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British Forces Pumping Artillery Into Basra
Aired March 26, 2003 - 14:33 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: There's another battle, apparently, under way as well, including a column of Iraqi vehicles near Basra. I want to bring in ITN's Juliet Bremner. She's embedded with the British forces there.
Juliet, tell us what's going on, as far as you can tell from your vantage point.
JULIET BREMNER, ITN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: As far as I can see from my vantage point, there is a lot of artillery being pumped into Basra, yet again, from the British forces. They've had these ongoing fights every night, and during the day as well, for the last four days, attacking the city from northern positions.
This column you're talking about, we have confirmation here amongst the commanding officers that between 70 and 100 Iraqi tanks are heading out south, directly away from where I am, down the Faw Peninsula towards the British and American Marines, the areas that they have managed to take in the last few days.
We're not certain why they're headed out. It could be that they're being squeezed because they're facing a very heavy bombardment at regular intervals from this side. And the British believe that they have the Iraqi army on the run at the moment.
They certainly are going that way, and it could be a tactical withdrawal. On the other hand, they could be going out to launch one last offensive against the coalition forces down the other side of the city. It's just not clear at the moment.
What I can tell you is that they are being tracked both in the air and on the ground, so I suspect they won't get terribly far.
BLITZER: That would sound to be a very vulnerable situation, if you say 70 to 100 Iraqi tanks moving south of Basra to an area that apparently is pretty much under the control of the U.S. and British forces. They would seem to be very vulnerable.
It doesn't make much military sense for them to be doing it unless they have, as you say, literally no other alternative.
BREMNER: That's very much the conclusion that we're coming to here. We were hearing last night that there were the beginnings of what people were calling a popular uprising. My commanding officers tell me they think that's slightly overstating it. But certainly, we've seen crowds of people out on the streets. Well, I haven't personally seen them, but we are getting intelligence reports that ordinary people in Basra have had enough of being held down by both the Iraqi troops and the Ba'ath Party and used as human shields and having their vehicles taken to launch attacks. And they will be trying to rise up to get rid of them. They are on the streets, and they are doing their best.
Now, it could be, if that's going on in the northern part of the city and they've got the British troops behind them here -- not yet there, but certainly forming a very solid steel column behind them -- that these tanks literally have nowhere else to go. They head south because that is their only option.
BLITZER: Juliet, what about these so-called irregular paramilitary Iraqi forces, the Fedayeen Saddam? There were some reports they were still in control of pockets of Basra. What can you tell us about them?
BREMNER: That's very much the case. They are the ones that are causing the British the biggest headache by a long way.
I was talking to some of the soldiers who came back from the front line this morning. And they said it's incredibly difficult for them to make any kind of distinction between what is a legitimate military target and what is a civilian target. Because these groups, these paramilitaries you're talking about, are apparently dressed in civilian clothing. They're taking civilian cars, and they even wave white flags, as if to surrender, and then, when they get as close as possible to the British troops, they open fire with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades that are situated on the back of these vehicles.
Now the guys are having to try and fight them from our side, from the British side, and say that that makes their tasks very difficult indeed. And it's getting to the stage where, if they see a vehicle coming out, they just target it and try to eliminate it anyway.
They had been taking a more cautious policy earlier on because they are under strict orders to cause as little disruption as possible to the ordinary people of Basra, who the commanders here are very anxious should not feel that this is a force who are coming to attack them. They want to reassure them they're here to help.
So they're trying not to target either civilians or public buildings. But the problem is the Fedayeen you're talking about are using universities and hospitals, as far as we can tell, to hide their activities and then come out on these random attacks, which are proving quite costly to the British forces.
BLITZER: Juliet, thanks for that excellent reporting -- Juliet Bremner of ITN. She's embedded with the British forces outside of Basra. Thank you 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 - 14:33 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: There's another battle, apparently, under way as well, including a column of Iraqi vehicles near Basra. I want to bring in ITN's Juliet Bremner. She's embedded with the British forces there.
Juliet, tell us what's going on, as far as you can tell from your vantage point.
JULIET BREMNER, ITN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: As far as I can see from my vantage point, there is a lot of artillery being pumped into Basra, yet again, from the British forces. They've had these ongoing fights every night, and during the day as well, for the last four days, attacking the city from northern positions.
This column you're talking about, we have confirmation here amongst the commanding officers that between 70 and 100 Iraqi tanks are heading out south, directly away from where I am, down the Faw Peninsula towards the British and American Marines, the areas that they have managed to take in the last few days.
We're not certain why they're headed out. It could be that they're being squeezed because they're facing a very heavy bombardment at regular intervals from this side. And the British believe that they have the Iraqi army on the run at the moment.
They certainly are going that way, and it could be a tactical withdrawal. On the other hand, they could be going out to launch one last offensive against the coalition forces down the other side of the city. It's just not clear at the moment.
What I can tell you is that they are being tracked both in the air and on the ground, so I suspect they won't get terribly far.
BLITZER: That would sound to be a very vulnerable situation, if you say 70 to 100 Iraqi tanks moving south of Basra to an area that apparently is pretty much under the control of the U.S. and British forces. They would seem to be very vulnerable.
It doesn't make much military sense for them to be doing it unless they have, as you say, literally no other alternative.
BREMNER: That's very much the conclusion that we're coming to here. We were hearing last night that there were the beginnings of what people were calling a popular uprising. My commanding officers tell me they think that's slightly overstating it. But certainly, we've seen crowds of people out on the streets. Well, I haven't personally seen them, but we are getting intelligence reports that ordinary people in Basra have had enough of being held down by both the Iraqi troops and the Ba'ath Party and used as human shields and having their vehicles taken to launch attacks. And they will be trying to rise up to get rid of them. They are on the streets, and they are doing their best.
Now, it could be, if that's going on in the northern part of the city and they've got the British troops behind them here -- not yet there, but certainly forming a very solid steel column behind them -- that these tanks literally have nowhere else to go. They head south because that is their only option.
BLITZER: Juliet, what about these so-called irregular paramilitary Iraqi forces, the Fedayeen Saddam? There were some reports they were still in control of pockets of Basra. What can you tell us about them?
BREMNER: That's very much the case. They are the ones that are causing the British the biggest headache by a long way.
I was talking to some of the soldiers who came back from the front line this morning. And they said it's incredibly difficult for them to make any kind of distinction between what is a legitimate military target and what is a civilian target. Because these groups, these paramilitaries you're talking about, are apparently dressed in civilian clothing. They're taking civilian cars, and they even wave white flags, as if to surrender, and then, when they get as close as possible to the British troops, they open fire with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades that are situated on the back of these vehicles.
Now the guys are having to try and fight them from our side, from the British side, and say that that makes their tasks very difficult indeed. And it's getting to the stage where, if they see a vehicle coming out, they just target it and try to eliminate it anyway.
They had been taking a more cautious policy earlier on because they are under strict orders to cause as little disruption as possible to the ordinary people of Basra, who the commanders here are very anxious should not feel that this is a force who are coming to attack them. They want to reassure them they're here to help.
So they're trying not to target either civilians or public buildings. But the problem is the Fedayeen you're talking about are using universities and hospitals, as far as we can tell, to hide their activities and then come out on these random attacks, which are proving quite costly to the British forces.
BLITZER: Juliet, thanks for that excellent reporting -- Juliet Bremner of ITN. She's embedded with the British forces outside of Basra. Thank you 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
