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British Royal Marines Went Through Umm Qasr Today Arresting People, Doing House-to-House Searches

Aired March 26, 2003 - 14:53   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: Immediately, I want to go to Bill Neely of ITN. He's with the British forces not far from Umm Qasr right now.
Bill, what's happening where you are? We had been told Umm Qasr, the main port of the Iraqi main port is secure. Is it, in fact, secure?

BILL NEELY, U.K. POOL REPORTER: Well, yes, it is largely secure. The British Royal Marines went through Umm Qasr today in a rather robust fashion, arresting people, doing house-to-house searches. And indeed, the most interesting moment was when they found a large cache of grenades, hand grenades and rocket-propelled grenades in a school.

Now, it's often been said that Saddam Hussein hides weapons in schools, hospitals, even mosques. Well, today we found evidence of it, a primary school, three classrooms full of grenades, rocket- propelled grenades and significantly discarded uniforms, as if, when the American forces came through Umm Qasr, the 120 or so Iraqi troops who were here simply took off their uniforms and melted away into the civilian population.

The other big news from this area, Wolf, is that around 3:30 Iraqi time, a large column, perhaps between 70 and 120 vehicles, was seen leaving Basra southeast along the coast road towards the Al Faw Peninsula.

This was confirmed by British radar. U.S. warplanes were sent up and those U.S. warplanes have spent large parts of this afternoon and this evening attacking that convoy, which I understand has now broken up, and many parts of it have been destroyed.

BLITZER: Bill, if you could tell us, was there any -- we spoke with your colleague, Juliet just a little while ago. She's near Basra. Was there any logic to those Iraqi tanks, that armored column, trying to head south away from Basra towards the Al Faw Peninsula? Because those areas are pretty much under the U.S. and British control.

NEELY: That's right. Quite frankly, the allies simply weren't taking any chances. At first, they thought, well, is this a counter- attack towards the Al Faw Peninsula, where Iraqi troops have been cleared for several days now? Or is it a tactical retreat from Basra? And it was simply decided not to take any chances. This was war. It was a large column, a large target. And the decision was made to attack it.

There was some problem with visibility earlier in the day, so Cobra Attack Helicopters couldn't be used. I gather a British Phoenix Drone, with a video camera, was sent up, but I think the visibility was rather bad for it to get any pictures back. So U.S. warplanes were sent up.

I understand that it may not now have been a column of many more than 70, and it has been broken up into smaller pockets. As to what its exact intentions were, we're not absolutely sure. But Basra has been pounded heavily by British artillery, and indeed, some of those British guns were also turned on this column of vehicles leaving Basra this afternoon.

BLITZER: Bill Neely of ITN -- he's in Umm Qasr. Thanks very much, Bill, for that report. We'll be checking back with you periodically.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com




Arresting People, Doing House-to-House Searches>


Aired March 26, 2003 - 14:53   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Immediately, I want to go to Bill Neely of ITN. He's with the British forces not far from Umm Qasr right now.
Bill, what's happening where you are? We had been told Umm Qasr, the main port of the Iraqi main port is secure. Is it, in fact, secure?

BILL NEELY, U.K. POOL REPORTER: Well, yes, it is largely secure. The British Royal Marines went through Umm Qasr today in a rather robust fashion, arresting people, doing house-to-house searches. And indeed, the most interesting moment was when they found a large cache of grenades, hand grenades and rocket-propelled grenades in a school.

Now, it's often been said that Saddam Hussein hides weapons in schools, hospitals, even mosques. Well, today we found evidence of it, a primary school, three classrooms full of grenades, rocket- propelled grenades and significantly discarded uniforms, as if, when the American forces came through Umm Qasr, the 120 or so Iraqi troops who were here simply took off their uniforms and melted away into the civilian population.

The other big news from this area, Wolf, is that around 3:30 Iraqi time, a large column, perhaps between 70 and 120 vehicles, was seen leaving Basra southeast along the coast road towards the Al Faw Peninsula.

This was confirmed by British radar. U.S. warplanes were sent up and those U.S. warplanes have spent large parts of this afternoon and this evening attacking that convoy, which I understand has now broken up, and many parts of it have been destroyed.

BLITZER: Bill, if you could tell us, was there any -- we spoke with your colleague, Juliet just a little while ago. She's near Basra. Was there any logic to those Iraqi tanks, that armored column, trying to head south away from Basra towards the Al Faw Peninsula? Because those areas are pretty much under the U.S. and British control.

NEELY: That's right. Quite frankly, the allies simply weren't taking any chances. At first, they thought, well, is this a counter- attack towards the Al Faw Peninsula, where Iraqi troops have been cleared for several days now? Or is it a tactical retreat from Basra? And it was simply decided not to take any chances. This was war. It was a large column, a large target. And the decision was made to attack it.

There was some problem with visibility earlier in the day, so Cobra Attack Helicopters couldn't be used. I gather a British Phoenix Drone, with a video camera, was sent up, but I think the visibility was rather bad for it to get any pictures back. So U.S. warplanes were sent up.

I understand that it may not now have been a column of many more than 70, and it has been broken up into smaller pockets. As to what its exact intentions were, we're not absolutely sure. But Basra has been pounded heavily by British artillery, and indeed, some of those British guns were also turned on this column of vehicles leaving Basra this afternoon.

BLITZER: Bill Neely of ITN -- he's in Umm Qasr. Thanks very much, Bill, for that report. We'll be checking back with you periodically.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com




Arresting People, Doing House-to-House Searches>