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American Morning

Coaltion Controls Airport

Aired April 04, 2003 - 08:33   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 Baghdad where CBS News Correspondent Jim Axelrod is standing by to bring us up to date on how much in control the coalition forces are at the moment.
Jim, thanks for joining us. Good morning.

JIM AXELROD, CBS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula, how are you?

ZAHN: I am fine, thanks. And how about you? And what is going on there right now?

AXELROD: Well, we are standing on the tarmac of Saddam Hussein International Airport, or should I say Baghdad International Airport? The U.S. Infantry does not like to use the name Saddam Hussein in referring to this place.

They have taken -- with almost stunning speed -- they have taken complete control of the airfield here. They are still securing some parts of it. It's rather a big space, 8 miles by 5 miles, so you're talking about 40 square miles of area. We're going to show you the plane we are standing in front of, an Iraqi airline that apparently took some fire overnight. You can see the kind of damage that was done. Quite an impressive site, and really that's the story of what's happened with the Third Infantry's lightning quick move from south of Karbala over a two-day period up here to the airfield.

It had everything to do with a coordinated attack. The Paladin 155 Howitzers, these big booming cannons, and the multiple launch rocket systems, these kinds of artillery pieces and rockets can do the kind of damage that really disabled the Iraqi opposition and allowed the ground troops to go in once the battlefield was shaped so effectively.

A lot of fighting overnight and this morning on the ground to clean out the bunkers, clean out the terrain although as many EPWs, Prisoners of War that were taken, many more Iraqi Republican Guard and Special Republican Guard troops were killed.

So, where do we stand right now? The Third Infantry is in control of the airport. Some units from the 101st Airborne have been moving up to also do some security work here and obviously this can become a critically important place once you have an airfield not only the symbolic value and what it does in terms of disrupting any kind of Iraqi operation. But more important, it gives the military a base to not only transport, but to have helicopters, that sort of thing. So, a very important, critically important maneuver over the last couple of days, which gives the United States control of Baghdad International Airport -- Paula.

ZAHN: And Jim, while you were standing at the tarmac, we learned at the briefing that they are saying one of the main benefits now of having control of this airport is to prevent any members Saddam Hussein's leadership from fleeing the city.

I want to come back to a point you just made about some of the fighting that you witnessed as your division was heading in towards Baghdad. Can you describe some of that for us this morning?

AXELROD: Sure.

The fighting really takes two forms. The artillery exchanges -- when the Iraqi opposition launches a mortar, for instance, the United States has this radar system that allows pinpoint precision reply. In other words, it locks on sometime within like 11 seconds, and begins to move the artillery piece, and they send the return shell almost down the very tubes within a minute or two time. So, the Iraqis get off one shot and then this barrage of United States return fire renders the Iraqi opposition relatively ineffective. You see some fire fights, you see some fighting, but nothing very -- I would call the opposition light to moderate. They plowed through it. They get to the ground, and the infantry does spend an hour or two cleaning out areas.

But again casualties are minimal, to say the least on the United States side, and on the Iraqis' side, a great deal of casualties and prisoners of war taken. But, it really when it comes right down to it is Iraq, the last 24-48 hours, the Iraqi military has been severely overmatched, not only in terms of the people, but the skill level of the soldiers of the United States are putting on the ground. But also, the kind of weaponry the United States brings to the battlefield is certainly unmatched when you are talking about the face-off between the United States and Iraq -- Paula.

ZAHN: Well, Jim, it's great to have you on the air with us today. Jim Axelrod of CBS News filing that report. Thanks again.

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 April 4, 2003 - 08:33   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 Baghdad where CBS News Correspondent Jim Axelrod is standing by to bring us up to date on how much in control the coalition forces are at the moment.
Jim, thanks for joining us. Good morning.

JIM AXELROD, CBS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula, how are you?

ZAHN: I am fine, thanks. And how about you? And what is going on there right now?

AXELROD: Well, we are standing on the tarmac of Saddam Hussein International Airport, or should I say Baghdad International Airport? The U.S. Infantry does not like to use the name Saddam Hussein in referring to this place.

They have taken -- with almost stunning speed -- they have taken complete control of the airfield here. They are still securing some parts of it. It's rather a big space, 8 miles by 5 miles, so you're talking about 40 square miles of area. We're going to show you the plane we are standing in front of, an Iraqi airline that apparently took some fire overnight. You can see the kind of damage that was done. Quite an impressive site, and really that's the story of what's happened with the Third Infantry's lightning quick move from south of Karbala over a two-day period up here to the airfield.

It had everything to do with a coordinated attack. The Paladin 155 Howitzers, these big booming cannons, and the multiple launch rocket systems, these kinds of artillery pieces and rockets can do the kind of damage that really disabled the Iraqi opposition and allowed the ground troops to go in once the battlefield was shaped so effectively.

A lot of fighting overnight and this morning on the ground to clean out the bunkers, clean out the terrain although as many EPWs, Prisoners of War that were taken, many more Iraqi Republican Guard and Special Republican Guard troops were killed.

So, where do we stand right now? The Third Infantry is in control of the airport. Some units from the 101st Airborne have been moving up to also do some security work here and obviously this can become a critically important place once you have an airfield not only the symbolic value and what it does in terms of disrupting any kind of Iraqi operation. But more important, it gives the military a base to not only transport, but to have helicopters, that sort of thing. So, a very important, critically important maneuver over the last couple of days, which gives the United States control of Baghdad International Airport -- Paula.

ZAHN: And Jim, while you were standing at the tarmac, we learned at the briefing that they are saying one of the main benefits now of having control of this airport is to prevent any members Saddam Hussein's leadership from fleeing the city.

I want to come back to a point you just made about some of the fighting that you witnessed as your division was heading in towards Baghdad. Can you describe some of that for us this morning?

AXELROD: Sure.

The fighting really takes two forms. The artillery exchanges -- when the Iraqi opposition launches a mortar, for instance, the United States has this radar system that allows pinpoint precision reply. In other words, it locks on sometime within like 11 seconds, and begins to move the artillery piece, and they send the return shell almost down the very tubes within a minute or two time. So, the Iraqis get off one shot and then this barrage of United States return fire renders the Iraqi opposition relatively ineffective. You see some fire fights, you see some fighting, but nothing very -- I would call the opposition light to moderate. They plowed through it. They get to the ground, and the infantry does spend an hour or two cleaning out areas.

But again casualties are minimal, to say the least on the United States side, and on the Iraqis' side, a great deal of casualties and prisoners of war taken. But, it really when it comes right down to it is Iraq, the last 24-48 hours, the Iraqi military has been severely overmatched, not only in terms of the people, but the skill level of the soldiers of the United States are putting on the ground. But also, the kind of weaponry the United States brings to the battlefield is certainly unmatched when you are talking about the face-off between the United States and Iraq -- Paula.

ZAHN: Well, Jim, it's great to have you on the air with us today. Jim Axelrod of CBS News filing that report. Thanks again.

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