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Troops Disappointed by Orders to Remain in Iraq

Aired July 15, 2003 - 14:30   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: Now to Iraq where the tip of the spear felt stabbed in the back when word got around the 3rd Infantry wouldn't be coming home any time soon. Today, though the Pentagon says the vanguard of the Iraq invasion will be stateside by November despite no end of attacks on U.S. forces. CNN's Nic Robertson picks up the story in Baghdad -- Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, last night the 3rd Infantry Division around the town of Fallujah came under attack. They do come under attack in that particular area right a light. It's a center of what is known as a Sunni Triangle here.

Many of those soldiers, and I talked to some yesterday, quite disappointed they wouldn't be going home. Their hopes were raised because they had been given an out date.

But the troops who were engaged by Rocket Propelled Grenade fire were not injured last night. They did, however, kill all their Iraqi attackers. A number of Rocket Propelled Grenades and AK-47 automatic weapons were rounded up afterwards.

During the day today, however, there was another attack, a mortar attack on a U.S. north of Baghdad, the town of Ballad about 60 miles to the north. What is significant about this particular mortar attack, it is the third attack on this base Ballad. It is a logistically supply base. This particular mortar attack coming during daylight hours, the two previous attacks have been overnight. And six soldiers were wounded in this attack. One of them is in a serious- critical condition.

Now, Ambassador Paul Bremer, the top U.S. civil administrator here had the security high on his agenda when he gave one of his briefings to journalists. He talked about the need to increase the police force inside Iraq. He talked about how that would be done. He said there were a number of proposals and that he was currently discussing with Iraq's governing council those proposals to see which direction the governing would like to go in to train more police, to get more police on the streets of Iraq.

But he said that they are taking different cities. There were different needs and requirements at different times for those different cities.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) L. PAUL BREMER, U.S. CIVIL ADMINISTRATOR: There's no one answer to what the best way is anywhere in the country. Every town has its own characteristics, every town has its own problems. We need to be flexible. We need to be understanding. And we need to be creative and we need to be very tough-minded about the security issues. And that's exactly what we're doing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: But what is clear of what Mr. Bremer was saying is that where possible U.S. troops would be removed that Iraqi police would be put in.

And to give you an idea of how that looks on the ground, in the town of Fallujah, they are not only Iraqi police that are replacing patrolling U.S. troops, but U.S. troops who are on guard duty are being replaced by a facilitative protection service. And there is also another third unit, another third Iraqi force, if you will, at work in Fallujah, the Fallujah Protection Force. And this is to augment the police to take on some of their responsibilities and perhaps some of their lesser roles -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Nic, I believe it was in Fallujah, too, where the Iraqi police were saying to American forces, hey, you've got to go. It's more dangerous towards us with you being here.

How are they getting along? How are they finding balance? And do U.S. forces feel comfortable leaving the area?

ROBERTSON: Well, they seem to be comfortable. It's what they say is part of their necessary draw down in the town.

The situation that we found when we were there, the police were out on the first patrol. They got a lot of waves from people where they were manning checkpoints. People told us they liked having their own police force in there because they spoke the same language and they respected some of their local customs and traditions. The police, they said, were well-known in the town and, therefore, respected.

One of the issues that the police had said before was that working with the U.S. troops, they were being associated with the U.S. troops. Policemen were having people turn up at their homes and threaten them. They were very, very concerned about that. And that's why they asked the U.S. troops to remove themselves from the town so the police could work alone.

And as far as U.S. troops are concerned, this is a direction they want to move in as the town becomes more stable and that is happening in Fallujah, the local police can take over that responsibility.

PHILLIPS: Our Nic Robertson live from Baghdad. Thanks, Nic.

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 July 15, 2003 - 14:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Now to Iraq where the tip of the spear felt stabbed in the back when word got around the 3rd Infantry wouldn't be coming home any time soon. Today, though the Pentagon says the vanguard of the Iraq invasion will be stateside by November despite no end of attacks on U.S. forces. CNN's Nic Robertson picks up the story in Baghdad -- Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, last night the 3rd Infantry Division around the town of Fallujah came under attack. They do come under attack in that particular area right a light. It's a center of what is known as a Sunni Triangle here.

Many of those soldiers, and I talked to some yesterday, quite disappointed they wouldn't be going home. Their hopes were raised because they had been given an out date.

But the troops who were engaged by Rocket Propelled Grenade fire were not injured last night. They did, however, kill all their Iraqi attackers. A number of Rocket Propelled Grenades and AK-47 automatic weapons were rounded up afterwards.

During the day today, however, there was another attack, a mortar attack on a U.S. north of Baghdad, the town of Ballad about 60 miles to the north. What is significant about this particular mortar attack, it is the third attack on this base Ballad. It is a logistically supply base. This particular mortar attack coming during daylight hours, the two previous attacks have been overnight. And six soldiers were wounded in this attack. One of them is in a serious- critical condition.

Now, Ambassador Paul Bremer, the top U.S. civil administrator here had the security high on his agenda when he gave one of his briefings to journalists. He talked about the need to increase the police force inside Iraq. He talked about how that would be done. He said there were a number of proposals and that he was currently discussing with Iraq's governing council those proposals to see which direction the governing would like to go in to train more police, to get more police on the streets of Iraq.

But he said that they are taking different cities. There were different needs and requirements at different times for those different cities.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) L. PAUL BREMER, U.S. CIVIL ADMINISTRATOR: There's no one answer to what the best way is anywhere in the country. Every town has its own characteristics, every town has its own problems. We need to be flexible. We need to be understanding. And we need to be creative and we need to be very tough-minded about the security issues. And that's exactly what we're doing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: But what is clear of what Mr. Bremer was saying is that where possible U.S. troops would be removed that Iraqi police would be put in.

And to give you an idea of how that looks on the ground, in the town of Fallujah, they are not only Iraqi police that are replacing patrolling U.S. troops, but U.S. troops who are on guard duty are being replaced by a facilitative protection service. And there is also another third unit, another third Iraqi force, if you will, at work in Fallujah, the Fallujah Protection Force. And this is to augment the police to take on some of their responsibilities and perhaps some of their lesser roles -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Nic, I believe it was in Fallujah, too, where the Iraqi police were saying to American forces, hey, you've got to go. It's more dangerous towards us with you being here.

How are they getting along? How are they finding balance? And do U.S. forces feel comfortable leaving the area?

ROBERTSON: Well, they seem to be comfortable. It's what they say is part of their necessary draw down in the town.

The situation that we found when we were there, the police were out on the first patrol. They got a lot of waves from people where they were manning checkpoints. People told us they liked having their own police force in there because they spoke the same language and they respected some of their local customs and traditions. The police, they said, were well-known in the town and, therefore, respected.

One of the issues that the police had said before was that working with the U.S. troops, they were being associated with the U.S. troops. Policemen were having people turn up at their homes and threaten them. They were very, very concerned about that. And that's why they asked the U.S. troops to remove themselves from the town so the police could work alone.

And as far as U.S. troops are concerned, this is a direction they want to move in as the town becomes more stable and that is happening in Fallujah, the local police can take over that responsibility.

PHILLIPS: Our Nic Robertson live from Baghdad. Thanks, Nic.

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