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Multiple Explosions in Iraq
Aired November 11, 2003 - 13:12 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: Today's the day Americans look at their countrymen who took up arms in the name of the United States. It's a holiday not lost on the 100,000-plus servicemen and women who are under arms, in many cases under fire in Iraq. And that brings us to CNN's Matthew Chance joining us from Baghdad. Hello, Matthew.
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Miles. And there's been violence on this Veterans Day in several areas around Iraq. Here in Baghdad, explosion outside a courthouse injured at least four Iraqis, according to local officials in the Iraqi capital.
A bomb, a bigger bomb, an explosion in the southern city of Basra killed at least two people, according to the British coalition officials who are in charge in that area. None of them -- coalitions forces -- believed to have been local Iraqis who were killed.
Both of these instances are underlining just what are the dangers for the coalition and for the U.S. forces who are deployed here in Iraq. That certainly, as you mentioned, not been lost from the 130 or so thousand U.S. forces that are here deployed in Iraq. All are now veterans themselves, of course.
And as they remember their comrades who have already died in this campaign so far, they are also faced with more difficulties ahead. November has already been a very difficult month for coalition forces. Thirty-eight U.S. soldiers have been killed this month alone so far. And it's only the 11 of this month.
Who's behind it? That's something that's vexing the coalition commanders. Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez is the commander of coalition grounds forces here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LT. GEN. RICARDO SANCHEZ, U.S. GROUND FORCES CMDR.: The total number of detainees that we have in our detention facility is over 5,000. In terms of identifying specifically the links solidly to al Qaeda, we continue to work that.
At one point we had up to about 20 suspected al Qaeda members, but as we have continued to refine and interrogate, we have not been able to establish definitively that they were al Qaeda members.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHANCE: Coalition officials say there are hundreds of what they call foreign fighters who've infiltrated Iraq through it's porous borders, including members of al Qaeda or groups affiliated to al Qaeda that are using this country to launch they were attacks against U.S. interests here.
But the fact is that the majority of the people here are opposed to U.S. presence. That seems to be Iraqis affiliate with the old regime of Saddam Hussein -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Matthew Chance live from Baghdad. Thank you 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 November 11, 2003 - 13:12 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Today's the day Americans look at their countrymen who took up arms in the name of the United States. It's a holiday not lost on the 100,000-plus servicemen and women who are under arms, in many cases under fire in Iraq. And that brings us to CNN's Matthew Chance joining us from Baghdad. Hello, Matthew.
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Miles. And there's been violence on this Veterans Day in several areas around Iraq. Here in Baghdad, explosion outside a courthouse injured at least four Iraqis, according to local officials in the Iraqi capital.
A bomb, a bigger bomb, an explosion in the southern city of Basra killed at least two people, according to the British coalition officials who are in charge in that area. None of them -- coalitions forces -- believed to have been local Iraqis who were killed.
Both of these instances are underlining just what are the dangers for the coalition and for the U.S. forces who are deployed here in Iraq. That certainly, as you mentioned, not been lost from the 130 or so thousand U.S. forces that are here deployed in Iraq. All are now veterans themselves, of course.
And as they remember their comrades who have already died in this campaign so far, they are also faced with more difficulties ahead. November has already been a very difficult month for coalition forces. Thirty-eight U.S. soldiers have been killed this month alone so far. And it's only the 11 of this month.
Who's behind it? That's something that's vexing the coalition commanders. Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez is the commander of coalition grounds forces here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LT. GEN. RICARDO SANCHEZ, U.S. GROUND FORCES CMDR.: The total number of detainees that we have in our detention facility is over 5,000. In terms of identifying specifically the links solidly to al Qaeda, we continue to work that.
At one point we had up to about 20 suspected al Qaeda members, but as we have continued to refine and interrogate, we have not been able to establish definitively that they were al Qaeda members.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHANCE: Coalition officials say there are hundreds of what they call foreign fighters who've infiltrated Iraq through it's porous borders, including members of al Qaeda or groups affiliated to al Qaeda that are using this country to launch they were attacks against U.S. interests here.
But the fact is that the majority of the people here are opposed to U.S. presence. That seems to be Iraqis affiliate with the old regime of Saddam Hussein -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Matthew Chance live from Baghdad. Thank you 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
