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U.S. Troops Raid House in Tikrit

Aired September 04, 2003 - 13:08   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.


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: London is taking a second look at how many of its forces are needed in Iraq. Britain's foreign secretary has proposed sending another 5,000 troops. Right now, 11,000 British troops are on duty in southern Iraq. And just arrived, America's Defense Secretary Donald Rums says he wants to get a firsthand look at conditions in Iraq. He adds the U.S. has no plans to send more troops, despite the growing unrest. More evidence today of that dangerous duty. Two U.S. soldiers were wounded in an explosion in Ramadi, and fellow troops wound up in an intense firefight with Iraqi guerrillas right in downtown Tikrit. That's also where a suspected bombmaker was arrested in a raid by U.S. troops.
CNN's Jason Bellini is there, and he joins us via videophone -- Jason.

JASON BELLINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles. well, so far, it's a quiet night tonight here. We're embedded here with the army here, of the 4th ID. But last night, we were hearing mortar rounds that were being fired. The incident you were speaking of, that led to a large firefight. The people responsible for those mortar rounds -- and this was not the first night it happened -- they got away.

But there is something here that they're very proud of. The 1st Brigade, last night, a raid, we have pictures of this raid, happened around 1:00 a.m. And on this raid, they managed to take into custody who they say was a bomb maker and, in his house, they found alarm clocks, electrical wire, C-4 explosives, all the materials needed for these improvised explosive devices as they're called that have been responsible for so many of the attacks that we've been hearing about in recent weeks.

I just spoke with Colonel Hickey (ph) here who said that there's been a rash of them lately. He doesn't know, though, whether or not the people that they caught last night are the ones who are responsible for the attack just the other day that resulted in four of his soldiers being wounded.

But they're continuing to make what they call very targeted raids around town every night, and also during the daytime, trying to stop these explosive devices that keep plaguing them -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Jason, give me a sense of the morale of the troops you are encountering there. Are they frustrated right now, or do they feel like they're making some progress?

BELLINI: Well, lately, you've been hearing people saying they're making progress, that they're quite happy with these raids, because they're actually netting people, and people who they're very confident are the ones responsible.

But at the same time, you hear frustration that it seems even all these people they're catching, another incident happens. So they're making progress, but at the same time, they're not always seeing the results that they want to see, and they're waiting for their to be some quiet time here, or as a result of these successful raids -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: All right, we can all hope for some quiet time in Iraq. Jason Bellini, in Tikrit, thanks very much. Stay safe.

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 September 4, 2003 - 13:08   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: London is taking a second look at how many of its forces are needed in Iraq. Britain's foreign secretary has proposed sending another 5,000 troops. Right now, 11,000 British troops are on duty in southern Iraq. And just arrived, America's Defense Secretary Donald Rums says he wants to get a firsthand look at conditions in Iraq. He adds the U.S. has no plans to send more troops, despite the growing unrest. More evidence today of that dangerous duty. Two U.S. soldiers were wounded in an explosion in Ramadi, and fellow troops wound up in an intense firefight with Iraqi guerrillas right in downtown Tikrit. That's also where a suspected bombmaker was arrested in a raid by U.S. troops.
CNN's Jason Bellini is there, and he joins us via videophone -- Jason.

JASON BELLINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles. well, so far, it's a quiet night tonight here. We're embedded here with the army here, of the 4th ID. But last night, we were hearing mortar rounds that were being fired. The incident you were speaking of, that led to a large firefight. The people responsible for those mortar rounds -- and this was not the first night it happened -- they got away.

But there is something here that they're very proud of. The 1st Brigade, last night, a raid, we have pictures of this raid, happened around 1:00 a.m. And on this raid, they managed to take into custody who they say was a bomb maker and, in his house, they found alarm clocks, electrical wire, C-4 explosives, all the materials needed for these improvised explosive devices as they're called that have been responsible for so many of the attacks that we've been hearing about in recent weeks.

I just spoke with Colonel Hickey (ph) here who said that there's been a rash of them lately. He doesn't know, though, whether or not the people that they caught last night are the ones who are responsible for the attack just the other day that resulted in four of his soldiers being wounded.

But they're continuing to make what they call very targeted raids around town every night, and also during the daytime, trying to stop these explosive devices that keep plaguing them -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Jason, give me a sense of the morale of the troops you are encountering there. Are they frustrated right now, or do they feel like they're making some progress?

BELLINI: Well, lately, you've been hearing people saying they're making progress, that they're quite happy with these raids, because they're actually netting people, and people who they're very confident are the ones responsible.

But at the same time, you hear frustration that it seems even all these people they're catching, another incident happens. So they're making progress, but at the same time, they're not always seeing the results that they want to see, and they're waiting for their to be some quiet time here, or as a result of these successful raids -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: All right, we can all hope for some quiet time in Iraq. Jason Bellini, in Tikrit, thanks very much. Stay safe.

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