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American Morning

Marines Prepare to Push Into Baghdad

Aired April 09, 2003 - 08:35   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're going to try you give you an idea of what else is going on in Baghdad at this hour. Let's check in with Luke Hunt. He is a reporter for the French news agency, AFP. He is embedded with the 1st Marines and joins us now by telephone. Luke, what is the latest?
LUKE HUNT, AFP: The latest is the Marines are preparing to push from the eastern suburbs straight into the center of town, which is pretty much already occupied. There was a general feeling here this morning that there were still some fight left to go, particularly after (UNINTELLIGIBLE) fire fights overnight which left about a dozen wounded and one dead, but that does seem to have melted away. The local population, the celebrations are becoming contagious, and the general feeling even among the troops, the elation, or the word that war could actually be over is starting to sink in.

ZAHN: Luke, tell us what has happened to your ability to report. Rula Amin just telling us from the Iraqi-Jordanian border, she has been told by her friends who remain in Baghdad who are reporters that there are no minders to be seen anywhere, and no sightings of the Iraqi information minister.

HUNT: We've heard the same reports that these guys who, for the reporters in Baghdad, and have had very tough time of it, that their minders have just melted away like the rest of the Republican Guard and the Fedayeen. Out here, we haven't had any problems at all, and certainly no problems from the Iraqis. We've had the odd spat with the U.S. Military, but nothing serious.

ZAHN: And Luke, the other thing we had just learned from Martin Savidge is even as we see to the Iraqis waving at coalition forces in the shot we happen to be looking at now, there is still strong concern about small pockets of snipers, or any members of the paramilitary forces that may be at large in the city. What can you tell us about that?

HUNT: He's absolutely right. I was thinking of what Lieutenant Colonel Jim Parrington (ph) of the 1st Combat Regimental Team earlier on, and he was saying that the snipers are well-armed, well placed, and they are very good marksmen. In fact, he paid them a backhanded compliment on their ability, and this is going to be the problem going in. Areas of Saddam City which they do see has been cordoned of and the impression that we're getting is that there won't be any Marines going in there for the time being, at least, and that the main push is on Baghdad. I don't know if you can hear the heavy guns in the background, but that is friendly fire, the deminers going about their business. ZAHN: And Luke, as you and I continue to talk we have our screen divided into four parts, and I'm told that every single one of these quadrants represents something in the central part of Baghdad. Luke, let's talk about the fear of suicide attacks. There were a number of questions asked at CENTCOM about that possibility. What is the level of concern on the coalition forces' part of that potentially happening?

HUNT: Well, this is a lesson. It would be very high on their agenda. There is an Australian journalist who was killed by a suicide attack in northern Iraq at the start of the war, and it's very easy -- it's very easy to target a civilian population or American troops with a taxi laden with bombs, and it's a very easy thing to do for people of that mindset. And yes, certainly, it's high on their list of priorities, although I think the snipers are the genuine concern at the moment.

ZAHN: And Luke, we are continuing to be amazed by these pictures we are watching of coalition forces moving into central Baghdad. One last question for you about the kind of reception you've seen by the Iraqi people. We have reported a little bit earlier this morning there are still, in spite of these spontaneous celebrations breaking out, a number of Iraqis who are afraid to come outside and afraid to react to any of this because of all of the snipers that you say are well-armed and well-placed.

HUNT: I think that's true. I also had an odd chance meeting before. I met a group of Shiites who have no traditional -- they do not belong to the traditional support base of Saddam Hussein. I sat down and had a chat with in broken English. And these people actually supported Saddam Hussein. They were relieved that the war was over, but they were telling me that Saddam Hussein was not a bad man. So, I mean, I think there is all sorts of people in that civilian population, the mix, and they all have to come to grips with the fact that the invasion is pretty much over, but they are still going to be -- I think there will still be a low level civil war which will carry on for sometime yet with these pockets of resistance.

ZAHN: Luke, we're looking at pictures of in and around Tahriya Square in central Baghdad. Can you give us a sense of where you are from what we are looking at now?

HUNT: I'm not too sure what the rules are with the military right now in giving away locations. We're a few kilometers to the east. We're surrounded by a very large housing estate on a large tract of land in between that. A lot of the people we're seeing more villages, peasant farmers, that type of person. But when it comes to the actual party (ph), we're a little away from that at the moment.

ZAHN: And just to give the viewers who are just joining us an idea of what they are looking at, these are all scenes surrounding the Tahriya Square in downtown Baghdad, an area not too far from the Palestine Hotel where several journalists lost their lives yesterday. Luke, has there been much reaction to that from any of the Marines you've been with and the tragedy of that? HUNT: Yes. I mean, they -- there is certainly a consensus that it was dreadful, unfortunately, and maybe it didn't have to happen. The way the story has been told was that somebody opened fire, and that a tank shot back. They do -- they are genuinely upset by this, but at the same time, the Marine attitude is that they belong to a volunteer army, and that journalists also choose the stories they cover, and they are there by choice. So there is one of commiseration, and they have some comprehension of what it means to sort of follow a vocation, and then pay the ultimate price for that.

ZAHN: Luke, we'd love to leave this line open with you. We wanted to remind people that the Committee to Protect Journalists is actually calling for an investigation of that attack that left those journalists dead, the two there, and then one, in addition to that, at a building that housed Al-Jazeera.

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 9, 2003 - 08:35   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to try you give you an idea of what else is going on in Baghdad at this hour. Let's check in with Luke Hunt. He is a reporter for the French news agency, AFP. He is embedded with the 1st Marines and joins us now by telephone. Luke, what is the latest?
LUKE HUNT, AFP: The latest is the Marines are preparing to push from the eastern suburbs straight into the center of town, which is pretty much already occupied. There was a general feeling here this morning that there were still some fight left to go, particularly after (UNINTELLIGIBLE) fire fights overnight which left about a dozen wounded and one dead, but that does seem to have melted away. The local population, the celebrations are becoming contagious, and the general feeling even among the troops, the elation, or the word that war could actually be over is starting to sink in.

ZAHN: Luke, tell us what has happened to your ability to report. Rula Amin just telling us from the Iraqi-Jordanian border, she has been told by her friends who remain in Baghdad who are reporters that there are no minders to be seen anywhere, and no sightings of the Iraqi information minister.

HUNT: We've heard the same reports that these guys who, for the reporters in Baghdad, and have had very tough time of it, that their minders have just melted away like the rest of the Republican Guard and the Fedayeen. Out here, we haven't had any problems at all, and certainly no problems from the Iraqis. We've had the odd spat with the U.S. Military, but nothing serious.

ZAHN: And Luke, the other thing we had just learned from Martin Savidge is even as we see to the Iraqis waving at coalition forces in the shot we happen to be looking at now, there is still strong concern about small pockets of snipers, or any members of the paramilitary forces that may be at large in the city. What can you tell us about that?

HUNT: He's absolutely right. I was thinking of what Lieutenant Colonel Jim Parrington (ph) of the 1st Combat Regimental Team earlier on, and he was saying that the snipers are well-armed, well placed, and they are very good marksmen. In fact, he paid them a backhanded compliment on their ability, and this is going to be the problem going in. Areas of Saddam City which they do see has been cordoned of and the impression that we're getting is that there won't be any Marines going in there for the time being, at least, and that the main push is on Baghdad. I don't know if you can hear the heavy guns in the background, but that is friendly fire, the deminers going about their business. ZAHN: And Luke, as you and I continue to talk we have our screen divided into four parts, and I'm told that every single one of these quadrants represents something in the central part of Baghdad. Luke, let's talk about the fear of suicide attacks. There were a number of questions asked at CENTCOM about that possibility. What is the level of concern on the coalition forces' part of that potentially happening?

HUNT: Well, this is a lesson. It would be very high on their agenda. There is an Australian journalist who was killed by a suicide attack in northern Iraq at the start of the war, and it's very easy -- it's very easy to target a civilian population or American troops with a taxi laden with bombs, and it's a very easy thing to do for people of that mindset. And yes, certainly, it's high on their list of priorities, although I think the snipers are the genuine concern at the moment.

ZAHN: And Luke, we are continuing to be amazed by these pictures we are watching of coalition forces moving into central Baghdad. One last question for you about the kind of reception you've seen by the Iraqi people. We have reported a little bit earlier this morning there are still, in spite of these spontaneous celebrations breaking out, a number of Iraqis who are afraid to come outside and afraid to react to any of this because of all of the snipers that you say are well-armed and well-placed.

HUNT: I think that's true. I also had an odd chance meeting before. I met a group of Shiites who have no traditional -- they do not belong to the traditional support base of Saddam Hussein. I sat down and had a chat with in broken English. And these people actually supported Saddam Hussein. They were relieved that the war was over, but they were telling me that Saddam Hussein was not a bad man. So, I mean, I think there is all sorts of people in that civilian population, the mix, and they all have to come to grips with the fact that the invasion is pretty much over, but they are still going to be -- I think there will still be a low level civil war which will carry on for sometime yet with these pockets of resistance.

ZAHN: Luke, we're looking at pictures of in and around Tahriya Square in central Baghdad. Can you give us a sense of where you are from what we are looking at now?

HUNT: I'm not too sure what the rules are with the military right now in giving away locations. We're a few kilometers to the east. We're surrounded by a very large housing estate on a large tract of land in between that. A lot of the people we're seeing more villages, peasant farmers, that type of person. But when it comes to the actual party (ph), we're a little away from that at the moment.

ZAHN: And just to give the viewers who are just joining us an idea of what they are looking at, these are all scenes surrounding the Tahriya Square in downtown Baghdad, an area not too far from the Palestine Hotel where several journalists lost their lives yesterday. Luke, has there been much reaction to that from any of the Marines you've been with and the tragedy of that? HUNT: Yes. I mean, they -- there is certainly a consensus that it was dreadful, unfortunately, and maybe it didn't have to happen. The way the story has been told was that somebody opened fire, and that a tank shot back. They do -- they are genuinely upset by this, but at the same time, the Marine attitude is that they belong to a volunteer army, and that journalists also choose the stories they cover, and they are there by choice. So there is one of commiseration, and they have some comprehension of what it means to sort of follow a vocation, and then pay the ultimate price for that.

ZAHN: Luke, we'd love to leave this line open with you. We wanted to remind people that the Committee to Protect Journalists is actually calling for an investigation of that attack that left those journalists dead, the two there, and then one, in addition to that, at a building that housed Al-Jazeera.

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