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Explosions in Baghdad

Aired March 26, 2003 - 15:34   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.


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello. I'm Miles O'Brien at the CNN center. We're in the map room. I'm joined by retired Major General of the U.S. Air Force Don Shepperd. We're going to give you a brief situation report, give you an overview of what's going on as best we know it in a very dynamic situation in the country of Iraq right now.
We're going to begin in the capital city of Baghdad and tell you about this explosion, which we really don't know its origin just yet. But let's try to give people an understanding of what the possibilities could be, Don Shepperd.

MAJ. GEN. DON SHEPPERD (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes. The U.S. military says that it targeted seven Iraqi missile sites in the Baghdad area. This explosion took place. We do not know yet whether one of the missiles went awry, whether one of the missiles was shot by the anti-aircraft artillery defense of the Iraqis and therefore went into this populated area.

It also could be a surface-to-air missile fired by the Iraqis that went in there. It could be all sorts of things, Miles. We simply don't know is what it amounts to.

O'BRIEN: All right. The al Shahab (ph) neighborhood is highlighted on your screen here. It's across the Tigris River from the Information Ministry in that palace complex we've been showing you so much about. There's a market right in the center of this neighborhood, obviously heavily traveled. And we're just going to have to think about the possibilities.

But let's tell you briefly about the cruise missile. We've told you about cruise missiles fired from surface Navy ships. They can be fired from submarines. They also can be fired from B-52s, as seen here.

This is the air launch cruise missile. Pretty accurate generally.

SHEPPERD: Yes. It's a conventional air launch cruise missile, about a 600-mile range, very effective. It uses GPS satellite- assisted guidance for this particular missile. It's got about a 1,000-pound warhead, but with the impact dangles, it seems like even more.

It's very, very accurate. And, again, we've seen in the previous -- one of the previous strikes during Desert Strike, I believe it was, where the Iraqi anti-aircraft artillery hit one of those and it went into the Al Rasheed Hotel.

O'BRIEN: So it can actually be deflected. All right. Let's move on to the south, and this is perhaps the most important story we have to tell you about today.

This is representing -- that's the 101st Airborne. We're not exactly sure where they are. This is the 3-7 Cav, the very pointy end of the spear, as the Army likes to say.

SHEPPERD: You bet.

O'BRIEN: According to Walt Rodgers, confronting an armored column of some significance. What do we know?

SHEPPERD: Well that's the second brigade of the Medina Division, the Medina Armored Division south of Baghdad. Over here, further to the east, we have the infantry -- I'm sorry, I put an infantry division over here. We have the Baghdad division.

And over here to the west, we have the Hammurabi Armored Division. Now reports also that there are reports of a thousand-man column coming south out of Baghdad, and in Baghdad it would probably elements of the Al Nida (ph) Division that's in Baghdad, if that is true.

O'BRIEN: All right. Should we put a question mark beside it for now?

SHEPPERD: I'm very skeptical about these early reports.

O'BRIEN: All right.

SHEPPERD: But if that is true, it really yields to air power. The United States has air power from F-15Es. They also have air power from F-16s, F-18s, A-10s, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) that can be employed against this type of force.

O'BRIEN: All right. But in a sandstorm, some of that is undermined. And perhaps that is the reason this particular column is moving right now.

SHEPPERD: It could be. Taking advantage of the sandstorm. That's what the F-15E -- that's when it really comes into play because of its radar, ability to attack targets with precision weapons, even any kind of weather.

O'BRIEN: All right. Let's get down to Basra, because we don't have too much more time. Kind of an odd thing. We're not sure what's going on, but we've had numerous reports of a column of Iraqi armored vehicles, 100 or so, heading southeast out of Basra, toward Umm Qasr, we think, which is controlled by the coalition. Explain that.

SHEPPERD: Again, early reports, were not at all sure. But this column, if indeed it's moving, would probably be retreating. Possibly reports due to the uprising of the civilization population in Basra. If that's true, that is very good news. The British are taking care of Basra, 1.2 million people. The port of Umm Qasr has been secured, if you will. And then the Marines are moving north to the vicinity of Nasiriya.

O'BRIEN: All right. That gives you a pretty good sense of what we know now. Lots of question marks still on the table.

SHEPPERD: Indeed.

O'BRIEN: We're watching it all very closely. We'll bring you the details as we get them.

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 - 15:34   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello. I'm Miles O'Brien at the CNN center. We're in the map room. I'm joined by retired Major General of the U.S. Air Force Don Shepperd. We're going to give you a brief situation report, give you an overview of what's going on as best we know it in a very dynamic situation in the country of Iraq right now.
We're going to begin in the capital city of Baghdad and tell you about this explosion, which we really don't know its origin just yet. But let's try to give people an understanding of what the possibilities could be, Don Shepperd.

MAJ. GEN. DON SHEPPERD (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes. The U.S. military says that it targeted seven Iraqi missile sites in the Baghdad area. This explosion took place. We do not know yet whether one of the missiles went awry, whether one of the missiles was shot by the anti-aircraft artillery defense of the Iraqis and therefore went into this populated area.

It also could be a surface-to-air missile fired by the Iraqis that went in there. It could be all sorts of things, Miles. We simply don't know is what it amounts to.

O'BRIEN: All right. The al Shahab (ph) neighborhood is highlighted on your screen here. It's across the Tigris River from the Information Ministry in that palace complex we've been showing you so much about. There's a market right in the center of this neighborhood, obviously heavily traveled. And we're just going to have to think about the possibilities.

But let's tell you briefly about the cruise missile. We've told you about cruise missiles fired from surface Navy ships. They can be fired from submarines. They also can be fired from B-52s, as seen here.

This is the air launch cruise missile. Pretty accurate generally.

SHEPPERD: Yes. It's a conventional air launch cruise missile, about a 600-mile range, very effective. It uses GPS satellite- assisted guidance for this particular missile. It's got about a 1,000-pound warhead, but with the impact dangles, it seems like even more.

It's very, very accurate. And, again, we've seen in the previous -- one of the previous strikes during Desert Strike, I believe it was, where the Iraqi anti-aircraft artillery hit one of those and it went into the Al Rasheed Hotel.

O'BRIEN: So it can actually be deflected. All right. Let's move on to the south, and this is perhaps the most important story we have to tell you about today.

This is representing -- that's the 101st Airborne. We're not exactly sure where they are. This is the 3-7 Cav, the very pointy end of the spear, as the Army likes to say.

SHEPPERD: You bet.

O'BRIEN: According to Walt Rodgers, confronting an armored column of some significance. What do we know?

SHEPPERD: Well that's the second brigade of the Medina Division, the Medina Armored Division south of Baghdad. Over here, further to the east, we have the infantry -- I'm sorry, I put an infantry division over here. We have the Baghdad division.

And over here to the west, we have the Hammurabi Armored Division. Now reports also that there are reports of a thousand-man column coming south out of Baghdad, and in Baghdad it would probably elements of the Al Nida (ph) Division that's in Baghdad, if that is true.

O'BRIEN: All right. Should we put a question mark beside it for now?

SHEPPERD: I'm very skeptical about these early reports.

O'BRIEN: All right.

SHEPPERD: But if that is true, it really yields to air power. The United States has air power from F-15Es. They also have air power from F-16s, F-18s, A-10s, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) that can be employed against this type of force.

O'BRIEN: All right. But in a sandstorm, some of that is undermined. And perhaps that is the reason this particular column is moving right now.

SHEPPERD: It could be. Taking advantage of the sandstorm. That's what the F-15E -- that's when it really comes into play because of its radar, ability to attack targets with precision weapons, even any kind of weather.

O'BRIEN: All right. Let's get down to Basra, because we don't have too much more time. Kind of an odd thing. We're not sure what's going on, but we've had numerous reports of a column of Iraqi armored vehicles, 100 or so, heading southeast out of Basra, toward Umm Qasr, we think, which is controlled by the coalition. Explain that.

SHEPPERD: Again, early reports, were not at all sure. But this column, if indeed it's moving, would probably be retreating. Possibly reports due to the uprising of the civilization population in Basra. If that's true, that is very good news. The British are taking care of Basra, 1.2 million people. The port of Umm Qasr has been secured, if you will. And then the Marines are moving north to the vicinity of Nasiriya.

O'BRIEN: All right. That gives you a pretty good sense of what we know now. Lots of question marks still on the table.

SHEPPERD: Indeed.

O'BRIEN: We're watching it all very closely. We'll bring you the details as we get them.

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