Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live Saturday
3 U.S. Soldiers Killed in Baghdad
Aired July 26, 2003 - 14:02 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.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN ANCHOR: Turning now to Iraq and another deadly attack on U.S. troops there. Grenade killed three soldiers who were guarding a children's hospital in the northeast of Baghdad. Four other soldiers were wounded in that assault. We go now to CNN's Nic Robertson. Nic, why a hospital? Why do you think they targeted a hospital?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Andrea, possibly because the soldiers there might have been considered a soft and easy target. Certainly the modus operandi that has been used in a number of these attacks is definitely to attack soldiers in the less armored vehicles, particularly Humvees.
What we were told by somebody who went into the hospital and spoke with somebody there after the attack, he said that the soldiers were sitting just outside the hospital, that they were sitting in their shorts and t-shirt, playing cards, relaxing, while part of the guard duty detail at the hospital.
This source said that somebody threw a grenade down on them either from the roof of the hospital or from a window in the hospital. That's how the soldiers were targeted. Possibly that's why so many were killed on the scene, because they were sitting close together, at least according to this particular source.
What happened then, according to officers in the area, they say that they sealed off the hospital. What they've been doing since then is securing the hospital and going through the hospital to check and see if they can find the identity of the attacker, because it appears at least in the first analysis that the attacker was actually in the hospital as well -- Andrea.
KOPPEL: Nic, it's been, now, a couple of days, since the U.S. began its PR offensive, showing first the photographs then the video of the bodies of Uday and Qusay. What is the word in Baghdad among Iraqis you have spoken to? Are they convinced that these are the two brothers?
ROBERTSON: I think for the most part that's an accepted fact. People really aren't quibbling with that. Today it was in the newspapers, there were accounts in the newspapers. On Friday, the newspapers hadn't been printed. So many people weren't able to get to their primary source of news. Of course, many people here don't have television sets, particularly in some of the more remote communities. So a lot of people rely on newspapers. But really today people do seem to accept that. They have seen the pictures published in the newspapers, and some of the people I talked to outside the hospital today in back of where this latest attack took place, when I put it to them, had these attacks been inspired because of the deaths of Uday and Qusay? They said no, they didn't think so. And they completely accepted the fact that Uday and Qusay were dead -- Andrea.
KOPPEL: OK, Nic Robertson in Baghdad. Thank you for that.
Lieutenant General Richardo Sanchez commends coalition ground forces in Iraq. He will be Wolf Blitzer's guest on "LATE EDITION" tomorrow. That airs at noon Eastern here on CNN.
The U.S. says new military raids in Iraq are producing results, just as the Pentagon has been ordered to add the civil war in Liberia to its agenda. CNN's Chris Plante is keeping track of all of these commitments from the Pentagon.
CHRIS PLANTE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Andrea. Yesterday, starting yesterday, the U.S. military conducted a series of raids throughout Iraq. Over the last 24 hours, there have been 35 raids, with the 1st Armored Division of the Army, and the Marine Corps' 1st Marine Expeditionary Force involved. Many of these raids involved Iraqi police, at various locations inside of Baghdad and outside of Baghdad. And the 35 raids, and about 2,000 patrols resulted in the arrest of 242 people.
I am told that the arrests involved people wanted for murder, for carjackings, for aggravated assault, for looting and a host of other crimes. But to a large extent, these people were targeted by U.S. forces because of their known involvement with crimes.
So this is part of a crackdown, a broader crackdown to get at mid-level people in Baghdad and in particular the Sunni triangle around Baghdad, as it's been described, and it's part of an effort to get former loyalists, people that are believed to have been affiliated with the regime and to be behind many of the attacks on U.S. troops.
Now, some of these people, including a couple of arms dealers, were former regime officials, kind of low level people that were not on the list of the most wanted, but a significant number of weapons also gathered up, RPGs, and machine guns, and mines and so on -- Andrea.
KOPPEL: Chris, yesterday President Bush indicated that he had given the green light to several U.S. ships with Marines on board, a couple thousand of them, to head to Liberia's coast. Earlier you had said there are two ships. Any sense as to when they are going to arrive and whether or not these Marines might in fact end up in Liberia?
PLANTE: Well, there are two ships now steaming towards Liberia. The two ships are now in the Mediterranean. There is a third ship associated with this group, but for now only two of the three ships are headed toward Liberia. There are about 2,000 Marines on the two ships. The expectation is that they are still about seven days away from the coast of Liberia, and when they arrive there, quite honestly there is probably likely to be another assessment as to what the situation is on the ground before any decision is made as to whether these Marines will go ashore or not.
The expectation is and the desire on the part of the Bush administration and certainly on the part of Pentagon planners is they will not put Marines into combat situations in this civil war in Liberia. The Bush administration is expecting Nigerian troops to go in there as part of what they call ECOWAS, that's the Economic Community of West African States. And the expectation is that about 1,300 of these Nigerian troops will go in to restore order in Monrovia before any U.S. troops set foot on Liberian soil.
Now, the U.S. troops will be there to provide logistical support for humanitarian relief and various other aid. But there is no appetite for U.S. to put U.S. troops into a combat situation there -- Andrea.
KOPPEL: And we understand that the West Africans are supposed to be meeting on Monday to make a decision as to when the Nigerians will head over. Chris Plante at the Pentagon, thanks very much.
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 July 26, 2003 - 14:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN ANCHOR: Turning now to Iraq and another deadly attack on U.S. troops there. Grenade killed three soldiers who were guarding a children's hospital in the northeast of Baghdad. Four other soldiers were wounded in that assault. We go now to CNN's Nic Robertson. Nic, why a hospital? Why do you think they targeted a hospital?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Andrea, possibly because the soldiers there might have been considered a soft and easy target. Certainly the modus operandi that has been used in a number of these attacks is definitely to attack soldiers in the less armored vehicles, particularly Humvees.
What we were told by somebody who went into the hospital and spoke with somebody there after the attack, he said that the soldiers were sitting just outside the hospital, that they were sitting in their shorts and t-shirt, playing cards, relaxing, while part of the guard duty detail at the hospital.
This source said that somebody threw a grenade down on them either from the roof of the hospital or from a window in the hospital. That's how the soldiers were targeted. Possibly that's why so many were killed on the scene, because they were sitting close together, at least according to this particular source.
What happened then, according to officers in the area, they say that they sealed off the hospital. What they've been doing since then is securing the hospital and going through the hospital to check and see if they can find the identity of the attacker, because it appears at least in the first analysis that the attacker was actually in the hospital as well -- Andrea.
KOPPEL: Nic, it's been, now, a couple of days, since the U.S. began its PR offensive, showing first the photographs then the video of the bodies of Uday and Qusay. What is the word in Baghdad among Iraqis you have spoken to? Are they convinced that these are the two brothers?
ROBERTSON: I think for the most part that's an accepted fact. People really aren't quibbling with that. Today it was in the newspapers, there were accounts in the newspapers. On Friday, the newspapers hadn't been printed. So many people weren't able to get to their primary source of news. Of course, many people here don't have television sets, particularly in some of the more remote communities. So a lot of people rely on newspapers. But really today people do seem to accept that. They have seen the pictures published in the newspapers, and some of the people I talked to outside the hospital today in back of where this latest attack took place, when I put it to them, had these attacks been inspired because of the deaths of Uday and Qusay? They said no, they didn't think so. And they completely accepted the fact that Uday and Qusay were dead -- Andrea.
KOPPEL: OK, Nic Robertson in Baghdad. Thank you for that.
Lieutenant General Richardo Sanchez commends coalition ground forces in Iraq. He will be Wolf Blitzer's guest on "LATE EDITION" tomorrow. That airs at noon Eastern here on CNN.
The U.S. says new military raids in Iraq are producing results, just as the Pentagon has been ordered to add the civil war in Liberia to its agenda. CNN's Chris Plante is keeping track of all of these commitments from the Pentagon.
CHRIS PLANTE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Andrea. Yesterday, starting yesterday, the U.S. military conducted a series of raids throughout Iraq. Over the last 24 hours, there have been 35 raids, with the 1st Armored Division of the Army, and the Marine Corps' 1st Marine Expeditionary Force involved. Many of these raids involved Iraqi police, at various locations inside of Baghdad and outside of Baghdad. And the 35 raids, and about 2,000 patrols resulted in the arrest of 242 people.
I am told that the arrests involved people wanted for murder, for carjackings, for aggravated assault, for looting and a host of other crimes. But to a large extent, these people were targeted by U.S. forces because of their known involvement with crimes.
So this is part of a crackdown, a broader crackdown to get at mid-level people in Baghdad and in particular the Sunni triangle around Baghdad, as it's been described, and it's part of an effort to get former loyalists, people that are believed to have been affiliated with the regime and to be behind many of the attacks on U.S. troops.
Now, some of these people, including a couple of arms dealers, were former regime officials, kind of low level people that were not on the list of the most wanted, but a significant number of weapons also gathered up, RPGs, and machine guns, and mines and so on -- Andrea.
KOPPEL: Chris, yesterday President Bush indicated that he had given the green light to several U.S. ships with Marines on board, a couple thousand of them, to head to Liberia's coast. Earlier you had said there are two ships. Any sense as to when they are going to arrive and whether or not these Marines might in fact end up in Liberia?
PLANTE: Well, there are two ships now steaming towards Liberia. The two ships are now in the Mediterranean. There is a third ship associated with this group, but for now only two of the three ships are headed toward Liberia. There are about 2,000 Marines on the two ships. The expectation is that they are still about seven days away from the coast of Liberia, and when they arrive there, quite honestly there is probably likely to be another assessment as to what the situation is on the ground before any decision is made as to whether these Marines will go ashore or not.
The expectation is and the desire on the part of the Bush administration and certainly on the part of Pentagon planners is they will not put Marines into combat situations in this civil war in Liberia. The Bush administration is expecting Nigerian troops to go in there as part of what they call ECOWAS, that's the Economic Community of West African States. And the expectation is that about 1,300 of these Nigerian troops will go in to restore order in Monrovia before any U.S. troops set foot on Liberian soil.
Now, the U.S. troops will be there to provide logistical support for humanitarian relief and various other aid. But there is no appetite for U.S. to put U.S. troops into a combat situation there -- Andrea.
KOPPEL: And we understand that the West Africans are supposed to be meeting on Monday to make a decision as to when the Nigerians will head over. Chris Plante at the Pentagon, thanks very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
