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American Morning
Marines Cautious with Civilians
Aired April 06, 2003 - 09:18 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: Meanwhile, the battle for Baghdad does continue. Walter Rodgers 10 minutes ago saying high-ranking members of the U.S. Army now tell him that U.S. and coalition forces have effectively encircled the entire city of Baghdad.
In the southeastern part of the Iraqi capital, Marty Savidge checks in by way of videophone. Martin's with the 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, as he has been now for almost one month.
Marty, good evening. What's happening?
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Bill.
Well, as they have been doing for the past couple of days now, the Marines are driving on Baghdad, coming up from the southeast. And we are right now in a pause, as they would say, for this particular convoy, which is why you see the security deployment of the armored personnel carriers and the way they are in that sort of odd alignment there. That is so that they can throw out the most effective fire, should they come under attack.
Let me explain what's been going on -- excuse me. As the Marines have been pushing forward, 5th Marines, 7th Marines and the 1st Battalion 7th Marines, they have been meeting resistance. Not heavy resistance, but they describe it as skirmishes that they have been running across. Not clear exactly who they're up against whether these are remnants of the Republican Guard or whether these are just Iraqi troops or perhaps paramilitary units.
The problem is, of course, they're mixed in now with a civilian population in sort of a suburban environment. And that makes it slow going. You have to be careful. You've got to be cautious. You have to figure out who is friendly and who is not. And you carefully have to discern who the enemy forces, in this case, who the opposing forces may be, mixed in with that civilian population.
It is not easy work, but the Marines are very careful and methodical about it.
Last night, as they were conducting operations in this area -- and this specific area has been problematic -- they did arrest or bring into custody three members that have been identified as part of the Iraqi special Republican Guard. How do they know that? Well, their I.D. cards said so.
These men had uniforms. I don't believe they were wearing them at the time they were captured, and they also had their weapons with them. It appeared they were trying to flee when they were caught, and reportedly they have been cooperating with the Marines, divulging information.
So as you watch them interact with the civilian population, it at times can be -- it can be difficult, almost your heart goes out to the civilians. Because the Marines are trying to, obviously, secure themselves, obviously search out and destroy enemy units, paramilitary units, Iraqi Republican Guard.
And the fear of the civilians is often plain and evident on their faces as they come up against the soldiers. The soldiers try to treat them with the utmost of care, but they also realize they're in danger themselves. And that's why you have that sort of mixed message coming out here as they work through this urban environment.
The other thing we came across earlier today, it was an M1-A1 Abrams tank, appears to have been destroyed maybe about 48 hours ago. The 5th Marines have been through here with first tanks. We've been told that they did suffer a number of casualties and that at least three of their tanks were hit, not all of them destroyed.
This one may not have been fully destroyed by an RPG but knocked out mobility-wise, and in the middle of the fire fight, the Marines felt that it was best not to repair it, leave it, but make sure it wasn't going to be working for anybody else so they set it ablaze and destroyed it. It was basically just a burned-out hull that we found today -- Bill.
HEMMER: Marty, thanks. Martin Savidge with the Marines. As Marty's talking right now, a very difficult balance right now for members of the U.S. military in terms of engaging the Iraqi people in a number of cases. Marty pointed out so many that he has seen just already today.
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 6, 2003 - 09:18 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER: Meanwhile, the battle for Baghdad does continue. Walter Rodgers 10 minutes ago saying high-ranking members of the U.S. Army now tell him that U.S. and coalition forces have effectively encircled the entire city of Baghdad.
In the southeastern part of the Iraqi capital, Marty Savidge checks in by way of videophone. Martin's with the 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, as he has been now for almost one month.
Marty, good evening. What's happening?
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Bill.
Well, as they have been doing for the past couple of days now, the Marines are driving on Baghdad, coming up from the southeast. And we are right now in a pause, as they would say, for this particular convoy, which is why you see the security deployment of the armored personnel carriers and the way they are in that sort of odd alignment there. That is so that they can throw out the most effective fire, should they come under attack.
Let me explain what's been going on -- excuse me. As the Marines have been pushing forward, 5th Marines, 7th Marines and the 1st Battalion 7th Marines, they have been meeting resistance. Not heavy resistance, but they describe it as skirmishes that they have been running across. Not clear exactly who they're up against whether these are remnants of the Republican Guard or whether these are just Iraqi troops or perhaps paramilitary units.
The problem is, of course, they're mixed in now with a civilian population in sort of a suburban environment. And that makes it slow going. You have to be careful. You've got to be cautious. You have to figure out who is friendly and who is not. And you carefully have to discern who the enemy forces, in this case, who the opposing forces may be, mixed in with that civilian population.
It is not easy work, but the Marines are very careful and methodical about it.
Last night, as they were conducting operations in this area -- and this specific area has been problematic -- they did arrest or bring into custody three members that have been identified as part of the Iraqi special Republican Guard. How do they know that? Well, their I.D. cards said so.
These men had uniforms. I don't believe they were wearing them at the time they were captured, and they also had their weapons with them. It appeared they were trying to flee when they were caught, and reportedly they have been cooperating with the Marines, divulging information.
So as you watch them interact with the civilian population, it at times can be -- it can be difficult, almost your heart goes out to the civilians. Because the Marines are trying to, obviously, secure themselves, obviously search out and destroy enemy units, paramilitary units, Iraqi Republican Guard.
And the fear of the civilians is often plain and evident on their faces as they come up against the soldiers. The soldiers try to treat them with the utmost of care, but they also realize they're in danger themselves. And that's why you have that sort of mixed message coming out here as they work through this urban environment.
The other thing we came across earlier today, it was an M1-A1 Abrams tank, appears to have been destroyed maybe about 48 hours ago. The 5th Marines have been through here with first tanks. We've been told that they did suffer a number of casualties and that at least three of their tanks were hit, not all of them destroyed.
This one may not have been fully destroyed by an RPG but knocked out mobility-wise, and in the middle of the fire fight, the Marines felt that it was best not to repair it, leave it, but make sure it wasn't going to be working for anybody else so they set it ablaze and destroyed it. It was basically just a burned-out hull that we found today -- Bill.
HEMMER: Marty, thanks. Martin Savidge with the Marines. As Marty's talking right now, a very difficult balance right now for members of the U.S. military in terms of engaging the Iraqi people in a number of cases. Marty pointed out so many that he has seen just already today.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
