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CNN Live Today

Illuminations Over Sky of Basra

Aired April 01, 2003 - 11:21   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.


LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Joining us right now on the phone is our Mike Boettcher.
Mike, if you've been following our coverage, you may know Mike has been traveling with the special-ops forces who have been around that area. And as I understand it, Mike may be around Basra in a position to give us better information about what he's seeing right now.

Mike, are you there?

MIKE BOETTCHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I am, Leon.

What I can report is I'm on the outskirts of Basra. And never in my 23 years of covering wars have I ever seen that many flares fired at once. I would say at least 30. And there are more being fired, it appears, more on the south side of the city now. It's been continuing on now for about 10 to 15 minutes.

It's interesting, because night is when things start to get interesting here. As we showed you yesterday, psychological operations, special operations forces, use a deceptive tactic trying to fool the Iraqis into thinking that an attack on Basra is coming. They use the loud speakers. They fire flares. They fire guns from one tank to make it seem like a large attack is coming. I do not know if this is connected with that. I have no information on what is going on.

I can tell you there's been sporadic artillery fire today from both sides, but that is about as much as I can tell you right now, Leon. We're keeping an eye on the situation. It could be another deception. It could be the real thing. We don't know right now.

HARRIS: So you have seen this pattern play out before, but you say you've not seen this many flares fired up at one time before?

BOETTCHER: Never, never, in any circumstance have I ever seen a light show like that, and it has lit up the entire sky over Basra. It's now dark. All of the flares from my vantage point seem to be down or most of the them. But it was quite a show.

BOETTCHER: All right, Mike, stay right there.

HARRIS: All right, Mike, don't go away.

General Shepherd here in the studio's got more information for us. What do you have, general? GEN. DON SHEPHERD, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Something just occurred to me, Leon. As I remember, 1 April is the date of the new moon in this area. The new moon means it's black. Now, nightvision goggles are night enhancers. So if you have no moon up there, your nightvision goggles would not be useless, but they wouldn't be terribly effective. That may be one of the reasons for these illumination flares.

HARRIS: That's a very, good point, very good point.

Mike, you have heard talk of concern about the new moon down there with the forces you've been traveling with?

BOETTCHER: Well, special operations, the darker, the better. They don't like it when there's a lot of moonlight out there. Another flare has just been fired, but only one up right now. It appears it will be a busy night here.

But, no, so far as the special operations forces I'm with, the darker the better for them.

HARRIS: We're back to live pictures now, and as we see now as Mike just reported, one flare right now evident in the sky over Basra.

Mike, moments ago you may have heard Bill Hemmer reporting that as we've been saying for some time now, that British forces there believe they have control over the western half of the city. From what you've been seeing and hearing, is there any indication what we're seeing right now may be something to try to establish better control over different parts of the city right now?

BOETTCHER: Well, it's definitely the coalition intent to try to gradually push in from various parts of the city, not just the west, but from the east, north and south. The way Basra is set up is that on the western edge, for example. The western suburbs are primarily Shiite. And then along the river, the Sahalara (ph), the waterway, those are the areas that are basically controlled by the Baath Party and where the paramilitaries are.

And the coalition through, for example, the civil affairs teams of special operations forces trying to win the hearts and minds of the people on that belt by delivering food, by meeting them, and get them to support the coalition actions against Iraqi forces in the center of the city. So that has been the strategy. I do not know how much of the city right now, if any, the British forces control. I do not know that.

HARRIS: Interesting.

BOETTCHER: But I know they have methodically been moving in slowly, the village, the suburbs, the outskirts, trying to win the hearts and minds of the people in that area.

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 April 1, 2003 - 11:21   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Joining us right now on the phone is our Mike Boettcher.
Mike, if you've been following our coverage, you may know Mike has been traveling with the special-ops forces who have been around that area. And as I understand it, Mike may be around Basra in a position to give us better information about what he's seeing right now.

Mike, are you there?

MIKE BOETTCHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I am, Leon.

What I can report is I'm on the outskirts of Basra. And never in my 23 years of covering wars have I ever seen that many flares fired at once. I would say at least 30. And there are more being fired, it appears, more on the south side of the city now. It's been continuing on now for about 10 to 15 minutes.

It's interesting, because night is when things start to get interesting here. As we showed you yesterday, psychological operations, special operations forces, use a deceptive tactic trying to fool the Iraqis into thinking that an attack on Basra is coming. They use the loud speakers. They fire flares. They fire guns from one tank to make it seem like a large attack is coming. I do not know if this is connected with that. I have no information on what is going on.

I can tell you there's been sporadic artillery fire today from both sides, but that is about as much as I can tell you right now, Leon. We're keeping an eye on the situation. It could be another deception. It could be the real thing. We don't know right now.

HARRIS: So you have seen this pattern play out before, but you say you've not seen this many flares fired up at one time before?

BOETTCHER: Never, never, in any circumstance have I ever seen a light show like that, and it has lit up the entire sky over Basra. It's now dark. All of the flares from my vantage point seem to be down or most of the them. But it was quite a show.

BOETTCHER: All right, Mike, stay right there.

HARRIS: All right, Mike, don't go away.

General Shepherd here in the studio's got more information for us. What do you have, general? GEN. DON SHEPHERD, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Something just occurred to me, Leon. As I remember, 1 April is the date of the new moon in this area. The new moon means it's black. Now, nightvision goggles are night enhancers. So if you have no moon up there, your nightvision goggles would not be useless, but they wouldn't be terribly effective. That may be one of the reasons for these illumination flares.

HARRIS: That's a very, good point, very good point.

Mike, you have heard talk of concern about the new moon down there with the forces you've been traveling with?

BOETTCHER: Well, special operations, the darker, the better. They don't like it when there's a lot of moonlight out there. Another flare has just been fired, but only one up right now. It appears it will be a busy night here.

But, no, so far as the special operations forces I'm with, the darker the better for them.

HARRIS: We're back to live pictures now, and as we see now as Mike just reported, one flare right now evident in the sky over Basra.

Mike, moments ago you may have heard Bill Hemmer reporting that as we've been saying for some time now, that British forces there believe they have control over the western half of the city. From what you've been seeing and hearing, is there any indication what we're seeing right now may be something to try to establish better control over different parts of the city right now?

BOETTCHER: Well, it's definitely the coalition intent to try to gradually push in from various parts of the city, not just the west, but from the east, north and south. The way Basra is set up is that on the western edge, for example. The western suburbs are primarily Shiite. And then along the river, the Sahalara (ph), the waterway, those are the areas that are basically controlled by the Baath Party and where the paramilitaries are.

And the coalition through, for example, the civil affairs teams of special operations forces trying to win the hearts and minds of the people on that belt by delivering food, by meeting them, and get them to support the coalition actions against Iraqi forces in the center of the city. So that has been the strategy. I do not know how much of the city right now, if any, the British forces control. I do not know that.

HARRIS: Interesting.

BOETTCHER: But I know they have methodically been moving in slowly, the village, the suburbs, the outskirts, trying to win the hearts and minds of the people in that area.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com