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American Morning

Battle in Samarra

Aired December 01, 2003 - 07:04   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.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: It was the most intense firefight since the beginning of the occupation in Iraq. And this morning, details are still emerging about the insurgents who attacked U.S. troops yesterday in Samarra.
Nic Robertson is live for us there this morning.

Nic -- good morning.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

Forty-six Iraqis killed, 11 taken prisoner, 18 wounded. According to coalition officials, they say there was a coordinated attack, as their troops were guarding money being delivered to two banks in the center of Samarra. They say that it was coordinated, because both sets of troops were attacked at the same time. And at a large number of locations, when relief troops went to try and help them out, they too were attacked by attackers lying in wait.

Now, according to coalition officials here, they consider any attack against their troops also an attack on the Iraqi people.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COL. FREDERICK RUDESHEIM, U.S. ARMY: Attacks are not just on coalition. Attacks, in our view, are attacks against freedom-loving Iraqis that want to move on with life versus those that are trying to drag them back to something akin to the former regime.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: Now, they also say that they believe that some of these attackers were Fedayeen. According to intelligence officials here, they say that some of them had tattoos that indicated they were Fedayeen. According to other officers as well, some of the men were dressed in dark clothes, bandannas wrapped around their faces, indicative, they say, of Fedayeen fighters. They also say that intelligence officials know that six of the different attacks were coordinated -- or rather, three of the six major attacks were coordinated by one cell of those Fedayeen.

O'BRIEN: Nic, can you tell me if there were any civilians among the dead or the injured in all of these attacks?

ROBERTSON: Well, from we have seen -- and we visited the hospital in the center of Samarra -- according to the police there, there were eight people killed. The two bodies that we have been able to see so far were two elderly Iranian pilgrims. Samarra has a holy shrine. We are told these people had come to visit the shrine. An area very close to the shrine was used as part of a base to attack the U.S. troops, and that is how, we are told, these people came to be caught up in the firefight that killed them.

We have not and Iraqi police have not been able to show us the bodies of -- and coalition officials have not been able to show us the bodies of -- the 46 people they say are dead. According to Iraqis, only eight people were killed -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Nic Robertson for us in Samarra this morning. Nic, thank you.

Joining us this morning from Chicago to talk a little bit more about the Iraqi ambushes and the firefights that followed in Samarra is CNN military analyst retired Army General David Grange.

Nice to see you, General. Thanks for joining us.

DAVID GRANGE, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Good morning.

O'BRIEN: You just heard Nic's report. It sounds -- because they were simultaneous attacks, it sounds coordinated. What does that signal to you? Does this give you a sense that overall, all of these operations might actually be better coordinated than first thought?

GRANGE: Well, they're at least loosely coordinated. There is no doubt about that. This particular fight, it seems that it was more coordinated.

The unusual thing is the large grouping of insurgents in one area to perform an ambush. What is a tactic that's very beneficial to the insurgents is to fight, ambush in small groups, and then fade back into the population. This was a very bold attack in a large group of targets for the American forces that responded, which actually is beneficial to the coalition forces to fight that way.

O'BRIEN: Before we talk about why it's beneficial, it does seem to be a very different strategy. What we've seen outside of just the sheer size is that strike-and-run sort of mentality, I guess, in these attacks. So, you're saying this is significantly different. And why do you think that's better?

GRANGE: Well, it's better for our coalition forces, because you're engaging a large grouping of insurgents, where normally you have to hunt them down in groups of two, three, four, five, six -- like that. Here, you know, they killed -- one report is up to 54. And I just heard it's, you know, 46. The numbers change a little bit. But as they develop the situation, information becomes available. But that many at one place is advantageous to a coalition force to engage that way, because they have the superior firepower, the superior training and leadership to take on an enemy like that.

O'BRIEN: There are descriptions that the attackers were wearing these black shirts that would be consistent with the Saddam Fedayeen. What would you make of that information if it turns out to be true?

GRANGE: Well, obviously a grouping of probably Fedayeen, and then some other insurgent fighters from the different groups that are opposing the coalition or the change of governance in Iraq, and so they may have been the core element that organized this coordinated simultaneous set of ambushes in Samarra.

O'BRIEN: When you hear reports that the area -- the attack on the convoy was an area that had been barricaded off, does that make you believe that possibly the civilians or the locals were somehow maybe involved in this attack?

GRANGE: That's a good point, because, first of all, it was a hasty barricade. That could have been -- I'm not sure what it was. It may have just been they drove some vehicles in the road to block it, just to get the vehicles to slow down so they can hit the front vehicles and stop the convoy and then start picking off the vehicles within. But then again, only six, eight civilian casualties in the area would lend you to believe that the area had been evacuated, knowing that there was going to be a fight, or it was already an isolated area within a town, because that's a very low number of civilian casualties for that kind of firepower used.

O'BRIEN: Retired Army General David Grange. It's nice to see you, General. Thanks for joining us this morning. We certainly appreciate it.

GRANGE: Thank you.

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 December 1, 2003 - 07:04   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: It was the most intense firefight since the beginning of the occupation in Iraq. And this morning, details are still emerging about the insurgents who attacked U.S. troops yesterday in Samarra.
Nic Robertson is live for us there this morning.

Nic -- good morning.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

Forty-six Iraqis killed, 11 taken prisoner, 18 wounded. According to coalition officials, they say there was a coordinated attack, as their troops were guarding money being delivered to two banks in the center of Samarra. They say that it was coordinated, because both sets of troops were attacked at the same time. And at a large number of locations, when relief troops went to try and help them out, they too were attacked by attackers lying in wait.

Now, according to coalition officials here, they consider any attack against their troops also an attack on the Iraqi people.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COL. FREDERICK RUDESHEIM, U.S. ARMY: Attacks are not just on coalition. Attacks, in our view, are attacks against freedom-loving Iraqis that want to move on with life versus those that are trying to drag them back to something akin to the former regime.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: Now, they also say that they believe that some of these attackers were Fedayeen. According to intelligence officials here, they say that some of them had tattoos that indicated they were Fedayeen. According to other officers as well, some of the men were dressed in dark clothes, bandannas wrapped around their faces, indicative, they say, of Fedayeen fighters. They also say that intelligence officials know that six of the different attacks were coordinated -- or rather, three of the six major attacks were coordinated by one cell of those Fedayeen.

O'BRIEN: Nic, can you tell me if there were any civilians among the dead or the injured in all of these attacks?

ROBERTSON: Well, from we have seen -- and we visited the hospital in the center of Samarra -- according to the police there, there were eight people killed. The two bodies that we have been able to see so far were two elderly Iranian pilgrims. Samarra has a holy shrine. We are told these people had come to visit the shrine. An area very close to the shrine was used as part of a base to attack the U.S. troops, and that is how, we are told, these people came to be caught up in the firefight that killed them.

We have not and Iraqi police have not been able to show us the bodies of -- and coalition officials have not been able to show us the bodies of -- the 46 people they say are dead. According to Iraqis, only eight people were killed -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Nic Robertson for us in Samarra this morning. Nic, thank you.

Joining us this morning from Chicago to talk a little bit more about the Iraqi ambushes and the firefights that followed in Samarra is CNN military analyst retired Army General David Grange.

Nice to see you, General. Thanks for joining us.

DAVID GRANGE, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Good morning.

O'BRIEN: You just heard Nic's report. It sounds -- because they were simultaneous attacks, it sounds coordinated. What does that signal to you? Does this give you a sense that overall, all of these operations might actually be better coordinated than first thought?

GRANGE: Well, they're at least loosely coordinated. There is no doubt about that. This particular fight, it seems that it was more coordinated.

The unusual thing is the large grouping of insurgents in one area to perform an ambush. What is a tactic that's very beneficial to the insurgents is to fight, ambush in small groups, and then fade back into the population. This was a very bold attack in a large group of targets for the American forces that responded, which actually is beneficial to the coalition forces to fight that way.

O'BRIEN: Before we talk about why it's beneficial, it does seem to be a very different strategy. What we've seen outside of just the sheer size is that strike-and-run sort of mentality, I guess, in these attacks. So, you're saying this is significantly different. And why do you think that's better?

GRANGE: Well, it's better for our coalition forces, because you're engaging a large grouping of insurgents, where normally you have to hunt them down in groups of two, three, four, five, six -- like that. Here, you know, they killed -- one report is up to 54. And I just heard it's, you know, 46. The numbers change a little bit. But as they develop the situation, information becomes available. But that many at one place is advantageous to a coalition force to engage that way, because they have the superior firepower, the superior training and leadership to take on an enemy like that.

O'BRIEN: There are descriptions that the attackers were wearing these black shirts that would be consistent with the Saddam Fedayeen. What would you make of that information if it turns out to be true?

GRANGE: Well, obviously a grouping of probably Fedayeen, and then some other insurgent fighters from the different groups that are opposing the coalition or the change of governance in Iraq, and so they may have been the core element that organized this coordinated simultaneous set of ambushes in Samarra.

O'BRIEN: When you hear reports that the area -- the attack on the convoy was an area that had been barricaded off, does that make you believe that possibly the civilians or the locals were somehow maybe involved in this attack?

GRANGE: That's a good point, because, first of all, it was a hasty barricade. That could have been -- I'm not sure what it was. It may have just been they drove some vehicles in the road to block it, just to get the vehicles to slow down so they can hit the front vehicles and stop the convoy and then start picking off the vehicles within. But then again, only six, eight civilian casualties in the area would lend you to believe that the area had been evacuated, knowing that there was going to be a fight, or it was already an isolated area within a town, because that's a very low number of civilian casualties for that kind of firepower used.

O'BRIEN: Retired Army General David Grange. It's nice to see you, General. Thanks for joining us this morning. We certainly appreciate it.

GRANGE: Thank you.

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