Return to Transcripts main page

Live From...

Marines Complete Dangerous Fuel Mission

Aired March 26, 2003 - 15:03   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: Despite facing some serious problems, coalition forces at this hour are pushing ahead in their bid to try to reach Baghdad. And after six days, the Pentagon says they're 220 miles into Iraqi territory.
A key part of the drive to the Iraqi capital is the coalition supply line. And its protection is, of course vital to the coalition's goal. A report now from CNN's Martin Savidge, who's with the 1st Battalion 7th Marines in southern Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The light, you can tell, fading here. Evening setting in. We are under light discipline, which means no lights can be set up.

We are inside of what is referred to in military jargon as a TAA, or tactical assembly area. It's essentially a parking lot. I doubt if you can see it now in the darkness behind us, but a huge gathering of military hardware and vehicles.

These assembly areas are set up very quickly, in a matter of minutes to a matter of hours. You can stay here in these assembly areas -- they are protected on their perimeters -- for maybe a couple of hours, it could be a couple of days. We don't know at this particular point.

It's an opportunity for crews to get rest and for equipment to be worked upon. We've just finished digging our foxhole, which is a nightly requirement, due to the threat of missiles and also, artillery attacks. When you're with the Marines, you're always digging. And we've just finished that job, on top of everything else we had to do.

Let me tell you about what happened last night. The 1st Marine Division running desperately short on fuel. They actually had to put a pause in forward-moving operations because they were so low. A critical shipment of a quarter of a million gallons of diesel fuel had to come in.

Where does it come from? Northern Kuwait, over very tenuous supply lines. It's a long way to get here. That fuel had to come in.

The problem was, there has been attacks by Saddam Hussein supporters along that critical supply line, especially in this particular area where we are. The 1st Battalion 7th Marines last night given the task, hold the lines open -- make sure that the truck loads of fuel can get through. Imagine what tempting targets those huge fuel tankers would be, especially given the fact that a bullet, a mortar round, or a rocket-propelled grenade could send them up into a ball of fire.

So we went in. We were warned ahead of time, expect fighting, expect shooting, expect RPGs and even, perhaps, mortar rounds. We ran into just about all of that, in the pitch black darkness that followed immediately after terrible -- the horrendous sand storm that we fought through yesterday.

The fuel got through. The bottom line for many of these Marines, the first hard engagement they've had, receiving unfriendly fire, returning fire of their own. Everyone is all right on this end, we can report.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Martin Savidge, reporting on an important development. He's embedded with the U.S. Marines. He's now in south Iraq, maybe even central Iraq by now.

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 - 15:03   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, ANCHOR: Despite facing some serious problems, coalition forces at this hour are pushing ahead in their bid to try to reach Baghdad. And after six days, the Pentagon says they're 220 miles into Iraqi territory.
A key part of the drive to the Iraqi capital is the coalition supply line. And its protection is, of course vital to the coalition's goal. A report now from CNN's Martin Savidge, who's with the 1st Battalion 7th Marines in southern Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The light, you can tell, fading here. Evening setting in. We are under light discipline, which means no lights can be set up.

We are inside of what is referred to in military jargon as a TAA, or tactical assembly area. It's essentially a parking lot. I doubt if you can see it now in the darkness behind us, but a huge gathering of military hardware and vehicles.

These assembly areas are set up very quickly, in a matter of minutes to a matter of hours. You can stay here in these assembly areas -- they are protected on their perimeters -- for maybe a couple of hours, it could be a couple of days. We don't know at this particular point.

It's an opportunity for crews to get rest and for equipment to be worked upon. We've just finished digging our foxhole, which is a nightly requirement, due to the threat of missiles and also, artillery attacks. When you're with the Marines, you're always digging. And we've just finished that job, on top of everything else we had to do.

Let me tell you about what happened last night. The 1st Marine Division running desperately short on fuel. They actually had to put a pause in forward-moving operations because they were so low. A critical shipment of a quarter of a million gallons of diesel fuel had to come in.

Where does it come from? Northern Kuwait, over very tenuous supply lines. It's a long way to get here. That fuel had to come in.

The problem was, there has been attacks by Saddam Hussein supporters along that critical supply line, especially in this particular area where we are. The 1st Battalion 7th Marines last night given the task, hold the lines open -- make sure that the truck loads of fuel can get through. Imagine what tempting targets those huge fuel tankers would be, especially given the fact that a bullet, a mortar round, or a rocket-propelled grenade could send them up into a ball of fire.

So we went in. We were warned ahead of time, expect fighting, expect shooting, expect RPGs and even, perhaps, mortar rounds. We ran into just about all of that, in the pitch black darkness that followed immediately after terrible -- the horrendous sand storm that we fought through yesterday.

The fuel got through. The bottom line for many of these Marines, the first hard engagement they've had, receiving unfriendly fire, returning fire of their own. Everyone is all right on this end, we can report.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Martin Savidge, reporting on an important development. He's embedded with the U.S. Marines. He's now in south Iraq, maybe even central Iraq by now.

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