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Troops Under Fire in Iraq

Aired June 27, 2003 - 13:29   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.


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: The new Iraq and the security of U.S. troops serving in the still hostile nation.
CNN's Barbara Starr live from the Pentagon with the latest on U.S. troops coming under fire -- Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, very tough days now for U.S. forces in Iraq. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Capitol Hill this morning was briefing senators behind closed doors on the situation. Afterwards, he came out and spoke a little bit about what he thinks is contributing to the problems over there. Here is some of what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: There were something in the neighborhood of 100,000 people turned out of their prisons. Those people are out there. They're doing things that are unhelpful to the Iraqi people. It's also no question but that there are leftover remnants of the Saddam Hussein regime that are doing things that are against the coalition.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: Now, Pentagon officials say that three Iraqis are being detained and questioned regarding the disappearance of those two U.S. soldiers since late on Wednesday in Baghdad, when they and their vehicle simply vanished, when they failed to make a communications checkpoint. No word yet on what has happened to those U.S. soldiers. There indeed are concerns about a possible abduction, but officials say they just simply have no evidence yet that points them in any particular direction. The search for those two soldiers remains ongoing.

Earlier, another soldier was killed in southern Iraq, in An- Najaf. He was apparently shot while he was investigating a car theft. This incident of great concern to the Pentagon, because until now southern Iraq has been relatively hospitable for U.S. forces.

This brings the count to -- since May 1 when President Bush declared hostilities were over, some 60 U.S. troops have been killed, 20 of them by hostile fire.

And one defense official now saying the view here is that they are facing a classic insurgency problem in Iraq -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: And, Barbara, in addition, I understand you have new information with regard to what happened on the Syrian border, the attack on the convoy?

STARR: You'll remember -- yes -- about nine days ago, U.S. Special Forces attacked a convoy in western Iraq near the Syrian border. They said they had excellent information that possibly there was the possibility of some top Iraqi leaders trying to escape into Syria. Well, now officials at the Pentagon tell us they've got their first assessment of that strike, and the first report is that of the 20 people they took into detention, all 20 of those have been released.

The five Syrian border guards that were injured in that, that they had treated at the scene, they are still in U.S. hands. Preparations are now being made to return them to Syria.

And according to forensic experts on the scene, now they have been able to identify one dead Iraqi at the scene. They're not sure whether other bodies were removed or simply they only killed one person at that scene. So, still a very mixed review from that convoy attack that they'd had very high hopes of killing some senior Iraqi leader -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Barbara Starr from the Pentagon, thank you.

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 27, 2003 - 13:29   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: The new Iraq and the security of U.S. troops serving in the still hostile nation.
CNN's Barbara Starr live from the Pentagon with the latest on U.S. troops coming under fire -- Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, very tough days now for U.S. forces in Iraq. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Capitol Hill this morning was briefing senators behind closed doors on the situation. Afterwards, he came out and spoke a little bit about what he thinks is contributing to the problems over there. Here is some of what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: There were something in the neighborhood of 100,000 people turned out of their prisons. Those people are out there. They're doing things that are unhelpful to the Iraqi people. It's also no question but that there are leftover remnants of the Saddam Hussein regime that are doing things that are against the coalition.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: Now, Pentagon officials say that three Iraqis are being detained and questioned regarding the disappearance of those two U.S. soldiers since late on Wednesday in Baghdad, when they and their vehicle simply vanished, when they failed to make a communications checkpoint. No word yet on what has happened to those U.S. soldiers. There indeed are concerns about a possible abduction, but officials say they just simply have no evidence yet that points them in any particular direction. The search for those two soldiers remains ongoing.

Earlier, another soldier was killed in southern Iraq, in An- Najaf. He was apparently shot while he was investigating a car theft. This incident of great concern to the Pentagon, because until now southern Iraq has been relatively hospitable for U.S. forces.

This brings the count to -- since May 1 when President Bush declared hostilities were over, some 60 U.S. troops have been killed, 20 of them by hostile fire.

And one defense official now saying the view here is that they are facing a classic insurgency problem in Iraq -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: And, Barbara, in addition, I understand you have new information with regard to what happened on the Syrian border, the attack on the convoy?

STARR: You'll remember -- yes -- about nine days ago, U.S. Special Forces attacked a convoy in western Iraq near the Syrian border. They said they had excellent information that possibly there was the possibility of some top Iraqi leaders trying to escape into Syria. Well, now officials at the Pentagon tell us they've got their first assessment of that strike, and the first report is that of the 20 people they took into detention, all 20 of those have been released.

The five Syrian border guards that were injured in that, that they had treated at the scene, they are still in U.S. hands. Preparations are now being made to return them to Syria.

And according to forensic experts on the scene, now they have been able to identify one dead Iraqi at the scene. They're not sure whether other bodies were removed or simply they only killed one person at that scene. So, still a very mixed review from that convoy attack that they'd had very high hopes of killing some senior Iraqi leader -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Barbara Starr from the Pentagon, thank you.

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