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Blast Rocks Upscale Baghdad Neighborhood; Army Reservist Sees Family for Holidays

Aired December 24, 2004 - 14:59   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.


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: An exclusive Baghdad neighborhood rocked by a large explosion just a short while ago. Early reports, there are a number of casualties. And there's also possibly a second explosion to tell you about. Lots of things to sort out here obviously.
Police tell CNN it appears a fuel tanker was at the root of the blast. We'll go live to Baghdad for this breaking story in just a little bit, fill you in as best we can.

The blast comes on the same day Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld made an unannounced trip to Baghdad and other Iraqi cities. He had left the city when the blast occurred. He was there to lift spirits of the troops for the holidays.

Secretary Rumsfeld, as we say, not there. We'll have more on his Iraqi trip straight ahead on the program.

People heading home for the holidays creating heavy volume at airports across the country on a busy travel day. Despite that, it appears to be smooth flying for the most part. Yesterday's blizzards in parts of the Midwest and south did prompt delays at some airports overnight and early in the day, as well.

A stretch of Interstate 64 in Indiana shut down because of winter weather finally open. Crews working to clear hundreds of vehicles from the roadway. The record snow fall left behind bitter cold weather all across the region.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: First this hour developing story in Baghdad, an apparent attack involving a fuel tanker. Iraqi police are reporting a number of casualties. CNN's Karl Penhaul is in the Iraqi capital and has the very latest for us. Karl.

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there Kyra. It was about an hour or an hour and a half ago now. Baghdad police are confirming too is that this was a suicide attack involving a suicide bomber in a loaded fuel truck, loaded with gasoline. It exploded in the al Mansour neighborhood, an upscale residential neighborhood in downtown Baghdad. The site of the explosion we're told by police was very close to the site of three embassies including the Libyan and Jordanian embassies.

(INAUDIBLE) hospital one of the main hospitals here in Baghdad says they have received so far 19 critically wounded people, many of them women and children with severe burns. The U.S. military and Iraqi police are also telling us there are dead people. They haven't confirmed the numbers of dead although they do say that initial reports unconfirmed at this stage are in the region of 10 to 13 people that may have been killed in this blast, unclear who those may be although we do know among the wounded that some of those are guards from the embassies near the blast.

Iraqi police are also telling that at least six buildings in the area were set on fire by the fireball. In that area we know of at least two or three prominent Iraqi opposition politicians who live in that area or at least have offices in that area and their intention is to run in the January 30 elections, unclear, though, whether they were the target of this explosion.

We're also told by witnesses, including a CNN staffer who lives in that area that immediately following the explosion there was a heavy barrage of gunfire, again, unclear at this stage who that gunfire was directed at. A spokesman for the U.S. military has said that there were no multinational forces involved in that explosion, although multinational forces are now on the scene. Iraqi police say that as they approached the area, they also came across three roadside bombs. Those bombs did not detonate but obviously, that is impeding access to at least part of the area and police say they are working to defuse those bombs right now.

A short while ago, just a few moments in fact before coming on air, we heard a second explosion off in the distance, unclear, though, at this stage whether there's any relation to that and the earlier incident. It's of course, not too uncommon to hear explosions of nighttime here in Baghdad. Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Karl, the Mansour district home to several senior politicians, embassies, foreign contractors. You also had mentioned earlier that possibly some individuals running for election in January to be a part of the Iraqi government. Do you know, if any of those individuals have been targeted or were hurt?

PENHAUL: There's no reports yet as to whether any of those people, any of those prominent politicians were home at the time or indeed if they are among the casualties, for example, Mr. Chalabi who is running on the unified Shiite list has an office and a home in that area we're told, as does Adnan Pachachi an independent, a secular politician who is a member of Iraq's interim government in the past. He also has a residence and offices in that area. But no clear word yet as to whether those buildings were affected or whether the occupants were injured in that blast Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Karl Penhaul live from Baghdad. Thanks Karl. Miles.

O'BRIEN: For the Morris family of Canton, Georgia, this year Christmas came early. The reason being the man of the house is more than just husband and father. He is sergeant Robert Morris, United States Army Reserve called to active duty in Iraq. Sergeant Morris spent the part of a holiday season far from the dangers of combat in the fleeting embrace of his loved ones. This poignant soldier's story reported by CNN's Thelma Gutierrez.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sergeant Robert Morris has seen the reality of war. For four months he's had one of the riskiest jobs in Iraq, commanding a gun truck and fighting off attacks on convoys traveling the world's most dangerous roads. He has seen a lot, but he doesn't like to talk about it. Canton, Georgia, is far from all of that and so is this family celebration.

SGT. ROBERT MORRIS, ARMY RESERVIST: You feel real good, because I know I'm leaving tomorrow and I'm not going to spend Christmas day with them, so this is the Morris family Christmas is today.

GUTIERREZ: The Morris' invited us to share their last night together before this father of five heads back to Iraq. Lisa Morris says it's hard to let go. Her husband has only been home two weeks. Already their time sup.

LISA MORRIS, RESERVIST'S WIFE: There's a lot of tension in the family. Our kids -- I feel blessed every day that I can sit down and altogether as a family.

GUTIERREZ: For as much as he dreamed about coming home, Robert told me it isn't easy shifting gears out of combat.

MORRIS: When I first got home on the 1st, I was happy. But in a sense I still had to get my mind back here in Georgia to get my mind back to be with Lisa again, too, you know because I've been gone away, I guess maybe like on the 8th and stuff and then I snapped myself back to reality. I'm back home. I'm a dad now and I'm a husband now

GUTIERREZ: His time in Iraq also weighs heavily on his children.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I worry a lot especially at nighttime when go to sleep.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I miss him and I love him so much. I don't want him to get killed. He gets us everything we need, food on the table, clothes on our back and shoes and everything.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When he's gone I have something on my mind and I can't get it off and I fall back on my grades.

MORRIS: Come here. Come here. It's all right. Don't cry. It's all right. It's going to be all right. I'll be back. I promise you all, I will be back, safe. Trust me.

GUTIERREZ: Twelve hours to go before Robert heads back to war. This is the morning the Morris' dreaded.

MORRIS: Rushing, I'm rushing a lot. And, well, not ready to go but I got to go. So I wish I could stay another week at least.

LISA MORRIS: We're just not ready for him to leave right now.

MORRIS: Get your shoes on, baby. We got to get your shoes on. We got to go. I'm all set to go. Ready to go.

GUTIERREZ: For the next 30 hours, we'll follow Robert back to his other reality.

LISA MORRIS: He's got a few more minutes.

MORRIS: Well, I'm cleaned out. I don't want to go back. But I've got to.

Give me kiss. Love you. Give me kiss. Love you. You all be good. Back to my journey, again.

LISA MORRIS: We've got a real good understanding of each other. He knows it's a job he needs to do, but -- he'll be all right.

GUTIERREZ: Sergeant Robert Morris and 170 others leave their loved ones behind, not sure when they will be back. Nine hours later, we stop in Germany, just long enough to refuel. As we head for Kuwait, chaplain offers a prayer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We give thanks for these soldiers. We're grateful for the willing sacrifice that they are making. We ask as they get into harm's way that their minds will be keen, that they'll be sharp and they'll be decisive.

GUTIERREZ: A reminder that war is much closer now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: God bless you all now. Stay alert.

MORRIS: When we loaded up from Germany, that pretty much triggered it for me.

GUTIERREZ: Five hours later -- Robert and the other soldiers board buses and were off to camp Doha (ph) near the Iraqi border.

MORRIS: I feel like I did when I first came over, just edgy and more nervous than anything.

GUTIERREZ: With good reason. Robert tells me he has seen heavy combat. Every time he has gone out, his convoy has been hit by roadside bombs.

MORRIS: We are going to an unsafe zone so pretty much stays (ph) in my mind, a lot in my mind.

GUTIERREZ: A few hours from now, Robert and the others will be back in Iraq. Before you leave, your family prepared a couple of messages.

MORRIS: OK.

GUTIERREZ: So they wanted you to take a look.

LISA MORRIS: I love you. And that you come back safely.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'll try and be taking better care of my brothers and sisters.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Dad, you have to be safe, but come back home and have a good time and I'll be taking care of mom and the (INAUDIBLE) and I just want to say bye.

GUTIERREZ: At the break of dawn we say good-bye to the husband and father we met in Georgia. Now, Sgt. Robert Morris is back in the reality of a soldier at war, back to the dangers of convoy escort duty on the world's deadliest roads.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Wow! It's hard not to watch that without feeling.

PHILLIPS: ... the kids.

O'BRIEN: The soldiers get so much of our attention and they get the ribbons and all that, because there are no ribbons for the kids. And everybody is a part of this and the sacrifice they make is every bit as acute and they didn't sign up. Thelma Gutierrez continues the tale of two soldiers just ahead on LIVE FROM.

PHILLIPS: A mother's most precious gift is about to return home to her and make this Christmas one that she will treasure forever. It's another story that's going to make us all teary eyed again. Thelma's got the other part to her series, straight ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER: Hello, Albany, Merry Christmas and season's greetings from camp here in Kuwait from the 42nd infantry division. Hi Kathy, hi, Elizabeth, hi Rachel. I miss you a lot. Merry Christmas, enjoy the holidays and I'll see you soon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Now another soldier's Christmas story. Within the ranks of the Army, he goes by Specialist Jiminez. But to his mother in Cumming, Georgia, he is Anthony, her one and only son. Here again with his story, CNN's Thelma Gutierrez.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Fresh off the battlefield, Army specialist Anthony Jiminez is about to leave Iraq after six months, leave all this behind. While across the world in Cumming, Georgia --

RACHEL JIMINEZ: Santa Claus is coming tomorrow. He's coming early.

GUTIERREZ: Rachel Jiminez nervously prepares to see her only son. Here on the desolate border of Iraq and Kuwait, we begin the long journey home. RACHEL JIMINEZ: I constantly think about him and worry about him

GUTIERREZ: But Rachel has no idea just how close her son was to the front. His boots are stained with the blood of combat.

ANTHONY JIMINEZ: Hey, mom, you know, I'm down here in Kuwait now

GUTIERREZ: She knew little until now.

ANTHONY JIMINEZ: I got two things I've got to tell you. You are probably going to be upset at one. I haven't been to Kuwait the whole time. Yeah, I've been in Baghdad. And, it's OK. It's OK. It's OK, mom, I'm coming home. Oh, yeah! She's a little upset. I'm an only child.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Make sure you have two tags attached to your gear, one for your Kevlar, one for your vest.

GUTIERREZ: Anthony and the rest of these battle weary soldiers deposit (ph) the body armor, the first sign they are going home.

ANTHONY JIMINEZ: I'm glad to be going home, finally. It's a little rough...

GUTIERREZ: Camp Doba is the hub of the R&R program. On average, 1200 servicemen and women pass through her every day in or out. I met Anthony for his first taste of home before our 30-hour trip back to the U.S. He says foremost in his mind is his family and how he'll deal with the white lie he told his mother when he sees her. You basically told her the truth. What was her reaction?

ANTHONY JIMINEZ: She was pretty upset. She started crying on the phone. I think she knew I was in Iraq. She just didn't know I was in Baghdad. She doesn't want me around the Baghdad area.

GUTIERREZ: Anthony's job is in Baghdad where he's the driver and protector of a lieutenant colonel. This is what happened to their vehicle when they were attacked.

ANTHONY JIMINEZ: I've been hit three times. The first time was the worst. It was an ambush. They hit us with three IEDs, four RPGs and small arms fire and everybody was walking wounded.

GUTIERREZ: Anthony tells me he will never forget the day a car bomb exploded in Baghdad. You said that when you actually got out of your vehicle that day you saw some pretty heavy stuff.

ANTHONY JIMINEZ: When I stepped out of the vehicle, five to 10 feet away there was like a rib cage laying there and whatever body parts there was.

GUTIERREZ: How do you deal with that?

ANTHONY JIMINEZ: You really just try not to think about it.

GUTIERREZ: More than 30 Iraqi children were killed that day. ANTHONY JIMINEZ: You learn to appreciate life a whole lot more when you are over here and it can be taken away just like that. In the blink of an eye you can get hit with something and you are gone. You're no more and now your family has to deal with that.

GUTIERREZ: At 23, this is Anthony's third deployment, his second to a combat zone. He says his life is forever changed with Iraq.

ANTHONY JIMINEZ: It's a big wake-up call on what is going on over here. I have been watching it in the news, seeing what is going on, man, I'm glad I'm not there. Now I am here. I see what is going on.

GUTIERREZ: His experience has given him a new perspective on the Iraqis.

ANTHONY JIMINEZ: Most of the people that want to work for us and want us here are very nice people. There's just some that don't agree with us being here and want to blame us for all their hardships.

GUTIERREZ: What do you see for your future?

ANTHONY JIMINEZ: Family, kids, good education, and where I don't have to worry about money -- my kids don't have to worry about war. I'll gladly fight the war so my kids don't have to.

RACHEL JIMINEZ: He'll be in tomorrow around 9:45.

GUTIERREZ: Back in Georgia, a Christmas celebration awaits the son, now a soldier, who has always been the center of Rachel's life. Physically and emotionally spent, Anthony and the others fly home. It takes a day and a half. Most sleep the whole way.

ANTHONY JIMINEZ: It's Georgia out there. It's so pretty.

GUTIERREZ: Home never looked so good.

UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER: There's American freaking soil out there and it's green and there's buildings out there that aren't crumbling.

GUTIERREZ: As we're about to land in Georgia, they told me they look forward to the simple things.

UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER: A real fork instead of plastic.

GUTIERREZ: From here many soldiers will fly on to their hometown, but Anthony is home. His mother, father, and girlfriend anxiously await the return. As we make our way toward them, Anthony tells me he has butterflies in his stomach.

ANTHONY JIMINEZ: It's OK. I'm home now.

GUTIERREZ: If only for two weeks.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: And a program note, be sure to watch a CNN special Christmas day edition of our ongoing series of military family reunions. The wounded and the heroes from the Mosul mess hall attack. We'll talk with their families. That's tomorrow morning 8:00 Eastern, 5:00 Pacific.

O'BRIEN: All right, what's next? All right. Pictures just coming in from Baghdad of that incident at the al Mansour district. As we have been telling you, within the past couple of hours, there was a rather large explosion. At the root of it was a fuel tanker and it was in the al Mansour district, western neighborhood of Baghdad, a well to do neighborhood where many embassies and politicians, contractors linked to the United States live. What we know right now is that this tanker did, in fact, explode. There was a hail of gunfire afterward. There are some reports of possibly a second explosion along with the gunfire, having a difficult time coming up with a casualty count right now.

We had earlier reported one, but right now it's just too early to sort all this out. Witnesses say, though, that explosion was just a tremendous explosion that lit up the night sky there. It's a little after 10:00 p.m. local time when it happened. They are about eight hours ahead of the Eastern time. There it's a little after 11:20 p.m. in Baghdad right now. As you can see obviously, emergency response to it was rapid.

Police -- there was some reports on the wire that police were looking for another vehicle, a BMW, specifically, that may or may not have had a link to it. There was some concern as well that there might have been another tanker that might have been a suspicious tanker, so that would lead one to believe, perhaps, there might have been some terrorist motives behind there. But nevertheless way too early to draw any conclusions on that for now. For now all we can say is a rather large explosion in a part of Baghdad that is a well to do neighborhood that has a lot of people there with links to the United States. We are watching that very closely for you. We're going to take a break. Back with more LIVE FROM in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER: ... send a Merry Christmas to my family, Kathy Slater (ph) of the 240th, my father, my stepmother and little brother, my girlfriend Carrie Sangstrom (ph) and her family of Prospect Harbor and just all the families of the 133rd.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: All right. We got a little eggnog here in our new LIVE FROM mugs here.

PHILLIPS: This is our Christmas gift John King from Miles O'Brien. This is our own form of promotion.

O'BRIEN: Hard to see on the camera. That's us in there.

PHILLIPS: Very dashing picture. O'BRIEN: It's kind of a do it yourself. I know we're out of time but I just want folks to -- that's what I got Kyra for Christmas, a picture of us on the mug.

PHILLIPS: I love you, Miles.

O'BRIEN: And John, if you are good to us in '05, we'll get you one too.

JOHN KING: Do I get an employee discount or should I just wait for them to be on eBay..

O'BRIEN: I'm going to give you one but it's going to be of us. It's not of you. It's of us.

KING: No, I want that one. I want that one.

O'BRIEN: We can hook you up. Listen, have a great Christmas, John, take it away with INSIDE POLITICS, all right.

KING: Merry Christmas to you both. Thank you much.

Secretary Rumsfeld goes on a surprise trip to deliver holiday greetings to the troops in Iraq, but will that visit (INAUDIBLE) criticism that the secretary isn't doing enough to protect those troops in the war zone. We'll ask former NATO supreme commander Wesley Clark (ph).

And what do you get a politician for Christmas? Who else but Bill Schneider tells us about Santa's solution for some people who perhaps are the hardest to buy for. INSIDE POLITICS begins in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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Aired December 24, 2004 - 14:59   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: An exclusive Baghdad neighborhood rocked by a large explosion just a short while ago. Early reports, there are a number of casualties. And there's also possibly a second explosion to tell you about. Lots of things to sort out here obviously.
Police tell CNN it appears a fuel tanker was at the root of the blast. We'll go live to Baghdad for this breaking story in just a little bit, fill you in as best we can.

The blast comes on the same day Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld made an unannounced trip to Baghdad and other Iraqi cities. He had left the city when the blast occurred. He was there to lift spirits of the troops for the holidays.

Secretary Rumsfeld, as we say, not there. We'll have more on his Iraqi trip straight ahead on the program.

People heading home for the holidays creating heavy volume at airports across the country on a busy travel day. Despite that, it appears to be smooth flying for the most part. Yesterday's blizzards in parts of the Midwest and south did prompt delays at some airports overnight and early in the day, as well.

A stretch of Interstate 64 in Indiana shut down because of winter weather finally open. Crews working to clear hundreds of vehicles from the roadway. The record snow fall left behind bitter cold weather all across the region.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: First this hour developing story in Baghdad, an apparent attack involving a fuel tanker. Iraqi police are reporting a number of casualties. CNN's Karl Penhaul is in the Iraqi capital and has the very latest for us. Karl.

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there Kyra. It was about an hour or an hour and a half ago now. Baghdad police are confirming too is that this was a suicide attack involving a suicide bomber in a loaded fuel truck, loaded with gasoline. It exploded in the al Mansour neighborhood, an upscale residential neighborhood in downtown Baghdad. The site of the explosion we're told by police was very close to the site of three embassies including the Libyan and Jordanian embassies.

(INAUDIBLE) hospital one of the main hospitals here in Baghdad says they have received so far 19 critically wounded people, many of them women and children with severe burns. The U.S. military and Iraqi police are also telling us there are dead people. They haven't confirmed the numbers of dead although they do say that initial reports unconfirmed at this stage are in the region of 10 to 13 people that may have been killed in this blast, unclear who those may be although we do know among the wounded that some of those are guards from the embassies near the blast.

Iraqi police are also telling that at least six buildings in the area were set on fire by the fireball. In that area we know of at least two or three prominent Iraqi opposition politicians who live in that area or at least have offices in that area and their intention is to run in the January 30 elections, unclear, though, whether they were the target of this explosion.

We're also told by witnesses, including a CNN staffer who lives in that area that immediately following the explosion there was a heavy barrage of gunfire, again, unclear at this stage who that gunfire was directed at. A spokesman for the U.S. military has said that there were no multinational forces involved in that explosion, although multinational forces are now on the scene. Iraqi police say that as they approached the area, they also came across three roadside bombs. Those bombs did not detonate but obviously, that is impeding access to at least part of the area and police say they are working to defuse those bombs right now.

A short while ago, just a few moments in fact before coming on air, we heard a second explosion off in the distance, unclear, though, at this stage whether there's any relation to that and the earlier incident. It's of course, not too uncommon to hear explosions of nighttime here in Baghdad. Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Karl, the Mansour district home to several senior politicians, embassies, foreign contractors. You also had mentioned earlier that possibly some individuals running for election in January to be a part of the Iraqi government. Do you know, if any of those individuals have been targeted or were hurt?

PENHAUL: There's no reports yet as to whether any of those people, any of those prominent politicians were home at the time or indeed if they are among the casualties, for example, Mr. Chalabi who is running on the unified Shiite list has an office and a home in that area we're told, as does Adnan Pachachi an independent, a secular politician who is a member of Iraq's interim government in the past. He also has a residence and offices in that area. But no clear word yet as to whether those buildings were affected or whether the occupants were injured in that blast Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Karl Penhaul live from Baghdad. Thanks Karl. Miles.

O'BRIEN: For the Morris family of Canton, Georgia, this year Christmas came early. The reason being the man of the house is more than just husband and father. He is sergeant Robert Morris, United States Army Reserve called to active duty in Iraq. Sergeant Morris spent the part of a holiday season far from the dangers of combat in the fleeting embrace of his loved ones. This poignant soldier's story reported by CNN's Thelma Gutierrez.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sergeant Robert Morris has seen the reality of war. For four months he's had one of the riskiest jobs in Iraq, commanding a gun truck and fighting off attacks on convoys traveling the world's most dangerous roads. He has seen a lot, but he doesn't like to talk about it. Canton, Georgia, is far from all of that and so is this family celebration.

SGT. ROBERT MORRIS, ARMY RESERVIST: You feel real good, because I know I'm leaving tomorrow and I'm not going to spend Christmas day with them, so this is the Morris family Christmas is today.

GUTIERREZ: The Morris' invited us to share their last night together before this father of five heads back to Iraq. Lisa Morris says it's hard to let go. Her husband has only been home two weeks. Already their time sup.

LISA MORRIS, RESERVIST'S WIFE: There's a lot of tension in the family. Our kids -- I feel blessed every day that I can sit down and altogether as a family.

GUTIERREZ: For as much as he dreamed about coming home, Robert told me it isn't easy shifting gears out of combat.

MORRIS: When I first got home on the 1st, I was happy. But in a sense I still had to get my mind back here in Georgia to get my mind back to be with Lisa again, too, you know because I've been gone away, I guess maybe like on the 8th and stuff and then I snapped myself back to reality. I'm back home. I'm a dad now and I'm a husband now

GUTIERREZ: His time in Iraq also weighs heavily on his children.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I worry a lot especially at nighttime when go to sleep.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I miss him and I love him so much. I don't want him to get killed. He gets us everything we need, food on the table, clothes on our back and shoes and everything.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When he's gone I have something on my mind and I can't get it off and I fall back on my grades.

MORRIS: Come here. Come here. It's all right. Don't cry. It's all right. It's going to be all right. I'll be back. I promise you all, I will be back, safe. Trust me.

GUTIERREZ: Twelve hours to go before Robert heads back to war. This is the morning the Morris' dreaded.

MORRIS: Rushing, I'm rushing a lot. And, well, not ready to go but I got to go. So I wish I could stay another week at least.

LISA MORRIS: We're just not ready for him to leave right now.

MORRIS: Get your shoes on, baby. We got to get your shoes on. We got to go. I'm all set to go. Ready to go.

GUTIERREZ: For the next 30 hours, we'll follow Robert back to his other reality.

LISA MORRIS: He's got a few more minutes.

MORRIS: Well, I'm cleaned out. I don't want to go back. But I've got to.

Give me kiss. Love you. Give me kiss. Love you. You all be good. Back to my journey, again.

LISA MORRIS: We've got a real good understanding of each other. He knows it's a job he needs to do, but -- he'll be all right.

GUTIERREZ: Sergeant Robert Morris and 170 others leave their loved ones behind, not sure when they will be back. Nine hours later, we stop in Germany, just long enough to refuel. As we head for Kuwait, chaplain offers a prayer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We give thanks for these soldiers. We're grateful for the willing sacrifice that they are making. We ask as they get into harm's way that their minds will be keen, that they'll be sharp and they'll be decisive.

GUTIERREZ: A reminder that war is much closer now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: God bless you all now. Stay alert.

MORRIS: When we loaded up from Germany, that pretty much triggered it for me.

GUTIERREZ: Five hours later -- Robert and the other soldiers board buses and were off to camp Doha (ph) near the Iraqi border.

MORRIS: I feel like I did when I first came over, just edgy and more nervous than anything.

GUTIERREZ: With good reason. Robert tells me he has seen heavy combat. Every time he has gone out, his convoy has been hit by roadside bombs.

MORRIS: We are going to an unsafe zone so pretty much stays (ph) in my mind, a lot in my mind.

GUTIERREZ: A few hours from now, Robert and the others will be back in Iraq. Before you leave, your family prepared a couple of messages.

MORRIS: OK.

GUTIERREZ: So they wanted you to take a look.

LISA MORRIS: I love you. And that you come back safely.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'll try and be taking better care of my brothers and sisters.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Dad, you have to be safe, but come back home and have a good time and I'll be taking care of mom and the (INAUDIBLE) and I just want to say bye.

GUTIERREZ: At the break of dawn we say good-bye to the husband and father we met in Georgia. Now, Sgt. Robert Morris is back in the reality of a soldier at war, back to the dangers of convoy escort duty on the world's deadliest roads.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Wow! It's hard not to watch that without feeling.

PHILLIPS: ... the kids.

O'BRIEN: The soldiers get so much of our attention and they get the ribbons and all that, because there are no ribbons for the kids. And everybody is a part of this and the sacrifice they make is every bit as acute and they didn't sign up. Thelma Gutierrez continues the tale of two soldiers just ahead on LIVE FROM.

PHILLIPS: A mother's most precious gift is about to return home to her and make this Christmas one that she will treasure forever. It's another story that's going to make us all teary eyed again. Thelma's got the other part to her series, straight ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER: Hello, Albany, Merry Christmas and season's greetings from camp here in Kuwait from the 42nd infantry division. Hi Kathy, hi, Elizabeth, hi Rachel. I miss you a lot. Merry Christmas, enjoy the holidays and I'll see you soon.

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PHILLIPS: Now another soldier's Christmas story. Within the ranks of the Army, he goes by Specialist Jiminez. But to his mother in Cumming, Georgia, he is Anthony, her one and only son. Here again with his story, CNN's Thelma Gutierrez.

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THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Fresh off the battlefield, Army specialist Anthony Jiminez is about to leave Iraq after six months, leave all this behind. While across the world in Cumming, Georgia --

RACHEL JIMINEZ: Santa Claus is coming tomorrow. He's coming early.

GUTIERREZ: Rachel Jiminez nervously prepares to see her only son. Here on the desolate border of Iraq and Kuwait, we begin the long journey home. RACHEL JIMINEZ: I constantly think about him and worry about him

GUTIERREZ: But Rachel has no idea just how close her son was to the front. His boots are stained with the blood of combat.

ANTHONY JIMINEZ: Hey, mom, you know, I'm down here in Kuwait now

GUTIERREZ: She knew little until now.

ANTHONY JIMINEZ: I got two things I've got to tell you. You are probably going to be upset at one. I haven't been to Kuwait the whole time. Yeah, I've been in Baghdad. And, it's OK. It's OK. It's OK, mom, I'm coming home. Oh, yeah! She's a little upset. I'm an only child.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Make sure you have two tags attached to your gear, one for your Kevlar, one for your vest.

GUTIERREZ: Anthony and the rest of these battle weary soldiers deposit (ph) the body armor, the first sign they are going home.

ANTHONY JIMINEZ: I'm glad to be going home, finally. It's a little rough...

GUTIERREZ: Camp Doba is the hub of the R&R program. On average, 1200 servicemen and women pass through her every day in or out. I met Anthony for his first taste of home before our 30-hour trip back to the U.S. He says foremost in his mind is his family and how he'll deal with the white lie he told his mother when he sees her. You basically told her the truth. What was her reaction?

ANTHONY JIMINEZ: She was pretty upset. She started crying on the phone. I think she knew I was in Iraq. She just didn't know I was in Baghdad. She doesn't want me around the Baghdad area.

GUTIERREZ: Anthony's job is in Baghdad where he's the driver and protector of a lieutenant colonel. This is what happened to their vehicle when they were attacked.

ANTHONY JIMINEZ: I've been hit three times. The first time was the worst. It was an ambush. They hit us with three IEDs, four RPGs and small arms fire and everybody was walking wounded.

GUTIERREZ: Anthony tells me he will never forget the day a car bomb exploded in Baghdad. You said that when you actually got out of your vehicle that day you saw some pretty heavy stuff.

ANTHONY JIMINEZ: When I stepped out of the vehicle, five to 10 feet away there was like a rib cage laying there and whatever body parts there was.

GUTIERREZ: How do you deal with that?

ANTHONY JIMINEZ: You really just try not to think about it.

GUTIERREZ: More than 30 Iraqi children were killed that day. ANTHONY JIMINEZ: You learn to appreciate life a whole lot more when you are over here and it can be taken away just like that. In the blink of an eye you can get hit with something and you are gone. You're no more and now your family has to deal with that.

GUTIERREZ: At 23, this is Anthony's third deployment, his second to a combat zone. He says his life is forever changed with Iraq.

ANTHONY JIMINEZ: It's a big wake-up call on what is going on over here. I have been watching it in the news, seeing what is going on, man, I'm glad I'm not there. Now I am here. I see what is going on.

GUTIERREZ: His experience has given him a new perspective on the Iraqis.

ANTHONY JIMINEZ: Most of the people that want to work for us and want us here are very nice people. There's just some that don't agree with us being here and want to blame us for all their hardships.

GUTIERREZ: What do you see for your future?

ANTHONY JIMINEZ: Family, kids, good education, and where I don't have to worry about money -- my kids don't have to worry about war. I'll gladly fight the war so my kids don't have to.

RACHEL JIMINEZ: He'll be in tomorrow around 9:45.

GUTIERREZ: Back in Georgia, a Christmas celebration awaits the son, now a soldier, who has always been the center of Rachel's life. Physically and emotionally spent, Anthony and the others fly home. It takes a day and a half. Most sleep the whole way.

ANTHONY JIMINEZ: It's Georgia out there. It's so pretty.

GUTIERREZ: Home never looked so good.

UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER: There's American freaking soil out there and it's green and there's buildings out there that aren't crumbling.

GUTIERREZ: As we're about to land in Georgia, they told me they look forward to the simple things.

UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER: A real fork instead of plastic.

GUTIERREZ: From here many soldiers will fly on to their hometown, but Anthony is home. His mother, father, and girlfriend anxiously await the return. As we make our way toward them, Anthony tells me he has butterflies in his stomach.

ANTHONY JIMINEZ: It's OK. I'm home now.

GUTIERREZ: If only for two weeks.

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PHILLIPS: And a program note, be sure to watch a CNN special Christmas day edition of our ongoing series of military family reunions. The wounded and the heroes from the Mosul mess hall attack. We'll talk with their families. That's tomorrow morning 8:00 Eastern, 5:00 Pacific.

O'BRIEN: All right, what's next? All right. Pictures just coming in from Baghdad of that incident at the al Mansour district. As we have been telling you, within the past couple of hours, there was a rather large explosion. At the root of it was a fuel tanker and it was in the al Mansour district, western neighborhood of Baghdad, a well to do neighborhood where many embassies and politicians, contractors linked to the United States live. What we know right now is that this tanker did, in fact, explode. There was a hail of gunfire afterward. There are some reports of possibly a second explosion along with the gunfire, having a difficult time coming up with a casualty count right now.

We had earlier reported one, but right now it's just too early to sort all this out. Witnesses say, though, that explosion was just a tremendous explosion that lit up the night sky there. It's a little after 10:00 p.m. local time when it happened. They are about eight hours ahead of the Eastern time. There it's a little after 11:20 p.m. in Baghdad right now. As you can see obviously, emergency response to it was rapid.

Police -- there was some reports on the wire that police were looking for another vehicle, a BMW, specifically, that may or may not have had a link to it. There was some concern as well that there might have been another tanker that might have been a suspicious tanker, so that would lead one to believe, perhaps, there might have been some terrorist motives behind there. But nevertheless way too early to draw any conclusions on that for now. For now all we can say is a rather large explosion in a part of Baghdad that is a well to do neighborhood that has a lot of people there with links to the United States. We are watching that very closely for you. We're going to take a break. Back with more LIVE FROM in just a moment.

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UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER: ... send a Merry Christmas to my family, Kathy Slater (ph) of the 240th, my father, my stepmother and little brother, my girlfriend Carrie Sangstrom (ph) and her family of Prospect Harbor and just all the families of the 133rd.

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O'BRIEN: All right. We got a little eggnog here in our new LIVE FROM mugs here.

PHILLIPS: This is our Christmas gift John King from Miles O'Brien. This is our own form of promotion.

O'BRIEN: Hard to see on the camera. That's us in there.

PHILLIPS: Very dashing picture. O'BRIEN: It's kind of a do it yourself. I know we're out of time but I just want folks to -- that's what I got Kyra for Christmas, a picture of us on the mug.

PHILLIPS: I love you, Miles.

O'BRIEN: And John, if you are good to us in '05, we'll get you one too.

JOHN KING: Do I get an employee discount or should I just wait for them to be on eBay..

O'BRIEN: I'm going to give you one but it's going to be of us. It's not of you. It's of us.

KING: No, I want that one. I want that one.

O'BRIEN: We can hook you up. Listen, have a great Christmas, John, take it away with INSIDE POLITICS, all right.

KING: Merry Christmas to you both. Thank you much.

Secretary Rumsfeld goes on a surprise trip to deliver holiday greetings to the troops in Iraq, but will that visit (INAUDIBLE) criticism that the secretary isn't doing enough to protect those troops in the war zone. We'll ask former NATO supreme commander Wesley Clark (ph).

And what do you get a politician for Christmas? Who else but Bill Schneider tells us about Santa's solution for some people who perhaps are the hardest to buy for. INSIDE POLITICS begins in just a moment.

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