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American Morning
Marines Move Into Vicinity of Tikrit
Aired April 13, 2003 - 11:32 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.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: The U.S. military says the Marines are now in the vicinity of Tikrit, that's the tribal home of Saddam Hussein. In fact, as Leon mentioned a little bit earlier, CNN has now learned that tanks are fighting in Tikrit. And earlier, CNN's Brent Sadler and a CNN crew came under fire during a dangerous foray into the city of Tikrit. It's one of the remaining areas not yet under coalition control. Brent Sadler joining us now live from northern Iraq. Hi, Brent.
BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Heidi. Yes, I can tell you it's been a pretty dramatic day here. What's happened earlier on, we were able to get during the hours of light into the very center of Tikrit, but not before penetrating the outer layers of the ancestral home of Saddam Hussein. We were there even as the coalition forces, the U.S. Marines were heading north towards Tikrit to start a battle to really crush the last redoubt of Saddam Hussein, and we were able to get into two very major military complexes, one a regular Army tank unit, a vast area, and in these complexes, bunkers of abandoned armored personnel carriers, abandoned tanks, hatches open on some of these fighting machines, the soldiers apparently having fled in haste.
Now, there was also a lot of destruction, quite clearly from allied coalition air strikes over the past days. We certainly heard more air activity while we were on the outskirts of Tikrit. We also went to a Republican Guard tank regiment. Their fighting machines were not in place, suggesting that perhaps they have moved to defend the inner core of Tikrit, and that figures with what we're hearing from latest reports from the Marine Corps that five Republican Guard tanks were destroyed by helicopter gunships in the past few hours.
Now, when we got into the very center of Tikrit, a checkpoint waved us through. It wasn't particularly hostile nor was it particularly friendly, but anyway, we went through, started speaking to some people, and then after just a few moments, we came under gunfire and had to drive at speed out of Tikrit, running (UNINTELLIGIBLE) from many, many machine guns.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SADLER: Stay with us as we move our way following fires here out of Tikrit. So let's just recap as we go through here. That -- Tikrit, no coalition forces. Tikrit, no fighting. Checkpoint.
OK, that's gunfire. OK. We've just come under attack. Under attack. We're OK. We're OK. Under fire. That confirms our worst fears. If you're with us -- are you with us, Anderson? OK, we've just run a checkpoint. We have come under automatic machine gun fire. We have blown through the checkpoint. They tried to stop us, and an armed guard pulled his machine gun, his automatic machine gun and opened fire to get us through there.
I think that's as far as we're going to push it today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SADLER: So clearly Tikrit at that time of the day was under the control of Saddam Hussein loyalists. Just to show you behind me this is one of the two vehicles that were hit. This one took about six or seven AK-47 rounds, in the back of the doors there. One of our producers, Maria Fleet (ph), was hit by a piece of bullet. Her flak jacket saved her from any injuries. Our driver was slightly injured. But apart from that, no serious injuries or damage to us or our equipment. And I can tell you that since we've come back here, now confirmed reports from embedded correspondents on the ground that the U.S. Marine Corps have began engaging resistance in and around Tikrit. Back to you, Heidi.
COLLINS: Brent, I'm sure you know what I'm going to say, but we are so very thrilled to have you standing there and the rest of the crew as well all right. So please, please do stay safe. And we will continue to check in with you as the developments on the Tikrit resistance occur. Thanks so much, Brent.
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 13, 2003 - 11:32 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: The U.S. military says the Marines are now in the vicinity of Tikrit, that's the tribal home of Saddam Hussein. In fact, as Leon mentioned a little bit earlier, CNN has now learned that tanks are fighting in Tikrit. And earlier, CNN's Brent Sadler and a CNN crew came under fire during a dangerous foray into the city of Tikrit. It's one of the remaining areas not yet under coalition control. Brent Sadler joining us now live from northern Iraq. Hi, Brent.
BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Heidi. Yes, I can tell you it's been a pretty dramatic day here. What's happened earlier on, we were able to get during the hours of light into the very center of Tikrit, but not before penetrating the outer layers of the ancestral home of Saddam Hussein. We were there even as the coalition forces, the U.S. Marines were heading north towards Tikrit to start a battle to really crush the last redoubt of Saddam Hussein, and we were able to get into two very major military complexes, one a regular Army tank unit, a vast area, and in these complexes, bunkers of abandoned armored personnel carriers, abandoned tanks, hatches open on some of these fighting machines, the soldiers apparently having fled in haste.
Now, there was also a lot of destruction, quite clearly from allied coalition air strikes over the past days. We certainly heard more air activity while we were on the outskirts of Tikrit. We also went to a Republican Guard tank regiment. Their fighting machines were not in place, suggesting that perhaps they have moved to defend the inner core of Tikrit, and that figures with what we're hearing from latest reports from the Marine Corps that five Republican Guard tanks were destroyed by helicopter gunships in the past few hours.
Now, when we got into the very center of Tikrit, a checkpoint waved us through. It wasn't particularly hostile nor was it particularly friendly, but anyway, we went through, started speaking to some people, and then after just a few moments, we came under gunfire and had to drive at speed out of Tikrit, running (UNINTELLIGIBLE) from many, many machine guns.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SADLER: Stay with us as we move our way following fires here out of Tikrit. So let's just recap as we go through here. That -- Tikrit, no coalition forces. Tikrit, no fighting. Checkpoint.
OK, that's gunfire. OK. We've just come under attack. Under attack. We're OK. We're OK. Under fire. That confirms our worst fears. If you're with us -- are you with us, Anderson? OK, we've just run a checkpoint. We have come under automatic machine gun fire. We have blown through the checkpoint. They tried to stop us, and an armed guard pulled his machine gun, his automatic machine gun and opened fire to get us through there.
I think that's as far as we're going to push it today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SADLER: So clearly Tikrit at that time of the day was under the control of Saddam Hussein loyalists. Just to show you behind me this is one of the two vehicles that were hit. This one took about six or seven AK-47 rounds, in the back of the doors there. One of our producers, Maria Fleet (ph), was hit by a piece of bullet. Her flak jacket saved her from any injuries. Our driver was slightly injured. But apart from that, no serious injuries or damage to us or our equipment. And I can tell you that since we've come back here, now confirmed reports from embedded correspondents on the ground that the U.S. Marine Corps have began engaging resistance in and around Tikrit. Back to you, Heidi.
COLLINS: Brent, I'm sure you know what I'm going to say, but we are so very thrilled to have you standing there and the rest of the crew as well all right. So please, please do stay safe. And we will continue to check in with you as the developments on the Tikrit resistance occur. Thanks so much, Brent.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
