ABC News - Iraq War - 2003-03-20 - 10 p.m. (E)

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:00] clearing minefields, things like that,

[0:01] or clearing what they suspect might be

[0:03] minefield.

[0:03] >> I appreciate it very much, David. It's

[0:05] nice to hear your voice. David Fox of

[0:06] the Reuters News Agency on the border.

[0:08] This is ABC News continuing coverage,

[0:10] live coverage of the war with Iraq.

[0:25] Well, that is Baghdad by dawn. 6:00 in

[0:28] the morning exactly in Baghdad. Uh, no

[0:31] air activity at the moment, though we do

[0:34] believe that elements of the US ground

[0:37] forces are in fact in some cases racing

[0:40] toward the general area of Baghdad. If

[0:43] you just do minor calculations about the

[0:45] speed of operations uh on the Iraqi side

[0:49] of the border tonight, some US forces

[0:52] are clearly traveling very quickly. We

[0:55] do not know what it means that there has

[0:57] not been a second level of attacks on

[1:00] even selected targets in Baghdad

[1:03] tonight. But that is what Baghdad looks

[1:05] like this evening. one of the many

[1:08] mosques, some of them small and

[1:11] neighborhoodlike as in this particular

[1:13] one and some of them built by Saddam

[1:15] Hussein uh throughout his reign.

[1:18] Absolutely huge and in the process even

[1:21] now in the western part of the city is

[1:23] being built what he had intended to be

[1:25] the largest mosque in in the world. We

[1:28] can go back now on the phone to ABC's

[1:31] Ted Cppel, who we haven't talked to in

[1:32] several hours, who is with the Third

[1:34] Infantry Division. Good morning, Ted.

[1:38] >> Good morning, Peter. Well, the ground

[1:40] invasion of Iraq has begun. Quite

[1:42] literally one minute ago, the first

[1:44] tanks began moving across the burm. I'm

[1:47] watching them now. We are standing at

[1:49] the burm. We are still about 50 ft

[1:52] inside Kuwait, but the Abrams tanks are

[1:55] now moving across a long line of them.

[1:58] Uh about five of them have just crossed

[2:00] into Iraq and there is a huge huge line

[2:04] of them. It's just after dawn here and

[2:08] of course they're kicking up a huge

[2:10] amount of dust as they move in. But the

[2:13] uh the advanced column here is made up

[2:15] of nothing but Abram's tanks. I assume

[2:18] that they'll be followed by Bradley

[2:20] fighting vehicles and then you'll have

[2:21] the tankers, the support vehicles, the

[2:23] Humvees. There are going to be thousands

[2:26] of them passing across. Uh quite

[2:29] literally thousands, tens, thousand of

[2:31] these vehicles. Uh one of the Bradley

[2:34] tanks that's going across right now has

[2:37] got a uh a rake like blade on the front.

[2:41] Uh they have been uh clearing for mines

[2:46] and they have had considerable action

[2:49] during the night. I just spoke to

[2:50] General Buford Blunt who's the

[2:52] commanding general of the third division

[2:55] and he was telling me that they killed

[2:58] somewhere in the neighborhood I believe

[3:00] he said 11 tanks last night. So they

[3:03] moved a the Iraqis moved a tank company

[3:06] up here to the border last night. They

[3:09] were engaged during the the night hours

[3:14] just breaking here.

[3:16] Were you aware that this battle was

[3:17] going on last night from where you were?

[3:21] >> Uh no, we had no sense at all. Uh we

[3:24] were about five four or five miles back.

[3:27] Uh we left uh we broke our small

[3:30] encampment this morning at uh shortly

[3:33] before 5 local time and uh it took us

[3:38] just about an hour to drive to the

[3:41] border and that's where we're standing

[3:43] right now. And is it your

[3:44] >> I'm hoping that we're going to be I'm

[3:45] hoping, Peter, that we're going to be

[3:47] able to come to you with a live picture.

[3:49] We're firing up our satellite truck

[3:51] right now and we should be able to come

[3:53] to you in just a few minutes.

[3:55] >> We'll certainly wait for

[3:56] >> Is it your impression that this advance

[3:59] across the border was timed to coincide

[4:01] with first light this morning?

[4:04] >> Uh well, I don't know if it was time to

[4:06] coincide with first light. Uh, General

[4:08] Blunt has been talking about the timing

[4:11] of this for uh uh the timing has been

[4:14] changing quite literally, Peter, day by

[4:17] day and uh I know that there was some

[4:20] doubt in his mind as to whether the

[4:22] invasion would take place today.

[4:23] Initially, it was supposed to begin

[4:25] tomorrow. I'm speaking out of the ground

[4:27] invasion, but I think then with the

[4:30] bombing of Iraq that took place uh

[4:32] yesterday, everything was moved up 24

[4:35] hours. But in any event, the invasion of

[4:38] Iraq has begun.

[4:40] >> It seems to be the case all across the

[4:42] border with the Marine Expeditionary

[4:44] Force having already gone into Iraq at

[4:46] another part of the border. Um, have you

[4:49] any sense of how long it's going to take

[4:51] to get all these tanks and and all these

[4:53] Bradley fighting vehicles across the

[4:55] frontier? Is there a is there a is there

[4:57] a schedule which you have any feel for?

[5:00] >> Yes, I have a very good sense of it.

[5:02] It's going to take about 20 to 24 hours.

[5:04] I mean, we are talking here about

[5:06] multiple entry points, as you've

[5:08] indicated. Uh, and when I talk about

[5:11] multiple entry points, I'm only speaking

[5:13] of the 10,000 vehicles for the third

[5:15] infantry division, not the Marines. Uh,

[5:18] but these guys are going to be passing

[5:20] through these multiple entry points for

[5:22] 20 to 24 hours before they are all

[5:25] inside Iraq.

[5:26] >> Okay, Ted, we'll wait for your pictures.

[5:28] Is there anything you want to add at the

[5:30] moment?

[5:31] >> No, I think that's it. I just wanted you

[5:33] to know that it started.

[5:35] >> Okay, much appreciated. Ted Coffell with

[5:37] the Third Infantry Division. And if you

[5:38] were look at a map of Iraq now, we'll

[5:40] invite our military consultant, Tony

[5:42] Consultant, Tony Cordisman, in here to

[5:44] help us with this. This is the invasion

[5:46] on the left side of the line of

[5:49] departure on the western side. Uh if you

[5:52] just zoom in on the map, you'll see the

[5:55] left side is largely desert. And the

[5:56] third infantry also has believed from

[5:58] the beginning that they'd have a fairly

[6:00] open path going out in the western

[6:02] desert uh all the way up at least

[6:04] parallel to Baghdad. Tony Cordisman,

[6:06] tell us what else we should know at the

[6:08] moment.

[6:09] >> Well, Peter, you've outlined the core

[6:11] part of this because they're coming up

[6:13] through here. Now, all the other units,

[6:16] the Marines, the British Army units are

[6:18] in areas where there could be water

[6:20] barriers and water crossings. These

[6:23] forces coming out of the army are coming

[6:25] up a line of advance where there are

[6:27] still some water crossings, but most of

[6:30] the road up to Baghdad is going to be

[6:33] relatively dry, relatively quick. They

[6:36] can either bypass a lot of these towns

[6:39] through the desert or potentially seize

[6:42] a six-lane highway. And if they have the

[6:45] backing of helicopters, perhaps even use

[6:47] that to get to Baghdad quickly. Let me

[6:50] just give you stay on your map for just

[6:51] a second there. You've got that little

[6:52] down the left hand side there, Nasaria.

[6:54] That's about 230 mi from Baghdad if I

[6:57] recall. And it's on the Euphrates and

[6:59] it's surrounded by marshes in the in the

[7:02] Euphrates Valley there. Does that mean

[7:04] that the tanks will stay west of Nasaria

[7:06] and and just stay in the desert heading

[7:08] northwest?

[7:10] Peter, once they get out of this area

[7:13] here, there are water barriers, canals,

[7:16] rivers through the area. There are also

[7:19] other bridges simply for vioaducts and

[7:21] so on. But this is not the heavy marsh

[7:25] area. To get to the area where there

[7:28] really major water barriers, you really

[7:30] have to be in and around here. So is

[7:33] this going to be easy? No. But do they

[7:35] face the kind of water barriers they

[7:37] would over here? It is easier to move

[7:40] through there. Of course, sooner or

[7:42] later, as they curve back toward

[7:44] Baghdad, they'd either have to loop all

[7:47] the way to the desert and then go

[7:49] between the lakes to the west of Baghdad

[7:52] or they'd hit water barriers near some

[7:54] of the Shi shrine cities.

[7:56] >> Okay, let me go back to that map again

[7:58] and ask you another question then. Does

[8:00] do do you believe that the army is going

[8:01] to go to the east of Naseria or is it

[8:04] going to stay? We take a look at our

[8:05] aerial map here. We have some sense of

[8:07] of what this is actually what the

[8:08] terrain looks like. So the very light

[8:10] brown is desert and the inn, as you can

[8:11] see, slightly hilly in some places and

[8:14] full of marshes. Do we believe that the

[8:15] army will stay outside in the desert or

[8:18] will go inside and have to go through

[8:20] some of that marsh land? Peter, normally

[8:22] I'd say they'd go east, but there's a

[8:25] lot of innovation here. We don't know

[8:27] what's happening with the 101st Air

[8:29] Mobile Division. We don't know what the

[8:31] 82nd is doing. What could happen would

[8:35] be that these land forces might go both

[8:37] east and then up one of the main roads

[8:40] using helicopters perhaps to brush some

[8:42] of the Iraqi forces out of the way. And

[8:46] one of the advantages here is at least

[8:49] to the east there are no Iraqi major

[8:51] divisions at all. And if they go up the

[8:54] other route they can go a long way

[8:56] before they hit the Republican guards.

[8:58] Once again, US forces going in, going

[9:01] towards Nasaria, are passing another

[9:03] hugely historic place in the history of

[9:06] man. About 11 miles to the southwest of

[9:09] that circle, perhaps even within that

[9:10] circle, is a place called Ur, uh the

[9:14] birthplace of Abraham.

[9:16] And no matter where US forces go in

[9:20] Iraq, they are they are wandering and

[9:23] attacking and driving through and near

[9:25] and by uh some of the great cradle

[9:29] places of civilization. And one of them

[9:31] as they go in tonight, Ted Cppel having

[9:33] said the first division has the third

[9:35] division has crossed into Iraq now will

[9:38] be close to Ur now. Uh Ted is back.

[9:46] Okay, Ted Cppel said he was going to try

[9:48] to get a camera up this morning. Hey,

[9:49] Ted, it's yours again.

[9:54] >> Uh, Peter, can you hear me? Very

[9:56] clearly, Ted. Go ahead.

[10:00] All right. Excellent. I I I must say I

[10:03] was trying to think of I was trying to

[10:05] think of something that would be

[10:06] appropriate to say on an occasion like

[10:08] this. And as is often the case, the best

[10:10] you can come up with is something that

[10:12] Shakespeare wrote for Henry V. wreak

[10:14] havoc and unleash the dogs of war. And

[10:17] there they start moving into Iraq. Uh,

[10:20] you know, I spoke to you just a few

[10:21] minutes ago as the very first vehicles

[10:23] went in. Uh, I'm going to ask the

[10:25] cameraman just to pan over now, and you

[10:27] can watch this really endless line. Uh,

[10:31] there's a Bradley fighting vehicle going

[10:33] by right now. A couple of them passing

[10:35] through the border. Uh, and the line

[10:38] stretches in the other direction as far

[10:40] as I can see, Peter.

[10:42] And so what kind of a night has it been?

[10:45] For example, there's a large berm behind

[10:47] you which looks like it has been broken

[10:49] through. Is that what they spend the

[10:50] night doing, creating these openings?

[10:56] Actually, Peter, I have a feeling that

[10:58] there have been uh engineers and special

[11:02] ops forces in here for quite a long

[11:05] time. And uh this last BM they just

[11:08] broke through, I guess, during the

[11:10] course of the night. There is another

[11:12] burm about five miles out. They had

[11:14] broken through that. Uh they quite

[11:16] literally just left the barbed wire in

[11:18] place, although I think they'd even snip

[11:20] that before uh before the invasion

[11:23] began. But symbolically that barbed wire

[11:25] was the last thing standing between

[11:27] these ground forces and Iraq.

[11:30] >> So talk to us a little bit now about

[11:31] logistics because you talked about the

[11:33] Abrams going in first at the moment and

[11:36] they're the greatest gas guzzler in the

[11:38] US military. So, where's all the

[11:40] refueling trucks for them? Right behind.

[11:45] >> Uh, the refueling trucks are coming. And

[11:47] Peter, uh, I'm trying to remember now. I

[11:49] think there are 350

[11:52] uh, of the oil tankers. Each oil tanker

[11:55] carries some 5,000 gallons. Uh, and I

[11:58] did the math before. I couldn't do it

[12:00] otherwise this early in the morning.

[12:02] 1,750,000

[12:05] gallons of fuel that they are bringing

[12:07] with them. and they have built a

[12:09] pipeline uh through northern Kuwait all

[12:12] the way to the border here. Uh and over

[12:15] these next few days, among the other

[12:17] things they'll be doing is laying

[12:18] pipeline because they're going to be

[12:20] pumping oil all the way up from Kuwait

[12:24] into Iraq simply to support this

[12:26] enormous armored force.

[12:28] >> Talk to us a little bit about the Abrams

[12:30] tank. It is the principal tank in the in

[12:32] the US military. It is vastly superior

[12:34] to the Iraqi tank even though the Iraqis

[12:36] have some extremely good Russian tanks.

[12:41] It is the uh it is the biggest the

[12:44] baddest tank in the world and they are

[12:46] enormously proud of it. It has got huge

[12:48] firepower and it is at least from the

[12:50] front and as you know Peter tankers

[12:53] maneuver so that they can try and

[12:54] approach each other so that they are

[12:56] coming from the front. The front of the

[12:59] Abrams tank is essentially in

[13:01] invulnerable to anything that any other

[13:03] tank can throw at it. Now, if they can

[13:05] get it from the top, if they can get it

[13:07] from the side, they can probably knock

[13:09] the tread off, but it's an enormously

[13:11] powerful tank and it has huge firepower

[13:13] with it. And once you get into Iraq, the

[13:15] Abrams has the extraordinary advantage

[13:18] over the Iraqis of being able to fight

[13:19] at a greater distance.

[13:24] >> Uh, you of course have put your finger

[13:27] right on it. They can uh they can fire

[13:29] from a distance of over 2 miles with

[13:31] extraordinary accuracy. And I believe

[13:34] that the death that the Russian tanks

[13:35] have is probably about a mile and a

[13:37] quarter or a mile and a half. So they

[13:39] can stand off and they can be killing

[13:41] enemy tanks and the enemy can't even uh

[13:45] can't even approach them.

[13:46] >> Would you mind asking your cameraman to

[13:48] show us as as as much as we can within

[13:51] your limitations of the environment

[13:53] you're in?

[13:55] I I was just about to uh I was just

[13:58] about to ask him to do that. Alex, if

[14:00] you would just turn the camera around so

[14:02] that they can see this long line.

[14:06] >> This is Alex Brookner.

[14:07] >> Peter, we will uh we'll see.

[14:14] I I hope you'll forgive me, Peter, if on

[14:16] this occasion I say not one of our He's

[14:18] the best cameraman we've got.

[14:19] >> Alex Brookner. He's an Austrian.

[14:21] >> Certainly this morning.

[14:22] >> That's right. His sound recordist is his

[14:24] is his wife. They have seen an

[14:27] extraordinary amount of service for ABC

[14:29] in many many parts of the world. They've

[14:30] been in combat more times than I think

[14:32] they like. But when Ted went off uh uh

[14:35] to be embedded with uh the third

[14:38] infantry, he was not dumb. He took Alex

[14:41] Buckner with him who's a great

[14:42] cameraman.

[14:51] You can see the line just stretching off

[14:52] into the distance, Peter. And and you

[14:55] can see what is the bane of our

[14:56] existence out here. Those white clouds

[14:59] are just clouds of very very fine sand.

[15:03] It gets into everything. It gets into

[15:06] the machinery. It gets into our eyes,

[15:09] nose, mouth. Uh and it's almost

[15:13] impossible to stay away from it. And of

[15:15] course when you're in convoy uh with

[15:18] these kinds of vehicles, the dust is

[15:20] just everywhere.

[15:22] >> Ted, there was quite a lot of talk

[15:24] before the third infantry crossed over

[15:26] that the goal here was to move rapidly

[15:29] uh towards Baghdad and did not expect to

[15:32] meet any significant opposition, I think

[15:34] you said. But as we're seeing from the

[15:36] pictures today, the infantry only moves

[15:39] as fast as its slowest vehicle. So, what

[15:42] does that mean in terms of overall

[15:44] speed?

[15:47] >> Well, I'm I'm not sure that's entirely

[15:50] true, Peter. Um the uh the business

[15:52] about moving as fast as their slowest

[15:54] vehicle. Had they found uh that they

[15:57] were successful yesterday in killing

[16:00] Saddam Hussein, I think you would have

[16:02] seen all the fastest vehicles moving up

[16:04] to Baghdad probably in a day uh or a day

[16:08] and a half. uh as things stand and and

[16:10] you'll have to tell me because uh I

[16:13] don't have that information. I assume

[16:14] that Saddam is still alive or or don't

[16:18] they know?

[16:19] >> I I I think they don't know. I think the

[16:21] general consensus at the moment is that

[16:23] uh is that it was when he appeared on

[16:25] television or when somebody appeared on

[16:27] television speaking to the Iraqi people

[16:28] today, it was Saddam Hussein. But it's

[16:31] only the general consensus of analysts.

[16:33] I don't think anybody knows absolutely

[16:35] for sure at this point.

[16:40] Well, uh, since they don't know and

[16:43] since I guess the assumption has to be

[16:45] that he's still alive, uh, the drive

[16:47] toward Baghdad is something that will

[16:51] begin probably in another day or so, but

[16:55] uh, there's some other business that has

[16:56] to be taken care of in some locations

[16:59] here in the south, and you'll be hearing

[17:01] about those over the course of the next

[17:03] couple of days. Uh my assumption is that

[17:05] it would uh it'll probably take us about

[17:08] uh four or five days at the least to get

[17:10] up to Baghdad now.

[17:12] >> Okay, Ted. Anything? You can come back

[17:14] anytime you want. Anything else for the

[17:15] moment?

[17:19] >> Well, I just think Peter, we ought to

[17:21] take note of the of the significance of

[17:23] what is happening here because this is

[17:25] an invasion that in this particular case

[17:28] of course was not prompted by any

[17:30] invasion of the United States. Uh I know

[17:34] that members of the administration have

[17:36] been uh creating a tenuous linkage

[17:39] between al-Qaeda and the Iraqis uh so

[17:43] that there is that linkage between 9/11

[17:47] uh and what's happening here now. But

[17:48] this is a more proactive preemptive kind

[17:52] of operation uh certainly a larger

[17:55] preemptive operation than I think the

[17:57] United States of America has ever

[17:59] engaged in. Uh, and whichever way it

[18:02] goes, I think it's going to shift the

[18:04] plates of the world.

[18:05] >> Something else you could do for us at

[18:07] the moment, Ted, while we just keep our

[18:09] camera, keep Alex pointed at the various

[18:11] pieces of equipment going by, is to

[18:14] describe a little more the actual

[18:16] armament that is going in. We're looking

[18:17] at the Abrams now. Uh, there's an

[18:20] armored bulldozer, I think, behind one

[18:22] of those Abrams. Um, but the capacity of

[18:26] this armored division is really quite

[18:28] extraordinary and and more modern in the

[18:32] last 10 years since the Gulf War uh than

[18:35] anybody had ever anticipated. Correct.

[18:40] >> No, you're exactly right. And in many

[18:42] ways, the most modern thing about it is

[18:44] not even its fighting capability. I'm

[18:47] talking now of the Abrams tanks and the

[18:49] Bradley fighting vehicle. Uh but the

[18:52] communications that exist in each one of

[18:55] these uh vehicles with command which is

[18:58] also mobile. Uh we have a uh a fairly

[19:02] significant uh command post mobile

[19:05] command post that is occupied by General

[19:07] Blunt. Uh and uh inside he has uh both

[19:13] satellite capabilities, computer

[19:14] capabilities. All this information is

[19:16] fed into the computers and can be

[19:19] immediately transmit not over field

[19:22] telephone but immediately transmitted uh

[19:25] by touching the screen. The icons will

[19:27] move and he can give directions to any

[19:30] of these tank commanders. I mean quite

[19:31] literally an individual tank commander

[19:34] or they if they are going into action

[19:36] can communicate back to the commanding

[19:38] general who can then distribute the

[19:40] information all around. So, the

[19:42] communications I would say is the

[19:44] biggest difference in in terms of their

[19:46] fighting capability right now. Um, I'

[19:49] I'd like Peter uh just to draw your

[19:51] attention. Alex, if you could just get a

[19:53] shot of that. You see the panel on the

[19:55] side of the uh of the tank

[19:59] >> or corrugated panel, Peter, on the side

[20:02] of the tank.

[20:03] >> I do. That's actually the

[20:06] Thank you. That that is that's Yes, you

[20:09] are right. We are looking at a Bradley.

[20:11] Um that corrugated panel uh enables

[20:15] there there were a lot of instances of

[20:18] fratricside

[20:19] >> right

[20:19] >> during operation desert storm and those

[20:23] panels uh allow any fighting vehicle out

[20:27] here and any aircraft to immediately

[20:30] identify that vehicle as belonging to

[20:32] the US army. So they are hoping that the

[20:35] instances of fratricside will be kept

[20:37] down to an absolute minimum. And maybe

[20:39] you could ask Alex to pan back for just

[20:41] a second to the left to pick up those

[20:42] guys who have, to their great relief, I

[20:44] think, got out of the back of their

[20:45] Bradley fighting vehicle. It's slightly

[20:47] misnamed as a fighting vehicle. It does

[20:50] have a 25mm cannon on the top and it

[20:52] does have an additional machine gun, but

[20:54] it is principally a transporter of men.

[20:57] And if they have to sit in the back,

[20:59] they tell us that it's good, decent

[21:02] accommodation for six people. And

[21:04] sometimes they've got 10 people in the

[21:06] back. And if you've got seven or eight

[21:08] people in full chemical suits, as you've

[21:10] seen Ted wearing at the moment, it is

[21:12] about as uncomfortable as you can get.

[21:15] And you do not want to be a driver of a

[21:17] Bradley fighting vehicle. I think Ted,

[21:19] if you're if you're taller than 5'4.

[21:25] Uh I can uh I'm just a little bit taller

[21:28] than 5'4 and I was inside a Bradley

[21:31] fighting vehicle the other day and

[21:32] you're absolutely absolutely right. Very

[21:34] very little room. the squads. Actually,

[21:37] you're leading into an interesting line

[21:39] of discussion because the uh Bradley

[21:41] fighting vehicle normally takes a squad

[21:43] of seven. But in point of fact, the

[21:46] infantrymen, as you and I remember him

[21:49] from uh World War II days or or Korean

[21:52] days or even Vietnam, the in the days of

[21:55] the infantrymen are not quite over, but

[21:59] they are certainly diminished. This is a

[22:02] mechanized infantry division and out of

[22:05] 20,000 men only 1,200 of them uh are

[22:08] actually infantrymen in the sense of on

[22:11] occasion having to get out and walk. Uh

[22:13] this is not one of those occasions.

[22:15] Everybody rides today.

[22:17] >> I just wanted to add one more thing and

[22:19] perhaps you can do it even better than I

[22:21] can about these thermal imaging panels

[22:23] which are on the side. They're sometimes

[22:25] on the roof. You can also see them for

[22:27] example on that vehicle just going by.

[22:28] You can see them on the back of a

[22:30] fighting vehicle as well. But they this

[22:33] is another example of the extraordinary

[22:35] technology which is available to US

[22:38] forces this time because it is the heat

[22:40] pattern from trucks and jeeps and

[22:43] Bradley fighting vehicles and tanks that

[22:45] airplanes and gunners pick up through

[22:46] their thermal imaging devices. Have I

[22:48] got that right, Ted?

[22:52] >> That's exactly right. Now those side

[22:54] panels of course would be visible to

[22:56] other ground forces. What they have is a

[22:59] special tape that uh is put on top of

[23:02] each of these vehicles. And that tape is

[23:05] visible from uh I'm told 13,000 ft up.

[23:11] I grant you it is quite an amazing site

[23:14] to see. You said I thought 10,000

[23:18] vehicles in this uh in this entire

[23:22] movement of the third infantry division

[23:24] moving forward.

[23:28] That's exactly right. And there you see

[23:29] one of the tankers going through. And uh

[23:32] uh the men, you should know, have been

[23:35] told

[23:36] uh that they were to bring enough MREs,

[23:40] meals ready to eat, enough food for 5 to

[23:43] 7 days, enough water for 5 to 7 days.

[23:47] And that adds up to an enormous amount

[23:49] of water because out here, Peter, it's

[23:51] still quite brisk and chilly uh because

[23:54] it's uh shortly after dawn, the sun is

[23:56] just rising. But the men here are told

[23:59] that they should uh try to consume 3 L

[24:02] of water every day. Uh and so 3 L of

[24:06] water per man times 7 uh just to carry

[24:09] 21 L of water for each man. Uh you can

[24:13] imagine how stuffed uh those vehicles

[24:16] are. And if you look at the side of

[24:18] them, you can see that the men's duffel

[24:19] bags are on the side. One of the things

[24:21] that everyone is concerned about, of

[24:23] course, is if in the the wonderful new

[24:26] parliament of the of the modern GI, if

[24:29] they get slimed, they borrowed that of

[24:31] course from Ghostbusters, what they're

[24:33] talking about is if they get hit by

[24:35] chemical or biological weapons,

[24:37] everything on the outside of these

[24:39] vehicles is gone. all of their gear uh

[24:43] which they tend to hang from the outside

[24:45] of these Bradleys and these tanks uh has

[24:48] to be disposed of because they're not

[24:50] going to be able to save it. But as we

[24:52] watch these uh tanks and there again is

[24:54] an armored bulldozer going forward. Um

[24:57] reminded to add the importance of these

[24:59] panels on all of these vehicles because

[25:01] in Desert Storm in 1991 looking back at

[25:04] my factbook friendly fire uh fratricside

[25:07] as it's often referred to in the

[25:09] military or blue onblue casualties

[25:11] accounted for 24% of US combat deaths.

[25:14] So this is a not only a huge but a

[25:16] necessary step forward.

[25:20] Ted, I must say, um, the microphone

[25:23] you're using will remind some of our

[25:25] viewers of reporting from Britain

[25:27] during, uh, the Second World War because

[25:31] that was that's a sound exterior sound

[25:33] suppressing microphone, which you very

[25:35] rarely ever see in the field.

[25:38] >> Yeah. Which, well, you and I call them

[25:41] lip mics. And, uh, we use them when

[25:43] there's a lot of extraneous noise. And

[25:46] as you can imagine, with all this heavy

[25:48] armor rolling by, we thought there would

[25:49] be so much noise that if we used one of

[25:52] our more modern uh and tinier

[25:54] microphones, all you would hear is the

[25:56] sound of the armor and uh we wouldn't be

[25:59] able to talk to one another.

[26:00] >> All right, Ted, while you and I have

[26:02] been chatting, our our principal

[26:03] military analyst, Tony Cordisman, has

[26:05] been listening to us. If we could just

[26:06] keep your camera up for a second, we'll

[26:08] invite Tony to come in and give us some

[26:10] sense of the overall tactic here, Tony,

[26:13] for the third in infantry division.

[26:17] Well, I think one of the keys, Peter,

[26:19] here and what you're seeing by going

[26:21] into the desert is to try to avoid

[26:24] all of the regular Iraqi units as long

[26:27] as possible.

[26:29] You probably may even be able to drive

[26:31] the Republican guards back on Baghdad.

[26:34] That gives the army the maximum speed.

[26:37] The difficulty where Ted is, we're not

[26:40] sure of the position he's using. It's

[26:42] easy to draw these lines on the map, but

[26:44] sooner or later there are bridge

[26:47] crossings. You have to go across the

[26:49] Euphrates. If you go into that main

[26:51] road, there's something like 40 bridges

[26:53] in that area.

[26:54] >> Mhm.

[26:55] >> And there are Republican guards

[26:56] divisions in here. There's the

[26:58] possibility of chemical weapons and

[27:01] you've got two cores of the regular

[27:02] army. Now, if the regular army stays in

[27:05] place because of the air, if the

[27:08] Republican guards is cut up and Ted's

[27:11] forces, the forces Ted's are with can

[27:14] move through these areas, we could be in

[27:16] Baghdad in a couple of days, if the

[27:19] Iraqis fight well and the US and British

[27:22] forces meet serious resistance, it could

[27:24] be a different story.

[27:25] >> You use the phrase core with reference

[27:28] to the Iraqi army. What is a core in

[27:31] Iraqi terms?

[27:33] Well, it differs according to where they

[27:37] are, but down in the area in the south,

[27:41] there is one core with three divisions.

[27:43] That's a heavy core by the standards of

[27:46] the Iraqis. It has a mechanized

[27:48] division, an armored division, and an

[27:50] infantry division. There's another

[27:53] regular army corps that has three

[27:55] divisions, but only one of those

[27:57] divisions has real tank strength. The

[28:00] other two are infantry.

[28:02] And again, when we look at the forces

[28:04] Ted is with, these US forces are all

[28:08] professional, all trained, all

[28:10] volunteers in the Iraqi forces. Almost

[28:14] all of the infantry divisions are

[28:16] low-grade conscripts. Many of them are

[28:19] Shiite. Some of them even are

[28:21] assimilated Kurds. They have far less

[28:24] incentive to fight. Very little

[28:26] training, very little professionalism.

[28:29] Let me call on now someone who has more

[28:30] experience with this than the rest of us

[28:33] all put together and that's Major

[28:34] General William Nash who's one of our

[28:36] analysts. He's currently a fellow at the

[28:38] Council on Foreign Relations in New York

[28:40] City though based in Washington. But in

[28:42] the Gulf War he was commander of the

[28:44] first brigade of the third armored

[28:47] division which is now defunct during

[28:49] Desert Storm and they were part of the

[28:51] main attack from Saudi Arabia into Iraq

[28:53] and fought the Republican guard. So,

[28:56] General Nash, if you wouldn't mind, as

[28:58] we watch this procession of tanks and

[29:00] Bradley fighting vehicles and bridge

[29:02] building equipment go by, what would you

[29:04] be thinking? For one thing, where is the

[29:06] air cover at the moment, or is it

[29:08] necessary?

[29:10] Well, I'm sure that uh Colonel uh

[29:12] General uh Bu General Buford's got uh

[29:16] his uh air cavalry assets out in front

[29:18] of the division at this point

[29:20] >> uh conducting reconnaissance and

[29:23] surveillance to his front and flanks as

[29:25] he moves through.

[29:27] >> Uh there's no need for air cover over

[29:29] the column. Uh the fact that the the

[29:32] Iraqi forces don't pose an air threat to

[29:34] him. Uh what he's trying to do now is

[29:37] get the division through the BMS. The

[29:39] brigade commanders and the battalion

[29:41] commanders. As soon as they clear the

[29:43] burm areas, they'll go into combat

[29:45] formations that will allow the the

[29:48] column to widen. The forces will widen.

[29:51] Uh they will also be able to close up

[29:54] and uh they'll start picking up the pace

[29:56] of their movement to around 15 m an hour

[30:00] across the desert. Now, if you wouldn't

[30:02] mind, if you wouldn't mind doing the

[30:03] math for us, just break it down for

[30:06] people who are not so familiar. How many

[30:08] men and how much equipment in a

[30:10] division? How many men and the equipment

[30:12] in a battalion? And break it down even

[30:14] further. How many how much equipment and

[30:17] how many men in a brigade?

[30:19] >> Well, to begin with, let's start with

[30:21] the company, Peter. And there's about uh

[30:24] in a tank company

[30:26] uh there are uh there well there used to

[30:30] be 17 I'm talking like an old sort of 15

[30:32] tanks

[30:33] >> right

[30:34] >> uh and with about 100 soldiers a little

[30:37] bit less than 100

[30:38] >> right

[30:38] >> three three to four companies per

[30:40] battalion with their support troops

[30:42] that's 500 folks

[30:45] >> uh three to four maneuver battalions in

[30:47] a brigade plus artillery plus engineers

[30:50] plus logistical report probably for this

[30:53] operation uh third infantry division

[30:55] brigades are running about 5,000

[30:57] soldiers.

[30:59] >> You put the division together, three

[31:01] brigades plus their artillery uh plus

[31:04] their aviation plus their logistics plus

[31:07] their engineers, uh you're up in the 15

[31:10] to 20,000 uh soldier range. So the the

[31:13] third infantry division as we see it

[31:15] proceeding across the frontier today in

[31:18] front of us about 6:30 in the morning uh

[31:21] their time is somewhere between 15 and

[31:24] 20,000 men and how many tanks?

[31:26] >> Uh he's probably running about 350 tanks

[31:30] uh and a few more uh Bradley fighting

[31:33] vehicles.

[31:33] >> All right, let me raise the the bar just

[31:35] one more time. Many of these divisions

[31:37] and these briades

[31:38] >> Peter. Yes, Ted. Go ahead. Who look

[31:41] >> Peter? Can I let me just jump in for a

[31:44] moment? Uh, you can probably see that a

[31:47] bridge is being put in place across a

[31:50] massive ditch that the Iraqis had built.

[31:52] Can you see it through the dust and

[31:54] between the vehicles as they go by? They

[31:57] are laying that bridge right now. And uh

[31:59] I'm sure I'm sure the general can

[32:01] explain to you uh how helpful that is

[32:04] and how quickly it's going to enable

[32:06] them to open up uh a new path through

[32:08] the Burm here. Well, Ted, you're doing a

[32:11] very good job by yourself. Uh, there are

[32:14] a lot of ditches there on either side of

[32:15] the burm. These burms were partly built

[32:17] by the Kuwaitis on this side and partly

[32:18] built by the Iraqis. Correct.

[32:23] >> Yeah, I suspect that the the one you're

[32:25] looking at right now was probably built

[32:26] by the Kuwaitis. This is the uh the last

[32:30] little bit of Kuwait that these uh

[32:32] armored vehicles are passing through

[32:34] right now. Uh but this will enable them

[32:36] to uh to open up yet another path.

[32:39] You've seen them all following this one

[32:41] path through the Burm. Uh and now that

[32:44] they have bridged that uh ditch uh about

[32:47] a 100 meters over uh I suspect that very

[32:50] soon you'll start seeing vehicles going

[32:52] over that one too.

[32:55] >> We've just had Ted

[32:56] >> What's 60 ft?

[32:57] >> You you you cannot see it, but we've

[32:59] just had one of those uh rare graphic

[33:02] renditions of a bridge of of a piece of

[33:04] equipment that was absolutely perfectly

[33:06] fit with your description. And this, of

[33:08] course, General, will enable them to

[33:09] send two columns forward, not merely

[33:11] one. Am I correct,

[33:15] General Nash?

[33:17] >> Uh, right. That may well have been just

[33:19] an exercise there. Yeah.

[33:21] >> Because, uh, the launch uh the the

[33:24] bridge vehicle was uh exercising it

[33:27] capacity in that particular picture. I'm

[33:29] sure the division is using two to three

[33:32] uh uh crossing sites at this point as

[33:35] they move north. uh a division on a

[33:39] >> actually uh if if if I may, General

[33:43] Nash, if I may, just for a moment, uh

[33:45] it's it's far more than two or three. Uh

[33:49] and if if it were two or three, it would

[33:51] take them two or three days to get all

[33:52] this armor through here. Uh they're

[33:54] going to be moving at uh well, I guess

[33:57] now that they're doing it, there's no

[33:59] secret to it anymore. They're going to

[34:00] be moving through anywhere from 8 to 12

[34:03] uh crossing points.

[34:06] And that's and that's absolutely

[34:08] necessary speed that they get.

[34:13] >> Absolutely. And and you can see one of

[34:15] those bridges quite literally rolling

[34:17] bridges

[34:19] the crew members are are waving at us

[34:21] here. I must say uh in addition to all

[34:23] the armor uh that is going through here

[34:25] and all the equipment that these guys

[34:27] carry, I have yet to meet a trooper out

[34:30] here who doesn't carry his own camera.

[34:32] And we have probably been photographed

[34:33] more than we are photographing.

[34:37] >> So So General Dash, continue.

[34:39] >> All right. Hold on. We have uh

[34:43] >> Yes. As a matter of fact, I've got uh if

[34:45] you'll swing the camera around, Alex,

[34:47] please. Uh this is Lieutenant Colonel

[34:50] Bayer. Uh Colonel, why don't you tell

[34:53] them what it is you do uh at the

[34:55] division here,

[34:56] >> sir? I'm the uh G3 operations officer

[34:59] for the Third Infantry Division. And in

[35:01] in English, G3 means what?

[35:03] >> I'm the I'm in charge of uh planning,

[35:05] operations, training. Uh so what you see

[35:08] going on here today uh has been

[35:10] developed by uh my my shop.

[35:13] >> Tell us what is going on here. What are

[35:15] we seeing as and and how many different

[35:17] locations along the along the border

[35:19] between Kuwait and Iraq is this

[35:21] happening?

[35:22] >> Uh for the third infantry division,

[35:24] we've got uh eight separate crossings

[35:26] ongoing now that all look very similar

[35:28] to what you see uh here.

[35:30] uh with uh several brigade combat teams

[35:33] currently crossing into Iraq.

[35:35] >> Uh when exactly were the final

[35:37] preparations made here? In other words,

[35:39] when did you breach the last BM?

[35:41] >> The uh the BMS were breached uh

[35:44] yesterday uh completed during the night

[35:46] in the hours of darkness uh with uh no

[35:49] issues.

[35:51] >> Uh one of the great concerns of course

[35:53] as you head into Iraq has got to be the

[35:55] possibility of minefields. How do you

[35:57] handle those? Well, you in fact you see

[36:00] right here engineers crossing through

[36:02] the burm right now. Uh those are

[36:04] specially trained soldiers who can deal

[36:06] with uh breaching conventional and

[36:09] unconventional minefields. Uh so far

[36:11] I've had not have had no issues with uh

[36:14] minefields. Since you're in charge of

[36:16] planning, tell us how you plan for that.

[36:17] Uh maybe you can sort of give us a word

[36:19] picture as we're watching some of these

[36:21] vehicles go by uh of how in fact a

[36:25] division like this manages to cross

[36:27] through a minefield with minimal and one

[36:30] would hope no harm to any of the

[36:32] American soldiers.

[36:33] >> Well, it all starts with uh

[36:34] intelligence. We've had a pretty good

[36:36] picture of Saddam and the Iraqi army

[36:38] over the last 12 years. Uh so we uh

[36:41] we've been able to determine how his

[36:43] forces were disposed and where he has

[36:46] developed u obstacles to uh to an attack

[36:52] and as a result of that then we apply uh

[36:56] well we try to avoid them to start with

[36:58] but if we can't avoid them we utilize

[37:01] the well-trained soldiers that you see

[37:03] here.

[37:03] >> Tell me about some of the equipment

[37:05] though. I'm particularly interested in

[37:06] that. I was describing it to Peter

[37:08] Jennings who's on with us right now. Uh

[37:12] you have something that is almost like a

[37:14] catapult that flings little bomblelets

[37:16] over a minefield. Why don't you describe

[37:18] it in and somewhat more with somewhat

[37:20] more expertise? I

[37:21] >> I think what you're uh referring to is

[37:23] what we call the Miklick, which is a uh

[37:25] it's essentially a rocket uh that the

[37:27] engineers employ uh fires about 100

[37:30] meters in depth. uh large explosive

[37:33] charge that'll clear a lane 16 m wide uh

[37:37] and free it of surface laid mines. Also

[37:41] does a pretty good job of mines that are

[37:42] buried underneath the ground. Very very

[37:44] effective.

[37:45] >> You've been planning for this now for

[37:46] the better part of a year. Uh there

[37:48] there actually seems to be a smile of

[37:50] satisfaction on your face. I mean this

[37:51] is going pretty well for you. Uh

[37:53] >> so far it's going great. Uh that's due

[37:55] to the great soldiers you see passing

[37:57] through right now. Uh, but it's been a

[37:59] long road and we are ready to do our

[38:01] job.

[38:02] >> Colonel Bear, thank you very much.

[38:03] Appreciate it.

[38:04] >> Ted, can I get one more question to you?

[38:06] I was going to ask if we get one more

[38:08] question to the colonel, but maybe you

[38:09] know.

[38:09] >> Uh, well,

[38:10] >> that's okay. Maybe you know the answer.

[38:12] >> I'm I'm I'm afraid the the colonel is

[38:15] gone. Go ahead.

[38:15] >> Yeah. No, I saw that. Um, it's very

[38:17] interesting. By the way, the the United

[38:19] States has resisted joining the rest of

[38:20] the world in terms of meters and

[38:22] centimeters, but all the military uses

[38:24] meters instead of yards. But does he

[38:26] know how far in advance minefields are

[38:30] at this point? Do they know what sort of

[38:32] opposition they found? How deep into

[38:34] Iraq at this point?

[38:39] >> Um I I mean I spoke to General Blunt

[38:42] just a couple of days ago about that

[38:44] very question. They don't seem to be

[38:45] terribly concerned about minefields,

[38:47] Peter. Uh I mean I suspect they may find

[38:50] some as we move deeper into the country.

[38:52] Uh but here uh as you heard from uh from

[38:57] Colonel Bayer uh they've had pretty good

[38:59] intelligence and they've been scoping

[39:01] this place out for a long long time and

[39:04] I think they're very confident of what

[39:05] they're going to find in the next few

[39:06] miles now. Just last night there was uh

[39:10] not exactly a tank battle because it was

[39:13] only the Iraqi tanks on one side uh and

[39:15] I suspect they were using the Apache

[39:17] Longbow helicopters on the other. Uh but

[39:20] they destroyed some 11 Iraqi tanks here

[39:22] last night. Apparently the Iraqi army

[39:25] had moved down uh a uh a tank company uh

[39:30] in an effort, I suppose, to try and

[39:32] impede this crossing. Uh but those tanks

[39:35] are no more.

[39:36] >> You mentioned that at the very beginning

[39:37] of your report. Do we know how deep into

[39:39] the country the 11 tanks were? And

[39:41] finally, at least for this report, are

[39:43] you free to go forward at any time you

[39:46] want now and join that column?

[39:52] Uh yes, we'll uh we'll be right in the

[39:55] middle of that uh right in the middle of

[39:57] that dust. And uh I can assure you,

[39:59] Peter, we'll try and pull in behind

[40:01] something small, but there isn't

[40:02] anything small out here.

[40:05] >> So, is it your inclination to go forward

[40:06] now and and check in with us a little

[40:08] later on?

[40:12] Uh well, what I'm going to try and do,

[40:14] General Blunt was going to go up in his

[40:16] uh in his helicopter. I don't know

[40:17] whether it's clear enough for him to get

[40:20] an overview, but uh if he was going to

[40:22] go up in his Blackhawk, I was going to

[40:23] go up with him and take a camera. And

[40:25] when I come down, we'll try and hook up

[40:27] with our satellite track again. And uh

[40:29] you can um you can be the appreciative

[40:32] audience while I bring you my vacation

[40:34] pictures.

[40:35] >> Ted, that's a great briefing.

[40:36] Congratulations to all of you. Thanks to

[40:38] Alex Brookner and to his wife, your

[40:40] sound recorders and all your unit there

[40:42] and we'll check with you next time you

[40:44] have a chance.

[40:47] >> I hope that'll be in the next couple of

[40:49] hours. Thank you, Peter.

[40:50] >> Thanks, Ed. Ted Cppel with the Third

[40:52] Infantry Division in southern Iraq. Uh

[40:54] having uh a very moving experience for

[40:58] him and his crew and for all of those

[41:00] members of the Third Infantry Division

[41:02] in southern Iraq at the moment. Um and

[41:05] they'll check back in as they move

[41:07] forward. And it is it is an example of

[41:08] two things you're seeing there. Many

[41:10] things, but it's certainly an example of

[41:12] two other things. And that is the

[41:13] astonishing technology which all of us

[41:15] now have on the battlefield. Um here is

[41:18] an ABC News crew able to pull up to the

[41:21] very edge of the Iraqi Kuwait frontier

[41:24] setup house momentarily and point to the

[41:27] skies and broadcast live in impeccable

[41:29] quality as if they were down the street.

[41:32] Um it isn't like that for everybody. On

[41:34] the other hand, some forces are moving

[41:35] very quickly. Mike Surere is on the

[41:38] eastern side of this front. Just let me

[41:40] just very quickly review. Um so Ted, the

[41:43] the tanks are across, the Bradley

[41:45] fighting vehicles are across. The

[41:46] colonel confirms there are now eight um

[41:50] crossing points at which the third

[41:52] infantry is moving across at the moment.

[41:54] Uh they think it'll take about 20 to 24

[41:56] hours to get all of these men and

[41:58] vehicles across. Uh but as General Nash

[42:00] pointed out, as they get across and they

[42:02] get out into a flatter, broader plane,

[42:04] particularly in the western side of it,

[42:06] they can move at a greater rate of speed

[42:08] than they have getting through those uh

[42:11] through those burm breaks that they have

[42:13] created, as the colonel said throughout

[42:15] the night. And Tony Cordisman of course

[42:17] made the point as they get inland uh the

[42:19] terrain is going to get a little more

[42:20] difficult particularly if they hang in

[42:22] the center of the country and don't

[42:23] swing wide and they get up around the

[42:25] city of Nasaria there the the terrain

[42:28] gets a little trickier and they will

[42:31] need that bu bridge building equipment

[42:34] that they were or they were not testing

[42:36] right conveniently in front of our

[42:39] cameras farther to the east. The Marines

[42:41] were across the border uh first uh and

[42:47] our one of our reporters with them of

[42:49] course is Mike Sur who's been up many

[42:51] times. They're traveling at a very high

[42:53] rate of speed as best we could tell and

[42:55] I think we can make contact with Mike

[42:56] again. Mike,

[42:58] >> don't come to us.

[43:00] >> Don't come to them. Okay, we'll hang

[43:02] we'll we'll hang on for just a second

[43:04] and go to Tony Cordisman, our military

[43:06] analyst. Tony, so now we have two

[43:09] considerable forces of of uh American

[43:13] fighting men in their vehicles across

[43:15] that southern border. What happens now?

[43:19] >> Well, Peter, we don't know the line of

[43:20] advance, and I should stress that, but

[43:23] if it's the Marine Force, there are a

[43:25] lot of ways they can go. They could go

[43:28] up along the rivers here. There's a

[43:31] major road net. They can go up here, but

[43:34] it's probable that they're not going to

[43:35] go up the same line that the army might

[43:38] occupy. As for the army, it has the

[43:41] choice. It can go along the desert. But

[43:44] I should note that as you get further

[43:46] and further to the west, the desert

[43:48] isn't smooth anymore. There are a lot of

[43:50] hills, rough areas. The terrain gets

[43:52] worse. Or they can find a way to cross

[43:55] the river and get into the major road

[43:58] net. And there are a lot of places they

[44:00] can do it. So really, we're watching a

[44:04] very flexible

[44:06] line of advance. And I think sometimes

[44:08] we talk about, well, there can't be any

[44:10] tactical surprise. Well, the fact is

[44:13] there can be tactical surprise because

[44:15] the Iraqis don't know how we're going to

[44:17] make that line of advance. Not only do

[44:20] they not know where we're going to hit

[44:22] them, but what's equally important, they

[44:25] have no way to know what the 101st is

[44:27] going to do with its attack helicopters,

[44:30] its air mobility, or where the 82nd

[44:32] Airborne is going. So, we're I think

[44:35] we're going to see a lot of tactical

[44:37] surprise over the next few days.

[44:39] >> Okay, Tony, thanks very much. My thanks

[44:41] to Tony Cordisman, thanks to Ted Cppel

[44:43] who were on the uh on the move at the

[44:46] moment and so is Mike Sur who is farther

[44:48] to the east with the Marines. I think we

[44:50] can now make contact. Mike?

[44:55] >> Yes, Peter. We were thinking that this

[44:57] invasion would start right about this

[44:59] time. In fact, it started 9 hours

[45:01] earlier and we've been on the move all

[45:03] night long covering much ground through

[45:05] southern Iraq and the opposition has not

[45:08] been that difficult so far. I'd like to

[45:10] bring in Lieutenant Colonel Mike who is

[45:12] a battalion commander of this tank

[45:13] battalion who led it. Uh Colonel, any

[45:16] surprises on this first invasion effort.

[45:19] Well, I think intelligence painted a

[45:20] picture to us that uh there wouldn't be

[45:22] real significant contact along our axis

[45:25] of attack. Um and that pretty much held

[45:27] true. So, no real surprises other than

[45:29] it went off at night. Didn't originally

[45:31] expect it to go off at night, but that

[45:33] complicated matter some.

[45:34] >> Colonel, when we last spoke, it was

[45:36] supposed to be starting about now. It

[45:37] ended up starting about 9 hours ago.

[45:40] What made you kick it off early?

[45:42] >> Well, the thought was that we would do a

[45:44] sequential attack is my understanding.

[45:46] Again, I can't speak for the people

[45:47] making all those decisions, but uh the

[45:50] understanding was a sequential attack to

[45:52] release some pressure in another area

[45:54] that was being attacked. So rather than

[45:56] both go at the same time, we would go

[45:57] one time and sort of put the enemy on

[45:59] his heels a little bit and let the other

[46:01] attack take place later. Peter, we'll

[46:03] try to get to probably the issues that

[46:05] the American audience is most interested

[46:07] in, and that is casualties. I know

[46:09] neither you nor I have that much

[46:11] information because we've been rolling.

[46:12] We just got out of the tank a few

[46:14] minutes ago. Any indications of any

[46:16] casualties along your route of access?

[46:18] >> Not that I know. Not along our route. I

[46:20] can only speak for my battalion. We were

[46:22] the point of main effort heading north

[46:24] and no casualties within my battalion.

[46:26] We had pretty uneventful trip. So, what

[46:27] about enemy contact? How many vehicles

[46:29] did you confront and have destroyed?

[46:31] Well, we're still totaling those numbers

[46:33] and it's difficult to tell at night uh

[46:35] at long ranges what was occupied, what

[46:37] wasn't, but uh best count right now is

[46:40] seven armored vehicles. We destroyed mix

[46:42] of personnel carriers and tanks, older

[46:44] vintage tanks, T-55 types. Uh only a

[46:48] couple of those for sure we know were

[46:51] actual functioning tanks. Once we came

[46:53] upon them, we realized they were

[46:54] functioning tanks. Now, Colonel, I heard

[46:56] one report that one of your tank company

[46:58] commanders confronted a group as large

[47:01] of 200 Iraqis uh with white sheets over

[47:04] their tents and their hands up as he

[47:07] passed right on through them. Yes, we

[47:09] bypassed those. Uh we appeared they

[47:11] appeared as if they weren't a threat. Uh

[47:12] we're an armor force. I don't have a EPW

[47:16] capability at this point in time. So, we

[47:18] had no option but to pass them by,

[47:20] report them back that they're there. We

[47:21] gave a grid location where they were at

[47:23] the higher headquarters. How were the

[47:25] Marines trained to do this? I noticed in

[47:26] the vehicle I was in, I saw two trucks

[47:28] pass by. Look like military trucks

[47:31] filled with people and both Marines

[47:34] locked and loaded but did not fire. What

[47:36] were they trained to do? Well, they're

[47:38] trained to make uh make good decisions

[47:40] and that obviously was one good

[47:41] decision. I mean, they look and they

[47:42] determine is that person a threat to me?

[47:44] And if that isn't a threat to an M1 A1

[47:46] tank, uh they're not going to they're

[47:48] not going to pull the trigger on them.

[47:49] So, in that case, they made they made an

[47:51] assessment that that was not a threat.

[47:53] Colonel, the biggest threat that we had

[47:55] was the chemical suits. There's been no

[47:57] indication of any chemical warfare. We

[48:00] have been in these suits now for about

[48:01] 12 hours. Been a long time, hasn't it?

[48:04] We've been we've been sweating out

[48:06] together, but uh yeah, it's a it's a

[48:08] challenge. I mean, no question about it.

[48:10] But, you know, it's something that we

[48:11] know the Saddam Hussein's got the stuff.

[48:13] So, uh we have to take every precaut

[48:16] precaution possible just to make sure

[48:18] that the boys don't get hurt here. Now,

[48:20] Colonel, we can't say where we are right

[48:22] now, but jets are flying overhead. We

[48:24] hear some artillery in the background. I

[48:26] presume they are ours.

[48:28] >> Uh, that's a that is a very good

[48:31] presumption. Absolutely. Yes. And I must

[48:33] explain it probably to your wife as to

[48:36] can you tell the story behind the

[48:37] mustaches that we're all supposed to be

[48:38] wearing? Well, there was some uh some

[48:41] thought that uh the Iraqis might have

[48:44] had our uniforms and uh so the thought

[48:47] is was that we would grow mustaches and

[48:49] then shave them off at the last minute

[48:50] so that anybody with a mustache in our

[48:52] uniform would be considered hostile.

[48:54] >> So, Colonel, do we have permission to

[48:55] shave our mustaches now?

[48:56] >> Yes, we do. And I'm looking forward to a

[48:58] nice hot shave at some point in the

[48:59] future. So, all right. Thank you,

[49:01] Colonel. Peter, do you have any

[49:02] questions for the colonel?

[49:03] >> No, I think you've done a wonderful job,

[49:04] Mike. Thanks very much.

[49:09] Thank you, Peter.

[49:11] >> Mike Suri, who's been traveling uh

[49:13] traveling through the night, making it

[49:14] clear, I I think they can't tell us

[49:16] where they are, but if you think about

[49:17] it, they were traveling at a fairly

[49:19] decent rate of knots. I think they

[49:20] crossed the line of departure about 7

[49:21] hours ago. Just review a little bit of

[49:24] of what they said. They were a little

[49:26] surprised they went uh they went when

[49:28] they went. They think they did not

[49:29] intend to go absolutely at night. Though

[49:32] much of the early advertising about this

[49:34] campaign was that the US would prefer to

[49:35] go at night because they have such a

[49:37] distinct advantage over the Iraqis. They

[49:39] met no significant resistance along the

[49:41] way. That we knew from Mike's earlier

[49:42] report. They were just barreling along

[49:45] uh wherever they were going. Um not

[49:47] altogether sure. Tony Cordis, what does

[49:49] it mean a sequential attack? It means

[49:51] that people are going together are going

[49:53] sort of side by side but one ahead of

[49:55] the other and he wanted to relieve some

[49:56] pressure on a unit to one side or the

[49:58] other.

[49:59] >> That's part of it, Peter. Or you can

[50:01] have two lines of maneuver where one is

[50:04] driving forward while the other is

[50:05] regrouping.

[50:07] Remember these can move independently as

[50:09] brigades or battalions. It doesn't have

[50:11] to move as an entire division.

[50:15] >> Okay, Tony. Thank you very much indeed

[50:17] and I appreciate that. And just

[50:19] listening to the colonel there. no

[50:20] casualties at least on his route. Um

[50:23] they did have some contact with Iraqis

[50:25] and I thought I heard him say they they

[50:28] killed to use the parliament. It's a

[50:30] little cold blooded at times but it's

[50:31] military parliament. They encountered

[50:33] and destroyed seven armored vehicles

[50:35] which I thought he said was a mixture of

[50:37] tanks T-55s uh Russian tanks which the

[50:40] Iraqi army used and some other vehicles.

[50:43] Um they've been in those uh those

[50:45] chemical suits for a long period of

[50:47] time. And when you're fully dressed up

[50:49] in them, it is deeply uncomfortable in

[50:53] the back of one of the fighting

[50:54] vehicles. They use the light armored

[50:56] vehicle, the Marines, to go forward. Uh,

[50:58] but they're going to keep them on for

[50:59] the foreseeable future. Um, and you

[51:02] heard that other touching bit at the end

[51:04] about the actual mustaches. Now, also

[51:07] with the Marines is ABC's Bob Woodruff.

[51:09] They have after a long wait at the

[51:11] border also crossed into Iraq. Bob, can

[51:13] you tell us your circumstances?

[51:16] Well, Peter, it appears that the the

[51:18] large mechanized units have come through

[51:20] and cleared out a lot of the mines that

[51:21] they are worried about allowing us to

[51:24] finally pass through the burm. We just

[51:26] went over the border through the burm as

[51:27] you know so much about now about uh oh

[51:30] maybe 25 about 25 seconds ago. We just

[51:34] got through. We're now rolling through

[51:35] with the light armored reconnaissance

[51:38] team that we've got. We've also picked

[51:39] up a rec a regular reconnaissance team

[51:41] which is essentially like the special

[51:43] forces of the Marines and we are now

[51:45] moving on to our positions inside uh of

[51:48] Iraq. The landscape is very barren.

[51:50] There's little spots of grass here and

[51:52] there uh but it is a lot of sand and we

[51:55] are heading in at about uh 10 km an

[51:57] hour.

[51:59] >> Okay, Bob, thanks very much indeed. Uh

[52:01] do you want to you want to add anything?

[52:03] I must confess I've got several things

[52:04] going on at the moment. Do you see

[52:06] evidence of uh of of air activity? Just

[52:10] as as Mike Sere was finishing there,

[52:12] they heard some some air activity going

[52:14] north. It's some of the first we've

[52:15] heard.

[52:17] Now, I have not seen any air activity

[52:19] lately. There has been uh there there

[52:22] were some chompers flying overhead that

[52:23] these were the command and control

[52:25] Hueies uh that are essentially

[52:27] controlling the air war for the Marines

[52:30] here on the in the forward position. I

[52:33] do not see any attack helicopters or or

[52:36] aircraft or fixed wing aircraft flying

[52:38] overhead lately.

[52:41] >> Okay, Bob, thanks very much. Please come

[52:43] back at uh at your leisure when you can

[52:45] report. I want to digress now from from

[52:47] the ground campaign to read something

[52:49] which may be uh which may be

[52:51] tremendously uh significant. Uh and it's

[52:54] an article uh in the Washington Post

[52:56] tomorrow morning which uh I've just been

[52:59] given the context of. It's got three by

[53:01] lines on it. uh all well-known reporters

[53:04] for the Washington Post, Walder Pinkis,

[53:06] Dana Priest, and Bob Woodward. Um and it

[53:09] says that which we were not 100% certain

[53:13] of, but had a great suspicion of

[53:15] throughout the day, that Saddam Hussein

[53:17] was the target of the bombing attack on

[53:20] the leadership compound as it was

[53:22] described to us uh in Baghdad earlier

[53:25] today. and I'll just read it to you in

[53:28] the first paragraph and then I'll read

[53:30] you um a uh a subsequent paragraph which

[53:34] I think you'll find fascinating. US

[53:35] intelligence officials believe that

[53:37] Iraqi President Saddam Hussein possibly

[53:40] accompanied by one or both of his sons

[53:43] was still inside a compound in southern

[53:46] Baghdad early yesterday when it was

[53:48] struck by a huge barrage of US bombs and

[53:51] missiles. You know, there was a huge

[53:53] flight of cruise missiles used on this

[53:55] target and two at least of these 2,000lb

[53:58] bunker buster bombs that have not been

[54:01] used before.

[54:03] And then here are some quotes just from

[54:06] the article. Quote, "The

[54:07] prepoundonderance of the evidence is he

[54:10] was there when the building blew up,

[54:11] according to one senior US official with

[54:14] access to sensitive intelligence. The

[54:17] official added that Hussein's sons,

[54:18] Hussein and Uday, Hussein the older,

[54:21] Uday the younger, may also have been at

[54:24] the compound. Senior administration

[54:26] official said of the Iraqi president, he

[54:28] didn't get out beforehand.

[54:32] Quote again, a third administration

[54:33] official said, quote, there is evidence

[54:35] that he, Hussein, Saddam Hussein, was at

[54:38] least injured because of indications

[54:40] that medical attention was urgently

[54:42] summoned on his behalf. The condition of

[54:45] Hussein's sons and any others who may

[54:48] have been in the compound at the time

[54:50] was unknown,

[54:52] official said. Um, then there was a

[54:55] there's a paragraph which is a little

[54:57] bit I think related to the business of

[54:59] having seen Saddam Hussein on the

[55:00] television earlier and the government

[55:03] consulted a woman named Parasula Lamsos.

[55:05] You've seen her on ABC before because

[55:08] ABC's Claire Shipman did a long uh

[55:10] interview with her and spent some time

[55:12] with her. Um she is described as one of

[55:15] Saddam Hussein's longtime mistresses. Uh

[55:18] the defense department believes that she

[55:20] has successfully passed a polygraph

[55:22] examination and she has previously been

[55:25] able to distinguish Saddam Hussein from

[55:28] several of his doubles in more than a

[55:30] dozen cases. And this time she says that

[55:34] he was not the man in the television

[55:36] broadcast.

[55:38] That's the Washington Post. the first

[55:39] edition for tomorrow which is already

[55:41] beginning to move uh uh on the internet

[55:44] and um that is as much as we know but it

[55:48] it it dovetales and then goes beyond a

[55:52] fair amount of the speculation and

[55:54] analysis about what actually happened

[55:55] when the US hit this target of

[55:57] opportunity. Remember this is something

[55:59] the president signed off on

[56:01] uh last night at 6:00. They needed about

[56:05] four hours warning to get as uh as our

[56:08] analysts have told us to get the cruise

[56:10] missiles configured um and on their way

[56:13] for a long flight from the Persian Gulf

[56:16] andor the Red Sea. They're now guided um

[56:19] unlike the old ones which sort of

[56:21] basically had maps in their noses,

[56:23] topographical maps, they're now guided

[56:25] by the global positioning satellites

[56:27] which have made the entire operation in

[56:29] this war so different. And if I were to

[56:32] summarize it, which is a little unfair

[56:34] to the post, just in that one paragus,

[56:36] the prepoundonderance of the evidence is

[56:37] that he was in the building when it blew

[56:39] up. This is one one senior US official

[56:42] with access to intelligence and he

[56:45] didn't get out beforehand said another

[56:47] senior official and Bob Woodward who is

[56:50] one of the reporters on that particular

[56:53] article along with u two others I said

[56:55] good reporters Dana Priest and Walder

[56:57] Pinkis is going to be on Good Morning

[56:59] America tomorrow morning to talk about

[57:00] that in much greater detail. want to go

[57:04] to Washington and ABC's Martha Radits

[57:06] because she has been working this story

[57:07] for for many hours. Um, as we say in in

[57:11] our trade, Martha, can you match uh can

[57:14] you match some of that?

[57:15] >> I I think I certainly can, Peter. We

[57:18] reported several hours ago that

[57:20] intelligence official officials believed

[57:22] Saddam Hussein was in that residential

[57:25] compound, was in the bunker, and they

[57:27] believed he was with his two sons. Just

[57:30] like the Washington Post, there is some

[57:32] contradiction here between officials.

[57:34] Some officials believe that Saddam

[57:36] Hussein was hit. Others are not so sure.

[57:38] They, as you said, are looking at this

[57:41] tape. Indeed, some believe that was

[57:43] Saddam Hussein in the tape. Some don't

[57:45] believe it was Saddam Hussein in the

[57:47] tape. So, this is still very much in

[57:49] play, but intelligence sources very

[57:52] solidly say they believe Saddam Hussein

[57:55] was in that bunker in that residential

[57:58] compound at the time, probably sleeping

[58:01] there with his sons because it was in

[58:02] the middle of the night.

[58:03] >> Okay, Martha, thank you very much

[58:05] indeed. So, there you are with that. And

[58:07] now, as we've told you, or as we've said

[58:08] many time, not told you, said many times

[58:10] in the course of this coverage, that one

[58:11] of the first casualties of any campaign

[58:14] is truth. It's sometimes inadvertent. Um

[58:17] we reported uh some time ago based on a

[58:19] British pool report from the BBC that on

[58:22] the Sea King helicopter which crashed

[58:25] inside Kuwait there were according to

[58:28] the British Broadcasting Corporation

[58:30] four British and 12 Americans. The

[58:33] Pentagon now says that there were four

[58:35] Americans and 12 Britons. 12 from the

[58:39] British forces who were killed in the

[58:40] crash of a Marine helicopter. Um

[58:44] there has been confusion about the

[58:45] numbers all night. I the first thought

[58:47] that comes to anybody's mind is how

[58:48] deeply hard this is on marine families

[58:52] uh who are watching uh television

[58:53] throughout the country. I think you know

[58:56] some of them try to steal themselves

[58:57] before a campaign like this begins for

[58:59] the worst kind of news and they have

[59:00] great support groups and they manage to

[59:02] stay in touch with their men in the

[59:03] field but it up to a certain point but

[59:05] it is very difficult and the Pentagon

[59:06] now says that four Americans and 12

[59:09] members of the British forces were

[59:10] killed in that crash of a Marine

[59:13] helicopter in Kuwait, not the other way

[59:15] around as the British reported it some

[59:18] time ago. But we are still trying to get

[59:20] it absolutely 100% confirmed. We do

[59:22] believe they are the first casualties of

[59:25] this campaign and as you heard just a

[59:27] little while ago from the Marine colonel

[59:29] who was talking to with Mike there is

[59:32] that they haven't suffered any

[59:33] casualties on their part and the third

[59:35] infantry division in the west has just

[59:37] gone across the border. So this is ABC

[59:40] News continuing live coverage of the war

[59:43] with Iraq.

[59:46] Breaking news from the war in Iraq. A

[59:48] military transport helicopter has gone

[59:50] down, killing the

[59:54] Tonight, the latest on the crash and the

[59:56] war as US ground troops move into

[59:59] southern Iraq as Baghdad prepares for

[60:02] another round of bombing and everyone

[60:04] waits for a massive assault on Iraq that

[60:07] has yet to begin.

[60:10] This is a special edition of News 2 at

[60:13] 10. War with Iraq.