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CNN Live At Daybreak
Three Iraqis Being Questioned in Disappearance of Two GIs
Aired June 27, 2003 - 06:07 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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Now to Iraq, where two U.S. soldiers are missing. U.S. military officials lost contact with the GIs at a checkpoint near Baghdad.
Our Baghdad bureau chief, Jane Arraf, joins us live with the latest on the search -- Jane.
JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Fredricka, military officials say they're interrogating three suspects to find out if they can find out what happened to these two soldiers who have been missing for more than a day-and-a-half now. Now, the strange thing is they're missing with their armored vehicle, and they lost contact at the checkpoint they were manning north of Baghdad about a day-and-a-half ago. There has been an intensive search by air and on land, and still no apparent sign of them.
Now, it's part of a series of what appears to be escalating attacks, in the last couple of days anyway. One soldier has been killed in the south in the town of Kufah (ph) near the holy city of Najaf. Now, that soldier was killed while on patrol.
In another separate incident, a special forces soldier was killed and one of his colleagues wounded when they were ambushed southwest of Baghdad.
Now, one of the things we've being seeing lately is increasing attacks in the south, which has traditionally been thought to be safer.
And we have with us Captain David Romley, who is the public affairs officer in Hillah, about 60 miles south of here. Now, Hillah was a place where just a couple of days ago there was an ambush as well, which is quite rare.
What's going on, do you think?
CAPT. DAVID ROMLEY, PAO 1ST MARINE EXPEDITIONARY FORCE: We're really very lucky. The area south in the south is very secure and stable, relatively. So, we've just, as a precautionary measure, of course, have taken aggressive measures to make sure that anybody from the north does not come into the south. And so far, we've been able to be very successful at doing that.
ARRAF: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Operation Desert Scorpion, what's that all about?
ROMLEY: Operation Desert Scorpion is basically the Army's operation that's going on in the north. We similarly have an operation in the south. We refer to it as Task Force Scorpion. It's not necessarily related, but it's in conjunction to it. And, again, as I said, it's basically to help keep out anybody that might be coming from the north to the south, and we're very successful in doing that.
ARRAF: But the ambush two days ago, that really did seem to be a first since the end of the war. Does that indicate that there are units, forces, pockets of opposition that are moving south from the north?
ROMLEY: No, I don't think we've seen a general trend moving to the south yet, because we've been successful at keeping them out. We're very fortunate in that the Shias work with us very, very closely. We have very good information. They come to us on a regular basis to provide us information about anybody that may be trying to come from the north to the south.
ARRAF: Have you changed your tactics at all since this has come up? There really is a different climate here. Is it different there?
ROMLEY: I don't think it is in the south, Jane. I really dont. The south is quite different. We live in an agrarian society, where people -- we understand, we think, the agrarian concerns, and we try and champion those concerns. We have a very grassroots sort of level of commitment toward the Shias, and we have a very good relationship, too. So, I think it's perhaps a little bit of a different relationship between us and the south and those in the north.
ARRAF: Thanks very much.
ROMLEY: Thanks.
ARRAF: Captain David Romley from the Marines 1st Expeditionary Force in the south, further south of Baghdad, which had been thought to be safer, but we're seeing some incidents there now, too -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right, Jane Arraf in Baghdad, thanks very much.
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 27, 2003 - 06:07 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Now to Iraq, where two U.S. soldiers are missing. U.S. military officials lost contact with the GIs at a checkpoint near Baghdad.
Our Baghdad bureau chief, Jane Arraf, joins us live with the latest on the search -- Jane.
JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Fredricka, military officials say they're interrogating three suspects to find out if they can find out what happened to these two soldiers who have been missing for more than a day-and-a-half now. Now, the strange thing is they're missing with their armored vehicle, and they lost contact at the checkpoint they were manning north of Baghdad about a day-and-a-half ago. There has been an intensive search by air and on land, and still no apparent sign of them.
Now, it's part of a series of what appears to be escalating attacks, in the last couple of days anyway. One soldier has been killed in the south in the town of Kufah (ph) near the holy city of Najaf. Now, that soldier was killed while on patrol.
In another separate incident, a special forces soldier was killed and one of his colleagues wounded when they were ambushed southwest of Baghdad.
Now, one of the things we've being seeing lately is increasing attacks in the south, which has traditionally been thought to be safer.
And we have with us Captain David Romley, who is the public affairs officer in Hillah, about 60 miles south of here. Now, Hillah was a place where just a couple of days ago there was an ambush as well, which is quite rare.
What's going on, do you think?
CAPT. DAVID ROMLEY, PAO 1ST MARINE EXPEDITIONARY FORCE: We're really very lucky. The area south in the south is very secure and stable, relatively. So, we've just, as a precautionary measure, of course, have taken aggressive measures to make sure that anybody from the north does not come into the south. And so far, we've been able to be very successful at doing that.
ARRAF: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Operation Desert Scorpion, what's that all about?
ROMLEY: Operation Desert Scorpion is basically the Army's operation that's going on in the north. We similarly have an operation in the south. We refer to it as Task Force Scorpion. It's not necessarily related, but it's in conjunction to it. And, again, as I said, it's basically to help keep out anybody that might be coming from the north to the south, and we're very successful in doing that.
ARRAF: But the ambush two days ago, that really did seem to be a first since the end of the war. Does that indicate that there are units, forces, pockets of opposition that are moving south from the north?
ROMLEY: No, I don't think we've seen a general trend moving to the south yet, because we've been successful at keeping them out. We're very fortunate in that the Shias work with us very, very closely. We have very good information. They come to us on a regular basis to provide us information about anybody that may be trying to come from the north to the south.
ARRAF: Have you changed your tactics at all since this has come up? There really is a different climate here. Is it different there?
ROMLEY: I don't think it is in the south, Jane. I really dont. The south is quite different. We live in an agrarian society, where people -- we understand, we think, the agrarian concerns, and we try and champion those concerns. We have a very grassroots sort of level of commitment toward the Shias, and we have a very good relationship, too. So, I think it's perhaps a little bit of a different relationship between us and the south and those in the north.
ARRAF: Thanks very much.
ROMLEY: Thanks.
ARRAF: Captain David Romley from the Marines 1st Expeditionary Force in the south, further south of Baghdad, which had been thought to be safer, but we're seeing some incidents there now, too -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right, Jane Arraf in Baghdad, thanks very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
