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CNN Live At Daybreak
War in Iraq: Central Command Update
Aired April 11, 2003 - 05:40 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: A lot of cities have fallen in northern Iraq. Baghdad seems to be relatively calm right now, but let's see what CENTCOM is saying about all of this and go to our Tom Mintier.
Good morning -- Tom.
TOM MINTIER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
It may be, throughout this conflict, it's been what you've been able to see, it was what was being reported about. When the bombs were falling in Baghdad, we had live pictures. When the Marines were advancing on Baghdad, we had live pictures. But all the officials here at CENTCOM will say is that Tikrit is taking a pounding right now. They have seen the pictures of the capitulations, the stream of Iraqi soldiers who are surrendering from the north and marching southward.
We will be getting a briefing here in less than 90 minutes. Probably that briefing filled with targets of opportunity still, not in Baghdad or in Basra or Mosul or elsewhere where it seems that peace is at hand, but there are still pockets that CENTCOM says they're seeing resistance and they're taking a pounding from the air campaign before the ground troops go in.
So while this campaign is still under way, they have gone out of their way to say that this is far from over, that the battle, the campaign still continues. And there are remnants of the regime that are still being pounded, as they call it here, overnight and continues to this moment. So we'll have to wait and see what General Brooks talks about at the briefing, but probably will get a better idea from him what we're not seeing, at least in pictures -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Understand. Tom Mintier, many thanks to you.
And as Tom said, the CENTCOM briefing coming your way as usual at 7:00 Eastern 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 11, 2003 - 05:40 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: A lot of cities have fallen in northern Iraq. Baghdad seems to be relatively calm right now, but let's see what CENTCOM is saying about all of this and go to our Tom Mintier.
Good morning -- Tom.
TOM MINTIER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
It may be, throughout this conflict, it's been what you've been able to see, it was what was being reported about. When the bombs were falling in Baghdad, we had live pictures. When the Marines were advancing on Baghdad, we had live pictures. But all the officials here at CENTCOM will say is that Tikrit is taking a pounding right now. They have seen the pictures of the capitulations, the stream of Iraqi soldiers who are surrendering from the north and marching southward.
We will be getting a briefing here in less than 90 minutes. Probably that briefing filled with targets of opportunity still, not in Baghdad or in Basra or Mosul or elsewhere where it seems that peace is at hand, but there are still pockets that CENTCOM says they're seeing resistance and they're taking a pounding from the air campaign before the ground troops go in.
So while this campaign is still under way, they have gone out of their way to say that this is far from over, that the battle, the campaign still continues. And there are remnants of the regime that are still being pounded, as they call it here, overnight and continues to this moment. So we'll have to wait and see what General Brooks talks about at the briefing, but probably will get a better idea from him what we're not seeing, at least in pictures -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Understand. Tom Mintier, many thanks to you.
And as Tom said, the CENTCOM briefing coming your way as usual at 7:00 Eastern 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
