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1 U.S. Soldier Killed, 2 Wounded in Attack in Iraq

Aired June 19, 2003 - 15:01   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.


KATE SNOW, CNN ANCHOR: Guerrilla-style strikes keep claiming American lives in Iraq. Despite an intense new crackdown, a rocket- propelled grenade slammed into a U.S. military ambulance south of Baghdad today. One U.S. soldier was killed, and two others wounded. It was the fourth attack on U.S. forces in Iraq in the last 24 hours.
Let's talk about the continuing dangers in Iraq with our senior Pentagon correspondent, Jamie McIntyre. He joins us now live.

Jamie, yesterday Donald Rumsfeld played down the idea that there was any kind of coordinated effort going on by an Iraqi leader to kill American troops. But as more troops are killed, is the Pentagon concerned now about public perception, concerned about the way it looks?

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's obviously a concern. Anytime the United States is taking casualties at the rate of one fatality a day, sometimes even more, that's a problem.

And what Secretary Rumsfeld was saying, and we're also being told by U.S. commanders in Iraq, is that what they're seeing is organization at, they think, a very local level, not a sort of national -- nationally directed, all over the country guerrilla-style campaign.

It is, obviously, a source of concern, and it's why the United States military has launched a series of raids this week that are aimed at trying to root out what they say are the remnants of the Saddam Hussein regime. It's how the United States arrested, for instance, the most senior officials so far, Saddam Hussein's bodyguard. What they believe is going on is that some of these Baathists, loyalists to Saddam Hussein are essentially using stock piles of large amounts of money to pay people, either bounties for attacking U.S. troops or paying them ahead of time to launch the attacks. And the U.S. is essentially involved in a counterinsurgency effort now, trying to root out those small numbers of people. But it can have a devastating effect, particularly on the perception of how the mission is going.

SNOW: And Jamie, do you anticipate any kind of real change in strategy by the U.S. troops. I mean, any kind change in tactic?

MCINTYRE: Well, it's a very -- this is probably one of the most difficult missions because the United States just can't do this by brute force. It needs the help of local Iraqis, and the U.S. says it is getting a lot of help from local informants.

But it also has to, at the same time, take a very tough stance against the insurgents. It has to do it in such a way that it doesn't totally alienate the population, and that's been a problem, because a lot of local Iraqis believe the tactics have been heavy-handed. Sometimes, they say, the U.S. military has gotten the wrong people, and that creates a resentment. And then that makes it much, much harder to do that job.

This is a very difficult phase of the military operation, and we won't know for some time whether or not these efforts that the U.S. has undertaken this week are going to be successful.

SNOW: Jamie McIntyre, live at the Pentagon, thank you so 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 June 19, 2003 - 15:01   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KATE SNOW, CNN ANCHOR: Guerrilla-style strikes keep claiming American lives in Iraq. Despite an intense new crackdown, a rocket- propelled grenade slammed into a U.S. military ambulance south of Baghdad today. One U.S. soldier was killed, and two others wounded. It was the fourth attack on U.S. forces in Iraq in the last 24 hours.
Let's talk about the continuing dangers in Iraq with our senior Pentagon correspondent, Jamie McIntyre. He joins us now live.

Jamie, yesterday Donald Rumsfeld played down the idea that there was any kind of coordinated effort going on by an Iraqi leader to kill American troops. But as more troops are killed, is the Pentagon concerned now about public perception, concerned about the way it looks?

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's obviously a concern. Anytime the United States is taking casualties at the rate of one fatality a day, sometimes even more, that's a problem.

And what Secretary Rumsfeld was saying, and we're also being told by U.S. commanders in Iraq, is that what they're seeing is organization at, they think, a very local level, not a sort of national -- nationally directed, all over the country guerrilla-style campaign.

It is, obviously, a source of concern, and it's why the United States military has launched a series of raids this week that are aimed at trying to root out what they say are the remnants of the Saddam Hussein regime. It's how the United States arrested, for instance, the most senior officials so far, Saddam Hussein's bodyguard. What they believe is going on is that some of these Baathists, loyalists to Saddam Hussein are essentially using stock piles of large amounts of money to pay people, either bounties for attacking U.S. troops or paying them ahead of time to launch the attacks. And the U.S. is essentially involved in a counterinsurgency effort now, trying to root out those small numbers of people. But it can have a devastating effect, particularly on the perception of how the mission is going.

SNOW: And Jamie, do you anticipate any kind of real change in strategy by the U.S. troops. I mean, any kind change in tactic?

MCINTYRE: Well, it's a very -- this is probably one of the most difficult missions because the United States just can't do this by brute force. It needs the help of local Iraqis, and the U.S. says it is getting a lot of help from local informants.

But it also has to, at the same time, take a very tough stance against the insurgents. It has to do it in such a way that it doesn't totally alienate the population, and that's been a problem, because a lot of local Iraqis believe the tactics have been heavy-handed. Sometimes, they say, the U.S. military has gotten the wrong people, and that creates a resentment. And then that makes it much, much harder to do that job.

This is a very difficult phase of the military operation, and we won't know for some time whether or not these efforts that the U.S. has undertaken this week are going to be successful.

SNOW: Jamie McIntyre, live at the Pentagon, thank you so 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