NBC News - Iraq War - 2003-03-20 - 4:05 a.m. (E)

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:00] do another one called the car thief. So,

[0:01] thank you for asking. But not

[0:02] >> David, are you there?

[0:05] >> I am Bianca. How are you?

[0:06] >> I'm I'm fine. How are you? I want to ask

[0:08] you about this. Um, we've been hearing

[0:10] that what we saw overnight, what we've

[0:12] seen so far is just the start. The big

[0:15] stuff really ahead. Also, if you could

[0:17] comment on this report that uh Kuwait's

[0:19] defense minister saying that two Iraqi

[0:21] missiles have hit Kuwait's northern

[0:23] border.

[0:26] >> Well, as to the seconds, uh, I don't

[0:28] know anything about that. Uh, as to the

[0:30] first, what we can tell you is that the

[0:33] commanders here, and we're with the US

[0:35] Army's Third Infantry Division, which is

[0:37] the heavy tank, heavy Bradley fighting

[0:40] vehicles division. What they're telling

[0:42] us is that this is not at all the quote

[0:45] unquote real ground war. Uh, to the

[0:48] contrary, uh, this was a what they're

[0:50] calling a target of opportunity. In

[0:53] fact, the cruise missiles came right

[0:55] overhead us here as they were heading

[0:57] toward Baghdad. uh a number of hours

[0:59] ago. But what they're making very clear

[1:02] to us is that uh this was just the uh uh

[1:05] a pre- battle phase is the expression

[1:07] that they used. One commander said that

[1:09] it was like Operation Southern Watch on

[1:12] steroids. Operation Southern Watch, of

[1:14] course, is what's been going on ever

[1:16] since the Gulf War ended when the United

[1:18] States and other nations imposed the

[1:20] no-fly zones in the southern and

[1:22] northern portions of Iraq. So, uh, I

[1:25] mean the bottom line in terms of the air

[1:27] war as far as the onslaught that is

[1:30] likely to hit Baghdad, uh, to put it

[1:33] mildly, they ain't seen nothing yet.

[1:35] That's what these commanders here are

[1:36] telling us. Now, clearly there are also

[1:38] no indications here of the ground war

[1:41] being imminent. Uh, when we awoke this

[1:44] morning to this news that there'd been

[1:45] the cruise missile strikes in Baghdad,

[1:47] we were the ones who trolled the troops

[1:49] here. Uh, they're continuing with their

[1:52] battle planning. They're in what they

[1:53] call their attack position right along

[1:56] the Kuwaiti Iraqi border whe ready to

[1:58] storm across the BMS and head into Iraq.

[2:02] But there's no sense that that is uh is

[2:04] imminent at all. Bianca,

[2:07] >> I need to add that to my vocabulary now.

[2:10] Operation Southern Watch on steroids. I

[2:12] like that one. Now, no immediate plans

[2:15] right now, but any word what you could

[2:17] be doing there today?

[2:20] >> Well, no. As I say, uh the the the

[2:23] commanders here are just going through

[2:26] their battle plans. They're just making

[2:28] their preparations. They they know uh

[2:31] what their attack plan is if and when

[2:34] the president gives the order to do so.

[2:37] But uh you know, as as most everyone

[2:39] knows, the the ground war is likely to

[2:41] proceed. We don't know by hours or by

[2:43] days or by weeks by the air war. Uh so

[2:46] so they're basically right now in a

[2:49] planning mode right now getting ready

[2:51] for when they're called into duty. As I

[2:54] say, I mean what this unit has and this

[2:56] is the these are the lead elements of

[2:59] the third infantry division. The third

[3:00] infantry division has about uh 20,000 or

[3:03] so soldiers. The Spartan Brigade, which

[3:06] is the lead element of this force, has

[3:08] roughly 3 to 4,000 soldiers. And I mean,

[3:11] you can take a look behind me and see

[3:12] some of the equipment that they've got.

[3:14] They've got one of their uh their

[3:15] bridges, their fold out bridges actually

[3:18] folded out right there. They they lay

[3:20] out to about 60 feet or so, so they can

[3:23] go across the anti-tank trenches which

[3:25] the Iraqis have which are as much as 20

[3:28] ft deep. There are minefields, so there

[3:30] are tanks set up with uh with basically

[3:32] plowed bulldozers on the front of them

[3:34] to plow away the mines. Uh there are

[3:36] electrified fences that they'll have to

[3:38] cut through. There are a number of

[3:40] obstacles here in in southern Iraq that

[3:42] they'll have to face just going across

[3:44] the Iraqi border, but they don't expect

[3:46] to get much opposition in the southern

[3:48] part of this country. And

[3:50] >> David, you're right there. You're right

[3:52] there out in that. You're right there in

[3:53] the desert with the troops. Describe to

[3:55] us what it was like when uh word came

[3:57] that this was all starting last night. A

[3:59] mood change. What was it like?

[4:02] >> Not really. I mean to to to my surprise

[4:05] and I would think that it would surprise

[4:06] our audience. There's a very nonchalant

[4:08] uh attitude to these soldiers right now.

[4:10] They know I mean remember a lot of these

[4:13] guys from the third infantry division.

[4:14] They've been here longer than anyone

[4:16] else in terms of American soldiers has

[4:19] been in Kuwait. They've been here going

[4:20] on 6 months now. So their attitude is

[4:23] let's get this thing on. Let's get it

[4:24] over with. We want to go home. Now I

[4:26] mean part of that is naivee young

[4:28] soldiers. They're in their late teens

[4:30] early 20s. Also, they they have a sense

[4:32] of duty. They feel well trained.