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CNN Live At Daybreak
Battle for Baghdad
Aired April 07, 2003 - 06:10 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: If you were with us last hour, you heard Walt Rodgers reporting first that some sort of operation center used by the 3rd Infantry Division south of Baghdad had come under fire. The last word we heard, six soldiers wounded, perhaps six others missing in action right now.
There's another report out there that indicates the U.S. Marines crossing a bridge somewhere in Baghdad across the Tigris River took fire as well. There could be casualties as a result.
Let's check in with Marty Savidge for more on what he may be learning about this and also what's happening from his front today. Marty is with the Marines.
Marty, good afternoon.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Bill. That incident you're referring to took place this morning involving the 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines. They're a little bit ahead of us. They were crossing and working to establish a bridgehead on the Tigris River coming from the east, that would be moving towards the west towards Baghdad of course. And as they started moving, we understand that there was an artillery barrage. And it is unclear at this point whether this armor personnel carrier that reportedly was struck, of which there were casualties, whether it was a victim of friendly fire from a heavy round of U.S. artillery that was coming in in support of establishing a bridgehead, whether this was counter fire that may have been coming from Iraqi artillery. At this point that is still trying to be ironed out.
We understand, though, that they have made it across. However, a bridge that they were planning to use had been partially destroyed by Iraqi troops. That's not a big problem for the Marines. They always have standing by a lot of bridge making material and temporary bridges that can be thrown up in quite a hurry.
Let me show you in the background here, that's the 1st Battalion, 7th Marines who we are embedded with. You can see the column -- armored column is in formation now, standing by to move out. Has not received any orders to do so yet other than to be ready to move which is what we're doing.
At the same time, we have been hearing a lot of artillery going off. That is primarily Marine artillery, obviously firing on what they presume are Iraqi targets. There's also coalition aircraft that have been circling overhead and helicopters that have been in the area as well. You can still hear it booming in the background. There goes a jet overhead. And every now and then we have heard 50-caliber machine gun fire or the heavy machine guns going off in the area as well.
A bit difficult to tell you exactly what is going on, except that the Marines are obviously trying to approach Baghdad from the east. That's something they always have been doing. This time perhaps a little more aggressively today.
Also keep in mind the Marines are responsible for the whole eastern side of Baghdad. Part of the reason they were placed there was not only to make it a pincher (ph) movement on the city with the Army on the west, but also to come out the chance of any sort of Iraqi reinforcement coming from the borders up around Iran. There are a lot of Iraqi troops that have been placed up there, have been there for quite some time. They did not want to get into a situation where those troops would pull out from the Iranian border and then begin flooding into Baghdad to fight off that U.S. Army effort. So it's both a holding and blocking position, at the same time attacking, moving up on the east side of Baghdad -- Bill.
HEMMER: Yes, Marty, listen, if the Army has taken control of the airport on the west side of Baghdad, I know there's another one on the east side, will the Marines go for that airport and use that as their center of operations or haven't we gotten that far yet?
SAVIDGE: Well, Bill, unfortunately you know as the rules of the embed we are not allowed to project or talk about future operations because they could potentially put any force that moves into a threat circumstance.
I can tell you about past objectives, and there was a significant one here. Actually, some distance away yesterday, whereas the Marines of the 1st Battalion, 7th Marines took control of what is referred to as the Iraqi atomic energy complex. This would be the headquarters of the Iraqi atomic energy program.
Now there is a civilian side as well as potentially a military side here. This is a vast complex that was seized by the U.S. Marines. It takes up many, many acres on a reserve area, you could call it that. It is both an industrial complex as well as a huge office complex.
The Marines went in room to room breaking into offices. A wealth of intelligence information, a number of vaults that they found there that they're sealed that they're trying to get open and also they found laboratory after laboratory after laboratory filled with a lot of expensive and appeared to be very sophisticated equipment. There was also a lot of containers and refrigerators found to be holding some sort of substance, unclear at this particular point. These Marines are not experts in that regard. The other experts will be following on a specialized team that will be looking at both the nuclear and possibly the chemical side of things.
There were warning signs around that particular position about the possibility of radiation. Also there were warning signs inside the laboratories about wearing protective gear, masks and gloves and that sort of hardware -- and that sort of uniform was found, as well masks and gloves, and also chemical suits were found inside this facility.
We also understand an area we were not allowed to see, a huge underground labyrinth, apparently someone described as an underground city, that was there as well. So no doubt the experts are going to be combing over this particular site for a long time to come -- Bill.
HEMMER: Marty, thanks. Martin Savidge with the Marines there. And again, Marty, want to respect your position there. Certainly not put you in a situation where you have to compromise any of the information you give us and so our viewers know we never give away locations unless our own embedded journalists have cleared it with their own local commanders first.
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 7, 2003 - 06:10 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: If you were with us last hour, you heard Walt Rodgers reporting first that some sort of operation center used by the 3rd Infantry Division south of Baghdad had come under fire. The last word we heard, six soldiers wounded, perhaps six others missing in action right now.
There's another report out there that indicates the U.S. Marines crossing a bridge somewhere in Baghdad across the Tigris River took fire as well. There could be casualties as a result.
Let's check in with Marty Savidge for more on what he may be learning about this and also what's happening from his front today. Marty is with the Marines.
Marty, good afternoon.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Bill. That incident you're referring to took place this morning involving the 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines. They're a little bit ahead of us. They were crossing and working to establish a bridgehead on the Tigris River coming from the east, that would be moving towards the west towards Baghdad of course. And as they started moving, we understand that there was an artillery barrage. And it is unclear at this point whether this armor personnel carrier that reportedly was struck, of which there were casualties, whether it was a victim of friendly fire from a heavy round of U.S. artillery that was coming in in support of establishing a bridgehead, whether this was counter fire that may have been coming from Iraqi artillery. At this point that is still trying to be ironed out.
We understand, though, that they have made it across. However, a bridge that they were planning to use had been partially destroyed by Iraqi troops. That's not a big problem for the Marines. They always have standing by a lot of bridge making material and temporary bridges that can be thrown up in quite a hurry.
Let me show you in the background here, that's the 1st Battalion, 7th Marines who we are embedded with. You can see the column -- armored column is in formation now, standing by to move out. Has not received any orders to do so yet other than to be ready to move which is what we're doing.
At the same time, we have been hearing a lot of artillery going off. That is primarily Marine artillery, obviously firing on what they presume are Iraqi targets. There's also coalition aircraft that have been circling overhead and helicopters that have been in the area as well. You can still hear it booming in the background. There goes a jet overhead. And every now and then we have heard 50-caliber machine gun fire or the heavy machine guns going off in the area as well.
A bit difficult to tell you exactly what is going on, except that the Marines are obviously trying to approach Baghdad from the east. That's something they always have been doing. This time perhaps a little more aggressively today.
Also keep in mind the Marines are responsible for the whole eastern side of Baghdad. Part of the reason they were placed there was not only to make it a pincher (ph) movement on the city with the Army on the west, but also to come out the chance of any sort of Iraqi reinforcement coming from the borders up around Iran. There are a lot of Iraqi troops that have been placed up there, have been there for quite some time. They did not want to get into a situation where those troops would pull out from the Iranian border and then begin flooding into Baghdad to fight off that U.S. Army effort. So it's both a holding and blocking position, at the same time attacking, moving up on the east side of Baghdad -- Bill.
HEMMER: Yes, Marty, listen, if the Army has taken control of the airport on the west side of Baghdad, I know there's another one on the east side, will the Marines go for that airport and use that as their center of operations or haven't we gotten that far yet?
SAVIDGE: Well, Bill, unfortunately you know as the rules of the embed we are not allowed to project or talk about future operations because they could potentially put any force that moves into a threat circumstance.
I can tell you about past objectives, and there was a significant one here. Actually, some distance away yesterday, whereas the Marines of the 1st Battalion, 7th Marines took control of what is referred to as the Iraqi atomic energy complex. This would be the headquarters of the Iraqi atomic energy program.
Now there is a civilian side as well as potentially a military side here. This is a vast complex that was seized by the U.S. Marines. It takes up many, many acres on a reserve area, you could call it that. It is both an industrial complex as well as a huge office complex.
The Marines went in room to room breaking into offices. A wealth of intelligence information, a number of vaults that they found there that they're sealed that they're trying to get open and also they found laboratory after laboratory after laboratory filled with a lot of expensive and appeared to be very sophisticated equipment. There was also a lot of containers and refrigerators found to be holding some sort of substance, unclear at this particular point. These Marines are not experts in that regard. The other experts will be following on a specialized team that will be looking at both the nuclear and possibly the chemical side of things.
There were warning signs around that particular position about the possibility of radiation. Also there were warning signs inside the laboratories about wearing protective gear, masks and gloves and that sort of hardware -- and that sort of uniform was found, as well masks and gloves, and also chemical suits were found inside this facility.
We also understand an area we were not allowed to see, a huge underground labyrinth, apparently someone described as an underground city, that was there as well. So no doubt the experts are going to be combing over this particular site for a long time to come -- Bill.
HEMMER: Marty, thanks. Martin Savidge with the Marines there. And again, Marty, want to respect your position there. Certainly not put you in a situation where you have to compromise any of the information you give us and so our viewers know we never give away locations unless our own embedded journalists have cleared it with their own local commanders first.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
