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Coalition Closing in on Baghdad
Aired April 04, 2003 - 14:08 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: We want to go quickly to a "TIME" magazine correspondent, Simon Robinson. He is with some coalition forces southeast of Baghdad.
Simon, as best you can, tell us what area you are in, and what you are seeing.
SIMON ROBINSON, "TIME" MAGAZINE: I'm traveling with the 7th Marine Regiment, where -- around 30 kilometers southeast of Baghdad. It's nighttime here. When we rolled up the road from the southeast this afternoon, there had been heavy fighting along the road pushing into Baghdad.
Mostly the fighting was done by the 5th Marines. And they, when they got to the point where we are now, encountered heavy resistance, and military officials believe that the fighters -- enemy fighters included Jordanian and Egyptian mercenary fighters.
I don't have any information on how they know that, but that's what they believe.
Also other examples of asymmetric tactics on the battlefield by enemy fighters, including a truck laden with explosives driven up to a tent and exploded next to the M1-A1 Abrams tank used by the U.S. Marines.
WOODRUFF: Simon, just how much resistance have the Iraqis -- and now you are saying there are Jordanian and Egyptian mercenary fighters involved. How much resistance are they putting up?
ROBINSON: Well, the resistance has built the closer to Baghdad that the Marines have driven. I would say along the -- I wasn't -- I didn't witness the fighting today that the 5th Marines carried out. But a lot of it, if it's anything similar to what I've seen over the last couple of days, a lot of it looked like -- we saw dead -- destroyed tanks, Iraqi tanks and Iraqi artillery pieces along the road.
So the resistance, say, 50 kilometers out, didn't seem to be that strong. But the closer that we've come to Baghdad, the resistance has grown stronger.
WOODRUFF: Even with that -- and again, we're talking with Simon Robinson with "TIME" magazine -- it sounds as if you're saying coalition forces have continued to move forward. They haven't been necessarily slowed by any of this.
ROBINSON: Absolutely. I -- in the last day, momentum has picked up, if that's possible. This morning, we were planning to move with the Marines some of the way toward Baghdad, and around lunchtime, local time, the order came down that, in fact, we would be pressing on even further because of (UNINTELLIGIBLE) due to the fighting of the 5th Marines carried out today.
WOODRUFF: And how close would you estimate you are to Baghdad now from the southeast?
ROBINSON: Roughly 30 kilometers. So we're on the outskirts of the city.
WOODRUFF: And are you continuing to move tonight, or -- I don't know whether you can say that or not.
ROBINSON: There is fighting currently going on. In fact, if you had spoken to me five minutes ago, you would have heard artillery going overhead, hitting enemy positions and also providing some illumination for the Marines. Where the 7th Marines are currently holding position, so there's a small pause, I would say, but the fighting -- it's not going to be a long pause.
WOODRUFF: Are you running into any civilians who are reacting one way or another?
ROBINSON: A lot of civilians along the road today, some heading south, seemingly out of Baghdad, or (UNINTELLIGIBLE) to Baghdad, but a lot out just on the roads, inquisitive, wondering, I guess, looking at this military machine moving through their towns and villages and into the suburbs. Some were cheering and clapping, and (UNINTELLIGIBLE) seeing U.S. troops, but I would say on the whole, to be fair, most were just inquisitive.
WOODRUFF: Simon, we are reading newswire reports of thousands of Iraqis said to be in vehicles, perhaps some on foot, moving, as you just said, away from Baghdad, most of them going to the east. So it sounds like you are seeing some evidence of this.
ROBINSON: That's true. I saw a lot on foot today. Definitely hundreds that I saw on the two-hour drive from where we were earlier in the day to where we are now, and a lot of vehicles filled with people.
Of course, the problems that that causes is that the roads are congested, and the Marines need all the road they can get for supply trains and to move combat elements up. So as the Iraqis push south, they are tended -- or (UNINTELLIGIBLE), they tend to be pushed off the roads, and they drive on the curb.
WOODRUFF: Any casualties on the part of the coalition forces?
ROBINSON: Not today, that I know of. I can only talk about what I know. But yesterday the Marine battalion that I was with, that I am embedded with, fought in a town southeast of Baghdad called Al Kut, and there were four casualties. One Marine was killed, and three were injured in fighting.
WOODRUFF: Simon Robinson with "TIME" magazine, on the phone with us. He's with the 7th Marine Regiment, getting closer to Baghdad. He said right now they are some, perhaps, 30 kilometers southeast of Baghdad and moving closer, encountering some resistance, but none of it slowing them down.
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 4, 2003 - 14:08 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: We want to go quickly to a "TIME" magazine correspondent, Simon Robinson. He is with some coalition forces southeast of Baghdad.
Simon, as best you can, tell us what area you are in, and what you are seeing.
SIMON ROBINSON, "TIME" MAGAZINE: I'm traveling with the 7th Marine Regiment, where -- around 30 kilometers southeast of Baghdad. It's nighttime here. When we rolled up the road from the southeast this afternoon, there had been heavy fighting along the road pushing into Baghdad.
Mostly the fighting was done by the 5th Marines. And they, when they got to the point where we are now, encountered heavy resistance, and military officials believe that the fighters -- enemy fighters included Jordanian and Egyptian mercenary fighters.
I don't have any information on how they know that, but that's what they believe.
Also other examples of asymmetric tactics on the battlefield by enemy fighters, including a truck laden with explosives driven up to a tent and exploded next to the M1-A1 Abrams tank used by the U.S. Marines.
WOODRUFF: Simon, just how much resistance have the Iraqis -- and now you are saying there are Jordanian and Egyptian mercenary fighters involved. How much resistance are they putting up?
ROBINSON: Well, the resistance has built the closer to Baghdad that the Marines have driven. I would say along the -- I wasn't -- I didn't witness the fighting today that the 5th Marines carried out. But a lot of it, if it's anything similar to what I've seen over the last couple of days, a lot of it looked like -- we saw dead -- destroyed tanks, Iraqi tanks and Iraqi artillery pieces along the road.
So the resistance, say, 50 kilometers out, didn't seem to be that strong. But the closer that we've come to Baghdad, the resistance has grown stronger.
WOODRUFF: Even with that -- and again, we're talking with Simon Robinson with "TIME" magazine -- it sounds as if you're saying coalition forces have continued to move forward. They haven't been necessarily slowed by any of this.
ROBINSON: Absolutely. I -- in the last day, momentum has picked up, if that's possible. This morning, we were planning to move with the Marines some of the way toward Baghdad, and around lunchtime, local time, the order came down that, in fact, we would be pressing on even further because of (UNINTELLIGIBLE) due to the fighting of the 5th Marines carried out today.
WOODRUFF: And how close would you estimate you are to Baghdad now from the southeast?
ROBINSON: Roughly 30 kilometers. So we're on the outskirts of the city.
WOODRUFF: And are you continuing to move tonight, or -- I don't know whether you can say that or not.
ROBINSON: There is fighting currently going on. In fact, if you had spoken to me five minutes ago, you would have heard artillery going overhead, hitting enemy positions and also providing some illumination for the Marines. Where the 7th Marines are currently holding position, so there's a small pause, I would say, but the fighting -- it's not going to be a long pause.
WOODRUFF: Are you running into any civilians who are reacting one way or another?
ROBINSON: A lot of civilians along the road today, some heading south, seemingly out of Baghdad, or (UNINTELLIGIBLE) to Baghdad, but a lot out just on the roads, inquisitive, wondering, I guess, looking at this military machine moving through their towns and villages and into the suburbs. Some were cheering and clapping, and (UNINTELLIGIBLE) seeing U.S. troops, but I would say on the whole, to be fair, most were just inquisitive.
WOODRUFF: Simon, we are reading newswire reports of thousands of Iraqis said to be in vehicles, perhaps some on foot, moving, as you just said, away from Baghdad, most of them going to the east. So it sounds like you are seeing some evidence of this.
ROBINSON: That's true. I saw a lot on foot today. Definitely hundreds that I saw on the two-hour drive from where we were earlier in the day to where we are now, and a lot of vehicles filled with people.
Of course, the problems that that causes is that the roads are congested, and the Marines need all the road they can get for supply trains and to move combat elements up. So as the Iraqis push south, they are tended -- or (UNINTELLIGIBLE), they tend to be pushed off the roads, and they drive on the curb.
WOODRUFF: Any casualties on the part of the coalition forces?
ROBINSON: Not today, that I know of. I can only talk about what I know. But yesterday the Marine battalion that I was with, that I am embedded with, fought in a town southeast of Baghdad called Al Kut, and there were four casualties. One Marine was killed, and three were injured in fighting.
WOODRUFF: Simon Robinson with "TIME" magazine, on the phone with us. He's with the 7th Marine Regiment, getting closer to Baghdad. He said right now they are some, perhaps, 30 kilometers southeast of Baghdad and moving closer, encountering some resistance, but none of it slowing them down.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
