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Marines Supply Lines Under Fire in South While East of Najaf in Euphrates Valley
Aired March 26, 2003 - 14:29 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, CNN ANCHOR: We have harrowing reports of U.S. Marines supply lines under fire in the south while east of Najaf in the Euphrates Valley. A U.S. Army squadron engaged and prevailed in what may have been the biggest firefight of the war thus far.
The Central Command says it's pushing on to Baghdad despite what some officials acknowledge is tougher than expected resistance from Iraqi paramilitary forces. Officials can't or won't confirm reports from our Walter Rodgers, as I just said, and others now that members of Iraq's Republican Guard are speeding south to confront the coalition, forces as they move north toward Baghdad.
A short while ago, about an or so hour ago, I spoke to Walter Rodgers. He's with the 7th Calvary. And he reported this information about this column of Iraqi vehicles moving south of Baghdad.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WALTER RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: 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 a while ago, they were at Al Ilya (ph), and that is very close to the 7th Cavalry's position.
There was a bit of a scramble at the 7th Cavalry Tactical Operations Post. However, in the meantime, the Army has managed to bring up substantial reinforcements, although 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 sandstorm and at night. But that's a possibility, and everyone is sitting on a very tight hair trigger where we are.
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 sandstorm, which is blowing, which has reduced visibility to 75 meters. So we're talking about basically overhead air surveillance peering down through the sand 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 the -- almost on a straight course -- collision course with the 7th Cavalry and the 3rd Infantry Division.
As for the quality of those troops, we are told they are Republican Guard units, 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 sometime this evening. 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 Al Samawah (ph) and going down to Nasiriyah and over to Basra.
So he is mixing his tactics this time, showing a fair amount of imagination, in terms of his line of attack. And one very important thing that we're seeing now is 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 busses into the side of a Bradley Fighting Vehicle, trying to knock out a tank here, a fighting vehicle there, another tank here.
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.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Walter Rodgers reporting just a little while ago about a potentially huge battle that is in the works, An armored column of elite Iraqi forces with perhaps as many as 1,000 vehicles moving towards U.S. forces in the central part of Iraq near an Najaf, just south of Baghdad.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Najaf in Euphrates Valley>
Aired March 26, 2003 - 14:29 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: We have harrowing reports of U.S. Marines supply lines under fire in the south while east of Najaf in the Euphrates Valley. A U.S. Army squadron engaged and prevailed in what may have been the biggest firefight of the war thus far.
The Central Command says it's pushing on to Baghdad despite what some officials acknowledge is tougher than expected resistance from Iraqi paramilitary forces. Officials can't or won't confirm reports from our Walter Rodgers, as I just said, and others now that members of Iraq's Republican Guard are speeding south to confront the coalition, forces as they move north toward Baghdad.
A short while ago, about an or so hour ago, I spoke to Walter Rodgers. He's with the 7th Calvary. And he reported this information about this column of Iraqi vehicles moving south of Baghdad.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WALTER RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: 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 a while ago, they were at Al Ilya (ph), and that is very close to the 7th Cavalry's position.
There was a bit of a scramble at the 7th Cavalry Tactical Operations Post. However, in the meantime, the Army has managed to bring up substantial reinforcements, although 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 sandstorm and at night. But that's a possibility, and everyone is sitting on a very tight hair trigger where we are.
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 sandstorm, which is blowing, which has reduced visibility to 75 meters. So we're talking about basically overhead air surveillance peering down through the sand 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 the -- almost on a straight course -- collision course with the 7th Cavalry and the 3rd Infantry Division.
As for the quality of those troops, we are told they are Republican Guard units, 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 sometime this evening. 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 Al Samawah (ph) and going down to Nasiriyah and over to Basra.
So he is mixing his tactics this time, showing a fair amount of imagination, in terms of his line of attack. And one very important thing that we're seeing now is 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 busses into the side of a Bradley Fighting Vehicle, trying to knock out a tank here, a fighting vehicle there, another tank here.
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.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Walter Rodgers reporting just a little while ago about a potentially huge battle that is in the works, An armored column of elite Iraqi forces with perhaps as many as 1,000 vehicles moving towards U.S. forces in the central part of Iraq near an Najaf, just south of Baghdad.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Najaf in Euphrates Valley>
