Return to Transcripts main page

Live From...

Military Analysis

Aired April 08, 2003 - 13:25   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: You're looking at video of U.S. Marines as they push their way into Baghdad from the east. They now join the U.S. Army, which has been pushing in from the south and the southwest.
Well, officials say time-sensitive intelligence was key to the coalition strike on a building where Saddam Hussein and his sons may have been meeting.

Miles O'Brien is with retired Army Lieutenant General Claudia Kennedy. She's a former deputy chief of staff for intelligence -- Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you very much, Judy.

General Kennedy, just in a nutshell, this explosion in the Mansoor (ph) district, four bombs targeted on this area, perhaps where Saddam was, perhaps not, but the fact is, such rapid assimilation of what in your world is called actionable intelligence. If you can equate that to what was going on 12 years in the first Gulf War, I imagine the lead time has shrunk significantly. We're talking about inside an hour between the intelligence coming in and the bombs dropping.

LT. GEN. CLAUDIA KENNEDY (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: That's right, that is very quick coordination, probably cross cuing of collection sensors.

O'BRIEN: Cross-cuing meaning what?

KENNEDY: Someone gets something on imagery, and they say, let's what CIGANT (ph) has to say. Let's see what human (ph) has to say.

O'BRIEN: Oh, so you get multiple sources coming in very quickly.

KENNEDY: That's right. And one tells the other, let's take a hard look. For example, if there were a human source developed by special ops on the ground, someone might say, let's make sure we've got some collection on that from some technical means.

O'BRIEN: Let's get into that neighborhood quickly. I want to show you some satellite imagery of it. We start off on a big, wide high shot of Baghdad. Here's the International Airport. There's the center of town. That's that presidential compound, Mansoor (ph), right around in there, and the reason I want to show you is, it's very dramatic when you zoom in on it, and you see this neighborhood. It's dotted with very large home, lots of swimming pools. It is clearly where the elite of this regime live, and it would be a place -- look at all those pools. Here's a swimming pool right there. There's a bunch of others along there. Huge, huge homes. This would be a place where perhaps intelligence would have pretty well wired, do you think, General Kennedy?

KENNEDY: I would think we've had in our sights for quite a while. And the important part about this is it's not a presidential palace. You see, there are other sights to be looked at. And with the elimination of this, it gives a signal that, boy, there's some other targets out there we probably have in our sights.

O'BRIEN: Let's take a look at the damage, some of the video we've seen coming into CNN all throughout the day. I know you're not a bomb damage assessment expert necessarily. But when you look at this, clearly a scene of tremendous devastation. These bombs really created quite a crater. What can you discern from this, if anything?

KENNEDY: Well, they say it was a 60-foot crater. So you would have to have a whole lot of protection below 60 feet, which I doubt that he's got.

O'BRIEN: Even with bunkers?

KENNEDY: Even with bunkers.

O'BRIEN: All right, now it will be interesting to see. I know that intelligence probably is watching very carefully the faces of the individuals around there, trying to match those up with known entities. It will be interesting to track that one. Let's take a look at an animation and try to explain to folks what these bunker- buster bombs are all about.

As we move in and show you a scenario, the bunker-buster. In this case, we have it coming off an F-15, so it's a lighter version. What the key is, as you see here, is the delayed fuse, which allows it to go down a shaft. In this case, we saw a perfect second shot. There are follow-on bombs. What's the point of that?

KENNEDY: Well, because once you've gotten the structure collapsed, there may be additional structures that need -- that have been weakened, but have not continued to collapse. So you go ahead and get them, and the delay allows maximum effect, because the first two did their job, then you let some of the weakness and gravity pull down the rest.

O'BRIEN: So even a bunker that is perhaps 100 feet deep, potentially, with precision guidance, multiple bombs following each other down the chute, you could potentially breach the bunker?

KENNEDY: Well, that's right, and also even if it's not breached, we have probably wiped out the supply of oxygen, and water and electricity.

O'BRIEN: Interesting. All right, General Claudia Kennedy, retired U.S. Army, appreciate your insights.

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 8, 2003 - 13:25   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: You're looking at video of U.S. Marines as they push their way into Baghdad from the east. They now join the U.S. Army, which has been pushing in from the south and the southwest.
Well, officials say time-sensitive intelligence was key to the coalition strike on a building where Saddam Hussein and his sons may have been meeting.

Miles O'Brien is with retired Army Lieutenant General Claudia Kennedy. She's a former deputy chief of staff for intelligence -- Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you very much, Judy.

General Kennedy, just in a nutshell, this explosion in the Mansoor (ph) district, four bombs targeted on this area, perhaps where Saddam was, perhaps not, but the fact is, such rapid assimilation of what in your world is called actionable intelligence. If you can equate that to what was going on 12 years in the first Gulf War, I imagine the lead time has shrunk significantly. We're talking about inside an hour between the intelligence coming in and the bombs dropping.

LT. GEN. CLAUDIA KENNEDY (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: That's right, that is very quick coordination, probably cross cuing of collection sensors.

O'BRIEN: Cross-cuing meaning what?

KENNEDY: Someone gets something on imagery, and they say, let's what CIGANT (ph) has to say. Let's see what human (ph) has to say.

O'BRIEN: Oh, so you get multiple sources coming in very quickly.

KENNEDY: That's right. And one tells the other, let's take a hard look. For example, if there were a human source developed by special ops on the ground, someone might say, let's make sure we've got some collection on that from some technical means.

O'BRIEN: Let's get into that neighborhood quickly. I want to show you some satellite imagery of it. We start off on a big, wide high shot of Baghdad. Here's the International Airport. There's the center of town. That's that presidential compound, Mansoor (ph), right around in there, and the reason I want to show you is, it's very dramatic when you zoom in on it, and you see this neighborhood. It's dotted with very large home, lots of swimming pools. It is clearly where the elite of this regime live, and it would be a place -- look at all those pools. Here's a swimming pool right there. There's a bunch of others along there. Huge, huge homes. This would be a place where perhaps intelligence would have pretty well wired, do you think, General Kennedy?

KENNEDY: I would think we've had in our sights for quite a while. And the important part about this is it's not a presidential palace. You see, there are other sights to be looked at. And with the elimination of this, it gives a signal that, boy, there's some other targets out there we probably have in our sights.

O'BRIEN: Let's take a look at the damage, some of the video we've seen coming into CNN all throughout the day. I know you're not a bomb damage assessment expert necessarily. But when you look at this, clearly a scene of tremendous devastation. These bombs really created quite a crater. What can you discern from this, if anything?

KENNEDY: Well, they say it was a 60-foot crater. So you would have to have a whole lot of protection below 60 feet, which I doubt that he's got.

O'BRIEN: Even with bunkers?

KENNEDY: Even with bunkers.

O'BRIEN: All right, now it will be interesting to see. I know that intelligence probably is watching very carefully the faces of the individuals around there, trying to match those up with known entities. It will be interesting to track that one. Let's take a look at an animation and try to explain to folks what these bunker- buster bombs are all about.

As we move in and show you a scenario, the bunker-buster. In this case, we have it coming off an F-15, so it's a lighter version. What the key is, as you see here, is the delayed fuse, which allows it to go down a shaft. In this case, we saw a perfect second shot. There are follow-on bombs. What's the point of that?

KENNEDY: Well, because once you've gotten the structure collapsed, there may be additional structures that need -- that have been weakened, but have not continued to collapse. So you go ahead and get them, and the delay allows maximum effect, because the first two did their job, then you let some of the weakness and gravity pull down the rest.

O'BRIEN: So even a bunker that is perhaps 100 feet deep, potentially, with precision guidance, multiple bombs following each other down the chute, you could potentially breach the bunker?

KENNEDY: Well, that's right, and also even if it's not breached, we have probably wiped out the supply of oxygen, and water and electricity.

O'BRIEN: Interesting. All right, General Claudia Kennedy, retired U.S. Army, appreciate your insights.

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