Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live At Daybreak

War in Iraq: Pentagon Update

Aired April 04, 2003 - 05:42   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Want to head to the Pentagon now to check on the battle plan, check in with our friend, our colleague, Chris Plante.
And there was early word yesterday that the military strategy might be to isolate Baghdad, not exactly occupy it. Can you get into more of that for us this morning?

CHRIS PLANTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, well that's what we're hearing is that the plan for the airport is to make that into a base of operations where they can flow troops in there. They can move helicopters in there, attack helicopters, and special operations helicopters, about 12 miles from the city center -- excuse me -- city center in Baghdad.

And the expectation, based on conversations I've been having with people, is that they will run an operation out of there. They will make that their sort of home base. It's a lot of acres, it gives them a lot of flexibility, a lot of different capabilities come into the -- come into play there. But they will -- I am told you shouldn't expect to see sort of a George Patton tank assault on the city of Baghdad. There is no intention to go in and fight house to house and street to street to ferret out the Saddam Hussein loyalists at this point.

What we've seen the British doing in Basra, for example, where they've set up a camp outside of the city and made forays into the city on a small scale to look for the Fedayeen people -- pardon me -- the Fedayeen people and deal with the situation that way rather than with a full on military assault of the city. That, of course, is the -- is the situation that is most dreaded by commanders. It's a situation that leads to the most casualties, most -- both of U.S. forces and of civilians in the Iraqi capital. So it's not something that they are looking to do.

The objective, they say, is to fold up the regime, to get Saddam Hussein and his inner circle to leave, to collapse, to surrender, not necessarily to go in and, you know, have to pull them out like police officers going house to house. But the base outside of town, the airport, which officially is called Saddam International Airport, but the U.S. military has already changed its name to Baghdad International Airport taking Saddam's name away from it. So as soon as that is secured and fighting continues, they're going to make that their base for hopping in and out of the city. But again, don't expect to see a major ground assault into downtown Baghdad -- Carol.

COSTELLO: I wanted to ask you about the electricity to Baghdad, because it was knocked out last night, and do you know anything more about that?

PLANTE: Well the U.S. military has said very carefully that they did not target the power grid. They did not say specifically that they were not responsible for knocking out the power grid in that part of town, they just said that they had not targeted it.

They certainly have the capability to do that. There are cruise missiles, for example, that drop carbon fiber strips onto power lines, and it can short out an electrical grid on part of a city or all of a city if -- you know as they choose to do, basically. But there are indications also that the Baghdad government may have shut down the electricity in part of the city for reasons of propaganda perhaps or if they feel that resistance might rise up in that area. It's not exactly clear. It's one of those murky situations, and there are many of those -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Certainly so. Chris Plante, live from the Pentagon, thanks.

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 4, 2003 - 05:42   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Want to head to the Pentagon now to check on the battle plan, check in with our friend, our colleague, Chris Plante.
And there was early word yesterday that the military strategy might be to isolate Baghdad, not exactly occupy it. Can you get into more of that for us this morning?

CHRIS PLANTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, well that's what we're hearing is that the plan for the airport is to make that into a base of operations where they can flow troops in there. They can move helicopters in there, attack helicopters, and special operations helicopters, about 12 miles from the city center -- excuse me -- city center in Baghdad.

And the expectation, based on conversations I've been having with people, is that they will run an operation out of there. They will make that their sort of home base. It's a lot of acres, it gives them a lot of flexibility, a lot of different capabilities come into the -- come into play there. But they will -- I am told you shouldn't expect to see sort of a George Patton tank assault on the city of Baghdad. There is no intention to go in and fight house to house and street to street to ferret out the Saddam Hussein loyalists at this point.

What we've seen the British doing in Basra, for example, where they've set up a camp outside of the city and made forays into the city on a small scale to look for the Fedayeen people -- pardon me -- the Fedayeen people and deal with the situation that way rather than with a full on military assault of the city. That, of course, is the -- is the situation that is most dreaded by commanders. It's a situation that leads to the most casualties, most -- both of U.S. forces and of civilians in the Iraqi capital. So it's not something that they are looking to do.

The objective, they say, is to fold up the regime, to get Saddam Hussein and his inner circle to leave, to collapse, to surrender, not necessarily to go in and, you know, have to pull them out like police officers going house to house. But the base outside of town, the airport, which officially is called Saddam International Airport, but the U.S. military has already changed its name to Baghdad International Airport taking Saddam's name away from it. So as soon as that is secured and fighting continues, they're going to make that their base for hopping in and out of the city. But again, don't expect to see a major ground assault into downtown Baghdad -- Carol.

COSTELLO: I wanted to ask you about the electricity to Baghdad, because it was knocked out last night, and do you know anything more about that?

PLANTE: Well the U.S. military has said very carefully that they did not target the power grid. They did not say specifically that they were not responsible for knocking out the power grid in that part of town, they just said that they had not targeted it.

They certainly have the capability to do that. There are cruise missiles, for example, that drop carbon fiber strips onto power lines, and it can short out an electrical grid on part of a city or all of a city if -- you know as they choose to do, basically. But there are indications also that the Baghdad government may have shut down the electricity in part of the city for reasons of propaganda perhaps or if they feel that resistance might rise up in that area. It's not exactly clear. It's one of those murky situations, and there are many of those -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Certainly so. Chris Plante, live from the Pentagon, thanks.

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