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U.S. Military Searches for Two Missing Soldiers in Iraq

Aired June 27, 2003 - 11:06   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.


HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Two U.S. soldiers are missing in Iraq, and now the Pentagon says three Iraqi nationals are being held in connection with their disappearance. This follows a string of recent attacks against coalition forces.
CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr is joining us now live from her post with the very latest.

Hello to you -- Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi.

Well, indeed very tough days now for U.S. troops in Iraq. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Capitol Hill this morning privately briefing U.S. senators behind closed doors about the situation there. And when that briefing was over, he came out and he spoke to reporters about one of the reasons he thinks that there may be so many of these hit-and-run attacks against U.S. forces. Here's some of what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: There were something in the neighborhood of 100,000 people turned out of their prisons. Those people are out there. They're doing things that are unhelpful to the Iraqi people. There's also no question that there are leftover remnants of the Saddam Hussein regime that are doing things that are against the coalition.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: Now, there are still -- there is still the very unsettling case of the two U.S. soldiers that have been missing since Wednesday. Officials say they are questioning three Iraqis who have been detained in regards to that case.

Now, officials say they have no understanding, they have no information about what has happened to these two soldiers. But now today they do say that these three men are being questioned about their possible abduction, though officials emphasize they have nothing to prove the point yet that the men may have been abducted Wednesday. When they failed to make a communications check, soldiers went out, looked for them and discovered the men and the Humvee vehicle they were riding in were missing.

And the unrest in the attacks do continue. There has now also been an attack, a U.S. soldier shot in An-Najaf in the southern part of the country. He reportedly was conducting a check about a vehicle theft when he was attacked and killed. This case is causing some concern because Najaf, of course, is in the southern part of the country, and that generally has been pretty friendly to U.S. and coalition forces.

So, there is a lot of concern about all of this. And officials tell us they are reviewing the situation, and by next week they hope to get a better fix on what's going on and whether they need to make any changes in the disposition of U.S. forces or any changes in U.S. strategy. So far, however, they are going to stick with their current plan -- aggressive patrols, aggressive encounters with opposition forces -- and hope that that breaks up some of the trouble -- Heidi.

COLLINS: I'm sure that will require lots of discussion. Barbara Starr, thanks so much -- live from the Pentagon this morning.

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 - 11:06   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Two U.S. soldiers are missing in Iraq, and now the Pentagon says three Iraqi nationals are being held in connection with their disappearance. This follows a string of recent attacks against coalition forces.
CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr is joining us now live from her post with the very latest.

Hello to you -- Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi.

Well, indeed very tough days now for U.S. troops in Iraq. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Capitol Hill this morning privately briefing U.S. senators behind closed doors about the situation there. And when that briefing was over, he came out and he spoke to reporters about one of the reasons he thinks that there may be so many of these hit-and-run attacks against U.S. forces. Here's some of what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: There were something in the neighborhood of 100,000 people turned out of their prisons. Those people are out there. They're doing things that are unhelpful to the Iraqi people. There's also no question that there are leftover remnants of the Saddam Hussein regime that are doing things that are against the coalition.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: Now, there are still -- there is still the very unsettling case of the two U.S. soldiers that have been missing since Wednesday. Officials say they are questioning three Iraqis who have been detained in regards to that case.

Now, officials say they have no understanding, they have no information about what has happened to these two soldiers. But now today they do say that these three men are being questioned about their possible abduction, though officials emphasize they have nothing to prove the point yet that the men may have been abducted Wednesday. When they failed to make a communications check, soldiers went out, looked for them and discovered the men and the Humvee vehicle they were riding in were missing.

And the unrest in the attacks do continue. There has now also been an attack, a U.S. soldier shot in An-Najaf in the southern part of the country. He reportedly was conducting a check about a vehicle theft when he was attacked and killed. This case is causing some concern because Najaf, of course, is in the southern part of the country, and that generally has been pretty friendly to U.S. and coalition forces.

So, there is a lot of concern about all of this. And officials tell us they are reviewing the situation, and by next week they hope to get a better fix on what's going on and whether they need to make any changes in the disposition of U.S. forces or any changes in U.S. strategy. So far, however, they are going to stick with their current plan -- aggressive patrols, aggressive encounters with opposition forces -- and hope that that breaks up some of the trouble -- Heidi.

COLLINS: I'm sure that will require lots of discussion. Barbara Starr, thanks so much -- live from the Pentagon this morning.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.