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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports
Republican Guard Troops, 1,000 Vehicles Moving Towards 7th Cav From Baghdad South, Toward An Najaf; Will British Forces Move Into Basra?
Aired March 26, 2003 - 17:00 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.
WOLF BLITZER, ANCHOR: Coalition troops on a collision course. A face-off perhaps, perhaps starting at any moment with as many as 1,000 Iraqi armored and other vehicles.
A southern Iraqi stronghold on the bring of breaking. Now the tough call: will British forces move into Basra?
And in Baghdad, a market place hit. But are the allies responsible?
All this on day seven of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
ANNOUNCER: CNN live this hour, WOLF BLITZER REPORTS from Kuwait City. With correspondents from around the world. WOLF BLITZER REPORTS starts now.
BLITZER: Is the bulls eye moving in Baghdad. Here's a live look at the Iraq capital city right now.
The U.S. military says it's finding military targets within feet of citizen neighborhoods.
We're reporting live from Kuwait City, where the air-raid sirens sounded once again just a few hours ago.
Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. Stay with CNN this hour.
We may be on the brink of several new battles, serious battles. Right now, we're watching central Iraq. CNN's Walter Rodgers reports the Iraqi Republican Guard is charging toward coalition forces. There could be a huge fight soon.
And right now, we're also watching Basra in the south. CNN correspondents and affiliate networks tell us British forces may consider going in if an uprising there takes hold.
Right now CNN military analysts are standing by with our Miles O'Brien. They are retired General Wesley Clark, the former NATO supreme commander, and retired Air Force major Don Shepperd. We'll speak with all of them in just a few moments.
But first, let's go to Heidi Collins in the CNN newsroom.
(NEWSBREAK)
BLITZER: We begin with a startling image found by U.S. Marines in Nasiriya. The mural at an Iraqi military headquarters shows airliners with markings like those of Iraq's national airline crashing into office towers, presumably -- presumably a rendition of the World Trade Center attack.
The Marines are in front -- the Marines in front are from the 1st Expeditionary unit, which has been engaged in fierce fighting in southern Iraq.
Now, a look at the battle lines where the fighting is most fierce.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice-over): In central and southern Iraq, where much of the front line fighting is taking place, reports of guerrilla-style engagements between allied and Iraqi forces and possibly a major battle looms.
CNN's Walter Rodgers with the U.S. Army's 7th Cavalry reports a major Iraqi column. Republican Guard troops and some 1,000 vehicles moving towards the 7th Cavalry from Baghdad south, toward An Najaf.
Seemingly taking the fight to the Americans, Iraqi units already tried to hit the 7th Cavalry behind the lines. The Americans did repel them and have called for air support. But Rodgers reports one type of air cover won't make it tonight.
WALTER RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Forget the helicopters, Wolf. They haven't been flying for the past two days.
BLITZER: In southern Iraq, somewhere west of Euphrates River, a harrowing trip, a huge American convoy moving some 250,000 gallons of diesel fuel to points north, taking fire throughout the night from Iraqis.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Let me tell you what we faced last night.
BLITZER: CNN's Martin Savidge is with the U.S. 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, assigned to protect the convoy, tells of brutal weather conditions making the journey even more dangerous.
Further south the Pentagon says a column of at least 70 Iraqi armored vehicles poured out of Basra heading southeast in what they believe to be an offensive charge. Coalition fire jets were scrambled to intercept them.
British forces still deployed outside Basra may soon enter the city but are trying to gain more intelligence about fighting between Iraqi paramilitary units and local citizens.
(END VIDEOTAPE) It could be shaping up, as well, south of Baghdad. Iraqi troops appear to be heading toward An Najaf, where coalition forces hold a key bridge.
CNN's Walter Rodgers is embedded with the 3-7th Cavalry
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RODGERS: The sources within the U.S. Army's 3rd Squadron 7th Cavalry are now reporting they have intelligence information that a major column of Iraqi elite troops are moving south from Baghdad in the general direction of An Najaf.
There are said to be 1,000 vehicles in that convoy. Because of the dust storms, it's difficult to get an exact fix on the types of armored vehicles which are moving southward out of Baghdad, but awhile ago they were at Al Ilia, and that is very close though 7th Cavalry's position.
There was a bit of scramble at the 7th Cavalry tactical operations post. However, in the meantime the Army has managed to bring up substantial reinforcements, although, you know, the Cavalry was a little thin earlier in the afternoon when this information was first gleaned.
Still, it is a situation to be concerned about. Air cover -- air strikes were called in a short while ago. It is not known at this point whether the Iraqis would attack the U.S. units here in a sand storm and at night. That's a possibility and everyone is sitting on a very tight hair trigger where we are.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Britain's 7th Armored Brigade is said to be awaiting orders to move into Basra. But as the wait continues, other developments are taking place in and around the southern Iraqi city.
CNN's Christiane Amanpour has been watching events unfold.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The latest military information from around Basra comes from military spokespeople in Qatar. British spokespeople there are saying that they have seen a column, an armored column of Iraqi tanks and vehicles leaving Basra towards the southeast. And that column, they say, has been engaged, been attacked by U.S. aircraft.
(voice-over): The British also have been engaged with Iraqi forces throughout the day. There have been some reports of Iraqi Army units and soldiers coming out of Basra and being attacked by the British and other reports of Iraqi soldiers coming out to surrender.
Nevertheless, they are continuing artillery duels between the British and the Iraqis around Basra. Further south in Zubaid (ph), the British went in not only to take out pockets of Iraqi resistance and to destroy the Ba'ath Party headquarters but also to try to deliver aid. There are reports the British came under fire and returned fire at the time they were trying to deliver aid.
Reuters also saying that some people there appear so short of water, that they're digging in the rain puddles to collect whatever they can. And at one point they hacked through a water pipe and rushed to collect all the water that was gushing from that pipe.
Again, further south in the town of Saswan, the first elements of humanitarian aid were delivered, and again there were chaotic scenes as people who are both hungry and thirsty rushed to the truck and scramble and get whatever they could.
(on camera): The first elements of humanitarian aid were also delivered to Umm Qasr, the port city. That came from stockpiles in Kuwait and was driven in.
Back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Christiane Amanpour in southern Iraq. Christiane, thanks.
Iraq, meanwhile, is blaming coalition forces for a deadly explosion in a Baghdad marketplace earlier today. Our senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson, is at his listening post in Amman, Jordan.
And Nic, this was sad event. What -- First of all, tell us our viewers what the Iraqi government is saying.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Iraqi government is saying that this is an indication that coalition forces are targeting citizens. We've heard a lot from the minister of information again today. He seems to appear almost every day, trying to put down reports coming from coalition forces.
Today, he was saying that in Umm Qasr, that southern port city that the coalition says it now controls, he said that they don't control it and that there will be pockets of Iraqi resistance.
He also talked about a town, An Nasiriya, towards the very south of Iraq, just north of Basra. He said in that town alone, there had been 500 civilians wounded and some 200 houses destroyed. Now that has been absolutely impossible to independently verify at this stage.
But as far as the bombing and destruction, or at least the destruction, that happened in Baghdad today, the pictures do tell that story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ROBERTSON (voice-over): Chaos and anger in the smoldering ruins of Baghdad's Al Shahab (ph) shopping district. Fifteen dead and many more injured, according to Iraqi officials. The result, they say, of a coalition cruise missile strike.
For residents here, no doubt coalition forces responsible.
"Damn them, damn them," she says, "What were they trying to hit? There are no military targets around here."
A boost for Iraq's leaders battling to keep popular support.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): They are attacking and bombarding the residential civilian areas. They are killing innocent people. This is a fact. And please go and confirm that freely on your own.
ROBERTSON: But, as CNN is banned from Baghdad, it is hard to independently confirm casualties. However, other correspondents who witnessed the damage do report seeing bodies in the debris.
In a nearby hospital, the injured received treatment, the obvious innocence of some heightening international concerns.
KOFI ANNAN, U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL: I just heard the reports that a missile struck a market in Baghdad. And I would want to remind all belligerents that they should respect international humanitarian law and take all necessary steps to protect citizens. Besides, they are responsible for the welfare of the civilian population in the area.
ROBERTSON: At coalition central command, too soon to say what caused the devastation in the Al-Shahab market.
BRIG. GEN. VINCENT BROOKS, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, CENTCOM OPS: When we have something like that, we will go back and examine flight paths, weapons release, what the circumstances were, and try to determine whether or not we had an impact on something like that. Right now, we simply don't know.
ROBERTSON: Coalition planners however, do confirm a strike on Iraq's state-run television station. It seems, on a day when military planners attempted to lessen Iraq's propaganda capabilities, they may have given Baghdad more fuel to fan the flames of anti-Americanism.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
And it is on state-run television that the information minister was speaking again today. And he said the reason coalition forces targeted the television station was because it was being open and Frank. That was according to Iraq's information minister -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Nic Robertson in Jordan, his listening post now on what's going on in Iraq. Nic, thanks very much.
The Pentagon later insisting that there had been no targeting of any specific areas in that area, where that market place occurred. We'll have more on this coming up.
But right now, we have some new developments that are unfolding. I want to go to CNN's Steve Nettleton. He's joining us now from Europe.
Steve, tell us what you have learned.
STEVE NETTLETON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, the U.S. forces have parachuted into northern Iraq. They have seized an airfield in the Kurdish controlled territory of northern Iraq.
About 1,000 paratroopers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade, which is based in Vicenza, Italy, left from an undisclosed air base in Europe for northern Iraq on Wednesday afternoon. They dropped in to seize that airfield and will secure that airfield to open the way for elements of armor to come in from the 163 Armor, which is part of the 1st Infantry Division, based in Wielsech (ph), Germany.
This armor will include Abrams tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles, basically the range of armor that comes with an armored unit.
This was one of the largest airborne drops in decades. Hundreds of troops literally jumping in on a single target. Their mission is to provide stability in the north and open up the second, the northern front, along a weighted northern front.
These guys were originally supposed to be with the 4th Infantry Division, which was supposed to come down through Turkey. When Turkey didn't give that permission they had to reschedule it and re-plan it and this is what they've done -- Wolf.
BLITZER: This is a very significant development, Steve. This air base, this airfield that they now want to take control of in northern Iraq, I assume they want to clear up this airfield and start bringing in U.S. planes to deal with the situation in the north?
NETTLETON: That's correct. They will secure that airfield and they will be dropping -- bringing in planes over the next few days with the armor, with more troops, with more supplies, and basically expanding their presence in the days and weeks ahead.
BLITZER: All right. Steve Nettleton with important information. Breaking news here on CNN, about 1,000 paratroopers falling from the skies, dropping from the skies, taking control in an air base in northern Iraq.
Let's get some analysis on what this all means. CNN's Miles O'Brien is joining us from the CNN newsroom in Atlanta -- Miles.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, let's begin on that point. The 173rd, we've talked about it a lot. It came into play when it became apparent that the Turks were not going to allow the 4th Infantry Division to cross over land and stage a more significant northern front. This is a lighter force. Joining me to talk about this and its significance, General Wesley Clark, General Don Shepperd, Army and Air Force respectively, retired.
Let's lay in some symbology here for this. A couple of air fields taken, the 173rd. What's the significance of that, General Clark?
GEN. WESLEY CLARK, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: It's an airborne infantry outfit. It's part of the U.S. European command, it's part of their reserve. They can be reinforced with tanks and mech. And it gives us a U.S. ground presence, a combat presence in this Kurdish area to link up with the Peshmerga and put the squeeze on the Iraqis.
O'BRIEN: But what's on the ground now is not heavily armored or mechanized, correct?
CLARK: Correct. Right now we've got to hold and protect ourselves, that airhead, we call it, with air and then we'll bring in the armor.
O'BRIEN: All right. Don Shepperd, give us a quick update on what we've seen on these red arrows today. What do we know about what the enemy is doing right now?
GEN. DON SHEPPERD, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Basically, early tactical reports, be very skeptical about them, of a thousand vehicles moving south out of the Baghdad are toward the reinforcement of the Medina division in the Najaf area down here.
Should that be the case, air power is probably the answer to the early deployment of this. You'd have F-15Es coming in. They can attack in all kinds of weather, very, very precisely. You'd have F- 18s and F-16s operating against those columns, as well. Air powers are key to forces that are closing, Miles.
O'BRIEN: All right. There's the F-15C Eagle that we have there. The E would be the one used for this. This is a derivative of the F- 15C that we're talking about. All weather capability, which is the key.
All right. Let's move south to Basra, where we have an odd arrow, southeast arrow out of Basra. General Wes Clark, how do you explain that one?
CLARK: Well, it's kind of inexplicable. It sounds to me like the Iraqis got an order to counter-attack against the British force and the American Marines at Umm Qasr. It took them awhile to execute it. By the time they were executing it, it's too late. But that's the way some armies operate and so it seems to me like we've probably got a lunge southward that's going to end up in nothing but good target targets for artillery and air.
O'BRIEN: All right. About 100 armored vehicles, we're told, headed southeast. Could be a retreat; we don't know. At the pointy edge of the spear, the 3-7th Cavalry, perhaps on a collision course with this column of maybe 1,000 vehicles. Don Shepperd, air power once again the key here. On the face of it, is that a fair match?
SHEPPERD: Air power will hit the column if it's closing. But in addition, close air support from A-10s, AVAV Harriers and helicopters will be employed as the forces of the lead force of the 3rd Infantry Division, the 3rd of the 7th Cav.
And then the 3rd Infantry developments -- Division actually engage with the brigades of the 2nd -- of the Medina division down there.
Air power will certainly be very key to this battle.
O'BRIEN: All right. General Wes Clark, when we hear about 1,000 vehicles moving southward from Baghdad, should we be skeptical? This could be battlefield intelligence which may or may not bear itself out?
CLARK: I think we should be skeptical. I think the important point here, Miles, is to look at the overall situation.
The Republican Guards are still defending around Baghdad. They know that the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division is coming up from the southwest. They know that the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division is trying to prepare an attack.
A logical tactic against this would be to do what we call a spoiling attack, try to attack into this force as it's getting set. It may not be 1,000 vehicles. It may be buses, it may be citizens, it may be grocery dealers and it may be tanks. And that's what has to be sorted out by the pilots and by the folks on the ground before we engage.
O'BRIEN: So does your gut tell you this is a bold move or perhaps a desperation move?
CLARK: I think it's standard operating procedures to do a spoiling attack. It's been done in the past during the Persian Gulf War. They ran a spoiling attack at Al Khafji (ph). They got annihilated by A-10s in that operation. It was in late January of '91, as I recall.
This is a standard Iraqi battle doctrine.
O'BRIEN: All right. General Wesley Clark, General Don Shepperd, thanks for giving us the lay of the land. We appreciate it. Lots to keep track of here, Wolf.
BLITZER: Thanks very much, Miles. Thank the generals, as well, for me.
While they were speaking, we saw those pictures of Tony Blair, the British prime minister, now having arrived at Andrews Air Force base. He got onto a U.S. Marine helicopter. He'll be heading out to Camp David for important war strategy meetings with President Bush. We're going to be following all of those developments, as well.
Just to recap the headline: the breaking news, heard here on CNN for the first time, U.S. military officials telling CNN's Steve Nettleton that about 1,000 U.S. paratroopers have now fallen from the skies, have jumped to take control of a key air base in the Kurdish controlled part of northern Iraq air base, an air base which will be used as a springboard, presumably, to -- to move U.S. forces into the northern part of Iraq, the forces that were originally supposed to come in through Turkey, not coming in through Turkey but will be coming in now from the skies to this air base and presumably other air bases in the north.
A huge -- a huge drop of paratroopers coming into northern Iraq. We're going to continue to follow this story, get some more information, of course, as it comes in.
By the way, here's your chance to weigh in on the war in Iraq. Our Web question of the day is this: "Did the coalition commanders underestimate Iraqi resistance?" We'll have the results later in this broadcast. Please vote at CNN.com/Wolf.
While you're there, I'd like to hear from you, send me your comments. I'll try to read some of them on the air each day at the end of the day on this program. That's also, of course, where you can read my daily online column, the column I'm writing right here in Kuwait City every day, CNN.com/Wolf.
America's POWs and MIAs, their families waiting for answers. We'll go live to Fort Bliss, Texas, for the latest.
Also, American supply teams in dangerous convoys deep into Iraq. We'll take you to the front lines with Martin Savidge.
And unlikely heroes, dolphins helping the U.S. Navy in the war with Iraq.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: At least nine U.S. military personnel are missing in action in Iraq. Among them, four members of the Army's 507th Maintenance Company, ambushed after making a wrong turn near Nasiriya. Five other members of that company are confirmed prisoners of war and have been shown on Iraqi television, as well as two Army Apache helicopter pilots, bringing the total number of confirmed U.S. POWs to seven.
CNN does not name casualties, captives or those missing until we can confirm their families have, indeed, been notified.
For the latest on how those families are coping, we turn to CNN's Ed Lavandera. He's live at Fort Bliss, Texas, home of the 507th Maintenance Company -- Ed.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Wolf. We've been reporting here the last couple of days that there were 12 members of the 507th Maintenance Company that were involved in this incident on Sunday. But now Defense Department officials confirming that this number is now 15 that were involved in this skirmish outside of the town of Nasiriya.
Two of those soldiers are dead, eight are missing in action. As you just mentioned, five of them are prisoners of war. This is just a little more information and probably not enough to calm the fears of many family members.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAVANDERA (voice-over): In Tuba City, Arizona, they're marching for Private 1st Class Lori Ann Piestewa.
TRINITY HONAHNIE, FRIEND: They will be walking in support of our troops as well as Lori, who is missing in action.
LAVANDERA: Piestewa is one of eight soldiers missing in action from the 507th Maintenance Company out of Fort Bliss, Texas. She's also one of three women in the unit.
Piestewa's friends just want to see her smile and hear her laugh again.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I couldn't believe it. I knew she was, you know, she was some place where it wasn't safe but I would have never imagined that it would be Lori.
LAVANDERA: As troops push toward Baghdad, military leaders warn there will be more casualties, more visits from chaplains.
The family of Marine Lance Corporal Brian Buesing of Cedar Key, Florida, will never forget that image of a chaplain coming toward the door.
ROGER STEVE, MARINE'S STEPFATHER: When I seen the chaplain, I knew it was a bad. And they wouldn't tell me anything. So I asked, you know, is it the worst? And they said, yes. And I said, you know, oh, my God. And I just felt like throwing up.
LAVANDERA: Buesing was killed near the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriya.
Thousands of miles away from the Iraqi battlefield, a growing number of families ache for news from the frontlines, hoping the troops are safe.
But for those families who have already learned their loved ones won't be coming home alive, they pray their fight won't be forgotten.
ROB ROSACKER, FATHER: I just hope that we can get it done with and that we do have something positive come out of this so that it wasn't all in vain.
SAMANTHA ROSACKER, SISTER: I just hope that he doesn't feel like he failed by dying, and to think that he accomplished something.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAVANDERA: Military officials continue to urge the family members that are involved in any of these kinds of situations, whether it be POWs or missing in action, to be very careful about the public comments they say. They said they have reason to believe the Iraqis are watching and they could use that against their loved ones in captivity.
Wolf, back to you.
BLITZER: Probably good advice. Ed Lavandera, Fort Bliss. He's been reporting there now for several days. I assume he's going to be staying there for a few more. Ed, thanks very much.
Nineteen-year-old Private First Class Jessica Lynch of West Virginia is among those missing in action. She was one of the members of the 507th Maintenance Company, which was ambushed, as we all know by now, over the weekend.
CNN's Susan Candiotti has her family's story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On the streets of Palestine, West Virginia, population just over 900, Jessica Lynch's disappearance has brought the war inescapably home.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just hope to God she's all right. It's all we can do, just think nothing but positive about here.
CANDIOTTI: She could be anyone's daughter, this smiling high school grad. At 17, she joined the Army to break out of her county, where jobs are scarce. The Army, a ticket to fulfilling her dream.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She will return and yes, she will be a school teacher.
CANDIOTTI: Return from Iraq. Jessica Lynch is one of about a dozen soldiers reported missing when her maintenance company was attacked Sunday.
Her family, who appeared briefly on their front porch to speak to reporters, is devastated. Jessica's mother, her father, her younger sister about to join the Army, and her brother, sent home from Fort Bragg on emergency leave.
Greg is proud of his little sister, a supply clerk.
GREG LYNCH, JESSICA'S BROTHER: I don't feel scared at all. I'm going in. If it will come down it to it, if I can do a supply job and take her position, I would do it in a heartbeat.
CANDIOTTI: The hearts of Wart County, West Virginia, are with Jessica. You can see it on signs, through hundreds of yellow ribbons, and a candlelight vigil.
For now, the Lynch family can only wait for a call they hope will bring good news about Jessica.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We just got to keep our hopes alive. And think positive about this.
BLITZER: Susan Candiotti, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Meanwhile the International Committee of the Red Cross says it's working to get access to prisoners of war on both sides.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TAMARA ALRIFAI, ICRC: We have approached both sides already. We are in dialogue with both sides. And what we can say at this point is that the dialogue is constructive. We have no reason to believe we will not have access to them at this point.
And however, I'd like to point out that, even though under the Geneva Convention it is said the ICRC should visit prisoners of war, there is no time frame requirements in it. So we are still in dialogue right now with both sides.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: The U.S. central command says coalition forces are now holding more than 4,000 Iraqi prisoners of war.
Let's check in immediately now with CNN's Frank Buckley. He's aboard the U.S. aircraft carrier, the USS Constellation, right here in the Persian Gulf. Frank, another busy night on the carrier?
FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Wolf. Air Wing 2, very busy off the USS Constellation.
Let me take you up to the flight deck. Earlier tonight, as we saw aircraft taking off and landing from the USS Constellation, flying into the night sky here. Soon after they leave the deck, they don their night vision goggles, get gas from an air tanker and then they head in to hit targets in Iraq.
One of the primary missions, of course, right now, close air support, doing their best to try to support the troops on the ground, hitting AK armored personnel carriers, tanks, artillery positions, troop positions ahead of the advancing coalition troops.
At the same time, they are also still hitting some of the fixed targets.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now, we continue to look at those, realizing the priority shifts to support the ground forces as they go forward, in a big way, to make sure that, as they're engaged, as they're coming up on a significant target, our forces, our Air Force is working through the chaos, whether they be Navy, Marine or Air Force are standing by ready to deliver ordnance just in front of those troops to help them to eliminate the target.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BUCKLEY: And to give you a sense of how high a priority this close air support mission is, last night, you'll recall, Wolf, we were talking about the difficult weather conditions that they were facing. Some of the aircraft, after long discussions here on the aircraft carrier, did take off in some very tough weather conditions, including thunderstorms, including hail.
Let me show you video of one of the aircraft that took off into it. It was an EA-6B Prowler from the Lasher Squadron. It hit a thunderstorm and encountered some major hail. The front part of the nose area of this aircraft, the ray dome, actually imploded. And fortunately for that crew, they were able to return safely to the USS Constellation. But in all, six aircraft from the Constellation had to divert in that weather last night. Eventually all of those aircraft did return safely to the USS Constellation -- Wolf.
BLITZER: CNN's Frank Buckley aboard the U.S. aircraft carrier, the Constellation, in the Persian Gulf. Thanks very much, Frank, for that report.
We have some sad news to report to our viewers. Daniel Patrick Moynihan is dead. The former senator from New York state, former ambassador to the United Nations, former U.S. ambassador to India unfortunately has passed away following a very, very long illness. They're speaking about their former colleague on the Senate floor. Let's briefly listen in.
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), NEW YORK: ...think and think hard. He certainly opened my eyes to a lot of difficult issues. And I could not have had a stronger, more helpful adviser during my campaign than Senator Moynihan.
I started my listening tour, my exploration of whether or not to run for this office at Pinders Corner, his farm in upstate New York, a place that he loved beyond words. I met him in a little schoolhouse, a 19th century schoolhouse that was on the property, where he wrote. He would walk down the road from his house to that little schoolhouse everyday, where he'd think deeply and write about the issues that he knew would be important, not just for tomorrow's headlines, but for years and years to come. There isn't any way that anyone will ever fill his place in this Senate, not just in the order of succession definition, but in the intellectual power, the passion, the love of this extraordinary body and our country. He will be so missed.
BLITZER: Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton speaking about her predecessor in the U.S. Senate, the former senator from New York state, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who has just died after a long illness. Senator Clinton speaking movingly about Senator Moynihan. Our Bruce Morton now takes a look back at the life and times of Daniel Patrick Moynihan.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRUCE MORTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He was born Tulsa, but it didn't matter. He was in New York by the time he was six months old. Grew up poor, fourth floor, cold water flat in Hell's Kitchen, worked as a shoeshine boy, graduated from a Harlem high school and went to worked as a longshoreman.
Legend says he showed up for a college admissions exam carrying his longshoreman's hook. But he went on to be a scholar and a politician, an activist. Richard Nixon appointed him ambassador to India. Gerald Ford made him ambassador to the United Nations, where he said the U.S. should speak up for political and civil liberty and denounced a vote labeling Zionism as racism as a reckless and obscene act. Urged by the Soviet ambassador to be careful, he said we will not take care. We do not give a damn.
He was 6'4", white haired, fond of English suits and good food. He believed public buildings should be beautiful. And when they unveiled the Hart Senate office building, offered a resolution to put back the plastic cover it had worn during its construction. He knew more about more different things, foreign policy, family policy, housing and transportation than any senator I ever covered, and had an exclamatory style of speaking. As when explaining why he'd endorsed Bill Bradley over Al Gore.
DANIEL PATRICK MOYNIHAN, FMR. SENATOR, NEW YORK: Nothing is the matter with Mr. Gore except he can't be elected president.
MORTON: He served four terms and retired. Hillary Clinton replaced him. He said once a colleague had a mind as clear as Easter bells. You could say the same of him.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: That was Bruce Morton reporting on the sad news that Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan unfortunately has passed away. Our deepest condolences to Senator Moynihan's family. We'll be back from Kuwait City right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back to CNN's continuing coverage of the war in Iraq. We'll go live to the White House and the Pentagon in just a few moments. But first, for the latest headlines, we go back to Heidi Collins in the CNN newsroom in Atlanta.
(NEWSBREAK)
BLITZER: We have much more coming up on the latest development in the Persian Gulf, including breaking news that we reported only a few minutes ago about 1,000 U.S. paratroopers parachuting into Kurdish controlled Northern Iraq, taking control of a key airfield from which U.S. forces will launch an additional strike against Baghdad. We'll have more on this coming up.
First, let's recap what happened earlier in the day. Here's CNN's Miles O'Brien.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN (voice-over): 8:54 a.m. Eastern, just before 5:00 p.m. in the Gulf, CNN's Lisa Weaver, embedded with an Army air defense unit, reports a U.S. convoy was ambushed near Najar by what U.S. officials believe to be Iraqi paramilitary groups.
9:05 a.m. Eastern time from CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr, Defense Department sources say war planners may have underestimated the capabilities of the paramilitary groups.
1:06 p.m. from CNN's Walt Rogers embedded with the 3rd Infantry 7th Cavalry, a column of up to 1,000 Iraqi military vehicles carrying elite fighters racing out of Baghdad towards the Cavalry's position near Naja. A sandstorm is limiting air support from helicopters and planes.
2:00 p.m., in a briefing, Pentagon officials deny targeting a Baghdad marketplace where more than a dozen people were killed today. They say they don't know whether the devastation was caused by Iraqi weapons or U.S. missiles that went astray.
2:54 p.m. in Umm Qasr, Iraq, British pool reporter Bill Nealy (ph) reports U.S. war planes have broken up a convoy of 70 Iraqi armored vehicles south of Basra.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Coalition officials have accused Iraqi soldiers of carrying out attacks while disguised as civilians. They say that's making it harder to tell civilians from soldiers. And sometimes the results can be tragic.
CNN's Alessio Vinci is embedded with the U.S. Marines in Nasiriya. And he has this exclusive report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): U.S. Marines in Iraq burying the body of a six-year-old boy, his head facing mecca, according to Muslim tradition, a casualty of a new kind of war, killed along with his father, as their vehicle approached a Marine checkpoint at high speed. The man, Marines say, was an armed combatant.
Marines say they want to avoid killing civilians, but they pose a threat, commanders say because Iraq paramilitary groups recruit them to run missions in U.S. controlled territory, often accompanied by young children.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some of them been -- have told us that they've been told you need to fight. If you don't fight, we'll do something to your family. VINCI: The danger, U.S. military officials say is that paramilitary groups are conducting guerrilla style warfare against U.S. positions.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean, we expect that. And we're ready for that. And they may want to trade, and they're very well trained in guerrilla warfare, But we're very well-trained in anti-guerrilla warfare as well. And we'll, you know, if they want to come at us with that, we'll be waiting for them.
VINCI: When possible, suspects are cuffed and taken in for questioning. Or sometimes civilians are simply sent back from where they come from.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No entry. Roads closed on this one.
VINCI: And to minimize as much as possible contact between civilians and U.S. Marines, the military is putting up signs in Arabic, warning the local population to stay away and remain in their homes.
(on camera): Marines say they do not know how many civilians may have been killed so far, but they say they were surprised to see women and children in the streets of Nasiriya while the fighting was raging on. Clearly, says one commander, there is somebody among the Iraqis who is not concerned about the well-being of innocent civilians.
Alessio Vinci, CNN with the U.S. Marines in Nasiriya, Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Now our continuing look at scenes from the battlefield. Take a look at this. Iraqis crowded around a convoy of aid trucks in the southern town of Safwan earlier today. Although many of them chanted slogans praising Saddam Hussein as the truck pulled up, the cheering seemed to die down as soon as the supplies were unloaded. Some of the Iraqis told reporters they cheered for the Iraqi president only because they feared Iraqi forces might return.
As more U.S. forces head deep into Iraq, supply lines become of course increasingly important.
CNN's Martin Savidge traveled with the first battalion of the U.S. 7th Marines as an escort to the convoy carrying diesel fuel. He has a report now on this dangerous but vital mission.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Commanders of the 1st Battalion 7th Marines who we are embedded with say that yes, they have had a problem with guerrilla tactics that have been employed against the supply lines that stretch all the way down into northern Kuwait. Everything is coming up from there. That includes the fuel, that includes the ammunition, that includes the food and of course, the personnel and equipment. Yesterday, for the first Marine division, it was fueled. It was critical. In fact, so much so, they had to put a pause in operations as far as moving forward because they were running so short of fuel. Last night, our mission came through. They are talking about a quarter of a million gallons of diesel fuel that needed to come up and come into this region.
The problem is there are paramilitary units, according to U.S. commanders here, known as the Fedayeen, that have been launching hit- and-run tactics against the supply line. That's bad enough, but imagine if they hit the fuel tankers. Not only is that a critical supply that's needed, but the explosive force of fuel tankers going up would be devastating.
So the 1st Battalion 7th Marines in this area was given the job. Make sure that the Fedayeen did not get to those critical fuel tankers that were coming in. All night long, it was a running battle that took place along the supply line. You had U.S. Marines in armored vehicles and in humvees working in almost complete darkness, firing against opposing forces that were firing in. Gunshots ringing out in the middle of the night. RPGs lacing their way across the roadway. And then the return fire from the U.S. Marines trying to suppress, as they say, the fire that was coming towards the convoy.
But it was pitch dark. There was confusion. For many Marines, this was their first time really in combat. You had vehicles working in extremely difficult terrain, marsh land, deep trenches, and in many cases, just rivers and back waters. The armored vehicle that we were riding in ran into a Humvee. Then, a short time later, another armored vehicle slammed into the side of us. And then even later after that, our armored vehicle ran into a house. Fortunately, nobody was home. But it shows you the difficult conditions combined with the guerrilla tactics that the Marines are up against here.
When daylight showed itself here finally, there were at least three of the armored vehicles that were up ended in ditches and trenches. But for the U.S. Marines, the most important fact is this. The fuel got through, which now means the Marines can continue to move north.
Martin Savidge, CNN, southern Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: And the Pentagon insists it has not been forced out of its war plan by the unexpectedly widespread guerrilla tactics of fanatical fighters loyal to Saddam Hussein, but the attacks have forced the U.S. to spend a lot of effort protecting its rear and underscored the need for a quick attack on Baghdad.
Let's get some more now. CNN's senior Pentagon correspondent, Jamie McIntyre.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Privately, some Pentagon officials concede U.S. military planners may have underestimated the extent Saddam Hussein would use his Fedayeen fighters and other regime loyalists to launch guerrilla attacks against coalition forces and intimidate civilians as it has in places like Basra. But publicly, Pentagon officials insist it will not change the strategy of concentrating on Baghdad, the center of gravity of the Iraqi regime.
VICTORIA CLARKE, PENTAGON SPOKESWOMAN: He is not changing the overall game plan. One of the aspects of the overall game plan, the strategy, was to be able to adapt and adjust as appropriate depending on what the enemy does.
MCINTYRE: Taking advantage of its command of the skies, U.S. war planes are whittling away at hundreds of targets such as this F- 117 strike on the presidential secretariat in Baghdad. If Iraqi vehicles in large numbers, they'll be even more vulnerable to air strikes, such as this fuel truck destroyed by an F-16 near a western airfield.
In an attempt to avoid the fate of this tank destroyed west of Karbala, sources say the Republican Guard continues to shift forces around in what's termed a strategy repositioning. The Pentagon says the U.S. will deal with the sporadic attacks by Fedayeen fighters as it encounters them, and insists it has plenty of air cover and firepower on the ground to protect the 300 mile long supply lines now supporting the 75,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. What the U.S. military won't do, sources tell CNN, is be drawn into urban combat or a protracted hunt for small bands of guerrilla forces that would only delay the assault on Baghdad.
MAJ. GEN. STAN MCCHRYSTAL, VICE DIR., JOINT STAFF: Our ground forces are pushing north towards Baghdad and Alcute (ph). We are more than 220 miles into Iraqi territory and have done it in over six days in spite of difficult weather.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MCINTYRE: And Wolf, reinforcements are on the way. Pentagon sources say that the 4th Infantry Division will be deploying as soon as this weekend to marry up with their equipment and head north. And as you reported, the Airborne troops have landed in the north to open up that northern front. One other item, this Republican guard column that was supposedly spotted earlier today heading to the south, after hours of looking for it, Pentagon officials are beginning to suggest to us that maybe it doesn't exist. Maybe it was a false report -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Interesting, Jamie. What about those 1,000 paratroopers that have now parachuted into this Kurdish controlled area of northern Iraq? It sounds, as you say, like an important strategic move to open up, if you will, a second front against Baghdad.
MCINTYRE: Well, the Pentagon promised there'd be a northern front. And Pentagon officials say this is the beginning of it. Now these initial troops are essentially just infantry troops, but they'll be bringing in more equipment, more troops. You're going to see a very substantial force in the north very soon, according to Pentagon officials.
BLITZER: Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon. We'll be checking back with you obviously often. Thanks very much.
And while the war rages on, President Bush says don't expect a quick victory. The latest assessment from the commander in chief immediately when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Under fire from critics at home and abroad, President Bush today heard cheers as he visited some of the military personnel coordinating the war on Iraq. Tonight, he'll meet with his staunchest ally, Britain's Tony Blair, who just arrived at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington headed to Camp David. Let's go live to our senior White House correspondent, John King, John?
JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, the president left Washington today to go to a key military installation, central command headquarters in Florida. He said yes, he could not predict how long this war would take. Yes, there would be some tough battles ahead, but Mr. Bush was quite upbeat in his overall assessment. He said there would be a day of reckoning for the Iraqi regime. And in his view, that day is drawing near.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm honored to be the commander in chief.
KING (voice-over): And on this day, one week into the fight, determined to challenge critics of the U.S. war strategy.
BUSH: We have an effective plan of battle. And the flexibility to meet every challenge. Nothing, nothing will divert us from our clear mission.
KING: This visit to central command headquarters was part pep talk, part rebuttal, the president taking the lead in taking on those who said the war plan underestimated Iraqi resistance and perhaps overestimated the battlefield advantages of technological superiority.
BUSH: Day-by-day, Saddam Hussein is losing his grip on Iraq. Day-by-day, the Iraqi people are closer to freedom.
KING: Mr. Bush thanked military families for their sacrifice and warned Iraqi troops the price of mistreating coalition forces captured in combat.
BUSH: This band of war criminals has been put on notice the day of Iraq's liberation will also be a day of justice.
KING: The president's visit included lunch with the troops and a detailed update on the bar effort in both Iraq and Afghanistan, then back home for dinner and war strategy talks with British prime minister Tony Blair. Topping the agenda, the coming siege of Baghdad, efforts to get more humanitarian aid into Iraq and the post-war role of the United Nations.
U.S. officials say there are no major disagreements, but there is no question Mr. Blair favors a more immediate and more robust post U.N. role than Mr. Bush.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: Now the president's major goal today was to quiet critics of the war strategy. But a speech edit he made aboard Air Force One might only add to the debate. The president crossed out a line that said the troops are running ahead of schedule. Aides later said the president simply wants to be very conservative in his public assessment. They say by no means does the commander in chief have any doubts about the battle plan or implementation, Wolf?
BLITZER: John King at the White House. Thanks, John, very much.
The latest CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll, by the way, shows a steady drop-off in those who are upbeat about the course of the war. Saturday, 62 percent of those polled said they thought the war was going very well. By Tuesday, however, that number had fallen to 37%. On the other hand, the level of support for the war has remained steady. Sampling through Tuesday showed 71 percent in favor, 27 percent opposed. A weekend poll showed 72 percent in favor.
Sixty-five people were arrested at an anti-war protest across the street from the White House today. Among them, two Nobel Peace Prize laureates. In Tampa, Florida, a group of about 150 people denounced President Bush as he was speaking at nearby central command headquarters at MacDill Air Force Base. CNN was the target of protests in several cities today, including San Francisco, which has become a hotbed of anti-war demonstrations.
Here in Kuwait City, Kuwaitis marched in favor of the war, with the 1991 Iraqi invasion still very much fresh in the minds of so many of them. Among the signs they carried, one read "Saddam, your days are numbered. " A very different scene in the Philippines capitol where indigenous people opposed though war shot arrows into the U.S. flag, then set it in fire.
In Sydney, Australia, protesters hurled chairs and bottles at police in what's being called the country's most violent anti-war protest yet.
Protesters in Seoul targeted a McDonald's, scaling the sign outside were a man masked as President Bush, waves a gun. Elsewhere in the capitol, demonstrators tried unsuccessfully to storm the U.S. embassy.
And Syrians opposed to the war marched to the capitol, Damascus, calling for an immediate end to the fighting.
When we come back, we'll have the results of our web question of the day. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: And now, a look at some of the other striking images of this war. Dolphins normally are peaceful creatures, but they've gone to war in Iraq. The U.S. Navy is using four dolphins to help detect underwater saboteurs and mines off the Iraqi coast. Fighting continues in the Nasiriya area. These British troops joined Americans on the front lines. Men, women and children walked down a road near Basra seeking safety and shelter, coalition forces say. They're working with the Red Cross to avert a humanitarian disaster, and have returned to local water and treatment plants to partial operations.
Civilians lined up for water in nearby Umm Qasr. Food and medical supplies arrived in the southern Iraqi city today after several days of intense fighting that forced many civilians to stay in their homes.
Now here's how you're weighing in on our web question of the day. Remember, we've been asking you this, did the coalition commanders underestimate Iraqi resistance? 54 percent of you say yes, 46 of you say no. This is not, repeat not, a scientific poll.
Please stay with CNN throughout the night for up to the minute war coverage. I'll be back in one hour with Aaron Brown for two hours of special coverage. Until then thanks very much for watching. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Kuwait City. Lou Dobbs in New York, up next, right after a very short break.
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Cav From Baghdad South, Toward An Najaf; Will British Forces Move Into Basra?>
Aired March 26, 2003 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, ANCHOR: Coalition troops on a collision course. A face-off perhaps, perhaps starting at any moment with as many as 1,000 Iraqi armored and other vehicles.
A southern Iraqi stronghold on the bring of breaking. Now the tough call: will British forces move into Basra?
And in Baghdad, a market place hit. But are the allies responsible?
All this on day seven of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
ANNOUNCER: CNN live this hour, WOLF BLITZER REPORTS from Kuwait City. With correspondents from around the world. WOLF BLITZER REPORTS starts now.
BLITZER: Is the bulls eye moving in Baghdad. Here's a live look at the Iraq capital city right now.
The U.S. military says it's finding military targets within feet of citizen neighborhoods.
We're reporting live from Kuwait City, where the air-raid sirens sounded once again just a few hours ago.
Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. Stay with CNN this hour.
We may be on the brink of several new battles, serious battles. Right now, we're watching central Iraq. CNN's Walter Rodgers reports the Iraqi Republican Guard is charging toward coalition forces. There could be a huge fight soon.
And right now, we're also watching Basra in the south. CNN correspondents and affiliate networks tell us British forces may consider going in if an uprising there takes hold.
Right now CNN military analysts are standing by with our Miles O'Brien. They are retired General Wesley Clark, the former NATO supreme commander, and retired Air Force major Don Shepperd. We'll speak with all of them in just a few moments.
But first, let's go to Heidi Collins in the CNN newsroom.
(NEWSBREAK)
BLITZER: We begin with a startling image found by U.S. Marines in Nasiriya. The mural at an Iraqi military headquarters shows airliners with markings like those of Iraq's national airline crashing into office towers, presumably -- presumably a rendition of the World Trade Center attack.
The Marines are in front -- the Marines in front are from the 1st Expeditionary unit, which has been engaged in fierce fighting in southern Iraq.
Now, a look at the battle lines where the fighting is most fierce.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice-over): In central and southern Iraq, where much of the front line fighting is taking place, reports of guerrilla-style engagements between allied and Iraqi forces and possibly a major battle looms.
CNN's Walter Rodgers with the U.S. Army's 7th Cavalry reports a major Iraqi column. Republican Guard troops and some 1,000 vehicles moving towards the 7th Cavalry from Baghdad south, toward An Najaf.
Seemingly taking the fight to the Americans, Iraqi units already tried to hit the 7th Cavalry behind the lines. The Americans did repel them and have called for air support. But Rodgers reports one type of air cover won't make it tonight.
WALTER RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Forget the helicopters, Wolf. They haven't been flying for the past two days.
BLITZER: In southern Iraq, somewhere west of Euphrates River, a harrowing trip, a huge American convoy moving some 250,000 gallons of diesel fuel to points north, taking fire throughout the night from Iraqis.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Let me tell you what we faced last night.
BLITZER: CNN's Martin Savidge is with the U.S. 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, assigned to protect the convoy, tells of brutal weather conditions making the journey even more dangerous.
Further south the Pentagon says a column of at least 70 Iraqi armored vehicles poured out of Basra heading southeast in what they believe to be an offensive charge. Coalition fire jets were scrambled to intercept them.
British forces still deployed outside Basra may soon enter the city but are trying to gain more intelligence about fighting between Iraqi paramilitary units and local citizens.
(END VIDEOTAPE) It could be shaping up, as well, south of Baghdad. Iraqi troops appear to be heading toward An Najaf, where coalition forces hold a key bridge.
CNN's Walter Rodgers is embedded with the 3-7th Cavalry
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RODGERS: The sources within the U.S. Army's 3rd Squadron 7th Cavalry are now reporting they have intelligence information that a major column of Iraqi elite troops are moving south from Baghdad in the general direction of An Najaf.
There are said to be 1,000 vehicles in that convoy. Because of the dust storms, it's difficult to get an exact fix on the types of armored vehicles which are moving southward out of Baghdad, but awhile ago they were at Al Ilia, and that is very close though 7th Cavalry's position.
There was a bit of scramble at the 7th Cavalry tactical operations post. However, in the meantime the Army has managed to bring up substantial reinforcements, although, you know, the Cavalry was a little thin earlier in the afternoon when this information was first gleaned.
Still, it is a situation to be concerned about. Air cover -- air strikes were called in a short while ago. It is not known at this point whether the Iraqis would attack the U.S. units here in a sand storm and at night. That's a possibility and everyone is sitting on a very tight hair trigger where we are.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Britain's 7th Armored Brigade is said to be awaiting orders to move into Basra. But as the wait continues, other developments are taking place in and around the southern Iraqi city.
CNN's Christiane Amanpour has been watching events unfold.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The latest military information from around Basra comes from military spokespeople in Qatar. British spokespeople there are saying that they have seen a column, an armored column of Iraqi tanks and vehicles leaving Basra towards the southeast. And that column, they say, has been engaged, been attacked by U.S. aircraft.
(voice-over): The British also have been engaged with Iraqi forces throughout the day. There have been some reports of Iraqi Army units and soldiers coming out of Basra and being attacked by the British and other reports of Iraqi soldiers coming out to surrender.
Nevertheless, they are continuing artillery duels between the British and the Iraqis around Basra. Further south in Zubaid (ph), the British went in not only to take out pockets of Iraqi resistance and to destroy the Ba'ath Party headquarters but also to try to deliver aid. There are reports the British came under fire and returned fire at the time they were trying to deliver aid.
Reuters also saying that some people there appear so short of water, that they're digging in the rain puddles to collect whatever they can. And at one point they hacked through a water pipe and rushed to collect all the water that was gushing from that pipe.
Again, further south in the town of Saswan, the first elements of humanitarian aid were delivered, and again there were chaotic scenes as people who are both hungry and thirsty rushed to the truck and scramble and get whatever they could.
(on camera): The first elements of humanitarian aid were also delivered to Umm Qasr, the port city. That came from stockpiles in Kuwait and was driven in.
Back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Christiane Amanpour in southern Iraq. Christiane, thanks.
Iraq, meanwhile, is blaming coalition forces for a deadly explosion in a Baghdad marketplace earlier today. Our senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson, is at his listening post in Amman, Jordan.
And Nic, this was sad event. What -- First of all, tell us our viewers what the Iraqi government is saying.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Iraqi government is saying that this is an indication that coalition forces are targeting citizens. We've heard a lot from the minister of information again today. He seems to appear almost every day, trying to put down reports coming from coalition forces.
Today, he was saying that in Umm Qasr, that southern port city that the coalition says it now controls, he said that they don't control it and that there will be pockets of Iraqi resistance.
He also talked about a town, An Nasiriya, towards the very south of Iraq, just north of Basra. He said in that town alone, there had been 500 civilians wounded and some 200 houses destroyed. Now that has been absolutely impossible to independently verify at this stage.
But as far as the bombing and destruction, or at least the destruction, that happened in Baghdad today, the pictures do tell that story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ROBERTSON (voice-over): Chaos and anger in the smoldering ruins of Baghdad's Al Shahab (ph) shopping district. Fifteen dead and many more injured, according to Iraqi officials. The result, they say, of a coalition cruise missile strike.
For residents here, no doubt coalition forces responsible.
"Damn them, damn them," she says, "What were they trying to hit? There are no military targets around here."
A boost for Iraq's leaders battling to keep popular support.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): They are attacking and bombarding the residential civilian areas. They are killing innocent people. This is a fact. And please go and confirm that freely on your own.
ROBERTSON: But, as CNN is banned from Baghdad, it is hard to independently confirm casualties. However, other correspondents who witnessed the damage do report seeing bodies in the debris.
In a nearby hospital, the injured received treatment, the obvious innocence of some heightening international concerns.
KOFI ANNAN, U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL: I just heard the reports that a missile struck a market in Baghdad. And I would want to remind all belligerents that they should respect international humanitarian law and take all necessary steps to protect citizens. Besides, they are responsible for the welfare of the civilian population in the area.
ROBERTSON: At coalition central command, too soon to say what caused the devastation in the Al-Shahab market.
BRIG. GEN. VINCENT BROOKS, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, CENTCOM OPS: When we have something like that, we will go back and examine flight paths, weapons release, what the circumstances were, and try to determine whether or not we had an impact on something like that. Right now, we simply don't know.
ROBERTSON: Coalition planners however, do confirm a strike on Iraq's state-run television station. It seems, on a day when military planners attempted to lessen Iraq's propaganda capabilities, they may have given Baghdad more fuel to fan the flames of anti-Americanism.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
And it is on state-run television that the information minister was speaking again today. And he said the reason coalition forces targeted the television station was because it was being open and Frank. That was according to Iraq's information minister -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Nic Robertson in Jordan, his listening post now on what's going on in Iraq. Nic, thanks very much.
The Pentagon later insisting that there had been no targeting of any specific areas in that area, where that market place occurred. We'll have more on this coming up.
But right now, we have some new developments that are unfolding. I want to go to CNN's Steve Nettleton. He's joining us now from Europe.
Steve, tell us what you have learned.
STEVE NETTLETON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, the U.S. forces have parachuted into northern Iraq. They have seized an airfield in the Kurdish controlled territory of northern Iraq.
About 1,000 paratroopers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade, which is based in Vicenza, Italy, left from an undisclosed air base in Europe for northern Iraq on Wednesday afternoon. They dropped in to seize that airfield and will secure that airfield to open the way for elements of armor to come in from the 163 Armor, which is part of the 1st Infantry Division, based in Wielsech (ph), Germany.
This armor will include Abrams tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles, basically the range of armor that comes with an armored unit.
This was one of the largest airborne drops in decades. Hundreds of troops literally jumping in on a single target. Their mission is to provide stability in the north and open up the second, the northern front, along a weighted northern front.
These guys were originally supposed to be with the 4th Infantry Division, which was supposed to come down through Turkey. When Turkey didn't give that permission they had to reschedule it and re-plan it and this is what they've done -- Wolf.
BLITZER: This is a very significant development, Steve. This air base, this airfield that they now want to take control of in northern Iraq, I assume they want to clear up this airfield and start bringing in U.S. planes to deal with the situation in the north?
NETTLETON: That's correct. They will secure that airfield and they will be dropping -- bringing in planes over the next few days with the armor, with more troops, with more supplies, and basically expanding their presence in the days and weeks ahead.
BLITZER: All right. Steve Nettleton with important information. Breaking news here on CNN, about 1,000 paratroopers falling from the skies, dropping from the skies, taking control in an air base in northern Iraq.
Let's get some analysis on what this all means. CNN's Miles O'Brien is joining us from the CNN newsroom in Atlanta -- Miles.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, let's begin on that point. The 173rd, we've talked about it a lot. It came into play when it became apparent that the Turks were not going to allow the 4th Infantry Division to cross over land and stage a more significant northern front. This is a lighter force. Joining me to talk about this and its significance, General Wesley Clark, General Don Shepperd, Army and Air Force respectively, retired.
Let's lay in some symbology here for this. A couple of air fields taken, the 173rd. What's the significance of that, General Clark?
GEN. WESLEY CLARK, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: It's an airborne infantry outfit. It's part of the U.S. European command, it's part of their reserve. They can be reinforced with tanks and mech. And it gives us a U.S. ground presence, a combat presence in this Kurdish area to link up with the Peshmerga and put the squeeze on the Iraqis.
O'BRIEN: But what's on the ground now is not heavily armored or mechanized, correct?
CLARK: Correct. Right now we've got to hold and protect ourselves, that airhead, we call it, with air and then we'll bring in the armor.
O'BRIEN: All right. Don Shepperd, give us a quick update on what we've seen on these red arrows today. What do we know about what the enemy is doing right now?
GEN. DON SHEPPERD, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Basically, early tactical reports, be very skeptical about them, of a thousand vehicles moving south out of the Baghdad are toward the reinforcement of the Medina division in the Najaf area down here.
Should that be the case, air power is probably the answer to the early deployment of this. You'd have F-15Es coming in. They can attack in all kinds of weather, very, very precisely. You'd have F- 18s and F-16s operating against those columns, as well. Air powers are key to forces that are closing, Miles.
O'BRIEN: All right. There's the F-15C Eagle that we have there. The E would be the one used for this. This is a derivative of the F- 15C that we're talking about. All weather capability, which is the key.
All right. Let's move south to Basra, where we have an odd arrow, southeast arrow out of Basra. General Wes Clark, how do you explain that one?
CLARK: Well, it's kind of inexplicable. It sounds to me like the Iraqis got an order to counter-attack against the British force and the American Marines at Umm Qasr. It took them awhile to execute it. By the time they were executing it, it's too late. But that's the way some armies operate and so it seems to me like we've probably got a lunge southward that's going to end up in nothing but good target targets for artillery and air.
O'BRIEN: All right. About 100 armored vehicles, we're told, headed southeast. Could be a retreat; we don't know. At the pointy edge of the spear, the 3-7th Cavalry, perhaps on a collision course with this column of maybe 1,000 vehicles. Don Shepperd, air power once again the key here. On the face of it, is that a fair match?
SHEPPERD: Air power will hit the column if it's closing. But in addition, close air support from A-10s, AVAV Harriers and helicopters will be employed as the forces of the lead force of the 3rd Infantry Division, the 3rd of the 7th Cav.
And then the 3rd Infantry developments -- Division actually engage with the brigades of the 2nd -- of the Medina division down there.
Air power will certainly be very key to this battle.
O'BRIEN: All right. General Wes Clark, when we hear about 1,000 vehicles moving southward from Baghdad, should we be skeptical? This could be battlefield intelligence which may or may not bear itself out?
CLARK: I think we should be skeptical. I think the important point here, Miles, is to look at the overall situation.
The Republican Guards are still defending around Baghdad. They know that the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division is coming up from the southwest. They know that the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division is trying to prepare an attack.
A logical tactic against this would be to do what we call a spoiling attack, try to attack into this force as it's getting set. It may not be 1,000 vehicles. It may be buses, it may be citizens, it may be grocery dealers and it may be tanks. And that's what has to be sorted out by the pilots and by the folks on the ground before we engage.
O'BRIEN: So does your gut tell you this is a bold move or perhaps a desperation move?
CLARK: I think it's standard operating procedures to do a spoiling attack. It's been done in the past during the Persian Gulf War. They ran a spoiling attack at Al Khafji (ph). They got annihilated by A-10s in that operation. It was in late January of '91, as I recall.
This is a standard Iraqi battle doctrine.
O'BRIEN: All right. General Wesley Clark, General Don Shepperd, thanks for giving us the lay of the land. We appreciate it. Lots to keep track of here, Wolf.
BLITZER: Thanks very much, Miles. Thank the generals, as well, for me.
While they were speaking, we saw those pictures of Tony Blair, the British prime minister, now having arrived at Andrews Air Force base. He got onto a U.S. Marine helicopter. He'll be heading out to Camp David for important war strategy meetings with President Bush. We're going to be following all of those developments, as well.
Just to recap the headline: the breaking news, heard here on CNN for the first time, U.S. military officials telling CNN's Steve Nettleton that about 1,000 U.S. paratroopers have now fallen from the skies, have jumped to take control of a key air base in the Kurdish controlled part of northern Iraq air base, an air base which will be used as a springboard, presumably, to -- to move U.S. forces into the northern part of Iraq, the forces that were originally supposed to come in through Turkey, not coming in through Turkey but will be coming in now from the skies to this air base and presumably other air bases in the north.
A huge -- a huge drop of paratroopers coming into northern Iraq. We're going to continue to follow this story, get some more information, of course, as it comes in.
By the way, here's your chance to weigh in on the war in Iraq. Our Web question of the day is this: "Did the coalition commanders underestimate Iraqi resistance?" We'll have the results later in this broadcast. Please vote at CNN.com/Wolf.
While you're there, I'd like to hear from you, send me your comments. I'll try to read some of them on the air each day at the end of the day on this program. That's also, of course, where you can read my daily online column, the column I'm writing right here in Kuwait City every day, CNN.com/Wolf.
America's POWs and MIAs, their families waiting for answers. We'll go live to Fort Bliss, Texas, for the latest.
Also, American supply teams in dangerous convoys deep into Iraq. We'll take you to the front lines with Martin Savidge.
And unlikely heroes, dolphins helping the U.S. Navy in the war with Iraq.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: At least nine U.S. military personnel are missing in action in Iraq. Among them, four members of the Army's 507th Maintenance Company, ambushed after making a wrong turn near Nasiriya. Five other members of that company are confirmed prisoners of war and have been shown on Iraqi television, as well as two Army Apache helicopter pilots, bringing the total number of confirmed U.S. POWs to seven.
CNN does not name casualties, captives or those missing until we can confirm their families have, indeed, been notified.
For the latest on how those families are coping, we turn to CNN's Ed Lavandera. He's live at Fort Bliss, Texas, home of the 507th Maintenance Company -- Ed.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Wolf. We've been reporting here the last couple of days that there were 12 members of the 507th Maintenance Company that were involved in this incident on Sunday. But now Defense Department officials confirming that this number is now 15 that were involved in this skirmish outside of the town of Nasiriya.
Two of those soldiers are dead, eight are missing in action. As you just mentioned, five of them are prisoners of war. This is just a little more information and probably not enough to calm the fears of many family members.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAVANDERA (voice-over): In Tuba City, Arizona, they're marching for Private 1st Class Lori Ann Piestewa.
TRINITY HONAHNIE, FRIEND: They will be walking in support of our troops as well as Lori, who is missing in action.
LAVANDERA: Piestewa is one of eight soldiers missing in action from the 507th Maintenance Company out of Fort Bliss, Texas. She's also one of three women in the unit.
Piestewa's friends just want to see her smile and hear her laugh again.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I couldn't believe it. I knew she was, you know, she was some place where it wasn't safe but I would have never imagined that it would be Lori.
LAVANDERA: As troops push toward Baghdad, military leaders warn there will be more casualties, more visits from chaplains.
The family of Marine Lance Corporal Brian Buesing of Cedar Key, Florida, will never forget that image of a chaplain coming toward the door.
ROGER STEVE, MARINE'S STEPFATHER: When I seen the chaplain, I knew it was a bad. And they wouldn't tell me anything. So I asked, you know, is it the worst? And they said, yes. And I said, you know, oh, my God. And I just felt like throwing up.
LAVANDERA: Buesing was killed near the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriya.
Thousands of miles away from the Iraqi battlefield, a growing number of families ache for news from the frontlines, hoping the troops are safe.
But for those families who have already learned their loved ones won't be coming home alive, they pray their fight won't be forgotten.
ROB ROSACKER, FATHER: I just hope that we can get it done with and that we do have something positive come out of this so that it wasn't all in vain.
SAMANTHA ROSACKER, SISTER: I just hope that he doesn't feel like he failed by dying, and to think that he accomplished something.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAVANDERA: Military officials continue to urge the family members that are involved in any of these kinds of situations, whether it be POWs or missing in action, to be very careful about the public comments they say. They said they have reason to believe the Iraqis are watching and they could use that against their loved ones in captivity.
Wolf, back to you.
BLITZER: Probably good advice. Ed Lavandera, Fort Bliss. He's been reporting there now for several days. I assume he's going to be staying there for a few more. Ed, thanks very much.
Nineteen-year-old Private First Class Jessica Lynch of West Virginia is among those missing in action. She was one of the members of the 507th Maintenance Company, which was ambushed, as we all know by now, over the weekend.
CNN's Susan Candiotti has her family's story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On the streets of Palestine, West Virginia, population just over 900, Jessica Lynch's disappearance has brought the war inescapably home.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just hope to God she's all right. It's all we can do, just think nothing but positive about here.
CANDIOTTI: She could be anyone's daughter, this smiling high school grad. At 17, she joined the Army to break out of her county, where jobs are scarce. The Army, a ticket to fulfilling her dream.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She will return and yes, she will be a school teacher.
CANDIOTTI: Return from Iraq. Jessica Lynch is one of about a dozen soldiers reported missing when her maintenance company was attacked Sunday.
Her family, who appeared briefly on their front porch to speak to reporters, is devastated. Jessica's mother, her father, her younger sister about to join the Army, and her brother, sent home from Fort Bragg on emergency leave.
Greg is proud of his little sister, a supply clerk.
GREG LYNCH, JESSICA'S BROTHER: I don't feel scared at all. I'm going in. If it will come down it to it, if I can do a supply job and take her position, I would do it in a heartbeat.
CANDIOTTI: The hearts of Wart County, West Virginia, are with Jessica. You can see it on signs, through hundreds of yellow ribbons, and a candlelight vigil.
For now, the Lynch family can only wait for a call they hope will bring good news about Jessica.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We just got to keep our hopes alive. And think positive about this.
BLITZER: Susan Candiotti, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Meanwhile the International Committee of the Red Cross says it's working to get access to prisoners of war on both sides.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TAMARA ALRIFAI, ICRC: We have approached both sides already. We are in dialogue with both sides. And what we can say at this point is that the dialogue is constructive. We have no reason to believe we will not have access to them at this point.
And however, I'd like to point out that, even though under the Geneva Convention it is said the ICRC should visit prisoners of war, there is no time frame requirements in it. So we are still in dialogue right now with both sides.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: The U.S. central command says coalition forces are now holding more than 4,000 Iraqi prisoners of war.
Let's check in immediately now with CNN's Frank Buckley. He's aboard the U.S. aircraft carrier, the USS Constellation, right here in the Persian Gulf. Frank, another busy night on the carrier?
FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Wolf. Air Wing 2, very busy off the USS Constellation.
Let me take you up to the flight deck. Earlier tonight, as we saw aircraft taking off and landing from the USS Constellation, flying into the night sky here. Soon after they leave the deck, they don their night vision goggles, get gas from an air tanker and then they head in to hit targets in Iraq.
One of the primary missions, of course, right now, close air support, doing their best to try to support the troops on the ground, hitting AK armored personnel carriers, tanks, artillery positions, troop positions ahead of the advancing coalition troops.
At the same time, they are also still hitting some of the fixed targets.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now, we continue to look at those, realizing the priority shifts to support the ground forces as they go forward, in a big way, to make sure that, as they're engaged, as they're coming up on a significant target, our forces, our Air Force is working through the chaos, whether they be Navy, Marine or Air Force are standing by ready to deliver ordnance just in front of those troops to help them to eliminate the target.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BUCKLEY: And to give you a sense of how high a priority this close air support mission is, last night, you'll recall, Wolf, we were talking about the difficult weather conditions that they were facing. Some of the aircraft, after long discussions here on the aircraft carrier, did take off in some very tough weather conditions, including thunderstorms, including hail.
Let me show you video of one of the aircraft that took off into it. It was an EA-6B Prowler from the Lasher Squadron. It hit a thunderstorm and encountered some major hail. The front part of the nose area of this aircraft, the ray dome, actually imploded. And fortunately for that crew, they were able to return safely to the USS Constellation. But in all, six aircraft from the Constellation had to divert in that weather last night. Eventually all of those aircraft did return safely to the USS Constellation -- Wolf.
BLITZER: CNN's Frank Buckley aboard the U.S. aircraft carrier, the Constellation, in the Persian Gulf. Thanks very much, Frank, for that report.
We have some sad news to report to our viewers. Daniel Patrick Moynihan is dead. The former senator from New York state, former ambassador to the United Nations, former U.S. ambassador to India unfortunately has passed away following a very, very long illness. They're speaking about their former colleague on the Senate floor. Let's briefly listen in.
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), NEW YORK: ...think and think hard. He certainly opened my eyes to a lot of difficult issues. And I could not have had a stronger, more helpful adviser during my campaign than Senator Moynihan.
I started my listening tour, my exploration of whether or not to run for this office at Pinders Corner, his farm in upstate New York, a place that he loved beyond words. I met him in a little schoolhouse, a 19th century schoolhouse that was on the property, where he wrote. He would walk down the road from his house to that little schoolhouse everyday, where he'd think deeply and write about the issues that he knew would be important, not just for tomorrow's headlines, but for years and years to come. There isn't any way that anyone will ever fill his place in this Senate, not just in the order of succession definition, but in the intellectual power, the passion, the love of this extraordinary body and our country. He will be so missed.
BLITZER: Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton speaking about her predecessor in the U.S. Senate, the former senator from New York state, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who has just died after a long illness. Senator Clinton speaking movingly about Senator Moynihan. Our Bruce Morton now takes a look back at the life and times of Daniel Patrick Moynihan.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRUCE MORTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He was born Tulsa, but it didn't matter. He was in New York by the time he was six months old. Grew up poor, fourth floor, cold water flat in Hell's Kitchen, worked as a shoeshine boy, graduated from a Harlem high school and went to worked as a longshoreman.
Legend says he showed up for a college admissions exam carrying his longshoreman's hook. But he went on to be a scholar and a politician, an activist. Richard Nixon appointed him ambassador to India. Gerald Ford made him ambassador to the United Nations, where he said the U.S. should speak up for political and civil liberty and denounced a vote labeling Zionism as racism as a reckless and obscene act. Urged by the Soviet ambassador to be careful, he said we will not take care. We do not give a damn.
He was 6'4", white haired, fond of English suits and good food. He believed public buildings should be beautiful. And when they unveiled the Hart Senate office building, offered a resolution to put back the plastic cover it had worn during its construction. He knew more about more different things, foreign policy, family policy, housing and transportation than any senator I ever covered, and had an exclamatory style of speaking. As when explaining why he'd endorsed Bill Bradley over Al Gore.
DANIEL PATRICK MOYNIHAN, FMR. SENATOR, NEW YORK: Nothing is the matter with Mr. Gore except he can't be elected president.
MORTON: He served four terms and retired. Hillary Clinton replaced him. He said once a colleague had a mind as clear as Easter bells. You could say the same of him.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: That was Bruce Morton reporting on the sad news that Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan unfortunately has passed away. Our deepest condolences to Senator Moynihan's family. We'll be back from Kuwait City right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back to CNN's continuing coverage of the war in Iraq. We'll go live to the White House and the Pentagon in just a few moments. But first, for the latest headlines, we go back to Heidi Collins in the CNN newsroom in Atlanta.
(NEWSBREAK)
BLITZER: We have much more coming up on the latest development in the Persian Gulf, including breaking news that we reported only a few minutes ago about 1,000 U.S. paratroopers parachuting into Kurdish controlled Northern Iraq, taking control of a key airfield from which U.S. forces will launch an additional strike against Baghdad. We'll have more on this coming up.
First, let's recap what happened earlier in the day. Here's CNN's Miles O'Brien.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN (voice-over): 8:54 a.m. Eastern, just before 5:00 p.m. in the Gulf, CNN's Lisa Weaver, embedded with an Army air defense unit, reports a U.S. convoy was ambushed near Najar by what U.S. officials believe to be Iraqi paramilitary groups.
9:05 a.m. Eastern time from CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr, Defense Department sources say war planners may have underestimated the capabilities of the paramilitary groups.
1:06 p.m. from CNN's Walt Rogers embedded with the 3rd Infantry 7th Cavalry, a column of up to 1,000 Iraqi military vehicles carrying elite fighters racing out of Baghdad towards the Cavalry's position near Naja. A sandstorm is limiting air support from helicopters and planes.
2:00 p.m., in a briefing, Pentagon officials deny targeting a Baghdad marketplace where more than a dozen people were killed today. They say they don't know whether the devastation was caused by Iraqi weapons or U.S. missiles that went astray.
2:54 p.m. in Umm Qasr, Iraq, British pool reporter Bill Nealy (ph) reports U.S. war planes have broken up a convoy of 70 Iraqi armored vehicles south of Basra.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Coalition officials have accused Iraqi soldiers of carrying out attacks while disguised as civilians. They say that's making it harder to tell civilians from soldiers. And sometimes the results can be tragic.
CNN's Alessio Vinci is embedded with the U.S. Marines in Nasiriya. And he has this exclusive report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): U.S. Marines in Iraq burying the body of a six-year-old boy, his head facing mecca, according to Muslim tradition, a casualty of a new kind of war, killed along with his father, as their vehicle approached a Marine checkpoint at high speed. The man, Marines say, was an armed combatant.
Marines say they want to avoid killing civilians, but they pose a threat, commanders say because Iraq paramilitary groups recruit them to run missions in U.S. controlled territory, often accompanied by young children.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some of them been -- have told us that they've been told you need to fight. If you don't fight, we'll do something to your family. VINCI: The danger, U.S. military officials say is that paramilitary groups are conducting guerrilla style warfare against U.S. positions.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean, we expect that. And we're ready for that. And they may want to trade, and they're very well trained in guerrilla warfare, But we're very well-trained in anti-guerrilla warfare as well. And we'll, you know, if they want to come at us with that, we'll be waiting for them.
VINCI: When possible, suspects are cuffed and taken in for questioning. Or sometimes civilians are simply sent back from where they come from.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No entry. Roads closed on this one.
VINCI: And to minimize as much as possible contact between civilians and U.S. Marines, the military is putting up signs in Arabic, warning the local population to stay away and remain in their homes.
(on camera): Marines say they do not know how many civilians may have been killed so far, but they say they were surprised to see women and children in the streets of Nasiriya while the fighting was raging on. Clearly, says one commander, there is somebody among the Iraqis who is not concerned about the well-being of innocent civilians.
Alessio Vinci, CNN with the U.S. Marines in Nasiriya, Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Now our continuing look at scenes from the battlefield. Take a look at this. Iraqis crowded around a convoy of aid trucks in the southern town of Safwan earlier today. Although many of them chanted slogans praising Saddam Hussein as the truck pulled up, the cheering seemed to die down as soon as the supplies were unloaded. Some of the Iraqis told reporters they cheered for the Iraqi president only because they feared Iraqi forces might return.
As more U.S. forces head deep into Iraq, supply lines become of course increasingly important.
CNN's Martin Savidge traveled with the first battalion of the U.S. 7th Marines as an escort to the convoy carrying diesel fuel. He has a report now on this dangerous but vital mission.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Commanders of the 1st Battalion 7th Marines who we are embedded with say that yes, they have had a problem with guerrilla tactics that have been employed against the supply lines that stretch all the way down into northern Kuwait. Everything is coming up from there. That includes the fuel, that includes the ammunition, that includes the food and of course, the personnel and equipment. Yesterday, for the first Marine division, it was fueled. It was critical. In fact, so much so, they had to put a pause in operations as far as moving forward because they were running so short of fuel. Last night, our mission came through. They are talking about a quarter of a million gallons of diesel fuel that needed to come up and come into this region.
The problem is there are paramilitary units, according to U.S. commanders here, known as the Fedayeen, that have been launching hit- and-run tactics against the supply line. That's bad enough, but imagine if they hit the fuel tankers. Not only is that a critical supply that's needed, but the explosive force of fuel tankers going up would be devastating.
So the 1st Battalion 7th Marines in this area was given the job. Make sure that the Fedayeen did not get to those critical fuel tankers that were coming in. All night long, it was a running battle that took place along the supply line. You had U.S. Marines in armored vehicles and in humvees working in almost complete darkness, firing against opposing forces that were firing in. Gunshots ringing out in the middle of the night. RPGs lacing their way across the roadway. And then the return fire from the U.S. Marines trying to suppress, as they say, the fire that was coming towards the convoy.
But it was pitch dark. There was confusion. For many Marines, this was their first time really in combat. You had vehicles working in extremely difficult terrain, marsh land, deep trenches, and in many cases, just rivers and back waters. The armored vehicle that we were riding in ran into a Humvee. Then, a short time later, another armored vehicle slammed into the side of us. And then even later after that, our armored vehicle ran into a house. Fortunately, nobody was home. But it shows you the difficult conditions combined with the guerrilla tactics that the Marines are up against here.
When daylight showed itself here finally, there were at least three of the armored vehicles that were up ended in ditches and trenches. But for the U.S. Marines, the most important fact is this. The fuel got through, which now means the Marines can continue to move north.
Martin Savidge, CNN, southern Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: And the Pentagon insists it has not been forced out of its war plan by the unexpectedly widespread guerrilla tactics of fanatical fighters loyal to Saddam Hussein, but the attacks have forced the U.S. to spend a lot of effort protecting its rear and underscored the need for a quick attack on Baghdad.
Let's get some more now. CNN's senior Pentagon correspondent, Jamie McIntyre.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Privately, some Pentagon officials concede U.S. military planners may have underestimated the extent Saddam Hussein would use his Fedayeen fighters and other regime loyalists to launch guerrilla attacks against coalition forces and intimidate civilians as it has in places like Basra. But publicly, Pentagon officials insist it will not change the strategy of concentrating on Baghdad, the center of gravity of the Iraqi regime.
VICTORIA CLARKE, PENTAGON SPOKESWOMAN: He is not changing the overall game plan. One of the aspects of the overall game plan, the strategy, was to be able to adapt and adjust as appropriate depending on what the enemy does.
MCINTYRE: Taking advantage of its command of the skies, U.S. war planes are whittling away at hundreds of targets such as this F- 117 strike on the presidential secretariat in Baghdad. If Iraqi vehicles in large numbers, they'll be even more vulnerable to air strikes, such as this fuel truck destroyed by an F-16 near a western airfield.
In an attempt to avoid the fate of this tank destroyed west of Karbala, sources say the Republican Guard continues to shift forces around in what's termed a strategy repositioning. The Pentagon says the U.S. will deal with the sporadic attacks by Fedayeen fighters as it encounters them, and insists it has plenty of air cover and firepower on the ground to protect the 300 mile long supply lines now supporting the 75,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. What the U.S. military won't do, sources tell CNN, is be drawn into urban combat or a protracted hunt for small bands of guerrilla forces that would only delay the assault on Baghdad.
MAJ. GEN. STAN MCCHRYSTAL, VICE DIR., JOINT STAFF: Our ground forces are pushing north towards Baghdad and Alcute (ph). We are more than 220 miles into Iraqi territory and have done it in over six days in spite of difficult weather.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MCINTYRE: And Wolf, reinforcements are on the way. Pentagon sources say that the 4th Infantry Division will be deploying as soon as this weekend to marry up with their equipment and head north. And as you reported, the Airborne troops have landed in the north to open up that northern front. One other item, this Republican guard column that was supposedly spotted earlier today heading to the south, after hours of looking for it, Pentagon officials are beginning to suggest to us that maybe it doesn't exist. Maybe it was a false report -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Interesting, Jamie. What about those 1,000 paratroopers that have now parachuted into this Kurdish controlled area of northern Iraq? It sounds, as you say, like an important strategic move to open up, if you will, a second front against Baghdad.
MCINTYRE: Well, the Pentagon promised there'd be a northern front. And Pentagon officials say this is the beginning of it. Now these initial troops are essentially just infantry troops, but they'll be bringing in more equipment, more troops. You're going to see a very substantial force in the north very soon, according to Pentagon officials.
BLITZER: Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon. We'll be checking back with you obviously often. Thanks very much.
And while the war rages on, President Bush says don't expect a quick victory. The latest assessment from the commander in chief immediately when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Under fire from critics at home and abroad, President Bush today heard cheers as he visited some of the military personnel coordinating the war on Iraq. Tonight, he'll meet with his staunchest ally, Britain's Tony Blair, who just arrived at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington headed to Camp David. Let's go live to our senior White House correspondent, John King, John?
JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, the president left Washington today to go to a key military installation, central command headquarters in Florida. He said yes, he could not predict how long this war would take. Yes, there would be some tough battles ahead, but Mr. Bush was quite upbeat in his overall assessment. He said there would be a day of reckoning for the Iraqi regime. And in his view, that day is drawing near.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm honored to be the commander in chief.
KING (voice-over): And on this day, one week into the fight, determined to challenge critics of the U.S. war strategy.
BUSH: We have an effective plan of battle. And the flexibility to meet every challenge. Nothing, nothing will divert us from our clear mission.
KING: This visit to central command headquarters was part pep talk, part rebuttal, the president taking the lead in taking on those who said the war plan underestimated Iraqi resistance and perhaps overestimated the battlefield advantages of technological superiority.
BUSH: Day-by-day, Saddam Hussein is losing his grip on Iraq. Day-by-day, the Iraqi people are closer to freedom.
KING: Mr. Bush thanked military families for their sacrifice and warned Iraqi troops the price of mistreating coalition forces captured in combat.
BUSH: This band of war criminals has been put on notice the day of Iraq's liberation will also be a day of justice.
KING: The president's visit included lunch with the troops and a detailed update on the bar effort in both Iraq and Afghanistan, then back home for dinner and war strategy talks with British prime minister Tony Blair. Topping the agenda, the coming siege of Baghdad, efforts to get more humanitarian aid into Iraq and the post-war role of the United Nations.
U.S. officials say there are no major disagreements, but there is no question Mr. Blair favors a more immediate and more robust post U.N. role than Mr. Bush.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: Now the president's major goal today was to quiet critics of the war strategy. But a speech edit he made aboard Air Force One might only add to the debate. The president crossed out a line that said the troops are running ahead of schedule. Aides later said the president simply wants to be very conservative in his public assessment. They say by no means does the commander in chief have any doubts about the battle plan or implementation, Wolf?
BLITZER: John King at the White House. Thanks, John, very much.
The latest CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll, by the way, shows a steady drop-off in those who are upbeat about the course of the war. Saturday, 62 percent of those polled said they thought the war was going very well. By Tuesday, however, that number had fallen to 37%. On the other hand, the level of support for the war has remained steady. Sampling through Tuesday showed 71 percent in favor, 27 percent opposed. A weekend poll showed 72 percent in favor.
Sixty-five people were arrested at an anti-war protest across the street from the White House today. Among them, two Nobel Peace Prize laureates. In Tampa, Florida, a group of about 150 people denounced President Bush as he was speaking at nearby central command headquarters at MacDill Air Force Base. CNN was the target of protests in several cities today, including San Francisco, which has become a hotbed of anti-war demonstrations.
Here in Kuwait City, Kuwaitis marched in favor of the war, with the 1991 Iraqi invasion still very much fresh in the minds of so many of them. Among the signs they carried, one read "Saddam, your days are numbered. " A very different scene in the Philippines capitol where indigenous people opposed though war shot arrows into the U.S. flag, then set it in fire.
In Sydney, Australia, protesters hurled chairs and bottles at police in what's being called the country's most violent anti-war protest yet.
Protesters in Seoul targeted a McDonald's, scaling the sign outside were a man masked as President Bush, waves a gun. Elsewhere in the capitol, demonstrators tried unsuccessfully to storm the U.S. embassy.
And Syrians opposed to the war marched to the capitol, Damascus, calling for an immediate end to the fighting.
When we come back, we'll have the results of our web question of the day. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: And now, a look at some of the other striking images of this war. Dolphins normally are peaceful creatures, but they've gone to war in Iraq. The U.S. Navy is using four dolphins to help detect underwater saboteurs and mines off the Iraqi coast. Fighting continues in the Nasiriya area. These British troops joined Americans on the front lines. Men, women and children walked down a road near Basra seeking safety and shelter, coalition forces say. They're working with the Red Cross to avert a humanitarian disaster, and have returned to local water and treatment plants to partial operations.
Civilians lined up for water in nearby Umm Qasr. Food and medical supplies arrived in the southern Iraqi city today after several days of intense fighting that forced many civilians to stay in their homes.
Now here's how you're weighing in on our web question of the day. Remember, we've been asking you this, did the coalition commanders underestimate Iraqi resistance? 54 percent of you say yes, 46 of you say no. This is not, repeat not, a scientific poll.
Please stay with CNN throughout the night for up to the minute war coverage. I'll be back in one hour with Aaron Brown for two hours of special coverage. Until then thanks very much for watching. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Kuwait City. Lou Dobbs in New York, up next, right after a very short break.
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Cav From Baghdad South, Toward An Najaf; Will British Forces Move Into Basra?>
