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Situation Report From General Don Shepperd

Aired March 28, 2003 - 15:47   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 CNN Center in Atlanta, joined by General Don Shepperd, retired U.S. Air Force, for a quick situation report for you.
General Shepperd, let's start in the south, Basra. Lots of things going on in there. Incoming aid, outgoing refugees, and possibly -- possibly we have some reports of Iraqis shooting at civilians.

MAJ. GEN. DON SHEPPERD (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Indeed. The port of Umm Qasr, the mines have been cleared. The ship Galahad is off loading 200 tons of humanitarian relief. Supposedly it is reaching Basra and being unloaded by the British Marines. As the refugees were coming over to the bridge to get to it, reportedly they were fired upon by the embedded troops of the Iraqis, the Fedayeen Saddam.

O'BRIEN: All right. Getting this aid to the people is obviously critical and obviously has a lot to do with creating some degree of trust between the forces that are moving in, who are understandably oppressed by the regime and have been for quite some time. It's a dicey proposition in a place like Basra right now, where it's difficult to identify where the enemy might be or a perceived enemy might be.

SHEPPERD: Indeed. Lots of fighting still going on in Basra. Reportedly, 40 percent of the water is out due to electricity. They're trying to repair that. At the same time, they're trying to clear the city. And the British have a tough fight on their hands clearing that city of 1.2 million.

O'BRIEN: All right. Let's move north to Nasiriya. We don't have any pictures to give you of Nasiriya, but there is still a pitched battle underway; a town of about a half-million people. And we have conflicting reports.

I think the number we're going to just use for the sake of discussion right now is about a dozen Marines that have -- well the term -- I don't want to use the wrong term here, because there's a definite precise term. Explain how this goes.

SHEPPERD: Yes. The missing in action comes -- the "missing in action" term is a definite status. It comes after 48 hours. The other term they're using right now is "whereabouts unknown." So up until 48 hours they are not reporting them as missing in action because they could be lost and with another unit.

O'BRIEN: OK. So for now, the correct term is "whereabouts unknown."

SHEPPERD: The correct term is "whereabouts unknown" until declared missing in action.

O'BRIEN: All right. And briefly, up in Baghdad, we saw an explosion in an area with civilians. Some 50 people apparently dead, according to Arab TV. What can we say about that?

SHEPPERD: It's a terrible thing. It's the type of thing the United States does not want to see happen. It could be an errant U.S. weapon of some type, a missile or a bomb. It also could be anti- aircraft artillery from the Iraqis or an errant Iraqi surface-to-air missile. Don't know yet.

O'BRIEN: All right. Major General Don Shepperd, retired U.S. Air Force, thanks, as always -- Wolf.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks very much, Miles and General Shepperd.

We can now report that eyewitnesses are hearing explosions in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. This has been a stronghold of Saddam Hussein's regime. It's been targeted several times over the past week.

Once again, explosions going off in Mosul in the northern part of Iraq. This is by no means unusual coming at this time of the night. It's approaching midnight here in this part of the world.

A few minutes ago, we did report there were sirens going off in Baghdad. Now indications that, once again, more explosions going off in the Iraqi capital as well. Although we can't see them, our cameras are positioned in fixed sites. And so far we haven't seen or heard of those explosions, although we are getting reports from local eyewitnesses. More explosions and more bombing going off in the Iraqi capital.

With the weather conditions improving -- the weather conditions have been improving over the past day or two -- more of these explosions, more of these bombing campaigns are expected.

(WEATHER)

JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: As we leave you for a very short break, we want to show you some pictures from the White House. Just a few moments ago, President Bush took off, as he did last weekend, for Camp David. The White House has made it very clear that the president is completely able to direct this war as commander in chief from wherever he is, whether it's the White House or at the presidential retreat of Camp David in Maryland's Catoctin Mountain.

President Bush there with Laura Bush just a little while ago. We heard the president addressing a group of veterans in the White House East Room, saying that the regime that has terrorized all of Iraq he said now controls just a small portion of that country. The president saying, "We are going to free the people of Iraq from the clutches of Saddam Hussein and his murderous allies." Very strong words from President Bush.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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 28, 2003 - 15:47   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 CNN Center in Atlanta, joined by General Don Shepperd, retired U.S. Air Force, for a quick situation report for you.
General Shepperd, let's start in the south, Basra. Lots of things going on in there. Incoming aid, outgoing refugees, and possibly -- possibly we have some reports of Iraqis shooting at civilians.

MAJ. GEN. DON SHEPPERD (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Indeed. The port of Umm Qasr, the mines have been cleared. The ship Galahad is off loading 200 tons of humanitarian relief. Supposedly it is reaching Basra and being unloaded by the British Marines. As the refugees were coming over to the bridge to get to it, reportedly they were fired upon by the embedded troops of the Iraqis, the Fedayeen Saddam.

O'BRIEN: All right. Getting this aid to the people is obviously critical and obviously has a lot to do with creating some degree of trust between the forces that are moving in, who are understandably oppressed by the regime and have been for quite some time. It's a dicey proposition in a place like Basra right now, where it's difficult to identify where the enemy might be or a perceived enemy might be.

SHEPPERD: Indeed. Lots of fighting still going on in Basra. Reportedly, 40 percent of the water is out due to electricity. They're trying to repair that. At the same time, they're trying to clear the city. And the British have a tough fight on their hands clearing that city of 1.2 million.

O'BRIEN: All right. Let's move north to Nasiriya. We don't have any pictures to give you of Nasiriya, but there is still a pitched battle underway; a town of about a half-million people. And we have conflicting reports.

I think the number we're going to just use for the sake of discussion right now is about a dozen Marines that have -- well the term -- I don't want to use the wrong term here, because there's a definite precise term. Explain how this goes.

SHEPPERD: Yes. The missing in action comes -- the "missing in action" term is a definite status. It comes after 48 hours. The other term they're using right now is "whereabouts unknown." So up until 48 hours they are not reporting them as missing in action because they could be lost and with another unit.

O'BRIEN: OK. So for now, the correct term is "whereabouts unknown."

SHEPPERD: The correct term is "whereabouts unknown" until declared missing in action.

O'BRIEN: All right. And briefly, up in Baghdad, we saw an explosion in an area with civilians. Some 50 people apparently dead, according to Arab TV. What can we say about that?

SHEPPERD: It's a terrible thing. It's the type of thing the United States does not want to see happen. It could be an errant U.S. weapon of some type, a missile or a bomb. It also could be anti- aircraft artillery from the Iraqis or an errant Iraqi surface-to-air missile. Don't know yet.

O'BRIEN: All right. Major General Don Shepperd, retired U.S. Air Force, thanks, as always -- Wolf.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks very much, Miles and General Shepperd.

We can now report that eyewitnesses are hearing explosions in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. This has been a stronghold of Saddam Hussein's regime. It's been targeted several times over the past week.

Once again, explosions going off in Mosul in the northern part of Iraq. This is by no means unusual coming at this time of the night. It's approaching midnight here in this part of the world.

A few minutes ago, we did report there were sirens going off in Baghdad. Now indications that, once again, more explosions going off in the Iraqi capital as well. Although we can't see them, our cameras are positioned in fixed sites. And so far we haven't seen or heard of those explosions, although we are getting reports from local eyewitnesses. More explosions and more bombing going off in the Iraqi capital.

With the weather conditions improving -- the weather conditions have been improving over the past day or two -- more of these explosions, more of these bombing campaigns are expected.

(WEATHER)

JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: As we leave you for a very short break, we want to show you some pictures from the White House. Just a few moments ago, President Bush took off, as he did last weekend, for Camp David. The White House has made it very clear that the president is completely able to direct this war as commander in chief from wherever he is, whether it's the White House or at the presidential retreat of Camp David in Maryland's Catoctin Mountain.

President Bush there with Laura Bush just a little while ago. We heard the president addressing a group of veterans in the White House East Room, saying that the regime that has terrorized all of Iraq he said now controls just a small portion of that country. The president saying, "We are going to free the people of Iraq from the clutches of Saddam Hussein and his murderous allies." Very strong words from President Bush.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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