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American Morning
Pentagon Mum on Casualty Numbers
Aired March 27, 2003 - 08:04 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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: We go straight to the Pentagon now, where Barbara Starr is standing by.
Barbara, there was a rather unusual moment at the CENTCOM briefing when a reporter from "New York" magazine, along with the cheering on of his colleagues, posed the question, you know, why is it that you're not giving us more information than we already know from the Pentagon. It was a pretty testy moment and he seemed to have some support in that room.
Did you learn anything new today?
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's really, as many people call it, it is a mosaic. You learn information from listening to the central command briefing, you learn information from the briefings here at the Pentagon. We've learned an awful lot of real frontline information from our reporters embedded out in the field.
It's really tough to get a full picture, though, and the kind of expectations I think that both the news media and the public has nowadays, that we will see everything as it's unfolding.
And officials constantly remind us that what we see in front of our television cameras are embedded reporters. The TV cameras in Baghdad is really only part of the story. They are very much pressing the point that we need to look at Iraq as an entire picture. So their belief is the CENTCOM briefings do add some value.
But I think one of the most interesting things was that General -- the general refused to answer the question of how many Americans had so far been killed in this war. He said that was not a numbers game that he was going to get into. It's a very tough piece of information to get. You have to keep going to Pentagon officials and asking them. So far, we are told it's 24, but that's the kind of detail at central command that they're not putting out.
General Brooks talked earlier today about all of this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEN. VINCENT BROOKS, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: Our field commanders report that in the vicinity of An Najaf, as one example, Iraqi regime forces are seizing children from their homes, telling their families that the males must fight for the regime or they will all face execution.
(END VIDEO CLIP) STARR: Now, that's the type of information that General Brooks says central command can offer. Insights into what is happening out in the field, what is happening to civilian Iraqis that they believe are being terrorized by these paramilitary fighters.
Here's another image that he showed today. This was pre-strike and then he showed post strike on some television transmitters in Baghdad. Post strike right there that the U.S. believes are not just TV transmitters, but are being used by the regime for command and control and communications out to the field. So they say this makes TV transmission facilities a legitimate military target because they have this second dual use military capability.
So, Paula, he's trying to make the case that they are proceeding on plan and everything is going according to schedule.
ZAHN: He was also asked a number of questions about the timeline, which he said he needed to skirt around because, obviously, he doesn't want to give out any information that would compromise the safety of allied troops.
But there is "Washington Post" story today that's going to get an awful lot of attention, where unnamed senior U.S. military officials are quoted as saying they are convinced that this war is likely to last months and will require considerably more air power than is now on hand.
Any reaction to the Pentagon today to this report, and is there any truth to it?
STARR: Well, hard to know if there's any truth to it. I suppose we'll only know at the end of it all.
But Secretary of Defense Don Rumsfeld is getting an awful lot of questions from news media, from Congress and the public, on this very point. I think we have a bit of his reaction to all of this last night when he came out of some briefings on Capitol Hill.
He was asked about how it's all going and whether or not they need more military forces there. That's the latest take we have. I think we can show you what the secretary had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: The force flow is something you put in motion months, months ago and it has been proceeding exactly as planned and there isn't an hour or a day that goes by that there aren't an increased number of troops in Iraq in one or more locations and in any given day, they go up by a non-trivial number and they will continue to until it's done and it will be done at some point.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR: And of course, Paula, the force level is going up. Sources saying that now the 4th Infantry Division, perhaps as many as 20,000 additional ground troops, always earmarked for the battle, but haven't gotten there yet. They are now on their way.
ZAHN: Barbara Starr, thanks so much. We'll be checking with you throughout the day.
As we go back to Bill, now, Bill, I wanted to add something that Secretary of State Powell said in an interview on National Public Radio, which was a little different from the assessment we've heard from military leaders so far.
When asked about the timeline of this war, he said, quote, "It may take a bit longer, don't know how long."
BILL HEMMER, ANCHOR: Yes. We heard again from CENTCOM today, Paula, talking about we are on our plan. And you heard General Brooks say that repeatedly throughout that 50-minute briefing.
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 March 27, 2003 - 08:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: We go straight to the Pentagon now, where Barbara Starr is standing by.
Barbara, there was a rather unusual moment at the CENTCOM briefing when a reporter from "New York" magazine, along with the cheering on of his colleagues, posed the question, you know, why is it that you're not giving us more information than we already know from the Pentagon. It was a pretty testy moment and he seemed to have some support in that room.
Did you learn anything new today?
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's really, as many people call it, it is a mosaic. You learn information from listening to the central command briefing, you learn information from the briefings here at the Pentagon. We've learned an awful lot of real frontline information from our reporters embedded out in the field.
It's really tough to get a full picture, though, and the kind of expectations I think that both the news media and the public has nowadays, that we will see everything as it's unfolding.
And officials constantly remind us that what we see in front of our television cameras are embedded reporters. The TV cameras in Baghdad is really only part of the story. They are very much pressing the point that we need to look at Iraq as an entire picture. So their belief is the CENTCOM briefings do add some value.
But I think one of the most interesting things was that General -- the general refused to answer the question of how many Americans had so far been killed in this war. He said that was not a numbers game that he was going to get into. It's a very tough piece of information to get. You have to keep going to Pentagon officials and asking them. So far, we are told it's 24, but that's the kind of detail at central command that they're not putting out.
General Brooks talked earlier today about all of this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEN. VINCENT BROOKS, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: Our field commanders report that in the vicinity of An Najaf, as one example, Iraqi regime forces are seizing children from their homes, telling their families that the males must fight for the regime or they will all face execution.
(END VIDEO CLIP) STARR: Now, that's the type of information that General Brooks says central command can offer. Insights into what is happening out in the field, what is happening to civilian Iraqis that they believe are being terrorized by these paramilitary fighters.
Here's another image that he showed today. This was pre-strike and then he showed post strike on some television transmitters in Baghdad. Post strike right there that the U.S. believes are not just TV transmitters, but are being used by the regime for command and control and communications out to the field. So they say this makes TV transmission facilities a legitimate military target because they have this second dual use military capability.
So, Paula, he's trying to make the case that they are proceeding on plan and everything is going according to schedule.
ZAHN: He was also asked a number of questions about the timeline, which he said he needed to skirt around because, obviously, he doesn't want to give out any information that would compromise the safety of allied troops.
But there is "Washington Post" story today that's going to get an awful lot of attention, where unnamed senior U.S. military officials are quoted as saying they are convinced that this war is likely to last months and will require considerably more air power than is now on hand.
Any reaction to the Pentagon today to this report, and is there any truth to it?
STARR: Well, hard to know if there's any truth to it. I suppose we'll only know at the end of it all.
But Secretary of Defense Don Rumsfeld is getting an awful lot of questions from news media, from Congress and the public, on this very point. I think we have a bit of his reaction to all of this last night when he came out of some briefings on Capitol Hill.
He was asked about how it's all going and whether or not they need more military forces there. That's the latest take we have. I think we can show you what the secretary had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: The force flow is something you put in motion months, months ago and it has been proceeding exactly as planned and there isn't an hour or a day that goes by that there aren't an increased number of troops in Iraq in one or more locations and in any given day, they go up by a non-trivial number and they will continue to until it's done and it will be done at some point.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR: And of course, Paula, the force level is going up. Sources saying that now the 4th Infantry Division, perhaps as many as 20,000 additional ground troops, always earmarked for the battle, but haven't gotten there yet. They are now on their way.
ZAHN: Barbara Starr, thanks so much. We'll be checking with you throughout the day.
As we go back to Bill, now, Bill, I wanted to add something that Secretary of State Powell said in an interview on National Public Radio, which was a little different from the assessment we've heard from military leaders so far.
When asked about the timeline of this war, he said, quote, "It may take a bit longer, don't know how long."
BILL HEMMER, ANCHOR: Yes. We heard again from CENTCOM today, Paula, talking about we are on our plan. And you heard General Brooks say that repeatedly throughout that 50-minute briefing.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
