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CNN SHOWDOWN: IRAQ
High-stakes Game Going on Near Hillah
Aired March 31, 2003 - 12:18 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Let's get some more now on the strategy of one side trying to bait the other. CNN military analyst, retired Major General Don Shepperd is in the CNN newsroom in Atlanta with our own Renay San Miguel -- Renay.
RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: Wolf, it is indeed a very high- stakes game of "I dare you" going on there near Hillah between the 7th Cavalry and the Republican Guard units there. General Shepperd joins us to talk more about these strategies.
And what we're talking about here is close air support. Because if the coalition can get the guard to come out of Hillah, you've got some very dangerous vehicles waiting for them.
MAJ. GEN. DON SHEPPERD (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes. We're talking about tactics here, Renay. Basically, each side wants to fight to its own advantage. The Republican Guard knows that if it comes out in the desert in the open, it will be decimated by coalition air power. And, also, the coalition knows that if they go inside the cities, they're playing to the advantage of the Republican Guard.
So the whole idea is to use interdiction beyond the area where the coalition air power is employed close to the United States and coalition forces. If you get close to U.S. and coalition forces, you need a forward air controller, and that's called close air support. But the idea is to weaken the Republican Guard divisions as much as possible with air power and play on the strength of the coalition, which is open warfare as opposed to going into the cities, Renay.
SAN MIGUEL: And on the other side of the conflict here, the Medina Division. Tell me a little bit about them. They've been hit pretty hard here in the last few days.
SHEPPERD: Yes, they have been hit very hard. And the estimates are out that they are 50 percent effective. You have to put your tongue in cheek on these type things. The only time you know is when you go into combat against them.
Reportedly, by the estimates, if a division is down to -- down by 35 percent, in other words, you've reduced their effectiveness by 35 percent, they are combat ineffective. On the other hand, they can reinforce and bring new equipment and new people in. And, therefore, you want to be careful about believing these estimates based upon bomb damage assessment.
You send out screening forces on the ground. And then when you decide it's time to go into combat, you go in with your artillery, with your rockets, with your helicopters, with close air support, and overwhelming force hopefully at the point of contact, Renay.
SAN MIGUEL: And one of those helicopters is the Apache Longbow. Talk a little about that and how efficient a fighting machine this is.
SHEPPERD: It is a great fighting machine. Now we had an interesting thing early on in this conflict, in which the Apache helicopter is designed to be used not just by itself, but also supported by artillery and rockets and infantry. So it's a combined arm team that goes in.
Now the Apaches basically went in an entrenched division, one of the brigades of the Medina Division, and they really got themselves shot up. Some of the tactics are being rethought at this time.
But this helicopter is very good. It's a fire and forget, can lock on to 16 targets, can fire at three targets at a time. And it's a very, very powerful machine, and it's good as long as you don't need the heavy firepower of bombs from your Air Force, Navy and Marine fighters.
SAN MIGUEL: And we want to show a map of where exact Hillah is in relation to Baghdad, because the idea is not only to be drawn into those close quarters of a city, but also to spare the civilians that the Medina Division might be hiding behind.
SHEPPERD: Indeed. Hillah also contains many sites that are near and dear to the Shia religion down there. There are mosques in the area, and this is in the area of some real -- you're getting into the area now in this Tigris-Euphrates valley of many of the historical sites that are near and dear to many religions here.
So the coalition wants to be very, very careful not to destroy things. But effects based targeting to hit what is meaningful militarily, as opposed to general destruction, Renay.
SAN MIGUEL: All right. General Shepperd, we appreciate your time. Thank you very much.
And we want to also remind our viewers that if you indeed have a question that you want to ask the general, please e-mail us from now on at livefrom@cnn.com, and we will start answering some of your e- mail in our next hour. We want to hear from you.
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