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American Morning

Marines Pushing Into Baghdad, Still Meeting Pockets of Resistance

Aired April 09, 2003 - 08:15   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: Now, let's go straight to Martin Savidge, who is inside Baghdad with the Marines. He joins us now by telephone to let us know what's going on.
Martin, good morning.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Paula. We are with the 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, pressing into Baghdad, as we have been, coming up from the southeast. We were moving forward when we came past this building here that you may be able to see, and it was there that Marines said they started getting -- or believe there was a sniper up there, and that there had been a shot.

At that point, the Marines backed up by their armored personnel carriers, where their sniper teams as well, at work, opened fire on the building. The snipers took several shots. The armored personnel carriers opening up with their .50 caliber machine guns, and then there were also the infantrymen as well, who were firing with their M- 16s. The shooting, if there was any coming out of that building has stopped. The shooting on the part of the Marines took a little while to get back under control, but it, too, has stopped. And the convoy has stopped for the time being as they try to investigate. But short of that, pressing into Baghdad -- Paula.

ZAHN: Martin, I need to explain to our audience, your sound is a little bit garbled, but what you have to say is very important. So we're going to stay with this. Just -- a question about -- given what you have just witnessed, what it is the Marines expect in the days to come even though there does not appear to be any organized resistance in Baghdad?

SAVIDGE: Well, it's true that they don't expect an organized resistance coming at them. However, they are now convinced that there are still holdouts or individuals who would still want to do damage to the U.S. military, specifically the U.S. Marines, so they are taking every caution. They are not going in with a lax attitude. They want to go in fully prepared. They are going in fully armed, and fully loaded, and are anticipating that there could be fighting on their way in. If it is not, so much the better. They will be glad of it. If there is, it will be met with overwhelming force coming from the U.S. Marines -- Paula.

ZAHN: Also, Martin, one of the challenges CENTCOM was talking about is having a flexible battle plan, a flexible enough battle plan that you can go from a combat plan to a plan that allows for imposing civil order. Has anybody that you've been around talked about the challenge that lies ahead in that regard?

SAVIDGE: Well, it is going to be a challenge. The Marines are not specialized in being police officers, nor are they necessarily trained in the function of being civil service. They're trained to be a full armed war fighting force. And so to try to go into a sort of stand-down mode, or slightly less than full-fighting force is not something that the Marines are acclaimed (ph) or are accustomed to. They will be happy to stand by in case there is no fighting, but they are not police officers, and they will be the first to admit it -- Paula.

ZAHN: Martin Savidge, thanks for that update. Martin giving us a very good idea of what coalition forces face, even without organized resistance on the ground in Baghdad.

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




Resistance>


Aired April 9, 2003 - 08:15   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Now, let's go straight to Martin Savidge, who is inside Baghdad with the Marines. He joins us now by telephone to let us know what's going on.
Martin, good morning.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Paula. We are with the 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, pressing into Baghdad, as we have been, coming up from the southeast. We were moving forward when we came past this building here that you may be able to see, and it was there that Marines said they started getting -- or believe there was a sniper up there, and that there had been a shot.

At that point, the Marines backed up by their armored personnel carriers, where their sniper teams as well, at work, opened fire on the building. The snipers took several shots. The armored personnel carriers opening up with their .50 caliber machine guns, and then there were also the infantrymen as well, who were firing with their M- 16s. The shooting, if there was any coming out of that building has stopped. The shooting on the part of the Marines took a little while to get back under control, but it, too, has stopped. And the convoy has stopped for the time being as they try to investigate. But short of that, pressing into Baghdad -- Paula.

ZAHN: Martin, I need to explain to our audience, your sound is a little bit garbled, but what you have to say is very important. So we're going to stay with this. Just -- a question about -- given what you have just witnessed, what it is the Marines expect in the days to come even though there does not appear to be any organized resistance in Baghdad?

SAVIDGE: Well, it's true that they don't expect an organized resistance coming at them. However, they are now convinced that there are still holdouts or individuals who would still want to do damage to the U.S. military, specifically the U.S. Marines, so they are taking every caution. They are not going in with a lax attitude. They want to go in fully prepared. They are going in fully armed, and fully loaded, and are anticipating that there could be fighting on their way in. If it is not, so much the better. They will be glad of it. If there is, it will be met with overwhelming force coming from the U.S. Marines -- Paula.

ZAHN: Also, Martin, one of the challenges CENTCOM was talking about is having a flexible battle plan, a flexible enough battle plan that you can go from a combat plan to a plan that allows for imposing civil order. Has anybody that you've been around talked about the challenge that lies ahead in that regard?

SAVIDGE: Well, it is going to be a challenge. The Marines are not specialized in being police officers, nor are they necessarily trained in the function of being civil service. They're trained to be a full armed war fighting force. And so to try to go into a sort of stand-down mode, or slightly less than full-fighting force is not something that the Marines are acclaimed (ph) or are accustomed to. They will be happy to stand by in case there is no fighting, but they are not police officers, and they will be the first to admit it -- Paula.

ZAHN: Martin Savidge, thanks for that update. Martin giving us a very good idea of what coalition forces face, even without organized resistance on the ground in Baghdad.

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




Resistance>