein and his two sons, Uday and Qusay. Now, we do not know when this was taken, whether it was today or a week ago or at what time. No clear indication as to when they were taken, but we do know that based on the eyewitness accounts in Baghdad, the presidential palace of Qusay has been under a heavy barrage at least on two different occasions on Monday, one at the break of dawn, earlier today, and one in the midday, mid afternoon, when a giant plume of smoke, a huge white cloud was lifting above that presidential palace that is home to Qusay. And, again, the images from Iraqi TV and a short time ago.
We also noted twice since this conflict has begun, Iraqi TV has been knocked off the air, one including within the past 24 hours. We do know it went down for several hours, but we're told now within Iraq now, Iraqi television is up and running yet again.
More on the Baghdad issue today and the bombing that we have all witnessed, Rula Amin is standing by live in Jordan. She's been watching it as well.
Rula, your best assessment of what we've been gauging here in Baghdad?
RULA AMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Bill, the raids throughout the day have continued on Baghdad. The latest we have are pictures from al-Amin neighborhood, this is a neighborhood in Baghdad. Al- Jazeera, the Arab satellite channel, reporter said that four children were killed in this raid in this neighborhood. And according to the Iraqi officials, it's an explosion due to a missile, a coalition missile.
Now, throughout the night, the bombardment did continue, as well. It actually intensified. For the first time in history, the U.S. and Britain used three long-range bombers, B-1, B-2 and B-52, all at the same time, hitting at the same area in Baghdad. The targets have been Republican Guard sites, Iraqi TV, and Iraqi Information Ministry where the information minister just gave a press conference. He was saying that -- listing the successes that the Iraqi army had made against the U.S. forces, as the Iraqis put it, and this is what he had to say in describing these battles.
(START VIDEOTAPE)
NAJI SABRI, IRAQI FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): There was more of those aggressive forces, aggressive forces will avert a lot of losses. If they go further in the aggression, they will increase their losses, and the rift between them and the Arabs and Muslims will be bigger and they will increase in the hatred and the feelings of hatred between them and the Muslims and Arabs and all the people of the world.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AMIN: The Iraqi Foreign Minister praised the support Iraq had been getting from the Arab street. However, he was very critical of the Arab leaders, saying that at one point they will have to pay a price for not responding to the street demand that they should support Iraq.
The Iraqis are dismissing the defeat or any kind of defeat the U.S. is claiming. They say they are actually succeeding in forcing the U.S. troops back. And they say that even if the troops does advance in the desert, that will give the Iraqis more of a chance to hit back.
Bill?
HEMMER: Rula, thanks. Rula Amin from Jordan.
Meanwhile, back in Iraq, we do know that the coalition bombing of the northern front seems to pick up in intensity just about every day. And we're also getting some reports of some Iraqi pullback on that northern front. Ben Wedeman's been watching that in Kulak. He joins us now for an update tonight.
Good evening, Ben.
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good evening, Bill. Certainly it does appear that there is some sort of intensification in the attacks on Iraqi positions along the northern front. This afternoon, we saw some very large explosions as the F-14 Tomcats were bombing the hill behind me, hitting what we believe is one of the command positions, the command bunkers of the Iraqi army in this area.
This is basically three days in a row that we have really seen intense bombing, not just in this area, but throughout the northern part of the country, throughout, for instance, Mosul, the Iraqi controlled city that's about 28 miles behind me and also Kirkuk, as well.
One other interesting development, today I talked my way into a police station of the Kurdish authorities here and had a chance to speak to five young men, Iraqi soldiers who just this morning, about 12 hours ago, had deserted their positions. They told me that they had been under bombing by U.S. planes for six days, that for six days they were unable to sleep. For six days, basically their nerves were raw as they watched their comrades being killed and wounded by those bombs. They said that that has just been too much and they had fled their positions over to the Kurdish side.
Now, what they also told me though is that others who would like to desert didn't do so for fear of being executed by special squads from the Iraqi army whose task it is is to kill deserters.
Right now, I'm seeing a very large flash to the southeast of here. So certainly this intensification of the bombing continues and that's the sort of bombing that does seem to be encouraging Iraqi soldiers to desert.
Now, one other thing, I asked them if they had undergone -- these deserters -- at any point training for chemical warfare. They told me no, but since the bombing had begun, they had been given gas masks.
Bill?
HEMMER: Ben, quickly, do you have any estimation right now about the Iraqi troop strength in that region?
WEDEMAN: Well, our understanding is that at least this area behind me, this troop strength remains the same. But for instance, from the front area where these deserters come from that I've spoken to this morning, according to Kurdish officials, as many as 300 to 400 of the soldiers, Iraqi soldiers, in that front area had deserted and surrendered basically. We can't confirm that, however. As far as withdrawals, pullbacks they have been pulling back in various areas, for instance around Kirkuk, but as far as anything that's gone on in the last couple hours, not to the best of our knowledge.
Bill?
HEMMER: Ben Wedeman, thanks, watching the northern front for us.
We should point out that Central Command absolutely insists right now, not in Ben's location but further close to the capital city of Baghdad that some of the elite Republican Guard units are now drawn to the south, south of the city to try and draw reinforcements for items like the Medina Division that we've been told have been getting pounded for about 12, 13 days running. So that's something we will continue to track as well.
More in Kuwait City in a moment.
Here's Leon again from CNN Center.
Leon?.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Bill.
We're also tracking the movement of President Bush. He's expected to give his latest assessment of the military campaign in Iraq during a speech later on today. He's traveling to Philadelphia where he's going to be paying tribute to the Coast Guard. We'll have coverage of that here.
Let's check in right now with our senior White House correspondent, John King, to see what's happening at the White House this morning.
Hello, John. JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, Leon.
The president's backdrop will be the port of Philadelphia. That will be used to deliver a message. Mr. Bush will make the case that the war in Iraq is part of the broader war against terrorism. And he will make the case that the United States, because of its efforts in Iraq and in Afghanistan, is making the American people more safe.
Mr. Bush will be speaking to an audience of about 700 officers of the Coast Guard. No surprise that the Coast Guard has a key role in homeland security. Mr. Bush will also highlight, though, a relatively small, but he will say still important effort by the Coast Guard in the Persian Gulf to help out with Operation Iraqi Freedom.
White House officials this morning say the president will give his latest update on the war, and they say expect him to be optimistic about the overall battle plan, but, as we heard several times from the president last week, also trying to condition the American people for more fierce fighting in the days and perhaps weeks ahead. Mr. Bush will say this war is of an undetermined length, but he will make the case that the plan is going quite well.
Over the weekend, and into the beginning of the week, some media accounts again questioning the strategy, questioning whether there are divides within the administration. Senior officials tell us this is a president who does not like the hand wringing. Over the weekend he again directly endorsed the battle plan as laid out by the defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, and told Secretary Rumsfeld to proceed, we are told, with the movements toward Baghdad. Obviously, some key decisions to be made in the days ahead about how much to accelerate the progress of those troops toward Baghdad, but Ari Fleischer, the press secretary here, telling us this morning the president remains quite confident in the plan and quite confident that he maintains the support of the American people as we approach now the two-week mark.
Leon?
HARRIS: Well, John, having said all that, and based upon what you're hearing behind the scenes, how much then are we to read in all these reports that there is dissension within the administration about this plan right now? And we're also hearing now the reports in the Washington Post specifically this morning about senior members of the GOP and former government officials now coming out and trying to counsel or trying to at least get word into the White House that they believe that this is going on the wrong track, at least and perhaps diplomatically most of all?
KING: Well, I can't speak the words on television that many officials privately here who work in the White House have to say about officials who worked in previous administrations who are -- who are political operatives who are now trying to, as they would say here, Monday morning quarterback the war plan. It is not welcome inside the Bush White House to have all these former officials anonymously raising criticism in the newspapers. All I can tell you, Leon, is that we know the president has on a number of occasions gone around the table in these private meetings with his war council, asked if anybody had any questions about the plan, and everyone has been on board. Certainly there were some questions from field commanders raised last week, and that's something the White House would prefer not be said in public but it is also not uncommon in a war effort for those who are out in the field, those who are being shot at, to say things that might not exactly mesh with the message of the people who live comfortably in back here in Washington or even in their hotels in Qatar.
HARRIS: John King at the White House. Thanks, John. We'll check back with you later on.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
