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CNN Live At Daybreak

Explosion at Mosque in Fallujah

Aired July 01, 2003 - 05:02   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.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: To Iraq now, where we're following two incidents. Overnight, an explosion at a mosque in Fallujah. There are fatalities and accusations that a U.S. bomb or Mosul is to blame. Also, in central Baghdad today, reports of four U.S. soldiers being injured or possibly killed when their armored vehicle was hit by either a rocket propelled grenade or a bomb.
We're going to go live to Baghdad in just a minute and talk with Jane Arraf. She's gathering information for us. We'll get to her in a minute or two.

Now, despite those recent attacks on U.S. troops, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld insists this is not turning into a guerrilla war. Rumsfeld also rejects any comparisons to Vietnam.

Our senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre has more on this guerrilla word, war.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): While many military experts may believe the attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq fit the textbook definition of guerrilla war, Donald Rumsfeld does not.

QUESTION: Appreciating, as I do, your appreciation of precision in language...

DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: You've got the dictionary definition?

QUESTION: Well, you know, THE definition of guerrilla war.

RUMSFELD: I was afraid you would have. I should have looked it up. I knew I should have looked it up. I could...

QUESTION: According to the Pentagon's own definition, military and paramilitary...

RUMSFELD: I could die that I didn't look it up.

QUESTION: ... operations conducted in enemy held or hostile territory by irregular predominantly indigenous forces. That does seem to fit a lot of what's going on over there.

RUMSFELD: It really doesn't. MCINTYRE: The problem with conceding the U.S. may be locked in guerrilla warfare is that it raises the specter of Vietnam. In fact, a cartoon on that point hangs on Rumsfeld's wall.

RUMSFELD: There are so many cartoons where people, press people are saying, "Is it Vietnam yet?," hoping it is and wondering if it is. And it isn't. It's a different time. It's a different era. It's a different place.

MCINTYRE: And any comparison to Vietnam brings up the "Q word."

QUESTION: Quagmire.

RUMSFELD: What happened in Eastern Europe? Were they in a quagmire when the Berlin Wall fell down and they started struggling and working their way towards democracy?

QUESTION: The criticism would be that you're in a situation from which there's no good way to extricate yourself. Can you speak to whether or not that (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...

RUMSFELD: Then the word clearly would not be a good one.

MCINTYRE (on camera): Meanwhile, the hunt goes on for Saddam Hussein and his two sons, whose capture is seen as key to breaking the will of the insurgents. Pentagon officials say there's no evidence they were in a convoy that was attacked nearly two weeks ago. But officials do concede it's possible that some senior Iraqis may have slipped across the border into Syria during that operation.

Jamie McIntyre, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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 July 1, 2003 - 05:02   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: To Iraq now, where we're following two incidents. Overnight, an explosion at a mosque in Fallujah. There are fatalities and accusations that a U.S. bomb or Mosul is to blame. Also, in central Baghdad today, reports of four U.S. soldiers being injured or possibly killed when their armored vehicle was hit by either a rocket propelled grenade or a bomb.
We're going to go live to Baghdad in just a minute and talk with Jane Arraf. She's gathering information for us. We'll get to her in a minute or two.

Now, despite those recent attacks on U.S. troops, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld insists this is not turning into a guerrilla war. Rumsfeld also rejects any comparisons to Vietnam.

Our senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre has more on this guerrilla word, war.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): While many military experts may believe the attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq fit the textbook definition of guerrilla war, Donald Rumsfeld does not.

QUESTION: Appreciating, as I do, your appreciation of precision in language...

DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: You've got the dictionary definition?

QUESTION: Well, you know, THE definition of guerrilla war.

RUMSFELD: I was afraid you would have. I should have looked it up. I knew I should have looked it up. I could...

QUESTION: According to the Pentagon's own definition, military and paramilitary...

RUMSFELD: I could die that I didn't look it up.

QUESTION: ... operations conducted in enemy held or hostile territory by irregular predominantly indigenous forces. That does seem to fit a lot of what's going on over there.

RUMSFELD: It really doesn't. MCINTYRE: The problem with conceding the U.S. may be locked in guerrilla warfare is that it raises the specter of Vietnam. In fact, a cartoon on that point hangs on Rumsfeld's wall.

RUMSFELD: There are so many cartoons where people, press people are saying, "Is it Vietnam yet?," hoping it is and wondering if it is. And it isn't. It's a different time. It's a different era. It's a different place.

MCINTYRE: And any comparison to Vietnam brings up the "Q word."

QUESTION: Quagmire.

RUMSFELD: What happened in Eastern Europe? Were they in a quagmire when the Berlin Wall fell down and they started struggling and working their way towards democracy?

QUESTION: The criticism would be that you're in a situation from which there's no good way to extricate yourself. Can you speak to whether or not that (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...

RUMSFELD: Then the word clearly would not be a good one.

MCINTYRE (on camera): Meanwhile, the hunt goes on for Saddam Hussein and his two sons, whose capture is seen as key to breaking the will of the insurgents. Pentagon officials say there's no evidence they were in a convoy that was attacked nearly two weeks ago. But officials do concede it's possible that some senior Iraqis may have slipped across the border into Syria during that operation.

Jamie McIntyre, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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