CNN - Iraq War - 2003-03-19 - 11:22 p.m. (E)
Channel: malgent
Transcript
Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)
[0:00] seen from this location so far. A tiny
[0:02] handful of taxes, many of them
[0:05] government vehicles. Uh no sign of
[0:08] soldiers out on the streets here at this
[0:10] time, but then no signs of no signs of
[0:13] normal life. The stores are closed.
[0:15] There were vehicles parked at the side
[0:16] of the road. The vehicles that came out
[0:18] earlier on, some of them were screeching
[0:20] around the corners trying to get
[0:21] wherever they were going in a hurry. Um
[0:24] but the only other vehicles apart from
[0:26] the government vehicles and a couple of
[0:27] taxes are a few uh vehicles belonging to
[0:30] television news agencies. They are
[0:32] marked in in bold letters TV to indicate
[0:36] that they belonging to television news
[0:38] organizations. Those vehicles also
[0:40] driving around the city very quiet. Uh
[0:43] there's no wind at this time. The palm
[0:45] trees that line the river here uh are
[0:47] hanging limply. The visibility is not
[0:50] typical for this city. The visibility is
[0:52] quite limited at this time. Still hazy.
[0:54] It seems some of the dirt kicked up by
[0:57] the storms in the last few days is still
[0:58] in the air and the skies overhead
[1:01] clearing a little but still mostly
[1:03] cloudier this time. Aaron,
[1:05] >> it is Nick. Thank you. It is to look at
[1:07] it and to know. It is as if a a terrible
[1:10] thunderstorm came through and passed and
[1:13] now we are waiting for a much larger
[1:16] typhoon to hit the city of Baghdad and
[1:19] the rest of the country of Iraq. It will
[1:21] come, we I think we can be fairly
[1:23] certain first from the air, more cruise
[1:25] missiles, 40 already launched, but at
[1:27] some point ground forces will move in
[1:29] and the bulk of them will come in from
[1:32] Kuwait. They have over the last several
[1:34] days uh units have moved much closer to
[1:37] the border really kissing up against the
[1:40] border and they now stand there in the
[1:42] early morning 7:30 in the in the morning
[1:44] on a Thursday waiting for the order to
[1:46] move. Whether that will come today,
[1:48] tomorrow, the next day, uh we do not
[1:50] know and will not speculate, but we know
[1:52] Walt Rogers is there now. Walt,
[1:58] hello Aaron. Another sign that the
[2:00] battle plan is unfolding here. Again,
[2:02] the US Army is sitting in the extreme
[2:04] northern uh edge of the Kuwaiti desert,
[2:06] very close to the Iraqi border. But the
[2:08] sign that the battle plan is unfolding
[2:10] on the horizon in that direction about 2
[2:13] miles. I can see tanker trucks moving
[2:15] up. These are the support vehicles which
[2:17] will refuel the tanks and the Bradley
[2:20] fighting vehicles when President Bush
[2:22] does give the order for the units to
[2:23] move forward. Let me share a bit of a
[2:25] charming vignette with you that you
[2:27] might enjoy. Aaron, you sitting in the
[2:29] CNN studio and the CNN viewers in the
[2:32] United States and around the world
[2:34] actually knew about the attack on
[2:36] Baghdad. Uh the attempt to assassinate
[2:39] Saddam Hussein before any of the
[2:41] soldiers here in the field knew about
[2:43] it. Everyone at the tip of the spear out
[2:46] there in their Bradley fighting
[2:47] vehicles. Uh they're so removed from the
[2:50] big picture which CNN is reporting that
[2:52] actually we here at CNN were reporting
[2:55] to the soldiers in the field. what was
[2:58] happening. That is the uh air strike and
[3:00] the cruise missile strikes against
[3:01] selective targets in Baghdad before any
[3:04] of the soldiers know it. They have a
[3:06] very focused mission out here. That
[3:08] mission is when the when the orders come
[3:10] to charge, they just fold up the back of
[3:13] those Bradley fighting vehicles, close
[3:15] the hatches on the M1 A1 Abrams tanks,
[3:17] and go forward. Uh John King at the
[3:19] White House a short while ago said it
[3:21] could be yet another 12 hours before the
[3:23] command comes for these troops to move
[3:25] forward. That looks very accurate from
[3:27] where we are. We would probably take two
[3:30] to three hours to move even now. And
[3:32] we're the leading edge. We're the
[3:34] cutting edge. Uh that is the seventh
[3:36] cavalry is the cutting edge here. Uh so
[3:38] it'll be at minimum 2 to three hours
[3:40] before we could roll forward even if the
[3:43] command came now. And then beyond that
[3:46] uh John King was speculating 12 hours.
[3:48] That looks fairly realistic. Over the
[3:50] horizon in that direction uh back to the
[3:53] south is the huge uh third infantry
[3:56] division mechanized infantry with with
[3:58] uh hundreds of tanks um uh 155
[4:02] millimeter paladin guns. They have yet
[4:04] to be brought up. The seventh uh
[4:06] cavalry, the unit with which I've been
[4:08] embedded is the scouting unit. We would
[4:10] be the first out uh into Kuwait when or
[4:13] excuse me into Iraq departing Kuwait.
[4:15] But again, the order has not been given
[4:17] to cross the line of departure. Seventh
[4:20] Cavalry remains in its attack position
[4:22] which is stationary. Aaron,
[4:24] >> uh, just Wald, as briefly as you can,
[4:26] when you walked over to these troops,
[4:28] when you walked over to them and told
[4:30] them what we had been reporting that the
[4:32] the strikes had happened, that the war
[4:35] apparently was on, how did they react?
[4:39] >> They were sort of dumbfounded. You sort
[4:41] of scratched their heads like, why
[4:43] didn't somebody tell us? Again, that's
[4:45] not their position to get the the
[4:47] overall the big strategic picture which
[4:49] you're reporting so well back there. But
[4:51] our position here is very tactical. That
[4:54] is to say, these units when they go
[4:55] forward see only a very small tactical
[4:58] picture, an immediate objective. They
[5:00] follow a road map and the road map for
[5:02] the seventh cavalry is up to Baghdad.
[5:04] But again, uh there's no indication.
[5:06] They had no indication this was coming.
[5:08] And even the officers in this unit were
[5:10] unaware of what was happening before you
[5:13] were reporting it to that big CNN
[5:15] audience, Aaron.
[5:16] >> Well, thank you. Walt Rogers in the
[5:17] desert and we'll be seeing him a lot in
[5:19] the days ahead. We're certain um much is
[5:22] now starting to unfold, though perhaps
[5:24] not all of it out uh out on the water,
[5:26] the USS Lincoln. Um Kira Phillips is one
[5:30] of the embedded reporters out there. Uh
[5:32] we're trying to get the pictures in. You
[5:34] can see the fighter jets. Um there's
[5:37] some breakup obviously these are live
[5:39] pictures and this is complicated
[5:40] technology.
[5:42] >> Um Kira, are you able to hear me?
[5:43] >> Brian or Aaron, can you hear me Aaron?
[5:46] >> Yeah, we we are able to hear you barely.
[5:48] Go ahead.
[5:51] >> Okay, Aaron, as you're listening to me,
[5:53] Brian is on an F-14 Tomcat right now.
[5:56] I'm going to try and get the guys to uh
[5:59] give you a salute. Uh they just gave me
[6:01] the signal that they are headed off uh
[6:04] off the US Abraham Lincoln here. I I got
[6:07] to tell you it's been a bit confusing
[6:09] because um the plan was for the strikes
[6:12] of course to start later in the day. Uh
[6:15] and now everything has sort of been
[6:17] jumped up at the last minute. As you
[6:18] know, the decapitation strike uh uh was
[6:21] attempted earlier today and now the F-14
[6:25] pilots uh are coming out slowly uh to
[6:27] their jets. Let me see if I can get them
[6:30] TO WAVE. THERE WE GO. We got the pilot
[6:32] to give us a wave.
[6:35] Let's see if I can get the Rio to give
[6:36] us a signal there from the back there.
[6:39] They basically gave me a thumbs up.
[6:42] >> Well, we we uh
[6:44] >> they're watching the uh
[6:46] >> It's hard to see them, but we
[6:48] >> There we go. Did you see that?
[6:49] >> There we did. We were able to see it
[6:50] there. And all we can do and say, and we
[6:53] know we speak for everyone, is we wish
[6:55] them safe flight and safe return. Kira,
[6:58] thanks. Nick Robertson in Baghdad. Nick,
[7:02] Aaron, indeed. Just while we've been
[7:04] talking in the last few minutes, an
[7:06] announcer has appeared on Iraqi
[7:07] television saying that President Saddam
[7:09] Hussein will make an address to the
[7:12] nation, will make a speech in the next
[7:14] few minutes. The announcer has made that
[7:16] announcement several times in the last
[7:17] few minutes. It seems at this stage the
[7:20] Iraqi government responding very quickly
[7:22] to the notion that this decapitation
[7:25] attempt on the Iraqi leader, this target
[7:27] of opportunity um was unsuccessful. We
[7:31] are expecting that. That's what Iraqi
[7:33] television is telling its people at this
[7:35] time to expect an announcement in the
[7:37] next few minutes from the Iraqi leader.
[7:39] We're watching the television here and
[7:41] as soon as it happens, Aaron, we will
[7:43] bring you all the details. Well, and
[7:45] it's it is important for a couple of
[7:48] reasons. It is important for the anyone
[7:52] in Iraq um who might have designs on um
[7:57] defecting on surrendering on uh not
[8:00] fighting a war that's about to unfold to
[8:03] know that Saddam Hussein and his
[8:04] leadership this most feared of people
[8:07] that his government is still intact and
[8:09] and that there are consequences uh
[8:12] perhaps awaiting. Um, and it's
[8:14] important, I suppose, for the Iraqi
[8:15] people to know that as well, that the
[8:17] government, whatever they may think of
[8:19] it, that the government of Iraq is still
[8:20] in place. And this decapitation effort,
[8:23] whatever it was, was not um successful
[8:26] in an absolute sense, that is to say, if
[8:28] if in fact Saddam Hussein appears on
[8:30] television and if it was designed to get
[8:33] him um and if in fact these were not
[8:36] taped pictures, then uh he is still
[8:38] alive. But we'll know that. We'll know
[8:40] that in 15 20 minutes, half an hour
[8:43] whenever he uh goes on TV. Uh and we'll
[8:47] translate what he has to say. Um
[8:50] when he when he does. Uh Wolf is I I
[8:53] think you want me to do this. Wolf is in
[8:55] uh Kuwait. Wolf,
[8:58] thanks Aaron. Uh I want to do a little
[9:00] bit more analysis now on the weaponry
[9:02] that was used in this initial attack
[9:04] against the selected targets in Baghdad.
[9:06] Apparently perhaps elsewhere as well.
[9:08] Joining us, our CNN military analyst,
[9:10] retired GR, US Army General Wesley
[9:13] Clark, the former NATO commander, as
[9:15] well as the former Secretary of Defense,
[9:17] William Cohen. First to you, General
[9:18] Clark, these uh Tomahawk cruise missiles
[9:22] that were used, one of the great
[9:23] advantages of them is that they can be
[9:25] fired from a great distance away.
[9:27] They're very precise and obviously they
[9:30] don't have any pilots involved. As a
[9:32] result, uh no US casualties are going to
[9:35] be inflicted. But in your experience
[9:37] with these Tomahawk cruise missiles, if
[9:39] they're going after a decapitation
[9:41] target, a specific group of leadership,
[9:43] how effective, how reliable can they be
[9:46] in this kind of mission?
[9:48] >> Well, there are they are exceptionally
[9:50] reliable and um they do take time to
[9:53] program and plan the use, but obviously
[9:56] that was done and they're very very
[9:57] accurate. Now, uh they have a particular
[10:00] warhead capability on them. They're good
[10:03] at certain types of targets. Other types
[10:05] of targets they're not as good at. But
[10:07] for the targets that they're good at,
[10:09] they are very, very good indeed. And the
[10:11] thing you have to remember is because
[10:13] there is no pilot in there, you don't
[10:15] need to clean up the air defenses before
[10:17] you can come in safely. They could
[10:19] launch another strike. They could launch
[10:21] another strike after that. Uh and if you
[10:24] place yourself in the mind of the Iraqis
[10:26] and ask, you know, what what is this
[10:29] coming after us? uh we're talking about
[10:31] one decapitating strike. There could be
[10:33] a whole series of of surprises in store
[10:36] for the Iraq leadership thanks to these
[10:38] cruise missiles.
[10:40] And Secretary Cohen, as we try to assess
[10:43] the role of the F-17A,
[10:46] these stealth fighters that were
[10:47] apparently used in this initial strike
[10:49] as well. Uh these are the strikes that
[10:51] are these are the planes that are
[10:52] supposedly invisible to radar. They were
[10:55] used very effectively during the first
[10:57] Pers Persian Gulf War, but I assume
[10:59] they've been dramatically improved over
[11:01] the past 12 years.
[11:02] >> Actually, they were used very
[11:04] successfully also in the war in Kosovo,
[11:06] which General Clark was intimately
[11:08] involved. They're nearly invisible. No
[11:11] aircraft is fully invisible, but uh the
[11:14] uh near invisibility coupled with
[11:16] nighttime capability makes them very
[11:18] very difficult, if not almost impossible
[11:20] to detect. uh but uh the u the avionics
[11:24] no doubt have been upgraded. Uh the
[11:25] technology is actually quite old. These
[11:27] were u fighter aircraft and bombers that
[11:30] were developed way back in 50s and 60s
[11:32] technology. But uh in terms of the
[11:35] avionics and the precision munitions
[11:37] obviously that has been substantially
[11:38] upgraded but um we have a saying that
[11:42] the uh the our air force owns the night
[11:44] but we also will own the day. uh we will
[11:47] take down their air defenses and so
[11:49] within a matter of a few days uh it
[11:51] should be very evident that these
[11:53] aircraft u the non-stalth aircraft as
[11:56] well as the stealth bombers will be
[11:57] flying with without much of a threat
[12:00] other than artillery being rained upon
[12:02] them from below but uh we should own the
[12:04] skies both day and night soon
[12:07] and Secretary Con as you were speaking
[12:09] we were showing our viewers the
[12:10] department of defense video that was
[12:12] released from that destroyer where the
[12:14] that cruise missile was launched from a
[12:17] destroyer. We're not sure where that
[12:18] destroyer is, whether it's in the Red
[12:21] Sea, whether it's in the Persian Gulf,
[12:23] where it was, but uh this is part of the
[12:26] combined strategy. The Navy directly
[12:28] involved, the Air Force, the Army, the
[12:30] Marine Corps, the Coast Guard as well.
[12:32] Well, uh, let me bring back General
[12:34] Clark as you take a look at the
[12:36] improvements in in all branches of the
[12:38] US military working together under
[12:40] General Tommy Franks, the commander of
[12:42] the central command, the chief planner
[12:44] of this operation. Things have improved
[12:46] dramatically as far as cooperation
[12:49] between the various branches of the US
[12:51] military.
[12:52] >> They they really have because we've had
[12:54] a number of experiences where we've
[12:56] learned our lessons the hard way. I mean
[12:58] we we learned an enormous amount from
[13:00] the first Gulf War and at after that we
[13:02] recognized that all the services had to
[13:04] have precision weaponry in Kosovo. We
[13:06] learned the importance of the army and
[13:08] the air force and the navy working
[13:09] together. We learned to planned big
[13:11] operations. We put that practice uh into
[13:14] effect in Afghanistan where we took the
[13:16] unmanned aerial vehicles and we linked
[13:18] them in with better command and control
[13:20] to the strike targets and we put special
[13:22] operations forces on the ground to help
[13:24] guide the weaponry. All of those lessons
[13:26] are going to be on display and going to
[13:29] be very very effectively used here in
[13:31] this campaign against Iraq. Wolf
[13:36] Secretary Cohen, uh, the F-17A is this
[13:39] stealth fighter we talked about just a
[13:41] few moments ago, but there's obviously
[13:43] the B2 stealth bombers which have a
[13:45] significantly improved capability. No
[13:48] indication they've been used yet as far
[13:50] as any strikes uh as far as this initial
[13:53] burst of activity, military activity,
[13:55] but presumably they will be used.
[13:56] They've been moved closer to the theater
[13:59] as well. Uh talk to our viewers a little
[14:01] bit about this B2 and what they're
[14:03] capable of doing. Well, the B2 is
[14:06] capable of flying all the way from Konis
[14:08] or continental United States all the way
[14:10] to Iraq, being refueled several times
[14:13] along the way. Uh carrying uh at least
[14:17] 16 precisiong guided bombs that can hit
[14:20] their targets with absolute precision.
[14:23] Uh and so they can fly long distances.
[14:26] They have a very small crew of of two uh
[14:30] and are enormously successful and have
[14:33] been successful in in our campaigns.
[14:36] >> I'm sorry.
[14:37] >> And and uh I I want to just to bring
[14:40] back General Clark. Uh those B2s, they
[14:42] were they were flying from the
[14:44] continental United States, but we're not
[14:45] told they have been moved closer to the
[14:47] theater to Diego Garcia in the Indian
[14:49] Ocean where they've got these hangers
[14:51] that can that can accommodate the B2.
[14:53] This is a dramatic development as far as
[14:56] this potential war is concerned.
[14:58] >> It is Wolf because this enables us to
[15:00] put more aircraft over the target area.
[15:04] The turnaround time is less. So the US
[15:06] Air Force that's flying these aircraft
[15:08] is going to be able to turn the
[15:10] aircraft. It's going to save fatigue on
[15:12] the crew and so it it's a real
[15:14] efficiency measure in terms of use of
[15:16] the aircraft.
[15:18] What do you think, Secretary Con, of
[15:20] this strategy that we now see unfolding
[15:23] here uh in the past couple hours and a
[15:25] limited military strike, Tomahawk cruise
[15:28] missiles, F-17A stealth fighters, but
[15:31] now an apparent pause as the US prepares
[15:34] for the next wave of activity. A pause
[15:37] that presumably will result in Saddam
[15:39] Hussein, if Iraqi television and radio
[15:41] are correct, Saddam Hussein making a
[15:43] statement to his own people. What do you
[15:45] make of this strategy? Well, again, uh
[15:48] much depends upon the information and
[15:50] intelligence that the president had at
[15:51] his disposal. Uh he obviously wanted to
[15:54] take advantage of any opportunity he had
[15:57] to to launch a strike against Saddam in
[15:59] his uh uh in his inner circle to the
[16:01] extent that that was unsuccessful.
[16:04] That's the first shot. There are many
[16:05] more to come. Secondly, they may be
[16:07] waiting in terms of the sequencing of
[16:09] the forces in terms of the weather
[16:11] clearing so that the ground forces can
[16:13] act nearly simultaneously along with the
[16:16] helicopters, low-flying helicopters as
[16:18] well as all of the precision aircraft.
[16:20] So, uh it may have to do with the the
[16:23] battle plan as such. This was simply an
[16:25] opportunity that was seized, may not
[16:27] have worked out, but it's uh the shape
[16:29] of things to come. in the shape of those
[16:31] things to come, a very heavy raining of
[16:34] 3,000 or more missiles in a very short
[16:36] period of time with combined air, land,
[16:39] and sea forces.
[16:42] >> All right, Secretary William Con, the
[16:43] former defense secretary, thanks very
[16:45] much. We'll be standing by speaking to
[16:47] you and General Clark as well, our CNN
[16:49] military analyst. Back to you, Aaron.
[16:51] >> Thank you. And we are hearing now from
[16:53] Iraqi TV that Saddam Hussein will in
[16:56] fact go on the air address the country
[16:58] whether that um he has rarely if ever
[17:01] done live TV for security reasons but
[17:04] he's going to make some statement on
[17:05] Iraqi TV and we expect that shortly but
[17:08] it has not if I heard the the
[17:10] information correctly it has not
[17:12] happened yet. We are in an odd by our
[17:15] thinking at least odd in between moment
[17:18] where something has started. It is
[17:20] absolutely correct to say that the war
[17:23] against Iraq is underway, but as former
[17:26] Secretary of Defense Con said, the shock
[17:30] and awe, this raining down of 3,000 or
[17:33] so cruise missiles, that is the
[17:35] beginning of the massive battle plan,
[17:38] the sequencing to use the military term,
[17:41] has not yet started and may not start uh
[17:44] for many hours to come. John King talked
[17:46] about 12 hours. Jamie McIntyre earlier
[17:49] talked 24 to 48 hours and General Clark
[17:52] said that would neither be a problem nor
[17:55] a particular surprise. They want to do
[17:57] this on their time when it is when the
[17:59] weather is best when everything is in
[18:01] shape when all of the ships and all of
[18:03] the planes and all of the soldiers are
[18:05] ready to go. John King's at the White
[18:07] House. John.
[18:08] >> Well, Aaron, the senior official who
[18:09] spoke who I spoke to a while ago who did
[18:12] say he thought it would be about 12
[18:13] hours, perhaps more before you would see
[18:15] any major military operation underway. I
[18:17] asked what would happen in the meantime.
[18:18] This official said, "We will watch, we
[18:20] will listen, and we will learn." So
[18:22] certainly more developments to come.
[18:24] Quiet here at the White House now after
[18:26] a dramatic day, the signature moment of
[18:28] the Bush presidency, of course. And as
[18:29] we watch Daybreak in Baghdad and as we
[18:31] have an apparent lull in the military
[18:33] activities, I want to bring back some of
[18:35] the words the president did speak
[18:37] earlier tonight. He said that a selected
[18:40] targets had been attacked tonight. But
[18:41] the president also warned the American
[18:43] people, in his words, that this could go
[18:45] longer and more could be a longer and
[18:47] more dangerous operation than many had
[18:49] predicted.
[18:52] In this conflict, America faces an enemy
[18:55] who has no regard for conventions of war
[18:58] or rules of morality.
[19:01] Saddam Hussein has placed Iraqi troops
[19:03] and equipment in civilian areas
[19:05] attempting to use innocent men, women,
[19:08] and children as shields for his own
[19:10] military. A final atrocity against his
[19:14] people.
[19:15] Mr. Bush promised to use the full might
[19:18] and the full resources of the United
[19:19] States military in prosecuting this war.
[19:21] And as we wait to see what the next
[19:23] phase is, we obviously are focused on
[19:25] the tactical things before us. the
[19:27] attack tonight, the battle damage
[19:28] assessment, whether Saddam Hussein or
[19:30] any major Iraqi leaders were in fact
[19:32] killed in that strike. Also though,
[19:34] Aaron, as we watch Daybreak in Baghdad,
[19:35] it will be interesting as Daybreaks in
[19:37] other key capitals around the world.
[19:39] This war and this president's policy of
[19:41] preeemption is quite controversial
[19:43] around the world as he prosecutes this
[19:44] war and issues the key orders in the
[19:46] hours and days to come. He also will
[19:48] have to deal with significant political
[19:50] fallout around the world. And one of the
[19:51] things that all of us will be watching
[19:54] beyond the military uh uh plan that
[19:57] unfolds is how will it unfold in the
[19:59] streets of Arab capitals and um in truth
[20:03] how it's going to unfold in the streets
[20:05] of the United States. We went to as a
[20:07] country to a higher state of alert the
[20:09] other night after uh the president's
[20:11] ultimatum and there is as you know
[20:14] enormous concern about homeland security
[20:16] and the relationship between a possible
[20:19] terrorist attack in this country what
[20:22] Gene reserve who covers such matters for
[20:24] us uh the other night chillingly to our
[20:26] ear chillingly described as almost
[20:30] certainty uh an attempt at a terrorist
[20:32] attack. Uh Kira Phillips is on the USS
[20:35] Abraham Lincoln um this morning. At
[20:38] least this morning for her. Kira,
[20:44] >> Eric, can you hear me? Okay.
[20:45] >> Yeah, I hear you good. Go ahead.
[20:49] >> All right. I apologize. As you can
[20:51] imagine, it's really hard to uh hear you
[20:53] and even hear myself here on the flight
[20:56] line. The F-14 that you just saw take
[20:59] off. I'm not going to give you full
[21:00] names at this point. And I'm going to
[21:02] stick with call signs. That was Crunchy
[21:04] and Rico taking off in that jet. Uh,
[21:06] prior to that, it was Panto and Sully,
[21:09] the first jet to launch off the USS
[21:11] Abraham Lincoln as this campaign against
[21:14] Iraq has begun. This is what I can tell
[21:17] you right now. Operation Southern Watch
[21:20] is still in effect. These jets that are
[21:22] launching off the USS uh Abraham Lincoln
[21:25] are conducting regular operations with
[21:27] Operation Southern Watch. Of course, at
[21:30] any moment those jets could be called in
[21:33] to fly over Baghdad. As you know, uh
[21:35] Aaron, this is a very difficult time for
[21:37] me right now because there's a lot of
[21:39] information that I know, a lot of
[21:40] classified information, and so I've got
[21:43] to be really careful about what I say
[21:45] right now. But what I can tell you is
[21:47] that things are in full swing right now.
[21:49] Uh F-14s are the first strike fighter
[21:52] pilots to launch off at US Abraham
[21:54] Lincoln. You can see the other aircraft
[21:56] uh getting ready uh uh loading up,
[21:59] getting ready to go. The radar jammers,
[22:01] the Prowlers have also uh launched off
[22:03] the USS Abraham Lincoln. Um I've got to
[22:07] stick to pretty much the basics right
[22:09] now. I can tell you uh they'll be once
[22:12] uh heading over Baghdad. Aaron, they'll
[22:14] be going for pretty obvious targets, uh
[22:17] military targets, uh government
[22:19] buildings. you know about the
[22:21] decapitation air strike that already
[22:23] took place uh with the hopes of getting
[22:25] Saddam Hussein before uh additional
[22:28] bombs had to be dropped. But at this
[22:31] point um that's what I can tell you
[22:33] right now F-14s uh in full force. The
[22:36] Tomcatterers launching off the USS
[22:39] Abraham Lincoln right now uh as this
[22:41] conflict with Iraq has begun. Aarin
[22:44] >> Kira, thank you very much. Kira Phillips
[22:45] is aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. Um,
[22:48] and just to do a bit of translating if I
[22:50] can some of that. This is a remarkable
[22:53] technology that allows uh these
[22:55] correspondents to file from the middle
[22:58] of of oceans from remote places in
[23:00] northern Iraq from the Kuwaiti desert.
[23:03] Um, and sometimes it's not a perfect
[23:06] technology. As I heard her, these are
[23:09] the routine flights that have been going
[23:10] on for some time into southern Iraq,
[23:13] into the no-fly zone of southern Iraq.
[23:15] There has been an increase in these, a
[23:18] 30% or more increase in these in recent
[23:20] weeks as they soften up if you will. Uh
[23:23] the air defenses in that part of Iraq.
[23:26] Uh this is this is has been going on in
[23:29] many respects for years, but it has gone
[23:32] on far more intensively in recent weeks.
[23:35] And that's what these it these planes
[23:39] are involved in. and they are not yet
[23:41] involved in what the president referred
[23:44] to as the broad attack
[23:48] that will begin in some at some point um
[23:53] some point today or some point tomorrow
[23:55] at some point of the US military's
[23:57] choosing when the military decides the
[24:00] time is right in Kuwait for us now is
[24:03] Cristian Amanur Christian
[24:07] >> Erin as you know the United States had
[24:09] hoped to have two fronts, not only the
[24:11] front leaving from Kuwait here, but also
[24:14] a northern front from Turkey. That
[24:16] wasn't possible because the Turkish
[24:18] parliament voted against so far allowing
[24:20] US troops to be based there. In any
[24:22] event, she CNN's Jane Araf is in
[24:25] northern Iraq quite close to the Turkish
[24:27] border. Jane, what is going on over
[24:29] there? And do the Kurds expect to make
[24:32] any move down towards Baghdad or indeed
[24:34] towards any of the strategic targets
[24:37] around your area? For instance, oil
[24:39] fields and the like roughly.
[24:45] >> Well, again, we just talked about some
[24:46] of the extraordinary technology that
[24:48] we've been using around this uh area as
[24:50] we try to bring you all the news. Jane
[24:52] was coming to us by video phone from
[24:54] Dohook in northern Iraq, but we seem to
[24:57] have lost that capability right now.
[24:58] We'll get back to it as soon as
[25:00] possible. In the meantime, Walt Rogers
[25:03] is one of our correspondents who comes
[25:05] to us via satellite dish in Kuwait with
[25:08] I believe it's the cavalry there.
[25:10] Walter,
[25:13] hello Christian. Nice to talk to you
[25:15] again. The situation here with the
[25:17] Seventh Cavalry along the northern
[25:19] Kuwaiti border with Iraq, we should tell
[25:22] you, is no change of plans despite the
[25:25] selective air strikes uh against
[25:27] Baghdad. An army source told me a short
[25:30] while ago, this is not meaning this does
[25:32] not mean there will be any hastening of
[25:34] the ground movement forward. At this
[25:36] point, the Seventh Cavalry is in what's
[25:39] called an attack uh position, but it has
[25:42] not received orders to cross um the the
[25:45] the line of of departure yet. What that
[25:48] means is that the army is going to be
[25:50] sitting here probably at least another
[25:53] 12 hours. Uh they have a plan. That plan
[25:56] was to hold back until they got orders
[25:58] from the Pentagon, orders from the White
[26:00] House. Nothing that happened in Baghdad
[26:03] has changed that plan at all. Uh it
[26:06] would take at least 3 hours if the
[26:07] orders came through uh immediately right
[26:10] now for this unit to move forward. Uh
[26:12] and there's no indication it's going to
[26:14] come. Again, an a soldier with whom I
[26:16] spoke a short while ago said the the
[26:19] orders remain very constant here. Again,
[26:21] they have not changed their plan. Some
[26:23] speculation is could be at least another
[26:25] 24 hours before the huge land armada
[26:29] which is sitting over that horizon back
[26:31] there. the uh uh third mechanized
[26:33] infantry division, the third division of
[26:35] the US Army will be coming forward.
[26:37] There was one indication that the time
[26:40] is drawing closer. Earlier along the
[26:42] horizon, we did see um 5,000galon
[26:46] tankers. Those are needed, of course, to
[26:48] fuel the tanks and the Bradley armored
[26:50] fighting vehicles. They're moving close
[26:52] to us, but we are with the Seventh
[26:54] Cavalry, and the Seventh Cavalry is the
[26:57] leading edge of an attack. No indication
[26:59] that attack is coming soon. Despite what
[27:01] happened in Baghdad, the army says their
[27:03] orders remain the same. They are to sit
[27:06] in this extreme uh northern position up
[27:08] against the Iraqi border, but not to go
[27:11] forward. Christian
[27:14] Walter, thanks. And of course, Walter
[27:16] had mentioned that the unit that he's
[27:18] with there didn't even know that the
[27:19] opening stages of this campaign had
[27:21] begun because each uh unit that the
[27:24] reporters are with have their own narrow
[27:26] field of vision. there. We're going to
[27:28] go again now to northern Iraq and try to
[27:30] get hold of Jane Araf who's in Dohook.
[27:33] And as we were saying, the Americans had
[27:35] hoped to use northern Iraq as a northern
[27:37] front. That has not yet been possible.
[27:40] Jane, is there any indication about what
[27:42] is expected from where you are and
[27:44] whether the Kurds or any kind of
[27:46] military activity is expected
[27:48] particularly to move down towards any of
[27:50] the oil fields or any of the strategic
[27:52] locations in the north?
[27:56] Well, Christianne, the Kurdish military
[27:58] has been operating in the airfields and
[28:00] along positions obviously along the
[28:02] Turkish border and the Iraqi border
[28:04] along with select groups of American
[28:06] military just behind us. And as you
[28:08] pointed out, we're in the city of
[28:09] Dohook, one of the major cities in
[28:11] northern Iraq and the closest Kurdish
[28:13] controlled city next to Mosul, the
[28:15] second biggest Iraqi city. There is a
[28:19] mountain, this a lookout point for
[28:21] Kurdish military. American soldiers are
[28:23] believed to be known to be there as
[28:26] well. Now the big fear of course of
[28:28] Kurdish officials and the Kurdish
[28:30] military has been Turkish troops coming
[28:32] in. That seems to have been diffused for
[28:34] now that there areians of Kurdish
[28:37] Keshmega. Those are fighters who
[28:40] literally translated as those who fear
[28:41] death ranged along the Turkish border.
[28:44] Now they say obviously they are prepared
[28:46] to fight Iraqi forces but so far there's
[28:48] no sign of Iraqi forces here along the
[28:51] line of what would be the front line
[28:54] Iraqi government controlled territory
[28:57] few kilometers away all quiet they say
[29:03] Jane thanks and you're breaking up just
[29:05] a little bit so we will come back to you
[29:07] a little bit later as we continue to
[29:09] monitor this situation from various
[29:11] vantage points around Iraq and inside of
[29:13] Iraq And right now we're going to go
[29:15] back to Aaron in Atlanta.
[29:17] >> Cristian, thank you very much. Uh we're
[29:19] waiting for a statement from the Iraqi
[29:21] president Saddam Hussein that we expect
[29:23] to see on Iraqi television shortly. We
[29:25] saw a moment ago that the Spanish Prime
[29:27] Minister Anzour would uh be addressing
[29:31] the people in his country. Spain was one
[29:34] of the co-sponsors of the resolution
[29:35] that never was that second resolution at
[29:38] the UN. He has been a staunch supporter
[29:40] of President Bush's and the policy and
[29:43] was with the president in the Azors uh
[29:45] for that summit with Prime Minister
[29:47] Blair on Sunday and he'll talk to his um
[29:51] his people uh as well. Jamie McIntyre is
[29:54] at the Pentagon. Jamie.
[29:56] >> Well, just to recap a little bit about
[29:58] what we know here as we've been piecing
[29:59] this all together throughout the night.
[30:01] Uh this was a Tomahawk cruise missile
[30:04] strike and a strike by F-17 stealth
[30:07] fighters at targets in Baghdad and uh
[30:11] and south of Baghdad. Here we see one of
[30:13] the cruise missiles fired from the USS
[30:15] Donald Cook which was in the Red Sea. Uh
[30:18] there were also missiles fired from a
[30:20] submarine in the Red Sea and an Eegis
[30:22] cruiser in the Persian Gulf. More than
[30:24] 40 cruise missiles uh total were
[30:27] scheduled to be launched in this attack.
[30:30] Jamie, I need to interrupt you here.
[30:31] Nick Robertson, what are you hearing in
[30:33] Baghdad?
[30:34] >> Aaron, the air raid siren going off here
[30:37] again in Baghdad. This is about 2 hours
[30:39] and 20 minutes after the initial air
[30:41] raid siren went off. From what I am told
[30:43] here, uh, this is an air raid siren. Not
[30:46] giving me all clear, but an air raid
[30:48] siren warning that a raid is coming. The
[30:50] siren there.
[30:53] >> Well, and actually winding down. Just
[30:55] winding down as I speak to you, Aaron.
[30:57] Well, we Yeah, but we were actually,
[30:59] Nick, we were able to hear some of that
[31:01] as we were able to hear uh some of the
[31:04] anti-aircraft fire uh a couple of hours
[31:06] ago. Just stay on the line and we're
[31:08] probably 10 minutes or so away from
[31:10] hearing whatever the Iraqi president has
[31:12] to say. Um Jamie, I interrupted you
[31:15] abruptly. I hope not rudely. Uh why
[31:18] don't you go ahead and pick it up where
[31:19] you were?
[31:20] >> I was just say we saw some of the cruise
[31:21] missile strikes that were launched. Uh
[31:23] in addition, F-17 stealth fighters. Uh
[31:27] this was what what one Pentagon official
[31:29] called a target of opportunity, a
[31:32] location where it was believed that very
[31:34] senior Iraqi leadership was located,
[31:37] including uh an official says Saddam
[31:39] Hussein. The hope was that they would be
[31:42] able to uh take out some of the Iraqi
[31:44] leadership, including perhaps Saddam
[31:46] Hussein, and uh vastly simplify the task
[31:50] of trying to prosecute this war against
[31:53] Iraq. Um, at this point we still don't
[31:55] know the results of the strike. Uh, it
[31:57] was something that was planned at the
[31:59] last minute, essentially signed off by
[32:01] President Bush at the White House this
[32:03] evening and carried out even though uh
[32:05] the plans for the start of the uh the
[32:08] war that was supposed to be a very
[32:10] robust start uh did not call for those
[32:12] plans to start tonight. So
[32:15] >> Jamie, go ahead.
[32:16] >> I'm sorry, Jamie. Is the news lid on at
[32:19] the Pentagon?
[32:20] >> You know, the Pentagon never has a lid.
[32:22] It's not like the White House where they
[32:23] put a lid on and everybody goes home. At
[32:25] the Pentagon, people just kind of drift
[32:27] out at the end of the day. There's
[32:28] always somebody here. And for instance,
[32:30] unlike the White House where they kick
[32:32] the reporters out at a certain hour and
[32:34] tell them to go home. Uh you can stay
[32:36] here at the Pentagon all night. There's
[32:37] always somebody here.
[32:38] >> Now, let me ask the question, let me
[32:40] come at it u in the opposite direction.
[32:42] Do you have any sense that in the next
[32:44] few hours u we are going to be reporting
[32:48] from the Pentagon the beginning of a
[32:50] major operation? Is there any activity
[32:52] there that suggests to you that that's
[32:54] going to happen?
[32:55] >> No. In fact, we've been giving every
[32:57] indication that that's not going to
[32:59] happen, including, as I said, several
[33:01] senior officials who I've reached at
[33:03] home told me essentially they would not
[33:05] be at home if they this was what they
[33:08] called they're calling it a day. The
[33:10] first day of the war, they've tagged as
[33:12] a day. And several officials told me,
[33:14] quote, "This is not a day."
[33:18] Um,
[33:19] so just again Jamie,
[33:24] the sense is that we could be many hours
[33:27] and very possibly a day or more from the
[33:32] beginning of the shock and awe.
[33:34] >> Yeah, it's it's very likely that when
[33:36] that happens, it'll start at night uh in
[33:38] order to take advantage of the the
[33:40] advance the military has at night, the
[33:42] cover that night provides. Uh, and so I
[33:46] would expect that we're at least until
[33:47] the next nightfall before you'd see the
[33:49] beginning of a major major bombing
[33:51] campaign that's supposed to have more
[33:53] than uh 3,000 cruise missiles and
[33:56] precisiong guided bombs raining down on
[33:58] Baghdad uh in to create this shock and
[34:01] awe. But again, if it turned out uh that
[34:04] they had seriously damaged the
[34:05] leadership uh and that something else
[34:07] happened in Iraq, they may want to wait
[34:09] and see what the effect is of this
[34:11] strike.
[34:12] Well, we're going to find out possibly
[34:15] some of the effect of it in a few
[34:17] minutes when Saddam Hussein goes on TV.
[34:19] Though, what we would expect, he'll
[34:21] he'll appear on the TV channel that is
[34:23] owned by one of his sons, Uday Hussein.
[34:28] Um, these speeches tend to be very full
[34:32] of verbiage. Um, certainly he will
[34:34] attempt to rally the country, rally the
[34:37] military. his mere presence is important
[34:40] in how this day plays out in in Iraq.
[34:43] Um, it was just before 10:00 Eastern
[34:47] time that Nick Robertson began
[34:49] reporting. I I guess it was probably
[34:50] closer to 9:30, 9:35 Eastern, Nick
[34:53] Robertson began reporting that there was
[34:55] anti-aircraft fire. Um, some explosions
[34:59] uh that he was able to hear. We have
[35:01] some tape of that now that we're able to
[35:03] look at. Um, if we can if we can put
[35:07] that up.
[35:27] These are the first time that we've seen
[35:29] these pictures.
[35:32] You can see the explosions in the
[35:33] background in the distance.
[35:38] It was just before daybreak
[35:41] in Baghdad. You see the flashes
[35:45] in every earlier picture we had seen out
[35:47] of there. All we had been able to see
[35:50] was the anti-aircraft fire going up, the
[35:52] tracer fire going up to the sky. And so
[35:54] in just a span of 40 seconds is about
[35:57] how long that tape went. We were also
[35:59] able to see, as you look at Baghdad this
[36:02] morning, Thursday morning for them as we
[36:04] approached midnight here in the east, um
[36:06] the first time we were able to see any
[36:09] thing that had come down, any explosions
[36:11] that had come down as Jamie McIntyre has
[36:14] been reporting two cruise missile uh
[36:17] targets, one to the south of Baghdad, an
[36:20] attempt to in the in the jargon of the
[36:23] military decapitate, go after the
[36:25] leadership of Iraq, a target of
[36:27] opportunity.
[36:28] something a decision the president
[36:30] signed off on um early in the evening
[36:33] 6:30ish if I remember John King's
[36:35] reporting 6:30 or so in the evening he
[36:38] gave the go-ahad
[36:40] um after the intelligence uh came in I'm
[36:42] sorry go ahead say that to me again
[36:46] okay thank you uh the president um
[36:49] signed off early this evening went back
[36:51] to the residence talked to his speech
[36:52] writer said it is time to go to work and
[36:55] go to work they did 10:15 Tonight, the
[36:58] president went on national television to
[36:59] tell the country that the opening
[37:01] stages, to use his words, the opening
[37:03] stages of the disarmament of Iraq was
[37:06] underway and made clear that it was
[37:09] simply that, the opening stages of what
[37:11] will be a broad attack that will begin
[37:14] sometime down the road. Christian
[37:16] Amanpor and Wolf Blitz are both in
[37:18] Kuwait City. This will be a central and
[37:21] important place over the next several
[37:23] days.
[37:27] Go ahead, Christian
[37:28] >> Wolf. Um, and Aram, let's talk a little
[37:31] bit about the allies of the United
[37:33] States, Britain and Spain. We have been
[37:35] told and certainly why reports are
[37:37] saying that Prime Minister Tony Blair
[37:40] was awoken or at least informed after
[37:42] midnight British time that these attacks
[37:45] had been brought forward. We're not sure
[37:47] whether this was a surprise to him or
[37:49] not. But what we do know is consistent
[37:51] with what our reporters Jamie McIntyre
[37:53] and others from the Pentagon have been
[37:55] saying. We believe that the British had
[37:57] not expected the full uh initial launch
[38:00] of this war to begin uh right after the
[38:03] deadline. And uh we are not sure when or
[38:06] whether we're going to hear from Tony
[38:07] Blair or indeed people at the British
[38:09] Defense Ministry. So far they have given
[38:11] no statement about what's going on. We
[38:14] understand that in Spain, the prime
[38:16] minister of Spain, Aznar, who is also an
[38:18] ally in this campaign, although has not
[38:19] committed military forces, is also going
[38:22] to address his people. Uh, as we know,
[38:24] of course, today there have been several
[38:26] activities out here in terms of military
[38:28] activities. Uh, US forces and British
[38:31] forces have attacked artillery batteries