Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live At Daybreak
Troops in Iraq Going to be There Longer Than Initially Anticipated
Aired July 15, 2003 - 05:05 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 a storm of a different kind now, Iraq and the violence against U.S. troops. It now seems that many of those troops are going to be there much longer than initially anticipated.
Our Rym Brahimi is live in the Iraqi capital and joins us now -- good morning, Rym.
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Carol.
Indeed, it seems that now the question of withdrawing U.S. troops, to the extent that the U.S. authorities wanted to do that, might not be possible. One of the reasons, of course, is that some of the international troops that the U.S. had hoped it could rally and bring in in a month's time or so are not prepared to come in. Case in point, India hasn't yet agreed to send in a troop, a group of soldiers to basically replace some of the U.S. troops that are here.
Now, as you know, Carol, a lot of the troops have been here for a long time. In particular, the 3rd Infantry Division, they've been out of the United States since September. And they were the spearhead, if you will, the first ones arriving into Baghdad. They've had a rough time. They're anxious to go home.
Now, they were supposed to go home regardless, but now it's not clear how many of them will actually be able to do that. That means that basically the morale of the troops isn't that good. It's very hot here, as you can imagine. The temperatures here in the summer go up to more than 100 Fahrenheit, sometimes 120, and they have quite heavy equipment to wear. So all in all a difficult situation for U.S. soldiers here in Iraq for the time being -- Carol.
COSTELLO: I certainly understand that.
Rym Brahimi live from Baghdad 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
Anticipated>
Aired July 15, 2003 - 05:05 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: To a storm of a different kind now, Iraq and the violence against U.S. troops. It now seems that many of those troops are going to be there much longer than initially anticipated.
Our Rym Brahimi is live in the Iraqi capital and joins us now -- good morning, Rym.
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Carol.
Indeed, it seems that now the question of withdrawing U.S. troops, to the extent that the U.S. authorities wanted to do that, might not be possible. One of the reasons, of course, is that some of the international troops that the U.S. had hoped it could rally and bring in in a month's time or so are not prepared to come in. Case in point, India hasn't yet agreed to send in a troop, a group of soldiers to basically replace some of the U.S. troops that are here.
Now, as you know, Carol, a lot of the troops have been here for a long time. In particular, the 3rd Infantry Division, they've been out of the United States since September. And they were the spearhead, if you will, the first ones arriving into Baghdad. They've had a rough time. They're anxious to go home.
Now, they were supposed to go home regardless, but now it's not clear how many of them will actually be able to do that. That means that basically the morale of the troops isn't that good. It's very hot here, as you can imagine. The temperatures here in the summer go up to more than 100 Fahrenheit, sometimes 120, and they have quite heavy equipment to wear. So all in all a difficult situation for U.S. soldiers here in Iraq for the time being -- Carol.
COSTELLO: I certainly understand that.
Rym Brahimi live from Baghdad 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
Anticipated>
