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American Morning
Updates from Reporters Embedded with Divisions in Baghdad
Aired April 08, 2003 - 09:11 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: Walt Rodgers live with us again on the outskirts of Baghdad, now joins us for what's happening today with the 3rd Infantry Division.
Hello, Walt. Good afternoon, there.
WALT RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Bill.
In the past 30 minutes, we heard U.S. jets flying over, we heard the roaring release of two JDAM bombs. Army sources have told CNN that the targets hit by those JDAM bombs are the Ba'athist Party headquarters and the Iraqi Information Ministry.
Earlier in the day, a senior Army source told CNN that the Republican Guard headquarters in Baghdad had been hit and special Republican Guard headquarters in Baghdad also hit. One senior Army officer here told CNN that there is -- quote -- "no longer any organized military resistance in the city of Baghdad itself." No what he was saying, of course there are continuing pockets of resistance, sometimes those pockets of resistance are rather fierce.
For example, again, earlier in the day, six U.S. special forces soldiers operating independently in Baghdad were injured, they were medevaced out, no information on their condition beyond that.
But we have moved. That is the 7th Cavalry has moved into the southern suburbs of Baghdad from the western suburbs yesterday, increasing contact with Iraqi citizens. Iraqi citizens are pouring back from the country side, appear to be trying to get back into the city of Baghdad.
As soon as they saw U.S. soldiers, there seemed to be no fear, especially as soon as they saw that there was an Arabic translator. One Iraqi came up with a note which was handwritten in English, and he handed it to it Army, and it said, "I am trying to retrieve a dead body. I am unarmed."
In that case, the Army actually provided one Iraqi citizen with an escort to with his pickup truck, and they went up the road in Bradley Fighting Vehicle. They took this individual up to try to retrieve some bodies of people in this his family. Other Iraqis come up, they're simply asking the Army, please let me cross your lines, I have taxi cab or an automobile just a kilometer away, let me go pick it up, otherwise thieves are going to strip it.
One very interesting encounter in the meetings with Iraqi citizens, again, in the southern suburbs of Baghdad, one man came up to the Army translator, and he said, I know where there is the body of an American soldier missing in action. The Army checked very quickly and discovered there no missing -- or unaccounted American soldiers, dead American soldiers here. And what this individual said was that he would lead the Americans to the grave where the Fedayeen had buried this American soldier, allegedly.
The problem, of course, was this might have been an ambush, so one officer in the unit informed this individual, this Iraqi, through a translator, if we are being led into an ambush, if we're shot at, I will personally shoot you. That ended this encounter, and the man just sort of disappeared in the crowd, was never heard from again. Very interesting encounters all day with Iraqi citizens south of Baghdad -- Bill.
HEMMER: And so many more to come. Thanks, Walt. Walt Rodgers, we continue to hear in different parts of Iraq, two regular Iraqis coming forward trying to assist the U.S. military in a variety of ways, the British military as well.
Walt is on the west side accident, on the east side of Baghdad is Martin Savidge, back with us again, embedded with U.S. Marines.
Marty, what's happening now?
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Bill.
Well, the advance of the U.S. Marines into southeast Baghdad proper may not be as visually high profile as that of the U.S. Army going into city center, but that is not to say they haven't had strategic gains; they certainly have. I've been told the Marines have achieved an objective of an airbase, the Rasheed Airbase. This is an airfield that is located on the east side of Baghdad, obviously. We know the international airport was seized a number of days ago by the army on west side. Now coalition forces hold an airbase on east side. It remains to seen what's going to be done with them.
The Marines of the 1st Battalion 7th Marines, who we're embedded with, crossed over into Baghdad early this morning, actually before the sun came up. They did receive some fire, as they came across a canal there, and they also came across a huge storage site of what appears to be Iraqi artillery and antiaircraft weaponry. They found it hidden in a forested area or a grove of palm trees there on the ground. The Marines quickly went about the work of demolishing it. They did that using grenades, and also thermite-type grenades. These are grenades that go off to produce a tremendous amount of heat, and as they melt the weaponry. There were so many pieces of equipment that had to be destroyed, that the Marines went about it in a very quick fashion, lobbing grenades, running away, and then watching as the ensuing explosion destroyed not only the artillery, but a great amount of ammunition, and a lot of things flying through the air at that particular time.
Then the Marines of the 1st Battalion 7th Marines continued to push off. Their main objective today was huge sprawling industrial complex. They wanted to get into the site for two reason. Number one, there was some question about whether it was being used for illicit Iraqi weapons programs in some of these buildings, and also, they felt, too, there might be remnants of the Republican Guard hiding out. They did find a firefight. They were able to suppress that, and as they investigated around the grounds, they found something else rather interesting, a large supply of chemical warfare equipment. And I'm talk about chemical suits that were found, the masks, the canisters to go with them, the rubber boots, the gloves and atropine pens. That's an agent that you would inject into yourself if you believe you have been exposed to a nerve agent of some sort, Bill.
So for Marines, it a busy day. More to come -- Bill.
HEMMER: And, Marty, you say more to come. If could you give us an idea, we're told the Army will take charge of the west of Baghdad, essentially splitting the city down the middle, the Marines will take care of east side. This a huge area, 5 million people living there. Have they expressed concerns as to how they'll pull this off once they get to that point in Baghdad?
SAVIDGE: Well, obviously, due to the imbed rules, we're not allowed to talk about future action that may take place. But in a broad sense, it is certainly known that you have with the army pushing in from the west and the Marines driving up from the southeast, that there is a squeezing that is taking place, both literal and figuratively. Literally in that you're closing around the heart of Baghdad, and also closing in on potential escape routes and avenues of operation for Iraqi leadership here.
So they may not be in firm control of massive amounts of territory, but they can have influence on a large amount of territory, and that is growing steadily day by day -- Bill.
HEMMER: All right, Marty, thanks. Martin Savidge, east side of Baghdad with the U.S. Marines. Thanks for checking in, Marty. We'll see you a bit later.
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 8, 2003 - 09:11 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Walt Rodgers live with us again on the outskirts of Baghdad, now joins us for what's happening today with the 3rd Infantry Division.
Hello, Walt. Good afternoon, there.
WALT RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Bill.
In the past 30 minutes, we heard U.S. jets flying over, we heard the roaring release of two JDAM bombs. Army sources have told CNN that the targets hit by those JDAM bombs are the Ba'athist Party headquarters and the Iraqi Information Ministry.
Earlier in the day, a senior Army source told CNN that the Republican Guard headquarters in Baghdad had been hit and special Republican Guard headquarters in Baghdad also hit. One senior Army officer here told CNN that there is -- quote -- "no longer any organized military resistance in the city of Baghdad itself." No what he was saying, of course there are continuing pockets of resistance, sometimes those pockets of resistance are rather fierce.
For example, again, earlier in the day, six U.S. special forces soldiers operating independently in Baghdad were injured, they were medevaced out, no information on their condition beyond that.
But we have moved. That is the 7th Cavalry has moved into the southern suburbs of Baghdad from the western suburbs yesterday, increasing contact with Iraqi citizens. Iraqi citizens are pouring back from the country side, appear to be trying to get back into the city of Baghdad.
As soon as they saw U.S. soldiers, there seemed to be no fear, especially as soon as they saw that there was an Arabic translator. One Iraqi came up with a note which was handwritten in English, and he handed it to it Army, and it said, "I am trying to retrieve a dead body. I am unarmed."
In that case, the Army actually provided one Iraqi citizen with an escort to with his pickup truck, and they went up the road in Bradley Fighting Vehicle. They took this individual up to try to retrieve some bodies of people in this his family. Other Iraqis come up, they're simply asking the Army, please let me cross your lines, I have taxi cab or an automobile just a kilometer away, let me go pick it up, otherwise thieves are going to strip it.
One very interesting encounter in the meetings with Iraqi citizens, again, in the southern suburbs of Baghdad, one man came up to the Army translator, and he said, I know where there is the body of an American soldier missing in action. The Army checked very quickly and discovered there no missing -- or unaccounted American soldiers, dead American soldiers here. And what this individual said was that he would lead the Americans to the grave where the Fedayeen had buried this American soldier, allegedly.
The problem, of course, was this might have been an ambush, so one officer in the unit informed this individual, this Iraqi, through a translator, if we are being led into an ambush, if we're shot at, I will personally shoot you. That ended this encounter, and the man just sort of disappeared in the crowd, was never heard from again. Very interesting encounters all day with Iraqi citizens south of Baghdad -- Bill.
HEMMER: And so many more to come. Thanks, Walt. Walt Rodgers, we continue to hear in different parts of Iraq, two regular Iraqis coming forward trying to assist the U.S. military in a variety of ways, the British military as well.
Walt is on the west side accident, on the east side of Baghdad is Martin Savidge, back with us again, embedded with U.S. Marines.
Marty, what's happening now?
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Bill.
Well, the advance of the U.S. Marines into southeast Baghdad proper may not be as visually high profile as that of the U.S. Army going into city center, but that is not to say they haven't had strategic gains; they certainly have. I've been told the Marines have achieved an objective of an airbase, the Rasheed Airbase. This is an airfield that is located on the east side of Baghdad, obviously. We know the international airport was seized a number of days ago by the army on west side. Now coalition forces hold an airbase on east side. It remains to seen what's going to be done with them.
The Marines of the 1st Battalion 7th Marines, who we're embedded with, crossed over into Baghdad early this morning, actually before the sun came up. They did receive some fire, as they came across a canal there, and they also came across a huge storage site of what appears to be Iraqi artillery and antiaircraft weaponry. They found it hidden in a forested area or a grove of palm trees there on the ground. The Marines quickly went about the work of demolishing it. They did that using grenades, and also thermite-type grenades. These are grenades that go off to produce a tremendous amount of heat, and as they melt the weaponry. There were so many pieces of equipment that had to be destroyed, that the Marines went about it in a very quick fashion, lobbing grenades, running away, and then watching as the ensuing explosion destroyed not only the artillery, but a great amount of ammunition, and a lot of things flying through the air at that particular time.
Then the Marines of the 1st Battalion 7th Marines continued to push off. Their main objective today was huge sprawling industrial complex. They wanted to get into the site for two reason. Number one, there was some question about whether it was being used for illicit Iraqi weapons programs in some of these buildings, and also, they felt, too, there might be remnants of the Republican Guard hiding out. They did find a firefight. They were able to suppress that, and as they investigated around the grounds, they found something else rather interesting, a large supply of chemical warfare equipment. And I'm talk about chemical suits that were found, the masks, the canisters to go with them, the rubber boots, the gloves and atropine pens. That's an agent that you would inject into yourself if you believe you have been exposed to a nerve agent of some sort, Bill.
So for Marines, it a busy day. More to come -- Bill.
HEMMER: And, Marty, you say more to come. If could you give us an idea, we're told the Army will take charge of the west of Baghdad, essentially splitting the city down the middle, the Marines will take care of east side. This a huge area, 5 million people living there. Have they expressed concerns as to how they'll pull this off once they get to that point in Baghdad?
SAVIDGE: Well, obviously, due to the imbed rules, we're not allowed to talk about future action that may take place. But in a broad sense, it is certainly known that you have with the army pushing in from the west and the Marines driving up from the southeast, that there is a squeezing that is taking place, both literal and figuratively. Literally in that you're closing around the heart of Baghdad, and also closing in on potential escape routes and avenues of operation for Iraqi leadership here.
So they may not be in firm control of massive amounts of territory, but they can have influence on a large amount of territory, and that is growing steadily day by day -- Bill.
HEMMER: All right, Marty, thanks. Martin Savidge, east side of Baghdad with the U.S. Marines. Thanks for checking in, Marty. We'll see you a bit later.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
