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CNN Live At Daybreak
Saddam Loyalists Targeted
Aired June 12, 2003 - 07:03 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: There is a significant story out of Iraq today. A terrorist training camp north of Baghdad was the target of a raid today by U.S. forces; that strike part of a week-long effort near the capital that clamped down and cracked down on loyalists to Saddam Hussein.
Ben Wedeman was embedded with the operation, and he's now live in Baghdad.
Ben -- what did you see? Good afternoon.
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CAIRO BUREAU CHIEF: Yes, Bill, actually there are two operations ongoing at the moment. One of them was the one we heard reported this morning that occurred about 93 miles to the north of Baghdad in what has been described by coalition forces as a terrorist training camp. Now, that action involved troops from the 101st Airborne Division.
According to a statement from CENTCOM, there was a direct firefight between Baath Party loyalists and other, what are being described as, paramilitary and subversive efforts -- elements, that is, and the 101st Airborne Division, one U.S. soldier apparently receiving minor wounds.
That's about all of the details we have at this moment about that action that occurred this morning.
There has been an ongoing action, however, also north of Baghdad about 40 miles or so north of here at a place called Dhuluria (ph), and that's the operation we went along with the 173rd Airborne Brigade. They sent about 1,000 men into a very small peninsula on the Tigris River. They went in there just after midnight. For us, it would have been Monday, midnight. And they went in, as I said, with 1,000 troops. They had air cover from helicopters, as well as other aircraft. They went in just after midnight.
However, there were so many men and so many aircraft involved that it appears that the people they were going after -- and they were more Saddam loyalists, so to say -- they were tipped off. And, in fact, as we were driving into this town, we came across the site of what had just been an ambush of U.S. troops. We saw four American soldiers lying on the ground moaning, their uniforms covered in blood. They were being treated by medics.
Now, as far as we know, those were the only casualties on the American side. Two Iraqis were also killed in action, as well as one who apparently died of a heart attack. Now, the reason the U.S. forces went in there was to round up these pro-Saddam elements, as well, as we were told, Ali Hassan al- Majid, the notorious "Chemical Ali." However, he was not found.
Now, this operation went on for several days. This peninsula was basically surrounded by U.S. troops. They were going after several specific houses belonging to people it's believed who were in some way connected to the old regime. But no one, to the best of our knowledge, was arrested who is from that famous list of 55 most-wanted former Iraqi officials -- Bill.
HEMMER: Ben, quickly here. A lot of these towns are not familiar to our viewers here back in the U.S. One town that is, is the town of Fallujah, west of Baghdad about 45 miles. Was that involved in this latest operation or not?
WEDEMAN: No. That's a different area. But also, it's also the focus at the moment of this intensified U.S. effort to crack down on local resistance, local paramilitary action against the United States. And so, we have seen more troops going into Fallujah, an increase of about 1,500 in addition to those two other operations I mentioned -- Bill.
HEMMER: Ben Wedeman live in Baghdad.
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 12, 2003 - 07:03 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: There is a significant story out of Iraq today. A terrorist training camp north of Baghdad was the target of a raid today by U.S. forces; that strike part of a week-long effort near the capital that clamped down and cracked down on loyalists to Saddam Hussein.
Ben Wedeman was embedded with the operation, and he's now live in Baghdad.
Ben -- what did you see? Good afternoon.
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CAIRO BUREAU CHIEF: Yes, Bill, actually there are two operations ongoing at the moment. One of them was the one we heard reported this morning that occurred about 93 miles to the north of Baghdad in what has been described by coalition forces as a terrorist training camp. Now, that action involved troops from the 101st Airborne Division.
According to a statement from CENTCOM, there was a direct firefight between Baath Party loyalists and other, what are being described as, paramilitary and subversive efforts -- elements, that is, and the 101st Airborne Division, one U.S. soldier apparently receiving minor wounds.
That's about all of the details we have at this moment about that action that occurred this morning.
There has been an ongoing action, however, also north of Baghdad about 40 miles or so north of here at a place called Dhuluria (ph), and that's the operation we went along with the 173rd Airborne Brigade. They sent about 1,000 men into a very small peninsula on the Tigris River. They went in there just after midnight. For us, it would have been Monday, midnight. And they went in, as I said, with 1,000 troops. They had air cover from helicopters, as well as other aircraft. They went in just after midnight.
However, there were so many men and so many aircraft involved that it appears that the people they were going after -- and they were more Saddam loyalists, so to say -- they were tipped off. And, in fact, as we were driving into this town, we came across the site of what had just been an ambush of U.S. troops. We saw four American soldiers lying on the ground moaning, their uniforms covered in blood. They were being treated by medics.
Now, as far as we know, those were the only casualties on the American side. Two Iraqis were also killed in action, as well as one who apparently died of a heart attack. Now, the reason the U.S. forces went in there was to round up these pro-Saddam elements, as well, as we were told, Ali Hassan al- Majid, the notorious "Chemical Ali." However, he was not found.
Now, this operation went on for several days. This peninsula was basically surrounded by U.S. troops. They were going after several specific houses belonging to people it's believed who were in some way connected to the old regime. But no one, to the best of our knowledge, was arrested who is from that famous list of 55 most-wanted former Iraqi officials -- Bill.
HEMMER: Ben, quickly here. A lot of these towns are not familiar to our viewers here back in the U.S. One town that is, is the town of Fallujah, west of Baghdad about 45 miles. Was that involved in this latest operation or not?
WEDEMAN: No. That's a different area. But also, it's also the focus at the moment of this intensified U.S. effort to crack down on local resistance, local paramilitary action against the United States. And so, we have seen more troops going into Fallujah, an increase of about 1,500 in addition to those two other operations I mentioned -- Bill.
HEMMER: Ben Wedeman live in Baghdad.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
