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American Morning
U.S. Soldier Killed in Iraq
Aired June 09, 2003 - 07:09 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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Now we move on to Iraq, where violence late last night claimed the life of another American soldier.
Jane Arraf, our Baghdad bureau chief, is with us live from the capital.
Jane -- hello.
JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Hello, Daryn. Well, it seems to be a troublesome change in tactics in what appear to be escalating clashes between U.S. forces and Iraqis here in Iraq.
Now, this particular instance was very close to the Syrian border in Al Qaim. And what happened was that a car pulled up, according to CENTCOM, with Iraqis who claimed to need urgent medical attention. Two people stepped out of the car, one opened fire. A U.S. soldier was killed. The soldiers returned fire, but some of those assailants are still at-large, and they've launched a crack down looking for them.
Now, that goes along with sporadic continued violence in the town of Fallujah, and that town has been a trouble spot ever since April when U.S. forces opened fire in what they call the standoff with demonstrators, killing more than 15 and injuring dozens more. People there have not calmed down since then.
Now, yesterday apparently, according to U.S. military officials, there was another incident near a mosque in Fallujah, when a patrol came under attack. Now, they apparently did not return fire since the fire came from a mosque, the same mosque, they say, that was responsible for an incident the previous day.
Now, Daryn, this is troubling for U.S. forces obviously, because these are the worst possible incidents to deal with. They risk inflaming anger that's already at quite high levels in these towns. And in terms of someone coming to a checkpoint claiming to be ill, it really raises the stakes in U.S. forces being allowed to be able to operate here, because they do operate in communities where they have to get along with the local people. And this is making it increasingly difficult -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Jane Arraf in Baghdad, thank you.
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 June 9, 2003 - 07:09 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Now we move on to Iraq, where violence late last night claimed the life of another American soldier.
Jane Arraf, our Baghdad bureau chief, is with us live from the capital.
Jane -- hello.
JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Hello, Daryn. Well, it seems to be a troublesome change in tactics in what appear to be escalating clashes between U.S. forces and Iraqis here in Iraq.
Now, this particular instance was very close to the Syrian border in Al Qaim. And what happened was that a car pulled up, according to CENTCOM, with Iraqis who claimed to need urgent medical attention. Two people stepped out of the car, one opened fire. A U.S. soldier was killed. The soldiers returned fire, but some of those assailants are still at-large, and they've launched a crack down looking for them.
Now, that goes along with sporadic continued violence in the town of Fallujah, and that town has been a trouble spot ever since April when U.S. forces opened fire in what they call the standoff with demonstrators, killing more than 15 and injuring dozens more. People there have not calmed down since then.
Now, yesterday apparently, according to U.S. military officials, there was another incident near a mosque in Fallujah, when a patrol came under attack. Now, they apparently did not return fire since the fire came from a mosque, the same mosque, they say, that was responsible for an incident the previous day.
Now, Daryn, this is troubling for U.S. forces obviously, because these are the worst possible incidents to deal with. They risk inflaming anger that's already at quite high levels in these towns. And in terms of someone coming to a checkpoint claiming to be ill, it really raises the stakes in U.S. forces being allowed to be able to operate here, because they do operate in communities where they have to get along with the local people. And this is making it increasingly difficult -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Jane Arraf in Baghdad, thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
