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CNN SHOWDOWN: IRAQ
British: Uprising Believed Against Saddam in Basra
Aired March 25, 2003 - 12:53 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: We just had a briefing from one of the British military leaders bringing us up to date from his perspective on how the campaign is going, and Christiane Amanpour, who joins us from northern Kuwait, also had the opportunity to spend some time with that general, and is going to bring us up to date on what she has seen so far today.
Christiane, welcome.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thank you, Paula.
And indeed, there is quite a lot of activity in the British area of operations, which essentially is the southern part of Iraq, including around Basra. We heard plenty of reports earlier today from the British military spokespeople that, in fact, their tactics around Basra have changed because of the increased resistance and higher than expected resistance they're getting from armed Iraqi elements that have withdrawn into Basra and are using that as a base to fire out of British troops. And in the last hour or so, in the last few minutes here, we've heard reports, they're sketchy reports of some disturbances inside the city.
We don't know exactly what it is so we're not going to characterize it and just going to wait to get more information, but certainly, the British have been hoping that eventually, they will be welcomed in by the people of Basra, and that the people of Basra will, if you like, put aside the military people there, and the political leadership there. So we're going to keep a close watch on Basra.
But it has turned out to be a place where there's been much higher than expected resistance, not just from elements of the Iraqi army, which have withdrawn into there, but also the irregulars. We've been talking a lot over the last couple of days about this militia called the Saddam Fadaeen (ph), and they are there, causing -- infiltrating among the civilian populations, dress themselves in civilian clothes, armed and firing out toward the British.
We also heard earlier this afternoon that elements of these Fadaeen (ph) were coming out on the outskirts of Basra with human shields in front of them and taking shots at the British like that. So at the moment it, turns out it's going to be what the officials are telling us, a much more difficult and high-risk operation, to put down the resistance inside Basra by the Iraqi Army elements, because it may involve trying to neutralize these forces in areas that potentially may be urban, may have civilians living there, and obviously, the British say they want to avoid civilian casualties. So Basra still very much of a focal point, still unresolved. And we're watching these reports of disturbances inside the city to see exactly what that is, and what we should be looking for in the next few hours and days -- Paula.
ZAHN: That same general making it very clear that somehow humanitarian aid will eventually get to Basra.
But I'm just curious, when you were talking about neutralizing these forces, I guess he confirmed there were a thousand of them in Basra, he talked about driving a wedge between the Baath Party, those irregular forces, and the Iraqi civilians. How would that possibly come to play? I mean, without giving any battleground plans away, just in a general sense, how would that even work?
AMANPOUR; They told us actually specifically today that the British forces last night had conducted an operation, a military operation on a town called Al Zubayad (ph), which was south of Basra, and that was specifically aimed at precisely that, at the political leadership there. Specifically there were two buildings that the British forces went after to capture too two of the Baath Party officials. We understand one was taken. The fate of the other, as far as I know, is unknown, but the aim is to try to separate the political leadership from the civilian population, because the British believe given the past history of the people of Basra, that without the repression, if you like, of the militias, of the loyalists to Saddam, then the people would welcome them in, and even rise up and try to get rid of these military and irregular forces that are specialized in suppressing internal dissent.
So obviously, the aim has been to try to get welcomed in. You know, they said they want to liberate these places, so the aim is to try to do that, and one way of trying to do that is to separate the political leadership until Iraq from the civilian population. And in Basra, they have quite a big chance of being welcomed, because over the years, the population of Basra has not supported Saddam Hussein. It rose up in 1991, and there's been a lot of anti-Saddam activity in that town. So it would be one target of opportunity for the British forces who are out here -- Paula.
ZAHN: All right, Christiane.
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