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Iraqi Troops Advance Towards 7th Cav

Aired March 26, 2003 - 13:05   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.


WOLF BLITZER, ANCHOR: I want to go immediately to our Walter Rodgers. He's embedded with the U.S. Infantry, they're moving quickly. They're moving rapidly -- then again, maybe not.
Walter, what's happening right now, given the weather conditions?

WALTER RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Wolf.

The sources within the U.S. Army's 3rd Squadron, 7th Cavalry are now reporting they have intelligence information that a major column of Iraqi elite troops are moving south from Baghdad in the general direction of An Najaf. There are said to be 1,000 vehicles in that convoy.

Because of the dust storms, it's difficult to get an exact fix on the types of armored vehicles, which are moving southward out of Baghdad. But awhile ago they were in Al Iyah (ph), and that is very close to the 7th Cavalry's position.

There was a bit of scramble at the tactical operations post. However, in the meantime, the Army has managed to bring up substantial reinforcements, although, you know, the Cavalry was a little thin earlier in the afternoon when this information was first gleaned.

Still, it is a situation to be concerned about. Air cover -- air strikes were called in a short while ago. It is not known at this point whether the Iraqis would attack the U.S. units here in a sand storm and at night, but that's a possibility and everyone is sitting on a very tight hair-trigger where we are -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Walter, a thousand vehicles, a thousand Iraqi vehicles, I'm assuming you're referring to tanks, armored personnel carriers, the old-line Soviet equipment they used to buy.

How seriously do U.S. military commanders take this threat?

RODGERS: I think this is serious, because in some respects those vehicles were pretty good, the old Soviet vehicles. We can't tell the precise configuration of the vehicles because of the sand storm, which is blowing. It just reduced visibility to 75 meters.

So we're talking about basically overhead air surveillance, peering down through the sands at the column. But it is a very substantial column. And it moved very rapidly when it first came out of Baghdad, anywhere between 30 and 60 kilometers an hour. That's quite fast. They were headed due south from Baghdad, in almost on a straight course, collision course, with the 7th Cavalry in the 3rd Infantry Division.

As for quality of those troops, we're told they are Republican Guard units, that's some of the best Saddam has.

And indeed, it is a serious threat to the area we're in. We believe that we will probably come under attack some time this evening -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Well, what about the possibility in that sand storm of getting air support, calling in Apache or Cobra helicopters or A-10 warplanes?

RODGERS: Forget the helicopters, Wolf, they haven't been flying for the past two days. And with the weather forecast, the sand storm, the helicopters are not going to be flying another two days.

The type of air support that has been available so far -- there was a B-1 bomber that dropped an appreciable load of the high- precision, high-accuracy bombs over in the direction of An Najaf last night. We did hear bombs falling out in the distance, not too far out in front of us this evening. Again, we couldn't tell the delivery system, whether it was an F-16 or A-10.

But because of the weather there is very limited air support available, or at least at first we're told that has loosened up now. And there are now planes in the air available if the Iraqis decide to mass and come forward this evening.

They have been very audacious, Wolf. They have been hitting behind us all night, striking Charlie company, that is Crazyhorse Troop of the U.S. Army 7th Cavalry. They've taken quite a pounding. But they have put up a stiff resistance.

What the Iraqis have been trying to do is swing around behind Apache, which is the unit I'm with, and try to come in behind us. Charlie Company and Bonecrusher have done rather manly jobs of holding them off.

But what the Iraqis were trying to do was to re-seize the Euphrates River bridge that we crossed over yesterday and try to cut off the 17th Cavalry. They've been unsuccessful so far -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Walter, is this part of the Iraqi military doctrine? Correct me if I'm wrong, normally, they don't necessarily go out and take the battle to the invading U.S. forces. They sort of wait in a defensive posture. But this time, they seem to be anxious to engage the invading U.S. forces, and try to score some victories with that kind of strategy.

Is this different than the normal Iraqi strategy?

RODGERS: Well, the Iraqis in the Gulf War, according to some recent readings I've studied, suggested that they could be very audacious and surprise you when they had their backs to the wall. They could organize a fairly decent counterattack. That appears to be what we're seeing now. And remember, it was originally thought Saddam Hussein's generals would draw a defense line around Baghdad with his crack units there. But what we've discovered now is additionally, Saddam Hussein's generals are throwing some of his better troops forward to stiffen the spine of his regular troops in cities like An Najaf and As Samawah (ph), and going to down to Nasiriya, all the way over to Basra.

So he is mixing his tactics this time. He's showing a fair amount of imagination in terms of his line of attack.

And one very important thing that we're seeing now is that the Iraqis are conducting a war of attrition against the United States military, which is pushing northward, that war of attrition being a kind of guerrilla warfare, where they send suicide buses into the side of a Bradley fighting vehicle, trying to knock out a tank here, a fighting vehicle there, another tank here.

And the idea, trying to break the morale and reduce the fighting power of the United States before the U.S. Army and the Marines get close to his crack units outside Baghdad. It's not an unimaginative strategy -- Wolf.

BLITZER: It sounds like a pretty imaginative strategy to me, knowing what I know about the Iraqi military. The Republican Guard units moving, advancing very rapidly. Walter Rodgers reporting perhaps 1,000 vehicles on the move to engage the U.S. forces.

Walter, be careful over there. We'll be checking back with you soon. 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 March 26, 2003 - 13:05   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, ANCHOR: I want to go immediately to our Walter Rodgers. He's embedded with the U.S. Infantry, they're moving quickly. They're moving rapidly -- then again, maybe not.
Walter, what's happening right now, given the weather conditions?

WALTER RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Wolf.

The sources within the U.S. Army's 3rd Squadron, 7th Cavalry are now reporting they have intelligence information that a major column of Iraqi elite troops are moving south from Baghdad in the general direction of An Najaf. There are said to be 1,000 vehicles in that convoy.

Because of the dust storms, it's difficult to get an exact fix on the types of armored vehicles, which are moving southward out of Baghdad. But awhile ago they were in Al Iyah (ph), and that is very close to the 7th Cavalry's position.

There was a bit of scramble at the tactical operations post. However, in the meantime, the Army has managed to bring up substantial reinforcements, although, you know, the Cavalry was a little thin earlier in the afternoon when this information was first gleaned.

Still, it is a situation to be concerned about. Air cover -- air strikes were called in a short while ago. It is not known at this point whether the Iraqis would attack the U.S. units here in a sand storm and at night, but that's a possibility and everyone is sitting on a very tight hair-trigger where we are -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Walter, a thousand vehicles, a thousand Iraqi vehicles, I'm assuming you're referring to tanks, armored personnel carriers, the old-line Soviet equipment they used to buy.

How seriously do U.S. military commanders take this threat?

RODGERS: I think this is serious, because in some respects those vehicles were pretty good, the old Soviet vehicles. We can't tell the precise configuration of the vehicles because of the sand storm, which is blowing. It just reduced visibility to 75 meters.

So we're talking about basically overhead air surveillance, peering down through the sands at the column. But it is a very substantial column. And it moved very rapidly when it first came out of Baghdad, anywhere between 30 and 60 kilometers an hour. That's quite fast. They were headed due south from Baghdad, in almost on a straight course, collision course, with the 7th Cavalry in the 3rd Infantry Division.

As for quality of those troops, we're told they are Republican Guard units, that's some of the best Saddam has.

And indeed, it is a serious threat to the area we're in. We believe that we will probably come under attack some time this evening -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Well, what about the possibility in that sand storm of getting air support, calling in Apache or Cobra helicopters or A-10 warplanes?

RODGERS: Forget the helicopters, Wolf, they haven't been flying for the past two days. And with the weather forecast, the sand storm, the helicopters are not going to be flying another two days.

The type of air support that has been available so far -- there was a B-1 bomber that dropped an appreciable load of the high- precision, high-accuracy bombs over in the direction of An Najaf last night. We did hear bombs falling out in the distance, not too far out in front of us this evening. Again, we couldn't tell the delivery system, whether it was an F-16 or A-10.

But because of the weather there is very limited air support available, or at least at first we're told that has loosened up now. And there are now planes in the air available if the Iraqis decide to mass and come forward this evening.

They have been very audacious, Wolf. They have been hitting behind us all night, striking Charlie company, that is Crazyhorse Troop of the U.S. Army 7th Cavalry. They've taken quite a pounding. But they have put up a stiff resistance.

What the Iraqis have been trying to do is swing around behind Apache, which is the unit I'm with, and try to come in behind us. Charlie Company and Bonecrusher have done rather manly jobs of holding them off.

But what the Iraqis were trying to do was to re-seize the Euphrates River bridge that we crossed over yesterday and try to cut off the 17th Cavalry. They've been unsuccessful so far -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Walter, is this part of the Iraqi military doctrine? Correct me if I'm wrong, normally, they don't necessarily go out and take the battle to the invading U.S. forces. They sort of wait in a defensive posture. But this time, they seem to be anxious to engage the invading U.S. forces, and try to score some victories with that kind of strategy.

Is this different than the normal Iraqi strategy?

RODGERS: Well, the Iraqis in the Gulf War, according to some recent readings I've studied, suggested that they could be very audacious and surprise you when they had their backs to the wall. They could organize a fairly decent counterattack. That appears to be what we're seeing now. And remember, it was originally thought Saddam Hussein's generals would draw a defense line around Baghdad with his crack units there. But what we've discovered now is additionally, Saddam Hussein's generals are throwing some of his better troops forward to stiffen the spine of his regular troops in cities like An Najaf and As Samawah (ph), and going to down to Nasiriya, all the way over to Basra.

So he is mixing his tactics this time. He's showing a fair amount of imagination in terms of his line of attack.

And one very important thing that we're seeing now is that the Iraqis are conducting a war of attrition against the United States military, which is pushing northward, that war of attrition being a kind of guerrilla warfare, where they send suicide buses into the side of a Bradley fighting vehicle, trying to knock out a tank here, a fighting vehicle there, another tank here.

And the idea, trying to break the morale and reduce the fighting power of the United States before the U.S. Army and the Marines get close to his crack units outside Baghdad. It's not an unimaginative strategy -- Wolf.

BLITZER: It sounds like a pretty imaginative strategy to me, knowing what I know about the Iraqi military. The Republican Guard units moving, advancing very rapidly. Walter Rodgers reporting perhaps 1,000 vehicles on the move to engage the U.S. forces.

Walter, be careful over there. We'll be checking back with you soon. 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