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A Panorama of Scenes Today in War in Iraq

Aired April 10, 2003 - 15:40   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: Firefights, celebrations, surrenders; a panorama of scenes today in the war in Iraq. Oil-rich Kirkuk, you've just heard falling in the north, a suicide bombing in Baghdad, an assassination in Najaf, widespread looting across Iraq. All this enough to consider for CNN's Miles O'Brien, who is with our military analyst, retired Major General Don Shepperd -- Miles.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Judy, lots to ponder there. Don Shepperd, let's try to not do it all, because it would take much longer than we have. I would like to focus for a moment on Tikrit.

Tikrit, along the Tigris River, north of Baghdad, is the ancestral home of Saddam Hussein and his clan and his tribe. It's bought and paid for by Saddam's money. Let's zoom in; we'll just show you this compound they have there. We've been showing it, but it's worth pointing out that this location is one and a half by two-and-a- half miles riddled with palaces, and it is a place that probably is going to be difficult to find an ally for the U.S., correct?

MAJ. GEN. DON SHEPPERD (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Indeed. It's Saddam Hussein -- Al Tikriti. This is the Tikriti clan, the Sunni area, and this is a one and a half square mile, two square mile area of palaces and hiding places.

We've been predicting tough battles all along. It has not happened yet. This could be a tough battle, the final battle.

O'BRIEN: All right. This could be a difficult nut to crack for the U.S., as they approach this. I presume they're going to wait for heavy reinforcements, armor perhaps from the 4th Infantry Division still down in Kuwait, on it ways up, maybe make that trip up.

We'll look at damage from Tikrit from some video we received actually back when Iraqi TV was still in business. This, one of the locations there in Tikrit. But the point is that this is well fortified by Republican Guard forces, which would mean lots of armor.

SHEPPERD: Yes. Add on Mechanized Division and whatever armor they could gather together would probably defend this place. Now remember, every time we've predicted something, Tommy Franks has surprised us. So we're predicting a final battle, we're predicting the 4th ID (ph) driving up from the south. It could be he has something else up his sleeve.

O'BRIEN: All right. Now let's talk a little bit about the hearts and minds, the effort to win people over in Iraq, give them a sense of what the U.S. is there for. We've seen President Bush with a televised statement which went across on television in Iraq, and there's going to be some additional programming that the Pentagon is putting together to give citizens of Iraq what's going on.

There's another way they're going to be distributing this information, and that's that thing they call "Commando Solo." We have an animation to show you how this works. It's essentially a C-130 which is just brimming with all kinds of telecommunications gear. Why don't you explain how it works, Don Shepperd.

SHEPPERD: Yes. Perhaps the ugliest airplane in the Air Force inventory. Now all my buddies in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania will get on me for this.

It's got antennas hanging all over it, it comes from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the 193rd Special Operations wing. TV studio, radio studio, it can broadcast TV to the citizens of Iraq, and that's what it's being used for now to spread the message from the United States forces and the president, in this case.

O'BRIEN: All right. Lack of communication right now a key issue there. 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 10, 2003 - 15:40   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: Firefights, celebrations, surrenders; a panorama of scenes today in the war in Iraq. Oil-rich Kirkuk, you've just heard falling in the north, a suicide bombing in Baghdad, an assassination in Najaf, widespread looting across Iraq. All this enough to consider for CNN's Miles O'Brien, who is with our military analyst, retired Major General Don Shepperd -- Miles.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Judy, lots to ponder there. Don Shepperd, let's try to not do it all, because it would take much longer than we have. I would like to focus for a moment on Tikrit.

Tikrit, along the Tigris River, north of Baghdad, is the ancestral home of Saddam Hussein and his clan and his tribe. It's bought and paid for by Saddam's money. Let's zoom in; we'll just show you this compound they have there. We've been showing it, but it's worth pointing out that this location is one and a half by two-and-a- half miles riddled with palaces, and it is a place that probably is going to be difficult to find an ally for the U.S., correct?

MAJ. GEN. DON SHEPPERD (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Indeed. It's Saddam Hussein -- Al Tikriti. This is the Tikriti clan, the Sunni area, and this is a one and a half square mile, two square mile area of palaces and hiding places.

We've been predicting tough battles all along. It has not happened yet. This could be a tough battle, the final battle.

O'BRIEN: All right. This could be a difficult nut to crack for the U.S., as they approach this. I presume they're going to wait for heavy reinforcements, armor perhaps from the 4th Infantry Division still down in Kuwait, on it ways up, maybe make that trip up.

We'll look at damage from Tikrit from some video we received actually back when Iraqi TV was still in business. This, one of the locations there in Tikrit. But the point is that this is well fortified by Republican Guard forces, which would mean lots of armor.

SHEPPERD: Yes. Add on Mechanized Division and whatever armor they could gather together would probably defend this place. Now remember, every time we've predicted something, Tommy Franks has surprised us. So we're predicting a final battle, we're predicting the 4th ID (ph) driving up from the south. It could be he has something else up his sleeve.

O'BRIEN: All right. Now let's talk a little bit about the hearts and minds, the effort to win people over in Iraq, give them a sense of what the U.S. is there for. We've seen President Bush with a televised statement which went across on television in Iraq, and there's going to be some additional programming that the Pentagon is putting together to give citizens of Iraq what's going on.

There's another way they're going to be distributing this information, and that's that thing they call "Commando Solo." We have an animation to show you how this works. It's essentially a C-130 which is just brimming with all kinds of telecommunications gear. Why don't you explain how it works, Don Shepperd.

SHEPPERD: Yes. Perhaps the ugliest airplane in the Air Force inventory. Now all my buddies in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania will get on me for this.

It's got antennas hanging all over it, it comes from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the 193rd Special Operations wing. TV studio, radio studio, it can broadcast TV to the citizens of Iraq, and that's what it's being used for now to spread the message from the United States forces and the president, in this case.

O'BRIEN: All right. Lack of communication right now a key issue there. 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