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CNN SHOWDOWN: IRAQ
Sirens Sounding in Baghdad
Aired March 26, 2003 - 12:09 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Now back to wolf in Kuwait City -- Wolf.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks very much, Paula. The Pentagon is investigating a still unconfirmed report that Iraqi forces executed a group of ambushed U.S. soldiers who were trying to surrender. There are also some serious concerns about the size and location of so- called irregular Iraqi forces in particular. the so-called Fedayeen, considered Saddam's personal extra military enforcers.
CNN's Martin Savidge is with the U.S. troops. He's already deep inside Iraq. Let's bring him in now live. Marty, tell us what's happening where you are right now.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Well, we've already had a run-in with what the U.S. Marines believe was the Fedayeen and how they are launching guerrilla tactics against the supply line. You have to remember that there was a very long and tenuous supply line that stretches from northern Kuwait, where, of course, the military operation on the ground kicked off, to where we are now, which is west of the Euphrates River, and to other units that may be even further along the line.
So keeping those supply lines open is vital, because everything comes in that way, whether it be ammunition, whether it be food, and whether it be, in one particular case, fuel. Yesterday, fuel -- talking about the 1st Marine Division -- they actually had to have a pause in operations because they were running low on fuel. And the critical mission became, for us, with the 1st Battalion 7th Marines making sure that supply line remained open and that the fuel trucks -- and we're talking a lot of fuel, Wolf -- 250,000 gallons of diesel fuel had to come in order to support a continued drive to the north for the U.S Marines in the 1st Division.
The Fedayeen, though, had been launching these attacks. That is, using, well, gunfire, and also using mortars and RPGs. And they have been hitting along some critical areas of that supply line. It's very much in the area where we are now. So you've got this massive amount of fuel in huge lumbering tankers coming in. Obviously a prime target.
And how do you protect it? Well, that's what we were out on all last night. And for a long time it was a running pitch battle of the armored vehicles and the part of the Marines and the Humvees racing through the night, opening fire with Marines firing on the top of the those armored vehicles. Returning the fire that they were receiving from the other side in the pitch-black darkness. And that's something to point out. This is the marshland area. Very tough, difficult terrain. Night vision goggles were of no use last night because it was just pitch black. You need some illumination.
And so you have gunfire going off, you have vehicles racing through the night. The one vehicle we were on ran into a Humvee. And then after that we got backed into by another armed vehicle that sent us all flying inside.
And then we ran into a building, ran into a house. Actually ran over it. Fortunately, nobody was inside the house.
When we finally got daylight back this morning, at least two armored vehicles upended in the swampy terrain here. But everyone was all right. Gun battle came to an end. The Fedayeen disappeared. And the fuel got through.
And of course, for the 1st Battalion or the 1st Marine Division, that was the most important issue of all. The fuel has made it in, which will now allow them to drive forward -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Has the weather stalled the advance as far as you can tell from your relatively narrow vision of this war, Marty?
SAVIDGE: Put a hold on it last night, no question. Obviously we knew these fuel trucks were coming. They were very anxious to get security forces out along the route that they were going to follow. But as you probably already know, yesterday was the mother of all dust storms.
I have never seen any sandstorm like what we endured for about 12 hours yesterday. It was brutal, high winds. The sky was orange to the point that it looked like you were walking on the planet Mars. Choking, breathing it in.
Had to seek shelter inside the armored vehicles, and that wasn't much shelter at all. Twelve hours being locked up inside with a bunch of other guys with dust pouring in, well, it's just not a good way to spend your day.
BLITZER: All right. Let's hope the days to come are a little bit easier, no more sand. Marty Savidge with the Marines. He's up deep inside Iraq right now. Thanks very much.
And also in Iraq, we are getting reports once again sirens going off in Baghdad. Sirens suggesting more bombing, more explosions taking place. U.S. and the British clearly looking for what they call targets of opportunity.
They've been doing this for days, trying to go after these Republican Guard encampments outside as Baghdad, as well as other targets that are deemed to be military strategic targets in the Iraqi capital. We're going to follow these developments, keep showing you the live pictures from Baghdad. But let's bring in our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr. She's got a little bit more on perhaps what's going on right now -- Barbara. BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, Pentagon and military officials out at the Central Command have been looking at the Medina Republican Guard division south of Baghdad for some hours now. They see them repositioning, moving into more defensive positions around the Karbala area, because they believe the Medina Division understands fully that the U.S. military force is headed their way.
Now, in terms of what Marty was talking about, the Fedayeen fighters, the insurgents that have been causing so much trouble on the road all the way from Umm Qasr, all the way north, Pentagon officials are saying they are taking a very hard look at this situation, especially as there's been fighting with them in Basra and other areas. They believe that maybe, they say, they underestimated how well dispersed the Fedayeen were all up and down the line. That these irregular paramilitary forces clearly dispersed themselves before the war began in those days right before the U.S. crossed the border into Iraq. And that they are all throughout all the cities, towns and villages along the way trying to enforce what the U.S. refers to as regime discipline.
A lot of concern about some of the tactics that these forces are up to. Earlier today, at the Central Command news briefing, General Brooks talked about some of these Fedayeen tactics. Here's what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIG. GEN. VINCENT BROOKS, CENTCOM DEPUTY OPS. DIRECTOR: What we've seen over the last several days is Iraqi citizens being marched out in front of irregular formations while they are firing. Iraqi civilians are being killed on the battlefield by Iraqis. I can't make that point more strongly than I have just done it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR: And finally, Wolf, this picture of course that we have shown, still picture, no identification, but of American soldiers killed in Iraq. There is now an unconfirmed report the Pentagon is looking at that these people who died in this ambush of the supply convoy last week may have been executed by Iraqis when they came out of their trucks with their hands up trying to surrender. They may have been shot. Sources emphasizing strongly to us this is a single unconfirmed report. But they are looking at it -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Barbara, we know last night your time, early morning here in the Persian Gulf, Iraqi television was off the air for awhile. Apparently the result of some sort of U.S. bomb. Is it now a legitimate military target to go after Iraqi radio and Iraqi television to hamper their ability to communicate not only with the public, but perhaps with military forces?
STARR: The Pentagon's view on that is, yes. That they believe that Iraqi media is state run, that it is sponsored by the regime of President Saddam Hussein. And according to Pentagon war planners, it is their belief that then it is a legitimate target that they can strike in order to basically strike and take out another communications link between the regime and the Iraqi military, these Iraqi paramilitary forces, the whole regime organization.
However, they also tell us, like anything else, they will target these areas with precision. That they will do everything they can to avoid any civilian casualties -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon, thanks very much.
And other U.S. officials have said to me that one of the reasons they might be perhaps reluctant to go ahead and take out Iraqi television and Iraqi radio, while it might serve a short-term goal, in the long term, assuming the U.S. goes into Baghdad, reaches the Iraqi capital and tries to engage in reconstruction and some sort of political reforms, they'll need those communications capabilities in order to help them and their Iraqi opposition supporters. We'll continue to watch what happens there.
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