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Special Edition: War in Iraq Part I

Aired April 05, 2003 - 12:00   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.


WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: It's noon on the East coast, 9:00 a.m. in the West, and 9:00 p.m. in Iraq. Today, it's Saturday, April 5th.
Good afternoon, I'm Wolf Blitzer, reporting live from Kuwait City. Joining me right now from the CNN Newsroom in Atlanta, Leon Harris with a look at what's happening at this hour.

LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Wolf, here are the latest developments. U.S. forces push into Baghdad. The U.S. Central Command forces moved into the heart of the Iraqi capitol today, but Centcom is saying the fight is far from from finished. And the Associated Press says in southwest Baghdad, U.S. soldiers launched an assault on a Republican Guard barracks. And video from the scene shows U.S. tanks firing into those barracks. You see that there.

U.S. Central Command says nine bodies found during the raid to rescue Army Private Jessica Lynch were U.S. soldiers. The Pentagon says that they were part of a convoy that ambushed -- that was ambushed on March 23 near An-Nasiriya. Eight of the soldiers were members of Lynch's 507th maintenance company. The other one was with the 3rd Division Support Battalion.

The Associated Press and Reuters are reporting that U.S. forces have seized the headquarters of the Medina Republican Guard Division. AP says the post in Suwaria has been abandoned by the division, considered one of Saddam Hussein's best trained fighting units. The Medina Division was bombarded by U.S. airstrikes.

The U.S. Central Command says two Marines were killed early today when their super Cobra attack helicopter crashed in central Iraq. The military's investigating the cause of that crash, but Centcom says preliminary evidence indicates it was not caused by hostile fire.

In the next hour of CNN's coverage of the war in Iraq, U.S. tanks rolling into Baghdad. We're live from the front lines just ahead. And a rescue and a recovery mission. Officials identify nine bodies found during Jessica Lynch's rescue. And how do you talk to children about war? A look at that issue in this hour, right here on CNN.

BLITZER: On day 17 of Operation Iraqi Freedom, U.S. troops have entered what one official describes as the heart of Baghdad. Central Command says coalition forces have shown their ability to move in and out of the Iraqi capitol at will.

CNN's Rula Amin is tracking all of the late breaking developments in Baghdad. She's joining us now from neighboring Jordan. She's joining us live.

What's the latest, Rula?

RULA AMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, U.S. Central Command says the U.S. troops went inside Baghdad, carried out a real commission, and then left the Iraqi capitol. Throughout the day, Iraqi officials have been denying this. But now that there is video showing U.S. troops inside Baghdad, Iraqi officials are on the defensive.

Iraq's information minister Mohammed Saeed Sahaf insisted that these pictures are not Baghdad. He kept on saying these pictures were taken at least 30 to 40 kilometers away from Baghdad. And he criticized media outlets that actually put these pictures on the air without much scrutiny. This is how -- the way he put it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOHAMMED SAEED AL-SAYAF: (through translator) This show off party that they displayed on these pictures that you saw -- that you showed without scrutinizing, did you see there was a building on fire? And there were going in a Hollywood fashion to show, as if they were in the outskirts of Baghdad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AMIN: No, the story from Baghdad is completely different from what we have been hearing from the U.S. Central Command. On another incident, the airports, Sahaf says that the Iraqi forces have been to push and force the U.S. troops out of that airport, that those forces, the Iraqi forces, inflicted serious damage among the U.S. troops, that there were casualties. Some were killed. And he said that some U.S. soldiers were taken as prisoners. And now the Republican Guards are in full control of that airport and the Iraqi capitol.

It seems that despite all this defiance on part of the Iraqi officials, they do feel the pressure that is being applied to Baghdad and to their security forces. Saddam Hussein had another message today. It was read on television by Iraq's information minister again. He basically appealed to Iraqis to help him defend Baghdad. He said the U.S. troops are focusing on Baghdad so they have been weakened in other parts of Iraq. And he appealed to the citizens, to the Army, to the troops in order to attack them everywhere, so that to release the pressure on Baghdad -- Wolf?

BLITZER: Rula, is domestic Iraqi television on the air? Or is it just the satellite Iraqi television in which they can broadcast?

AMIN: Well, Iraqi television, the local one, is on the air. And it did carry out all these statements. However, some parts of Baghdad, many of the neighborhoods, are still without electricity. So many people there cannot watch it on television. However, we do know that most Iraqis have radios. They have stored batteries. So they are probably tuning in, listening to the Iraqi radio, as well to other radios, trying to figuring out and assess for themselves what is really happening on the ground, and what should they do in order to protect themselves -- Wolf?

BLITZER: Their best assessment will probably be when they go out on the streets and see what's happening right in front of their very eyes. Rula Amin, she's monitoring all of these developments in nearby Jordan. Thanks, Rula, very much.

The first battalion of the 7th Marines is approaching the southeastern suburbs of Baghdad, making its way directly to the Iraqi capitol.

CNN's Martin Savidge is embedded with the unit and he filed this report just a short time ago.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The U.S. Army has been pushing up from the west. It is the role of the U.S. Marines to push up from the East, actually, and specifically the southeast. 5th Marines rolled in last night ahead of our positions here, down the road there, and ran into some problems, RPG. That is rocket propelled grenades finding their way, a number of the tanks hit. And reportedly, there may have been some casualties.

So it came upon the 1st Battalion 7th Marines to go under the same area today, trying to clear it out, bring it under control and make sure that things had settled down. So the lead element for the convoy we are with has done just that.

It has not been without any fighting, though. Not heavy fighting, its own, but it was sporadic fighting. And we know it has taken place only because in the back here, we find the sound of artillery fire, began early this morning, came again in the afternoon, and then just a short while again more artillery fire.

This is all U.S. Marine artillery. It's being called support fire, sent in the general direction where the sporadic fighting has been taking place. Possible they may have found embedded positions of the Iraqi Republican Guard or Iraqi regular troops. Instead of sending ground units in to deal with those directly, get in with artillery and then send in the infantry to clear out afterwards. Tends to be a little safer for your ground forces to do that kind of work.

It is the plan to continue to push up from the southeast and to the east of Baghdad, encircling the city from this side.

Martin Savidge, CNN, with the 1st Battalion 7th Marines.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And even as the Marines make their way towards Baghdad, the 101st Airborne of the U.S. Army is at Karbala, southwest of Baghdad. CNN embedded correspondent Ryan Chilcote is with the division, which is showing off captured Iraqi weapons.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Can you show us what you've been finding today?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roger, will. This is about the third cache we found today. We've been finding them non-stop and it's a really tedious affair. I've got an assortment of weapons right here, ranging from AK-47s to over here behind them, you'll see motor sites (ph), 60 millimeter and 81. Up on the far left, you'll see a second generation star scope, kind of outdated, but still works.

If you keep shifting over, you'll see stabilizer fins for mortar rounds. On the back here, you'll see both 60 and 82 millimeter mortars.

CHILCOTE: These could be well equipped?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, yes, they're well equipped. Definitely put a fight. Rocket propelled grenades, we're finding a lot of these lately, is to take out a jeep or a Humvee unit in a heart beat.

CHILCOTE: Now is this -- you say you'd seen a lot of weapons caches recently found.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.

CHILCOTE: Is this a large cache?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I think this is about a medium cache.

CHILCOTE: This looks like a lot of weapons?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It looks like a lot of weapons, but it's really not. This technically is probably out for the platoon of drillers or whatever they're...

CHILCOTE: Okay.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you keep going on, this is a little bit more advanced. These are 25 millimeter shelves. And each one of those silver boxes you see behind them, holds 50 of these shelves. That's a little bit above -- they're actually going into mechanized and armor.

CHILCOTE: All right. And you were talking about the makers of where some of these weapons are coming from. And you were expressing surprise to me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roger, the majority of these are coming from -- you on this box, but Jordan and France. We have a scattered ones in Russian equipment, but like I said, France and Jordan are the main suppliers right here.

CHILCOTE: Now for your guys, this is dangerous work, finding...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, extremely dangerous because once you enter these buildings, we found actually enemy, you know, (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Don't know if they're going to be booby-trapped. Don't know what's going to be there. So it's very tedious. It's -- got to be careful about it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Ryan Chilcote reporting for us. He's traveling with 101st Airborne Division. They're moving their way closer and closer toward the Iraqi capitol. And we want to show you these live pictures. Right now, it's night time. Just after 9:00 p.m. in the Iraqi capitol. These are night scope pictures. It looks relatively quiet right now. That certainly could be very, very deceptive with U.S. troops moving in towards Baghdad, both from the southwest, as well as from the southeast. And U.S. bombing continuing close air support for those advancing columns of U.S. troops. The silence that you're seeing right now, as I said, could be very deceptive.

We're monitoring everything that's going on in and around the Iraqi capitol. We'll have these live pictures for you throughout our coverage. We want to go first back to Leon Harris in the CNN newsroom. He's got some more coverage -- Leon?

HARRIS: Yes, well we want to continue that line you were just ruminating on right there about the troops coming in from the west and the southwest and the close air support. Well, with those U.S. forces now making their way inside of Baghdad, the Air Force is going to have to implement a new strategy designed to protect them. And our Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr is checking in right now. She's got the latest now from the Defense Department.

Barbara, what are you hearing about this new strategy?

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Leon, what officials here are saying is today begins the Baghdad portion of the war plan. Now that an initial ground incursion has been made into the city, officials say there will be more of them.

What the ground component will be are these probes in and out of the city. They will be continuous. They will be intermittent. They're designed first to send a message to the regime that they are losing control of their capitol. But more importantly, perhaps, they are a reconnaissance mission, moving into Baghdad, seeing the reaction from the local people, trying to determine where opposition forces may be in the city, as U.S. probes continue.

Now given that, the other development today, the coalition air forces have begun what they call urban close air support over Baghdad. Because there now are U.S. troops on the ground in the city, on an intermittent basis, the air forces, the air component of this campaign will now fly 24/7 combat air packages over the city. There will be forward air controllers, airbornes. They will point out possible enemy targets in the city. And then there will be fixed wing aircraft over the city at all times, ready to roll in with specialized munitions packages to attack enemy sites.

And what the specialization is, they are going to use the smallest munitions that can do the job. What we are being told is there's a lot of concern, of course, about possibly injuring civilians, unintended civilian consequences, unintended damage. But they want to get some of these enemy targets in the city, so they will look for them, and strike them with the smallest munitions package possible -- Leon?

HARRIS: Well, Barbara, I want to ask you what you're hearing about the level of resistance that they're finding now. It seems as though there really isn't much resistance, or the troops have made -- from the airport, the inside the limits or at least into the suburbs of Baghdad. This quickly within just a matter of hours. Are they expecting this to pick up or change or to continue in this pattern? Or what?

STARR: Well, the U.S. military is always very cautious about these matters. Of course, that U.S. military probe of tanks, Bradley fighting vehicles, elements of the 3rd Infantry Division did run into fierce fighting. And as they made their way from the south of the city around a perimeter road towards the airport.

Intermittent fighting, we are told, but fierce. So they are very cautious about what they might run into. They do know there is some neighborhoods where the people will appear to be welcoming them. But they also know there may be thousands of Republican Guards, special Republican Guards, security services, within the city, still, that may put up a fight.

But what they're also watching today as part of this Baghdad element of the war plan, as it were, is a fleeing from the city. There are reports that they see many, many vehicles full of people trying to leave the city. They believe they -- that may be some of the leadership element. So they're still very cautious about what they might be facing -- Leon?

HARRIS: All right, thanks, Barbara. Appreciate that. Barbara Starr at the Pentagon.

Now let's check in with Miles O'Brien. He's got more now on the military strategy on the way now, the troops are, getting inside Baghdad now -- Miles?

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thanks very much, Leon. American troops inside Baghdad, the 17th day of the war. Let's size up the lay of the land, if you will, with the help of retired Lieutenant General Paul Funk, joining us from Austin.

General Funk, good to have you with us. What I'd like to do is zoom in on that airport, which is the toehold right now for American forces in there. And give folks kind of the lay of the land to the targets of opportunity that are immediately around the airport. There's plenty out -- just right near them. And I guess it makes logical sense that those would be the first places to begin targeting.

Now I want to ask you, before we get into this, first of all, as we look at the airport, the distance from the center of that airport all the way to the center of Baghdad, about 10 to 12 miles, will it -- is it likely that the U.S. forces was sort of take lightning advances at specific locations? Or will they gradually increase a perimeter from that airport?

PAUL FUNK, LT. GEN., U.S. ARMY (RET.): I think they'll do both, Miles. I think that the probes we talked about earlier in the newscast were reconnaissance and force. You'll notice, though, that the armored vehicles have infantry protection around them in almost every case. The threat to the armor forces, when they get into a city, are from rooftops and basements and places like that to be hit in the rear or the flanks.

So as they move, they will move a little slower because they're going to have dismounted infantry working with them. In addition to that, I think you're quite right. There will be sweeps made. They'll pull back. Then they'll consolidate, move forward again, and hold that ground.

Initially, they want to find out what's there. That's what reconnaissance is about. The M-1 Abrams tank is a terrific weapon. It's got to be protected closely. And just like the Bradley fighting vehicle. That's what you're seeing now.

O'BRIEN: All right, well, let me ask you -- let's talk about the armor. I've been showing while you've been talking, a Republican Guard barracks, a presidential compound right on the outskirts of that airport. As we look down this highway, this big divided highway here, which is called the Matar Saddam Al-Duwali, which leads right into Baghdad, now that is clearly with this big divided -- you know, we would think of it as an interstate here, the United States.

FUNK: Right.

O'BRIEN: Tailor made for Abrams tanks armor and so forth. But as those tanks get into closer quarters, there effectiveness is diminished quite a bit, isn't it?

FUNK: Yes. It -- what you do is you -- and our kids are great at this. They're the best tankers in the world, frankly. What you do is you pull in your horns. In the desert, you're shooting at a distance of two miles. You're firing kind of a dart. The soldiers say it's hard as woodpecker lips. And that's that round that they fire.

In close, they all use some personnel type rounds. They'll use high explosive anti tank rounds. And of course, they'll go to a shorter battle site. And they'll use their machine guns a lot.

They will react to snipers, probably very violently. So that they can keep them pinned down. And again, the dismounted infantry are key to this. We need to take our time in this kind of a fight. And we'll be a lot better off.

O'BRIEN: I suppose some of this is a limitation of the number of people involved. When you start talking about those expanding rings around that airport, you're talking about a big perimeter with a lot of people. If you talk about surgical strikes and surgical opportunities, for example, I'll show you this. There's this presidential palace north, which is just north of this highway. We're headed up north. We're kind of hovering over the airport right now, an obvious easy target near the airport, something that they would want to go after almost immediately.

And also, right near it, it's kind of interesting. I hadn't noticed this before I picked this up today, right near that presidential compound is a tiny airfield, has about a 4,000 foot runway there. I don't know the status, again, whether the coalition has gone after it or not, but that's a 4,000 foot runway right beside it.

All of these are key targets, aren't they, general?

FUNK: Yes, they are, particularly -- and you heard General Vince Brooks talking about they don't want the members of the regime, the leadership to escape. And so I would think that airfield is probably exactly for that purpose. And this will take some time.

They'll do what they call clover leafing probably. They'll start at the center of the airport. And they'll send patrols out. Clover leafing, must like we did in Vietnam against the very tough enemy. And try to hold the ground and use their weapons to best effect.

What they don't want to do is give the enemy any advantage. And your point about cutting down the ranges of tanks and that sort of thing's, a very important one. Nevertheless, the soldiers know how to use them. And they know how to protect them.

But it will be some -- if the Iraqis resist, there will be some tough fighting ahead.

O'BRIEN: Undoubtedly, General Paul Funk, we thank you very much for your time and your insights on what lies ahead in Baghdad. It doesn't look like a simple picture, does it?

FUNK: No, it's not simple. The most complex operations in the military really are ground operations, mounted and dismounted in urban areas. And so, we need to take our time. We need to make sure that we secure our people and secure the lines of communications. And we can do that, Miles.

O'BRIEN: All right, General Funk, we'll check in with you later. Thanks for your time. We appreciate it. Let's send it now to Wolf in Kuwait City.

BLITZER: Thanks very much, Miles and thanks to General Funk as well.

We're looking at live pictures right now of Baghdad, looking deceptively quiet. Anything but quiet on the streets of the Iraqi capitol. We're also getting reports that thousands of Iraqi refugees beginning to flee, attempting to get out of the city, further complicating this U.S. led military mission. We're watching all of that. We're keeping an eye on the skies over Baghdad. We're keeping an eye on everything else as well, all the latest developments when we come back.

More of our coverage, including details about the rescue of Private First Class Jessica Lynch. All that and more, stay with us. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: A lot of military action going on in and around the Iraqi capitol, especially in the southern suburbs of Baghdad, now approaching not only the outskirts, but actually parts of the Iraqi capitol itself.

And only within the past few minutes, eye witnesses are reporting that a bomb has hit central Baghdad only, get this, a few hundred meters from the Palestine Hotel. The Palestine Hotel is where the international press corps by and large is based. Most of the foreign reporters covering this story inside Baghdad right now are at that Palestine Hotel. A bomb has hit central Baghdad, according to the Reuters news agency, they have an eyewitness correspondent on the scene only a few hundred meters from the Palestine Hotel.

We're watching that story very carefully. That Palestine Hotel is where our CNN reporters, our crew, was based there until they were expelled several days ago.

We're watching all of these late breaking developments. In the meantime, the Pentagon has confirmed that nine of the 11 bodies found during the rescue of Private First Class Jessica Lynch are those of U.S. troops.

CNN's Tom Mintier is at central command headquarters outside of Doha, Qatar. He's joining us now live.

Tom, there was the very, very interesting briefing there earlier this morning?

TOM MINTIER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Most definitely, Wolf. And we did receive some details about the rescue of Jessica Lynch, Private First Class, the fact that a physician helped them, once they entered the hospital, go up to the second floor and find her. And when they went up there, they said her sheet was over her head. And they called out to her that we're U.S. soldiers here to take you home and didn't hear anything and said it a second time. And then heard back, "I'm an American soldier, too."

Then they picked her up and took her out. After they had loaded her on the helicopter, the physician then took them to two areas, one inside the hospital and one nearby, where these special forces soldiers used their hands to recover the bodies of these nine other soldiers, because they didn't have any shovels with them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The force recovered all bodies and transferred them -- transported them back to the staging location and moved those back with the rest of the assault force. And as you know, we've since returned those bodies to the States. And we have identified nine of those sets of remains, eight of them, in fact, were from the 507th maintenance company, and one from the -- a soldier from the 3rd -- a forward support group of the 3rd Infantry Division. And those next of kin now know -- had been notified and they know the status of their loved ones.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MINTIER: Well they did say they brought out 11 remains. They only have identified nine. So far, no other word on the other two, but for Jessica Lynch, she is at a hospital now in Germany, where she is receiving treatment for injuries to her back and to her arms and to her legs. During the briefing, no word on how she sustained those injuries, whether it was when she was captured or later at the hands of Iraqis. Wolf, back to you.

BLITZER: Tom, we heard at the briefing that you covered earlier today the briefer, the general, suggest that U.S. troops had indeed gone into Baghdad, even central Baghdad, but then had withdrawn. But he was unclear precisely what the mission was, what's going on. Based on what you know, the information you have, what exactly is going on with these supposed probing missions going into Baghdad itself?

MINTIER: I think it was quite interesting to hear what was said at a background briefing following the public briefing. We did hear that psychologically, it's a major impact to have tanks coming into your city. This was a senior Centcom official briefing reporter after the briefing.

So very telling that -- very psychological strong impact to have tanks rolling through your city. So it may have been for effect. It may have been sending a message that we're hear. We're able to come into your city, make a left turn, and wait back at the airport. So we'll have to wait and see how strongly that message was received.

BLITZER: All right, Tom Mintier, he's covering the story for us from the central command headquarters in Qatar. Tom, thanks very much. Jason Bellini is with the U.S. Marine Expeditionary Unit of the 15th Artillery. He's joining us now via videophone from Nasiriya, picking up the story involving Private First Class Jessica Lynch.

Jason, tell us what you have?

JASON BELLINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, I'm standing right now in front of Saddam Hospital. This is the hospital where Jessica Lynch was rescued just a few days ago by U.S. special forces. Now today, the Marines with whom we're embedded, at the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, they recovered this dog tag. This is Jessica Lynch's dog tag.

Now I'm trying to cover up, as I do this, her Social Security number. Obviously she - they wouldn't want that on the air. This was given to me by the commander of my company. He said we could show this on the air. We have his clearance. He's going to take this back from me. Once we're done and it will be sent back to her, she'll be getting back her dog tag.

Now let me tell you very quickly where they found this dog tag. It was in -- it was on a search of a house right on the Euphrates River here in the city of Nasiriya. They were looking for armaments. That's what they're doing -- what this company is doing day in, day out, is going door to door into buildings wherever they can to look for armaments. They believe this place, based on human intelligence, was a -- was the residence of a Ba'ath Party leader here in the city of Nasiriya.

Now all this is going on in the backdrop of a very changing climate here in the city of Nasiriya, one that we've been observing over the past few days. I'd had the opportunity to meet some Iraqis on the street, who without my prompting, told me how much they appreciated what they were getting -- how much they appreciate the U.S. Marines being here.

I want to play that for you now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No like.

BELLINI: No like Saddam?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No like Saddam.

BELLINI: Do you like Bush?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maybe. I likes Bush.

BELLINI: What's that, Bush, you like Bush?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maybe.

BELLINI: Marines, U.S. Marines?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good, good.

BELLINI: U.S. Marines, good.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good, yes. Good, good.

BELLINI: Bush is good?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good. Maybe George Bush. George Bush.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, yes, USA! Yes, yes, USA!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BELLINI: Now in rather stark contrast, stark juxtaposition to that piece of video, photographer Joseph Duran just earlier went into this hospital behind me, the hospital where Jessica Lynch was rescued. There, he was able to see and be able to interview some of the people who'd been injured in this war.

He met one 20 year old who was sitting in his kitchen when he heard an Apache helicopter flying overhead, had heard a lot of explosion. Next thing he knew, he was in the hospital. His father had died, very serious injuries. Joe was also told by the -- one of the doctors there in the hospital, a lead doctor in the hospital, that more than 400 people have died in Nasiriya and there are 3,000 injured -- Wolf?

BLITZER: When you say, Jason, that you sensed the really discernible shift in the mood of the people in Nasiriya, largely Shi'ia population there, is that because they're now convinced that the U.S. and coalition forces are going to stay and that there's not going to be a repeat performance of what happened after the first Gulf War 12 years ago, when they felt betrayed by the coalition?

BELLINI: Well, it's interesting. I got a little bit help from a Marine translator when I brought back that piece of video. And you heard one person when I asked about President Bush, and he said, "Maybe." Do you like him? "Maybe." His interpretation, this translator's interpretation of that was well, they're pretty sure, but not 100 percent, but yes, you know, the best analysis I can give is these people here wouldn't be on the street parading and saying "USA, USA" if they thought there was any chance that Saddam's regime could come back into power. They seem fully confident that now there has been a regime change, at least in Nasiriya -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Jason Bellini, one of our embedded correspondents, with the U.S. Marine Corps in Nasiriya. Jason, thanks for that excellent report. And we're going to continue to cover the fallout, the dramatic developments involving Private First Class Jessica Lynch, as she recuperates in a hospital in Germany. We understand her parents are going to be going over there to join her very, very soon. We'll continue to watch.

Unfortunately, not everyone involved in that ambush, of course, has had a happy ending like Jessica Lynch. Indeed, other members of the 507th Maintenance Company were killed during that ambush. We're going to have much more coverage, but we want to leave you right now with the names of those who died in that incident.

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Aired April 5, 2003 - 12:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: It's noon on the East coast, 9:00 a.m. in the West, and 9:00 p.m. in Iraq. Today, it's Saturday, April 5th.
Good afternoon, I'm Wolf Blitzer, reporting live from Kuwait City. Joining me right now from the CNN Newsroom in Atlanta, Leon Harris with a look at what's happening at this hour.

LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Wolf, here are the latest developments. U.S. forces push into Baghdad. The U.S. Central Command forces moved into the heart of the Iraqi capitol today, but Centcom is saying the fight is far from from finished. And the Associated Press says in southwest Baghdad, U.S. soldiers launched an assault on a Republican Guard barracks. And video from the scene shows U.S. tanks firing into those barracks. You see that there.

U.S. Central Command says nine bodies found during the raid to rescue Army Private Jessica Lynch were U.S. soldiers. The Pentagon says that they were part of a convoy that ambushed -- that was ambushed on March 23 near An-Nasiriya. Eight of the soldiers were members of Lynch's 507th maintenance company. The other one was with the 3rd Division Support Battalion.

The Associated Press and Reuters are reporting that U.S. forces have seized the headquarters of the Medina Republican Guard Division. AP says the post in Suwaria has been abandoned by the division, considered one of Saddam Hussein's best trained fighting units. The Medina Division was bombarded by U.S. airstrikes.

The U.S. Central Command says two Marines were killed early today when their super Cobra attack helicopter crashed in central Iraq. The military's investigating the cause of that crash, but Centcom says preliminary evidence indicates it was not caused by hostile fire.

In the next hour of CNN's coverage of the war in Iraq, U.S. tanks rolling into Baghdad. We're live from the front lines just ahead. And a rescue and a recovery mission. Officials identify nine bodies found during Jessica Lynch's rescue. And how do you talk to children about war? A look at that issue in this hour, right here on CNN.

BLITZER: On day 17 of Operation Iraqi Freedom, U.S. troops have entered what one official describes as the heart of Baghdad. Central Command says coalition forces have shown their ability to move in and out of the Iraqi capitol at will.

CNN's Rula Amin is tracking all of the late breaking developments in Baghdad. She's joining us now from neighboring Jordan. She's joining us live.

What's the latest, Rula?

RULA AMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, U.S. Central Command says the U.S. troops went inside Baghdad, carried out a real commission, and then left the Iraqi capitol. Throughout the day, Iraqi officials have been denying this. But now that there is video showing U.S. troops inside Baghdad, Iraqi officials are on the defensive.

Iraq's information minister Mohammed Saeed Sahaf insisted that these pictures are not Baghdad. He kept on saying these pictures were taken at least 30 to 40 kilometers away from Baghdad. And he criticized media outlets that actually put these pictures on the air without much scrutiny. This is how -- the way he put it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOHAMMED SAEED AL-SAYAF: (through translator) This show off party that they displayed on these pictures that you saw -- that you showed without scrutinizing, did you see there was a building on fire? And there were going in a Hollywood fashion to show, as if they were in the outskirts of Baghdad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AMIN: No, the story from Baghdad is completely different from what we have been hearing from the U.S. Central Command. On another incident, the airports, Sahaf says that the Iraqi forces have been to push and force the U.S. troops out of that airport, that those forces, the Iraqi forces, inflicted serious damage among the U.S. troops, that there were casualties. Some were killed. And he said that some U.S. soldiers were taken as prisoners. And now the Republican Guards are in full control of that airport and the Iraqi capitol.

It seems that despite all this defiance on part of the Iraqi officials, they do feel the pressure that is being applied to Baghdad and to their security forces. Saddam Hussein had another message today. It was read on television by Iraq's information minister again. He basically appealed to Iraqis to help him defend Baghdad. He said the U.S. troops are focusing on Baghdad so they have been weakened in other parts of Iraq. And he appealed to the citizens, to the Army, to the troops in order to attack them everywhere, so that to release the pressure on Baghdad -- Wolf?

BLITZER: Rula, is domestic Iraqi television on the air? Or is it just the satellite Iraqi television in which they can broadcast?

AMIN: Well, Iraqi television, the local one, is on the air. And it did carry out all these statements. However, some parts of Baghdad, many of the neighborhoods, are still without electricity. So many people there cannot watch it on television. However, we do know that most Iraqis have radios. They have stored batteries. So they are probably tuning in, listening to the Iraqi radio, as well to other radios, trying to figuring out and assess for themselves what is really happening on the ground, and what should they do in order to protect themselves -- Wolf?

BLITZER: Their best assessment will probably be when they go out on the streets and see what's happening right in front of their very eyes. Rula Amin, she's monitoring all of these developments in nearby Jordan. Thanks, Rula, very much.

The first battalion of the 7th Marines is approaching the southeastern suburbs of Baghdad, making its way directly to the Iraqi capitol.

CNN's Martin Savidge is embedded with the unit and he filed this report just a short time ago.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The U.S. Army has been pushing up from the west. It is the role of the U.S. Marines to push up from the East, actually, and specifically the southeast. 5th Marines rolled in last night ahead of our positions here, down the road there, and ran into some problems, RPG. That is rocket propelled grenades finding their way, a number of the tanks hit. And reportedly, there may have been some casualties.

So it came upon the 1st Battalion 7th Marines to go under the same area today, trying to clear it out, bring it under control and make sure that things had settled down. So the lead element for the convoy we are with has done just that.

It has not been without any fighting, though. Not heavy fighting, its own, but it was sporadic fighting. And we know it has taken place only because in the back here, we find the sound of artillery fire, began early this morning, came again in the afternoon, and then just a short while again more artillery fire.

This is all U.S. Marine artillery. It's being called support fire, sent in the general direction where the sporadic fighting has been taking place. Possible they may have found embedded positions of the Iraqi Republican Guard or Iraqi regular troops. Instead of sending ground units in to deal with those directly, get in with artillery and then send in the infantry to clear out afterwards. Tends to be a little safer for your ground forces to do that kind of work.

It is the plan to continue to push up from the southeast and to the east of Baghdad, encircling the city from this side.

Martin Savidge, CNN, with the 1st Battalion 7th Marines.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And even as the Marines make their way towards Baghdad, the 101st Airborne of the U.S. Army is at Karbala, southwest of Baghdad. CNN embedded correspondent Ryan Chilcote is with the division, which is showing off captured Iraqi weapons.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Can you show us what you've been finding today?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roger, will. This is about the third cache we found today. We've been finding them non-stop and it's a really tedious affair. I've got an assortment of weapons right here, ranging from AK-47s to over here behind them, you'll see motor sites (ph), 60 millimeter and 81. Up on the far left, you'll see a second generation star scope, kind of outdated, but still works.

If you keep shifting over, you'll see stabilizer fins for mortar rounds. On the back here, you'll see both 60 and 82 millimeter mortars.

CHILCOTE: These could be well equipped?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, yes, they're well equipped. Definitely put a fight. Rocket propelled grenades, we're finding a lot of these lately, is to take out a jeep or a Humvee unit in a heart beat.

CHILCOTE: Now is this -- you say you'd seen a lot of weapons caches recently found.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.

CHILCOTE: Is this a large cache?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I think this is about a medium cache.

CHILCOTE: This looks like a lot of weapons?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It looks like a lot of weapons, but it's really not. This technically is probably out for the platoon of drillers or whatever they're...

CHILCOTE: Okay.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you keep going on, this is a little bit more advanced. These are 25 millimeter shelves. And each one of those silver boxes you see behind them, holds 50 of these shelves. That's a little bit above -- they're actually going into mechanized and armor.

CHILCOTE: All right. And you were talking about the makers of where some of these weapons are coming from. And you were expressing surprise to me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roger, the majority of these are coming from -- you on this box, but Jordan and France. We have a scattered ones in Russian equipment, but like I said, France and Jordan are the main suppliers right here.

CHILCOTE: Now for your guys, this is dangerous work, finding...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, extremely dangerous because once you enter these buildings, we found actually enemy, you know, (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Don't know if they're going to be booby-trapped. Don't know what's going to be there. So it's very tedious. It's -- got to be careful about it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Ryan Chilcote reporting for us. He's traveling with 101st Airborne Division. They're moving their way closer and closer toward the Iraqi capitol. And we want to show you these live pictures. Right now, it's night time. Just after 9:00 p.m. in the Iraqi capitol. These are night scope pictures. It looks relatively quiet right now. That certainly could be very, very deceptive with U.S. troops moving in towards Baghdad, both from the southwest, as well as from the southeast. And U.S. bombing continuing close air support for those advancing columns of U.S. troops. The silence that you're seeing right now, as I said, could be very deceptive.

We're monitoring everything that's going on in and around the Iraqi capitol. We'll have these live pictures for you throughout our coverage. We want to go first back to Leon Harris in the CNN newsroom. He's got some more coverage -- Leon?

HARRIS: Yes, well we want to continue that line you were just ruminating on right there about the troops coming in from the west and the southwest and the close air support. Well, with those U.S. forces now making their way inside of Baghdad, the Air Force is going to have to implement a new strategy designed to protect them. And our Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr is checking in right now. She's got the latest now from the Defense Department.

Barbara, what are you hearing about this new strategy?

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Leon, what officials here are saying is today begins the Baghdad portion of the war plan. Now that an initial ground incursion has been made into the city, officials say there will be more of them.

What the ground component will be are these probes in and out of the city. They will be continuous. They will be intermittent. They're designed first to send a message to the regime that they are losing control of their capitol. But more importantly, perhaps, they are a reconnaissance mission, moving into Baghdad, seeing the reaction from the local people, trying to determine where opposition forces may be in the city, as U.S. probes continue.

Now given that, the other development today, the coalition air forces have begun what they call urban close air support over Baghdad. Because there now are U.S. troops on the ground in the city, on an intermittent basis, the air forces, the air component of this campaign will now fly 24/7 combat air packages over the city. There will be forward air controllers, airbornes. They will point out possible enemy targets in the city. And then there will be fixed wing aircraft over the city at all times, ready to roll in with specialized munitions packages to attack enemy sites.

And what the specialization is, they are going to use the smallest munitions that can do the job. What we are being told is there's a lot of concern, of course, about possibly injuring civilians, unintended civilian consequences, unintended damage. But they want to get some of these enemy targets in the city, so they will look for them, and strike them with the smallest munitions package possible -- Leon?

HARRIS: Well, Barbara, I want to ask you what you're hearing about the level of resistance that they're finding now. It seems as though there really isn't much resistance, or the troops have made -- from the airport, the inside the limits or at least into the suburbs of Baghdad. This quickly within just a matter of hours. Are they expecting this to pick up or change or to continue in this pattern? Or what?

STARR: Well, the U.S. military is always very cautious about these matters. Of course, that U.S. military probe of tanks, Bradley fighting vehicles, elements of the 3rd Infantry Division did run into fierce fighting. And as they made their way from the south of the city around a perimeter road towards the airport.

Intermittent fighting, we are told, but fierce. So they are very cautious about what they might run into. They do know there is some neighborhoods where the people will appear to be welcoming them. But they also know there may be thousands of Republican Guards, special Republican Guards, security services, within the city, still, that may put up a fight.

But what they're also watching today as part of this Baghdad element of the war plan, as it were, is a fleeing from the city. There are reports that they see many, many vehicles full of people trying to leave the city. They believe they -- that may be some of the leadership element. So they're still very cautious about what they might be facing -- Leon?

HARRIS: All right, thanks, Barbara. Appreciate that. Barbara Starr at the Pentagon.

Now let's check in with Miles O'Brien. He's got more now on the military strategy on the way now, the troops are, getting inside Baghdad now -- Miles?

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thanks very much, Leon. American troops inside Baghdad, the 17th day of the war. Let's size up the lay of the land, if you will, with the help of retired Lieutenant General Paul Funk, joining us from Austin.

General Funk, good to have you with us. What I'd like to do is zoom in on that airport, which is the toehold right now for American forces in there. And give folks kind of the lay of the land to the targets of opportunity that are immediately around the airport. There's plenty out -- just right near them. And I guess it makes logical sense that those would be the first places to begin targeting.

Now I want to ask you, before we get into this, first of all, as we look at the airport, the distance from the center of that airport all the way to the center of Baghdad, about 10 to 12 miles, will it -- is it likely that the U.S. forces was sort of take lightning advances at specific locations? Or will they gradually increase a perimeter from that airport?

PAUL FUNK, LT. GEN., U.S. ARMY (RET.): I think they'll do both, Miles. I think that the probes we talked about earlier in the newscast were reconnaissance and force. You'll notice, though, that the armored vehicles have infantry protection around them in almost every case. The threat to the armor forces, when they get into a city, are from rooftops and basements and places like that to be hit in the rear or the flanks.

So as they move, they will move a little slower because they're going to have dismounted infantry working with them. In addition to that, I think you're quite right. There will be sweeps made. They'll pull back. Then they'll consolidate, move forward again, and hold that ground.

Initially, they want to find out what's there. That's what reconnaissance is about. The M-1 Abrams tank is a terrific weapon. It's got to be protected closely. And just like the Bradley fighting vehicle. That's what you're seeing now.

O'BRIEN: All right, well, let me ask you -- let's talk about the armor. I've been showing while you've been talking, a Republican Guard barracks, a presidential compound right on the outskirts of that airport. As we look down this highway, this big divided highway here, which is called the Matar Saddam Al-Duwali, which leads right into Baghdad, now that is clearly with this big divided -- you know, we would think of it as an interstate here, the United States.

FUNK: Right.

O'BRIEN: Tailor made for Abrams tanks armor and so forth. But as those tanks get into closer quarters, there effectiveness is diminished quite a bit, isn't it?

FUNK: Yes. It -- what you do is you -- and our kids are great at this. They're the best tankers in the world, frankly. What you do is you pull in your horns. In the desert, you're shooting at a distance of two miles. You're firing kind of a dart. The soldiers say it's hard as woodpecker lips. And that's that round that they fire.

In close, they all use some personnel type rounds. They'll use high explosive anti tank rounds. And of course, they'll go to a shorter battle site. And they'll use their machine guns a lot.

They will react to snipers, probably very violently. So that they can keep them pinned down. And again, the dismounted infantry are key to this. We need to take our time in this kind of a fight. And we'll be a lot better off.

O'BRIEN: I suppose some of this is a limitation of the number of people involved. When you start talking about those expanding rings around that airport, you're talking about a big perimeter with a lot of people. If you talk about surgical strikes and surgical opportunities, for example, I'll show you this. There's this presidential palace north, which is just north of this highway. We're headed up north. We're kind of hovering over the airport right now, an obvious easy target near the airport, something that they would want to go after almost immediately.

And also, right near it, it's kind of interesting. I hadn't noticed this before I picked this up today, right near that presidential compound is a tiny airfield, has about a 4,000 foot runway there. I don't know the status, again, whether the coalition has gone after it or not, but that's a 4,000 foot runway right beside it.

All of these are key targets, aren't they, general?

FUNK: Yes, they are, particularly -- and you heard General Vince Brooks talking about they don't want the members of the regime, the leadership to escape. And so I would think that airfield is probably exactly for that purpose. And this will take some time.

They'll do what they call clover leafing probably. They'll start at the center of the airport. And they'll send patrols out. Clover leafing, must like we did in Vietnam against the very tough enemy. And try to hold the ground and use their weapons to best effect.

What they don't want to do is give the enemy any advantage. And your point about cutting down the ranges of tanks and that sort of thing's, a very important one. Nevertheless, the soldiers know how to use them. And they know how to protect them.

But it will be some -- if the Iraqis resist, there will be some tough fighting ahead.

O'BRIEN: Undoubtedly, General Paul Funk, we thank you very much for your time and your insights on what lies ahead in Baghdad. It doesn't look like a simple picture, does it?

FUNK: No, it's not simple. The most complex operations in the military really are ground operations, mounted and dismounted in urban areas. And so, we need to take our time. We need to make sure that we secure our people and secure the lines of communications. And we can do that, Miles.

O'BRIEN: All right, General Funk, we'll check in with you later. Thanks for your time. We appreciate it. Let's send it now to Wolf in Kuwait City.

BLITZER: Thanks very much, Miles and thanks to General Funk as well.

We're looking at live pictures right now of Baghdad, looking deceptively quiet. Anything but quiet on the streets of the Iraqi capitol. We're also getting reports that thousands of Iraqi refugees beginning to flee, attempting to get out of the city, further complicating this U.S. led military mission. We're watching all of that. We're keeping an eye on the skies over Baghdad. We're keeping an eye on everything else as well, all the latest developments when we come back.

More of our coverage, including details about the rescue of Private First Class Jessica Lynch. All that and more, stay with us. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: A lot of military action going on in and around the Iraqi capitol, especially in the southern suburbs of Baghdad, now approaching not only the outskirts, but actually parts of the Iraqi capitol itself.

And only within the past few minutes, eye witnesses are reporting that a bomb has hit central Baghdad only, get this, a few hundred meters from the Palestine Hotel. The Palestine Hotel is where the international press corps by and large is based. Most of the foreign reporters covering this story inside Baghdad right now are at that Palestine Hotel. A bomb has hit central Baghdad, according to the Reuters news agency, they have an eyewitness correspondent on the scene only a few hundred meters from the Palestine Hotel.

We're watching that story very carefully. That Palestine Hotel is where our CNN reporters, our crew, was based there until they were expelled several days ago.

We're watching all of these late breaking developments. In the meantime, the Pentagon has confirmed that nine of the 11 bodies found during the rescue of Private First Class Jessica Lynch are those of U.S. troops.

CNN's Tom Mintier is at central command headquarters outside of Doha, Qatar. He's joining us now live.

Tom, there was the very, very interesting briefing there earlier this morning?

TOM MINTIER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Most definitely, Wolf. And we did receive some details about the rescue of Jessica Lynch, Private First Class, the fact that a physician helped them, once they entered the hospital, go up to the second floor and find her. And when they went up there, they said her sheet was over her head. And they called out to her that we're U.S. soldiers here to take you home and didn't hear anything and said it a second time. And then heard back, "I'm an American soldier, too."

Then they picked her up and took her out. After they had loaded her on the helicopter, the physician then took them to two areas, one inside the hospital and one nearby, where these special forces soldiers used their hands to recover the bodies of these nine other soldiers, because they didn't have any shovels with them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The force recovered all bodies and transferred them -- transported them back to the staging location and moved those back with the rest of the assault force. And as you know, we've since returned those bodies to the States. And we have identified nine of those sets of remains, eight of them, in fact, were from the 507th maintenance company, and one from the -- a soldier from the 3rd -- a forward support group of the 3rd Infantry Division. And those next of kin now know -- had been notified and they know the status of their loved ones.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MINTIER: Well they did say they brought out 11 remains. They only have identified nine. So far, no other word on the other two, but for Jessica Lynch, she is at a hospital now in Germany, where she is receiving treatment for injuries to her back and to her arms and to her legs. During the briefing, no word on how she sustained those injuries, whether it was when she was captured or later at the hands of Iraqis. Wolf, back to you.

BLITZER: Tom, we heard at the briefing that you covered earlier today the briefer, the general, suggest that U.S. troops had indeed gone into Baghdad, even central Baghdad, but then had withdrawn. But he was unclear precisely what the mission was, what's going on. Based on what you know, the information you have, what exactly is going on with these supposed probing missions going into Baghdad itself?

MINTIER: I think it was quite interesting to hear what was said at a background briefing following the public briefing. We did hear that psychologically, it's a major impact to have tanks coming into your city. This was a senior Centcom official briefing reporter after the briefing.

So very telling that -- very psychological strong impact to have tanks rolling through your city. So it may have been for effect. It may have been sending a message that we're hear. We're able to come into your city, make a left turn, and wait back at the airport. So we'll have to wait and see how strongly that message was received.

BLITZER: All right, Tom Mintier, he's covering the story for us from the central command headquarters in Qatar. Tom, thanks very much. Jason Bellini is with the U.S. Marine Expeditionary Unit of the 15th Artillery. He's joining us now via videophone from Nasiriya, picking up the story involving Private First Class Jessica Lynch.

Jason, tell us what you have?

JASON BELLINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, I'm standing right now in front of Saddam Hospital. This is the hospital where Jessica Lynch was rescued just a few days ago by U.S. special forces. Now today, the Marines with whom we're embedded, at the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, they recovered this dog tag. This is Jessica Lynch's dog tag.

Now I'm trying to cover up, as I do this, her Social Security number. Obviously she - they wouldn't want that on the air. This was given to me by the commander of my company. He said we could show this on the air. We have his clearance. He's going to take this back from me. Once we're done and it will be sent back to her, she'll be getting back her dog tag.

Now let me tell you very quickly where they found this dog tag. It was in -- it was on a search of a house right on the Euphrates River here in the city of Nasiriya. They were looking for armaments. That's what they're doing -- what this company is doing day in, day out, is going door to door into buildings wherever they can to look for armaments. They believe this place, based on human intelligence, was a -- was the residence of a Ba'ath Party leader here in the city of Nasiriya.

Now all this is going on in the backdrop of a very changing climate here in the city of Nasiriya, one that we've been observing over the past few days. I'd had the opportunity to meet some Iraqis on the street, who without my prompting, told me how much they appreciated what they were getting -- how much they appreciate the U.S. Marines being here.

I want to play that for you now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No like.

BELLINI: No like Saddam?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No like Saddam.

BELLINI: Do you like Bush?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maybe. I likes Bush.

BELLINI: What's that, Bush, you like Bush?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maybe.

BELLINI: Marines, U.S. Marines?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good, good.

BELLINI: U.S. Marines, good.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good, yes. Good, good.

BELLINI: Bush is good?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good. Maybe George Bush. George Bush.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, yes, USA! Yes, yes, USA!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BELLINI: Now in rather stark contrast, stark juxtaposition to that piece of video, photographer Joseph Duran just earlier went into this hospital behind me, the hospital where Jessica Lynch was rescued. There, he was able to see and be able to interview some of the people who'd been injured in this war.

He met one 20 year old who was sitting in his kitchen when he heard an Apache helicopter flying overhead, had heard a lot of explosion. Next thing he knew, he was in the hospital. His father had died, very serious injuries. Joe was also told by the -- one of the doctors there in the hospital, a lead doctor in the hospital, that more than 400 people have died in Nasiriya and there are 3,000 injured -- Wolf?

BLITZER: When you say, Jason, that you sensed the really discernible shift in the mood of the people in Nasiriya, largely Shi'ia population there, is that because they're now convinced that the U.S. and coalition forces are going to stay and that there's not going to be a repeat performance of what happened after the first Gulf War 12 years ago, when they felt betrayed by the coalition?

BELLINI: Well, it's interesting. I got a little bit help from a Marine translator when I brought back that piece of video. And you heard one person when I asked about President Bush, and he said, "Maybe." Do you like him? "Maybe." His interpretation, this translator's interpretation of that was well, they're pretty sure, but not 100 percent, but yes, you know, the best analysis I can give is these people here wouldn't be on the street parading and saying "USA, USA" if they thought there was any chance that Saddam's regime could come back into power. They seem fully confident that now there has been a regime change, at least in Nasiriya -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Jason Bellini, one of our embedded correspondents, with the U.S. Marine Corps in Nasiriya. Jason, thanks for that excellent report. And we're going to continue to cover the fallout, the dramatic developments involving Private First Class Jessica Lynch, as she recuperates in a hospital in Germany. We understand her parents are going to be going over there to join her very, very soon. We'll continue to watch.

Unfortunately, not everyone involved in that ambush, of course, has had a happy ending like Jessica Lynch. Indeed, other members of the 507th Maintenance Company were killed during that ambush. We're going to have much more coverage, but we want to leave you right now with the names of those who died in that incident.

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