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CNN Live At Daybreak

U.S. Special Forces Assisting Kurds

Aired April 05, 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: All right. We want to head to northern Iraq right now, Daryn, and check out with Jane Arraf to see what's happening on that front in the battlefield.
Jane, good morning. What's happening from your vantage point?

JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Well, here in northern Iraq it's been more of a slow and steady march forward for U.S. forces working in conjunction with Kurdish forces. But on Friday we saw a spectacular example of that cooperation, of those high tech U.S. Special Forces using computers to guide in bombs with rugged Peshmergas, Kurdish fighters, whose name means "those who defy death" and what they did was retake appoint on the main road east to Mosul.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARRAF (voice-over): A few miles further to Mosul, Kurdish militia and their flags speeding to a town abandoned by Iraqi forces. After a day of fighting, the Iraqis were driven back five kilometers, about three miles, down the main road west towards Mosul from the Kurdish city of Erbil.

Soldiers were Kurdish. But the Special Forces calling in air strikes on Iraqi positions were American. As U.S. warplanes dropped bombs near the town, Kurdish fighters moved forward.

(on camera): It is a slow and steady battle going on here for control of the key bridge. It's a bridge over the river on the main road to Mosul. The Iraqis are firing artillery like that. In response the Americans are calling in air strikes. The Peshmerga are just down the road and the Iraqis have retreated, but they're still holding onto that bridge.

(voice-over): That blast turned out to be a rocket propelled grenade but there was plenty of artillery and mortar fire to come.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE).

ARRAF: Less than 20 minutes later, with Iraqi defenses pounded by the bombing, they no longer held the bridge over the Hazar (ph) River.

In this vehicle, the only Iraqi casualties we saw. Their military radio and guns indicating they were combatants. (on camera): It's still smoldering, this truck, with three Iraqi soldiers. It was either shelled or bombed. Now it's a small part of this battle for the bridge just behind us.

(voice-over): Other evidence of a hurried retreat amid the smoldering vehicles, a discarded gas mask, military documents, notebooks with verses from the Koran. Kurdish fighters planted their flag and left it waving in the smoke of the bombed-out Iraqi truck.

The village of Mangooba (ph) just 32 kilometers, about 23 miles from Mosul, is now in Kurdish hands.

One Kurdish soldier did the honors of tearing up a poster of Saddam Hussein -- not just the poster but the frame and cardboard backing as well. They've been waiting a long time.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ARRAF: And in an example, Carol, of the twists and turns that this war is taking in the north, we're now hearing from some Kurdish fighters that they may actually have retreated from that bridge, that the Iraqis are still lobbing artillery and mortar and other weapons at the -- at the Kurdish forces. Other Kurdish officials say it's not clear what's happening there. We'll just have to wait a while to see if that bridge remains in Kurdish hands -- Carol.

COSTELLO: I understand. Jane Arraf, you stay safe there. We appreciate the update. We appreciate it very much.

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 5, 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: All right. We want to head to northern Iraq right now, Daryn, and check out with Jane Arraf to see what's happening on that front in the battlefield.
Jane, good morning. What's happening from your vantage point?

JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Well, here in northern Iraq it's been more of a slow and steady march forward for U.S. forces working in conjunction with Kurdish forces. But on Friday we saw a spectacular example of that cooperation, of those high tech U.S. Special Forces using computers to guide in bombs with rugged Peshmergas, Kurdish fighters, whose name means "those who defy death" and what they did was retake appoint on the main road east to Mosul.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARRAF (voice-over): A few miles further to Mosul, Kurdish militia and their flags speeding to a town abandoned by Iraqi forces. After a day of fighting, the Iraqis were driven back five kilometers, about three miles, down the main road west towards Mosul from the Kurdish city of Erbil.

Soldiers were Kurdish. But the Special Forces calling in air strikes on Iraqi positions were American. As U.S. warplanes dropped bombs near the town, Kurdish fighters moved forward.

(on camera): It is a slow and steady battle going on here for control of the key bridge. It's a bridge over the river on the main road to Mosul. The Iraqis are firing artillery like that. In response the Americans are calling in air strikes. The Peshmerga are just down the road and the Iraqis have retreated, but they're still holding onto that bridge.

(voice-over): That blast turned out to be a rocket propelled grenade but there was plenty of artillery and mortar fire to come.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE).

ARRAF: Less than 20 minutes later, with Iraqi defenses pounded by the bombing, they no longer held the bridge over the Hazar (ph) River.

In this vehicle, the only Iraqi casualties we saw. Their military radio and guns indicating they were combatants. (on camera): It's still smoldering, this truck, with three Iraqi soldiers. It was either shelled or bombed. Now it's a small part of this battle for the bridge just behind us.

(voice-over): Other evidence of a hurried retreat amid the smoldering vehicles, a discarded gas mask, military documents, notebooks with verses from the Koran. Kurdish fighters planted their flag and left it waving in the smoke of the bombed-out Iraqi truck.

The village of Mangooba (ph) just 32 kilometers, about 23 miles from Mosul, is now in Kurdish hands.

One Kurdish soldier did the honors of tearing up a poster of Saddam Hussein -- not just the poster but the frame and cardboard backing as well. They've been waiting a long time.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ARRAF: And in an example, Carol, of the twists and turns that this war is taking in the north, we're now hearing from some Kurdish fighters that they may actually have retreated from that bridge, that the Iraqis are still lobbing artillery and mortar and other weapons at the -- at the Kurdish forces. Other Kurdish officials say it's not clear what's happening there. We'll just have to wait a while to see if that bridge remains in Kurdish hands -- Carol.

COSTELLO: I understand. Jane Arraf, you stay safe there. We appreciate the update. We appreciate it very much.

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