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CNN Live At Daybreak

News Conference by U.S. Troops Wounded in Iraq Fighting

Aired November 15, 2004 - 06:00   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: Howard Dean, Hillary Clinton, Mark Warner? Why some think the Virginia governor should submit a change of address form to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Plus, hysterical over hybrids -- why the fusion cars might go four wheel and what you need to know about them.

Plus...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

USHER: Thank you so, so much. God bless you. Good night.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: And ushering in a new winner at the American Music Awards. The stars, the fns, the dos, the don'ts. Did you catch it all?

It is Monday, November 15.

This is DAYBREAK.

ANNOUNCER: Live from the Time Warner Center in New York and CNN Center in Atlanta, this is DAYBREAK with Carol Costello and Chad Myers.

COSTELLO: And good morning to you.

Thank you for waking up with us.

There is a lot going on right now, so let's check the headlines at this hour.

This is a live look at the U.S. military hospital at Landstuhl, Germany, where hundreds of soldiers and Marines wounded in Falluja are now being treated. A briefing expected this hour. And when it begins, when the soldiers start talking out, we will bring that to you live.

Iran says it will suspend uranium enrichment and other activities seen as steps toward developing nuclear weapons. The announcement, made in writing to the International Atomic Energy Agency, could avert U.N. sanctions against Iraq.

All five people aboard were killed when a small plane crashed near a senior citizens' apartment complex in San Antonio. One wing of the plane was embedded in a wall of the complex.

And final arguments expected today at a hearing on whether John Hinckley, Jr. should get more time away from a mental hospital. Hinckley was found innocent by reason of insanity in the 1981 shooting of President Ronald Reagan and three others.

To the forecast center in Atlanta.

Good morning -- Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Carol.

Did you watch that Peterson jury -- the verdict come over on Friday?

COSTELLO: I did.

MYERS: Yes?

COSTELLO: I was riveted.

MYERS: I'll tell you what, we were at a bar, because it's Friday. And I was smoking cigars. The whole bar was noisy until that thing came up and said news alert. And then bam, the whole place was quiet. Cranked up the volume and we literally listened to it there, like 500 of us sitting there listening to the verdict.

COSTELLO: Were there cheers as the verdict was read?

MYERS: Gasps, cheers, yes, it depends on where you were in the bar, yes, I mean because there were different pockets of people actually making bets. There were people going five bucks, five bucks. And I was like oh, this is -- you're betting on a guy's...

COSTELLO: You know, that's just sick.

MYERS: You're betting on a guy's life, you know?

COSTELLO: That's just -- it's sick.

MYERS: Anyway, that's what you get.

COSTELLO: Yes.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Day eight in the fight for Falluja and the U.S. military is now targeting the last pockets of resistance there.

Jane Arraf is traveling with the Army's 1st Infantry Division.

Before we get to Jane, though, we want to bring you to Landstuhl, Germany, where some of the wounded soldiers are speaking out.

Let's listen. LANCE CORPORAL SCHAEFFER: ... and halted suddenly, the whole battalion. And we just started taking heavy RPGs and rocket fire from buildings all around us. And they were locking on with the RPGs and the mortars. And even from mosques they were firing and all over the place, really.

Well, I was directing my team over on the side to take some cover and an RPG landed about 15 to 20 meters to my right. And sure enough, I got hit by some RPG shrapnel, which I think was RPG shrapnel, at least. And it just went through my hand, just fractured some -- fractured a bone in my hand. And that's pretty must the gist of it.

UNIDENTIFIED COMMANDER: You want to say hi to anybody?

SCHAEFFER: Yes, I'd like to say hi to my beautiful wife, Jennifer, back home in California and to say hi to my little nephew, Gannon. I can't wait to see him.

UNIDENTIFIED COMMANDER: Lance Corporal Chapman (ph)?

LANCE CORPORAL CHAPMAN: My name is Lance Corporal Chapman.

I'm also with the 3rd Marines, 1st Division. And I was in Falluja at the same time, with Lance Corporal Schaeffer.

And I was searching building tops for snipers, other enemy, when we started receiving enemy fire and the enemy that was shooting at me was a sniper. A sniper round struck just below my left eyebrow. It's nothing too serious, I guess. It cracked my skull, but not -- I think it looks worse than it really is. But that's pretty must the gist of it.

UNIDENTIFIED COMMANDER: That's kind of been the whole attitude of the guys that are coming off of the planes, you know, nothing serious, cracked my skull open but...

Lance Corporal Owens?

LANCE CORPORAL OWENS: My name is Lance Corporal Owens. I'm with 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines.

We were approaching into the city. We got about 200 yards into the street. I was in an up armored Humvee. We started taking mortar fire. They were trying to get mortars in on our positions, so we were taking AK fire, as well.

We got out there and engaged the small arms fire and there was a Texas barrier, a big concrete barrier. They use it to try to protect us. A .120 millimeter rocket smacked that barrier. I took cover behind my truck and the shrapnel from the rocket went through my leg, my left leg. And that's (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED COMMANDER: Anybody you'd like to say hi to?

CHAPMAN: Oh, yes, I'd love to say hi to my mom and my step dad and my dad. I love you guys. I want to be home soon. UNIDENTIFIED COMMANDER: Oh, I forgot to ask you that, Corporal Chapman.

CHAPMAN: I just want to say hi to my family and friends back home in Lawrence, Kansas and I hope we'll be home soon.

UNIDENTIFIED COMMANDER: I guess we'll open up the floor, then, to questions for the soldiers.

QUESTION: CBS News.

Can I ask you guys, when you were hit, what just goes through your mind?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's pointing to you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you want to go?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, when I first got hit, you know, I felt something hit me, but the explosion was really kind of a deafening, you know, it definitely makes your ears kind of ring. And it takes you a minute to get your head back on straight. And, you know, I felt something hit me, but really I didn't feel any pain for about five minutes. I kind of, you know, I just kind of looked over and I was just kind of assessing what happened to me. And the first thing I noticed was my finger, because my glove was split and, you know, that didn't look right.

So when I went to pull my glove off, that's when the blood started coming out of my hand. And so I pulled my sleeve up and I seen I'd been hit by shrapnel.

And so there's just a certain element of, you know, disbelief that kind of comes in there, because it's something that you anticipate could happen but you never really expect it to happen to you.

So there's a moment of, you know, letting it set in and then, you know, you start doing what you need to do next as far as getting first aid and getting help from your buddies and stuff.

QUESTION: Lance Corporal Chapman, CNN.

Could I ask you do you know what they were sniping with? Was it AKs or was it something more sophisticated, like a Dragonov? And how does one survive a sniper wound to the head?

CHAPMAN: I'm not sure what weapon they were using. Typically they do use the AK or the Dragonov. But they're both .762 millimeter rounds.

So as to how you survive, you need a little bit of luck, I guess. Everyone keeps telling me I'm lucky. So I just kind of go with that and think somebody's watching out for me. So that's -- I just kind of stay with that mentality.

QUESTION: Are you ready to go home or are you wanting to go back?

CHAPMAN: I wanted to go back. My buddies are out there without me and if I was well enough to go out, I would in a heartbeat go back.

SCHAEFFER: Yes, the feeling is the same for myself. I left a great platoon and I left a great battalion and I just can't wait -- I want to go back, but this little injury is holding me back and it kills me every time, I mean, I watch the news and just knowing my buddies are over there. I wish I could really be back with them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, you know, we came out here in March, Task Force 27 came out here in March and, you know, we did Najaf and then now we've done Falluja. And, you know, after this, everything else is pretty much packing up. So, you know, I'll take this as a quick way to, you know, go home and see the family and get better, you know? But I do miss my friends and I hope that they're doing OK out there.

QUESTION: I'm with the A.P.

(UNINTELLIGIBLE) a question about the time period you're going to be there and whether you have any feeling that there might be more Fallujas down the road, having been there, having seen the type of resistance in there?

Well, this is just bound over, but do you see any other kind of Fallujas popping up in Iraq?

UNIDENTIFIED COMMANDER: I'm not sure that these soldiers are in the position to answer strategic type questions like that.

QUESTION: Lance Corporal Owens, what's it like when an RPG flashes, goes off? Describe the scene where you were. You said you were, I guess, 15, 20 meters away. Can you tell us what you felt in your leg?

OWENS: Well, it's -- at first I was scared because we were catching mortar fire. I was more worried about some of the Marines that were right in front of me because I had to take cover behind my Humvee. So I was scared about that. And the initial -- you can always hear the rocket when it comes. It makes a really distinct whistle. So I knew it was coming. I just didn't know where it was from.

When I first heard the blast, I felt it go through my leg and just like the sniper was saying, you can't really -- you really don't know what happens. You're stunned for like five or 10 minutes. And then it starts being such an, you know, it's such a burning and becoming, you know, it's in pain. And the only thing that was going through my mind is that I was worried about the rest of my friends. I wanted to know for instance any of my friends were hurt, if everybody was OK. I was making sure we had no KIEs and once I found out and I sensed everybody, made sure everything was good to go, then they flew me out on the helicopter and sent me here to take care of me.

QUESTION: I'm here from "Stars and Stripes." We've heard from a lot of people who felt the insurgency wasn't quite as resistant as you first anticipated. Can you describe how well prepared were you going into that mission?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we were, we were very well prepared to go into the city and we were really overestimating their strengths, which is a good thing for us, just making sure that we tried to get all the odds and ends covered before we went in there, to make sure that everyone was as safe as they possibly could be.

We were given, you know, a lot of intel as far as enemy activity that we had been seeing. And I mean I think it was handled very well by the commanders who led us into that.

QUESTION: Andy Eckardt with NBC.

There's a lot of talk about the worsening of the situation for the Iraqis in Falluja. What is the type of scene you've seen in Falluja? Is there really a lack of food, a lack of water? A lot of dead bodies supposedly are laying around? Have you seen any of that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We saw a lot of insurgents in the streets. As far civilians were concerned, I can tell you, I didn't see any in the areas that I was working out of. It was barren. It was desolate. I saw no civilians. A lot of insurgents, though, as far as what you say, dead bodies, casualties on their side there. There were a lot in the streets. But I saw no civilians.

QUESTION: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

Are you all going to be able to return to active duty?

SCHAEFFER: Most likely. Some of us, I guess it's still up in the mix on certain -- it's up in the doctors' hands and hopefully we just heal well. I mean I can only speak for myself on that one. But hopefully everything works out well.

UNIDENTIFIED COMMANDER: These particular soldiers, I don't think any of them have a type of injury that would preclude them from being on active duty after they recovered.

QUESTION: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED COMMANDER: Yes, sir?

QUESTION: What was the difference between the insurgents and the civilians, just the fact that the insurgents were carrying the weapons? Were they easy to identify?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, definitely. The insurgents, a lot of them that we ran into were the younger males. A lot of them wore the masks. They covered their faces. A lot of them were heavily armed, traveled in teams, RPG teams, small fire teams. Yes, easily, you know, easy to tell apart.

Like in Najaf, the civilians that we had seen wore more the traditional Iraqi garb, the longer, I believe they're called thogs (ph), the full male, you know, gown. They were a lot more passive, walked down the streets with their hands up in the air. As where the insurgents were constantly, you know, either masked, running in small teams and usually heavily armed.

QUESTION: But you had no feeling that you were going to be shooting at the wrong...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, not at all.

QUESTION: Katherine Kamit (ph), "USA Today."

You mentioned seeing bodies. Were those, some of those civilians or was it a mixture of civilians...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, ma'am, the bodies that I saw were the bodies that I saw fall, men that were actually stepping out from behind vehicles, firing at us while we were moving in on the Bradleys. These were the guys that I actually saw fall.

QUESTION: But not ones that had been (UNINTELLIGIBLE)?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. No, ma'am.

QUESTION: Can you tell us how long have you been in Iraq?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our Task Force 27 have come out of Fort Hood in March. So we've been here since, we've all been there since March.

QUESTION: Mid-March, the beginning of March?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: About mid-March, actually, was when we left Fort Hood.

QUESTION: There were reports that the Red Cross (UNINTELLIGIBLE) as it is in Iraq, had difficulties bringing supplies into the city because of the heavy fighting, especially in the past days.

Have you seen any of those convoys come in or have we helped any of those convoys to come in?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I really couldn't tell you. I haven't seen any of them.

OWENS: Falluja was mostly closed off. We saw no civilians inside Falluja. All the stores, all the shops were closed. The only Iraqis that we saw in Falluja were the insurgents. So as for the aid coming into Falluja, I did not see any. So if there was any, we would have helped them, if they required it.

QUESTION: But how would you asses the enemy that you were up against and his determination to attack and his ability to fight? (UNINTELLIGIBLE)?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In Najaf we saw a lot more of a, you know, a reckless insurgents, a lot more brazen with their attacks, exposing themselves in the open. It seemed more like the 18 and 20-year-old group that really, they just, they were just fighting really unorganized.

Out here, it seemed like we had some of the same element of those guys, but there were also some guys that, they've had the time to dig in and they were preparing as far as setting up fighting positions and things like that. So they were a little bit more organized on that scale, just as far as trying to give themselves cover and defalcate (ph) for the fight.

QUESTION: Did you get the impression they were willing to fight to the death or were they just going to fight hard and then run?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think they...

SCHAEFFER: Absolutely. They were willing to fight to the death.

OWENS: All of them are. They have no problem coming out and fighting. And it's hard to do, to fight some of them like that. But it's just -- it's something you have to do. It's part of our job to go out. We have to help these Iraqi people get their freedom back and it's...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Like if they stayed in the city after the assault had begun, they were willing to fight to the death. All the other ones that weren't really ready to make that full commitment, we assume they fled.

QUESTION: A question, two questions concerning these insurgents.

First, you were saying that you could make a difference between civilians and insurgents by the clothing. Does it mean they have a certain form of uniform wearing unique (UNINTELLIGIBLE)?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, sir. It wasn't so much...

QUESTION: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It wasn't so much all of the clothing. It's certain things that they wear as they're fighting. The traditional Iraqi person, you know, that you run into usually on the streets, they wear just, you know, casual clothing, you know, like the longer thogs or things like that. They don't try to mask their faces. So the things that you look for are people who are -- men that are trying to mask their faces, wearing loose clothes with possible, you know, tactical gear that they've confiscated from caches that they've had and things like that. And then obviously being armed is a, you know...

COSTELLO: Fascinating stories from the troops being treated now at Landstuhl, by the Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany.

And in case you're wondering, 419 patients were received at Landstuhl in the past week -- 60 percent Army, 40 percent Marines. Two hundred have now been sent home for treatment.

And the battle of Falluja not over yet, but they pretty much have control of the city.

Our Jane Arraf is traveling with the Army's 1st Infantry Division in Falluja and she has this report from the front line.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are going through theses streets and we're in armored vehicles at the moment. And there are Iraqi forces with us, as well. And this neighborhood is almost demolished. In between the air strikes, the tank rounds, the artillery, there are buildings that have collapsed and everywhere evidence that they had turned this into a fortress, just bunkers cut into the ground on all sides of buildings. They used them, apparently, to hide and sleep. You can see bedding next to them and men pop out and take shots from them.

There is a bit of a lull in the fighting right now. There had been firing going on just a few moments ago and it will continue. There are still insurgents in this neighborhood. And what they're doing now is a more thorough sweep. Actually, fighting has started again. They're doing a sweep of this neighborhood, this thought to be one of the last strongholds, particularly of foreign fighters.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

COSTELLO: A Marine colonel in Falluja says some civilian residents of that city are approaching Iraqi troops asking for food and water and medicine. It's estimated 90 percent of Falluja's 250,000 to 300,000 residents fled the city before the offensive began. Some found refuge in a tent outside Falluja, in a tent city, that is. Others went to Baghdad or to other cities.

The nasty street violence in Falluja may just be a prelude in the fight for Iraq. "Time" correspondent Viveca Novak has more on this week's issue. That's coming up shortly on DAYBREAK.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: If you could affect one change, just one, what would it be?

MADONNA: To get George Bush to study kabala.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: There you have it. We'll have much more of this interview from Madonna and our own Richard Quest. That comes up at 17 minutes past the hour.

And at 49 minutes after the hour, sex, violence and Big Macs. Junk food ads on TV get the late night treatment in London.

But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Monday morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COSTELLO: A U.S. Marine from Kentucky has become the face of the battle of Falluja. Lance Corporal James Miller's picture was taken by an "L.A. Times" photographer and picked up by the Associated Press. It's been printed in more than 100 newspapers and shown on network television. Miller says he doesn't understand all the fuss. But his mother says the picture let her know her son is alive.

Another emotional picture on the cover of "Time" magazine today puts a very human face on the men and women fighting in Falluja and it offers serious food for thought. Example -- this is a quote from the article in "Time" magazine this week. It says, "Senior U.S. officials say in the coming months we'll likely be playing a deadly game of whack a mole across the country, attacking insurgents wherever they rise up and trying to take back enough rebel held areas to hold credible elections in January.

For more, let's head live to Washington and "Time" correspondent Viveca Novak.

Good morning, Viveca.

VIVECA NOVAK, "TIME" MAGAZINE: Good morning.

COSTELLO: Falluja is now under, well, pretty much under control.

Let's talk about that whack a mole description. Explain that for us.

NOVAK: Well, as American troops know from going into Falluja, a lot of the foreign fighters had already left, and just left behind a sort of rear guard contingent to distract and harass U.S. fighters over there. And a lot of them fled to Mosul. A lot of them fled to parts unknown. But we know there's been heavy fighting in Mosul in the last few days.

And the thing is that they're going to be popping up all over the place between now and when the elections are scheduled in January. We don't have enough troops to fight multiple attacks in different cities all at once. But that is probably not going to happen. It's probably going to be city to city, one after the other.

COSTELLO: One city after another.

NOVAK: Yes.

COSTELLO: And did your "Time" correspondents find out if that's an effective way to fight the insurgents?

NOVAK: Well, I don't think we have much choice. Michael Ware (ph) was over there with, I think it's Alpha Company, 3rd Platoon, Task Force 22, and going into Falluja with them. And just, you know, it's a very compelling story because it shows you from the ground exactly how tough this is.

You go to nine houses, you go house to house, you go to nine houses and you find nothing. The tenth house is booby-trapped. It's full of fighters. It's rigged with explosives, whatever. And you send folks in and you lose some of your own troops. The other side loses a lot more. But you realize, too, that so many of these fighters have already left the city.

COSTELLO: Oh, definitely so. You know, you're talking about how difficult this fight is, just a short time ago we heard from wounded soldiers in Germany. And I'd like to play some sound from one of those soldiers right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The bodies that I saw were the bodies that I saw fall, men that were actually stepping out from behind vehicles, firing at us while we were moving in on the Bradleys. These were the guys that I actually saw fall.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: You know, it's a difficult fight and it must be frustrating, because another quote out of an article in "Time" magazine this week says this: "Many fighters, and the majority of the rebel leadership, including Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, apparently slipped out of the city in the weeks leading up to the assault. A Pentagon official says that at most 10 percent of the enemy in Iraq has been killed or captured in Falluja."

Did "Time's" correspondents find that more secrecy about the next mission is needed?

NOVAK: Well, that's certainly one thing I think we're going to be -- the U.S. is going to be aiming for. And when we say 10 percent, you know, we don't know 10 percent of what. Maybe 10 percent of what's in the country right now. But, you know, people keep streaming over the border, foreign fighters stream over the border from Syria. And who knows how many more of those are going to be coming in?

COSTELLO: And we do know about, I don't know, between 1,000 and 2,000 insurgents have been killed just in this battle of Falluja.

Viveca Novak live from Washington.

Thank you for joining DAYBREAK this morning.

NOVAK: Good to be with you.

COSTELLO: Quite a night at the American Music Awards. And all the talk this morning is about Usher's awards sweep. We'll run through the highlights for you.

Plus, Britain's new strategy to fight obesity and why it won't make advertisers very happy.

That and much more straight ahead.

Keep it right here on DAYBREAK.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: Live from the Time Warner Center in New York and CNN Center in Atlanta, this is DAYBREAK with Carol Costello and Chad Myers.

COSTELLO: And good morning to you.

Welcome to the second half hour of DAYBREAK.

A lot to talk about, so let's get right to the headlines at this hour.

Our Jane Arraf is in Falluja with U.S. troops and tells us the forces are conducting building to building searches on the city's south side.

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Aired November 15, 2004 - 06:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Howard Dean, Hillary Clinton, Mark Warner? Why some think the Virginia governor should submit a change of address form to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Plus, hysterical over hybrids -- why the fusion cars might go four wheel and what you need to know about them.

Plus...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

USHER: Thank you so, so much. God bless you. Good night.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: And ushering in a new winner at the American Music Awards. The stars, the fns, the dos, the don'ts. Did you catch it all?

It is Monday, November 15.

This is DAYBREAK.

ANNOUNCER: Live from the Time Warner Center in New York and CNN Center in Atlanta, this is DAYBREAK with Carol Costello and Chad Myers.

COSTELLO: And good morning to you.

Thank you for waking up with us.

There is a lot going on right now, so let's check the headlines at this hour.

This is a live look at the U.S. military hospital at Landstuhl, Germany, where hundreds of soldiers and Marines wounded in Falluja are now being treated. A briefing expected this hour. And when it begins, when the soldiers start talking out, we will bring that to you live.

Iran says it will suspend uranium enrichment and other activities seen as steps toward developing nuclear weapons. The announcement, made in writing to the International Atomic Energy Agency, could avert U.N. sanctions against Iraq.

All five people aboard were killed when a small plane crashed near a senior citizens' apartment complex in San Antonio. One wing of the plane was embedded in a wall of the complex.

And final arguments expected today at a hearing on whether John Hinckley, Jr. should get more time away from a mental hospital. Hinckley was found innocent by reason of insanity in the 1981 shooting of President Ronald Reagan and three others.

To the forecast center in Atlanta.

Good morning -- Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Carol.

Did you watch that Peterson jury -- the verdict come over on Friday?

COSTELLO: I did.

MYERS: Yes?

COSTELLO: I was riveted.

MYERS: I'll tell you what, we were at a bar, because it's Friday. And I was smoking cigars. The whole bar was noisy until that thing came up and said news alert. And then bam, the whole place was quiet. Cranked up the volume and we literally listened to it there, like 500 of us sitting there listening to the verdict.

COSTELLO: Were there cheers as the verdict was read?

MYERS: Gasps, cheers, yes, it depends on where you were in the bar, yes, I mean because there were different pockets of people actually making bets. There were people going five bucks, five bucks. And I was like oh, this is -- you're betting on a guy's...

COSTELLO: You know, that's just sick.

MYERS: You're betting on a guy's life, you know?

COSTELLO: That's just -- it's sick.

MYERS: Anyway, that's what you get.

COSTELLO: Yes.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Day eight in the fight for Falluja and the U.S. military is now targeting the last pockets of resistance there.

Jane Arraf is traveling with the Army's 1st Infantry Division.

Before we get to Jane, though, we want to bring you to Landstuhl, Germany, where some of the wounded soldiers are speaking out.

Let's listen. LANCE CORPORAL SCHAEFFER: ... and halted suddenly, the whole battalion. And we just started taking heavy RPGs and rocket fire from buildings all around us. And they were locking on with the RPGs and the mortars. And even from mosques they were firing and all over the place, really.

Well, I was directing my team over on the side to take some cover and an RPG landed about 15 to 20 meters to my right. And sure enough, I got hit by some RPG shrapnel, which I think was RPG shrapnel, at least. And it just went through my hand, just fractured some -- fractured a bone in my hand. And that's pretty must the gist of it.

UNIDENTIFIED COMMANDER: You want to say hi to anybody?

SCHAEFFER: Yes, I'd like to say hi to my beautiful wife, Jennifer, back home in California and to say hi to my little nephew, Gannon. I can't wait to see him.

UNIDENTIFIED COMMANDER: Lance Corporal Chapman (ph)?

LANCE CORPORAL CHAPMAN: My name is Lance Corporal Chapman.

I'm also with the 3rd Marines, 1st Division. And I was in Falluja at the same time, with Lance Corporal Schaeffer.

And I was searching building tops for snipers, other enemy, when we started receiving enemy fire and the enemy that was shooting at me was a sniper. A sniper round struck just below my left eyebrow. It's nothing too serious, I guess. It cracked my skull, but not -- I think it looks worse than it really is. But that's pretty must the gist of it.

UNIDENTIFIED COMMANDER: That's kind of been the whole attitude of the guys that are coming off of the planes, you know, nothing serious, cracked my skull open but...

Lance Corporal Owens?

LANCE CORPORAL OWENS: My name is Lance Corporal Owens. I'm with 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines.

We were approaching into the city. We got about 200 yards into the street. I was in an up armored Humvee. We started taking mortar fire. They were trying to get mortars in on our positions, so we were taking AK fire, as well.

We got out there and engaged the small arms fire and there was a Texas barrier, a big concrete barrier. They use it to try to protect us. A .120 millimeter rocket smacked that barrier. I took cover behind my truck and the shrapnel from the rocket went through my leg, my left leg. And that's (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED COMMANDER: Anybody you'd like to say hi to?

CHAPMAN: Oh, yes, I'd love to say hi to my mom and my step dad and my dad. I love you guys. I want to be home soon. UNIDENTIFIED COMMANDER: Oh, I forgot to ask you that, Corporal Chapman.

CHAPMAN: I just want to say hi to my family and friends back home in Lawrence, Kansas and I hope we'll be home soon.

UNIDENTIFIED COMMANDER: I guess we'll open up the floor, then, to questions for the soldiers.

QUESTION: CBS News.

Can I ask you guys, when you were hit, what just goes through your mind?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's pointing to you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you want to go?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, when I first got hit, you know, I felt something hit me, but the explosion was really kind of a deafening, you know, it definitely makes your ears kind of ring. And it takes you a minute to get your head back on straight. And, you know, I felt something hit me, but really I didn't feel any pain for about five minutes. I kind of, you know, I just kind of looked over and I was just kind of assessing what happened to me. And the first thing I noticed was my finger, because my glove was split and, you know, that didn't look right.

So when I went to pull my glove off, that's when the blood started coming out of my hand. And so I pulled my sleeve up and I seen I'd been hit by shrapnel.

And so there's just a certain element of, you know, disbelief that kind of comes in there, because it's something that you anticipate could happen but you never really expect it to happen to you.

So there's a moment of, you know, letting it set in and then, you know, you start doing what you need to do next as far as getting first aid and getting help from your buddies and stuff.

QUESTION: Lance Corporal Chapman, CNN.

Could I ask you do you know what they were sniping with? Was it AKs or was it something more sophisticated, like a Dragonov? And how does one survive a sniper wound to the head?

CHAPMAN: I'm not sure what weapon they were using. Typically they do use the AK or the Dragonov. But they're both .762 millimeter rounds.

So as to how you survive, you need a little bit of luck, I guess. Everyone keeps telling me I'm lucky. So I just kind of go with that and think somebody's watching out for me. So that's -- I just kind of stay with that mentality.

QUESTION: Are you ready to go home or are you wanting to go back?

CHAPMAN: I wanted to go back. My buddies are out there without me and if I was well enough to go out, I would in a heartbeat go back.

SCHAEFFER: Yes, the feeling is the same for myself. I left a great platoon and I left a great battalion and I just can't wait -- I want to go back, but this little injury is holding me back and it kills me every time, I mean, I watch the news and just knowing my buddies are over there. I wish I could really be back with them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, you know, we came out here in March, Task Force 27 came out here in March and, you know, we did Najaf and then now we've done Falluja. And, you know, after this, everything else is pretty much packing up. So, you know, I'll take this as a quick way to, you know, go home and see the family and get better, you know? But I do miss my friends and I hope that they're doing OK out there.

QUESTION: I'm with the A.P.

(UNINTELLIGIBLE) a question about the time period you're going to be there and whether you have any feeling that there might be more Fallujas down the road, having been there, having seen the type of resistance in there?

Well, this is just bound over, but do you see any other kind of Fallujas popping up in Iraq?

UNIDENTIFIED COMMANDER: I'm not sure that these soldiers are in the position to answer strategic type questions like that.

QUESTION: Lance Corporal Owens, what's it like when an RPG flashes, goes off? Describe the scene where you were. You said you were, I guess, 15, 20 meters away. Can you tell us what you felt in your leg?

OWENS: Well, it's -- at first I was scared because we were catching mortar fire. I was more worried about some of the Marines that were right in front of me because I had to take cover behind my Humvee. So I was scared about that. And the initial -- you can always hear the rocket when it comes. It makes a really distinct whistle. So I knew it was coming. I just didn't know where it was from.

When I first heard the blast, I felt it go through my leg and just like the sniper was saying, you can't really -- you really don't know what happens. You're stunned for like five or 10 minutes. And then it starts being such an, you know, it's such a burning and becoming, you know, it's in pain. And the only thing that was going through my mind is that I was worried about the rest of my friends. I wanted to know for instance any of my friends were hurt, if everybody was OK. I was making sure we had no KIEs and once I found out and I sensed everybody, made sure everything was good to go, then they flew me out on the helicopter and sent me here to take care of me.

QUESTION: I'm here from "Stars and Stripes." We've heard from a lot of people who felt the insurgency wasn't quite as resistant as you first anticipated. Can you describe how well prepared were you going into that mission?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we were, we were very well prepared to go into the city and we were really overestimating their strengths, which is a good thing for us, just making sure that we tried to get all the odds and ends covered before we went in there, to make sure that everyone was as safe as they possibly could be.

We were given, you know, a lot of intel as far as enemy activity that we had been seeing. And I mean I think it was handled very well by the commanders who led us into that.

QUESTION: Andy Eckardt with NBC.

There's a lot of talk about the worsening of the situation for the Iraqis in Falluja. What is the type of scene you've seen in Falluja? Is there really a lack of food, a lack of water? A lot of dead bodies supposedly are laying around? Have you seen any of that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We saw a lot of insurgents in the streets. As far civilians were concerned, I can tell you, I didn't see any in the areas that I was working out of. It was barren. It was desolate. I saw no civilians. A lot of insurgents, though, as far as what you say, dead bodies, casualties on their side there. There were a lot in the streets. But I saw no civilians.

QUESTION: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

Are you all going to be able to return to active duty?

SCHAEFFER: Most likely. Some of us, I guess it's still up in the mix on certain -- it's up in the doctors' hands and hopefully we just heal well. I mean I can only speak for myself on that one. But hopefully everything works out well.

UNIDENTIFIED COMMANDER: These particular soldiers, I don't think any of them have a type of injury that would preclude them from being on active duty after they recovered.

QUESTION: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED COMMANDER: Yes, sir?

QUESTION: What was the difference between the insurgents and the civilians, just the fact that the insurgents were carrying the weapons? Were they easy to identify?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, definitely. The insurgents, a lot of them that we ran into were the younger males. A lot of them wore the masks. They covered their faces. A lot of them were heavily armed, traveled in teams, RPG teams, small fire teams. Yes, easily, you know, easy to tell apart.

Like in Najaf, the civilians that we had seen wore more the traditional Iraqi garb, the longer, I believe they're called thogs (ph), the full male, you know, gown. They were a lot more passive, walked down the streets with their hands up in the air. As where the insurgents were constantly, you know, either masked, running in small teams and usually heavily armed.

QUESTION: But you had no feeling that you were going to be shooting at the wrong...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, not at all.

QUESTION: Katherine Kamit (ph), "USA Today."

You mentioned seeing bodies. Were those, some of those civilians or was it a mixture of civilians...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, ma'am, the bodies that I saw were the bodies that I saw fall, men that were actually stepping out from behind vehicles, firing at us while we were moving in on the Bradleys. These were the guys that I actually saw fall.

QUESTION: But not ones that had been (UNINTELLIGIBLE)?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. No, ma'am.

QUESTION: Can you tell us how long have you been in Iraq?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our Task Force 27 have come out of Fort Hood in March. So we've been here since, we've all been there since March.

QUESTION: Mid-March, the beginning of March?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: About mid-March, actually, was when we left Fort Hood.

QUESTION: There were reports that the Red Cross (UNINTELLIGIBLE) as it is in Iraq, had difficulties bringing supplies into the city because of the heavy fighting, especially in the past days.

Have you seen any of those convoys come in or have we helped any of those convoys to come in?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I really couldn't tell you. I haven't seen any of them.

OWENS: Falluja was mostly closed off. We saw no civilians inside Falluja. All the stores, all the shops were closed. The only Iraqis that we saw in Falluja were the insurgents. So as for the aid coming into Falluja, I did not see any. So if there was any, we would have helped them, if they required it.

QUESTION: But how would you asses the enemy that you were up against and his determination to attack and his ability to fight? (UNINTELLIGIBLE)?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In Najaf we saw a lot more of a, you know, a reckless insurgents, a lot more brazen with their attacks, exposing themselves in the open. It seemed more like the 18 and 20-year-old group that really, they just, they were just fighting really unorganized.

Out here, it seemed like we had some of the same element of those guys, but there were also some guys that, they've had the time to dig in and they were preparing as far as setting up fighting positions and things like that. So they were a little bit more organized on that scale, just as far as trying to give themselves cover and defalcate (ph) for the fight.

QUESTION: Did you get the impression they were willing to fight to the death or were they just going to fight hard and then run?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think they...

SCHAEFFER: Absolutely. They were willing to fight to the death.

OWENS: All of them are. They have no problem coming out and fighting. And it's hard to do, to fight some of them like that. But it's just -- it's something you have to do. It's part of our job to go out. We have to help these Iraqi people get their freedom back and it's...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Like if they stayed in the city after the assault had begun, they were willing to fight to the death. All the other ones that weren't really ready to make that full commitment, we assume they fled.

QUESTION: A question, two questions concerning these insurgents.

First, you were saying that you could make a difference between civilians and insurgents by the clothing. Does it mean they have a certain form of uniform wearing unique (UNINTELLIGIBLE)?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, sir. It wasn't so much...

QUESTION: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It wasn't so much all of the clothing. It's certain things that they wear as they're fighting. The traditional Iraqi person, you know, that you run into usually on the streets, they wear just, you know, casual clothing, you know, like the longer thogs or things like that. They don't try to mask their faces. So the things that you look for are people who are -- men that are trying to mask their faces, wearing loose clothes with possible, you know, tactical gear that they've confiscated from caches that they've had and things like that. And then obviously being armed is a, you know...

COSTELLO: Fascinating stories from the troops being treated now at Landstuhl, by the Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany.

And in case you're wondering, 419 patients were received at Landstuhl in the past week -- 60 percent Army, 40 percent Marines. Two hundred have now been sent home for treatment.

And the battle of Falluja not over yet, but they pretty much have control of the city.

Our Jane Arraf is traveling with the Army's 1st Infantry Division in Falluja and she has this report from the front line.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are going through theses streets and we're in armored vehicles at the moment. And there are Iraqi forces with us, as well. And this neighborhood is almost demolished. In between the air strikes, the tank rounds, the artillery, there are buildings that have collapsed and everywhere evidence that they had turned this into a fortress, just bunkers cut into the ground on all sides of buildings. They used them, apparently, to hide and sleep. You can see bedding next to them and men pop out and take shots from them.

There is a bit of a lull in the fighting right now. There had been firing going on just a few moments ago and it will continue. There are still insurgents in this neighborhood. And what they're doing now is a more thorough sweep. Actually, fighting has started again. They're doing a sweep of this neighborhood, this thought to be one of the last strongholds, particularly of foreign fighters.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

COSTELLO: A Marine colonel in Falluja says some civilian residents of that city are approaching Iraqi troops asking for food and water and medicine. It's estimated 90 percent of Falluja's 250,000 to 300,000 residents fled the city before the offensive began. Some found refuge in a tent outside Falluja, in a tent city, that is. Others went to Baghdad or to other cities.

The nasty street violence in Falluja may just be a prelude in the fight for Iraq. "Time" correspondent Viveca Novak has more on this week's issue. That's coming up shortly on DAYBREAK.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: If you could affect one change, just one, what would it be?

MADONNA: To get George Bush to study kabala.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: There you have it. We'll have much more of this interview from Madonna and our own Richard Quest. That comes up at 17 minutes past the hour.

And at 49 minutes after the hour, sex, violence and Big Macs. Junk food ads on TV get the late night treatment in London.

But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Monday morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COSTELLO: A U.S. Marine from Kentucky has become the face of the battle of Falluja. Lance Corporal James Miller's picture was taken by an "L.A. Times" photographer and picked up by the Associated Press. It's been printed in more than 100 newspapers and shown on network television. Miller says he doesn't understand all the fuss. But his mother says the picture let her know her son is alive.

Another emotional picture on the cover of "Time" magazine today puts a very human face on the men and women fighting in Falluja and it offers serious food for thought. Example -- this is a quote from the article in "Time" magazine this week. It says, "Senior U.S. officials say in the coming months we'll likely be playing a deadly game of whack a mole across the country, attacking insurgents wherever they rise up and trying to take back enough rebel held areas to hold credible elections in January.

For more, let's head live to Washington and "Time" correspondent Viveca Novak.

Good morning, Viveca.

VIVECA NOVAK, "TIME" MAGAZINE: Good morning.

COSTELLO: Falluja is now under, well, pretty much under control.

Let's talk about that whack a mole description. Explain that for us.

NOVAK: Well, as American troops know from going into Falluja, a lot of the foreign fighters had already left, and just left behind a sort of rear guard contingent to distract and harass U.S. fighters over there. And a lot of them fled to Mosul. A lot of them fled to parts unknown. But we know there's been heavy fighting in Mosul in the last few days.

And the thing is that they're going to be popping up all over the place between now and when the elections are scheduled in January. We don't have enough troops to fight multiple attacks in different cities all at once. But that is probably not going to happen. It's probably going to be city to city, one after the other.

COSTELLO: One city after another.

NOVAK: Yes.

COSTELLO: And did your "Time" correspondents find out if that's an effective way to fight the insurgents?

NOVAK: Well, I don't think we have much choice. Michael Ware (ph) was over there with, I think it's Alpha Company, 3rd Platoon, Task Force 22, and going into Falluja with them. And just, you know, it's a very compelling story because it shows you from the ground exactly how tough this is.

You go to nine houses, you go house to house, you go to nine houses and you find nothing. The tenth house is booby-trapped. It's full of fighters. It's rigged with explosives, whatever. And you send folks in and you lose some of your own troops. The other side loses a lot more. But you realize, too, that so many of these fighters have already left the city.

COSTELLO: Oh, definitely so. You know, you're talking about how difficult this fight is, just a short time ago we heard from wounded soldiers in Germany. And I'd like to play some sound from one of those soldiers right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The bodies that I saw were the bodies that I saw fall, men that were actually stepping out from behind vehicles, firing at us while we were moving in on the Bradleys. These were the guys that I actually saw fall.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: You know, it's a difficult fight and it must be frustrating, because another quote out of an article in "Time" magazine this week says this: "Many fighters, and the majority of the rebel leadership, including Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, apparently slipped out of the city in the weeks leading up to the assault. A Pentagon official says that at most 10 percent of the enemy in Iraq has been killed or captured in Falluja."

Did "Time's" correspondents find that more secrecy about the next mission is needed?

NOVAK: Well, that's certainly one thing I think we're going to be -- the U.S. is going to be aiming for. And when we say 10 percent, you know, we don't know 10 percent of what. Maybe 10 percent of what's in the country right now. But, you know, people keep streaming over the border, foreign fighters stream over the border from Syria. And who knows how many more of those are going to be coming in?

COSTELLO: And we do know about, I don't know, between 1,000 and 2,000 insurgents have been killed just in this battle of Falluja.

Viveca Novak live from Washington.

Thank you for joining DAYBREAK this morning.

NOVAK: Good to be with you.

COSTELLO: Quite a night at the American Music Awards. And all the talk this morning is about Usher's awards sweep. We'll run through the highlights for you.

Plus, Britain's new strategy to fight obesity and why it won't make advertisers very happy.

That and much more straight ahead.

Keep it right here on DAYBREAK.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: Live from the Time Warner Center in New York and CNN Center in Atlanta, this is DAYBREAK with Carol Costello and Chad Myers.

COSTELLO: And good morning to you.

Welcome to the second half hour of DAYBREAK.

A lot to talk about, so let's get right to the headlines at this hour.

Our Jane Arraf is in Falluja with U.S. troops and tells us the forces are conducting building to building searches on the city's south side.

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