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American Morning
Marines Set up New Camp on East Bank of Euphrates South of Baghdad
Aired March 31, 2003 - 07:57 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: Scott Nelson from "The Boston Globe" is embedded, I believe, with the U.S. military. He's just popping up on the phone right now.
Not quite sure why you're calling in, Scott. Tell us where, if you can, as best you can, where you are and what's happening from your location today.
SCOTT NELSON, "THE BOSTON GLOBE": Sure. I'm with the 11th Marines on the east bank of the Euphrates River, and at this point we're between 80 miles and 90 miles south of Baghdad.
And we just ended what had been about a five-day operational pause. I know that there is some controversy about that term in the U.S. But on the ground here, there was a pause for five days.
And this morning before dawn, the Marines moved out. They moved, the communication unit I'm with, about 30 miles to the north, set up a new camp, and they appear to be trying to set the highway here to be used as a runway for airplanes to possibly bring up supplies and help deal with the supply issue that they've been struggling with in recent days.
HEMMER: Scott, you say a five-day pause. Did the Marines welcome that pause? And how did they respond?
NELSON: Not at all. These guys wanted to get going, and they felt like they could have been in Baghdad a week ago easily. You know, they feel like they're waiting for the politicians. And Marines being Marines, they feel like they're waiting for the Army to catch up. They always feel like they're a step ahead of the Army, and that the Army on the west bank of the Euphrates needs to hurry up and catch with them so they can all move forward.
What's going on today is they're essentially doing house-to-house searching in the area to clear the area around where they want to set up this runway. They're looking for weapons. They're looking for any Fedayeen militia. And it's quite an intense process for the people who are going through it, both the ones being searched and the Marines doing the searching.
HEMMER: Scott, thanks -- Scott Nelson, a writer for "The Boston Globe" embedded with the U.S. Marines, indicating a five-day pause for the unit he's been with. Central Command for several days right now has been saying there has been no operational pause, oftentimes leading us to interpret how you define the word "pause." Scott, thanks for checking in.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Baghdad>
Aired March 31, 2003 - 07:57 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Scott Nelson from "The Boston Globe" is embedded, I believe, with the U.S. military. He's just popping up on the phone right now.
Not quite sure why you're calling in, Scott. Tell us where, if you can, as best you can, where you are and what's happening from your location today.
SCOTT NELSON, "THE BOSTON GLOBE": Sure. I'm with the 11th Marines on the east bank of the Euphrates River, and at this point we're between 80 miles and 90 miles south of Baghdad.
And we just ended what had been about a five-day operational pause. I know that there is some controversy about that term in the U.S. But on the ground here, there was a pause for five days.
And this morning before dawn, the Marines moved out. They moved, the communication unit I'm with, about 30 miles to the north, set up a new camp, and they appear to be trying to set the highway here to be used as a runway for airplanes to possibly bring up supplies and help deal with the supply issue that they've been struggling with in recent days.
HEMMER: Scott, you say a five-day pause. Did the Marines welcome that pause? And how did they respond?
NELSON: Not at all. These guys wanted to get going, and they felt like they could have been in Baghdad a week ago easily. You know, they feel like they're waiting for the politicians. And Marines being Marines, they feel like they're waiting for the Army to catch up. They always feel like they're a step ahead of the Army, and that the Army on the west bank of the Euphrates needs to hurry up and catch with them so they can all move forward.
What's going on today is they're essentially doing house-to-house searching in the area to clear the area around where they want to set up this runway. They're looking for weapons. They're looking for any Fedayeen militia. And it's quite an intense process for the people who are going through it, both the ones being searched and the Marines doing the searching.
HEMMER: Scott, thanks -- Scott Nelson, a writer for "The Boston Globe" embedded with the U.S. Marines, indicating a five-day pause for the unit he's been with. Central Command for several days right now has been saying there has been no operational pause, oftentimes leading us to interpret how you define the word "pause." Scott, thanks for checking in.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Baghdad>
