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Military Analysis With Don Shepperd

Aired April 01, 2003 - 13:30   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, CNN ANCHOR: Responding to reports today that military commanders on the ground in Iraq are frustrated that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld didn't send enough troops to Iraq, a senior administration official has told CNN today the president has tremendous faith in the secretary of defense, in his decision making, and that is borne out by what the president sees as a successful campaign.
Well, let's take a closer at -- a closer look at the military strategy now with CNN's Miles O'Brien at the map table in Atlanta and military analyst General Don Shepperd -- Miles and the general.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks very much, Judy. Appreciate that.

We're going to talk a little bit about Karbala. Karbala is where we know, pretty much the vanguard of the U.S. advance is, the pointy tip of the spear, right at Karbala, which is 50 miles south and a little bit to the west of Baghdad.

I want to take you in and zoom in there and talk about three areas that are of great interest. We've got three big bodies of water there. As we zoom in on this area -- Don Shepperd, let's orient people, give people a sense of where we are.

First of all, we want to tell you, that's Baghdad right over there.

RET. MAJ. GEN. DON SHEPPERD, USAF, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: You bet.

O'BRIEN: And these three lakes, which are significant bodies of water here, could come into play and if you could explain that for us, that would good. I'll tell you what -- do you want me to zoom in on one of those lakes first?

SHEPPERD: OK. First of all, the southern-most lake, number one here, is Lake Razaza (ph), that's the southwest of Baghdad. The middle lake is -- is Lake Habania (ph) and the lake number three is Lake Fartha (ph), all big lakes with dams that become -- may become important later.

O'BRIEN: All right. And this basically is the gap we're talking about here. You've got the Euphrates River -- the Tigris is pretty much over in that neck of the woods.

SHEPPERD: A little further over.

O'BRIEN: In any case, if you're going to start moving a column through here, you've got the potential for a choke point, correct?

SHEPPERD: This is the area that we're worried about right here. This is what's being referred to as the Karbala Gap, the distance between the Lake Razaza and the town of Karbala. Basically, the concern is if it becomes flooded.

O'BRIEN: All right.

Now, once again, just to reorient you, we're look toward the south. I want to point this out. that's Baghdad for you there. We believe that is the area where this particular lake is dammed, correct?

SHEPPERD: This is a dam on Lake Fartha, the northernmost lake and that dam, if blown, this would feed into the Euphrates River here and could become a problem of flooding downstream.

O'BRIEN: All right. Let's move to the next one and we -- it's a little harder to spot the dam on this one. This is a smaller body of water, but we believe it's down in the southern portion, correct?

SHEPPERD: Indeed, and this is...

(CROSSTALK)

SHEPPERD: Yes -- it's actually off to the right-hand side of the picture here. But it would -- again, would flood into the Euphrates River and flood downstream. That's the concern.

O'BRIEN: And finally, Karbala, which is a big body of water, which is where we got this -- started off our discussion here. Once again, here's this gap we're talking about, here's the dam right here.

And I asked you this question before. I'll ask you again. What are the chances that Special Forces are in a position to prevent these dams from being breached?

SHEPPERD: Well, I think Special Forces are watching things all over the country, and that's about as far as I'll go.

But the major concern is this area here between the town of Karbala and the lake. If the dam is blown, all of this could be flooded and cause significant problems. Or if you got troops north of here and then the dam was blown, and they could not be resupplied. All that becomes a concern.

O'BRIEN: All right. Once again, we're 50 miles away from Baghdad. It's right up -- right up in that neck of woods. So we're talking about a key, sort of last threshold barrier before Baghdad.

Don Shepperd, thanks very much.

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 April 1, 2003 - 13:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: Responding to reports today that military commanders on the ground in Iraq are frustrated that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld didn't send enough troops to Iraq, a senior administration official has told CNN today the president has tremendous faith in the secretary of defense, in his decision making, and that is borne out by what the president sees as a successful campaign.
Well, let's take a closer at -- a closer look at the military strategy now with CNN's Miles O'Brien at the map table in Atlanta and military analyst General Don Shepperd -- Miles and the general.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks very much, Judy. Appreciate that.

We're going to talk a little bit about Karbala. Karbala is where we know, pretty much the vanguard of the U.S. advance is, the pointy tip of the spear, right at Karbala, which is 50 miles south and a little bit to the west of Baghdad.

I want to take you in and zoom in there and talk about three areas that are of great interest. We've got three big bodies of water there. As we zoom in on this area -- Don Shepperd, let's orient people, give people a sense of where we are.

First of all, we want to tell you, that's Baghdad right over there.

RET. MAJ. GEN. DON SHEPPERD, USAF, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: You bet.

O'BRIEN: And these three lakes, which are significant bodies of water here, could come into play and if you could explain that for us, that would good. I'll tell you what -- do you want me to zoom in on one of those lakes first?

SHEPPERD: OK. First of all, the southern-most lake, number one here, is Lake Razaza (ph), that's the southwest of Baghdad. The middle lake is -- is Lake Habania (ph) and the lake number three is Lake Fartha (ph), all big lakes with dams that become -- may become important later.

O'BRIEN: All right. And this basically is the gap we're talking about here. You've got the Euphrates River -- the Tigris is pretty much over in that neck of the woods.

SHEPPERD: A little further over.

O'BRIEN: In any case, if you're going to start moving a column through here, you've got the potential for a choke point, correct?

SHEPPERD: This is the area that we're worried about right here. This is what's being referred to as the Karbala Gap, the distance between the Lake Razaza and the town of Karbala. Basically, the concern is if it becomes flooded.

O'BRIEN: All right.

Now, once again, just to reorient you, we're look toward the south. I want to point this out. that's Baghdad for you there. We believe that is the area where this particular lake is dammed, correct?

SHEPPERD: This is a dam on Lake Fartha, the northernmost lake and that dam, if blown, this would feed into the Euphrates River here and could become a problem of flooding downstream.

O'BRIEN: All right. Let's move to the next one and we -- it's a little harder to spot the dam on this one. This is a smaller body of water, but we believe it's down in the southern portion, correct?

SHEPPERD: Indeed, and this is...

(CROSSTALK)

SHEPPERD: Yes -- it's actually off to the right-hand side of the picture here. But it would -- again, would flood into the Euphrates River and flood downstream. That's the concern.

O'BRIEN: And finally, Karbala, which is a big body of water, which is where we got this -- started off our discussion here. Once again, here's this gap we're talking about, here's the dam right here.

And I asked you this question before. I'll ask you again. What are the chances that Special Forces are in a position to prevent these dams from being breached?

SHEPPERD: Well, I think Special Forces are watching things all over the country, and that's about as far as I'll go.

But the major concern is this area here between the town of Karbala and the lake. If the dam is blown, all of this could be flooded and cause significant problems. Or if you got troops north of here and then the dam was blown, and they could not be resupplied. All that becomes a concern.

O'BRIEN: All right. Once again, we're 50 miles away from Baghdad. It's right up -- right up in that neck of woods. So we're talking about a key, sort of last threshold barrier before Baghdad.

Don Shepperd, thanks very much.

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