CBS News - Iraq War - 2003-03-20 - 1 p.m. (E) (approx.)

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:09] Well, there's a pause. There were air

[0:10] raid sirens. Then, uh, the anti-aircraft

[0:14] fire. If there were any big hits of

[0:17] weaponry incoming, we're unaware of it.

[0:19] General Cernande, we're going to hold on

[0:21] to this picture for a bit to see. Uh

[0:24] what should we expect in in the very

[0:28] first of the major aerial bombardment of

[0:31] Iraq? Well, I think the thing you're

[0:33] going to see is a totally integrated

[0:35] fight. Uh the ground, air, and and and

[0:40] sea systems all coming to bear on a

[0:43] particular target or targets. Uh I think

[0:46] it's going to be very overwhelming.

[0:49] You've got to be a very disciplined and

[0:51] very well-trained force to withstand

[0:52] that.

[0:55] General, when you talk about, as has

[0:57] been talked about, as we talk over this

[0:59] live picture of Baghdad to see what the

[1:02] sirens followed by anti-aircraft fire

[1:04] may mean in Baghdad, when you talk about

[1:06] firing um hundreds, if not thousands of

[1:11] missiles and laser guided bombs,

[1:14] uh try as we may, true or untrue, that

[1:17] they're bound to be considerable

[1:19] civilian casualties on the ground.

[1:21] possibly. It all depends on where we

[1:23] target them. We're going to be very

[1:24] precise in our targeting. We will try to

[1:26] do what we can to avoid the major

[1:28] metropolitan areas because we know there

[1:30] are civilians in there. But this is

[1:32] going to be one of those decisions that

[1:33] General Franks and his subordinate

[1:35] commanders are going to have to make

[1:36] looking at a target. And if it is a

[1:38] military necessity, they will do

[1:40] everything they can to mitigate

[1:42] collateral damage.

[1:46] >> General Buck Trinan, you're looking at a

[1:48] live picture of Baghdad. We're going to

[1:50] go to uh videotape so you can see and

[1:53] hear what happened a few minutes ago.

[1:55] First there were the air raid sirens and

[1:57] then this is what people in Baghdad

[2:00] inside their homes with their noses and

[2:02] eyes pressed to the glass looking

[2:04] outside. That would be foolish to press

[2:07] to the glass. But this is a videape a

[2:09] few minutes ago. We'll just watch and

[2:10] listen.

[2:24] Now we go back to live picture.

[2:32] Now

[2:34] Baghdad is under attack. Would you not

[2:36] say? Yeah. Definitely looked like we had

[2:39] uh some ground explosions there incoming

[2:41] because there were ground explosions.

[2:43] So, for the second time in just less

[2:45] than 24 hours, Baghdad is under attack

[3:00] and the earth shakes.

[3:18] Live picture of Baghdad under attack for

[3:20] the second time in 24 hours. This is not

[3:23] videotaped.

[3:33] Anti-aircraft

[3:42] fire mix with incoming hits.

[3:52] Night in Baghdad.

[3:55] Rockets, red glare, bombs bursting in

[3:57] air,

[3:59] and some hitting the ground with

[4:02] tremendous force.

[4:15] We're trying to keep our commentary to a

[4:17] minimum here so you can see and hear it

[4:20] and experience it as much as is

[4:23] possible.

[4:26] on television,

[4:30] you will see huge bellowing smoke coming

[4:33] over the right hand side. Go to the

[4:34] right corner of your screen.

[4:42] But of course, there's no way for

[4:44] television to convey

[4:47] the horror on the ground in the area of

[4:50] one of these big hits from a cruise to

[4:52] Tomahawk missile or a guided bomb.

[5:04] Smoke on the right hand side rising ever

[5:06] higher

[5:08] like a symbolic tower of destruction.

[5:18] There's your

[5:20] scenes we saw once before 12 years ago.

[5:28] That's the thump of any aircraft fight.

[5:35] Here

[5:41] is David Chader of Sky News, our CBS

[5:44] affiliate, filing his report live from

[5:46] Baghdad. All of this is live. David

[5:49] Chader speaks.

[6:04] where we had hopes there. We thought we

[6:05] had David Chader up. You will understand

[6:09] the circumstances, it's not that easy to

[6:12] get up from Baghdad under these

[6:13] circumstances.

[6:14] >> A huge blitz just needs to be a very

[6:17] accurate, narrowly focused uh set of

[6:21] cruise missiles that have hit their

[6:23] targets. uh those targets that I can see

[6:26] at the moment uh in the uh in the lights

[6:29] of the city now being blocked out by the

[6:32] smoke rising from those targets are

[6:34] Republican Guard units. They are BART

[6:37] party headquarters maybe has been hit.

[6:39] Um I've got a quite a large view and

[6:42] four four targets right in front of me

[6:44] burning away and smoke billowing down

[6:46] the Tigers past me. They would seem to

[6:49] be as we suspected uh uh command and

[6:51] control centers, rep Republican guard

[6:54] units and bunkers uh maybe some radar

[6:56] and air defense sites. Uh those are the

[6:59] areas that have been hit. All the lights

[7:01] are still on and blazing away in the

[7:02] city. We haven't seen an attack on any

[7:05] of the electricity grids, power stations

[7:07] or the bridges. uh a very ferocious,

[7:11] narrowly focused attack on the command

[7:13] and control centers and the structures

[7:15] of power here inside uh Baghdad. Yet

[7:18] again, an object lesson of uh the smart

[7:21] technology, the accuracy of the cruise

[7:23] missiles and the desire of the uh the

[7:26] allies of course to limit as much as

[7:28] possible civilian casualties. These look

[7:30] like they were very accurate strikes.

[7:35] Surgical strikes is what the Pentagon

[7:37] said it planned. uh they seem to be

[7:39] precise so far. We can see the orangey

[7:43] gray smoke billowing away to the right

[7:45] of the screen just beyond those bright

[7:47] lights to the right of the mosque where

[7:50] as you were saying David that Republican

[7:53] guard probably a command and control

[7:55] center has been hit by the looks of it.

[7:59] Donald Rumsfeld David was saying to the

[8:01] people of Iraq stay away stay away from

[8:05] military complexes. Stay away from

[8:07] command and control places. Uh we have

[8:09] no wish to harm you. Just stay at home

[8:12] and keep away from anything that might

[8:14] be hit. Do you think they will heed

[8:16] those?

[8:17] >> This is David Trader is now talking with

[8:20] his home office. What you're seeing is

[8:22] live coverage from Baghdad. Sky TV

[8:24] reporter David Trader who also files for

[8:26] CBS News is at this moment reporting

[8:28] live. He is talking to his headquarters

[8:31] in London. So that's what you're

[8:33] hearing. We go back to Baghdad live.

[8:37] Huge bellowing smoke hanging now like

[8:40] some immense drapery over Baghdad.

[8:47] Explosions could be heard from the west

[8:49] side of the Tigress River. That would be

[8:53] just to refresh your memory. The Tigress

[8:55] River is to the to the west. The

[8:58] Euphrates the Tigress River to the east.

[9:01] the Zagus River to the east and the

[9:04] Euphrates River to the west if you're

[9:07] looking at your Iraq map which we'll

[9:09] show you in a minute. But anyway,

[9:10] explosions could be heard from the west

[9:13] side of the Tigress River where at least

[9:15] two of Saddam Hussein's palaces and the

[9:18] intelligence headquarters are located.

[9:22] Explosions and large clouds of gray

[9:24] smoke

[9:26] appeared to be closer to the heart of

[9:28] the city. right now a large continuing

[9:30] low

[9:30] >> a wide shot there you can see as the

[9:33] smoke is drifting over the city. So not

[9:35] to confuse you the Tigers River which

[9:37] runs more in the eastern portion of

[9:40] central Iraq the Euphrates River to the

[9:42] west this was on the the major hits seem

[9:46] to be on the west side of the Tigers

[9:48] River. Now that's where two of Saddam's

[9:51] palaces are and the intelligence

[9:53] headquarters is also located in that

[9:55] general area. But after the major

[9:58] explosion, if we haven't heard a major

[10:00] hit explosion in the last well several

[10:03] seconds, if not minutes, uh this

[10:06] tremendous uh column of smoke rose up

[10:09] and then begin to disperse. More

[10:12] anti-aircraft fire. Let's listen up.

[10:26] As you heard David Cheder,

[10:29] correspondent there, say on the air, it

[10:31] was his belief that these strikes were

[10:33] by cruise missiles.

[10:36] General Buck Hernand, as we continue to

[10:38] listen,

[10:39] >> I'll see if I can do that.

[10:40] >> Hold on just a moment.

[10:44] >> That would be the target of the weapon

[10:47] of preference.

[10:48] >> I believe so. They could be an

[10:49] integrated with some F-17s again, but in

[10:52] all probability, these were cruise

[10:53] missiles. Uh, as you've already pointed

[10:55] out, you've got the palaces there, the

[10:58] Bath party headquarters, the west of the

[11:00] Tigress River there. There's an awful

[11:02] lot of uh uh communications facilities

[11:05] there. So, I think those are the things

[11:07] they're going to target right now.

[11:11] They'll be very selective in their

[11:12] targeting to reduce the destruction of

[11:16] the civilian infrastructure. So, they're

[11:18] going to target those things that

[11:20] basically isolate and and ideally

[11:22] decapitate the command and control of

[11:24] the Iraqi military.

[11:27] >> As we continue to look at the attack on

[11:30] Baghdad, this is a live picture and

[11:32] sound. We're going to go to the

[11:33] Pentagon. David Martin, what information

[11:36] do you have for us?

[11:38] >> Well, Dan, believe it or not, the

[11:39] Pentagon cannot confirm that that attack

[11:42] is uh taking place. And I think that is

[11:44] an indication of how much this plan is

[11:48] being uh rewired as we go. Uh all as a

[11:54] result of last night's uh attempt to

[11:56] short circuit the entire process and get

[11:58] off that shot to kill Saddam. Uh these

[12:03] uh look to be uh not the start of an

[12:06] allout uh air assault on Baghdad, but

[12:09] rather trying to take down individual

[12:12] points in the command and control

[12:14] structure. And this uh this is different

[12:17] than the original uh plan. And you can

[12:22] only uh surmise that it has to do with

[12:26] playing off last night's attack where

[12:28] they think they eliminated the uh the

[12:30] leadership or at least uh forced the

[12:34] leadership uh to go into uh such deep

[12:38] cover that they are totally unable to

[12:41] communicate. And now, of course, they're

[12:43] taking out the uh the means by which uh

[12:47] their successors might communicate. And

[12:49] it's all part of the same air campaign

[12:53] uh which also involved destroying uh

[12:56] relay sites, radio relay sites uh out in

[12:59] in the western desert. Take down the

[13:01] leadership uh positions, take down the

[13:05] communications uh that they use to

[13:08] control their troops. And it's what you

[13:11] want to do before you start the main

[13:14] thrust of the invasion force into Iraqi

[13:17] territory. So that

[13:18] >> Excuse me, David. We're going to return

[13:20] live to Baghdad. There's some noise

[13:21] there. Forgive me.

[13:26] >> Again, it sounds like anti-aircraft

[13:28] fire. I didn't hear anything. It sounded

[13:30] like incoming, but it's certainly hard

[13:33] to tell.

[13:36] Some urgent news come across F-14 and

[13:39] F-18 jet fighter bombers have been

[13:41] taking off from the USS Theodore

[13:43] Roosevelt. That's a carrier in the

[13:45] Eastern Mediterranean. I mean, in the

[13:47] score, not in the Persian Gulf, not in

[13:49] the Red Sea. These F-14s and F-18 jets,

[13:53] they are armed with missiles and bombs.

[13:55] There's no word on whether they were

[13:56] headed to Baghdad or other targets in

[13:58] Iraq. Uh, we'll keep this picture up in

[14:02] part of the screen, but want to show you

[14:03] the map here because it gets confusing

[14:06] about where these attacks come. The

[14:09] crews

[14:11] and Tomahawk missiles are often fired

[14:14] from the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf

[14:17] area, but the Theodore Roosevelt is

[14:21] seold on just a second here. Big noise

[14:24] there. At any rate, these F-14s and

[14:27] F-18s

[14:29] uh have to fly a pretty long way. Sort

[14:33] of dip down and around.

[14:35] That was a big noise. Might have been

[14:37] incoming. Probably was a a cruise

[14:40] missile uh strike.

[14:46] Seeing this huge cloud

[14:50] which we could see coming off the right

[14:51] hand side of the screen and then

[14:53] enveloped Baghdad. It looks a little

[14:55] like that scene as we reporters came

[14:58] into Kuwait City near the end of the

[15:00] 1991 war when Saddam Hussein had set his

[15:03] oil fields of fire and there was

[15:06] literally darkness at noon. However,

[15:08] this is darkness at Baghdad time about

[15:12] 9:20.

[15:14] Uh well, Danny probably is trying to do

[15:17] some things like light off some of those

[15:18] oil trenches and some other things for

[15:21] obscuration. it's not going to do them a

[15:23] whole lot of good. Uh because our

[15:24] precision targeting now in particular

[15:26] through GPS and the satellites enable us

[15:29] to be very very

[15:31] precise in in targeting

[15:34] the uh the facilities we're after

[15:39] as we listen for more hits. Clearly

[15:41] Baghdad has been under attack now for

[15:43] roughly 15 20 minutes. uh certainly by

[15:47] cruise missiles

[15:49] perhaps I should say almost certainly by

[15:51] cruise missiles and perhaps perhaps uh

[15:54] additional weapons delivered by

[15:55] fixedwing aircraft such as the F-17

[15:58] stealth bomber. It's now 9:23

[16:02] uh a.m. Baghdad time.

[16:06] >> PM sorry I smoked myself. 9:23 in the

[16:09] evening Baghdad time. One reason we

[16:11] pointed out before that they strike at

[16:13] night is because the F-17 stealth

[16:16] bombers are equipped with the laserg

[16:18] guided uh weaponry. Uh generally

[16:21] speaking, they don't operate during the

[16:23] daytime because they're too vulnerable.

[16:26] Now, you may want to note that Ari

[16:28] Flesher said in his briefing that in the

[16:30] absence of proof that Saddam Hussein is

[16:33] gone, the US is proceeding with their

[16:35] systematic destruction of command and

[16:38] control facilities, which is no doubt

[16:40] part of what this is about. Now, what

[16:42] those F-14s and F-18 jets taking off

[16:46] from the carrier Theodore Roosevelt in

[16:48] the Mediterranean are, whether they are

[16:50] part of an attack on Baghdad or not is

[16:53] uh unclear at this moment. And if not

[16:56] Baghdad, then where they are attacking.

[16:58] While this is going on, the US third

[17:00] infantry division has moved into

[17:03] southern Iraq. has crossed the border

[17:05] and gone into southern Iraq preceded by

[17:08] uh attack helicopters knocking out

[17:11] tanks, other armor and fixed positions.

[17:13] Also walked ahead of them uh artillery

[17:16] barges. We've had that on the air in in

[17:19] recent hours with Scott P on one scene

[17:21] with the helicopter attacks and uh Jim

[17:24] Axelrod on another with the artillery.

[17:26] Axel Roders now with the Third Infantry

[17:28] Division, which as we look at this live

[17:30] picture of Baghdad. And listen to

[17:33] sporadic anti-aircraft fire punctuated

[17:36] big time occasionally by huge weapons of

[17:40] considerable destruction hitting into

[17:42] Baghdad. Uh way south of here, uh

[17:45] Baghdad, uh the US Marines have been

[17:48] engaged in some at least limited ground

[17:50] combat on what we believe to be the

[17:52] Kuwaiti side of the Iraq Kuwait border.

[17:56] uh perhaps taking on some patrols or

[17:58] spotter outfits of Iraqis. We don't

[18:01] know, but the Marines were involved uh

[18:02] in a shootout there. But the third

[18:04] infantry division has definitely

[18:06] launched into Iraq itself.

[18:14] I haven't heard any huge hits in Baghdad

[18:18] for a while, as was the case last night.

[18:21] Uh been there were hits and then it

[18:24] ended. Now whether this is going to end

[18:26] now or not uh there were as best we

[18:32] could make out

[18:34] well we'll put it this way we believe

[18:37] there were more crews missiles different

[18:40] hits in areas around Baghdad seeming to

[18:43] concentrate on the west side of the

[18:45] Tigress River. Keep in mind the Tigress

[18:47] River runs through Baghdad. Uh the

[18:48] Euphrates is a bit west of there. US

[18:52] cruise missiles have hit the center of