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CNN Live At Daybreak
American Military Policeman Latest Victim in Iraq
Aired November 10, 2003 - 05:30 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: An American military policeman is the latest victim of violence against U.S. troops in Iraq. This time it's south of Baghdad.
Live to Matthew Chance in Baghdad with details of this latest attack -- Matthew, what happened?
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, it seems that every day there's another kind of incident like this that claims the life of another U.S. or coalition troop. But on the ground in Iraq, the latest incident came about 40 miles, 60 kilometers or so to the south of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, near a town called Iskandariyah, where coalition officials say their patrol came under fire from a rocket propelled grenade. In it, they say that one of their soldiers, belonging to the U.S. 18th Military Peace Brigade, was killed.
That as U.S. military sources suggest that the helicopter, the Black Hawk that came down near the town of Tikrit on Friday, killing all six U.S. personnel on board, may have been brought down by a surface to air missile. That, of course, follows on the previous Sunday an attack of a similar nature on the U.S. Chinook helicopter, which killed 16 people on board that.
So, clearly, this surface to air missile threat is a new threat which is being posed towards the coalition and the U.S. troops on the ground -- Carol.
COSTELLO: And, Matthew, I know there have been some arrests made for the attack on the Riyadh -- or the Al-Rasheed Hotel there in Baghdad. Can you tell us more about who is in custody?
CHANCE: Yes, I mean a little bit. I mean there's been some announcement made by the coalition officials that they've arrested 12 out of the 18 people they believe were responsible for carrying out that rocket attack on the Al-Rasheed Hotel, during which time, of course, Paul Wolfowitz was actually staying in the hotel. So it was a very close shave for him.
They say they've arrested 12 individuals. They haven't given us their names, but they've said they were former power brokers of the Saddam Hussein regime. What that means is they were people who had power under that regime and are now fighting an insurgency to try and get some of that power back. They say these individuals were the financiers, were the planners and, to some extent, the actual people involved in the attack, as well.
So some significant progress there on the investigation and on the attempts to crack down on whoever is behind this insurgency.
COSTELLO: Matthew Chance live in Baghdad this morning.
More on this latest attack in Iraq can be found on our Web site. Go to cnn.com, AOL keyword: CNN.
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 November 10, 2003 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: An American military policeman is the latest victim of violence against U.S. troops in Iraq. This time it's south of Baghdad.
Live to Matthew Chance in Baghdad with details of this latest attack -- Matthew, what happened?
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, it seems that every day there's another kind of incident like this that claims the life of another U.S. or coalition troop. But on the ground in Iraq, the latest incident came about 40 miles, 60 kilometers or so to the south of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, near a town called Iskandariyah, where coalition officials say their patrol came under fire from a rocket propelled grenade. In it, they say that one of their soldiers, belonging to the U.S. 18th Military Peace Brigade, was killed.
That as U.S. military sources suggest that the helicopter, the Black Hawk that came down near the town of Tikrit on Friday, killing all six U.S. personnel on board, may have been brought down by a surface to air missile. That, of course, follows on the previous Sunday an attack of a similar nature on the U.S. Chinook helicopter, which killed 16 people on board that.
So, clearly, this surface to air missile threat is a new threat which is being posed towards the coalition and the U.S. troops on the ground -- Carol.
COSTELLO: And, Matthew, I know there have been some arrests made for the attack on the Riyadh -- or the Al-Rasheed Hotel there in Baghdad. Can you tell us more about who is in custody?
CHANCE: Yes, I mean a little bit. I mean there's been some announcement made by the coalition officials that they've arrested 12 out of the 18 people they believe were responsible for carrying out that rocket attack on the Al-Rasheed Hotel, during which time, of course, Paul Wolfowitz was actually staying in the hotel. So it was a very close shave for him.
They say they've arrested 12 individuals. They haven't given us their names, but they've said they were former power brokers of the Saddam Hussein regime. What that means is they were people who had power under that regime and are now fighting an insurgency to try and get some of that power back. They say these individuals were the financiers, were the planners and, to some extent, the actual people involved in the attack, as well.
So some significant progress there on the investigation and on the attempts to crack down on whoever is behind this insurgency.
COSTELLO: Matthew Chance live in Baghdad this morning.
More on this latest attack in Iraq can be found on our Web site. Go to cnn.com, AOL keyword: CNN.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
