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CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown

War in Iraq: Frontline News, Arab Views

Aired March 28, 2003 - 01:00   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.


AARON BROWN, CNN HOST: Michael Wilson, who is embedded with the New York -- well, he's not embedded with the "New York Times," he works for the "New York Times." And he's embedded with the 1st Battalion 10th Marines, as you can see, 2nd Marine Division. He joins us on the telephone. Michael, tell me what your story is at this moment.
MICHAEL WILSON, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": Well, we have been outside the city of Nasiriya since Sunday morning when the fighting there began, along with the artillery unit. We are a couple of miles south of the city. We had a terrible night the night before last. There was something of a surprised attack launched by Iraqis, disorganized troops that gathered around a railroad depot south of the city and sort of fanned out.

A lot of the artillery units were taking small arms fire, which they're not used to. Generally, artillery is off to the side and firing their howitzers into the battle. So, yesterday was spent sort of digging in trenches and fight holes, that will, you know, protect a man in the event of a battle. But last night turned out to be quiet, largely officers here say because they spent yesterday's daylight hours shelling Iraqi artillery units they had found.

So the fight that they expected last night didn't come. So, here is another day and we are wondering what's going to happen. Meanwhile, there is some troop - slight troop changes. There was a tragedy Sunday, the forward observer, it's a key job in an artillery unit. That is the marine who is actually on the ground in the battle, with a radio, calling in the coordinates f the shots for the artillery, and then reporting back like what did they hit.

And, if not, how much they have to adjust. The 110 lost their forward observe, one of three that they had there on Sunday. And he's being replaced today by a Lieutenant Matt Nealy (ph), a well-liked, well-known officer here in the headquarters area who was a forward observer back in his training days, and who now is going to do the real thing. He's standing next to me now, and I thought I would put him on quickly. This is Matt Nealy.

BROWN: Matt, we appreciate you taking a moment.

LIEUTENANT MATT NEALY, 1ST BATTALION, 2nd MARINES: Hello.

BROWN: Hi, are you able to hear us?

NEALY: Yes.

BROWN: Just give me the lay of the land. When you get up to the forward observation point, what is out there, do you know?

NEALY: Right now, I have no idea. It is going to actually take some time for me to get on that deck and survey the situation to see exactly what is going on up there, north of the city.

BROWN: And how long will it take you to get to where you need to be?

NEALY: Hopefully no longer than half an hour, hopefully, it will be shorter than that. We should be picking up speed when we actually go through the city.

BROWN: And you are driven up to this point, is that ...

NEALY: There is going to be a convoy with hardened vehicles that I am going to ride up there with. I don't know the number of vehicles at this point. But I know that we like to go in numbers for safety, and I know that I will be dropped off there.

BROWN: Lieutenant, at some point, are you essentially left up there alone?

NEALY: Negative. I will be up there with an infantry unit from the 1st Battalion, 2nd marine. I will be with one of those companies. At this point, I do not know which company it is that I am going to be assigned to. But half of my team is up there. And I will meet up with them up there.

BROWN: And Lieutenant, has it gone the way you thought it would go to this point?

NEALY: I don't really know if I can answer on that. It is really hard to see from where we are how it is going. I would probably have a better idea of that once I get up north.

BROWN: Well, I guess, just your own experience to this point, a week and a half. Has it been the way you thought it would be? Is the training consistently paying off?

NEALY: I will tell you that way the marine corps trains this marines as well as myself has benefited us in ways we cannot count. Right now, each marine is performing his task honorably, and doing very well. And the training is absolutely consistent with what we are encountering.

BROWN: Lieutenant, where are you from, if you don't mind me asking?

NEALY: Hampton, Virginia.

BROWN: Take care of yourself up there.

NEALY: Okay. BROWN: Thank you, sir, very much. Lieutenant Matt Nealy who now will become a forward observer for the unit that Michael Wilson is embedded with. Michael, do you have the phone back? Did we lose Michael?

WILSON: Yeah, I am back on.

BROWN: There you are.

WILSON: I am back on.

BROWN: Just thank you for that. A couple of quick things. Have they taken many prisoners? Have you seen prisoners taken in your time now in the last week?

WILSON: I have seen sort of detainees. There has been a sort of a minor exodus from Nasiriya. And you can see people walking or driving on this road south, out of town.

And, in doing so, they are passing by some of the marine camps. And any what they call military-aged male, as far as I can tell is anyone between diapers and extreme old age is sort of put in a barbed wire pen, and questioned and kept for a while, until it is decided whether or not has any military connections and then released. There are real POWs. I haven't sent hem, but we've heard reports that there was actually a general and an army captain who were captured just yesterday outside of Nasiriya.

BROWN: But you can't confirm that?

WILSON: Well, it has been confirmed to me. I spoke to the officers who captured them.

BROWN: Do you know anything about that general and how he became to be a prisoner of war?

WILSON: I don't. I don't. There was some fighting yesterday, and they found them. There has been a lot of intelligence gathered in the course of this week. They found all kinds of maps, and graphics, and addresses of various headquarters. And all that has prompted a lot of kicking in doors and raids, I think, on the part of the marines.

BROWN: Literally, we have not yet seen much of this area. Is it still the sandy desert, the first 100 miles into Iraq looks like?

WILSON: You know, it is remarkable. Where we are sitting is the sandy, hard clay. We took a hard rain the other night. And it is still matted down a lot of the sand. But I drove up yesterday just the tip, the southern edge of Nasiriya. I was right at the foot of the bridge over the Euphrates River. And the change in topography, in a mile or two is remarkable. Suddenly, it is all palm trees and grass. I guess because, you know, being right there on the Euphrates River. You wouldn't think you were in the same country. It was amazing. BROWN: And just one or two final ones. Has it been days of tension, or is it hours of boredom and moments of tension? What is it like?

WILSON: Yes, it's like that. It's a lot of peeks and valleys. The day time can be sort of dull. The fighting seems to be going on more at night. A lot of the artillery is firing at night, and what not. During the day, guys sort of take care of themselves. They sort of, you know, try to clean themselves up, wash up. Like I said, yesterday was like digging holes day, just a lot of kind of maintenance around the camp. But as the sun fall, you want everything done, because there is no sort of extraneous light allowed in these security conditions.

Everyone walks around with a tiny flashlight with a red lese over it that you can - it doesn't really light anything too well. Now, if you can see the way in the dark with the thing. You've got to keep really quiet and all that. But any sort of errands to be done are done during the day. And at night, everyone is kind of waiting to see what is going to happen. Like I said, the night before last, it was a very stressful night. Every spare marine was laying on the berm at the perimeter of this camp with an F-16 in his hand and night vision goggles on looking for possible intruders. Last night, it was quiet.

BROWN: Michael, I asked the lieutenant this, I don't generally ask reporters this but has it been - has the experience been the way you thought it would be?

WILSON: Oh, gosh, I didn't know what to think when I came here.

BROWN: What do you normally cover for the "Times"?

WILSON: When I am embedded with the "Times"?

BROWN: Yeah.

WILSON: I am a metro reporter. When I left, I was a general assignment reporter in the city. I just went out and wrote a few times a week on just whatever is going on. A building would collapse in Brooklyn, or there would be some kind of crime. So, this is definitely a change of pace. I have never had an assignment like this before.

BROWN: Well, Michael, good luck to you. Thank you. I hope you will call us back in the days ahead, and your unit and you, too, stay safe and well. Thank you.

WILSON: Thank you.

BROWN: Michael Wilson of the "New York Times." I sometimes can't resist asking those sorts of questions, either. We all had expectations, General, of what we all, from our various perspectives, General Clark, had expectations of what this would be like to report on this. Our embeds, I can't imagine that any of us thought it would look quite the way it looked. And as my producer David Borman said to me a bit ago, five days ago, six days ago, we thought a truck or a tank roaring through the desert was the most remarkable thing we'd ever seen. And today we look at it and go, can't they focus it a little clearer than that?

RETIRED GEN. WESLEY CLARK, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, we have seen a lot. Everything from those first shot of humvees and Bradleys roaring across the desert, to now, the fighting and the use of Basra. We are getting a very good feel of the separate instruments that are making up this theater of war.

BROWN: At some point, we will understand the implications, I think there are a lot of them, of the intense media coverage, whether it is, in fact, compressed time and all the rest. But for now, it is just something to behold, that war, this activity, can be reported in the way it has. We will take a break, and our coverage will continue in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: We were talking about the embed process a moment ago. We have asked our embeds, on top of everything else they have being doing, we have asked them to help us create a journal, if you will, of the moments of their days and their nights, which Michael mentioned a moment ago can be dramatically different. We have been trying to give a broad sense of what their lives have been like out there. Tonight, we take a look at Gary Tuchman's journey over the last week or so.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I was informed by our international desk at CNN, that they would like me to be an embed with the United States Air Force. And they asked me if I was interested. I said I was interested. But I didn't know what to expect, because I had never done this before. The news media hasn't been embedded with troops.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TUCHMAN: We come to you from an air base in the desert in the Persian Gulf region. We can't tell you specifically where we are. We can't tell you even what country we are in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TUCHMAN: A lot of people say to me, how can do you a fair job of covering this when you leave with these people, when you work with these people. But we don't hesitate to call a spade a spade. If we see bad news, we report it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TUCHMAN: There was one tragic accident, though, involving a British Tornado. It was accidentally shot down by a Patriot missile launcher.

(END VIDEO CLIP) TUCHMAN: One of the things we think about a lot, is that as air force embeds, we are living on an air force base near the Iraqi border. And we've had at least 15 sirens signify an Iraqi missile alert. And you get the feeling, when you are staying in an air base that sometimes you feel like you are a sitting duck.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TUCHMAN: It is Gary Tuchman. Hey, Vicky, I am in a bunker with soldiers right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've got all clear from the ICC.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All clear.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All clear.

TUCHMAN: We are just inside the lounge where pilots go before they fly to get their intelligence reports.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TUCHMAN: If they sit down, if they rest, if they watch TV, if they read, if they get nervous, if they get excited, as they get ready to go. And we are sitting there talking to them, and they get the word to go, and they scramble out the door and they go.

And then we are literally with them as they get off the plane. We talk to them minutes after they get off the plane about their mission,, what they did, what they bombed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TUCHMAN: Where did you go and what did you do?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We went up into northern Iraq in support of some of the army forces. And they we were calling us in with our JDAM series targets, our GPS-guided weapons. You put the bombs on a road intersection, which was right in the middle of an engagement they were having with the enemy. And they said that the bombs we put into that place actually ended up ending the conflict there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TUCHMAN: You can see inside, we have cots, beds, sleeping bags. We haven't really established a cleaning regiment for this tent yet. It would not win any good housekeeping awards.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TUCHMAN: The air force is a very proud service. Those air force planes have taken out many of the preplanned targets. And now it can concentrate on emerging targets.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TUCHMAN: And they want to serve their country, and they want to serve their ground troops. They know that they need to protect the ground troops for the ground troops to do well. So, it is paying them to watch television coverage after their flights, especially paying them to see the two army Apache helicopter pilots being taken prisoner. And we talked to them. They said they were angry. They said they were mad. They said they were frustrated. But they also said it would only make them do their jobs even better. And if they forget about it when they get in the cockpit, because they have a job to do over the nation of Iraq.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Gary Tuchman's experience.

Last night, we showed you the journal of Dr. Sanjay Gupta who was just -- who was headed, as I recall, to the USS Comfort. I'm not sure if he has gotten there yet, but the doctor joins us now. And it is good to talk to you. I was thinking the other day, we will get serious in a moment. Your parents sent all that money to teach you to be a neurosurgeon, and they heard the ends (ph) showered (ph) in seven days. You were out in the jungle being a reporter. You have done some wonderful work. It has been a great experienc for you hasn't it?

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, it very much has. And no one was more surprised about how this all turned out than me, no question. We certainly set out to do very definitive medical stories. But found ourselves, and it sounds like a lot of the other reporters I've been hearing found ourselves in situations we just never would have imagined. And we just sort of reported what we saw, Aaron.

BROWN: The object when we sent you over there was you would take a look at whatever medical issues might come up, if there was chemical warfare and the like. But you found yourself very early on putting on chemical suits and ducking for cover, and all the rest. But you also reported on this group, the devil docs. And for people who don't know who weren't with us, just quickly describe who they are, what they do.

GUPTA: Yeah, basically, that is a colloquial name for a bunch of navy doctors, a lot of them being reservists, who come and support the marines. The marines don't have their own medical corps that is dedicated to them. So they come and support the marines. What the devil doctors are specifically doing is setting up something called forward resuscitative surgical system. This is brand new. This is novel, a simple but brilliant concept. They have found in the past that it was very difficult to get the injured from the front lines to definitive care stations, such as MASH, everyone thinks of MASH, in a short enough time to be very effective. So, instead of taking the injured back to the back lines, the definitive care. They decided to bring the definitive care forward. And, thus, this concept was born and appears to be working very effectively.

BROWN: Because time is critical?

GUPTA: Absolutely. They talk about something called the golden hour. And that is more than just a nickname. If you can get someone who has had a significant injury, gunshot wound, near amputation of a limb, something like that, if you can get them care within an hour, statistics will shows that their likelihood, I should say, for survival dramatically improves. And so that is sort of the number by which everyone lives, one hour.

BROWN: When you are not a reporter, you are a neurosurgeon. I am curious, you've looked at these terrible injuries of war over the last week now or so. Has it changed the way you view war or anything else?

GUPTA: Well, you know, I tell you, I didn't have any idea what to expect when I sort of decided to come out to Kuwait and Iraq. I think it definitely has changed a lot of what I think is possible with an operating room. I think we get so used to all the vast resources that we have in urban and suburban settings back in the states for me, in terms of resources to perform operations. These guys are performing operations in the middle of the desert. They are doing it with what they have.

And I visited them back in February, sort of just to check it as a set up piece, and the thought was this really is going to come together. Do they have the compressed oxygen? Do they have enough general anesthesia? How are they going to warm the blood in time? I mean, there are so many different factors, Aaron, into making this work. But they've showed me what is possible. What can be done. And like I said, they are very successful at it. I saw 10 operations over just a few days spending time with the devil docs, and all of those patients are going to survive. They are headed back to U.S.S. Comfort. And I think they are going to do well.

BROWN: And just, the first time I recall talking to you in this was Sunday. It was this strange, ironic moment, where there were American POWs being held, somewhere in Iraq. And at the same time, you were reporting on surgery being done on an Iraqi prisoner, on your side of the line.

GUPTA: Yeah, you know, it was a really very poignant moment. In fact, the marines, including the devil docs, with whom I was sitting, had just received the news that now only had 12 U.S. soldiers been captured, but that four had been executed. And it was right around that time that this patient came in via helicopter. Now, no one knew if this patient at the time was actually Iraqi or coalition force member. And the patient came in, and they quickly did all the things that they would do for anybody. Everything was moving fast. They got the patient in the operating room very quickly, performed the operation.

But there was sort of this undercurrent of, geez, this is war. And one of the guys in a moment of emotion said, you know, we are operating on their guys at the same time they are killing ours. And that was a really poignant moment. The lead surgeon, I actually asked him about that. I think it was on your show, just a few minutes after he finished the operation. And he, without hesitation, looked at me and said, you know, Sanjay, it is about medical triage not political triage, that's why we're here. And I think that pretty much summed it up.

BROWN: Well, doc, you've had a hot meal, a shower and shave, are you going back out there?

GUPTA: I am going to. I think there are still stories to be told. We would like to get back to U.S.S. Comfort for a day or two to basically follow some of the marines show we saw had their operations on the front line. We want to hear about the entire medical process that they went through. We also want to hear their stories of what they saw. And we are going to head back maybe north and hook back up with the devil docs. And they're ready for anything. And we want to see what that anything turns out to be.

BROWN: I don't want to embarrass you but I do want you to know that all of your colleagues are proud of you. They think you have done great. Nicely done.

GUPTA: Thank you very much, Aaron.

BROWN: Thank you very much. Dr. Sanjay Gupta has performed admirably out there. We will take a break. Our coverage continues in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: It's a question that has no answer or at least no single answer, the quest of what is war? A few answer tonight with Bruce Morton with the help of some of the skilled photographers working tonight in Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRUCE MORTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): War is moments. An American military vehicle misfires and explodes. Guns firing during an attack by British commandos in the south.

War is waiting. This Scotts Brigadoon Guardsman has rigged a rain shelter, and is actually reading a book.

War is weather. Add up sands, Sandstorms and rain, and you've got mud. Big time.

War is civilians, Kurdish women in northern Iraq make bread. Their men expect to fight soon.

War is kids, looking through a soldiers binoculars is fun. Soldiers offer food and candy. But what is his future, alone as the warriors rumble around him? Or this baby, younger than the war, found sleeping in a cardboard fruit box, 500 yards from a British encampment. Or these children sweeping a street in a Baghdad suburb, whose troubles may have just begun.

War is casualties, sometimes make believe as with this wounded poster of Saddam Hussein. Sometimes real, a U.S. marine carrying a wounded Iraqi, a U.S. marine carrying injured corporate Barry Lag (ph) from Oregon. An Iraqi prisoner getting help from navy core man. A wounded marine getting help.

War is worry. Four-year-old Elizabeth Heathmans's (ph) father is with the 3rd division outside Baghdad.

And sometimes war is just amazing luck. Royal Marine commando Eric Walderman's Kevlar helmet -- Kevlar replaced the old steel pot in the 1970s -- took four rounds during a firefight, and he wasn't hurt. Let's hope they let him keep his dented hat. He will be telling that story for the next 50 years.

Bruce Morton, CNN reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: With all the emphasis on the gee-wheez technology of being able to bring these things from the war to your TV set, we also feel like we rediscovered still photography, and the power of it over the last week or so. We will take a break, update the headlines. Our coverage continues in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWS ALERT)

BROWN: All right. Daryn, grab your -- grab that other English language paper and show us what the headline is and...

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: OK, real quickly.

BROWN: ... because we promised.

KAGAN: Yes, we did promise this. Quickly, I think the story of this one is about, not to the headline, "Siege in days, no surrender," but rather the pictures. This is a line of Iraqi citizens fleeing Basra, excuse me, trying to get away from the air raid. Also, very hungry and sick people in Basra.

This picture down here, these are the paratroopers that are at that Harir Air Field in northern Iraq. And this is picture -- a far away picture of Baghdad showing the oil fields. And one interesting article for us here in Kuwait, Patriot downs clean missile.

Aaron, about an hour or so after you left the air yesterday, while I was still on the air, sirens went off and we had to evacuate. And I heard a couple of loud booms. Turns out it was the Kuwaiti Air Force firing off two Patriot missiles to shoot down yet another Iraqi missile. So even as this military...

BROWN: Yes.

KAGAN: ... exercise moves north, we're still under threat here in Kuwait City.

BROWN: Still, Daryn, thank you. Stay safe, and we'll talk to you tomorrow.

Daryn has much more work to do tonight.

The "Washington Post" that -- I'm sorry, the "Washington Post" is reporting a bit of detail now in the battle of Nasiriya. Just a quote out of, it's much nastier than I think -- then anyone imagined it was going to be. Gunnery Sergeant Tracy Hale (ph) of Philadelphia, "Nasiriya was supposed to be a six-hour fight. It's already been five days of nonstop 24-hour fighting." Reporter Peter Baker for "The Post" writes, "From the perspective of commanders directing the war, it has proved to be a success. From the perspective of the Marines fighting the war, however, it has proved to be a nightmare. There are many wounded there and we wait the details on that."

Martin Savidge is with a Marine unit. We talked to him I guess about an hour or so ago, maybe a little longer. They're making their way through the desert to deal with some of these small pockets of Saddam loyalists, not regular army loyalists, but others.

Marty, you able to hear us?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I can, Aaron, yes.

They're dealing -- hoping to deal with the Fedayeen, is the term that they refer to these paramilitary units. There was some speculation on the part of military commanders that we've talked to here, Marine commanders, that some of these units are being bolstered by regular army units.

In the initial opening stages of the ground war, a lot of the army units that were in southern Iraq simply folded and walked away. They left their equipment behind, put on civilian clothing and went home. And you could see a lot of men dressed in civilian clothing walking along the side of the highway. But of course the emphasis at that time was to push forward, not to try to determine who these people were.

It's now believed that some of the Fedayeen commanders have rounded these men up, either willingly or some of them perhaps not so willingly, and telling them look, you still have to do something to raise opposition against this invasion force. And that they have organized them into sort of guerrilla units and now attacking the supply line convoys, which, of course, are the lifeblood for the military moving north.

BROWN: Well listen (ph), excuse me, some "New York Times" reporting yesterday that there were --actually, they saw some Iraqi soldiers who appeared to have been shot by their own people for refusing to fight, or at least that's the story. That was "The Times" reporting on the story. And you seem to be hearing similar sorts of things without perhaps the end result being quite the same.

SAVIDGE: It's true. You know they obviously believe that this guerrilla force is something that is organizing as the military campaign on the part of the coalition pushes forward. That this was a tactic that was seized upon, perhaps not in the first days, but quickly thereafter it was realized that the supply line is perhaps one of the most vulnerable areas for this military campaign and strike at that. And perhaps you can deal a fairly severe blow to those that are at the very front of.

Obviously the coalition forces don't see it that way. They simply refer to this as harassment. They say it's a problem they can deal with easily. Perhaps they hadn't thought about needing to arm convoys or have force protection with them in the early stages, but they've adapted to it quickly. And they always say the plan is the first casualty of any time there are shots, but you simply readjust the plan.

And right now overhead more helicopters flying. We noticed just a short while ago, before we came to you, that they were the Cobra attack helicopters. These are the Marines' version of the Apaches, with their anti-tank weaponry. And you just might be able to see them coming into the shots as they fly parallel with this convoy here. Are they flying in support of it? Probably not. Their job, much like the patrols, run up and down the supply line route and try to spot any problems that may lie ahead.

BROWN: And again, I think you began your report, Marty, by saying you've seen some evidence of Iraqis who had abandoned their position, but I gather not a lot of that?

SAVIDGE: No, I mean we saw them in groups of dozens or so. There wasn't like some long trail of humanity traipsing along the side of the highway. It was unusual in -- from the perspective that we had not seen anyone and then came across these groups of men that seemed to be out in the middle of nowhere, dressed rather casually, walking down the side of the roadway. It was -- it was an unusual sight. I guess now when they've started to put two and two together, they realized that perhaps what they were seeing were elements of an army that was walking away from a fight.

BROWN: Yes.

SAVIDGE: Only now to, apparently, perhaps be reorganized and redirected.

BROWN: Marty, thank you. Martin Savidge with the Marines 1st Battalion 7th Marines.

And Anderson and Carol I guess will continue to check in with him throughout the morning. So you want to stay with us for that.

Christiane Amanpour is on the phone. She has been talking to British military officials, I believe.

Christiane, good morning.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Aaron.

And indeed we are again at the divisional headquarters in southern Iraq. And we are being told again this sort of broad picture of the southern Iraq area, which, as you know, the British are responsible for. They remain in two battle positions, if you like, the main effort being the sort of heavy metal, hard military fighting to try to neutralize the Iraqi regimes, both military and political resistance, in the big sort of civilian urban area of Basra -- that is a main focus of operation -- and some of the outlying towns there as well, trying to put in place efforts to -- quote -- "win hearts and minds." They're trying to get the civilian population on side.

Now what they're doing to that end is trying to put humanitarian aid in, but that is a slightly slow process because there isn't the infrastructure yet to do that on any significant scale. And so far, the big humanitarian aid ship, which has been promised for several days now, again, we're being told it's coming in to the port of Umm Qasr today and they want to then put it out into the civilian population. And this isn't just, they say, to provide the kind of food and water that people tell us they need, but it's also to try to psychologically win over the population.

I think what people here, in terms of the military, are still not clear on is how much of the irregulars, what they call the irregulars, the Saddam Fedayeen, the Baath Party political militias, how much those limited numbers of people are controlling the resistance inside the big population centers such a Basra. We know and we've been told that Iraqi army has gone back inside Basra. And we've been telling you this for the last week or so.

But the question on the military's mind is why haven't the people inside risen up and castoff the shackles of their oppression, as the military here would term it? Perhaps I'm giving more colorful wording to it, but that's what they want to see. And they don't yet have a full picture of why that isn't happening.

So this is an ongoing effort in this region. Military engagements continue, but the -- but the big picture is that which we've just told you -- Aaron.

BROWN: I've just -- Christiane, out of the Pentagon briefing, the suggestion was basically they're afraid, they don't yet believe the Americans and the British are coming or there to stay or going to prevail and so they're not ready to commit by uprising or a rising up.

AMANPOUR: Well that is the assumption. And that is we've had a little bit of anecdotal evidence to suggest that from certain numbers who are filtering out of Basra towards the south. So that's why the humanitarian effort.

I mean I -- you know they can't get into Basra yet with humanitarian aid. They do control parts of the west, or at least they have access to parts -- the outskirts of western Basra. So I think that certainly I heard from one Army captain over here, and not the higher ranks, that they are perhaps going to try to take aid in as far as they can, hope that word of mouth passes in. You know try to show the population that they are here to stay, they won't -- quote -- "let them down again" as they did in 1991 and to try to instill confidence.

And to that end, they're also going out now, not just in the heavy armor but also on foot, dismounted, doing vehicle checks, meeting the population, doing patrolling in certain areas, trying to do what the British have done so often during their past history in their historical military campaigns even up into Northern Ireland, try to impose some kind of confidence and to show that they are in control, they own the area, and that the people should have confidence in them. But this is taking longer than they expected.

I think that's the underlying and prevailing theme that we keep hearing is longer than expected, longer than expected, stiffer resistance than expected. And of this is going slightly -- taking slightly longer and is slightly more difficult than they had been led to believe was possible -- Aaron.

BROWN: Christiane, thank you very much. Christiane Amanpour been talking to British military officials, just another factor to the battle for Nasiriya.

Out of Camp Lejeune, 12 Marines were listed as missing amid fighting around that southern town. We don't yet have a good number on the number wounded, but this is -- obviously, it's been a major battle and presumably there are embedded reporters in the area and presumably, also, they are not yet able to file with much detail. And we just wait for them to safely be able to do that.

We'll take a break. Our coverage continues in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: CNN's Rym Brahimi has been watching a lot of TV lately since she was expelled from Baghdad with our group. She's been keeping an eye on the coverage being offered on Iraqi state TV. It's hit and miss at times due to the airstrikes, bit unpredictable in its point of view, it turns out. That said, this is what most Iraqis are watching, if they have TVs.

Rym filing from Jordan tonight.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's 8:00 p.m. in Baghdad. To hear the Iraqi side of the story, tune in to Iraqi TV or the Iraqi satellite channel. Since the beginning of the U.S.-led bombings last week, the newsreaders have taken to wearing their Baath Party uniforms rather than a suit and tie. The background also has changed. Most of the time the backdrop is Baghdad's Arch of Victory. And at the top right corner of the screen, the words, the decisive battle.

Senior officials are prominently featured, though not President Saddam Hussein in the past two days. Injured Iraqis interviewed in a hospital are asked the inevitable questions. They give predictable replies.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We are ready to die for the president.

BRAHIMI: And on day eight of the war, a special report, introduced as a tour of Baghdad, to show viewers the strong soul of ordinary Iraqis. But it hasn't always been possible to present a business-as-usual image. On Monday, the satellite feed was interrupted when a U.S. missile targeted the TV building. After a couple of hours, it was back on air, no immediate mention of the attack.

Throughout Iraq, reporters from Iraqi TV have no problems in finding Saddam Hussein loyalists, brandishing weapons and shouting well-rehearsed chants for the cameras in support of their leader. Significantly, in the southern town of Najaf, dominated by the Shiite majority, women are shown preparing what the newscaster says is food for the fighters.

Worldwide anti-war demonstrations, no matter how old, have become part of the daily programming, followed by messages in Arabic, addressed to viewers since before the war began, the entire world, they say, is against the aggressor.

Iraqi TV remains a valuable tool for the regime to show it's still in charge and has so far defied attempts to force it off air.

Rym Brahimi, CNN, Amman, Jordan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Well not so much in Iraq, but across the Arab world, Arab television viewers are getting a -- getting multiple views of how this war is playing out. Among them, they are watching, if they have access to it, Al Arabiya, which is a rival now to Al Jazeera.

And we're joined by Salah Negm who's the news director there.

It's good to have you. First of all, the last time -- the last thing I saw, you had three journalists who were missing. Have you had any contact with them recently?

SALAH NEGM, NEWS DIRECTOR, AL ARABIYA: Unfortunately, we don't have any contact with them until now. But we are contacting a lot of -- a lot of people, government organizations and friends in the region to trace them and get any news about them. We are still hopeful that they are safe and will return back anytime, hopefully.

BROWN: Are you able to see any American coverage of the war? And if you are, how does it differ from the coverage that your news agency provides?

NEGM: Well I watch a lot of American coverage, of course. We watch the American networks here. The difference is we are in the middle of the region and the region is affected by this war and to have consequences (ph) that everybody in the region want to know and want to see through. And the way you have coverage is -- I heard your report before about the Iraqi television, you hear the Iraqi side of the story from the Iraqi television. We hear both sides of the story, the Iraqi side and the American side, and we try to give our viewers, the Arab viewers, the real balanced story from both sides. BROWN: And what is that balanced story? I mean how do you perceive the American side? What do you see as American propaganda in this?

NEGM: I wouldn't say American propaganda and I wouldn't say Iraqi propaganda. Every story and every conflict has two points of views and it's the right of the Arab viewer to know these points of views and for our reporters to interest (ph) to get the real story behind it.

For example, at the beginning, you heard in a little briefings, American briefings, that the allied troops took over Nasiriya, or took over Umm Qasr. And then after one or two days, you find out that the control is not actually complete and you get the Iraqi side of the story which is saying that they are still resisting and there are forces there.

The mission of our reporters, some of them are missing as you -- as you mentioned, is to verify the story. Go and see who is in control, really, and convey us -- it to the Arab viewers, plus to convey the human story behind everything. It's not only that these troops are advancing or those are advancing, it is what about the population and the people whom the -- their futures and lives will be affected according to what is happening on the ground.

BROWN: Sir, it's nice to talk to you. We wish you great success in finding your three reporters who you've lost contact with. This is dangerous work, as you're finding out, and we thank you for your time.

A view of how Arab TV perceives all of this.

We have a couple of other things to take care of before the top of the hour, including some time with General Clark. We'll take a break first. Our coverage continues in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Correspondent at the Pentagon is working feverishly on something. We hope to have it before the top of the hour.

General Clark, let me bring you in. We've talked a lot about Nasiriya. We have seen very little reporting, television reporting out of there, but the -- all the reporting we are seeing now is this is a big-time fight.

CLARK: It seems like it really is. It's a very confused, long- running gun battle, Aaron. Forces are trying to move through the area. A marine element is there. They're trying to win the fight without going into every house and occupying the entire town. This involves units that are south of the town, firing artillery into enemy positions that are in the town and north of the town. A hospital has been taken. Convoys have been ambushed. Soft-skin vehicles, trucks and Humvees have been destroyed. Some armored vehicles have been hit. Some reports put the number of wounded at 60 or more. It's a -- it's a confusing, swirling, continuing battle. And someone has to grip it and resolve it. BROWN: "The Post's" headline on this story, "a turkey shoot," but with the Marines as the targets. They obviously -- that comes from a quote. I'm looking for it now, a quote from one of the Marines -- a Marine reservist who's in that fight. Obviously, yet again, another example of something that was far tougher, well, let me -- I don't want to assume that. Let me ask it as a question. Do we assume here that this is far tougher than they imagined?

CLARK: I think it is. I mean I -- that's what Scott Wallace, the 5th Corps Commander is quoted in saying the newspaper today. He said he didn't expect to fight this kind of a force, this kind of reporting from the -- on the scene and Nasiriya substantiates it, in my view. It's nothing that can't be handled; it just has to be handled. Someone has to focus on it as a task and work systematically to reduce the problem than trying to just let convoys pass through, shoot them up and keep on driving, take your loss, let the next guy worry about what happens.

BROWN: The -- just one more quote out of "The Post" reporting the chief of staff to the general in the air -- Lieutenant General James T. Conway (ph) in the area, the Marine Commander in the region, "It's the Wild West there," Colonel Coleman (ph) said. "We want to control it, but it's not a very safe place." I think understating the situation. In the scheme of things, obviously -- where does it fit in the scheme of things? Give me a big picture of where this fits.

CLARK: Big picture is this is the friction on the battlefield.

BROWN: OK.

CLARK: It's not going to change the course of the campaign, unless it gets a whole lot worse than this. It's friction.

BROWN: It tells us something about the Iraqi willingness to fight and ability to fight and strategy, though, doesn't it?

CLARK: It does. I mean it's a very clear indicator that they're going to fight from the urban areas, and the roads that run through the urban areas where there's cover and concealment from which the Iraqis can sally port (ph) and shoot and go back in and population to hide among. That's where the battle is going to be.

BROWN: Well I expect we're going to see -- I expect, and I've said this before and been wrong, maybe again, that we're going to see a lot of reporting now on this over the next day that there most likely are embedded reporters, television reporters in the area, but they can't necessarily -- they cannot always file. They can only file when the company commander believes it is safe for them to file, when it doesn't compromise operational -- any operational plans. And so it is very likely that they -- it is very likely that they're unable to file. But at some point soon, I would expect, we'll get a look at what has been going on there for several days now.

CLARK: It has. And if this -- if I remember this report from the correct -- from "The Post" correctly, Aaron, it was actually reporting on a battle that occurred two days ago. So -- and what we know is this battle still going on.

BROWN: General, thank you. Miss you, though, here in Atlanta. We...

CLARK: Be back tomorrow night.

BROWN: Thank you, sir. I'll be here, too.

CLARK: Great.

BROWN: Chris Plante, at the Pentagon, you've got some reporting that you've been working pretty hard on.

CHRIS PLANTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Aaron.

Yes, we're learning here that as a result of the weather clearing up, the sandstorms going away, the U.S. has been able to update their reconnaissance as to the whereabouts of the various Republican Guard divisions around Baghdad, the Hammurabi division to the north, the Medina division to the south and the Baghdad divisions to the south and east of Baghdad near Al Kut. And as this intelligence is being updated, we can expect, over the next several days, to see very much intensified airstrikes against these tanks, against the armored units, their headquarters, housing.

We're going to see, in all probability, the 101st airborne coming into play. They've been a little bit out of it, maneuvering for position. The 101st Airborne, with a significant number of Apache attack helicopters, and tank plinking, is what they call it, is about to commence on all of these divisions in an effort to weaken them up around the city. And it's expected to be a real -- a real show -- Aaron.

BROWN: Chris, thank you. Thank you for getting that in before the top of the hour.

A lot of things seem to be happening behind us. We're getting a lot of reporting. A lot of our embeds now are checking in. So Carol and Anderson will have all of that after the top of the hour.

We leave you with some of the images of the day, and we'll see you tomorrow evening. Good night.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was very exciting, kind of scared at the same time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was pitch black, I couldn't see anything. But the helicopter landed right next to it. And as soon I hit and I look over and there's a helicopter right next to me, and I was just like wow, I lucked out there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is a country that we're at war with. But since we've jumped in Kurdish-controlled area, we felt a little bit better that we wouldn't be shot at as we are descending from the sky.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're on the ground. How are the men feeling? What do they like to see happening here as the hours develop this day?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are digging in positions right now to -- just to set up a perimeter at first and then we just take everything day by day as a situation develops.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got a report that we had some infiltrations down to our south in a -- in a white SUV with all the indications of being the same modes operandi (ph) of other paramilitaries that were working in the area. So we took them under apprehension and treated them as enemy prisoners of war.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're really limited on resources and assets. We're doing the best we can for them. We're working on getting them blankets, food and water, and some shelter to get them out of the wind and the elements.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you think some of the people here are scared of you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Probably not scared, but maybe intimidated, slightly intimidated. I mean wouldn't anybody if -- we would be fleeced ourselves in the streets of England.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Speak English?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And how to you account for that? How do you try to make them...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Use of language assistance. You know have a chat about -- not just chat to them about what's going on out here, but try and build a burm (ph), you know a rapport between these people.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is it working?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I hope so.

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 March 28, 2003 - 01:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
AARON BROWN, CNN HOST: Michael Wilson, who is embedded with the New York -- well, he's not embedded with the "New York Times," he works for the "New York Times." And he's embedded with the 1st Battalion 10th Marines, as you can see, 2nd Marine Division. He joins us on the telephone. Michael, tell me what your story is at this moment.
MICHAEL WILSON, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": Well, we have been outside the city of Nasiriya since Sunday morning when the fighting there began, along with the artillery unit. We are a couple of miles south of the city. We had a terrible night the night before last. There was something of a surprised attack launched by Iraqis, disorganized troops that gathered around a railroad depot south of the city and sort of fanned out.

A lot of the artillery units were taking small arms fire, which they're not used to. Generally, artillery is off to the side and firing their howitzers into the battle. So, yesterday was spent sort of digging in trenches and fight holes, that will, you know, protect a man in the event of a battle. But last night turned out to be quiet, largely officers here say because they spent yesterday's daylight hours shelling Iraqi artillery units they had found.

So the fight that they expected last night didn't come. So, here is another day and we are wondering what's going to happen. Meanwhile, there is some troop - slight troop changes. There was a tragedy Sunday, the forward observer, it's a key job in an artillery unit. That is the marine who is actually on the ground in the battle, with a radio, calling in the coordinates f the shots for the artillery, and then reporting back like what did they hit.

And, if not, how much they have to adjust. The 110 lost their forward observe, one of three that they had there on Sunday. And he's being replaced today by a Lieutenant Matt Nealy (ph), a well-liked, well-known officer here in the headquarters area who was a forward observer back in his training days, and who now is going to do the real thing. He's standing next to me now, and I thought I would put him on quickly. This is Matt Nealy.

BROWN: Matt, we appreciate you taking a moment.

LIEUTENANT MATT NEALY, 1ST BATTALION, 2nd MARINES: Hello.

BROWN: Hi, are you able to hear us?

NEALY: Yes.

BROWN: Just give me the lay of the land. When you get up to the forward observation point, what is out there, do you know?

NEALY: Right now, I have no idea. It is going to actually take some time for me to get on that deck and survey the situation to see exactly what is going on up there, north of the city.

BROWN: And how long will it take you to get to where you need to be?

NEALY: Hopefully no longer than half an hour, hopefully, it will be shorter than that. We should be picking up speed when we actually go through the city.

BROWN: And you are driven up to this point, is that ...

NEALY: There is going to be a convoy with hardened vehicles that I am going to ride up there with. I don't know the number of vehicles at this point. But I know that we like to go in numbers for safety, and I know that I will be dropped off there.

BROWN: Lieutenant, at some point, are you essentially left up there alone?

NEALY: Negative. I will be up there with an infantry unit from the 1st Battalion, 2nd marine. I will be with one of those companies. At this point, I do not know which company it is that I am going to be assigned to. But half of my team is up there. And I will meet up with them up there.

BROWN: And Lieutenant, has it gone the way you thought it would go to this point?

NEALY: I don't really know if I can answer on that. It is really hard to see from where we are how it is going. I would probably have a better idea of that once I get up north.

BROWN: Well, I guess, just your own experience to this point, a week and a half. Has it been the way you thought it would be? Is the training consistently paying off?

NEALY: I will tell you that way the marine corps trains this marines as well as myself has benefited us in ways we cannot count. Right now, each marine is performing his task honorably, and doing very well. And the training is absolutely consistent with what we are encountering.

BROWN: Lieutenant, where are you from, if you don't mind me asking?

NEALY: Hampton, Virginia.

BROWN: Take care of yourself up there.

NEALY: Okay. BROWN: Thank you, sir, very much. Lieutenant Matt Nealy who now will become a forward observer for the unit that Michael Wilson is embedded with. Michael, do you have the phone back? Did we lose Michael?

WILSON: Yeah, I am back on.

BROWN: There you are.

WILSON: I am back on.

BROWN: Just thank you for that. A couple of quick things. Have they taken many prisoners? Have you seen prisoners taken in your time now in the last week?

WILSON: I have seen sort of detainees. There has been a sort of a minor exodus from Nasiriya. And you can see people walking or driving on this road south, out of town.

And, in doing so, they are passing by some of the marine camps. And any what they call military-aged male, as far as I can tell is anyone between diapers and extreme old age is sort of put in a barbed wire pen, and questioned and kept for a while, until it is decided whether or not has any military connections and then released. There are real POWs. I haven't sent hem, but we've heard reports that there was actually a general and an army captain who were captured just yesterday outside of Nasiriya.

BROWN: But you can't confirm that?

WILSON: Well, it has been confirmed to me. I spoke to the officers who captured them.

BROWN: Do you know anything about that general and how he became to be a prisoner of war?

WILSON: I don't. I don't. There was some fighting yesterday, and they found them. There has been a lot of intelligence gathered in the course of this week. They found all kinds of maps, and graphics, and addresses of various headquarters. And all that has prompted a lot of kicking in doors and raids, I think, on the part of the marines.

BROWN: Literally, we have not yet seen much of this area. Is it still the sandy desert, the first 100 miles into Iraq looks like?

WILSON: You know, it is remarkable. Where we are sitting is the sandy, hard clay. We took a hard rain the other night. And it is still matted down a lot of the sand. But I drove up yesterday just the tip, the southern edge of Nasiriya. I was right at the foot of the bridge over the Euphrates River. And the change in topography, in a mile or two is remarkable. Suddenly, it is all palm trees and grass. I guess because, you know, being right there on the Euphrates River. You wouldn't think you were in the same country. It was amazing. BROWN: And just one or two final ones. Has it been days of tension, or is it hours of boredom and moments of tension? What is it like?

WILSON: Yes, it's like that. It's a lot of peeks and valleys. The day time can be sort of dull. The fighting seems to be going on more at night. A lot of the artillery is firing at night, and what not. During the day, guys sort of take care of themselves. They sort of, you know, try to clean themselves up, wash up. Like I said, yesterday was like digging holes day, just a lot of kind of maintenance around the camp. But as the sun fall, you want everything done, because there is no sort of extraneous light allowed in these security conditions.

Everyone walks around with a tiny flashlight with a red lese over it that you can - it doesn't really light anything too well. Now, if you can see the way in the dark with the thing. You've got to keep really quiet and all that. But any sort of errands to be done are done during the day. And at night, everyone is kind of waiting to see what is going to happen. Like I said, the night before last, it was a very stressful night. Every spare marine was laying on the berm at the perimeter of this camp with an F-16 in his hand and night vision goggles on looking for possible intruders. Last night, it was quiet.

BROWN: Michael, I asked the lieutenant this, I don't generally ask reporters this but has it been - has the experience been the way you thought it would be?

WILSON: Oh, gosh, I didn't know what to think when I came here.

BROWN: What do you normally cover for the "Times"?

WILSON: When I am embedded with the "Times"?

BROWN: Yeah.

WILSON: I am a metro reporter. When I left, I was a general assignment reporter in the city. I just went out and wrote a few times a week on just whatever is going on. A building would collapse in Brooklyn, or there would be some kind of crime. So, this is definitely a change of pace. I have never had an assignment like this before.

BROWN: Well, Michael, good luck to you. Thank you. I hope you will call us back in the days ahead, and your unit and you, too, stay safe and well. Thank you.

WILSON: Thank you.

BROWN: Michael Wilson of the "New York Times." I sometimes can't resist asking those sorts of questions, either. We all had expectations, General, of what we all, from our various perspectives, General Clark, had expectations of what this would be like to report on this. Our embeds, I can't imagine that any of us thought it would look quite the way it looked. And as my producer David Borman said to me a bit ago, five days ago, six days ago, we thought a truck or a tank roaring through the desert was the most remarkable thing we'd ever seen. And today we look at it and go, can't they focus it a little clearer than that?

RETIRED GEN. WESLEY CLARK, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, we have seen a lot. Everything from those first shot of humvees and Bradleys roaring across the desert, to now, the fighting and the use of Basra. We are getting a very good feel of the separate instruments that are making up this theater of war.

BROWN: At some point, we will understand the implications, I think there are a lot of them, of the intense media coverage, whether it is, in fact, compressed time and all the rest. But for now, it is just something to behold, that war, this activity, can be reported in the way it has. We will take a break, and our coverage will continue in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: We were talking about the embed process a moment ago. We have asked our embeds, on top of everything else they have being doing, we have asked them to help us create a journal, if you will, of the moments of their days and their nights, which Michael mentioned a moment ago can be dramatically different. We have been trying to give a broad sense of what their lives have been like out there. Tonight, we take a look at Gary Tuchman's journey over the last week or so.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I was informed by our international desk at CNN, that they would like me to be an embed with the United States Air Force. And they asked me if I was interested. I said I was interested. But I didn't know what to expect, because I had never done this before. The news media hasn't been embedded with troops.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TUCHMAN: We come to you from an air base in the desert in the Persian Gulf region. We can't tell you specifically where we are. We can't tell you even what country we are in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TUCHMAN: A lot of people say to me, how can do you a fair job of covering this when you leave with these people, when you work with these people. But we don't hesitate to call a spade a spade. If we see bad news, we report it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TUCHMAN: There was one tragic accident, though, involving a British Tornado. It was accidentally shot down by a Patriot missile launcher.

(END VIDEO CLIP) TUCHMAN: One of the things we think about a lot, is that as air force embeds, we are living on an air force base near the Iraqi border. And we've had at least 15 sirens signify an Iraqi missile alert. And you get the feeling, when you are staying in an air base that sometimes you feel like you are a sitting duck.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TUCHMAN: It is Gary Tuchman. Hey, Vicky, I am in a bunker with soldiers right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've got all clear from the ICC.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All clear.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All clear.

TUCHMAN: We are just inside the lounge where pilots go before they fly to get their intelligence reports.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TUCHMAN: If they sit down, if they rest, if they watch TV, if they read, if they get nervous, if they get excited, as they get ready to go. And we are sitting there talking to them, and they get the word to go, and they scramble out the door and they go.

And then we are literally with them as they get off the plane. We talk to them minutes after they get off the plane about their mission,, what they did, what they bombed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TUCHMAN: Where did you go and what did you do?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We went up into northern Iraq in support of some of the army forces. And they we were calling us in with our JDAM series targets, our GPS-guided weapons. You put the bombs on a road intersection, which was right in the middle of an engagement they were having with the enemy. And they said that the bombs we put into that place actually ended up ending the conflict there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TUCHMAN: You can see inside, we have cots, beds, sleeping bags. We haven't really established a cleaning regiment for this tent yet. It would not win any good housekeeping awards.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TUCHMAN: The air force is a very proud service. Those air force planes have taken out many of the preplanned targets. And now it can concentrate on emerging targets.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TUCHMAN: And they want to serve their country, and they want to serve their ground troops. They know that they need to protect the ground troops for the ground troops to do well. So, it is paying them to watch television coverage after their flights, especially paying them to see the two army Apache helicopter pilots being taken prisoner. And we talked to them. They said they were angry. They said they were mad. They said they were frustrated. But they also said it would only make them do their jobs even better. And if they forget about it when they get in the cockpit, because they have a job to do over the nation of Iraq.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Gary Tuchman's experience.

Last night, we showed you the journal of Dr. Sanjay Gupta who was just -- who was headed, as I recall, to the USS Comfort. I'm not sure if he has gotten there yet, but the doctor joins us now. And it is good to talk to you. I was thinking the other day, we will get serious in a moment. Your parents sent all that money to teach you to be a neurosurgeon, and they heard the ends (ph) showered (ph) in seven days. You were out in the jungle being a reporter. You have done some wonderful work. It has been a great experienc for you hasn't it?

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, it very much has. And no one was more surprised about how this all turned out than me, no question. We certainly set out to do very definitive medical stories. But found ourselves, and it sounds like a lot of the other reporters I've been hearing found ourselves in situations we just never would have imagined. And we just sort of reported what we saw, Aaron.

BROWN: The object when we sent you over there was you would take a look at whatever medical issues might come up, if there was chemical warfare and the like. But you found yourself very early on putting on chemical suits and ducking for cover, and all the rest. But you also reported on this group, the devil docs. And for people who don't know who weren't with us, just quickly describe who they are, what they do.

GUPTA: Yeah, basically, that is a colloquial name for a bunch of navy doctors, a lot of them being reservists, who come and support the marines. The marines don't have their own medical corps that is dedicated to them. So they come and support the marines. What the devil doctors are specifically doing is setting up something called forward resuscitative surgical system. This is brand new. This is novel, a simple but brilliant concept. They have found in the past that it was very difficult to get the injured from the front lines to definitive care stations, such as MASH, everyone thinks of MASH, in a short enough time to be very effective. So, instead of taking the injured back to the back lines, the definitive care. They decided to bring the definitive care forward. And, thus, this concept was born and appears to be working very effectively.

BROWN: Because time is critical?

GUPTA: Absolutely. They talk about something called the golden hour. And that is more than just a nickname. If you can get someone who has had a significant injury, gunshot wound, near amputation of a limb, something like that, if you can get them care within an hour, statistics will shows that their likelihood, I should say, for survival dramatically improves. And so that is sort of the number by which everyone lives, one hour.

BROWN: When you are not a reporter, you are a neurosurgeon. I am curious, you've looked at these terrible injuries of war over the last week now or so. Has it changed the way you view war or anything else?

GUPTA: Well, you know, I tell you, I didn't have any idea what to expect when I sort of decided to come out to Kuwait and Iraq. I think it definitely has changed a lot of what I think is possible with an operating room. I think we get so used to all the vast resources that we have in urban and suburban settings back in the states for me, in terms of resources to perform operations. These guys are performing operations in the middle of the desert. They are doing it with what they have.

And I visited them back in February, sort of just to check it as a set up piece, and the thought was this really is going to come together. Do they have the compressed oxygen? Do they have enough general anesthesia? How are they going to warm the blood in time? I mean, there are so many different factors, Aaron, into making this work. But they've showed me what is possible. What can be done. And like I said, they are very successful at it. I saw 10 operations over just a few days spending time with the devil docs, and all of those patients are going to survive. They are headed back to U.S.S. Comfort. And I think they are going to do well.

BROWN: And just, the first time I recall talking to you in this was Sunday. It was this strange, ironic moment, where there were American POWs being held, somewhere in Iraq. And at the same time, you were reporting on surgery being done on an Iraqi prisoner, on your side of the line.

GUPTA: Yeah, you know, it was a really very poignant moment. In fact, the marines, including the devil docs, with whom I was sitting, had just received the news that now only had 12 U.S. soldiers been captured, but that four had been executed. And it was right around that time that this patient came in via helicopter. Now, no one knew if this patient at the time was actually Iraqi or coalition force member. And the patient came in, and they quickly did all the things that they would do for anybody. Everything was moving fast. They got the patient in the operating room very quickly, performed the operation.

But there was sort of this undercurrent of, geez, this is war. And one of the guys in a moment of emotion said, you know, we are operating on their guys at the same time they are killing ours. And that was a really poignant moment. The lead surgeon, I actually asked him about that. I think it was on your show, just a few minutes after he finished the operation. And he, without hesitation, looked at me and said, you know, Sanjay, it is about medical triage not political triage, that's why we're here. And I think that pretty much summed it up.

BROWN: Well, doc, you've had a hot meal, a shower and shave, are you going back out there?

GUPTA: I am going to. I think there are still stories to be told. We would like to get back to U.S.S. Comfort for a day or two to basically follow some of the marines show we saw had their operations on the front line. We want to hear about the entire medical process that they went through. We also want to hear their stories of what they saw. And we are going to head back maybe north and hook back up with the devil docs. And they're ready for anything. And we want to see what that anything turns out to be.

BROWN: I don't want to embarrass you but I do want you to know that all of your colleagues are proud of you. They think you have done great. Nicely done.

GUPTA: Thank you very much, Aaron.

BROWN: Thank you very much. Dr. Sanjay Gupta has performed admirably out there. We will take a break. Our coverage continues in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: It's a question that has no answer or at least no single answer, the quest of what is war? A few answer tonight with Bruce Morton with the help of some of the skilled photographers working tonight in Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRUCE MORTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): War is moments. An American military vehicle misfires and explodes. Guns firing during an attack by British commandos in the south.

War is waiting. This Scotts Brigadoon Guardsman has rigged a rain shelter, and is actually reading a book.

War is weather. Add up sands, Sandstorms and rain, and you've got mud. Big time.

War is civilians, Kurdish women in northern Iraq make bread. Their men expect to fight soon.

War is kids, looking through a soldiers binoculars is fun. Soldiers offer food and candy. But what is his future, alone as the warriors rumble around him? Or this baby, younger than the war, found sleeping in a cardboard fruit box, 500 yards from a British encampment. Or these children sweeping a street in a Baghdad suburb, whose troubles may have just begun.

War is casualties, sometimes make believe as with this wounded poster of Saddam Hussein. Sometimes real, a U.S. marine carrying a wounded Iraqi, a U.S. marine carrying injured corporate Barry Lag (ph) from Oregon. An Iraqi prisoner getting help from navy core man. A wounded marine getting help.

War is worry. Four-year-old Elizabeth Heathmans's (ph) father is with the 3rd division outside Baghdad.

And sometimes war is just amazing luck. Royal Marine commando Eric Walderman's Kevlar helmet -- Kevlar replaced the old steel pot in the 1970s -- took four rounds during a firefight, and he wasn't hurt. Let's hope they let him keep his dented hat. He will be telling that story for the next 50 years.

Bruce Morton, CNN reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: With all the emphasis on the gee-wheez technology of being able to bring these things from the war to your TV set, we also feel like we rediscovered still photography, and the power of it over the last week or so. We will take a break, update the headlines. Our coverage continues in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWS ALERT)

BROWN: All right. Daryn, grab your -- grab that other English language paper and show us what the headline is and...

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: OK, real quickly.

BROWN: ... because we promised.

KAGAN: Yes, we did promise this. Quickly, I think the story of this one is about, not to the headline, "Siege in days, no surrender," but rather the pictures. This is a line of Iraqi citizens fleeing Basra, excuse me, trying to get away from the air raid. Also, very hungry and sick people in Basra.

This picture down here, these are the paratroopers that are at that Harir Air Field in northern Iraq. And this is picture -- a far away picture of Baghdad showing the oil fields. And one interesting article for us here in Kuwait, Patriot downs clean missile.

Aaron, about an hour or so after you left the air yesterday, while I was still on the air, sirens went off and we had to evacuate. And I heard a couple of loud booms. Turns out it was the Kuwaiti Air Force firing off two Patriot missiles to shoot down yet another Iraqi missile. So even as this military...

BROWN: Yes.

KAGAN: ... exercise moves north, we're still under threat here in Kuwait City.

BROWN: Still, Daryn, thank you. Stay safe, and we'll talk to you tomorrow.

Daryn has much more work to do tonight.

The "Washington Post" that -- I'm sorry, the "Washington Post" is reporting a bit of detail now in the battle of Nasiriya. Just a quote out of, it's much nastier than I think -- then anyone imagined it was going to be. Gunnery Sergeant Tracy Hale (ph) of Philadelphia, "Nasiriya was supposed to be a six-hour fight. It's already been five days of nonstop 24-hour fighting." Reporter Peter Baker for "The Post" writes, "From the perspective of commanders directing the war, it has proved to be a success. From the perspective of the Marines fighting the war, however, it has proved to be a nightmare. There are many wounded there and we wait the details on that."

Martin Savidge is with a Marine unit. We talked to him I guess about an hour or so ago, maybe a little longer. They're making their way through the desert to deal with some of these small pockets of Saddam loyalists, not regular army loyalists, but others.

Marty, you able to hear us?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I can, Aaron, yes.

They're dealing -- hoping to deal with the Fedayeen, is the term that they refer to these paramilitary units. There was some speculation on the part of military commanders that we've talked to here, Marine commanders, that some of these units are being bolstered by regular army units.

In the initial opening stages of the ground war, a lot of the army units that were in southern Iraq simply folded and walked away. They left their equipment behind, put on civilian clothing and went home. And you could see a lot of men dressed in civilian clothing walking along the side of the highway. But of course the emphasis at that time was to push forward, not to try to determine who these people were.

It's now believed that some of the Fedayeen commanders have rounded these men up, either willingly or some of them perhaps not so willingly, and telling them look, you still have to do something to raise opposition against this invasion force. And that they have organized them into sort of guerrilla units and now attacking the supply line convoys, which, of course, are the lifeblood for the military moving north.

BROWN: Well listen (ph), excuse me, some "New York Times" reporting yesterday that there were --actually, they saw some Iraqi soldiers who appeared to have been shot by their own people for refusing to fight, or at least that's the story. That was "The Times" reporting on the story. And you seem to be hearing similar sorts of things without perhaps the end result being quite the same.

SAVIDGE: It's true. You know they obviously believe that this guerrilla force is something that is organizing as the military campaign on the part of the coalition pushes forward. That this was a tactic that was seized upon, perhaps not in the first days, but quickly thereafter it was realized that the supply line is perhaps one of the most vulnerable areas for this military campaign and strike at that. And perhaps you can deal a fairly severe blow to those that are at the very front of.

Obviously the coalition forces don't see it that way. They simply refer to this as harassment. They say it's a problem they can deal with easily. Perhaps they hadn't thought about needing to arm convoys or have force protection with them in the early stages, but they've adapted to it quickly. And they always say the plan is the first casualty of any time there are shots, but you simply readjust the plan.

And right now overhead more helicopters flying. We noticed just a short while ago, before we came to you, that they were the Cobra attack helicopters. These are the Marines' version of the Apaches, with their anti-tank weaponry. And you just might be able to see them coming into the shots as they fly parallel with this convoy here. Are they flying in support of it? Probably not. Their job, much like the patrols, run up and down the supply line route and try to spot any problems that may lie ahead.

BROWN: And again, I think you began your report, Marty, by saying you've seen some evidence of Iraqis who had abandoned their position, but I gather not a lot of that?

SAVIDGE: No, I mean we saw them in groups of dozens or so. There wasn't like some long trail of humanity traipsing along the side of the highway. It was unusual in -- from the perspective that we had not seen anyone and then came across these groups of men that seemed to be out in the middle of nowhere, dressed rather casually, walking down the side of the roadway. It was -- it was an unusual sight. I guess now when they've started to put two and two together, they realized that perhaps what they were seeing were elements of an army that was walking away from a fight.

BROWN: Yes.

SAVIDGE: Only now to, apparently, perhaps be reorganized and redirected.

BROWN: Marty, thank you. Martin Savidge with the Marines 1st Battalion 7th Marines.

And Anderson and Carol I guess will continue to check in with him throughout the morning. So you want to stay with us for that.

Christiane Amanpour is on the phone. She has been talking to British military officials, I believe.

Christiane, good morning.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Aaron.

And indeed we are again at the divisional headquarters in southern Iraq. And we are being told again this sort of broad picture of the southern Iraq area, which, as you know, the British are responsible for. They remain in two battle positions, if you like, the main effort being the sort of heavy metal, hard military fighting to try to neutralize the Iraqi regimes, both military and political resistance, in the big sort of civilian urban area of Basra -- that is a main focus of operation -- and some of the outlying towns there as well, trying to put in place efforts to -- quote -- "win hearts and minds." They're trying to get the civilian population on side.

Now what they're doing to that end is trying to put humanitarian aid in, but that is a slightly slow process because there isn't the infrastructure yet to do that on any significant scale. And so far, the big humanitarian aid ship, which has been promised for several days now, again, we're being told it's coming in to the port of Umm Qasr today and they want to then put it out into the civilian population. And this isn't just, they say, to provide the kind of food and water that people tell us they need, but it's also to try to psychologically win over the population.

I think what people here, in terms of the military, are still not clear on is how much of the irregulars, what they call the irregulars, the Saddam Fedayeen, the Baath Party political militias, how much those limited numbers of people are controlling the resistance inside the big population centers such a Basra. We know and we've been told that Iraqi army has gone back inside Basra. And we've been telling you this for the last week or so.

But the question on the military's mind is why haven't the people inside risen up and castoff the shackles of their oppression, as the military here would term it? Perhaps I'm giving more colorful wording to it, but that's what they want to see. And they don't yet have a full picture of why that isn't happening.

So this is an ongoing effort in this region. Military engagements continue, but the -- but the big picture is that which we've just told you -- Aaron.

BROWN: I've just -- Christiane, out of the Pentagon briefing, the suggestion was basically they're afraid, they don't yet believe the Americans and the British are coming or there to stay or going to prevail and so they're not ready to commit by uprising or a rising up.

AMANPOUR: Well that is the assumption. And that is we've had a little bit of anecdotal evidence to suggest that from certain numbers who are filtering out of Basra towards the south. So that's why the humanitarian effort.

I mean I -- you know they can't get into Basra yet with humanitarian aid. They do control parts of the west, or at least they have access to parts -- the outskirts of western Basra. So I think that certainly I heard from one Army captain over here, and not the higher ranks, that they are perhaps going to try to take aid in as far as they can, hope that word of mouth passes in. You know try to show the population that they are here to stay, they won't -- quote -- "let them down again" as they did in 1991 and to try to instill confidence.

And to that end, they're also going out now, not just in the heavy armor but also on foot, dismounted, doing vehicle checks, meeting the population, doing patrolling in certain areas, trying to do what the British have done so often during their past history in their historical military campaigns even up into Northern Ireland, try to impose some kind of confidence and to show that they are in control, they own the area, and that the people should have confidence in them. But this is taking longer than they expected.

I think that's the underlying and prevailing theme that we keep hearing is longer than expected, longer than expected, stiffer resistance than expected. And of this is going slightly -- taking slightly longer and is slightly more difficult than they had been led to believe was possible -- Aaron.

BROWN: Christiane, thank you very much. Christiane Amanpour been talking to British military officials, just another factor to the battle for Nasiriya.

Out of Camp Lejeune, 12 Marines were listed as missing amid fighting around that southern town. We don't yet have a good number on the number wounded, but this is -- obviously, it's been a major battle and presumably there are embedded reporters in the area and presumably, also, they are not yet able to file with much detail. And we just wait for them to safely be able to do that.

We'll take a break. Our coverage continues in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: CNN's Rym Brahimi has been watching a lot of TV lately since she was expelled from Baghdad with our group. She's been keeping an eye on the coverage being offered on Iraqi state TV. It's hit and miss at times due to the airstrikes, bit unpredictable in its point of view, it turns out. That said, this is what most Iraqis are watching, if they have TVs.

Rym filing from Jordan tonight.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's 8:00 p.m. in Baghdad. To hear the Iraqi side of the story, tune in to Iraqi TV or the Iraqi satellite channel. Since the beginning of the U.S.-led bombings last week, the newsreaders have taken to wearing their Baath Party uniforms rather than a suit and tie. The background also has changed. Most of the time the backdrop is Baghdad's Arch of Victory. And at the top right corner of the screen, the words, the decisive battle.

Senior officials are prominently featured, though not President Saddam Hussein in the past two days. Injured Iraqis interviewed in a hospital are asked the inevitable questions. They give predictable replies.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We are ready to die for the president.

BRAHIMI: And on day eight of the war, a special report, introduced as a tour of Baghdad, to show viewers the strong soul of ordinary Iraqis. But it hasn't always been possible to present a business-as-usual image. On Monday, the satellite feed was interrupted when a U.S. missile targeted the TV building. After a couple of hours, it was back on air, no immediate mention of the attack.

Throughout Iraq, reporters from Iraqi TV have no problems in finding Saddam Hussein loyalists, brandishing weapons and shouting well-rehearsed chants for the cameras in support of their leader. Significantly, in the southern town of Najaf, dominated by the Shiite majority, women are shown preparing what the newscaster says is food for the fighters.

Worldwide anti-war demonstrations, no matter how old, have become part of the daily programming, followed by messages in Arabic, addressed to viewers since before the war began, the entire world, they say, is against the aggressor.

Iraqi TV remains a valuable tool for the regime to show it's still in charge and has so far defied attempts to force it off air.

Rym Brahimi, CNN, Amman, Jordan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Well not so much in Iraq, but across the Arab world, Arab television viewers are getting a -- getting multiple views of how this war is playing out. Among them, they are watching, if they have access to it, Al Arabiya, which is a rival now to Al Jazeera.

And we're joined by Salah Negm who's the news director there.

It's good to have you. First of all, the last time -- the last thing I saw, you had three journalists who were missing. Have you had any contact with them recently?

SALAH NEGM, NEWS DIRECTOR, AL ARABIYA: Unfortunately, we don't have any contact with them until now. But we are contacting a lot of -- a lot of people, government organizations and friends in the region to trace them and get any news about them. We are still hopeful that they are safe and will return back anytime, hopefully.

BROWN: Are you able to see any American coverage of the war? And if you are, how does it differ from the coverage that your news agency provides?

NEGM: Well I watch a lot of American coverage, of course. We watch the American networks here. The difference is we are in the middle of the region and the region is affected by this war and to have consequences (ph) that everybody in the region want to know and want to see through. And the way you have coverage is -- I heard your report before about the Iraqi television, you hear the Iraqi side of the story from the Iraqi television. We hear both sides of the story, the Iraqi side and the American side, and we try to give our viewers, the Arab viewers, the real balanced story from both sides. BROWN: And what is that balanced story? I mean how do you perceive the American side? What do you see as American propaganda in this?

NEGM: I wouldn't say American propaganda and I wouldn't say Iraqi propaganda. Every story and every conflict has two points of views and it's the right of the Arab viewer to know these points of views and for our reporters to interest (ph) to get the real story behind it.

For example, at the beginning, you heard in a little briefings, American briefings, that the allied troops took over Nasiriya, or took over Umm Qasr. And then after one or two days, you find out that the control is not actually complete and you get the Iraqi side of the story which is saying that they are still resisting and there are forces there.

The mission of our reporters, some of them are missing as you -- as you mentioned, is to verify the story. Go and see who is in control, really, and convey us -- it to the Arab viewers, plus to convey the human story behind everything. It's not only that these troops are advancing or those are advancing, it is what about the population and the people whom the -- their futures and lives will be affected according to what is happening on the ground.

BROWN: Sir, it's nice to talk to you. We wish you great success in finding your three reporters who you've lost contact with. This is dangerous work, as you're finding out, and we thank you for your time.

A view of how Arab TV perceives all of this.

We have a couple of other things to take care of before the top of the hour, including some time with General Clark. We'll take a break first. Our coverage continues in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Correspondent at the Pentagon is working feverishly on something. We hope to have it before the top of the hour.

General Clark, let me bring you in. We've talked a lot about Nasiriya. We have seen very little reporting, television reporting out of there, but the -- all the reporting we are seeing now is this is a big-time fight.

CLARK: It seems like it really is. It's a very confused, long- running gun battle, Aaron. Forces are trying to move through the area. A marine element is there. They're trying to win the fight without going into every house and occupying the entire town. This involves units that are south of the town, firing artillery into enemy positions that are in the town and north of the town. A hospital has been taken. Convoys have been ambushed. Soft-skin vehicles, trucks and Humvees have been destroyed. Some armored vehicles have been hit. Some reports put the number of wounded at 60 or more. It's a -- it's a confusing, swirling, continuing battle. And someone has to grip it and resolve it. BROWN: "The Post's" headline on this story, "a turkey shoot," but with the Marines as the targets. They obviously -- that comes from a quote. I'm looking for it now, a quote from one of the Marines -- a Marine reservist who's in that fight. Obviously, yet again, another example of something that was far tougher, well, let me -- I don't want to assume that. Let me ask it as a question. Do we assume here that this is far tougher than they imagined?

CLARK: I think it is. I mean I -- that's what Scott Wallace, the 5th Corps Commander is quoted in saying the newspaper today. He said he didn't expect to fight this kind of a force, this kind of reporting from the -- on the scene and Nasiriya substantiates it, in my view. It's nothing that can't be handled; it just has to be handled. Someone has to focus on it as a task and work systematically to reduce the problem than trying to just let convoys pass through, shoot them up and keep on driving, take your loss, let the next guy worry about what happens.

BROWN: The -- just one more quote out of "The Post" reporting the chief of staff to the general in the air -- Lieutenant General James T. Conway (ph) in the area, the Marine Commander in the region, "It's the Wild West there," Colonel Coleman (ph) said. "We want to control it, but it's not a very safe place." I think understating the situation. In the scheme of things, obviously -- where does it fit in the scheme of things? Give me a big picture of where this fits.

CLARK: Big picture is this is the friction on the battlefield.

BROWN: OK.

CLARK: It's not going to change the course of the campaign, unless it gets a whole lot worse than this. It's friction.

BROWN: It tells us something about the Iraqi willingness to fight and ability to fight and strategy, though, doesn't it?

CLARK: It does. I mean it's a very clear indicator that they're going to fight from the urban areas, and the roads that run through the urban areas where there's cover and concealment from which the Iraqis can sally port (ph) and shoot and go back in and population to hide among. That's where the battle is going to be.

BROWN: Well I expect we're going to see -- I expect, and I've said this before and been wrong, maybe again, that we're going to see a lot of reporting now on this over the next day that there most likely are embedded reporters, television reporters in the area, but they can't necessarily -- they cannot always file. They can only file when the company commander believes it is safe for them to file, when it doesn't compromise operational -- any operational plans. And so it is very likely that they -- it is very likely that they're unable to file. But at some point soon, I would expect, we'll get a look at what has been going on there for several days now.

CLARK: It has. And if this -- if I remember this report from the correct -- from "The Post" correctly, Aaron, it was actually reporting on a battle that occurred two days ago. So -- and what we know is this battle still going on.

BROWN: General, thank you. Miss you, though, here in Atlanta. We...

CLARK: Be back tomorrow night.

BROWN: Thank you, sir. I'll be here, too.

CLARK: Great.

BROWN: Chris Plante, at the Pentagon, you've got some reporting that you've been working pretty hard on.

CHRIS PLANTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Aaron.

Yes, we're learning here that as a result of the weather clearing up, the sandstorms going away, the U.S. has been able to update their reconnaissance as to the whereabouts of the various Republican Guard divisions around Baghdad, the Hammurabi division to the north, the Medina division to the south and the Baghdad divisions to the south and east of Baghdad near Al Kut. And as this intelligence is being updated, we can expect, over the next several days, to see very much intensified airstrikes against these tanks, against the armored units, their headquarters, housing.

We're going to see, in all probability, the 101st airborne coming into play. They've been a little bit out of it, maneuvering for position. The 101st Airborne, with a significant number of Apache attack helicopters, and tank plinking, is what they call it, is about to commence on all of these divisions in an effort to weaken them up around the city. And it's expected to be a real -- a real show -- Aaron.

BROWN: Chris, thank you. Thank you for getting that in before the top of the hour.

A lot of things seem to be happening behind us. We're getting a lot of reporting. A lot of our embeds now are checking in. So Carol and Anderson will have all of that after the top of the hour.

We leave you with some of the images of the day, and we'll see you tomorrow evening. Good night.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was very exciting, kind of scared at the same time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was pitch black, I couldn't see anything. But the helicopter landed right next to it. And as soon I hit and I look over and there's a helicopter right next to me, and I was just like wow, I lucked out there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is a country that we're at war with. But since we've jumped in Kurdish-controlled area, we felt a little bit better that we wouldn't be shot at as we are descending from the sky.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're on the ground. How are the men feeling? What do they like to see happening here as the hours develop this day?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are digging in positions right now to -- just to set up a perimeter at first and then we just take everything day by day as a situation develops.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got a report that we had some infiltrations down to our south in a -- in a white SUV with all the indications of being the same modes operandi (ph) of other paramilitaries that were working in the area. So we took them under apprehension and treated them as enemy prisoners of war.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're really limited on resources and assets. We're doing the best we can for them. We're working on getting them blankets, food and water, and some shelter to get them out of the wind and the elements.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you think some of the people here are scared of you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Probably not scared, but maybe intimidated, slightly intimidated. I mean wouldn't anybody if -- we would be fleeced ourselves in the streets of England.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Speak English?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And how to you account for that? How do you try to make them...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Use of language assistance. You know have a chat about -- not just chat to them about what's going on out here, but try and build a burm (ph), you know a rapport between these people.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is it working?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I hope so.

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