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CNN Live At Daybreak
Several Days of Relative Calm for U.S. Troops in Iraq Shattered
Aired September 10, 2003 - 05:06 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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Several days of relative calm for U.S. troops in Iraq is shattered. One American is dead, several more wounded.
Let's go straight to Baghdad now for a live report from Walter Rodgers -- hello, Walter.
What happened?
WALTER RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
As the anniversary of September 11 draws near, there appears to be a surge in low intensity attacks against U.S. and other coalition forces. Last night, as you pointed out, one U.S. soldier was killed in an incident in which his vehicle was driving past what's called an improvised explosive device. Another U.S. soldier injured there.
Iraq is rapidly becoming the land of remotely controlled, remotely detonated bombs. In Erbil, northern Iraq, last night, another piece of U.S. real estate, an office, was hit by a bomb there. An Iraqi was killed. No one is claiming responsibility for these attacks, although the pool of suspects is extraordinarily large.
Remember, Saddam Hussein had an army of 450,000 men. Fewer than 10,000 were lost during the war. So that leaves many Iraqis out there, Saddam loyalists, who have regrouped, apparently, into cells and are waging these low intensity, often urban guerrilla strikes against U.S. forces.
Additionally, you have the increased numbers of Islamist militants, al Qaeda types who've come across the border particularly from Syria. They have concentrated, many of them, in areas between Baghdad and Mosul and they, too, are believed to be a source of attacks on coalition forces, which now range upwards of a dozen a day. Sometimes there are so many they don't even get reported, if they're relatively minor attacks.
One particularly alarming piece of news, someone saw someone driving a car around the United Nations Hotel. That is the hotel where U.N. employees are stationed. And the person in that car seemed to be taking pictures with a camera as if they were casing the premises for a subsequent bomb attack.
Iraq still is very unstable and may even become more so -- Carol.
COSTELLO: In just talking about that vehicle driving around the hotel there where U.N. members are staying, security has to be extremely tight around that hotel, right?
RODGERS: That's true. Everyone here in on alert, recalling that tomorrow is September 11 and it is a prime day for the Islamist terrorists, at least, to make a statement, to strike at U.S. forces, to strike at coalition forces, to strike at all soft targets here. Iraq remains very unstable and quite unsafe, despite the best efforts of the coalition forces, who really are badly outnumbered.
I was in Sinjar Province recently. The United States, I think its 2nd Battalion, 101st Airborne, had 730 soldiers to police 300,000 Iraqis in half a dozen different towns -- Carol.
COSTELLO: It's something else.
Walter Rodgers reporting 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
Shattered>
Aired September 10, 2003 - 05:06 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Several days of relative calm for U.S. troops in Iraq is shattered. One American is dead, several more wounded.
Let's go straight to Baghdad now for a live report from Walter Rodgers -- hello, Walter.
What happened?
WALTER RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
As the anniversary of September 11 draws near, there appears to be a surge in low intensity attacks against U.S. and other coalition forces. Last night, as you pointed out, one U.S. soldier was killed in an incident in which his vehicle was driving past what's called an improvised explosive device. Another U.S. soldier injured there.
Iraq is rapidly becoming the land of remotely controlled, remotely detonated bombs. In Erbil, northern Iraq, last night, another piece of U.S. real estate, an office, was hit by a bomb there. An Iraqi was killed. No one is claiming responsibility for these attacks, although the pool of suspects is extraordinarily large.
Remember, Saddam Hussein had an army of 450,000 men. Fewer than 10,000 were lost during the war. So that leaves many Iraqis out there, Saddam loyalists, who have regrouped, apparently, into cells and are waging these low intensity, often urban guerrilla strikes against U.S. forces.
Additionally, you have the increased numbers of Islamist militants, al Qaeda types who've come across the border particularly from Syria. They have concentrated, many of them, in areas between Baghdad and Mosul and they, too, are believed to be a source of attacks on coalition forces, which now range upwards of a dozen a day. Sometimes there are so many they don't even get reported, if they're relatively minor attacks.
One particularly alarming piece of news, someone saw someone driving a car around the United Nations Hotel. That is the hotel where U.N. employees are stationed. And the person in that car seemed to be taking pictures with a camera as if they were casing the premises for a subsequent bomb attack.
Iraq still is very unstable and may even become more so -- Carol.
COSTELLO: In just talking about that vehicle driving around the hotel there where U.N. members are staying, security has to be extremely tight around that hotel, right?
RODGERS: That's true. Everyone here in on alert, recalling that tomorrow is September 11 and it is a prime day for the Islamist terrorists, at least, to make a statement, to strike at U.S. forces, to strike at coalition forces, to strike at all soft targets here. Iraq remains very unstable and quite unsafe, despite the best efforts of the coalition forces, who really are badly outnumbered.
I was in Sinjar Province recently. The United States, I think its 2nd Battalion, 101st Airborne, had 730 soldiers to police 300,000 Iraqis in half a dozen different towns -- Carol.
COSTELLO: It's something else.
Walter Rodgers reporting 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
Shattered>
