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CNN LOU DOBBS MONEYLINE
War in Iraq: Joyous Crowds Greet Americans in Center of Baghdad
Aired April 9, 2003 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LOU DOBBS, HOST: U. S. troops, Wolf, rolling into the heart of Baghdad today. Thousands of Baghdad residents celebrating on the streets. They cheered. They danced, as the American forces arrived. An American armored vehicle helped today pull down a statue of Saddam Hussein in the city's center. The statue's head was dragged through the streets by jubilant Iraqis.
We'll have a live report for you tonight from Baghdad. We'll bring you the sights and sounds of what has been a dramatic day in world history.
U. S. Marines fought a fierce firefight with Iraqi remnants at Baghdad University today. The Iraqis were armed with truck-mounted cannons, rocket-propelled grenades, and machine guns. Our Martin Savidge with the 1st Battalion, 7th Marines will have the report.
Troops from the 101st Airborne Division took no chances when they cleared buildings in the town of Hillah, south of Baghdad. They searched a courthouse room by room. Ryan Chilcote with the 101st will have the story.
There were also scenes of jubilation in Kurdish controlled northern Iraq today as the Kurds celebrated the collapse of Iraqi resistance in Baghdad. Ben Wedeman will report from Erbil in northern Iraq.
And over the course of this next hour, we'll be talking about General David Grange and Kenneth Pollack about whether today's dramatic events in Baghdad means the war is about to end.
But first, we go to Heidi Collins at CNN center in Atlanta for the latest headlines at this hour. Heidi.
(NEWSBREAK)
DOBBS: Good evening. U. S. troops advanced into the heart of Baghdad today. They were greeted as liberators. Thousands of Iraqis celebrated the end of almost 25 years of dictatorship by Saddam Hussein. Here's a look at what happened today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD RUMSFELD, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: This is a good day for the Iraqi people. Certainly, anyone seeing the faces of the liberated Iraqis, the free Iraqis, has to say that this is a very good day. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Bush.
BRIG. GEN. VINCENT BROOKS, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: The regime is gone and will not return again. It can never be returned to what was.
RUMSFELD: The scenes of free Iraqis celebrating in the streets, riding American tanks, tearing down the statues of Saddam Hussein in the center of Baghdad are breathtaking.
JOHN IRVINE, ITN CORRESPONDENT: We watched as Iraqis diced these pictures with petrol and set them on fire. They threw stones at them as well. At last, the Iraqis are able to show their true feelings towards their president.
DOBBS (voice-over): In this country, people watch from the crossroads of the world in New York's Times Square and celebrated in the streets of Dearborn, Michigan.
And in Baghdad, history was made.
DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In the spring of 2003, the American people and a watching world are seeing another great generation, the citizens of Iraq, like so many oppressed peoples before them, are coming to know the kind of men and women that America sends forth to meet danger and to defend freedom. We can all be thankful that our country still produces such men and women.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DOBBS: There is tonight still isolated resistance within the city of Baghdad, but coalition forces continue to reinforce their positions. They control most of the city, but large areas remain unsafe for civilians.
I'm joined now from the Palestine Hotel in downtown Baghdad by Craig Nelson, who's a reporter with Cox Newspapers. Craig, what is the scene in Baghdad tonight?
CRAIG NELSON, COX NEWSPAPERS CORRESPONDENT: There's a great deal of relief in this particular neighborhood. We had yesterday tank shells from a U. S. Tank hit the hotel above me and kill two journalists, and today in the same hotel, in the same lobby, where there were information ministry people last night, there are U. S. Marines securing the hotel and securing the neighborhood. So it's a markedly different experience right now than we had yesterday.
DOBBS: The jubilation that has been broadcast around the world -- did you think that the U. S. Marines and the U. S. Army would receive such a reception?
NELSON: Yes. The reception was amazing. We saw people along Sidun (ph) Avenue up here to my right cheering spontaneously. They put flowers on tanks. They cheered. They ran up to hug some U. S. soldiers.
At the same time, we saw people who -- Iraqis, who were very saddened by the whole experience. I saw several Iraqis in tears. I think this is a very difficult experience for Iraqis. They're very nationalistic, and some felt extremely sad and humiliated that it took a U. S. Marine Corps and other U. S. military forces to come here and get rid of Saddam Hussein.
DOBBS: And why is that?
NELSON: Because, as I said, they're a very, very proud people. They're very nationalistic. They recognize that Saddam Hussein has corrupted the country. They recognize that -- many recognize that he has bankrupted it.
But they -- the idea that a western army would come into Iraq, as western armies have in the past, and overrun it is something that proud Iraqis find very difficult to accept. And I think this is going to have some implications down the road for the effectiveness the administration has put into this country and the people who run it.
DOBBS: What would you say the proportionate response was amongst those Iraqis with whom you spoke today? How many cheering? How many, as you suggested, tearing up or crying?
NELSON: That's very difficult to say. I think there were at least 60 percent who were quite happy. The other 40 percent were not. But a good bulk of -- majority of Iraqis, whether they were happy to see U. S. troops or not, are troubled by the thought of being occupied. This is a constant source of irritation, to even people who despise Saddam Hussein, and it's going to be something that policymakers in Washington and in London and elsewhere are going to have to reckon with as they're going to gain control of the situation on the ground here.
After all, this is a very, very dramatic day, but there's still fighting. There's still bombing. And there are pockets of Baghdad that are fiercely pro-Saddam and still need to be brought under control. And this is going to be -- this is still a very dangerous city right now.
DOBBS: Craig Nelson, we thank you very much for the report. Be safe. Craig Nelson with Cox Newspapers.
Marines fought a fierce battle today for control of Baghdad University. The Marines overwhelmed Iraqi resistance after a firefight lasting a half hour. Martin Savidge with the Marines reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For the 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, the road into Baghdad was paved with cheers, waves, and smiles. For the young Marines who battled for three weeks to reach the capital, it was a moment to savor.
But not everyone in the city apparently welcomed their presence. Photographer Scott McWhinnie was riding with a lead assault team crossing over the Tigris River when an Iraqi gun boat down below suddenly opened fire. The Marines immediately returned fire, pointing their machine guns into the water below, silencing the attack.
Moments later, the trailing convoy began taking fire from the campus of Baghdad University. Machine gun rounds and rocket rocket- propelled grenades were striking at the armored column. Infantry scattered to take cover and began organizing a counterattack supported by armored personnel carriers and tanks.
At one point, an APC acted as a battering ram, punching through an outer wall, allowing the Marines to move in. From the tall grass surrounding the campus, they organized firing teams of machine guns, the Iraqi opposition hitting them from several different buildings.
With discipline first, the fire teams took on their targets. High on their list: pickup trucks armed with machine guns. One after another, they were destroyed.
In the words of commanders, this was a full on fight. But as big as it looked, the engagement was limited only to the campus. While Iraqis celebrated only blocks away, these young Marines were involved in the fight of their lives.
The battle reached its peak when the fighting ignited a huge storage of anti-aircraft ammunition, touching off a huge firestorm. Eventually, all of it stopped, and the Marines moved in to check their kills, some clearly wondering if they might have just taken part in the last battle for Baghdad. Martin Savidge, CNN, with the First Battalion, Seventh Marines, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DOBBS: Martin Savidge with photographer Scott McWhinnie.
The commander of the 3rd Infantry Division, General Buford Blout, said today the Iraqi government has stopped functioning. The general said coalition forces have been in all the government buildings of Baghdad, and no government remains.
Senior commanders tonight are celebrating what has been a very good day and perhaps the cap stone of their battle plan. Senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre has the report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RUMSFELD: Good afternoon.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For Donald Rumsfeld, April 9th was the day.
RUMSFELD: This is a good day for the Iraqi people.
MCINTYRE: Too soon to declare victory perhaps, but not too soon to feel vindicated for the much second-guessed war strategy that now appears to be working as brilliantly as the Pentagon claimed it would. Rumsfeld credits his commanders and especially their troops.
RUMSFELD: They drove through the south up, braving dust storms and death squads to reach Baghdad in record time. They secured Iraq's southern oil fields for the Iraqi people, took out terrorist camps in the north and the south, secured large sections of western Iraq, preventing the regime from attacking its neighbors with SCUD missiles. They've liberated cities and towns and are now in the Iraqi capital removing the regime from its seat of power and center of gravity.
MCINTYRE: By comparison, the 1991 Persian Gulf War to liberate Kuwait required more than 500,000 troops, took six weeks, and resulted in 300 U. S. deaths. So far, the war to liberate Iraq has involved roughly 300,000 U. S. and British troops, lasted three weeks, with just over 130 coalition deaths.
CHENEY: Bottom line, with less than half of the ground forces and two-thirds of the air assets used 12 years ago in Desert Storm, Secretary Rumsfeld and General Franks have achieved a far more difficult objective.
MCINTYRE: Military analysts point out a number of revolutionary aspects of the campaign, including the ability of a B-1 heavy bomber to strike precisely Saddam Hussein's last known location within 45 minutes of the U. S. receiving intelligence. And perhaps even more impressive, the ability of U. S. ground forces to maintain their march on Baghdad with only short pauses.
When the statue of Saddam Hussein came down in Baghdad, the dual symbolism wasn't lost on the Pentagon. Not only did it show the Iraq people's desire to topple Saddam, but it showed they couldn't do it without the muscle of the U. S. military.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
The Pentagon continues to warn against premature celebrations and that tough battles may lie ahead. But in executing a military strategy that not only planned for the worst but allowed for the best, the Pentagon appears to have capitalized on that ancient axiom attributed to Virgil, that fortune favors the bold. Lou.
DOBBS: Jamie McIntyre, thank you very much, Our senior Pentagon correspondent.
Coming up next here, rejoicing tonight in northern Iraq as the Kurds celebrate Saddam Hussein's downfall.
But the northern war is far from ended. Ben Wedeman will have the report.
There are fewer bombs falling in and around Baghdad, but the fighting in the north is keeping coalition war planes alert and busy. Gary Tuchman will report.
And Richard Roth will have a special report on Iraq's United Nations ambassador. You remember him. Now essentially a man without a country or a mission. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) DOBBS: The coalition is tonight cutting back on air strikes over Baghdad as troops on the ground move into the center of the city. But the air war in the north continues tonight as U. S. and Kurdish forces target Iraqi forces. Gary Tuchman is at an air base near the Iraqi border - Gary.
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Lou, we do continue to see a decrease in the number of sorties over Iraq. The latest numbers we've been given by the U.S. Air Force between Wednesday morning and Thursday morning: 1,650 sorties. That is down from a peak of 2,000 just a few days ago. There is still 24-hour air cover over Baghdad, but because of the coalition control of that city, that's why you see the significant decrease in the number.
Now, the Air Force remains very concerned about an F-15E Strike Eagle that has now been missing since Sunday morning. That's a two- seater plane. There are two American pilots missing. They don't know what caused the plane to go down, but the search continues for the two pilots.
The Air Force is much more relieved about four different incidents that involved this base where I'm standing. Four A-10 attack craft were hit by Iraqi artillery over a two-day period. In one case, the plane was lost. It crashed, but the pilot got out before it crashed. He ejected and was then rescued by U. S. Army personnel just south of Baghdad. He was brought back to this base, where he is in good condition.
In one of the other situations, we actually have video of the plane that was affected. It was on the day before.
It was on Monday. The pilot flying her plane was hit by artillery and hit by missiles. You see there on the plane the heavy damage to the back of it. The hydraulic system completely destroyed, bullets all over the engine. A decision had to be made to eject or try to fly the plane back. The woman decided to fly the plane back. She lost all of her flight controls, lost her hydraulics. It was sort of like trying to drive a car with power steering that loses its power steering. But she got the plane back to this base safely. Her colleagues say it was a textbook emergency flying situation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CAPTAIN K.C., "KILLER CHICK", PILOT: It was almost immediately I knew that I had been hit. I heard a very loud noise from the back side of the jet, and the jet rolled off to the left and started pointing it at the ground. So, it was instantaneous.
TUCHMAN: What did you say or do at that point?
K.C.: At that point, my concentration was just completely on getting the aircraft back flyable again and just really getting myself out of Baghdad as quickly as possible.
TUCHMAN: Did you think you were going to be able to make it back or that you would have to eject from the plane? It happened yesterday with another A-10 pilot who had to eject and was rescued.
K.C.: There was a quick second there where I knew it was a possibility. But in my mind, I knew I had no desire to eject over Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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