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CNN Live Event/Special

Strike on Iraq: Coalition Encounters Pockets of Resistance

Aired March 22, 2003 - 06:00   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.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: About 24 hours after seizing the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr and accepting the surrender of more than 400 Iraqi soldiers, coalition forces continue to encounter pockets of resistance. Securing this port is strategically important for bringing humanitarian aid into Iraq as soon as possible.
Two British helicopters collided, killing six crew members and one American. The accident happened in the Persian Gulf shortly after the two Royal Navy Sea King helicopters took off from a British carrier. It was the second deadly helicopter crash in as many days.

The Army's 3rd Infantry Division spearheaded by the 7th Cavalry has halted its rapid advance towards Baghdad. The unit stopped when it detected a nearby Iraqi force. It is more than 100 miles into Iraqi territory. That is public information that we are allowed to broadcast to you. And Walter Rodgers just reported a short time ago the 7th Cavalry should be on the move shortly.

About two hours ago, Iraqi soldiers fired three mortars into Kurdish controlled Northern Iraq. CNN's Kevin Sites reports the incident was the first action by Iraqi forces seen in the area. No casualties reported.

And Operation Shock and Awe is now its 17th hour. The Pentagon says up to 1500 bombs and missiles are expected to fall on Iraq during the first 24 hours. Here is just a glimpse of the damage caused during the ferocious wave of explosions. You're taking a look at these images, some from Iraqi TV. I'm not sure what building that is, but you heard General Shepperd detail some of the damage in Baghdad.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: And you are looking at live pictures from Baghdad where it is about one minute past 2:00 in the afternoon on this continuing day of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

COSTELLO: And pictures can be so deceiving, can't they?

COOPER: Everything seems so calm there, yet those pictures we have seen elsewhere throughout Iraq in Northern Iraq and Southeastern Iraq, both with the 7th Calvary, also in Umm Qasr and also outside Basra, it is a far different story than what you are seeing right now in Baghdad.

COSTELLO: Certainly so. Coalition forces are battling pockets of resistance in the port of Umm Qasr at this hour. Umm Qasr is Iraq's only outlet to the Persian Gulf. COOPER: And those pictures that are we showing you right now showing Cobra attack helicopters circling around the old port in Umm Qasr, where the pockets of resistance were met. Marines have been searching building to building and also using Cobra attack helicopters to target them.

COSTELLO: Yes, let's pause a moment to say good morning to our audience. This is Saturday, March 22nd from CNN's global headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello.

COOPER: And good morning. I'm Anderson Cooper. Thanks for joining us or staying with us, whatever the case may be. We're going to take a fast forward look at some war related events expected to happen later today. Not giving anything away. This is just what keep an eye out for.

President Bush will monitor the war from Camp David this weekend. The Maryland retreat fully equipped to keep the president informed and connected with all aspects of the military campaign. It is, after all, as his spokesman reminded reporters yesterday, a Marine facility.

Anti war protesters say they will stage a die-in, that's what they called it, at a home near Taos, New Mexico. The home belonged to and does belong to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, one of six homes he owns in Northern New Mexico. And Sunday's Oscars ceremony is a go. Seems surreal, but it's true. It's a go for now at least, but the Academy president says that could change if circumstances warrant.

COSTELLO: And here's a short review of the ground game by coalition forces. Let's go to the Army's 3rd Infantry Division, spearheaded by the 7th Cavalry, has penetrated more than 100 miles inside Iraqi territory. Again, that is public information given to us by the military. U.S. and British forces have secured the Faw Peninsula, Iraq's only outlet to the Persian Gulf and its oil pumping terminal. And in western Iraq, coalition forces also captured two key airfields, including one suspected of being a possible site for weapons of mass destruction.

COOPER: Right, and that's the H3H2 you're seeing on that graphic. Now let's head to Kuwait City, where Bill Hemmer is standing by.

Bill, the latest?

BILL HEMMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, Carol, welcome to another day here in Kuwait. We can tell you our crew of four, the last television network to report from Baghdad expelled as of yesterday, the last report came a little more than 24 hours ago. Because of that, we cannot get independent verification, but Reuters is now reporting that at least four different explosions have now been heard on the outskirts of Baghdad. That's the latest word within the past hour.

That's in the central part of the country. In Southeastern Iraq, it is another day there in the old and new port of Umm Qasr. And CNN's Christiane Amanpour now joins us live. She's with the Royal British Marines and can bring us up to date as to whether or not there continues to be fighting there, be it in the new or the old port. Something to keep in mind here, we're trying to keep parallel tracks here as we try and follow the information and see indeed what's happening there.

Christiane, your perspective from there is what now?

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bill, on a very windy and sandy day, we've just come back from the new port of Umm Qasr. The port itself, the new port, what's known as the main port there, the facility that they wanted to take intact, they have got. And it's the U.S. Marines, the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit who went and took that port yesterday. And they're consolidating their support there. When we were there, we saw lots of U.S. Marines.

And of course, this is rather an unusual operation because its commanded by the Brigadier General in charge of what's known as Three Commando Brigade. Those are British forces. So that is a joint operation there.

Now on the -- about three kilometers away from where we were, our -- a little bit away from the new port is what's called the old port. And that's where some grain, and there's got a grain silo and things like that. Now there, there was some pockets of resistance. And there, we did see over my location there we saw four U.S. Cobra helicopters. And we know that they were up over the old port area, keeping sort of trying to keep the resistance down. And there was artillery in there as well because they were meeting resistance from pockets of Iraqis, who also had weapons and in some cases, we were told, mortars.

This is what the colonel in charge of that Marine force there told us about the resistance they were meeting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think so far, it's gone quite well. I mean, we did meet some resistance. And for the most part, the plan that we had, we executed pretty much without any changes, but it's probably not going as quick, perhaps, as we thought.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AMANPOUR: So as I say, they think that they have it broadly under control, but it's by no means completely secured yet, because of those pockets of resistance. And what we were told was that there were all sorts of different individuals, different looking individuals in terms of what they were wearing. Some were wearing civilian clothes. Some, we were told, were wearing military clothes. Others then took off their military clothes. So all in all, there's a certain amount of confusion there on behalf of the American and British forces as to exactly who they're dealing with.

They have, of course, also had surrenders. They've had, we are told by the U.S. colonel, several hundred surrenders and several hundred prisoners of war now. And some of those we saw today, we can't get too close because of Geneva Convention rules, but we did see some of them being guided by Marines in a big warehouse area at that port. And then they were being brought out. They were put on trucks, again guarded by U.S. Marines. And they were being taken to a central collection point, where those POWs will then be under the charge of the British.

So Umm Qasr, a great deal of focus on it because we've been talking about it for a while, and because it's been the focus of operations for the last 24 hours and more. And they're still just trying to wrap up the last pockets of resistance. They told us they hope to have that done by today. We'll wait and see if that is possible.

Back to you, Bill.

HEMMER: Christiane, back on the Iraqi soldiers, the prisoners of war, several hours ago, we had reported that several thousand Iraqi soldiers in that same area of Southern Iraq had surrendered to U.S. and British forces there. There was one report that an entire division, many as -- perhaps as many as 8000 Iraqi soldiers. Any way to verify that from where you are?

AMANPOUR: Not from where we are. We just saw those several hundred there today. But of course, there is -- you know, you've had some of our journalists who are embedded talking about these sort of isolated incidents of surrender. There's certainly we haven't heard yet ourselves about such large numbers of surrenders. So far, they tend to be in the tens or in the low hundreds in terms of the area that we are monitoring, which is Southern Iraq where we were this morning.

But we were told that the hundreds or so that we saw at Umm Qasr, some of those have come from Baghdad. And we were told by people there that Baghdad has sent a unit there to try to defend the port. And some of those POWs were people from Baghdad, who had told the soldiers that that's where they had come from as they surrendered.

HEMMER: All right, another quick question here about the area you're in right now. You mentioned these pockets of resistance. How much do you get a sense right now about a sense of freedom of movement on behalf of the U.S. and British forces at this time? How comfortable do they feel at this point?

AMANPOUR: Well, they're telling us that they feel fairly sure and confident that they have secured most of the southeastern part of Iraq. For instance, they've had several days of operation, which have included the Faw Peninsula. Again, there were pockets of resistance there. And they were also surrendered, but that is now totally secured by British forces. And then we've got Umm Qasr which we've been talking about. And then the Ramallah oil fields, which we're told also are secured. And then there's this issue of trying to pacify, neutralize, win the surrender of capitulation of the 51st Division of the Iraqi army in the Basra area. And we have heard that there have been some surrenders by some commanders.

But first, we were told, it was the divisional commander, but then that's been rolled back. And we're told one of brigade commanders has surrendered, and that forces, British forces, reported seeing other brigades “in the process of thinking about capitulating." In other words, doing the kinds of things that the U.S. and British have asked them to do if they intend not to fight and to surrender, do certain vehicle formations and certain postures regarding how they are, in other words, putting down their weapons and things.

But we still don't have, and we don't have the full details on that. And we won't for a while. But they feel they are fairly much in control of this part of the country.

HEMMER: Christiane Amanpour reporting live there in Southeastern Iraq, that port city that we've talked about yesterday again today. It's key for military movement and certainly key for humanitarian aid. That may, according to the British, may start flowing within 48 hours, something to watch. And we will from here.

Meanwhile, back in Kuwait, northern part of this country, Dr. Sanjay Gupta embedded yet again with the U.S. Marines. We talked to him last hour about some movement off of the road toward the Iraqi border.

Sanjay, how goes it now? Good afternoon.

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Bill, good afternoon. Yes, we're -- yes, we're with a convoy of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, 1 MEF they call it. You've been talking so much with our other reporters about the forward moving troops. This is a convoy basically designed to support and supply some of those forward moving troops with all sorts of things.

Bill, security is a concern here as well, as you've been talking so much about. Just behind me, over my right shoulder, a 50 caliber machine gun. That is a machine gun, one of many weapons designed to protect this particular convoy. Corporal Ramos is manning that particular machine gun.

Bill, as I mentioned, the convoy is basically designed to supply and restock the forward moving troops. Over my left shoulder, Bill, a pallet -- thousands of pallets of MREs. And you're familiar with those. Meals Ready to Eat. They're on that -- those big trucks back there, moving those forward as well to provide the nourishment and some food for the forward moving troops as well.

Bill, also I'm wearing a sort of funny looking jacket here. This is called a MOP suit. It is essentially an NBC suit, nuclear, biological, chemical suit designed to protect me as well as everyone else traveling with this convoy against any of those types of threats. There have been no confirmations of any of those sorts of threats. This is purely a precautionary suit at this time -- Bill?

HEMMER: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, again with the Marines. We'll check in a bit later in the day, Sanjay. Thanks, good work.

Back to the POW issue, Centcom, Central Command out of Qatar informing us that yesterday, on Friday, they dropped two million more leaflets over southern Iraq, encouraging Iraqi soldiers to surrender, not to use weapons, not to use weapons of mass destruction as well, and not to leave or rather leave the oil wells intact. It is part of that effort, we are told, that has helped contribute to the amount of surrenders we are seeing already in some cases, literally holding the leaflets that have been dropped by the coalition forces in their hands when they turned themselves over.

One other note, Anderson, Carol, I mentioned this last hour, just so our viewers know, we're about three hours away right now from seeing Tommy Franks, head of Centcom, down in Qatar. It'll be the first time he will brief reporters down there since the military campaign got underway late on Wednesday night. We'll have it for your live again. 9:00 a.m. East coast time, 5:00 here in Kuwait throughout the Persian Gulf.

Back to you now at the CNN Center.

COSTELLO: Thanks, Bill.

COOPER: All right, Bill, thanks very much.

You know, all evening long, all morning long I should be saying, we've been checking with Walt Rodgers, who's with the 7th Cavalry. 7th Cavalry legendary unit, moving out of the tip of the spear. They like to call themselves moving ahead of the other forces, scouting out. I just got this little graphic we're just going to show you a little bit before we go to Walter.

It's based out of Fort Stewart, Georgia. 7th Cavalry, part of the 3rd Infantry Division. Of course, famous as being General Custer's outfit, but it's been a long time since then. And then the 3rd Infantry Division also had a legendary record WWI, WWII, and the Korean conflict. And we have seen really in the last two days or so, that 7th Cavalry just riding hard through the deserts of Iraq, heading toward the target ultimately Baghdad. And as they will tell you, that is their ticket home. Get to Baghdad. That's the way station to getting home.

Let's check in right now with Walt Rodgers with the 7th Cavalry. Walter?

WALTER RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Anderson. The headline here in the Southern Iraqi theater appears to be that the Iraqi units are certain of them are not just going to surrender. In fact, they're putting up some stiff resistance. It's largely a nuisance factor, but from where I am in south central Iraq, to where my colleagues are shooting military action over around Basra in Southeastern Iraq, each of us has encountered the same thing today. Namely, that the Iraqis when they're determined, will stand and fight an overwhelming American military force not be awed by it, not cut and run, but fight to the death as that's what we experienced here with the 7th Cavalry. The 7th Cavalry was supposed to move north along this road behind me, but more than a few hours ago.

What happened, however, was it was determined through reconnaissance that there was an Iraqi detachment up there of undetermined size. It was also not clear what the intent of the Iraqi detachment was. Under the most optimistic conditions, it was thought they might surrender. That was not at all the case. The Iraqi detachment began firing mortars on the Crazy Horse troop of the 7th Cavalry. Then it became very clear that this was a hostile unit. The rules of engagement were very clear.

The commander of the 7th Cavalry called up his heavy artillery, the 155 millimeter pallet and guns. They began pounding away, firing six rounds. And then another six rounds at that Iraqi detachment several miles up the road behind me. The reason they used the pallet and guns, the heavy artillery, was because it's a standoff weapon. You don't risk your own soldiers lives, your own tanks, your own badly fighting vehicles.

Then the reconnaissance helicopters were sent out to determine if indeed the Iraqi unit, which was up there, had been put out of business. The helicopters were a bit surprised as the Kiawas (ph) flew up there to determine what the artillery had accomplished, there were still some heavy machine guns among the Iraqis up there. The Iraqis, again, firing the heavy machine guns at the low flying Kiawa (ph) helicopters.

They also fired shoulder fired missiles at the U.S. helicopters. That required nimble flying of U.S. pilots. They had to duck, dodge, bob and weave. No helicopter was shot down. In fact, there have been no American casualties, despite the rather intrepid resistance put forth by these small Iraqi unit up the road.

Still, the Army wasn't convinced it was safe to go forward without risking its troops and its weapons, which of course, will be much more important as this unit moves closer to Baghdad. So at that point, the Army called in an A-10 Warthog. That's an Air Force plane with a huge Gatling gun in it. And that flies very low over the battlefield and with the scatling gun just destroys anything in its path. And after that, it appears that the -- what was left of that Iraqi detachment has been put out of existence. All of them killed. We're not sure the numbers of casualties, but at this point, we -- it appears that the Iraqis are no longer a threat to the 7th Cavalry, no longer blocking the road.

I say that as a matter of deduction because behind me I think you can see the fuel tankers pumping fuel into these tanks, suggesting the tanks will be ready to go very quickly again. And again, it seems unlikely if there was any artillery threat from the Iraqis that had -- who had been there earlier. The tankers with their highly flammable fuel would not have been brought forward.

But again at this hour, this surprise factor and probably the headline of the day is the Iraqis have demonstrated they can't stop the United States and British forces, but they can be a nuisance factor. And they will stand and fight in this case to the death in some cases. Quite an interesting development here across the Southern Iraqi front.

Back to you. COOPER: Walter, that's very interesting. Also sort of jives with what we are hearing from other parts of the country. You use that term "nuisance factor." We -- in the Southeast, they are calling it sporadic resistance. And that's what we've been seeing in Umm Qasr, in areas around Basra so far as far we know.

So Walter, just so we're absolutely clear, right now the status as far as we know that the Warthog has come in, that plane which a lot of flyers will tell you is ugly, but very efficient, quite deadly, that has come in. sprayed the area. So as far as you know, there is no more resistance up ahead. Theoretically, you will get moving at some point in the not too distant future?

RODGERS: To the best of my knowledge, that's the case. Now of course, I haven't done my own (UNINTELLIGIBLE) up there, but those who have gone forward seem to be persuaded that the -- once the wart hog moves through, it would have wiped out any residual elements that the artillery and the helicopters had not taken out.

And again, the most telling thing of all, is that fuel truck over there, taking care of these tankers. If there was any danger, I doubt very much they would have brought the fuel trucks up to refuel the tanks at this point. And my assumption is, as a matter of fact, I was told the Army does plan to push forward a third squadron U.S. Army 7th Cavalry will soon begin pushing down this road. They have an objective to reach this evening. And they will move for that objective once they're totally convinced that that Iraqi detachment up the road.

Again, we don't know how many soldiers there were, but they were very game and put up a rather courageous little fight, given what they were facing from the 7th Cavalry.

COSTELLO: Walter, this is Carol Costello. I just had a question. You know, those troops that you're with, the Army soldiers, they haven't slept in 60 hours, more than 60 hours now. It rained overnight. And it's quite muddy out there now. What's the mood?

RODGERS: It's a good question, but I think it can be answered in single word, determined. Every soldier here knows there's a mission to be accomplished. They know that mission doesn't end until they get to Baghdad. They're merely waiting the command to proceed forward. I think everyone of them is more than eager to do that. If for no other reason, it means we no longer have to stand here in the mud as we have been doing for I guess four or five hours now.

The mud is pretty gruesome if you will. You know, there was one soldier who quipped to me today an old Army saying, which goes "if it rains, the Army trains." That is to say, mud is associated with the Army wherever it goes. And it seems to be a vital ingredient of almost every war I've ever witnessed.

COSTELLO: Yes, Walter, you told me before that soldiers and yourself literally encrusted with dirt. I know that dust was a factor yesterday and in the days before, but now it's muddy. Does that help, hurt, make no difference? RODGERS: I don't think it makes a difference. It might slow you a little, but the Army is not going to bog down. Each of these vehicles is equipped for this kind of warfare. It's not really going to make a serious difference at all. It's a comfort -- it's in his comfort factor. And I think that's all you can say of the mud. It's just difficult to get rid of it. You track it into your vehicles. And you have to live with it. And it grinds further into your clothes, but I would not say it's a factor in the equation of the battlefield -- Carol?

COSTELLO: Walter Rodgers reporting live somewhere from within Iraq, Southern Iraq. About 100 miles into that country now.

COOPER: That's right. Now if you are just joining us, or if you just joined us recently, Martin Savidge has been with the -- and is still with the 1st battalion 7th Marines, has had some extraordinary access in the last couple of hours. Came under fire from a rocket propelled grenade. We're going to show you what happened next after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: We here at CNN will tell you no one gets you closer. That has certainly been true in the last several hours. Martin Savidge traveling with the 1st battalion 7th Marines came under fire, rocket propelled grenade, RPG. It missed, thankfully, but what happened next was riveting to say the least.

Let's take a look at this package Martin has just filed.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This one's a cat team. They refer to it. It's basically heavily armed with your Marc 19 automatic grenade launchers and your tow missiles, which you now see at the front and back of us. And these are very highly mobile. They can run and gun. And they pick off armor. That's the way they work. There will be other people that are out there spotting and saying, hey, we may see a tank moving. We may see this. And we may see that.

And you quickly call in a tow. They peek around the corner launch and then get out of the way again. So it's actually a very mobile, very effective means of fighting, unlike a tank, which can be slow to go. You can take a look back here one more time. This tank continues to cook off. There is -- you should see the shells inside these things. They are quite massive. But again, the inside of the tank does not look well used. So it's -- it doesn't appear that somebody's been using these very recently.

COOPER: So I'm assuming...

COSTELLO: Martin, I'm sorry, I was just wondering about the town again and how many people were still there. And if you could see anyone?

SAVIDGE: Well, we saw them as we initially came in. Of course, once this -- the firing and the explosions occurred, the people had good sense to sort of melt away, either to get inside their homes or stay out of the line of fire because they realize, of course, that the Marines are going to be rather nervous with a situation around them. So it's always wise to just stay indoors. So we don't see anybody around us now.

But as pulled up, yes, there were a lot of people who are genuinely curious. Now that's part of the problem for the military here is yes, they love to see the people. They're glad that the people seem to happy to see them, however, force protection always being in their mind and not always being able to tell who is has got good intent and who does not.

They warn them continuously, stay away. They have announcements in Arabic that is usually done by these psychological OPS group going through the streets with loud speakers, just saying "stay away, stay away, stay in your homes and you'll be safe." So near action is on a very small level if it takes place. At least out here in the -- in sort of the front lines as it were, because you're still trying to decipher the good from the bad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Trying to decide the good from the bad. Just an update at this moment. Martin Savidge is back with that unit and they continue the mission. And the mission in the most immediate sense, find Iraqi artillery, tanks, any kind of Iraqi vehicles and destroy what they find. And that is what they continue to do at this moment.

COSTELLO: And ultimately, that will enable them to secure the oil fields of Southern Iraq. Martin Savidge has already moved on.

I want to recap you now on developments over the past few hours. 1:02 Eastern time were the two British Navy helicopters have collided in mid air over the Persian Gulf. All seven crew members, including one American, on the two Sea King choppers were killed.

1:17 a.m., CNN's Walter Rodgers embedded with the 3rd Squadron 7th Cavalry reports it is encountering pockets of resistance as it advances towards Baghdad and has exchanged fire with Iraqi troops. No injuries or damage reported on the U.S. side. And as we understand, that skirmish now over.

1:32 a.m., 9:32 a.m. in Baghdad, Iraqi information minister Mohammad El-Sayaf holds a briefing to denounce the coalition attack. He says 207 Iraqi civilians are in hospitals with injuries from the bombing. Al Sayaf says the battle is still going on for the Alsar Peninsula. And he reports heavy casualties there.

Now we have not been able to independently confirm that. As you can see, Christiane Amanpour also in that area. 2:55 a.m., let's talk about Christiane Amanpour. She's reporting pockets of resistance in the port city of Umm Qasr, but says the coalition does remain in control.

4:45 a.m., CNN's Martin Savidge embedded with the 1st Battalion 7th Marines outside Basra, watch as U.S. troops destroying abandoned Iraqi tanks. Martin and the Marine battalion also encountered rocket propelled grenade fire. No injuries on the American side. And that unit has now moved on.

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Resistance>


Aired March 22, 2003 - 06:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: About 24 hours after seizing the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr and accepting the surrender of more than 400 Iraqi soldiers, coalition forces continue to encounter pockets of resistance. Securing this port is strategically important for bringing humanitarian aid into Iraq as soon as possible.
Two British helicopters collided, killing six crew members and one American. The accident happened in the Persian Gulf shortly after the two Royal Navy Sea King helicopters took off from a British carrier. It was the second deadly helicopter crash in as many days.

The Army's 3rd Infantry Division spearheaded by the 7th Cavalry has halted its rapid advance towards Baghdad. The unit stopped when it detected a nearby Iraqi force. It is more than 100 miles into Iraqi territory. That is public information that we are allowed to broadcast to you. And Walter Rodgers just reported a short time ago the 7th Cavalry should be on the move shortly.

About two hours ago, Iraqi soldiers fired three mortars into Kurdish controlled Northern Iraq. CNN's Kevin Sites reports the incident was the first action by Iraqi forces seen in the area. No casualties reported.

And Operation Shock and Awe is now its 17th hour. The Pentagon says up to 1500 bombs and missiles are expected to fall on Iraq during the first 24 hours. Here is just a glimpse of the damage caused during the ferocious wave of explosions. You're taking a look at these images, some from Iraqi TV. I'm not sure what building that is, but you heard General Shepperd detail some of the damage in Baghdad.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: And you are looking at live pictures from Baghdad where it is about one minute past 2:00 in the afternoon on this continuing day of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

COSTELLO: And pictures can be so deceiving, can't they?

COOPER: Everything seems so calm there, yet those pictures we have seen elsewhere throughout Iraq in Northern Iraq and Southeastern Iraq, both with the 7th Calvary, also in Umm Qasr and also outside Basra, it is a far different story than what you are seeing right now in Baghdad.

COSTELLO: Certainly so. Coalition forces are battling pockets of resistance in the port of Umm Qasr at this hour. Umm Qasr is Iraq's only outlet to the Persian Gulf. COOPER: And those pictures that are we showing you right now showing Cobra attack helicopters circling around the old port in Umm Qasr, where the pockets of resistance were met. Marines have been searching building to building and also using Cobra attack helicopters to target them.

COSTELLO: Yes, let's pause a moment to say good morning to our audience. This is Saturday, March 22nd from CNN's global headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello.

COOPER: And good morning. I'm Anderson Cooper. Thanks for joining us or staying with us, whatever the case may be. We're going to take a fast forward look at some war related events expected to happen later today. Not giving anything away. This is just what keep an eye out for.

President Bush will monitor the war from Camp David this weekend. The Maryland retreat fully equipped to keep the president informed and connected with all aspects of the military campaign. It is, after all, as his spokesman reminded reporters yesterday, a Marine facility.

Anti war protesters say they will stage a die-in, that's what they called it, at a home near Taos, New Mexico. The home belonged to and does belong to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, one of six homes he owns in Northern New Mexico. And Sunday's Oscars ceremony is a go. Seems surreal, but it's true. It's a go for now at least, but the Academy president says that could change if circumstances warrant.

COSTELLO: And here's a short review of the ground game by coalition forces. Let's go to the Army's 3rd Infantry Division, spearheaded by the 7th Cavalry, has penetrated more than 100 miles inside Iraqi territory. Again, that is public information given to us by the military. U.S. and British forces have secured the Faw Peninsula, Iraq's only outlet to the Persian Gulf and its oil pumping terminal. And in western Iraq, coalition forces also captured two key airfields, including one suspected of being a possible site for weapons of mass destruction.

COOPER: Right, and that's the H3H2 you're seeing on that graphic. Now let's head to Kuwait City, where Bill Hemmer is standing by.

Bill, the latest?

BILL HEMMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, Carol, welcome to another day here in Kuwait. We can tell you our crew of four, the last television network to report from Baghdad expelled as of yesterday, the last report came a little more than 24 hours ago. Because of that, we cannot get independent verification, but Reuters is now reporting that at least four different explosions have now been heard on the outskirts of Baghdad. That's the latest word within the past hour.

That's in the central part of the country. In Southeastern Iraq, it is another day there in the old and new port of Umm Qasr. And CNN's Christiane Amanpour now joins us live. She's with the Royal British Marines and can bring us up to date as to whether or not there continues to be fighting there, be it in the new or the old port. Something to keep in mind here, we're trying to keep parallel tracks here as we try and follow the information and see indeed what's happening there.

Christiane, your perspective from there is what now?

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bill, on a very windy and sandy day, we've just come back from the new port of Umm Qasr. The port itself, the new port, what's known as the main port there, the facility that they wanted to take intact, they have got. And it's the U.S. Marines, the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit who went and took that port yesterday. And they're consolidating their support there. When we were there, we saw lots of U.S. Marines.

And of course, this is rather an unusual operation because its commanded by the Brigadier General in charge of what's known as Three Commando Brigade. Those are British forces. So that is a joint operation there.

Now on the -- about three kilometers away from where we were, our -- a little bit away from the new port is what's called the old port. And that's where some grain, and there's got a grain silo and things like that. Now there, there was some pockets of resistance. And there, we did see over my location there we saw four U.S. Cobra helicopters. And we know that they were up over the old port area, keeping sort of trying to keep the resistance down. And there was artillery in there as well because they were meeting resistance from pockets of Iraqis, who also had weapons and in some cases, we were told, mortars.

This is what the colonel in charge of that Marine force there told us about the resistance they were meeting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think so far, it's gone quite well. I mean, we did meet some resistance. And for the most part, the plan that we had, we executed pretty much without any changes, but it's probably not going as quick, perhaps, as we thought.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AMANPOUR: So as I say, they think that they have it broadly under control, but it's by no means completely secured yet, because of those pockets of resistance. And what we were told was that there were all sorts of different individuals, different looking individuals in terms of what they were wearing. Some were wearing civilian clothes. Some, we were told, were wearing military clothes. Others then took off their military clothes. So all in all, there's a certain amount of confusion there on behalf of the American and British forces as to exactly who they're dealing with.

They have, of course, also had surrenders. They've had, we are told by the U.S. colonel, several hundred surrenders and several hundred prisoners of war now. And some of those we saw today, we can't get too close because of Geneva Convention rules, but we did see some of them being guided by Marines in a big warehouse area at that port. And then they were being brought out. They were put on trucks, again guarded by U.S. Marines. And they were being taken to a central collection point, where those POWs will then be under the charge of the British.

So Umm Qasr, a great deal of focus on it because we've been talking about it for a while, and because it's been the focus of operations for the last 24 hours and more. And they're still just trying to wrap up the last pockets of resistance. They told us they hope to have that done by today. We'll wait and see if that is possible.

Back to you, Bill.

HEMMER: Christiane, back on the Iraqi soldiers, the prisoners of war, several hours ago, we had reported that several thousand Iraqi soldiers in that same area of Southern Iraq had surrendered to U.S. and British forces there. There was one report that an entire division, many as -- perhaps as many as 8000 Iraqi soldiers. Any way to verify that from where you are?

AMANPOUR: Not from where we are. We just saw those several hundred there today. But of course, there is -- you know, you've had some of our journalists who are embedded talking about these sort of isolated incidents of surrender. There's certainly we haven't heard yet ourselves about such large numbers of surrenders. So far, they tend to be in the tens or in the low hundreds in terms of the area that we are monitoring, which is Southern Iraq where we were this morning.

But we were told that the hundreds or so that we saw at Umm Qasr, some of those have come from Baghdad. And we were told by people there that Baghdad has sent a unit there to try to defend the port. And some of those POWs were people from Baghdad, who had told the soldiers that that's where they had come from as they surrendered.

HEMMER: All right, another quick question here about the area you're in right now. You mentioned these pockets of resistance. How much do you get a sense right now about a sense of freedom of movement on behalf of the U.S. and British forces at this time? How comfortable do they feel at this point?

AMANPOUR: Well, they're telling us that they feel fairly sure and confident that they have secured most of the southeastern part of Iraq. For instance, they've had several days of operation, which have included the Faw Peninsula. Again, there were pockets of resistance there. And they were also surrendered, but that is now totally secured by British forces. And then we've got Umm Qasr which we've been talking about. And then the Ramallah oil fields, which we're told also are secured. And then there's this issue of trying to pacify, neutralize, win the surrender of capitulation of the 51st Division of the Iraqi army in the Basra area. And we have heard that there have been some surrenders by some commanders.

But first, we were told, it was the divisional commander, but then that's been rolled back. And we're told one of brigade commanders has surrendered, and that forces, British forces, reported seeing other brigades “in the process of thinking about capitulating." In other words, doing the kinds of things that the U.S. and British have asked them to do if they intend not to fight and to surrender, do certain vehicle formations and certain postures regarding how they are, in other words, putting down their weapons and things.

But we still don't have, and we don't have the full details on that. And we won't for a while. But they feel they are fairly much in control of this part of the country.

HEMMER: Christiane Amanpour reporting live there in Southeastern Iraq, that port city that we've talked about yesterday again today. It's key for military movement and certainly key for humanitarian aid. That may, according to the British, may start flowing within 48 hours, something to watch. And we will from here.

Meanwhile, back in Kuwait, northern part of this country, Dr. Sanjay Gupta embedded yet again with the U.S. Marines. We talked to him last hour about some movement off of the road toward the Iraqi border.

Sanjay, how goes it now? Good afternoon.

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Bill, good afternoon. Yes, we're -- yes, we're with a convoy of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, 1 MEF they call it. You've been talking so much with our other reporters about the forward moving troops. This is a convoy basically designed to support and supply some of those forward moving troops with all sorts of things.

Bill, security is a concern here as well, as you've been talking so much about. Just behind me, over my right shoulder, a 50 caliber machine gun. That is a machine gun, one of many weapons designed to protect this particular convoy. Corporal Ramos is manning that particular machine gun.

Bill, as I mentioned, the convoy is basically designed to supply and restock the forward moving troops. Over my left shoulder, Bill, a pallet -- thousands of pallets of MREs. And you're familiar with those. Meals Ready to Eat. They're on that -- those big trucks back there, moving those forward as well to provide the nourishment and some food for the forward moving troops as well.

Bill, also I'm wearing a sort of funny looking jacket here. This is called a MOP suit. It is essentially an NBC suit, nuclear, biological, chemical suit designed to protect me as well as everyone else traveling with this convoy against any of those types of threats. There have been no confirmations of any of those sorts of threats. This is purely a precautionary suit at this time -- Bill?

HEMMER: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, again with the Marines. We'll check in a bit later in the day, Sanjay. Thanks, good work.

Back to the POW issue, Centcom, Central Command out of Qatar informing us that yesterday, on Friday, they dropped two million more leaflets over southern Iraq, encouraging Iraqi soldiers to surrender, not to use weapons, not to use weapons of mass destruction as well, and not to leave or rather leave the oil wells intact. It is part of that effort, we are told, that has helped contribute to the amount of surrenders we are seeing already in some cases, literally holding the leaflets that have been dropped by the coalition forces in their hands when they turned themselves over.

One other note, Anderson, Carol, I mentioned this last hour, just so our viewers know, we're about three hours away right now from seeing Tommy Franks, head of Centcom, down in Qatar. It'll be the first time he will brief reporters down there since the military campaign got underway late on Wednesday night. We'll have it for your live again. 9:00 a.m. East coast time, 5:00 here in Kuwait throughout the Persian Gulf.

Back to you now at the CNN Center.

COSTELLO: Thanks, Bill.

COOPER: All right, Bill, thanks very much.

You know, all evening long, all morning long I should be saying, we've been checking with Walt Rodgers, who's with the 7th Cavalry. 7th Cavalry legendary unit, moving out of the tip of the spear. They like to call themselves moving ahead of the other forces, scouting out. I just got this little graphic we're just going to show you a little bit before we go to Walter.

It's based out of Fort Stewart, Georgia. 7th Cavalry, part of the 3rd Infantry Division. Of course, famous as being General Custer's outfit, but it's been a long time since then. And then the 3rd Infantry Division also had a legendary record WWI, WWII, and the Korean conflict. And we have seen really in the last two days or so, that 7th Cavalry just riding hard through the deserts of Iraq, heading toward the target ultimately Baghdad. And as they will tell you, that is their ticket home. Get to Baghdad. That's the way station to getting home.

Let's check in right now with Walt Rodgers with the 7th Cavalry. Walter?

WALTER RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Anderson. The headline here in the Southern Iraqi theater appears to be that the Iraqi units are certain of them are not just going to surrender. In fact, they're putting up some stiff resistance. It's largely a nuisance factor, but from where I am in south central Iraq, to where my colleagues are shooting military action over around Basra in Southeastern Iraq, each of us has encountered the same thing today. Namely, that the Iraqis when they're determined, will stand and fight an overwhelming American military force not be awed by it, not cut and run, but fight to the death as that's what we experienced here with the 7th Cavalry. The 7th Cavalry was supposed to move north along this road behind me, but more than a few hours ago.

What happened, however, was it was determined through reconnaissance that there was an Iraqi detachment up there of undetermined size. It was also not clear what the intent of the Iraqi detachment was. Under the most optimistic conditions, it was thought they might surrender. That was not at all the case. The Iraqi detachment began firing mortars on the Crazy Horse troop of the 7th Cavalry. Then it became very clear that this was a hostile unit. The rules of engagement were very clear.

The commander of the 7th Cavalry called up his heavy artillery, the 155 millimeter pallet and guns. They began pounding away, firing six rounds. And then another six rounds at that Iraqi detachment several miles up the road behind me. The reason they used the pallet and guns, the heavy artillery, was because it's a standoff weapon. You don't risk your own soldiers lives, your own tanks, your own badly fighting vehicles.

Then the reconnaissance helicopters were sent out to determine if indeed the Iraqi unit, which was up there, had been put out of business. The helicopters were a bit surprised as the Kiawas (ph) flew up there to determine what the artillery had accomplished, there were still some heavy machine guns among the Iraqis up there. The Iraqis, again, firing the heavy machine guns at the low flying Kiawa (ph) helicopters.

They also fired shoulder fired missiles at the U.S. helicopters. That required nimble flying of U.S. pilots. They had to duck, dodge, bob and weave. No helicopter was shot down. In fact, there have been no American casualties, despite the rather intrepid resistance put forth by these small Iraqi unit up the road.

Still, the Army wasn't convinced it was safe to go forward without risking its troops and its weapons, which of course, will be much more important as this unit moves closer to Baghdad. So at that point, the Army called in an A-10 Warthog. That's an Air Force plane with a huge Gatling gun in it. And that flies very low over the battlefield and with the scatling gun just destroys anything in its path. And after that, it appears that the -- what was left of that Iraqi detachment has been put out of existence. All of them killed. We're not sure the numbers of casualties, but at this point, we -- it appears that the Iraqis are no longer a threat to the 7th Cavalry, no longer blocking the road.

I say that as a matter of deduction because behind me I think you can see the fuel tankers pumping fuel into these tanks, suggesting the tanks will be ready to go very quickly again. And again, it seems unlikely if there was any artillery threat from the Iraqis that had -- who had been there earlier. The tankers with their highly flammable fuel would not have been brought forward.

But again at this hour, this surprise factor and probably the headline of the day is the Iraqis have demonstrated they can't stop the United States and British forces, but they can be a nuisance factor. And they will stand and fight in this case to the death in some cases. Quite an interesting development here across the Southern Iraqi front.

Back to you. COOPER: Walter, that's very interesting. Also sort of jives with what we are hearing from other parts of the country. You use that term "nuisance factor." We -- in the Southeast, they are calling it sporadic resistance. And that's what we've been seeing in Umm Qasr, in areas around Basra so far as far we know.

So Walter, just so we're absolutely clear, right now the status as far as we know that the Warthog has come in, that plane which a lot of flyers will tell you is ugly, but very efficient, quite deadly, that has come in. sprayed the area. So as far as you know, there is no more resistance up ahead. Theoretically, you will get moving at some point in the not too distant future?

RODGERS: To the best of my knowledge, that's the case. Now of course, I haven't done my own (UNINTELLIGIBLE) up there, but those who have gone forward seem to be persuaded that the -- once the wart hog moves through, it would have wiped out any residual elements that the artillery and the helicopters had not taken out.

And again, the most telling thing of all, is that fuel truck over there, taking care of these tankers. If there was any danger, I doubt very much they would have brought the fuel trucks up to refuel the tanks at this point. And my assumption is, as a matter of fact, I was told the Army does plan to push forward a third squadron U.S. Army 7th Cavalry will soon begin pushing down this road. They have an objective to reach this evening. And they will move for that objective once they're totally convinced that that Iraqi detachment up the road.

Again, we don't know how many soldiers there were, but they were very game and put up a rather courageous little fight, given what they were facing from the 7th Cavalry.

COSTELLO: Walter, this is Carol Costello. I just had a question. You know, those troops that you're with, the Army soldiers, they haven't slept in 60 hours, more than 60 hours now. It rained overnight. And it's quite muddy out there now. What's the mood?

RODGERS: It's a good question, but I think it can be answered in single word, determined. Every soldier here knows there's a mission to be accomplished. They know that mission doesn't end until they get to Baghdad. They're merely waiting the command to proceed forward. I think everyone of them is more than eager to do that. If for no other reason, it means we no longer have to stand here in the mud as we have been doing for I guess four or five hours now.

The mud is pretty gruesome if you will. You know, there was one soldier who quipped to me today an old Army saying, which goes "if it rains, the Army trains." That is to say, mud is associated with the Army wherever it goes. And it seems to be a vital ingredient of almost every war I've ever witnessed.

COSTELLO: Yes, Walter, you told me before that soldiers and yourself literally encrusted with dirt. I know that dust was a factor yesterday and in the days before, but now it's muddy. Does that help, hurt, make no difference? RODGERS: I don't think it makes a difference. It might slow you a little, but the Army is not going to bog down. Each of these vehicles is equipped for this kind of warfare. It's not really going to make a serious difference at all. It's a comfort -- it's in his comfort factor. And I think that's all you can say of the mud. It's just difficult to get rid of it. You track it into your vehicles. And you have to live with it. And it grinds further into your clothes, but I would not say it's a factor in the equation of the battlefield -- Carol?

COSTELLO: Walter Rodgers reporting live somewhere from within Iraq, Southern Iraq. About 100 miles into that country now.

COOPER: That's right. Now if you are just joining us, or if you just joined us recently, Martin Savidge has been with the -- and is still with the 1st battalion 7th Marines, has had some extraordinary access in the last couple of hours. Came under fire from a rocket propelled grenade. We're going to show you what happened next after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: We here at CNN will tell you no one gets you closer. That has certainly been true in the last several hours. Martin Savidge traveling with the 1st battalion 7th Marines came under fire, rocket propelled grenade, RPG. It missed, thankfully, but what happened next was riveting to say the least.

Let's take a look at this package Martin has just filed.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This one's a cat team. They refer to it. It's basically heavily armed with your Marc 19 automatic grenade launchers and your tow missiles, which you now see at the front and back of us. And these are very highly mobile. They can run and gun. And they pick off armor. That's the way they work. There will be other people that are out there spotting and saying, hey, we may see a tank moving. We may see this. And we may see that.

And you quickly call in a tow. They peek around the corner launch and then get out of the way again. So it's actually a very mobile, very effective means of fighting, unlike a tank, which can be slow to go. You can take a look back here one more time. This tank continues to cook off. There is -- you should see the shells inside these things. They are quite massive. But again, the inside of the tank does not look well used. So it's -- it doesn't appear that somebody's been using these very recently.

COOPER: So I'm assuming...

COSTELLO: Martin, I'm sorry, I was just wondering about the town again and how many people were still there. And if you could see anyone?

SAVIDGE: Well, we saw them as we initially came in. Of course, once this -- the firing and the explosions occurred, the people had good sense to sort of melt away, either to get inside their homes or stay out of the line of fire because they realize, of course, that the Marines are going to be rather nervous with a situation around them. So it's always wise to just stay indoors. So we don't see anybody around us now.

But as pulled up, yes, there were a lot of people who are genuinely curious. Now that's part of the problem for the military here is yes, they love to see the people. They're glad that the people seem to happy to see them, however, force protection always being in their mind and not always being able to tell who is has got good intent and who does not.

They warn them continuously, stay away. They have announcements in Arabic that is usually done by these psychological OPS group going through the streets with loud speakers, just saying "stay away, stay away, stay in your homes and you'll be safe." So near action is on a very small level if it takes place. At least out here in the -- in sort of the front lines as it were, because you're still trying to decipher the good from the bad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Trying to decide the good from the bad. Just an update at this moment. Martin Savidge is back with that unit and they continue the mission. And the mission in the most immediate sense, find Iraqi artillery, tanks, any kind of Iraqi vehicles and destroy what they find. And that is what they continue to do at this moment.

COSTELLO: And ultimately, that will enable them to secure the oil fields of Southern Iraq. Martin Savidge has already moved on.

I want to recap you now on developments over the past few hours. 1:02 Eastern time were the two British Navy helicopters have collided in mid air over the Persian Gulf. All seven crew members, including one American, on the two Sea King choppers were killed.

1:17 a.m., CNN's Walter Rodgers embedded with the 3rd Squadron 7th Cavalry reports it is encountering pockets of resistance as it advances towards Baghdad and has exchanged fire with Iraqi troops. No injuries or damage reported on the U.S. side. And as we understand, that skirmish now over.

1:32 a.m., 9:32 a.m. in Baghdad, Iraqi information minister Mohammad El-Sayaf holds a briefing to denounce the coalition attack. He says 207 Iraqi civilians are in hospitals with injuries from the bombing. Al Sayaf says the battle is still going on for the Alsar Peninsula. And he reports heavy casualties there.

Now we have not been able to independently confirm that. As you can see, Christiane Amanpour also in that area. 2:55 a.m., let's talk about Christiane Amanpour. She's reporting pockets of resistance in the port city of Umm Qasr, but says the coalition does remain in control.

4:45 a.m., CNN's Martin Savidge embedded with the 1st Battalion 7th Marines outside Basra, watch as U.S. troops destroying abandoned Iraqi tanks. Martin and the Marine battalion also encountered rocket propelled grenade fire. No injuries on the American side. And that unit has now moved on.

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