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Two U.S. Soldiers Killed in Iraq, Car Bomb in Erbil
Aired September 10, 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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: To Iraq now. Two more U.S. soldiers have lost their lives in separate incidents. Earlier a car bomb inflicted dozens of casualties in the northern city of Erbil. Our senior international Walter Rodgers is in Baghdad with the latest. Walter, hello once again.
WALTER RODGERS, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Daryn. Perhaps it's coincidence, perhaps it's not. But tomorrow is the anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks on the United States, and perhaps coincidentally there has been a surge on the number of attacks on U.S. and coalition soldiers here in the Iraqi theater.
Two more Americans have been killed in the last 24 hours. I actually was very close to seeing one of those soldiers killed this morning. I heard an explosion, ran from my hotel room, looked out, there was a big black cloud of smoke rising in the air.
It turns out that an American soldier was trying to disarm an improvised explosive device, a road-side bomb. He was a member of an ordinance team, explosive ordinance demolition team. He was not successful in disarming it, and he was killed.
About 24 hours ago, another American soldier was killed, the same sort of weapon, an improvised explosive device. He was on a patrol in the northern suburbs of Baghdad at that time. His patrol was passing by a well-concealed improvised explosive device, again a roadside bomb or a mine of sorts. It went off and of course the Humvees are soft- skinned vehicles, the shrapnel poured through, killed one soldier and injured another.
And in Erbil a very deadly blast just about 20 hours ago, 21 hours ago at this point. That particular blast was in a -- was essentially a car bomb outside a building which was managed by the United States, had people up there, that is defense people who work with the U.S. defense forces in the region. One Iraqi was killed, 53 others injured.
It's getting very bloody here and remains very unstable -- Daryn.
KAGAN: And, Walter, also, every time there's an attack incident like this, it brings up the of who is doing this and are these groups that are working together?
RODGERS: Well, there are two theories as to who is doing this. And the most important pool of culprits would be the remnants of Saddam's army, the hard-coil Saddam loyalists. Remember he had a very large army, 450,000 men. Very few of them were killed during the war, relatively speaking. Consequently, some of them have formed cells of resistance.
The other case of possible suspects are the radical Islamists who have filtered up from Saudi Arabia, Syria and perhaps Jordan and Iran as well. They of course have declared a holy war against the United States, the coalition forces. They could be working together. Sometimes they may, sometimes they're not. The difficulty is there's not a common footprint, if you will, in the various bombs which go off.
One thing however their strategy -- both their strategies very clear, they do not believe the United States has staying power in the Arab world. They point to the Americans in Beirut in the early '80s, in and driven out by bombs. They point to the Americans in Somalia, another Islamist country. Under the Clinton administration, in and out. No staying power.
They say the Americans have not had the fortitude to stay in Afghanistan, and they think these bomb attacks will drive the Americans out of Iraq -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Walter Rodgers in Baghdad. Be careful then there, along with our staff. Appreciate that.
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 September 10, 2003 - 11:06 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: To Iraq now. Two more U.S. soldiers have lost their lives in separate incidents. Earlier a car bomb inflicted dozens of casualties in the northern city of Erbil. Our senior international Walter Rodgers is in Baghdad with the latest. Walter, hello once again.
WALTER RODGERS, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Daryn. Perhaps it's coincidence, perhaps it's not. But tomorrow is the anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks on the United States, and perhaps coincidentally there has been a surge on the number of attacks on U.S. and coalition soldiers here in the Iraqi theater.
Two more Americans have been killed in the last 24 hours. I actually was very close to seeing one of those soldiers killed this morning. I heard an explosion, ran from my hotel room, looked out, there was a big black cloud of smoke rising in the air.
It turns out that an American soldier was trying to disarm an improvised explosive device, a road-side bomb. He was a member of an ordinance team, explosive ordinance demolition team. He was not successful in disarming it, and he was killed.
About 24 hours ago, another American soldier was killed, the same sort of weapon, an improvised explosive device. He was on a patrol in the northern suburbs of Baghdad at that time. His patrol was passing by a well-concealed improvised explosive device, again a roadside bomb or a mine of sorts. It went off and of course the Humvees are soft- skinned vehicles, the shrapnel poured through, killed one soldier and injured another.
And in Erbil a very deadly blast just about 20 hours ago, 21 hours ago at this point. That particular blast was in a -- was essentially a car bomb outside a building which was managed by the United States, had people up there, that is defense people who work with the U.S. defense forces in the region. One Iraqi was killed, 53 others injured.
It's getting very bloody here and remains very unstable -- Daryn.
KAGAN: And, Walter, also, every time there's an attack incident like this, it brings up the of who is doing this and are these groups that are working together?
RODGERS: Well, there are two theories as to who is doing this. And the most important pool of culprits would be the remnants of Saddam's army, the hard-coil Saddam loyalists. Remember he had a very large army, 450,000 men. Very few of them were killed during the war, relatively speaking. Consequently, some of them have formed cells of resistance.
The other case of possible suspects are the radical Islamists who have filtered up from Saudi Arabia, Syria and perhaps Jordan and Iran as well. They of course have declared a holy war against the United States, the coalition forces. They could be working together. Sometimes they may, sometimes they're not. The difficulty is there's not a common footprint, if you will, in the various bombs which go off.
One thing however their strategy -- both their strategies very clear, they do not believe the United States has staying power in the Arab world. They point to the Americans in Beirut in the early '80s, in and driven out by bombs. They point to the Americans in Somalia, another Islamist country. Under the Clinton administration, in and out. No staying power.
They say the Americans have not had the fortitude to stay in Afghanistan, and they think these bomb attacks will drive the Americans out of Iraq -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Walter Rodgers in Baghdad. Be careful then there, along with our staff. Appreciate that.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
