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Pentagon Says It Has Flexible Plan

Aired March 26, 2003 - 15:20   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.


JUDY WOODRUFF, ANCHOR: The Pentagon is confirming that a second officer has died from Sunday's grenade attack, allegedly committed by a fellow serviceman. Now that raises the coalition death toll to 45: 25 Americans and 20 British troops.
Right now, we don't have reliable numbers on Iraqi casualties in -- that is, Iraqi casualties, but Pentagon officials say that about 300 Iraqi soldiers, they say, were killed fighting coalition forces in Najaf yesterday. And we do have unconfirmed reports, these are from the Iraqi information office, of at least 93 Iraqi civilian deaths.

Just a little while ago, we had a briefing from the Pentagon. I'll bring us up to date with their perspective on how the war is going so far. I want to bring in our senior military affairs correspondent, Jamie McIntyre.

Jamie, I listened, as you did. You were there. A number of questions today about to what extent the military has been thrown off its game plan, if you will, because of the surprising -- they say it's not surprising, but others might say unexpected -- strength of the Iraqi irregulars, Fedayeen and so forth.

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Judy, there's a saying at the Pentagon, it's a well-worn military axiom that no plan survives first contact with the enemy. And that is to say that there's always things that are impossible to anticipate, even if you go through all the possibilities.

And I think privately some Pentagon officials would concede that they perhaps didn't realize the extent that these fanatical fighters, loyal to Saddam Hussein, would be distributed around the country and be able to intimidate the civilian population and keep them from welcoming U.S. troops and intimidate some of the irregular Iraqi forces and keep them from surrendering.

But the U.S. strategy, Pentagon officials insist, even on background, hasn't really changed. And that is to basically cut off the head of the government.

The U.S. is convinced that the center of gravity of Saddam Hussein's regime is Baghdad. And they're going to continue to press while they -- they're going to try to deal with these fighters, as they find them in the field, try to protect them to the extent they can, civilians who are being intimidated by them. They believe the main solution to the problem is not to go city to city and try to mop them up, but to continue to cut off the regime. They think as soon as it's clear Saddam Hussein is gone, that nobody is in charge in Baghdad, that the problem of the fighters in the outlying cities will take care of itself.

So they're insisting that they're staying on this strategy, even as they have to be careful to protect their rear flank and to try to protect, to the extent they can, citizens in the south from being intimidated, harassed, or even murdered by some of these Saddam Hussein loyalists -- Judy.

WOODRUFF: Jamie, having said that, Saddam Hussein has had, golly, well over a year to think about his own tactics in this coming battle.

Given that, the fact, you know, we now have this report that there's a column of Republican Guard, perhaps, moving south out of Baghdad. Is it possible in a situation like this, not so much to expect everything but to be prepared for everything? I mean there -- You've got a combination of sand storm, poor visibility, difficulty with air support; how do they deal with a situation like this?

MCINTYRE: Yes, and I think that that's really the key from a U.S. military strategy, not that they can accurately predict everything that will happen but they can be prepared for it. And that's where I think the U.S. would say their military plan is quite flexible and did anticipate all kinds of contingencies that they would have to deal with.

The -- For the U.S. military, this is a plan that's proceeding on pace. As for that column of vehicles that's supposed to be coming down from Baghdad, here at the Pentagon they have no reports to confirm that, although they concede that the commanders on the ground may have a better tactical situation for what's happening there.

If, however, I would just say, if there's a column of vehicles moving, that's exactly the kind of target that the U.S. technology gives the American military a tremendous advantage in taking out columns of moving vehicles. They have the technology to spot it and technology to target it from the air.

And the U.S. does enjoy air superiority over most of the country -- Judy.

WOODRUFF: Once that sand storm is -- is cleared up. Jamie, one other thing: today, there were a number of questions about the missiles that fell in a civilian -- a residential area of Baghdad near a marketplace. What are they saying about that?

MCINTYRE: Well, the U.S. continues to say that it's taking every care to avoid civilian casualties. However, they did admit today that they targeted some missiles in Baghdad, that were within 300 yards of civilian homes.

That said, they've looked at this marketplace damage that's come from Baghdad, and they've said that they have -- after reviewing this, they have found nothing that indicates they dropped any ordnance anywhere near this site.

WOODRUFF: All right. Jamie McIntyre, as we look at pictures that Iraqi television released earlier today. Their charge is that the U.S. missiles are responsible for that. The U.S. saying it could have been Iraqi, it could have been U.S. We're looking into it, as Jamie just said.

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 - 15:20   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JUDY WOODRUFF, ANCHOR: The Pentagon is confirming that a second officer has died from Sunday's grenade attack, allegedly committed by a fellow serviceman. Now that raises the coalition death toll to 45: 25 Americans and 20 British troops.
Right now, we don't have reliable numbers on Iraqi casualties in -- that is, Iraqi casualties, but Pentagon officials say that about 300 Iraqi soldiers, they say, were killed fighting coalition forces in Najaf yesterday. And we do have unconfirmed reports, these are from the Iraqi information office, of at least 93 Iraqi civilian deaths.

Just a little while ago, we had a briefing from the Pentagon. I'll bring us up to date with their perspective on how the war is going so far. I want to bring in our senior military affairs correspondent, Jamie McIntyre.

Jamie, I listened, as you did. You were there. A number of questions today about to what extent the military has been thrown off its game plan, if you will, because of the surprising -- they say it's not surprising, but others might say unexpected -- strength of the Iraqi irregulars, Fedayeen and so forth.

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Judy, there's a saying at the Pentagon, it's a well-worn military axiom that no plan survives first contact with the enemy. And that is to say that there's always things that are impossible to anticipate, even if you go through all the possibilities.

And I think privately some Pentagon officials would concede that they perhaps didn't realize the extent that these fanatical fighters, loyal to Saddam Hussein, would be distributed around the country and be able to intimidate the civilian population and keep them from welcoming U.S. troops and intimidate some of the irregular Iraqi forces and keep them from surrendering.

But the U.S. strategy, Pentagon officials insist, even on background, hasn't really changed. And that is to basically cut off the head of the government.

The U.S. is convinced that the center of gravity of Saddam Hussein's regime is Baghdad. And they're going to continue to press while they -- they're going to try to deal with these fighters, as they find them in the field, try to protect them to the extent they can, civilians who are being intimidated by them. They believe the main solution to the problem is not to go city to city and try to mop them up, but to continue to cut off the regime. They think as soon as it's clear Saddam Hussein is gone, that nobody is in charge in Baghdad, that the problem of the fighters in the outlying cities will take care of itself.

So they're insisting that they're staying on this strategy, even as they have to be careful to protect their rear flank and to try to protect, to the extent they can, citizens in the south from being intimidated, harassed, or even murdered by some of these Saddam Hussein loyalists -- Judy.

WOODRUFF: Jamie, having said that, Saddam Hussein has had, golly, well over a year to think about his own tactics in this coming battle.

Given that, the fact, you know, we now have this report that there's a column of Republican Guard, perhaps, moving south out of Baghdad. Is it possible in a situation like this, not so much to expect everything but to be prepared for everything? I mean there -- You've got a combination of sand storm, poor visibility, difficulty with air support; how do they deal with a situation like this?

MCINTYRE: Yes, and I think that that's really the key from a U.S. military strategy, not that they can accurately predict everything that will happen but they can be prepared for it. And that's where I think the U.S. would say their military plan is quite flexible and did anticipate all kinds of contingencies that they would have to deal with.

The -- For the U.S. military, this is a plan that's proceeding on pace. As for that column of vehicles that's supposed to be coming down from Baghdad, here at the Pentagon they have no reports to confirm that, although they concede that the commanders on the ground may have a better tactical situation for what's happening there.

If, however, I would just say, if there's a column of vehicles moving, that's exactly the kind of target that the U.S. technology gives the American military a tremendous advantage in taking out columns of moving vehicles. They have the technology to spot it and technology to target it from the air.

And the U.S. does enjoy air superiority over most of the country -- Judy.

WOODRUFF: Once that sand storm is -- is cleared up. Jamie, one other thing: today, there were a number of questions about the missiles that fell in a civilian -- a residential area of Baghdad near a marketplace. What are they saying about that?

MCINTYRE: Well, the U.S. continues to say that it's taking every care to avoid civilian casualties. However, they did admit today that they targeted some missiles in Baghdad, that were within 300 yards of civilian homes.

That said, they've looked at this marketplace damage that's come from Baghdad, and they've said that they have -- after reviewing this, they have found nothing that indicates they dropped any ordnance anywhere near this site.

WOODRUFF: All right. Jamie McIntyre, as we look at pictures that Iraqi television released earlier today. Their charge is that the U.S. missiles are responsible for that. The U.S. saying it could have been Iraqi, it could have been U.S. We're looking into it, as Jamie just said.

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