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CNN Sunday Morning

War in Iraq

Aired March 30, 2003 - 11:43   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.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: And again, we don't have a clear understanding what's happening in Baghdad right now, but once we can make contact with those working on the ground we certainly will pass along to you what we're finding out about that fire that's still rages in a residential neighborhood.
In the meantime, Gary Tuchman embedded with the Air Force somewhere along the Iraqi border. Gary checks in tonight by way of videophone. Good evening Gary, what's happening there on that base?

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Bill, good evening to you. And, with apologies and credit to the great comedian Bill Murray we can tell you that many of the people at this base, who are stationed here, are starting to feel like it's Ground Hog Day. They wake up at the same time. They eat the same crummy food. They clean the same planes. They maintain the same planes. They fly the same planes. They do the same bombing runs. And they go to sleep at the same time. But don't mistake that monotony for a lack of resolve. Virtually everyone we've talked with at this base, and there are more than 8,000 service men and women, say they are professional, say they are patriotic, and say that while victory may not necessarily come soon they know it will come, and they want to be part of it.

We can give you a look right now at still another plane coming in. We are being told tonight they expect close to 300 Sorties at this air base, which has Americans, Britons and Australians, and they are saying 300 is the number they've had for the past several days, and it will continue to be that number. There is no change yet in store.

The only thing that has diminished the number of sorties coming in and out of this base has been the weather over the last 12 days. We had two days of heavy rains and winds, and sand storms. That diminished the number of Sortie's down to about 130, or 140, from this base. But every day since then it's been between 250 and 300.

The other thing that's diminished the number of sorties, but to a lesser degree, have been the missile alerts, the sirens that have gone off. The last siren we had go off was about 26 hours ago, and that's about the longest stretch we've had between sirens since the war began. But when those sirens go off, all the air men who are here, the marines who are here, the soldiers who are here, and the sailors who are here -- we have people from all four branches of the service, but it's primarily air men from the air force -- but they all have to don their chemical gear, put on their masks, go in the bunkers, and the people who are behind me, fixing and maintaining these A-10 attack planes, can't do their work when they're in the bunkers. The come out and they continue their work.

But other than the weather and other than the alerts, the work here goes on. Bill, back to you.

HEMMER: Gary, thanks. Gary Tuchman with the U.S. Air Force by way of videophone tonight. I think Gary put his finger on the nose for so many, doing a repetitive job over and over again, only this time it is the difference between life and death in many of these cases because it is war, and it is on-going, now day eleven.

A quick reminder to our viewers, 15 minutes away, noon Eastern time, 9 o'clock on the West Coast, Wolf Blitzer will be along. He'll be in this chair in fact, on LATE EDITION. General Richard Myers, one of Wolf's many guests over the next three hours on LATE EDITION, you will see it only here on CNN.

As for me, I'm out of here. Heidi, Leon, back to you. We'll see you again tomorrow on Monday. Hope you guys enjoy the rest of your Sunday.

LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: All right, you got it too. Get some rest Bill. We'll see you in the morning.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Bill. And as we were just saying, we are going to hear from Joint Chiefs Chairman General Richard Myers on Wolf Blitzer's show.

And also, we want to let you know that in the last few days we have heard some frequent references to the so-called "fog of war," but some images are very very clear. These pictures tell their own story.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Live pictures coming from Baghdad. This is a camera that is being controlled by the Al-Arabiya network, and we've got people here in our newsroom that have been monitoring Al-Arabiya and other Arab networks that have been covering the action in Baghdad. And what we're seeing and hearing is that there have been air strikes in Baghdad. It is unclear, though, whether or not this fire that we're watching right now was a result of one. We are still trying to clarify that.

We understand there are two fires according to Al-Arabiya that are burning right now in downtown Baghdad, and we're hearing from (UNINTELLIGIBLE) that -- who knows quite well the area around there, she says that the area may be a residential and business district as well in Baghdad. So we'll keep our eye on that and let you know what we learn about that later on.

Now the Bush administration expected Shiites in southern Iraq to rise up against Saddam Hussein. Well, that has not happened, at least not yet. CNN's Christiane Amanpour found that the reason seems clear once you see the fear on the people's faces.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN'S CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Umm Qasar is a dilapidated little town. At the market places there's not much more than tomatoes, onions, and a lot of flies and opinions. Saddam Hussein is our president says this woman, we love him but we're scared of him. In fact, Ali, an anti-Saddam exile returning home with the U.S. Army says that these women don't dare speak out against Saddam Hussein just yet.

These people don't believe that the Americans can, or will, get rid of Saddam Hussein.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, we've been hearing that every day that we've been here. And part of our job, and our pre-Iraqi forces are helping us to convince the people that we will stay until Saddam is gone.

AMANPOUR: As part of army civil affairs Colonel David Blackledge (ph), and his team, interact with the people. They're trying to gain valuable information and their trust, but it's a hard sell. This is Iraq's Shiite heartland and memories are deep and bitter. They'll not easily forget what they consider America's great betrayal during the Gulf War 12 years ago when they were encouraged to rise up, only to be left to the brutal mercies of Saddam Hussein.

Still, there are increasing, if tentative signs that the people want to believe that this time it's for real. The Shiite flag is forbidden by the Baghdad regime of fluttering during this holy month of Morharam (ph).

People gather around U.S. soldiers and they tell us they are looking forward to a new Iraq, one without fear of Saddam's reign of terror.

"I want my freedom," says this man. "I don't want food or water. I just want my freedom."

But actually food, and especially water, are very much on everyone's mind. The Americans and the British promised to help us they say, but when we ask them about the water they tell us tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow. This man tells us that all America wants is Iraq's oil.

A sign of the dangers still lurking here, these two men who flagged down the American Humvee and asked to surrender. We can't show their faces because they've been taken as prisoners of war but they say they are Saddam's Fedayeen militias sent down from Baghdad on pain of execution. Their mission? To conduct suicide attacks against American and British troops. But giving themselves up to these Americans they said they didn't want to die for Saddam Hussein.

Removing the image and the influence of Saddam Hussein is a main objective for the Americans and the British in this part of Iraq, and they hope by first stabilizing Umm Qasar word will then spread northward and have an affect on Basra and beyond.

In fact, the British sent 11 of these challenger tanks into Basra to crush Saddam's statue in the center. Meantime, a steady stream of civilians continues to leave. It's a portrait of war, with thick black smoke billowing from the city they leave behind. Some are surrendering to the British forces, and some of the men want to go back after bringing out their families.

And to the question the British ask everyday, when will the people rise up? The answer many give us, the day they know Saddam is dead.

Christiane Amanpour, CNN, near Basra in southern Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Once again, we want to show you more live pictures we're getting from Baghdad. We saw moments ago a fire fully engaged in two different structures.

Right now, we have another network that we'd like to show you their coverage. This is Al-Jazeera, they've got a closer shot of the fire. As you can see there, it's still hard to depict exactly what it is that is burning, but as you can see it is a massive wall of flames that is there in Baghdad. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) tells us that this neighborhood, or this area that is burning, it is both a residential and a business neighborhood. So we'll try to get more information on exactly what happened. We do know there have been air strikes there in Baghdad, still not clear if that fire is the result of any air strikes.

So stay with us. We have much more coming up. Wolf Blitzer checking in in just a few minutes as well, so stay with us. Much more coming up after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: All right. We're about to wrap things up for us this hour, but as we said before the break, Wolf Blitzer is standing by on the on-deck circle. He's ready to go in just a couple of minutes here. Hey Wolf ...

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Leon, this is going to be an interview I'm going to be doing in the next few minutes with the Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff General Myers. A lot of questions that have to be asked, and I plan on asking them. What's happening with the war, what's next on the agenda, is the U.S. military and their British allies ahead of schedule, behind schedule? No shortage of questions. We'll ask the questions. We'll see what the nation's top military officer has to say. That's all coming up in the next few minutes.

HARRIS: All right, thanks, Wolf. We'll be seeing you in just couple a minutes here now.

COLLINS: For now, that is it for Leon and I, at least for this show. We'll be coming up throughout Wolf's show, of course. But thanks for watching everybody. That's it for us at CNN center.

Before we go, we want to tell you what you'll be looking at as we go out today. We have seen several explosions over Baghdad in the last couple of hours, and there's certainly a couple of fires that we've been watching as well. So we'll leave you with some of those images today.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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 March 30, 2003 - 11:43   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: And again, we don't have a clear understanding what's happening in Baghdad right now, but once we can make contact with those working on the ground we certainly will pass along to you what we're finding out about that fire that's still rages in a residential neighborhood.
In the meantime, Gary Tuchman embedded with the Air Force somewhere along the Iraqi border. Gary checks in tonight by way of videophone. Good evening Gary, what's happening there on that base?

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Bill, good evening to you. And, with apologies and credit to the great comedian Bill Murray we can tell you that many of the people at this base, who are stationed here, are starting to feel like it's Ground Hog Day. They wake up at the same time. They eat the same crummy food. They clean the same planes. They maintain the same planes. They fly the same planes. They do the same bombing runs. And they go to sleep at the same time. But don't mistake that monotony for a lack of resolve. Virtually everyone we've talked with at this base, and there are more than 8,000 service men and women, say they are professional, say they are patriotic, and say that while victory may not necessarily come soon they know it will come, and they want to be part of it.

We can give you a look right now at still another plane coming in. We are being told tonight they expect close to 300 Sorties at this air base, which has Americans, Britons and Australians, and they are saying 300 is the number they've had for the past several days, and it will continue to be that number. There is no change yet in store.

The only thing that has diminished the number of sorties coming in and out of this base has been the weather over the last 12 days. We had two days of heavy rains and winds, and sand storms. That diminished the number of Sortie's down to about 130, or 140, from this base. But every day since then it's been between 250 and 300.

The other thing that's diminished the number of sorties, but to a lesser degree, have been the missile alerts, the sirens that have gone off. The last siren we had go off was about 26 hours ago, and that's about the longest stretch we've had between sirens since the war began. But when those sirens go off, all the air men who are here, the marines who are here, the soldiers who are here, and the sailors who are here -- we have people from all four branches of the service, but it's primarily air men from the air force -- but they all have to don their chemical gear, put on their masks, go in the bunkers, and the people who are behind me, fixing and maintaining these A-10 attack planes, can't do their work when they're in the bunkers. The come out and they continue their work.

But other than the weather and other than the alerts, the work here goes on. Bill, back to you.

HEMMER: Gary, thanks. Gary Tuchman with the U.S. Air Force by way of videophone tonight. I think Gary put his finger on the nose for so many, doing a repetitive job over and over again, only this time it is the difference between life and death in many of these cases because it is war, and it is on-going, now day eleven.

A quick reminder to our viewers, 15 minutes away, noon Eastern time, 9 o'clock on the West Coast, Wolf Blitzer will be along. He'll be in this chair in fact, on LATE EDITION. General Richard Myers, one of Wolf's many guests over the next three hours on LATE EDITION, you will see it only here on CNN.

As for me, I'm out of here. Heidi, Leon, back to you. We'll see you again tomorrow on Monday. Hope you guys enjoy the rest of your Sunday.

LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: All right, you got it too. Get some rest Bill. We'll see you in the morning.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Bill. And as we were just saying, we are going to hear from Joint Chiefs Chairman General Richard Myers on Wolf Blitzer's show.

And also, we want to let you know that in the last few days we have heard some frequent references to the so-called "fog of war," but some images are very very clear. These pictures tell their own story.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Live pictures coming from Baghdad. This is a camera that is being controlled by the Al-Arabiya network, and we've got people here in our newsroom that have been monitoring Al-Arabiya and other Arab networks that have been covering the action in Baghdad. And what we're seeing and hearing is that there have been air strikes in Baghdad. It is unclear, though, whether or not this fire that we're watching right now was a result of one. We are still trying to clarify that.

We understand there are two fires according to Al-Arabiya that are burning right now in downtown Baghdad, and we're hearing from (UNINTELLIGIBLE) that -- who knows quite well the area around there, she says that the area may be a residential and business district as well in Baghdad. So we'll keep our eye on that and let you know what we learn about that later on.

Now the Bush administration expected Shiites in southern Iraq to rise up against Saddam Hussein. Well, that has not happened, at least not yet. CNN's Christiane Amanpour found that the reason seems clear once you see the fear on the people's faces.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN'S CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Umm Qasar is a dilapidated little town. At the market places there's not much more than tomatoes, onions, and a lot of flies and opinions. Saddam Hussein is our president says this woman, we love him but we're scared of him. In fact, Ali, an anti-Saddam exile returning home with the U.S. Army says that these women don't dare speak out against Saddam Hussein just yet.

These people don't believe that the Americans can, or will, get rid of Saddam Hussein.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, we've been hearing that every day that we've been here. And part of our job, and our pre-Iraqi forces are helping us to convince the people that we will stay until Saddam is gone.

AMANPOUR: As part of army civil affairs Colonel David Blackledge (ph), and his team, interact with the people. They're trying to gain valuable information and their trust, but it's a hard sell. This is Iraq's Shiite heartland and memories are deep and bitter. They'll not easily forget what they consider America's great betrayal during the Gulf War 12 years ago when they were encouraged to rise up, only to be left to the brutal mercies of Saddam Hussein.

Still, there are increasing, if tentative signs that the people want to believe that this time it's for real. The Shiite flag is forbidden by the Baghdad regime of fluttering during this holy month of Morharam (ph).

People gather around U.S. soldiers and they tell us they are looking forward to a new Iraq, one without fear of Saddam's reign of terror.

"I want my freedom," says this man. "I don't want food or water. I just want my freedom."

But actually food, and especially water, are very much on everyone's mind. The Americans and the British promised to help us they say, but when we ask them about the water they tell us tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow. This man tells us that all America wants is Iraq's oil.

A sign of the dangers still lurking here, these two men who flagged down the American Humvee and asked to surrender. We can't show their faces because they've been taken as prisoners of war but they say they are Saddam's Fedayeen militias sent down from Baghdad on pain of execution. Their mission? To conduct suicide attacks against American and British troops. But giving themselves up to these Americans they said they didn't want to die for Saddam Hussein.

Removing the image and the influence of Saddam Hussein is a main objective for the Americans and the British in this part of Iraq, and they hope by first stabilizing Umm Qasar word will then spread northward and have an affect on Basra and beyond.

In fact, the British sent 11 of these challenger tanks into Basra to crush Saddam's statue in the center. Meantime, a steady stream of civilians continues to leave. It's a portrait of war, with thick black smoke billowing from the city they leave behind. Some are surrendering to the British forces, and some of the men want to go back after bringing out their families.

And to the question the British ask everyday, when will the people rise up? The answer many give us, the day they know Saddam is dead.

Christiane Amanpour, CNN, near Basra in southern Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Once again, we want to show you more live pictures we're getting from Baghdad. We saw moments ago a fire fully engaged in two different structures.

Right now, we have another network that we'd like to show you their coverage. This is Al-Jazeera, they've got a closer shot of the fire. As you can see there, it's still hard to depict exactly what it is that is burning, but as you can see it is a massive wall of flames that is there in Baghdad. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) tells us that this neighborhood, or this area that is burning, it is both a residential and a business neighborhood. So we'll try to get more information on exactly what happened. We do know there have been air strikes there in Baghdad, still not clear if that fire is the result of any air strikes.

So stay with us. We have much more coming up. Wolf Blitzer checking in in just a few minutes as well, so stay with us. Much more coming up after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: All right. We're about to wrap things up for us this hour, but as we said before the break, Wolf Blitzer is standing by on the on-deck circle. He's ready to go in just a couple of minutes here. Hey Wolf ...

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Leon, this is going to be an interview I'm going to be doing in the next few minutes with the Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff General Myers. A lot of questions that have to be asked, and I plan on asking them. What's happening with the war, what's next on the agenda, is the U.S. military and their British allies ahead of schedule, behind schedule? No shortage of questions. We'll ask the questions. We'll see what the nation's top military officer has to say. That's all coming up in the next few minutes.

HARRIS: All right, thanks, Wolf. We'll be seeing you in just couple a minutes here now.

COLLINS: For now, that is it for Leon and I, at least for this show. We'll be coming up throughout Wolf's show, of course. But thanks for watching everybody. That's it for us at CNN center.

Before we go, we want to tell you what you'll be looking at as we go out today. We have seen several explosions over Baghdad in the last couple of hours, and there's certainly a couple of fires that we've been watching as well. So we'll leave you with some of those images today.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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