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Continuing Investigation Into Fate of Saddam
Aired April 08, 2003 - 12:02 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: Almost three weeks into this war here in the Persian Gulf, the fate of Saddam Hussein is again the focus of widespread attention. President Bush says he doesn't know whether the Iraqi leader has survived a massive air strike targeting a site where he and his sons might have been staying. But he says regardless, Saddam Hussein is losing power.
Our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr, is joining me now live with the latest so-called decapitation strike targeting Saddam Hussein's leadership. Barbara, what are they saying at the Pentagon?
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, the four- man crew of that B-1 bomber that was sent to kill Saddam Hussein and his sons, they held a telephone press conference with the Pentagon press corp here earlier this morning, and they offered some fascinating new details about what's happened. But let's just listen to what one of the pilots had to say about his mission.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUESTION: What made you think that it might be the big one?
LT. COL. FRED SWANN, B-1 BOMBER CREWMEMBER: Those were the words that were used when we got past the coordinates, that this is the big one. So that could be any number of people. And it's like, well, I know it's important. It really doesn't matter.
We've got to get the bombs on target. We've got 10 minutes to do it. And we've got to make a lot of things happen to make that happen. And that -- just fall totally under the execute mode and kill the target.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR: But there was an awful lot more than just that calm demeanor. The pilots explained that they dropped four weapons, two that were bunker-busters, 2,000-pound bombs to penetrate a deep target, and two with a time delay fuse all aimed at punching through the target and having maximum explosive power to try and minimize the damage, knowing that they were hitting the target in the civilian neighborhood.
Now a few other developments here at the Pentagon this morning. Sources confirming that U.S. Marines have now been through the Al Rasheed Prison in the southeastern section of Baghdad and that they did find some bloody uniforms in the desert camouflage style worn by U.S. soldiers. There was some concern -- they went to Al Rasheed Prison because they had some intelligence that U.S. POWs might be there.
They did not find them, but they found these uniforms. They will now conduct DNA analysis on the blood to see if they can make any determination linking them to the POWs, something they are not able to do at this time.
Now of course a very significant story here with the Pentagon press corp earlier today. The attacks in Baghdad that left three journalists killed, three others injured. This is likely to be a major subject at the Pentagon news briefing coming up in about an hour and a half.
Now the U.S. Central Command says that both at the Palestine hotel you see here, and at the office building that was housing the Al-Jazeera journalists, that U.S. forces came under significant enemy fire from both of these sites and that the U.S. had no choice but to return fire. Now the Pentagon knew that reporters could be in both of those areas, but the Pentagon has long warned journalists that Baghdad would not be a safe place for them to operate, and that their safety could not be protected. Still, Wolf, all of this likely to be a continuing subject of controversy -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Barbara, getting back to those four 2,000-pound bombs that were dropped at that site where they suspected Saddam Hussein and his two sons might be located, is there any time estimate when they think they'll know whether or not they killed Saddam Hussein?
STARR: That's going to be pretty tough until they get access to the site. Of course something they're not likely to be able to do at the moment. And of course they would have to have enough body remains to conduct some sort of DNA match or analysis if that was technically possible.
What is more likely to happen is there will now be scrutiny of communications, radio intercepts, intelligence, anything to glean clues from the existing and remaining leadership. If they say anything or they conduct themselves in any fashion that would lead U.S. intelligence to conclude one way or another that they got Saddam Hussein. So that may just be a process of elimination at this point.
BLITZER: All right. A similar process they went through the first night of this war as well. Barbara Starr at the Pentagon, thanks very much. We'll stand by at 1:30 Eastern for that Pentagon news conference. CNN of course will have life coverage.
Aired April 8, 2003 - 12:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Almost three weeks into this war here in the Persian Gulf, the fate of Saddam Hussein is again the focus of widespread attention. President Bush says he doesn't know whether the Iraqi leader has survived a massive air strike targeting a site where he and his sons might have been staying. But he says regardless, Saddam Hussein is losing power.
Our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr, is joining me now live with the latest so-called decapitation strike targeting Saddam Hussein's leadership. Barbara, what are they saying at the Pentagon?
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, the four- man crew of that B-1 bomber that was sent to kill Saddam Hussein and his sons, they held a telephone press conference with the Pentagon press corp here earlier this morning, and they offered some fascinating new details about what's happened. But let's just listen to what one of the pilots had to say about his mission.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUESTION: What made you think that it might be the big one?
LT. COL. FRED SWANN, B-1 BOMBER CREWMEMBER: Those were the words that were used when we got past the coordinates, that this is the big one. So that could be any number of people. And it's like, well, I know it's important. It really doesn't matter.
We've got to get the bombs on target. We've got 10 minutes to do it. And we've got to make a lot of things happen to make that happen. And that -- just fall totally under the execute mode and kill the target.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR: But there was an awful lot more than just that calm demeanor. The pilots explained that they dropped four weapons, two that were bunker-busters, 2,000-pound bombs to penetrate a deep target, and two with a time delay fuse all aimed at punching through the target and having maximum explosive power to try and minimize the damage, knowing that they were hitting the target in the civilian neighborhood.
Now a few other developments here at the Pentagon this morning. Sources confirming that U.S. Marines have now been through the Al Rasheed Prison in the southeastern section of Baghdad and that they did find some bloody uniforms in the desert camouflage style worn by U.S. soldiers. There was some concern -- they went to Al Rasheed Prison because they had some intelligence that U.S. POWs might be there.
They did not find them, but they found these uniforms. They will now conduct DNA analysis on the blood to see if they can make any determination linking them to the POWs, something they are not able to do at this time.
Now of course a very significant story here with the Pentagon press corp earlier today. The attacks in Baghdad that left three journalists killed, three others injured. This is likely to be a major subject at the Pentagon news briefing coming up in about an hour and a half.
Now the U.S. Central Command says that both at the Palestine hotel you see here, and at the office building that was housing the Al-Jazeera journalists, that U.S. forces came under significant enemy fire from both of these sites and that the U.S. had no choice but to return fire. Now the Pentagon knew that reporters could be in both of those areas, but the Pentagon has long warned journalists that Baghdad would not be a safe place for them to operate, and that their safety could not be protected. Still, Wolf, all of this likely to be a continuing subject of controversy -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Barbara, getting back to those four 2,000-pound bombs that were dropped at that site where they suspected Saddam Hussein and his two sons might be located, is there any time estimate when they think they'll know whether or not they killed Saddam Hussein?
STARR: That's going to be pretty tough until they get access to the site. Of course something they're not likely to be able to do at the moment. And of course they would have to have enough body remains to conduct some sort of DNA match or analysis if that was technically possible.
What is more likely to happen is there will now be scrutiny of communications, radio intercepts, intelligence, anything to glean clues from the existing and remaining leadership. If they say anything or they conduct themselves in any fashion that would lead U.S. intelligence to conclude one way or another that they got Saddam Hussein. So that may just be a process of elimination at this point.
BLITZER: All right. A similar process they went through the first night of this war as well. Barbara Starr at the Pentagon, thanks very much. We'll stand by at 1:30 Eastern for that Pentagon news conference. CNN of course will have life coverage.
