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American Morning

War in Iraq: War Under Way

Aired April 05, 2003 - 10:00   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.


LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Leon Harris here in the CNN newsroom. Our coverage of the war in Iraq continues in just a moment, but first here's what's happening at this hour.
CENTCOM says coalition aircraft struck the residence of Chemical Ali overnight. He is Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's cousin, and he's also notorious for ordering Iraqi forces to use chemical weapons on Kurds in northern Iraq back in 1988. The U.S. military says the strike was part of an ongoing effort to end Saddam Hussein's regime.

The Pentagon is getting initial reports of U.S. casualties during the advance into Baghdad overnight. Units of the Army's 3rd Infantry have been encountering sporadic but fierce resistances, rolling into the capital. We'll have more on this coming up in just a moment, so stay with us.

And there are some conflicting reports out this morning, as well, about whether Baghdad Airport was the target of a suicide bombing. A Marine gunnery sergeant tells Reuters that a suicide bomber attacked U.S. soldiers there, but a senior commander in the Gulf says that he is unaware of any such attack.

U.S. Marines are reportedly investigating a site southeast of Baghdad that is suspected to contain chemical weapons. Reuters says Marines are digging up a courtyard at a school for girls. The Marines say they were tipped off about it by a former member of the Iraqi Special Forces.

U.S. soldiers have reportedly taken the headquarters of the Republican Guard's Medina Division southeast of Baghdad. The Associated Press says that troops took over that site unopposed. The building, damaged in coalition air strikes, was said to have been abandoned.

Now, coming up here on the network, CENTCOM says the fight is far from over, but as we've been reporting here, the U.S. forces are now well inside Baghdad. We'll talk about military strategy coming up.

And President Bush at Camp David, watching events unfold from the sidelines. We'll have a live update coming from the White House.

Plus, we'll tell you more about Washington's so-called war of words.

All that and much more ahead, as our coverage of the war in Iraq continues right now. BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Leon, thanks.

I'm Bill Hemmer. Good afternoon again from Kuwait City. Coming up on nightfall right now.

Earlier today American forces tested the defenses inside Baghdad, found some of them still hostile. Reports of exactly where the U.S. went a bit confusing right now, but CENTCOM is saying U.S. forces passed through part of the city's center. CENTCOM also saying this proves that coalition forces can, and I'm quoting now, "move into Baghdad at the time and place of their choosing, including daytime."

Some resistance though; in parts, it was strong too. Tanks of the 7th Calvary have taken out 20 Iraqi tanks. And Marines were involved in hand-to-hand combat as they pushed up from the southeastern suburbs.

Barbara Starr at the Pentagon now reporting there were casualties and casualties no both sides.

Walter Rodgers, again with the 7th Calvary, says he has heard certain intelligence reports that Ba'ath Party officials are fleeing Baghdad in droves. He says they're mixing in with convoys of civilians and heading toward Syria.

Want to check in again with the CNN Center, Heidi Collins, my colleague, again today on Saturday.

Heidi, good morning.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Bill. We are going to get a check now of some of the other war developments.

With coalition forces rolling into what CENTCOM calls the heart of Baghdad, CNN's Walter Rodgers reports that Army commanders believe they have the Iraqis on their heels, and say they're determined to keep the pressure on.

Our Martin Savidge with the 7th Marines southeast of Baghdad says the unit is entering Baghdad's other suburbs. Earlier they were called in to help after the 5th Marines were hit with small-arms fire, suffering some casualties there.

U.S. CENTCOM confirms this morning that Saddam Hussein's cousin, the man known as Chemical Ali, was in the hospital where Jessica Lynch was held, but he wasn't there on the night of the raid in which she was rescued.

For now, we are going to send it back to Bill. Bill?

HEMMER: All right, Heidi, thank you.

Listen, quickly want to get to Barbara Starr and talk more about the word out from Basra.

Chemical Ali apparently targeted in an air strike overnight. Barbara, what's happening, and what are they saying now?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Bill.

Well, U.S. Central Command now confirming that two aircraft, two coalition aircraft dropped laser-guided munitions on the home of Chemical Ali in the city of Basra over night. There is no word yet on whether he was there and any of the results of the strike against him. His name really, of course, being Al Hassan al-Majid and the man known to have ordered the chemical attacks against the Kurds in northern Iraq.

He has been a key target for the coalition. Indeed, when those commandos rescued Jessica Lynch from the hospital, he was known to be in the area. There is a commando unit, a special operations unit specifically formed, very secret in this coalition, to specifically hunt down and try and catch some of the top leadership, Chemical Ali being at the top of their list. So we expect to hear more about that.

But there is other news. The head of the Air Force's component for this operation has just concluded a press briefing and spoken a great deal about a new strategy that has been begun this morning over Baghdad.

General Michael Mosley (ph) has told reporters, as of this morning, coalition aircraft are flying what he calls urban-combat air support missions 24/7 over Baghdad. Now, aircraft are being reloaded with munitions specifically designed to hit Special Republican Guard security services and other mobile enemy forces in Baghdad. Now that U.S. forces have entered the city, this air cover will be provided to them 24/7.

There will also be forward air controllers, airborne over Baghdad, specifically to point out the targets to the aircraft. All of this now an effort to protect U.S. forces, as they move through Baghdad, from any attacks.

Bill?

HEMMER: More on that a bit later. Barbara Starr, thanks.

Heidi, again, at the CNN Center.

COLLINS: All right, Bill, thank you.

Earlier we were talking about some pictures of a coalition raid on the presidential -- or at one of the palaces, I should say, of Saddam Hussein's in Baghdad. We are just now getting some more pictures of that that we would like to show you.

Apparently this video is of Republican Guard barracks which are next to an unidentified palace. You see all of the action happening there. Not sure which palace this is, but we can tell you that it did happen a couple of hours ago. So we will be keeping our eye on that for you.

In the meantime, the presidential radio address is set to begin right now.

(BEGIN AUDIOTAPE)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Good morning.

American and coalition forces are steadily advancing against the regime of Saddam Hussein. With each new village they liberate, our forces are learning more about the atrocities of that regime and the deep fear the dictator has instilled in the Iraqi people. Yet no crime of this dying regime will divert us from our mission. We will not stop until Iraq is free.

This week, coalition forces have been clearing southern cities and towns of Saddam's death squads and enforcers. Our Special Forces and Army paratroopers, working with Kurdish militia, have opened a northern front against the enemy.

In the town of An Najaf, members of our 101st Airborne Division have been welcomed as liberators. At An Nasiriyah, Marines continue to eliminate the enemy, while other Army and Marine units have closed in on Baghdad. From the skies above, coalition aircraft and cruise missiles are removing hundreds of military targets from the map.

As the vise tightens on the Iraqi regime, some of our enemies have chosen to fill their final days with acts of cowardice and murder. In combat, Saddam's thugs shield themselves with women and children. They have killed Iraqi citizens who welcome coalition troops, and they have forced other Iraqis into battle by threatening to torture or kill their families. They have executed prisoners of war, waged attacks under the white flag of truce, and concealed combat forces in civilian neighborhoods, schools, hospitals and mosques.

In this war, the Iraqi regime is terrorizing its own citizens, doing everything possible to maximize Iraqi civilian casualties, and then to exploit the deaths they have caused for propaganda. These are war criminals, and they'll be treated as war criminals.

In stark contrast, the citizens of Iraq are coming to know what kind of people we have sent to liberate them. American forces and our allies are treating innocent civilians with kindness and showing proper respect to the soldiers who surrender. The people of the United States are proud of the honorable conduct of our military, and I am proud to lead such brave and decent Americans.

In recent days, we have also brought food and water and medicine to the Iraqi people. We're delivering emergency rations to the hungry. Right now, cargo ships are bound for Iraq, carrying wheat from Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas -- enough to feed 4.5 million Iraqis for one month. Additional food, supplied by the World Food Programme, is moving by truck convoy across the Turkish border into northern Iraq.

We are bringing aid to the long suffering people of Iraq, and we are bringing something more: We are bringing hope. One Iraqi, when the coalition troops arrived, described the emotions of his village: They were waiting for you, he said, and all the people believe that America and Britain have come to liberate them, not to conquer.

Village by village, city by city, liberation is coming. The people of Iraq have my pledge: Our fighting forces will press on until their oppressors are gone and their whole country is free.

By our actions in this war, we serve a great and just cause. Free nations will not sit and wait, leaving enemies free to plot another September the 11th -- this time, perhaps, with chemical, biological or nuclear terror. We'll remove weapons of mass destruction from the hands of mass murderers.

And by defending our own security, we are ridding the people of Iraq from one of the cruelest regimes on Earth. The United States and our allies pledged to act if the dictator did not disarm. The regime in Iraq is now learning that we keep our word.

Thank you for listening.

(END AUDIOTAPE)

COLLINS: Once again, the presidential radio address.

We have John King now standing by, our senior White House correspondent, to tell us more about that.

What do you make of that, John?

JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Heidi, if you were expecting any comments from the president on the dramatic developments we have seen inside Baghdad, including those U.S. troops moving about in recent hours, you of course will be disappointed. The president recorded this radio address yesterday here at the White House before heading up to Camp David for the weekend.

In it, though, the president once again defending his reasons for the war. Number one, of course, he says Iraq has weapons of mass destruction. But more and more, we're hearing from the president about liberating the people of Iraq from a brutal regime.

And the president also emphasizing that after some hitches at the beginning of the war, humanitarian efforts now well under way, food flowing into Iraq.

And the president making the case that, at this weekend, very much different picture than last weekend. More and more, Mr. Bush says, coalition troops are being greeted by the Iraqi people and being welcomed by the Iraqi people. The president saying that is because the people of Iraq can be increasingly confident that when this war is over, Saddam Hussein and his regime will no longer be in power.

Heidi?

COLLINS: John, incidentally, we just want to mention what we're looking at here on the screen along with you. The Republican Guard barracks next to an unidentified palace. This happened just a couple of hours ago, but we now know that it is the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division in southwest Baghdad.

This is a coalition raid on a palace there in Baghdad. Once again, lots of palaces there; not sure which one, but we're watching it for you. Just wanted to make sure we point out what that is.

John, are you still with us? I just want to ask you a quick question.

KING: Sure.

COLLINS: As far as what the White House is saying about troop movement -- again, we know that the president did not comment because this was a taped address. But it seems now like, obviously from the pictures we're seeing behind you, the pace has stepped up. Has there been any more comment from where you are about how they feel about the pace of this war at this time?

KING: In terms of the specifics of any operational details, this White House is very quick to refer us to the Pentagon. But we do know the president was updated by his national security team in the 8 o'clock hour this morning. Mr. Bush participating through a secure video-conference link up at Camp David. So he has been briefed on the latest details.

And what senior officials here have been telling us is, look for more and more, not only from a military perspective but from a psychological perspective, for the U.S. troops to try to show, A, the regime but also the people of Baghdad that their regime is no longer in power. That yes, there will be some skirmishes and perhaps even some very tough battles in the days to come, but by sending troops into Baghdad, it is an unmistakable message that the U.S. forces are knocking at the door.

COLLINS: That's right (inaudible). John King, from the White House this morning.

And we might be seeing some of those fierce battles right now on the screen. Once again, want to remind you what we're looking at. The U.S. 3rd Infantry Division in southwest Baghdad. This is a raid on a palace there, a coalition raid I should say. The Republican Guard barracks, which are right next to an unidentified palace. We are trying to figure out which palace this is. There are very, very many of them, and they are very large. So this may be going on for a little while.

We're going to send it back to Bill now in Kuwait. Bill?

HEMMER: Heidi, watching that videotape by way of CNN International here in Kuwait City, it appeared quite fierce around that presidential palace, the location that you're talking about.

And CENTCOM warned us, again, earlier today, and quoting now, "The fight is far from over. Operations will continue." And that's clear from the videotape.

Want to get you to Baghdad quickly, by way of telephone. Roland Huguenin-Benjamin is with the International Committee for the Red Cross. We have spoken with this gentleman just about every day right now by way of telephone.

Good evening to you, sir. I know it's about -- a bit past 7 o'clock there local time.

Before I talk about your mission in Baghdad today, can you tell us what you have seen and observed there in the capital city?

ROLAND HUGUENIN-BENJAMIN, INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE FOR THE RED CROSS: Well, we have heard in the distance a lot of exchange of fire, definitely over the past night and throughout most of the day. It's been much more quiet now for a few hours in the late afternoon, like a lull in the fighting.

But we had a chance in the morning to go to the main hospital, which is called (inaudible). And we found that there has been a steady flow in of hundreds of casualties over the night and through into the day. Casualties -- I mean, wounded had to be sent over, dispatched to other hospitals, because the (inaudible) was just totally overwhelmed by the sheer number of people coming in.

HEMMER: Can you give us a better idea about the number, sir?

HUGUENIN-BENJAMIN: It's very difficult because it went on throughout the night and the day, but something on an average of 100 per hour practically until midday today. And they were sent over to other hospitals for treatment, because it just was not possible to take...

HEMMER: And were these civilians, or were...

(CROSSTALK)

HUGUENIN-BENJAMIN: It was a mixture. There were military people and some civilians along. But definitely there were people who had been wounded during the fighting that had been going on through the night in the region and around the airport and...

(CROSSTALK)

HEMMER: I apologize for the interruption. A bit of a delay here.

Do you know in which part of the city these people came from?

HUGUENIN-BENJAMIN: Well, they all came from the direction where this fighting has been going on, basically from the airport and coming out. That's probably the worst (ph) region where wounding were caused last night and during the day today.

We definitely hope that it will be possible to avoid an excess of civilian casualties, but we all the know of the constraints of fighting going on in residential areas and very close to the hospital. We saw one car that had been hit directly by whatever projectile. We were not in a position to judge whatever had happened. But it was just a very distressing view of remnants of human bodies just in one car, totally destroyed. There was absolutely nothing that could be rescued from that.

And it was within region of the hospital itself, and we were very, very close. I don't know at all what happened there, but obviously a direct hit by whatever. And this was a civilian car.

So we very much hope that whatever is up to happen in the coming days, not too many civilians will come into crossfire.

HEMMER: We appreciate your account, and we certainly appreciate you checking back in with us.

From the Red Cross, Roland Huguenin-Benjamin is in Baghdad. He's been there for weeks right now, and he checks in with us just about every day here at CNN.

In the meantime, though, Walt Rodgers has popped up yet again. He is live west of the airport, I believe, at last check.

Walt, what's happening there? We've seen some dramatic videotape. Perhaps you can take us through it. What happened there?

WALTER RODGERS, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Bill, what we are hearing from the U.S. Army commanders in this theater of operations is a very upbeat message, upbeat in the sense that one senior officer in the United States Army was quoted as saying, "We have the Iraqis rocking backwards on their heels."

This senior officer went on to say, "We just need to keep the pressure on for a few more days." The very clear implication of his remarks is that there is a time line, and that the military commanders believe the Iraqi resistance is crumbling and will continue to crumble, especially when the U.S. Army 2nd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, rolled at will through some sections of Baghdad today, right into the city itself, well into the city limits, and did a tour through. The U.S. Army's 2nd Brigade, 3rd Infantry, literally rolling on tanks through, first as a reconnaissance unit, then as literally as a show of force.

And indeed, they swept through a southern third of the city, perhaps a southern quarter of the city of Baghdad, 6 million people. And then came back out again just simply to say, "We are here, and if there's anything left of the Ba'athist regime of Saddam Hussein," the message the Army was sending that, "we can flex our muscles in your capital anytime you want."

One very important thing, we have -- we continue to receive reports of a mass exodus of Iraqi party officials, Ba'athist party officials and Republican Guard officers, trying to flee west of the city, going up perhaps in the direction of Syria. We have heard that they have been carrying suitcases of money. The Army has discovered that in some fleeing vehicles over the past few days.

Bill? HEMMER: Yes, Walt, listen, hang with us a second here. Curious to know what you're finding out about the people living in Baghdad may or many not know about the U.S. presence there. Have you heard anything by way of the U.S. military to account for what people living in Baghdad now know about the U.S. presence nearby?

RODGERS: Well, I was asked that question earlier about the kind of reception, and not having been with the 2nd Brigade at that point, I can't tell you the kind of reception they got except when they were fired upon. And there was some fairly substantial and fierce resistance, albeit small-arms fire, nothing the equal of a tank. But they got a hostile reception as they moved into some areas of the city, at least from some Baghdad residents or at least Iraqi Army soldiers, remnants of perhaps the Republican Guard.

Because there were times when the U.S. Army, as it rolled through Baghdad today, received very heavy fire. For many young soldiers, this was their first baptism under fire. There were 20-millimeter anti-aircraft shells bursting right above their heads. There were some wounded American soldiers.

Again, they were being sniped at by small-arms fire, again, AK- 47s. And the Iraqis fired rocket-propelled grenades at them. Having been under fire for continuously almost two weeks now, I can tell you that's a little unnerving.

So in some respects, many Iraqis probably ignored the Americans coming through, but there was a contingent there which was hostile. And some of the areas outside Baghdad that we've been in today have been rather hostile as well. That is to say, 7th Calvary knocked out five tanks today, came under fire again. There are elements, remnants of Iraqi army units which are fighting.

Bill?

HEMMER: Walt, thanks.

Walt Rodgers, 7th Calvary, west of the airport, Baghdad International Airport.

We now know CENTCOM says they could have one runway, at least one runway, functioning some time soon. The definition of that, though, is not clear.

Heidi, again, at the CNN Center.

COLLINS: Thank you, Bill.

Still to come, what is next for U.S. troops now that a column has moved into Baghdad? We'll get military analysis just ahead. Don't go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: We have certainly seen quite a bit of action this morning in Baghdad, and an awful lot happened over night as well. We're going to get you caught up now. Let's recap the latest war developments.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS (voice-over): 11:54 p.m. eastern. CNN's Walter Rodgers reports the 2nd Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division now has tanks deep within the city of Baghdad. He says small units of Iraqis are firing anti-aircraft guns at the tanks.

1:06 a.m. From CNN's Kathleen Coke at the Pentagon, officials have confirmed eight bodies found during Wednesday's raid to rescue prisoner of war Jessica Lynch were U.S. soldiers previously listed as missing in action.

2:06 a.m. CNN's Rym Brahimi reports sources in Baghdad say a lot of people are starting to leave the city after a heavy round of bombing overnight. Arab TV networks show no sign of unusual activity in central Baghdad.

2:30 a.m. CNN's Walter Rodgers reports the 3rd Squadron, 7th Calvary, has destroyed more Iraqi tanks west of Baghdad. The 3-7th is on a reconnaissance mission to make sure Iraqis don't try to retake positions lost after a major tank battle yesterday.

2:35 a.m. Navy Captain Frank Thorpe (ph) tells CNN troops are rolling through the heart of Baghdad, moving forward into new areas as opportunities come up. He says troops are encountering sporadic resistance.

4:35 a.m. Despite U.S. military reports to the contrary, Iraq's information minister says the Republican Guard is controlling Baghdad's International Airport and is dealing with remnants of U.S. forces.

5:53 a.m. CNN's Ryan Chilcote reports members of the 101st Airborne have found a large weapons cache in a high school near Karbala.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: And now that the U.S. troops are inside Baghdad, what happens next? We are joined now from Denver by Retired Air Force Colonel Mike Turner.

Good morning once again, Colonel Turner.

COL. MICHAEL TURNER (RET.), USAF: Good morning.

COLLINS: We've been looking at some video this morning, pretty incredible stuff. It is the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division southwest of Baghdad. We're getting a look at it again now. You see them on top of their tanks there, heading into the Republican Guard barracks. This apparently the mission, not so much involved with the palace at this point that is apparently near by, but certainly these barracks.

What do you make of it? TURNER: Well, what you will begin to see now as the battle moves into Baghdad, particularly as it becomes apparent at this point that the command and control structure is clearly fractured and fragmented and these isolated military units are probably in poor communications, that the 3rd Infantry Division and the Marines, as they move into the city, will begin to take down these isolated pockets of resistance. These can be fierce fights. They can be very dangerous.

It was interesting to see in an earlier story that you carried about the urban close air support. That's a mission that I'm not familiar with, and it didn't exist 12 years ago. So we'll have to see how that develops.

But they'll have to isolate these severe pockets of resistance and take them down a step at a time. I'm sure there's a very deliberate and patient plan in this process.

It appears like everything is going very well right now and moving rather rapidly, particularly with the raid through the center of the city yesterday or earlier today.

COLLINS: On that same point, let's talk a little bit, if we could, about the troops and where they are. Can you bring us to speed, sort of geographically what we'd be seeing here?

TURNER: Well, it appears as though we've got essentially a pincer movement of some sort going on. We've got the 3rd Infantry Division moving in from Karbala and from the south west. We have the Marines moving in from the east. And they obviously have looked at the routes that are most advantageous to them and safest for U.S. troops, also which probably present the least threat to civilian populations.

And they will begin to pursue those, and then branch out from those, I'm sure, isolating military units.

And I really think the critical part of this battle, which may have already been passed -- we're beginning to see real signs of this now -- is we need to convince the Iraqi forces that this is a hopeless battle at this point. And whatever they're hearing from their command and control structure, if anything, they need to begin to fear us more than they fear their internal structure.

And that should begin to have a severe psychological effect. And we could begin to see a cascading effect of the psychological breakdown of the defenses of the city. At least we hope that's what happens.

COLLINS: Two more things just real quickly. The freedom fighters, we're hearing a little bit now about them actually getting on board and cooperating with the coalition forces, I believe coming down from the north.

We've been talking a lot about coming up from the south. What's your take on coming in from the north as well?

TURNER: Well, the Kurds have been looking to do this for many, many years. This is great news.

I flew over Mosul and Irbil back in the early '90s, and there was a line of demarcation where the Kurds were protected and didn't move. I'm sure they've been waiting for a very long time for precisely what's going on right now.

And I think that's very heartening for the coalition, that we're bringing in some of the indigenous forces and indigenous groups of people and fighters to join us in this effort. And I think that's great.

And you'll begin to see that, the command and control structure in Mosul begin to collapse now, and get a pretty fragmented country.

COLLINS: All right, very good. U.S. Air Force Retired Colonel Mike Turner from Denver this morning, thanks so much.

TURNER: Thank you, Heidi.

COLLINS: And we send it back to Bill.

HEMMER: Heidi, one thing we're monitoring right now, the Al- Jazeera Arab language network, they are conducting another interview with the information minister, Mohammed Said Sahaf. It started a few moments ago. Let's dip in and listen now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MOHAMMED SAID AL-SAHAF, IRAQI INFORMATION MINISTER (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): ... so that they continue in this dirty aggression, their dirty invasion. I wanted to clarify that. And I hope that Al- Jazeera is aware of those -- deceit of this enemy.

QUESTION (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Mr. Minister, you said this is the area of Abu Ghraib. You said that you let them retreat -- caused them to retreat to it.

AL-SAHAF (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Yes, we pushed them. We got them out of the airport, and we pushed them south to Abu Ghraib.

Those pictures, I think they were early. I think they took these when first thing after they went into the area or after they retreated (ph). And to cover their defeat, they're trying to show these pictures.

And they said these were the outskirts of Baghdad so that they can that fighting is in Baghdad. This is baseless, this is truthless. And you have the correspondents of Al-Jazeera. We doubled your correspondents in Baghdad. So please check that with your correspondents.

QUESTION (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Can we ask you to clarify the situation in Baghdad Airport? You know that the spokespersons -- the American spokespersons, they talked about the reclaiming, regaining control over the airport. So just to remind you, we took this from the news -- from the media source in the world. AL-SAHAF (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Please, this is a lie. The fact that they say they reclaimed control is a lie. They depend a lot in this aggression on deceiving the world opinion. And before world opinion, which is something they don't respect, their objective is to -- their main objective is to deceive the American public opinion so that they don't get restless and go revolt against them very quickly.

These pictures have nothing to do with what happened last evening or today. We kicked them out. We pulverized them, defeated them in the outside of the airport to the more open area in Abu Ghraib, and we surrounded them in Abu Ghraib.

These pictures are not the outskirts of Baghdad. I repeat, these pictures have nothing to do with the city of Baghdad. These are far from Baghdad, at least 30, 40 kilometers away from Baghdad.

From what I saw, from the glimpse I saw, these were a group of houses that are a residential area, maybe related to something. But Abu Ghraib is full of houses similar to that. So this is an area that is about 35 to 40 kilometers away from Baghdad. This is not the outskirts of Baghdad.

This show of fighting they displayed in this picture that you showed without scrutinizing, did you see there was a building on fire, and they were going in a Hollywood fashion to show as if they were in the outskirts of Baghdad.

QUESTION (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Let's remind you, Mr. Minister, that we did not get them directly from anybody, but they were on the news media.

AL-SAHAF (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): But let me ask you here, who are these news agencies?

QUESTION (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): The Associated Press, Mr. Minister. That was the source for these pictures.

AL-SAHAF (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Now, you and I are going to go ask the Associated Press what are the pictures now that would truly reflect the situation. This is another issue -- what we will give you, we will supply you with pictures.

I want to correct to you. These are not the outskirts of Baghdad.

QUESTION (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Mr. Minister, are there any fighting operations with the enemy in the area of Abu Ghraib?

AL-SAHAF (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Yes, there is a continuous fighting, and we're hitting them with all of the weapons in Abu Ghraib.

QUESTION (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Do you have so far any figures about the losses of the battles over the night and today?

AL-SAHAF (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Not yet, but they killed off them as we declared in the statement of the armed forces -- they number in hundreds. And what we say in our statements is accurate, and we commit to it, we stand by it.

For your information, we took all of the correspondents, including the Al-Jazeera's, we took them in around -- all around Baghdad, and please ask them. We told them the area of Baghdad Airport is still unsafe because they still hit it with projectiles from their artillery. Other than that, all of the areas were visited by the correspondents.

QUESTION (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Mr. Minister, maybe it is not clear yet to everybody the nature of the nonconventional operation that you talked about that and that may have resulted with what's happened in the airport.

AL-SAHAF (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Yes, we indicated that there was one operation, and this made it to the news media. One of the martyrdom fighters had a very brilliant operation. It is very innovative. And after we finish defeating all of those animals, we will disclose that with facts and figures and pictures.

QUESTION (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): There is some news about bombardments by the Americans to Arab volunteers close to Kut and hundreds were killed. How true is this?

AL-SAHAF (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): That is untrue. I think they are consternated because of the volunteers. And they're trying their best to propagate misinformation through lies and claims.

There is no camp in that area. They mentioned Kut specifically because their defeat in Kut was -- when we publish the details, it will be a shining picture of how Americans can be defeated.

QUESTION (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): So there was no bombardment on any other camp, any other area other than Kut?

AL-SAHAF (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): There were no camps. I know that they attacked a bus on the way between Amman and Baghdad, and that bus was transporting some volunteers. And some of them were killed as martyrs, and some others were, I think, arrested.

QUESTION (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Mr. Minister, you talked in the press conference maybe about some air drops by the Americans, maybe at areas close to Baghdad. Could you tell us what was the outcome of such air drops?

AL-SAHAF (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Yes, I talked about one air drop. I said in the south of Zafwaniya (ph), about 20 kilometers south of there, a small air drop. And it was chased, and some were killed, and some fled. That was a distractive -- airport of distraction to take our attention away from the fighting at Baghdad Airport.

QUESTION (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): On the north front, how do you see the developments and the operations there and maybe the retreat of the Iraqis to positions that are more defensive?

AL-SAHAF (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): In the northern -- you ask about the northern front?

QUESTION (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Yes.

AL-SAHAF (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): No, it is a different account there. And some of the outposts for guarding posts, these issues I don't think that they are worthy of discussion. You can put a guarding post close to your house. Maybe you can take it out to the back fence. That shouldn't mean anything.

Those losers who are blustering about that in the media, that the Iraqis retreat -- and your correspondent, Hanfar (ph), is living by that. That northern region, when we calculate that -- there are other calculations -- and we're not concerned about that.

QUESTION (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): We would like to thank you very much.

And we stress here that those pictures that we showed were taken by Associated Press. The minister of information denied that these pictures were from...

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HEMMER: That's Mohammed Said Sahaf, right now in a live interview with Al-Jazeera, the Arab language network, being interviewed, it looks like, in the heart of Baghdad, the very place where Central Command earlier today said giant U.S. tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles had rolled through that part of the city.

Mohammed Said Sahaf has been the single voice for the Iraqi government time and time again over the past one week running. He says these claims about U.S. troops being on the streets of Baghdad are baseless, from earlier today. They say they are deceiving world opinion.

He says the videotape and the pictures he has seen thus far indicates the troops are on the outskirts of Baghdad. The quote was 30 to 40 kilometers, which translates to about 18 or 24 miles. That word from the information minister.

CNN's Nic Robertson has been in touch with sources on his own inside Baghdad. They tell him that a number of different locations in the heart of that city earlier today, U.S. troops were sighted in the central part near the university, also up along the Tigris River and some of the main bridges there in the central part of Baghdad.

So that is what they are saying right now. Again, from the Iraqi capital, CENTCOM with a completely different view of this. If you've been watching our coverage throughout the day, the war words do continue now between Washington and Baghdad.

Welcome back to our coverage. I'll Bill Hemmer, live again today here in Kuwait City. There are a number of things to talk about. My colleague, Heidi Collins, back at the CNN Center handling a lot of those duties for us as well.

Heidi, good morning there.

COLLINS: Good morning, Bill, once again. And that's right, we are going to get a check now of other war developments.

U.S. Army sources say Iraqi officials are fleeing Baghdad in droves. Ba'ath Party members and military officers are said to be mixing in with civilian convoys and heading to either Jordan or Syria.

CNN's Rula Amin reports from Jordan that Iraq is beefing up security in Baghdad. People in the capital tell her there's a greater resistance of Republican Guard troops and security checkpoints at every corner.

And this now from our Barbara Starr at the Pentagon. She reports the head of the U.S. Air Force component, General Michael Mosley (ph), says coalition aircraft are flying urban-combat support missions around the clock. They're protecting troops inside of Baghdad.

Those are some of the latest developments with the war. We are going to send it now back to Bill.

HEMMER: All right, listen, Heidi, thanks.

Our embedded reporters have been popping up throughout the morning here and the afternoon, evening here, local time in Iraq and Kuwait City. Alessio Vinci is embedded with the Marines. Checking in again today.

Alessio, the first time I'm heard from you today. If you can give us, as best you can, where you are and what's happening from your location?

ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, Bill.

Well, we're able to report that the Marine unit with whom we are is about 100 kilometers or about 60 miles south of Baghdad. The news that the other Marine units and the Army is, indeed, inside Baghdad has come through here, through mainly ourselves, as well as some other radio reports here on short wave radio.

Most of the Marines of course are glad about the fact the Marines are there. They're also beginning to talk about when they may be going home. But U.S. commanders here, as well, are trying to make sure that the Marines here understand the war is not over yet, that there is business as usual.

And, indeed, we have seen throughout the day the Marines of our unit here going on routine patrols here in central Iraq, in this location, in central Iraq, because of course we understand, the Marines understand that there are still some pockets of resistance throughout Iraq.

And of course, the job of the Marines here is to prevent those pockets of resistance to reorganize themselves, to regroup and eventually to mount an attack, not just here on the Marines in central Iraq, but perhaps even to drive up north and go to Baghdad and mount an attack from the rear.

So the U.S. commanders here are very much concentrating and telling the troops that, yes, it is good news for them that the troops are in Baghdad, but at the same time, they want to make sure the Marines understand the war is not over yet.

Bill?

HEMMER: Alessio, thanks.

Alessio Vinci, embedded with the U.S. Marines. Again, his location about 100 kilometers, about 60 miles south of Baghdad.

Yesterday we picked up things with a Riad Kahwaji. He's down in Qatar, Central Command. He works for Defense News, the Middle East bureau chief, and he's back with us again today.

Welcome back to us here at CNN, Riad. Good to have you here.

And I know yesterday you had a number of contacts inside Baghdad that you were talking to, residents of that city. Have you had contact today yet? And if so, what are they saying?

All right, we're going to try and establish this connection here. A bit of a delay here.

Riad, have you talked to people in Baghdad today? What are they telling you?

All right. That's a bit of a problem, when he can't hear us and we can't hear him. Riad Kahwaji, down at Central Command. We'll try and work this out, reestablish that connection.

In the meantime, let's get a break here. Back in a moment. You're watching CNN on a Saturday morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: There is quite a bit of buzz in Washington behind the scenes of the war about the battle between Donald Rumsfeld and Colin Powell. Is it just talk or is the war of words actually heating up?

Candy Crowley has that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is the subplot of nearly every story involving U.S. foreign policy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, how are you and Colin Powell getting along these days?

DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: Good.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CROWLEY: They are the Beltway's version of Hatfield and McCoy in an alpha male struggle, clearly laid out in the days just after 9/11.

Rumsfeld, the warrior civilian.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUMSFELD: And I'm inclined to think that -- if you're going to cock it, you throw it, and you don't talk about it a lot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CROWLEY: Powell, the diplomatic warrior.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: It isn't always blunt force military, although that is certainly an option. It may well be that the diplomatic efforts, political efforts, legal, financial, other efforts, may be just as effective against that kind of an enemy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CROWLEY: When war with Iraq became an open option, it began again. They differed first on whether, and then on how and when to topple Saddam. Now it's about what to do after he's gone.

A State Department source says a recent Rumsfeld memo -- "Rummy- grams" they call them at the State Department -- envisioned a major military role in aid distribution to Iraq. Powell fired off a response noting the various entities within the State Department that deal with aid distribution and report to Powell.

Friends of the secretary of state say friends of the secretary of defense are the ones stirring up that nasty discussion about how Powell has failed as a diplomat.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POWELL: Well, I don't believe I'm a symbol of failing U.S. diplomacy. So I don't accept your premise.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CROWLEY: And the Rumsfeld camp suspects the Powell camp of pushing those suggestions that Rumsfeld undermanned the war in Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUMSFELD: I don't think there's ever been a war where there haven't been people opining about this or speculating about that or second-guessing on something else.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CROWLEY: Neither of the principal has ever copped to the friction, at least to the intensity it is described by others.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POWELL: Do we have differences of opinion? Well, what fun would it be if you didn't have differences of opinion? How would it serve the president if all of us thought the same thing about every issue all the time?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CROWLEY: People who know them both say their differences are not personal.

Maybe so. It does look like Powell was only kidding the day he called Rumsfeld a show-off and pretended to take a swing at Rumsfeld's injured hand. But wouldn't you love to know the thousand words that went with this picture?

Candy Crowley, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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Aired April 5, 2003 - 10:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Leon Harris here in the CNN newsroom. Our coverage of the war in Iraq continues in just a moment, but first here's what's happening at this hour.
CENTCOM says coalition aircraft struck the residence of Chemical Ali overnight. He is Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's cousin, and he's also notorious for ordering Iraqi forces to use chemical weapons on Kurds in northern Iraq back in 1988. The U.S. military says the strike was part of an ongoing effort to end Saddam Hussein's regime.

The Pentagon is getting initial reports of U.S. casualties during the advance into Baghdad overnight. Units of the Army's 3rd Infantry have been encountering sporadic but fierce resistances, rolling into the capital. We'll have more on this coming up in just a moment, so stay with us.

And there are some conflicting reports out this morning, as well, about whether Baghdad Airport was the target of a suicide bombing. A Marine gunnery sergeant tells Reuters that a suicide bomber attacked U.S. soldiers there, but a senior commander in the Gulf says that he is unaware of any such attack.

U.S. Marines are reportedly investigating a site southeast of Baghdad that is suspected to contain chemical weapons. Reuters says Marines are digging up a courtyard at a school for girls. The Marines say they were tipped off about it by a former member of the Iraqi Special Forces.

U.S. soldiers have reportedly taken the headquarters of the Republican Guard's Medina Division southeast of Baghdad. The Associated Press says that troops took over that site unopposed. The building, damaged in coalition air strikes, was said to have been abandoned.

Now, coming up here on the network, CENTCOM says the fight is far from over, but as we've been reporting here, the U.S. forces are now well inside Baghdad. We'll talk about military strategy coming up.

And President Bush at Camp David, watching events unfold from the sidelines. We'll have a live update coming from the White House.

Plus, we'll tell you more about Washington's so-called war of words.

All that and much more ahead, as our coverage of the war in Iraq continues right now. BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Leon, thanks.

I'm Bill Hemmer. Good afternoon again from Kuwait City. Coming up on nightfall right now.

Earlier today American forces tested the defenses inside Baghdad, found some of them still hostile. Reports of exactly where the U.S. went a bit confusing right now, but CENTCOM is saying U.S. forces passed through part of the city's center. CENTCOM also saying this proves that coalition forces can, and I'm quoting now, "move into Baghdad at the time and place of their choosing, including daytime."

Some resistance though; in parts, it was strong too. Tanks of the 7th Calvary have taken out 20 Iraqi tanks. And Marines were involved in hand-to-hand combat as they pushed up from the southeastern suburbs.

Barbara Starr at the Pentagon now reporting there were casualties and casualties no both sides.

Walter Rodgers, again with the 7th Calvary, says he has heard certain intelligence reports that Ba'ath Party officials are fleeing Baghdad in droves. He says they're mixing in with convoys of civilians and heading toward Syria.

Want to check in again with the CNN Center, Heidi Collins, my colleague, again today on Saturday.

Heidi, good morning.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Bill. We are going to get a check now of some of the other war developments.

With coalition forces rolling into what CENTCOM calls the heart of Baghdad, CNN's Walter Rodgers reports that Army commanders believe they have the Iraqis on their heels, and say they're determined to keep the pressure on.

Our Martin Savidge with the 7th Marines southeast of Baghdad says the unit is entering Baghdad's other suburbs. Earlier they were called in to help after the 5th Marines were hit with small-arms fire, suffering some casualties there.

U.S. CENTCOM confirms this morning that Saddam Hussein's cousin, the man known as Chemical Ali, was in the hospital where Jessica Lynch was held, but he wasn't there on the night of the raid in which she was rescued.

For now, we are going to send it back to Bill. Bill?

HEMMER: All right, Heidi, thank you.

Listen, quickly want to get to Barbara Starr and talk more about the word out from Basra.

Chemical Ali apparently targeted in an air strike overnight. Barbara, what's happening, and what are they saying now?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Bill.

Well, U.S. Central Command now confirming that two aircraft, two coalition aircraft dropped laser-guided munitions on the home of Chemical Ali in the city of Basra over night. There is no word yet on whether he was there and any of the results of the strike against him. His name really, of course, being Al Hassan al-Majid and the man known to have ordered the chemical attacks against the Kurds in northern Iraq.

He has been a key target for the coalition. Indeed, when those commandos rescued Jessica Lynch from the hospital, he was known to be in the area. There is a commando unit, a special operations unit specifically formed, very secret in this coalition, to specifically hunt down and try and catch some of the top leadership, Chemical Ali being at the top of their list. So we expect to hear more about that.

But there is other news. The head of the Air Force's component for this operation has just concluded a press briefing and spoken a great deal about a new strategy that has been begun this morning over Baghdad.

General Michael Mosley (ph) has told reporters, as of this morning, coalition aircraft are flying what he calls urban-combat air support missions 24/7 over Baghdad. Now, aircraft are being reloaded with munitions specifically designed to hit Special Republican Guard security services and other mobile enemy forces in Baghdad. Now that U.S. forces have entered the city, this air cover will be provided to them 24/7.

There will also be forward air controllers, airborne over Baghdad, specifically to point out the targets to the aircraft. All of this now an effort to protect U.S. forces, as they move through Baghdad, from any attacks.

Bill?

HEMMER: More on that a bit later. Barbara Starr, thanks.

Heidi, again, at the CNN Center.

COLLINS: All right, Bill, thank you.

Earlier we were talking about some pictures of a coalition raid on the presidential -- or at one of the palaces, I should say, of Saddam Hussein's in Baghdad. We are just now getting some more pictures of that that we would like to show you.

Apparently this video is of Republican Guard barracks which are next to an unidentified palace. You see all of the action happening there. Not sure which palace this is, but we can tell you that it did happen a couple of hours ago. So we will be keeping our eye on that for you.

In the meantime, the presidential radio address is set to begin right now.

(BEGIN AUDIOTAPE)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Good morning.

American and coalition forces are steadily advancing against the regime of Saddam Hussein. With each new village they liberate, our forces are learning more about the atrocities of that regime and the deep fear the dictator has instilled in the Iraqi people. Yet no crime of this dying regime will divert us from our mission. We will not stop until Iraq is free.

This week, coalition forces have been clearing southern cities and towns of Saddam's death squads and enforcers. Our Special Forces and Army paratroopers, working with Kurdish militia, have opened a northern front against the enemy.

In the town of An Najaf, members of our 101st Airborne Division have been welcomed as liberators. At An Nasiriyah, Marines continue to eliminate the enemy, while other Army and Marine units have closed in on Baghdad. From the skies above, coalition aircraft and cruise missiles are removing hundreds of military targets from the map.

As the vise tightens on the Iraqi regime, some of our enemies have chosen to fill their final days with acts of cowardice and murder. In combat, Saddam's thugs shield themselves with women and children. They have killed Iraqi citizens who welcome coalition troops, and they have forced other Iraqis into battle by threatening to torture or kill their families. They have executed prisoners of war, waged attacks under the white flag of truce, and concealed combat forces in civilian neighborhoods, schools, hospitals and mosques.

In this war, the Iraqi regime is terrorizing its own citizens, doing everything possible to maximize Iraqi civilian casualties, and then to exploit the deaths they have caused for propaganda. These are war criminals, and they'll be treated as war criminals.

In stark contrast, the citizens of Iraq are coming to know what kind of people we have sent to liberate them. American forces and our allies are treating innocent civilians with kindness and showing proper respect to the soldiers who surrender. The people of the United States are proud of the honorable conduct of our military, and I am proud to lead such brave and decent Americans.

In recent days, we have also brought food and water and medicine to the Iraqi people. We're delivering emergency rations to the hungry. Right now, cargo ships are bound for Iraq, carrying wheat from Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas -- enough to feed 4.5 million Iraqis for one month. Additional food, supplied by the World Food Programme, is moving by truck convoy across the Turkish border into northern Iraq.

We are bringing aid to the long suffering people of Iraq, and we are bringing something more: We are bringing hope. One Iraqi, when the coalition troops arrived, described the emotions of his village: They were waiting for you, he said, and all the people believe that America and Britain have come to liberate them, not to conquer.

Village by village, city by city, liberation is coming. The people of Iraq have my pledge: Our fighting forces will press on until their oppressors are gone and their whole country is free.

By our actions in this war, we serve a great and just cause. Free nations will not sit and wait, leaving enemies free to plot another September the 11th -- this time, perhaps, with chemical, biological or nuclear terror. We'll remove weapons of mass destruction from the hands of mass murderers.

And by defending our own security, we are ridding the people of Iraq from one of the cruelest regimes on Earth. The United States and our allies pledged to act if the dictator did not disarm. The regime in Iraq is now learning that we keep our word.

Thank you for listening.

(END AUDIOTAPE)

COLLINS: Once again, the presidential radio address.

We have John King now standing by, our senior White House correspondent, to tell us more about that.

What do you make of that, John?

JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Heidi, if you were expecting any comments from the president on the dramatic developments we have seen inside Baghdad, including those U.S. troops moving about in recent hours, you of course will be disappointed. The president recorded this radio address yesterday here at the White House before heading up to Camp David for the weekend.

In it, though, the president once again defending his reasons for the war. Number one, of course, he says Iraq has weapons of mass destruction. But more and more, we're hearing from the president about liberating the people of Iraq from a brutal regime.

And the president also emphasizing that after some hitches at the beginning of the war, humanitarian efforts now well under way, food flowing into Iraq.

And the president making the case that, at this weekend, very much different picture than last weekend. More and more, Mr. Bush says, coalition troops are being greeted by the Iraqi people and being welcomed by the Iraqi people. The president saying that is because the people of Iraq can be increasingly confident that when this war is over, Saddam Hussein and his regime will no longer be in power.

Heidi?

COLLINS: John, incidentally, we just want to mention what we're looking at here on the screen along with you. The Republican Guard barracks next to an unidentified palace. This happened just a couple of hours ago, but we now know that it is the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division in southwest Baghdad.

This is a coalition raid on a palace there in Baghdad. Once again, lots of palaces there; not sure which one, but we're watching it for you. Just wanted to make sure we point out what that is.

John, are you still with us? I just want to ask you a quick question.

KING: Sure.

COLLINS: As far as what the White House is saying about troop movement -- again, we know that the president did not comment because this was a taped address. But it seems now like, obviously from the pictures we're seeing behind you, the pace has stepped up. Has there been any more comment from where you are about how they feel about the pace of this war at this time?

KING: In terms of the specifics of any operational details, this White House is very quick to refer us to the Pentagon. But we do know the president was updated by his national security team in the 8 o'clock hour this morning. Mr. Bush participating through a secure video-conference link up at Camp David. So he has been briefed on the latest details.

And what senior officials here have been telling us is, look for more and more, not only from a military perspective but from a psychological perspective, for the U.S. troops to try to show, A, the regime but also the people of Baghdad that their regime is no longer in power. That yes, there will be some skirmishes and perhaps even some very tough battles in the days to come, but by sending troops into Baghdad, it is an unmistakable message that the U.S. forces are knocking at the door.

COLLINS: That's right (inaudible). John King, from the White House this morning.

And we might be seeing some of those fierce battles right now on the screen. Once again, want to remind you what we're looking at. The U.S. 3rd Infantry Division in southwest Baghdad. This is a raid on a palace there, a coalition raid I should say. The Republican Guard barracks, which are right next to an unidentified palace. We are trying to figure out which palace this is. There are very, very many of them, and they are very large. So this may be going on for a little while.

We're going to send it back to Bill now in Kuwait. Bill?

HEMMER: Heidi, watching that videotape by way of CNN International here in Kuwait City, it appeared quite fierce around that presidential palace, the location that you're talking about.

And CENTCOM warned us, again, earlier today, and quoting now, "The fight is far from over. Operations will continue." And that's clear from the videotape.

Want to get you to Baghdad quickly, by way of telephone. Roland Huguenin-Benjamin is with the International Committee for the Red Cross. We have spoken with this gentleman just about every day right now by way of telephone.

Good evening to you, sir. I know it's about -- a bit past 7 o'clock there local time.

Before I talk about your mission in Baghdad today, can you tell us what you have seen and observed there in the capital city?

ROLAND HUGUENIN-BENJAMIN, INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE FOR THE RED CROSS: Well, we have heard in the distance a lot of exchange of fire, definitely over the past night and throughout most of the day. It's been much more quiet now for a few hours in the late afternoon, like a lull in the fighting.

But we had a chance in the morning to go to the main hospital, which is called (inaudible). And we found that there has been a steady flow in of hundreds of casualties over the night and through into the day. Casualties -- I mean, wounded had to be sent over, dispatched to other hospitals, because the (inaudible) was just totally overwhelmed by the sheer number of people coming in.

HEMMER: Can you give us a better idea about the number, sir?

HUGUENIN-BENJAMIN: It's very difficult because it went on throughout the night and the day, but something on an average of 100 per hour practically until midday today. And they were sent over to other hospitals for treatment, because it just was not possible to take...

HEMMER: And were these civilians, or were...

(CROSSTALK)

HUGUENIN-BENJAMIN: It was a mixture. There were military people and some civilians along. But definitely there were people who had been wounded during the fighting that had been going on through the night in the region and around the airport and...

(CROSSTALK)

HEMMER: I apologize for the interruption. A bit of a delay here.

Do you know in which part of the city these people came from?

HUGUENIN-BENJAMIN: Well, they all came from the direction where this fighting has been going on, basically from the airport and coming out. That's probably the worst (ph) region where wounding were caused last night and during the day today.

We definitely hope that it will be possible to avoid an excess of civilian casualties, but we all the know of the constraints of fighting going on in residential areas and very close to the hospital. We saw one car that had been hit directly by whatever projectile. We were not in a position to judge whatever had happened. But it was just a very distressing view of remnants of human bodies just in one car, totally destroyed. There was absolutely nothing that could be rescued from that.

And it was within region of the hospital itself, and we were very, very close. I don't know at all what happened there, but obviously a direct hit by whatever. And this was a civilian car.

So we very much hope that whatever is up to happen in the coming days, not too many civilians will come into crossfire.

HEMMER: We appreciate your account, and we certainly appreciate you checking back in with us.

From the Red Cross, Roland Huguenin-Benjamin is in Baghdad. He's been there for weeks right now, and he checks in with us just about every day here at CNN.

In the meantime, though, Walt Rodgers has popped up yet again. He is live west of the airport, I believe, at last check.

Walt, what's happening there? We've seen some dramatic videotape. Perhaps you can take us through it. What happened there?

WALTER RODGERS, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Bill, what we are hearing from the U.S. Army commanders in this theater of operations is a very upbeat message, upbeat in the sense that one senior officer in the United States Army was quoted as saying, "We have the Iraqis rocking backwards on their heels."

This senior officer went on to say, "We just need to keep the pressure on for a few more days." The very clear implication of his remarks is that there is a time line, and that the military commanders believe the Iraqi resistance is crumbling and will continue to crumble, especially when the U.S. Army 2nd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, rolled at will through some sections of Baghdad today, right into the city itself, well into the city limits, and did a tour through. The U.S. Army's 2nd Brigade, 3rd Infantry, literally rolling on tanks through, first as a reconnaissance unit, then as literally as a show of force.

And indeed, they swept through a southern third of the city, perhaps a southern quarter of the city of Baghdad, 6 million people. And then came back out again just simply to say, "We are here, and if there's anything left of the Ba'athist regime of Saddam Hussein," the message the Army was sending that, "we can flex our muscles in your capital anytime you want."

One very important thing, we have -- we continue to receive reports of a mass exodus of Iraqi party officials, Ba'athist party officials and Republican Guard officers, trying to flee west of the city, going up perhaps in the direction of Syria. We have heard that they have been carrying suitcases of money. The Army has discovered that in some fleeing vehicles over the past few days.

Bill? HEMMER: Yes, Walt, listen, hang with us a second here. Curious to know what you're finding out about the people living in Baghdad may or many not know about the U.S. presence there. Have you heard anything by way of the U.S. military to account for what people living in Baghdad now know about the U.S. presence nearby?

RODGERS: Well, I was asked that question earlier about the kind of reception, and not having been with the 2nd Brigade at that point, I can't tell you the kind of reception they got except when they were fired upon. And there was some fairly substantial and fierce resistance, albeit small-arms fire, nothing the equal of a tank. But they got a hostile reception as they moved into some areas of the city, at least from some Baghdad residents or at least Iraqi Army soldiers, remnants of perhaps the Republican Guard.

Because there were times when the U.S. Army, as it rolled through Baghdad today, received very heavy fire. For many young soldiers, this was their first baptism under fire. There were 20-millimeter anti-aircraft shells bursting right above their heads. There were some wounded American soldiers.

Again, they were being sniped at by small-arms fire, again, AK- 47s. And the Iraqis fired rocket-propelled grenades at them. Having been under fire for continuously almost two weeks now, I can tell you that's a little unnerving.

So in some respects, many Iraqis probably ignored the Americans coming through, but there was a contingent there which was hostile. And some of the areas outside Baghdad that we've been in today have been rather hostile as well. That is to say, 7th Calvary knocked out five tanks today, came under fire again. There are elements, remnants of Iraqi army units which are fighting.

Bill?

HEMMER: Walt, thanks.

Walt Rodgers, 7th Calvary, west of the airport, Baghdad International Airport.

We now know CENTCOM says they could have one runway, at least one runway, functioning some time soon. The definition of that, though, is not clear.

Heidi, again, at the CNN Center.

COLLINS: Thank you, Bill.

Still to come, what is next for U.S. troops now that a column has moved into Baghdad? We'll get military analysis just ahead. Don't go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: We have certainly seen quite a bit of action this morning in Baghdad, and an awful lot happened over night as well. We're going to get you caught up now. Let's recap the latest war developments.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS (voice-over): 11:54 p.m. eastern. CNN's Walter Rodgers reports the 2nd Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division now has tanks deep within the city of Baghdad. He says small units of Iraqis are firing anti-aircraft guns at the tanks.

1:06 a.m. From CNN's Kathleen Coke at the Pentagon, officials have confirmed eight bodies found during Wednesday's raid to rescue prisoner of war Jessica Lynch were U.S. soldiers previously listed as missing in action.

2:06 a.m. CNN's Rym Brahimi reports sources in Baghdad say a lot of people are starting to leave the city after a heavy round of bombing overnight. Arab TV networks show no sign of unusual activity in central Baghdad.

2:30 a.m. CNN's Walter Rodgers reports the 3rd Squadron, 7th Calvary, has destroyed more Iraqi tanks west of Baghdad. The 3-7th is on a reconnaissance mission to make sure Iraqis don't try to retake positions lost after a major tank battle yesterday.

2:35 a.m. Navy Captain Frank Thorpe (ph) tells CNN troops are rolling through the heart of Baghdad, moving forward into new areas as opportunities come up. He says troops are encountering sporadic resistance.

4:35 a.m. Despite U.S. military reports to the contrary, Iraq's information minister says the Republican Guard is controlling Baghdad's International Airport and is dealing with remnants of U.S. forces.

5:53 a.m. CNN's Ryan Chilcote reports members of the 101st Airborne have found a large weapons cache in a high school near Karbala.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: And now that the U.S. troops are inside Baghdad, what happens next? We are joined now from Denver by Retired Air Force Colonel Mike Turner.

Good morning once again, Colonel Turner.

COL. MICHAEL TURNER (RET.), USAF: Good morning.

COLLINS: We've been looking at some video this morning, pretty incredible stuff. It is the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division southwest of Baghdad. We're getting a look at it again now. You see them on top of their tanks there, heading into the Republican Guard barracks. This apparently the mission, not so much involved with the palace at this point that is apparently near by, but certainly these barracks.

What do you make of it? TURNER: Well, what you will begin to see now as the battle moves into Baghdad, particularly as it becomes apparent at this point that the command and control structure is clearly fractured and fragmented and these isolated military units are probably in poor communications, that the 3rd Infantry Division and the Marines, as they move into the city, will begin to take down these isolated pockets of resistance. These can be fierce fights. They can be very dangerous.

It was interesting to see in an earlier story that you carried about the urban close air support. That's a mission that I'm not familiar with, and it didn't exist 12 years ago. So we'll have to see how that develops.

But they'll have to isolate these severe pockets of resistance and take them down a step at a time. I'm sure there's a very deliberate and patient plan in this process.

It appears like everything is going very well right now and moving rather rapidly, particularly with the raid through the center of the city yesterday or earlier today.

COLLINS: On that same point, let's talk a little bit, if we could, about the troops and where they are. Can you bring us to speed, sort of geographically what we'd be seeing here?

TURNER: Well, it appears as though we've got essentially a pincer movement of some sort going on. We've got the 3rd Infantry Division moving in from Karbala and from the south west. We have the Marines moving in from the east. And they obviously have looked at the routes that are most advantageous to them and safest for U.S. troops, also which probably present the least threat to civilian populations.

And they will begin to pursue those, and then branch out from those, I'm sure, isolating military units.

And I really think the critical part of this battle, which may have already been passed -- we're beginning to see real signs of this now -- is we need to convince the Iraqi forces that this is a hopeless battle at this point. And whatever they're hearing from their command and control structure, if anything, they need to begin to fear us more than they fear their internal structure.

And that should begin to have a severe psychological effect. And we could begin to see a cascading effect of the psychological breakdown of the defenses of the city. At least we hope that's what happens.

COLLINS: Two more things just real quickly. The freedom fighters, we're hearing a little bit now about them actually getting on board and cooperating with the coalition forces, I believe coming down from the north.

We've been talking a lot about coming up from the south. What's your take on coming in from the north as well?

TURNER: Well, the Kurds have been looking to do this for many, many years. This is great news.

I flew over Mosul and Irbil back in the early '90s, and there was a line of demarcation where the Kurds were protected and didn't move. I'm sure they've been waiting for a very long time for precisely what's going on right now.

And I think that's very heartening for the coalition, that we're bringing in some of the indigenous forces and indigenous groups of people and fighters to join us in this effort. And I think that's great.

And you'll begin to see that, the command and control structure in Mosul begin to collapse now, and get a pretty fragmented country.

COLLINS: All right, very good. U.S. Air Force Retired Colonel Mike Turner from Denver this morning, thanks so much.

TURNER: Thank you, Heidi.

COLLINS: And we send it back to Bill.

HEMMER: Heidi, one thing we're monitoring right now, the Al- Jazeera Arab language network, they are conducting another interview with the information minister, Mohammed Said Sahaf. It started a few moments ago. Let's dip in and listen now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MOHAMMED SAID AL-SAHAF, IRAQI INFORMATION MINISTER (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): ... so that they continue in this dirty aggression, their dirty invasion. I wanted to clarify that. And I hope that Al- Jazeera is aware of those -- deceit of this enemy.

QUESTION (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Mr. Minister, you said this is the area of Abu Ghraib. You said that you let them retreat -- caused them to retreat to it.

AL-SAHAF (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Yes, we pushed them. We got them out of the airport, and we pushed them south to Abu Ghraib.

Those pictures, I think they were early. I think they took these when first thing after they went into the area or after they retreated (ph). And to cover their defeat, they're trying to show these pictures.

And they said these were the outskirts of Baghdad so that they can that fighting is in Baghdad. This is baseless, this is truthless. And you have the correspondents of Al-Jazeera. We doubled your correspondents in Baghdad. So please check that with your correspondents.

QUESTION (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Can we ask you to clarify the situation in Baghdad Airport? You know that the spokespersons -- the American spokespersons, they talked about the reclaiming, regaining control over the airport. So just to remind you, we took this from the news -- from the media source in the world. AL-SAHAF (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Please, this is a lie. The fact that they say they reclaimed control is a lie. They depend a lot in this aggression on deceiving the world opinion. And before world opinion, which is something they don't respect, their objective is to -- their main objective is to deceive the American public opinion so that they don't get restless and go revolt against them very quickly.

These pictures have nothing to do with what happened last evening or today. We kicked them out. We pulverized them, defeated them in the outside of the airport to the more open area in Abu Ghraib, and we surrounded them in Abu Ghraib.

These pictures are not the outskirts of Baghdad. I repeat, these pictures have nothing to do with the city of Baghdad. These are far from Baghdad, at least 30, 40 kilometers away from Baghdad.

From what I saw, from the glimpse I saw, these were a group of houses that are a residential area, maybe related to something. But Abu Ghraib is full of houses similar to that. So this is an area that is about 35 to 40 kilometers away from Baghdad. This is not the outskirts of Baghdad.

This show of fighting they displayed in this picture that you showed without scrutinizing, did you see there was a building on fire, and they were going in a Hollywood fashion to show as if they were in the outskirts of Baghdad.

QUESTION (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Let's remind you, Mr. Minister, that we did not get them directly from anybody, but they were on the news media.

AL-SAHAF (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): But let me ask you here, who are these news agencies?

QUESTION (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): The Associated Press, Mr. Minister. That was the source for these pictures.

AL-SAHAF (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Now, you and I are going to go ask the Associated Press what are the pictures now that would truly reflect the situation. This is another issue -- what we will give you, we will supply you with pictures.

I want to correct to you. These are not the outskirts of Baghdad.

QUESTION (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Mr. Minister, are there any fighting operations with the enemy in the area of Abu Ghraib?

AL-SAHAF (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Yes, there is a continuous fighting, and we're hitting them with all of the weapons in Abu Ghraib.

QUESTION (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Do you have so far any figures about the losses of the battles over the night and today?

AL-SAHAF (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Not yet, but they killed off them as we declared in the statement of the armed forces -- they number in hundreds. And what we say in our statements is accurate, and we commit to it, we stand by it.

For your information, we took all of the correspondents, including the Al-Jazeera's, we took them in around -- all around Baghdad, and please ask them. We told them the area of Baghdad Airport is still unsafe because they still hit it with projectiles from their artillery. Other than that, all of the areas were visited by the correspondents.

QUESTION (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Mr. Minister, maybe it is not clear yet to everybody the nature of the nonconventional operation that you talked about that and that may have resulted with what's happened in the airport.

AL-SAHAF (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Yes, we indicated that there was one operation, and this made it to the news media. One of the martyrdom fighters had a very brilliant operation. It is very innovative. And after we finish defeating all of those animals, we will disclose that with facts and figures and pictures.

QUESTION (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): There is some news about bombardments by the Americans to Arab volunteers close to Kut and hundreds were killed. How true is this?

AL-SAHAF (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): That is untrue. I think they are consternated because of the volunteers. And they're trying their best to propagate misinformation through lies and claims.

There is no camp in that area. They mentioned Kut specifically because their defeat in Kut was -- when we publish the details, it will be a shining picture of how Americans can be defeated.

QUESTION (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): So there was no bombardment on any other camp, any other area other than Kut?

AL-SAHAF (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): There were no camps. I know that they attacked a bus on the way between Amman and Baghdad, and that bus was transporting some volunteers. And some of them were killed as martyrs, and some others were, I think, arrested.

QUESTION (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Mr. Minister, you talked in the press conference maybe about some air drops by the Americans, maybe at areas close to Baghdad. Could you tell us what was the outcome of such air drops?

AL-SAHAF (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Yes, I talked about one air drop. I said in the south of Zafwaniya (ph), about 20 kilometers south of there, a small air drop. And it was chased, and some were killed, and some fled. That was a distractive -- airport of distraction to take our attention away from the fighting at Baghdad Airport.

QUESTION (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): On the north front, how do you see the developments and the operations there and maybe the retreat of the Iraqis to positions that are more defensive?

AL-SAHAF (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): In the northern -- you ask about the northern front?

QUESTION (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Yes.

AL-SAHAF (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): No, it is a different account there. And some of the outposts for guarding posts, these issues I don't think that they are worthy of discussion. You can put a guarding post close to your house. Maybe you can take it out to the back fence. That shouldn't mean anything.

Those losers who are blustering about that in the media, that the Iraqis retreat -- and your correspondent, Hanfar (ph), is living by that. That northern region, when we calculate that -- there are other calculations -- and we're not concerned about that.

QUESTION (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): We would like to thank you very much.

And we stress here that those pictures that we showed were taken by Associated Press. The minister of information denied that these pictures were from...

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HEMMER: That's Mohammed Said Sahaf, right now in a live interview with Al-Jazeera, the Arab language network, being interviewed, it looks like, in the heart of Baghdad, the very place where Central Command earlier today said giant U.S. tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles had rolled through that part of the city.

Mohammed Said Sahaf has been the single voice for the Iraqi government time and time again over the past one week running. He says these claims about U.S. troops being on the streets of Baghdad are baseless, from earlier today. They say they are deceiving world opinion.

He says the videotape and the pictures he has seen thus far indicates the troops are on the outskirts of Baghdad. The quote was 30 to 40 kilometers, which translates to about 18 or 24 miles. That word from the information minister.

CNN's Nic Robertson has been in touch with sources on his own inside Baghdad. They tell him that a number of different locations in the heart of that city earlier today, U.S. troops were sighted in the central part near the university, also up along the Tigris River and some of the main bridges there in the central part of Baghdad.

So that is what they are saying right now. Again, from the Iraqi capital, CENTCOM with a completely different view of this. If you've been watching our coverage throughout the day, the war words do continue now between Washington and Baghdad.

Welcome back to our coverage. I'll Bill Hemmer, live again today here in Kuwait City. There are a number of things to talk about. My colleague, Heidi Collins, back at the CNN Center handling a lot of those duties for us as well.

Heidi, good morning there.

COLLINS: Good morning, Bill, once again. And that's right, we are going to get a check now of other war developments.

U.S. Army sources say Iraqi officials are fleeing Baghdad in droves. Ba'ath Party members and military officers are said to be mixing in with civilian convoys and heading to either Jordan or Syria.

CNN's Rula Amin reports from Jordan that Iraq is beefing up security in Baghdad. People in the capital tell her there's a greater resistance of Republican Guard troops and security checkpoints at every corner.

And this now from our Barbara Starr at the Pentagon. She reports the head of the U.S. Air Force component, General Michael Mosley (ph), says coalition aircraft are flying urban-combat support missions around the clock. They're protecting troops inside of Baghdad.

Those are some of the latest developments with the war. We are going to send it now back to Bill.

HEMMER: All right, listen, Heidi, thanks.

Our embedded reporters have been popping up throughout the morning here and the afternoon, evening here, local time in Iraq and Kuwait City. Alessio Vinci is embedded with the Marines. Checking in again today.

Alessio, the first time I'm heard from you today. If you can give us, as best you can, where you are and what's happening from your location?

ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, Bill.

Well, we're able to report that the Marine unit with whom we are is about 100 kilometers or about 60 miles south of Baghdad. The news that the other Marine units and the Army is, indeed, inside Baghdad has come through here, through mainly ourselves, as well as some other radio reports here on short wave radio.

Most of the Marines of course are glad about the fact the Marines are there. They're also beginning to talk about when they may be going home. But U.S. commanders here, as well, are trying to make sure that the Marines here understand the war is not over yet, that there is business as usual.

And, indeed, we have seen throughout the day the Marines of our unit here going on routine patrols here in central Iraq, in this location, in central Iraq, because of course we understand, the Marines understand that there are still some pockets of resistance throughout Iraq.

And of course, the job of the Marines here is to prevent those pockets of resistance to reorganize themselves, to regroup and eventually to mount an attack, not just here on the Marines in central Iraq, but perhaps even to drive up north and go to Baghdad and mount an attack from the rear.

So the U.S. commanders here are very much concentrating and telling the troops that, yes, it is good news for them that the troops are in Baghdad, but at the same time, they want to make sure the Marines understand the war is not over yet.

Bill?

HEMMER: Alessio, thanks.

Alessio Vinci, embedded with the U.S. Marines. Again, his location about 100 kilometers, about 60 miles south of Baghdad.

Yesterday we picked up things with a Riad Kahwaji. He's down in Qatar, Central Command. He works for Defense News, the Middle East bureau chief, and he's back with us again today.

Welcome back to us here at CNN, Riad. Good to have you here.

And I know yesterday you had a number of contacts inside Baghdad that you were talking to, residents of that city. Have you had contact today yet? And if so, what are they saying?

All right, we're going to try and establish this connection here. A bit of a delay here.

Riad, have you talked to people in Baghdad today? What are they telling you?

All right. That's a bit of a problem, when he can't hear us and we can't hear him. Riad Kahwaji, down at Central Command. We'll try and work this out, reestablish that connection.

In the meantime, let's get a break here. Back in a moment. You're watching CNN on a Saturday morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: There is quite a bit of buzz in Washington behind the scenes of the war about the battle between Donald Rumsfeld and Colin Powell. Is it just talk or is the war of words actually heating up?

Candy Crowley has that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is the subplot of nearly every story involving U.S. foreign policy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, how are you and Colin Powell getting along these days?

DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: Good.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CROWLEY: They are the Beltway's version of Hatfield and McCoy in an alpha male struggle, clearly laid out in the days just after 9/11.

Rumsfeld, the warrior civilian.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUMSFELD: And I'm inclined to think that -- if you're going to cock it, you throw it, and you don't talk about it a lot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CROWLEY: Powell, the diplomatic warrior.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: It isn't always blunt force military, although that is certainly an option. It may well be that the diplomatic efforts, political efforts, legal, financial, other efforts, may be just as effective against that kind of an enemy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CROWLEY: When war with Iraq became an open option, it began again. They differed first on whether, and then on how and when to topple Saddam. Now it's about what to do after he's gone.

A State Department source says a recent Rumsfeld memo -- "Rummy- grams" they call them at the State Department -- envisioned a major military role in aid distribution to Iraq. Powell fired off a response noting the various entities within the State Department that deal with aid distribution and report to Powell.

Friends of the secretary of state say friends of the secretary of defense are the ones stirring up that nasty discussion about how Powell has failed as a diplomat.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POWELL: Well, I don't believe I'm a symbol of failing U.S. diplomacy. So I don't accept your premise.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CROWLEY: And the Rumsfeld camp suspects the Powell camp of pushing those suggestions that Rumsfeld undermanned the war in Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUMSFELD: I don't think there's ever been a war where there haven't been people opining about this or speculating about that or second-guessing on something else.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CROWLEY: Neither of the principal has ever copped to the friction, at least to the intensity it is described by others.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POWELL: Do we have differences of opinion? Well, what fun would it be if you didn't have differences of opinion? How would it serve the president if all of us thought the same thing about every issue all the time?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CROWLEY: People who know them both say their differences are not personal.

Maybe so. It does look like Powell was only kidding the day he called Rumsfeld a show-off and pretended to take a swing at Rumsfeld's injured hand. But wouldn't you love to know the thousand words that went with this picture?

Candy Crowley, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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