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CNN Live Today
Military Expertise on War in Iraq
Aired April 07, 2003 - 11:44 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.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: But for now, we are going to go ahead and try to get military expertise on what's going on in Iraq, and a look ahead to some of the choices that await.
For that we bring, in former NATO Supreme Commander, and now CNN military analyst General Wesley Clark.
General, hello to you.
GEN. WESLEY CLARK, (RET.) CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Hello, Heidi.
COLLINS: I want to stick with this bridge that we've been watching, we just saw blow up. And obviously, we've been talking about being a key crossing over a canal near the Tigris River. But I am wandering, you mentioned defending the opposite bank, and you always do that when you find a bridge. Do you, therefore, try to always avoid going over an existing bridge?
CLARK: No. As a matter of tactics, the Marines would probably have attempted to rush and storm the bridge. We may have had special operations forces or Marine recon elements out in front of the columns to secure these bridges and prevent their demolition by the Iraqis. We don't know the particular story of this bridge. But you always want to move as rapidly as possible, because as you move over existing bridges, if you can do that, you gain the element of surprise. You take away the enemy's ability to delay the force, and you continue to gain the initiative over the enemy.
So the fact is that this bridge was partially detonated or demolished by the Iraqis, at least weakened enough that it was necessary to put in a pontoon bridge. That's a delay. It was the right approach to take, but it would have been better, obviously it's always better to take the enemy's bridges if you can, provided that you can use them safely.
COLLINS: So, if you have a good sense then, General Clark, of what the significance is of this particular bridge as the push into Baghdad goes on?
CLARK: It's really hard to say from the limited information we are looking at through the TV camera, Heidi. But in general, the forces want to close to Baghdad as rapidly as possible. And every time they have to detour off a road, construct a bridge and go over, and you can see, of course it's a safe crossing, but it's still one vehicle at a time on the bridge. It's a difficult approach. It's a tough exit. It's back through the mud and back up through a road. That imposes delay. And it's those delays that the Marines are trying to prevent, because we have the initiative right now, we've got the shock and awe in effect with ground forces in Baghdad, and the more force we can get up there, the more rapidly we can do it, the greater the opportunity for finishing the fight in Baghdad with lower casualties.
COLLINS: All right. Now along those same lines, can you give us a perspective on where coalition troops are positioned in and around Baghdad today? And what would be next in your opinion?
CLARK: Well, we know that we're controlling the airport. We had a firefight there, and there apparently an Iraqi counterattack at some point the last 24 hours on the airport. Now we've got the one brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division has made its run into, and is occupying Saddam's palace in the center of Baghdad, as well as having gone to the information ministry and the Al Rasheed (ph) Hotel.
What we haven't heard yet is whether there's still investing those locations, or whether they're just remaining in the palace. The indication is, they will stay at least temporarily in the palace complex, using it as a sort of forward-operating base from which to maneuver and control that portion of Baghdad.
And then we know we've got other troops who have just finished a fight in Karbala, will probably be moving toward Baghdad, to reinforce the coalition effort there from the northwest side of Baghdad. The major roads around Baghdad are interdicted, but there must be many, many way for reinforcements to come in, or for Iraqi officials to escape out, and there's still reports of perhaps as many as four Iraqi divisions at some strength level, 50 percent, 35 percent, nobody knows for sure, who may be able to offer some organized resistance in the east, northeast, northwest of Baghdad.
So we've got in addition to that now, the U.S. Marine Corp is pushing up from the east side. We know that at least one Marine column has forces running across a bridge into the center part or near the center part of Baghdad. And the other Marine regiments should be following along very shortly.
So this is still a scramble to really get in and take Baghdad in grip all the way around, and then pull it apart, identifying its enemy centers of resistance, eliminating those centers of resistance, convincing the remaining straggler elements to lay down their arms, and then moving into the exploitation face in Baghdad.
COLLINS: All right, very good, thank you very much for your insight, as usual. General Wesley Clark, we appreciate your time.
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 - 11:44 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: But for now, we are going to go ahead and try to get military expertise on what's going on in Iraq, and a look ahead to some of the choices that await.
For that we bring, in former NATO Supreme Commander, and now CNN military analyst General Wesley Clark.
General, hello to you.
GEN. WESLEY CLARK, (RET.) CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Hello, Heidi.
COLLINS: I want to stick with this bridge that we've been watching, we just saw blow up. And obviously, we've been talking about being a key crossing over a canal near the Tigris River. But I am wandering, you mentioned defending the opposite bank, and you always do that when you find a bridge. Do you, therefore, try to always avoid going over an existing bridge?
CLARK: No. As a matter of tactics, the Marines would probably have attempted to rush and storm the bridge. We may have had special operations forces or Marine recon elements out in front of the columns to secure these bridges and prevent their demolition by the Iraqis. We don't know the particular story of this bridge. But you always want to move as rapidly as possible, because as you move over existing bridges, if you can do that, you gain the element of surprise. You take away the enemy's ability to delay the force, and you continue to gain the initiative over the enemy.
So the fact is that this bridge was partially detonated or demolished by the Iraqis, at least weakened enough that it was necessary to put in a pontoon bridge. That's a delay. It was the right approach to take, but it would have been better, obviously it's always better to take the enemy's bridges if you can, provided that you can use them safely.
COLLINS: So, if you have a good sense then, General Clark, of what the significance is of this particular bridge as the push into Baghdad goes on?
CLARK: It's really hard to say from the limited information we are looking at through the TV camera, Heidi. But in general, the forces want to close to Baghdad as rapidly as possible. And every time they have to detour off a road, construct a bridge and go over, and you can see, of course it's a safe crossing, but it's still one vehicle at a time on the bridge. It's a difficult approach. It's a tough exit. It's back through the mud and back up through a road. That imposes delay. And it's those delays that the Marines are trying to prevent, because we have the initiative right now, we've got the shock and awe in effect with ground forces in Baghdad, and the more force we can get up there, the more rapidly we can do it, the greater the opportunity for finishing the fight in Baghdad with lower casualties.
COLLINS: All right. Now along those same lines, can you give us a perspective on where coalition troops are positioned in and around Baghdad today? And what would be next in your opinion?
CLARK: Well, we know that we're controlling the airport. We had a firefight there, and there apparently an Iraqi counterattack at some point the last 24 hours on the airport. Now we've got the one brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division has made its run into, and is occupying Saddam's palace in the center of Baghdad, as well as having gone to the information ministry and the Al Rasheed (ph) Hotel.
What we haven't heard yet is whether there's still investing those locations, or whether they're just remaining in the palace. The indication is, they will stay at least temporarily in the palace complex, using it as a sort of forward-operating base from which to maneuver and control that portion of Baghdad.
And then we know we've got other troops who have just finished a fight in Karbala, will probably be moving toward Baghdad, to reinforce the coalition effort there from the northwest side of Baghdad. The major roads around Baghdad are interdicted, but there must be many, many way for reinforcements to come in, or for Iraqi officials to escape out, and there's still reports of perhaps as many as four Iraqi divisions at some strength level, 50 percent, 35 percent, nobody knows for sure, who may be able to offer some organized resistance in the east, northeast, northwest of Baghdad.
So we've got in addition to that now, the U.S. Marine Corp is pushing up from the east side. We know that at least one Marine column has forces running across a bridge into the center part or near the center part of Baghdad. And the other Marine regiments should be following along very shortly.
So this is still a scramble to really get in and take Baghdad in grip all the way around, and then pull it apart, identifying its enemy centers of resistance, eliminating those centers of resistance, convincing the remaining straggler elements to lay down their arms, and then moving into the exploitation face in Baghdad.
COLLINS: All right, very good, thank you very much for your insight, as usual. General Wesley Clark, we appreciate your time.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
