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CNN Live Today
Operation Sidewinder in Second Day in Iraq
Aired June 30, 2003 - 11:17 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: Operation Sidewinder is in its second day today in Iraq. U.S. troops have raided several towns, trying to root out Saddam Hussein loyalists. They're blamed for continuing attacks against American GIs.
Our Baghdad bureau chief Jane Arraf is keeping watch on this from the Iraqi capital today.
Jane, hello.
JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Daryn.
We know it started Sunday. We just don't know when it's going to end. Military officials are saying this is an open-ended operation. So far, they detained several dozen people, including someone described as a colonel in a Baath Party. That would be an army colonel, possibly a senior member in the Baath Party, and they caught some weapons as well, although not a great number.
But essentially this operation is intended to route out, as we said, those continuing elements of opposition. It's a tough thing to do. They are going house-to-house searches, knocking on doors. They are also doing simultaneous raids with attack helicopters, with armor, with foot soldiers. It's the high-tech 4th Infantry Division, and they are using everything at their disposal to try to root out these elements, they say, that could be responsible for a lot of the continuing attacks on U.S. soldiers in Iraq -- Daryn.
KAGAN: It might sound like a silly question, but how would they know once they found one?
ARRAF: That's an excellent question. It's tricky. They are using intelligence is a lot of it. The more people they get into custody, the more what they call actionable intelligence they have. That's intelligence that is accurate enough and timely enough that they can act on it. That does not always work obviously.
Now in doing that, this is part of the problem, that they're going door to door, knocking on doors, banging down doors in some cases, going in with sniffer dogs, and doing a lot things that are really alienating the local population. They say they don't have a choice in this. Some of the things have led to an Amnesty International Report that complains about the human rights records of these detainees. It's a controversial procedure, but U.S. military officials say they have no choice -- 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 30, 2003 - 11:17 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Operation Sidewinder is in its second day today in Iraq. U.S. troops have raided several towns, trying to root out Saddam Hussein loyalists. They're blamed for continuing attacks against American GIs.
Our Baghdad bureau chief Jane Arraf is keeping watch on this from the Iraqi capital today.
Jane, hello.
JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Daryn.
We know it started Sunday. We just don't know when it's going to end. Military officials are saying this is an open-ended operation. So far, they detained several dozen people, including someone described as a colonel in a Baath Party. That would be an army colonel, possibly a senior member in the Baath Party, and they caught some weapons as well, although not a great number.
But essentially this operation is intended to route out, as we said, those continuing elements of opposition. It's a tough thing to do. They are going house-to-house searches, knocking on doors. They are also doing simultaneous raids with attack helicopters, with armor, with foot soldiers. It's the high-tech 4th Infantry Division, and they are using everything at their disposal to try to root out these elements, they say, that could be responsible for a lot of the continuing attacks on U.S. soldiers in Iraq -- Daryn.
KAGAN: It might sound like a silly question, but how would they know once they found one?
ARRAF: That's an excellent question. It's tricky. They are using intelligence is a lot of it. The more people they get into custody, the more what they call actionable intelligence they have. That's intelligence that is accurate enough and timely enough that they can act on it. That does not always work obviously.
Now in doing that, this is part of the problem, that they're going door to door, knocking on doors, banging down doors in some cases, going in with sniffer dogs, and doing a lot things that are really alienating the local population. They say they don't have a choice in this. Some of the things have led to an Amnesty International Report that complains about the human rights records of these detainees. It's a controversial procedure, but U.S. military officials say they have no choice -- 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
