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American Morning
U.S. Marines Wary of Iraqi Civilians
Aired March 27, 2003 - 9:10 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello Paula. We heard from Marty Savidge yesterday on this program. He surfaced after being in an essential blackout for a couple of days. We've had a lot of contact, though, with CNN's Alessio Vinci. He is around the town of Nasiriya, embedded with the U.S. Marines. And by way of videophone, Alessio is back with us yet again.
Welcome Alessio. Good afternoon to you. What do you have?
ALESSIO VINCI, CNN ROME BUREAU CHIEF: Good afternoon to you, Bill. Well, it's pretty quiet here in Nasiriya in the last couple of days. There's sporadic fighting near the town, especially the southern part of town, and also in the surrounding areas where the Marines are continuing to try to keep the supply route that drives through Nasiriya secured and open for U.S. supplies and U.S. reinforcements and more troops to move towards the north as the U.S. military continues it's push towards Baghdad.
Now what the U.S. Marines have been very busy with in the last couple of days, however, is dealing with an incredible number of civilians. These are Iraqi civilians who have -- who live in villages surrounding Nasiriya and are trying to reach the city itself. And they come across these U.S. military checkpoints.
Now the U.S. military is very much concerned about those civilians because, as you may know, the Saddam Fedayeen, the paramilitary group, is known to be mingling among those civilians. And, indeed, as the U.S. military checks those trucks, those cars, those vehicles approaching the checkpoints, they do find, indeed, that among those civilians they find a large number also of fighters, of combatants.
U.S. military commanders are telling us that so far, in the last couple of days, they have taken capture at least 200 of those prisoners of war. They also have come across about 60 civilians whom they are trying to take care of. But of course it is a tremendous effort, because they need to be fed, they need to be sheltered, they need to be given water, and this unit certainly is not equipped to sustain such a plan for a long period of time.
And, of course, the other problem is, is that these Fedayeen are using the civilians as (UNINTELLIGIBLE), as trying to clear the way for them. And so sometimes you see those trucks, those vehicles approaching in a threatening way at those checkpoints. And then the Marines at that point have no other choice but to shoot at those vehicles. And it has happened, indeed, that in the last couple of days a couple of civilians have been killed just because the Fedayeen are using those civilians, and sometimes civilians with young kids, as a shield in order to approach undisturbed checkpoints.
Back to you, Bill.
HEMMER: All right, Alessio. Disturbing at the end there. Alessio Vinci again with the U.S. Marines around the town of Nasiriya, south central Iraq.
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 - 9:10 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello Paula. We heard from Marty Savidge yesterday on this program. He surfaced after being in an essential blackout for a couple of days. We've had a lot of contact, though, with CNN's Alessio Vinci. He is around the town of Nasiriya, embedded with the U.S. Marines. And by way of videophone, Alessio is back with us yet again.
Welcome Alessio. Good afternoon to you. What do you have?
ALESSIO VINCI, CNN ROME BUREAU CHIEF: Good afternoon to you, Bill. Well, it's pretty quiet here in Nasiriya in the last couple of days. There's sporadic fighting near the town, especially the southern part of town, and also in the surrounding areas where the Marines are continuing to try to keep the supply route that drives through Nasiriya secured and open for U.S. supplies and U.S. reinforcements and more troops to move towards the north as the U.S. military continues it's push towards Baghdad.
Now what the U.S. Marines have been very busy with in the last couple of days, however, is dealing with an incredible number of civilians. These are Iraqi civilians who have -- who live in villages surrounding Nasiriya and are trying to reach the city itself. And they come across these U.S. military checkpoints.
Now the U.S. military is very much concerned about those civilians because, as you may know, the Saddam Fedayeen, the paramilitary group, is known to be mingling among those civilians. And, indeed, as the U.S. military checks those trucks, those cars, those vehicles approaching the checkpoints, they do find, indeed, that among those civilians they find a large number also of fighters, of combatants.
U.S. military commanders are telling us that so far, in the last couple of days, they have taken capture at least 200 of those prisoners of war. They also have come across about 60 civilians whom they are trying to take care of. But of course it is a tremendous effort, because they need to be fed, they need to be sheltered, they need to be given water, and this unit certainly is not equipped to sustain such a plan for a long period of time.
And, of course, the other problem is, is that these Fedayeen are using the civilians as (UNINTELLIGIBLE), as trying to clear the way for them. And so sometimes you see those trucks, those vehicles approaching in a threatening way at those checkpoints. And then the Marines at that point have no other choice but to shoot at those vehicles. And it has happened, indeed, that in the last couple of days a couple of civilians have been killed just because the Fedayeen are using those civilians, and sometimes civilians with young kids, as a shield in order to approach undisturbed checkpoints.
Back to you, Bill.
HEMMER: All right, Alessio. Disturbing at the end there. Alessio Vinci again with the U.S. Marines around the town of Nasiriya, south central Iraq.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
