CNN - Iraq War - 2003-03-20 - 12 midnight (E)

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:01] was underway and made clear that it was

[0:04] simply that the opening stages of what

[0:06] will be a broad attack that will begin

[0:09] sometime down the road. Christian

[0:11] Amanpor and Wolf Blitz are in both in

[0:14] Kuwait City. This will be a central and

[0:16] important place over the next several

[0:18] days.

[0:22] >> Go ahead, Christian

[0:23] >> Wolf. um and Aram. Let's talk a little

[0:26] bit about the allies of the United

[0:28] States, Britain and Spain. We have been

[0:30] told and certainly why reports are

[0:32] saying that Prime Minister Tony Blair

[0:35] was awoken or at least informed after

[0:37] midnight British time that these attacks

[0:40] had been brought forward. We're not sure

[0:42] whether this was a surprise to him or

[0:44] not, but what we do know is consistent

[0:46] with what our reporters Jamie McIntyre

[0:49] and others from the Pentagon have been

[0:50] saying. We believe that the British had

[0:52] not expected the full uh initial launch

[0:55] of this war to begin uh right after the

[0:58] deadline and uh we are not sure when or

[1:01] whether we're going to hear from Tony

[1:02] Blair or indeed people at the British

[1:04] defense ministry. So far they have given

[1:07] no statement about what's going on. We

[1:09] understand that in Spain the prime

[1:11] minister of Spain Aznar who is also an

[1:13] ally in this campaign although has not

[1:15] committed military forces is also going

[1:17] to address his people. Uh as we know of

[1:20] course today there have been several

[1:21] activities out here in terms of military

[1:23] activities. Uh US forces and British

[1:26] forces have attacked artillery batteries

[1:28] inside southern Iraq. Those which were

[1:31] deemed to be threatening either to US

[1:33] and British forces a raid now in the

[1:35] demilitarized zone there or indeed

[1:37] against uh Kuwait itself, neighboring

[1:39] Kuwait. And also what we've been

[1:41] reporting for much of this day was that

[1:44] 17 Iraqi soldiers had surrendered

[1:46] according to US uh officials and

[1:48] apparently that being an at least a

[1:51] small victory so far for the American

[1:54] SCO ops operation which has been

[1:56] underway for so long and with so many

[1:58] millions of leaflets that have been

[1:59] dropped on the forces there urging them

[2:01] not to fight

[2:02] >> and whether or not those SCOPS those

[2:04] psychological operations the leafitting

[2:06] of those millions of leaflets have an

[2:09] impact in convincing Iraqi troops to

[2:11] give up, if you will, obviously remains

[2:14] to be seen. I want to bring in CNA's

[2:16] Kira Phillips. She's aboard the USS

[2:18] Abraham Lincoln, an aircraft carrier uh

[2:21] in the Persian Gulf. Kira, tell our

[2:23] viewers what you can about what you're

[2:25] seeing and what they're doing aboard

[2:26] that carrier right now.

[2:30] >> All right, Wolf, I can barely hear you,

[2:32] but uh I'm going to try and give you as

[2:34] much information as possible right now.

[2:36] I can tell you that I can confirm that

[2:38] Operation Southern Watch is over. Right

[2:41] now, the strike fighters here on USS

[2:43] Abraham Lincoln and other supporting

[2:46] aircraft are in support of Operation

[2:48] Iraqi Freedom. Earlier, uh about within

[2:51] 45 minutes ago, we showed you F-14s, the

[2:54] F-14 Tomcats launching off the carrier.

[2:58] Those pilots indeed in support of

[3:00] Operation Iraqi Freedom. Now, this

[3:02] conflict with Iraq is moving quicker.

[3:04] The tempo is building up right now.

[3:07] You're seeing a shot of an F-18 getting

[3:10] ready uh to uh launch off the US Abraham

[3:12] Lincoln here. As you can see, it's an

[3:14] integration of a number of squadrons.

[3:16] The first to go were the F-14s. Now, the

[3:18] F-18s are starting to get into the mix.

[3:21] Very interesting thing I might want to

[3:22] point here out on the F-18. You might be

[3:25] able to pick it out, and that is the

[3:26] bunker uh busters. Uh a lot of talk

[3:29] about the weaponry used uh in this

[3:32] conflict with Iraq. a lot of concern

[3:34] about collateral damage. Therefore, a

[3:36] lot of effort has been put into JDAM and

[3:39] GPUs and bunker busters. The hope is

[3:42] once these strikes take place.

[3:46] Do I still have you? I Wolf, do I still

[3:49] have

[3:50] >> Go ahead. Go ahead, Kira.

[3:54] >> I You still have me? Okay. Thank you.

[3:56] I'm hearing a little interference. I'm

[3:59] hearing There we go. I'm hearing a

[4:00] little interference and I apologize for

[4:01] that. I want to make sure that I'm still

[4:03] with you here. Uh once again, the

[4:05] concentration on uh uh uh special

[4:08] weaponry, precise weaponry, so that they

[4:11] will hit their targets and the explosion

[4:13] will be in more of a contained manner

[4:15] versus a wider type of explosion with

[4:18] the risk of hurting innocent civilians.

[4:20] Therefore, that's why you're seeing the

[4:22] bunker busters, a type of weapon on the

[4:24] F-18s that could drop deep and explode

[4:27] uh deep within the earth. Uh on the

[4:30] F-14s, the strike fighters uh that took

[4:33] off about 45 minutes ago, they've got

[4:36] JDAM, GPSG guided uh bombs. This is a

[4:39] new asset to the F-14 uh Tomcatterers

[4:42] here on the USS Abraham Lincoln. As you

[4:44] know, those bombs can drop through any

[4:46] type of weather, haze, dust, anything

[4:48] that could affect the laser bombs, the

[4:50] LGB laser guided bombs. That's the other

[4:52] type of weapons uh that the F-14s have.

[4:56] Now, as uh the F-18 squadron gets ready

[4:59] to integrate with the strike fighters

[5:01] that are already out there, I can tell

[5:02] you uh within hours, we can see up to uh

[5:06] more than 100 aircraft in the air

[5:09] depending uh how the tempo progresses. I

[5:12] can tell you that a number of Iraqi

[5:14] threats, strike fighter pilots told me

[5:16] they've been training for, paying

[5:18] attention to, uh intelligence coming

[5:20] into them. Uh plenty of time, of course,

[5:23] to observe US patterns. the Rockies have

[5:25] had plenty of time. So, the element of

[5:27] surprise, as you can see, we're all

[5:29] surprised that this happened so quickly

[5:31] and is happening uh in a manner which

[5:33] obviously nobody really expected. Even

[5:36] the squadrons here are learning by the

[5:38] minute how this campaign is unfolding.

[5:40] Uh I can tell you Iraqi threat sand,

[5:43] surfacetoair missiles, the strike

[5:45] fighter pilots will be paying close

[5:46] attention to that. Also, old Soviet

[5:49] fighters, the big 25, a very uh favorite

[5:52] aircraft uh with the Iraqi regime.

[5:54] They've been moving a lot of things

[5:56] around, we are told uh the Iraqis have

[5:59] there's a lot of dispersal that's been

[6:00] taking place. So, the object in this

[6:03] campaign, of course, is to be able to

[6:04] try and follow where all that movement

[6:06] is and be able to hit targets uh uh

[6:09] right on uh right on top of the targets.

[6:12] AAA fire uh another concern uh for

[6:14] strike fighter pilots. will be paying

[6:16] attention to that once they're airborne.

[6:18] Now, of course, the perfect case

[6:20] scenario here was that Saddam Hussein uh

[6:23] would uh surrender. That obviously has

[6:26] not been the case uh at this point. Um

[6:30] sorry, I'm getting information uh as I'm

[6:33] talking to you here. Are you still with

[6:35] me, Wolfe?

[6:37] I am. Cara, I just want to uh update our

[6:39] viewers. Hold on one second. You were

[6:41] talking about something very significant

[6:43] uh with the president formally

[6:45] announcing the start of what is now

[6:47] being called Operation Iraqi Freedom.

[6:49] But you what you note that the Southern

[6:52] Watch, Operation Southern Watch,

[6:53] Operation Northern Watch have ended.

[6:56] Those are the two nofly zone operations

[6:59] patrolling the no-fly zone in the south

[7:01] patrolling the no-fly zone in the north.

[7:03] That's been going on for nearly a dozen

[7:05] years. The Iraqis can't launch any kind

[7:07] of aircraft in that southern no-fly zone

[7:10] or the northern no-fly zone. By and

[7:13] large, US aircraft carriers in the

[7:15] Persian Gulf, as well as bases, the

[7:17] Prince Sultana air base in Saudi Arabia,

[7:19] as well as the Insurlic air base in

[7:21] Turkey responsible for launching US and

[7:23] British warplanes to patrol the northern

[7:26] and southern no-fly zones. Kira Phillips

[7:28] once again aboard the USS Abraham

[7:31] Lincoln, one of five aircraft carriers

[7:33] now in the vicinity now participation in

[7:36] Operation Iraqi Freedom. If you're still

[7:38] there, Kira, go ahead. Tell us what you

[7:40] have.

[7:43] >> All right, Wolf, are we Am I back with

[7:45] you, Wolf?

[7:51] >> Kira's obviously not hearing me or we're

[7:53] not hearing her. We are seeing these

[7:55] live pictures via video phone from the

[7:57] USS Abraham Lincoln, an aircraft carrier

[8:00] in the Persian Gulf. US war plananes

[8:03] taking off F-14 Tomcats, F-18s getting

[8:07] ready to participate in this uh in this

[8:09] operation Iraqi Freedom, which is the

[8:12] name of the US military operation

[8:15] together with the British, a small

[8:16] Australian contingent as well. Aaron,

[8:20] >> thank you. It's just past midnight, 8

[8:23] midnight in the east. A new day here in

[8:25] the United States, a day that we expect

[8:27] to unfold dramatically, but precisely

[8:31] how is impossible now to know. Uh we do

[8:34] know that Operation Iraqi Freedom is

[8:37] underway. We began to see that early

[8:40] earlier this evening, 9:40 or so this

[8:42] evening when Nick Robertson reported it.

[8:44] Nick, what is it like in Baghdad now?

[8:49] >> I think day

[8:51] And let's pay attention to that. Repeat

[8:55] the president, the leader, the fighter,

[8:58] Saddam Hussein, may God protect him and

[9:01] who is victorious,

[9:03] will shortly address

[9:08] with a speech, with an important speech

[9:10] in this fighting day, in this great day.

[9:15] And let us pay attention to that.

[9:21] announcing that Saddam Hussein will

[9:23] shortly

[9:25] uh will shortly go on TV. And these are

[9:27] the pictures that is what Iraqi Iraqi

[9:29] TV. I don't know if we can get back to

[9:31] that. Um it is in in a sense a sort of

[9:34] remarkable scene that that normal TV

[9:37] programming is going on in Iraq as they

[9:39] await uh the president of the country to

[9:41] announce that the country has been

[9:42] attacked by the United States. Nick

[9:44] Robertson, are you able to hear me now?

[9:47] hear you just fine. Indeed, the U

[9:50] broadcaster giving the message that

[9:52] President Saddam Hussein will speak

[9:53] shortly that's been playing here a

[9:55] number of times this morning. For about

[9:57] the last 40 minutes, that same message

[10:00] is being played out and broadcast to

[10:02] Iraqis here that their leader will

[10:04] broadcast a message to them s soon. Just

[10:08] as we were talking before the air raid

[10:10] siren here went off again, I saw some

[10:12] people hurrying to get off the streets

[10:15] here. There are not many people around

[10:16] at the moment, but that was just 15

[10:19] minutes be uh after the all clear going

[10:21] off, the air ra siren going off uh and

[10:24] some people hurrying to get off the

[10:26] streets. Aaron, although right now

[10:28] nothing appears to be happening.

[10:30] >> Uh Nick, our reporting uh from the

[10:33] Pentagon, from the region is that um

[10:37] nothing major, the major roll out of

[10:40] Operation Iraqi Freedom um is is not

[10:43] going to happen yet. And uh earlier um

[10:47] General Clark, I believe it was, talked

[10:49] about the value of starting in at night

[10:51] um in in the darkness. And we're a long

[10:53] way from that. It's just early morning

[10:54] now uh in in Iraq right now. Um earlier,

[10:59] a short time ago, not not very long ago,

[11:01] in New York, the Iraqi ambassador to the

[11:04] United Nations, uh talked to reporters

[11:07] um

[11:09] how odd it must be to be the country's

[11:12] representative in the United States when

[11:14] the United States has just attacked your

[11:16] country. Uh but this is what he had to

[11:18] say earlier uh in New York.

[11:20] We'll do our best to uh contact uh uh to

[11:26] tackle this matter within the United

[11:28] Nation and with the security council.

[11:31] >> What will be the next step to do that

[11:32] then?

[11:33] >> Hopefully tomorrow we will start that uh

[11:35] >> will exactly exactly what would you try

[11:37] and

[11:38] >> well well you know just uh uh perhaps we

[11:41] have to send a letter there to to the

[11:44] president of the security council and to

[11:46] the secretary general.

[11:48] You know this is a breach of peace. Uh

[11:52] so uh we have to ask them to uh

[11:56] otherwise uh we can do nothing new. Me

[11:59] myself I can I can do nothing.

[12:01] >> I have just to tell the international

[12:03] community that the war is started. This

[12:05] is against the charter and this is the

[12:08] violation of international law.

[12:11] Muhammad Aldori. Um there is an element

[12:13] to this as there is in diplomatic

[12:15] matters of almost u um scripting. Um it

[12:19] it was clear it's been clear for days

[12:21] that as soon as the Americans began the

[12:23] attack that the next day the Iraqis

[12:26] would go to the United Nations to

[12:28] protest that to demand the security

[12:30] council take action on that. Michael Aku

[12:33] is one of our team of correspondents who

[12:35] covers the United Nations. He's been

[12:36] there a lot uh over the last month or

[12:38] so. Michael, um, just run down the

[12:41] process that you expect to unfold over

[12:44] on the east side of New York in the next

[12:45] 24 hours.

[12:47] >> Well, Erin, what we expect is that the

[12:49] Iraqi ambassador who you just heard from

[12:51] will be very vocal about going to other

[12:53] security council uh, nations and asking

[12:56] them to convene to talk about uh, the

[12:58] action that the US is obviously involved

[13:00] in at this moment. And uh the word we

[13:03] are getting is that uh it will really be

[13:06] more of a a speechon of of sorts that

[13:09] essentially these ambassadors will come

[13:11] forward uh that they will in their own

[13:13] words uh condemn uh the US uh and UK

[13:17] action here. Uh we don't expect there to

[13:20] be any kind of a resolution or even a

[13:23] presidential statement which is what uh

[13:25] often happens in situations like this.

[13:28] Uh the advice uh that the Iraqi

[13:30] ambassador is getting according to some

[13:32] diplomats we have spoken to is that it

[13:34] is not a good idea right now uh to try

[13:36] to uh go too forward on this to try to

[13:39] isolate the United States in any way but

[13:41] to just come forward and to make their

[13:43] voices heard. Aaron

[13:45] >> and just finish the thought Michael the

[13:47] reason that he is being given that

[13:49] advice is that there is not that much

[13:52] support for the Iraqi position.

[13:55] >> Well that's exactly right. There are

[13:57] quite a few diplomats here who will tell

[14:00] you that they do not believe in the US

[14:02] action here, but they certainly do

[14:05] believe that Saddam Hussein may have

[14:07] weapons of mass destruction, that Saddam

[14:09] Hussein may certainly pose a real threat

[14:12] in the area. But, uh, it's really a

[14:15] matter, Erin, of uh, of some diplomats

[14:18] believing that Mr. Hussein is dangerous,

[14:21] but the United States actions are not

[14:23] necessarily justified. and it's really

[14:26] uh sort of uh trying to stay in the

[14:28] middle on this. Aaron,

[14:30] >> it was interesting. Michael, you said at

[14:31] the beginning that we expect to hear a

[14:33] lot of speech making at the United

[14:34] Nations. I think there are uh a whole

[14:37] lot of people who would say that's all

[14:39] we've heard from the United Nations over

[14:40] the last several months and perhaps the

[14:42] president might agree with that. There's

[14:44] been a lot of speech making when do they

[14:46] convene today?

[14:49] >> They convened earlier today. Of course,

[14:51] this was a meeting that was called for

[14:53] by France, Russia, and Germany. Those

[14:56] three countries represented by their

[14:58] foreign ministers who came forward and

[15:00] very vocally opposed uh the the US

[15:03] actions here. Uh the German ambassador

[15:06] saying that this is certainly not a time

[15:09] to engage in war, continuing to say that

[15:12] the inspections process should move

[15:14] forward. And in fact, they came here to

[15:16] discuss uh the chief weapons inspector,

[15:18] Hans Blick's obviously at this point

[15:21] last report to the security council that

[15:23] actually spelled out some of the key

[15:25] remaining disarmament tasks that the

[15:27] Iraqis could become engaged in and also

[15:30] it uh detailed a work program for the

[15:33] inspectors. of the uh US ambassador John

[15:35] Negropanti coming out and and in his own

[15:38] words Aaron essentially saying that it

[15:40] was ridiculous that as inspectors were

[15:42] leaving the country and that the UN was

[15:45] pulling back on this and that war was

[15:47] imminent that we would even be convening

[15:49] to uh start discussing a work schedule

[15:52] for the inspector. So a lot of uh angry

[15:56] words there in the security council

[15:57] which is something that we have seen

[15:59] quite a bit in the last uh two months or

[16:01] so. Aaron

[16:02] >> and someday when the history of all this

[16:04] all is written Michael will have a

[16:06] better feel for the damage done the

[16:08] scars left behind at the security

[16:09] council. Uh Cristian Amanpur in Kuwait.

[16:12] Cristian

[16:16] >> Erin we've been talking a little bit

[16:17] about what the soldiers know about

[16:19] what's been going on. We're going now to

[16:21] Walt Rogers who is, you know, this term

[16:23] embedded with uh an army division in

[16:26] northern Kuwait there. Walter, what are

[16:28] the soldiers there learning now?

[16:33] Cristian, what you're looking at now is

[16:35] soldiers of the US 7th Cavalry borrowing

[16:37] my shortwave radio, listening to the

[16:40] latest shortwave news on the attack on

[16:42] Baghdad earlier in the day. The soldiers

[16:44] you're looking at, many of them are tank

[16:46] commanders, uh, non-commissioned

[16:48] officers, sergeants who will be driving

[16:50] the tanks north when the order comes to

[16:53] come forward. And they were caught off

[16:54] guard this morning. That is to say, they

[16:56] did not know that the uh that Baghdad

[16:59] was about to be uh the target of cruise

[17:02] missile attacks. I'd like to ask them

[17:03] now. Sergeant Wheatley, let me ask you

[17:05] first, were you surprised when you heard

[17:07] that uh the cruise missile attacks fell

[17:09] last night?

[17:10] >> Yes, sir. Very surprised.

[17:11] >> Happy. um alleviated more or less. Glad

[17:16] for it to start and glad for it. The

[17:18] sooner it starts, the sooner it gets

[17:19] over.

[17:19] >> Sergeant Wheatley, what's it mean for

[17:21] your unit?

[17:24] >> Um

[17:25] we've prepped for it for a long time.

[17:27] Most of us here have been together for

[17:29] over a year and we're ready to go do

[17:31] what needs to be done.

[17:32] >> Sergeant Birdong, same. Were you

[17:33] surprised when those cruise missiles

[17:35] slammed into Baghdad?

[17:36] >> I was surprised, but uh at the same

[17:38] token, you know, not really surprised.

[17:41] We we knew it was coming. Uh I'm glad to

[17:43] see it started. But

[17:45] >> you sort of caught off guard. You were

[17:47] out there in your in your vehicles,

[17:48] weren't you?

[17:49] >> When I woke up this morning, uh we heard

[17:50] the news. Uh a little bit of surprise,

[17:53] you know, what trying to uh wonder what

[17:56] the target was. Uh just uh but overall,

[18:01] all our guys are are like, "Yeah, you

[18:03] know, finally got started. We're ready

[18:04] to go do what we got to do."

[18:06] >> Are you surprised you're not moving

[18:07] forward yet?

[18:08] >> No, not really. Due to the timeline the

[18:10] president's put out, uh we've all been

[18:14] uh brought up that the air will start

[18:15] first and I'm glad it started to uh

[18:17] start prepping for us to move.

[18:19] >> Sergeant Knight, how about you? You

[18:20] ready to go?

[18:21] >> Yes, sir. I am.

[18:22] >> Disappointed that the bombs, the cruise

[18:24] missiles fell before you got your orders

[18:26] to move forward?

[18:27] >> No, sir. They need to do their part

[18:29] first and then we come and finish.

[18:30] >> Uh senior ranking officer here is

[18:32] Lieutenant Fritz. Is that right?

[18:34] >> Well, our commander's here.

[18:36] >> Oh, there's Captain Lyall. Come on,

[18:38] Captain. Were you surprised by the

[18:40] cruise missiles falling this morning?

[18:42] >> A little bit. It was a target

[18:43] opportunity presented itself. So, uh,

[18:45] President acted.

[18:48] >> Lieutenant Fritz, West Point, class at

[18:50] 2002, as I recall. Right. Yes, sir.

[18:52] >> Were you surprised when those cruise

[18:54] missiles started slamming in before you

[18:55] got the orders to go forward?

[18:56] >> Absolutely.

[18:58] >> Anxious to go now.

[19:00] >> Ready to go.

[19:02] >> The hesitation. What's the hesitation?

[19:04] hesitation

[19:08] >> in your voice. You say ready to go.

[19:10] >> We're just ready to go. That's just

[19:12] >> like to ask you what happens if your

[19:14] soldiers go forward and find Iraqis

[19:17] civilians being used as human shields.

[19:20] >> Uh we uh deal with the situation

[19:22] accordingly. Uh we uh definitely do not

[19:25] want to harm any non-combatants in any

[19:27] way. We're there to liberate those same

[19:29] people. Uh so we take every precaution

[19:32] and uh develop the situation as best we

[19:34] can to to ensure their safety.

[19:38] >> Thanks very much. We've been talking to

[19:39] Captain Clay Lyle and the uh soldiers of

[19:42] the uh uh Seventh Cavalry, the Apache

[19:45] Troop. They are just catching up on the

[19:47] news this morning. Uh they like most of

[19:49] the world was caught a little bit

[19:51] offguard by virtue of the fact that the

[19:53] president had ordered a limited strike,

[19:55] a cruise missile strike against areas in

[19:57] Baghdad. The soldiers you're looking at

[20:00] will lead the attack for the US Army

[20:02] when the orders come to come go forward.

[20:05] But at this present time, there is no

[20:06] operational order to continue. So, we're

[20:09] staying in the attack position with the

[20:11] Seventh Cavalry. Christian, back to you,

[20:15] >> Walton. Now that the initial uh stages

[20:18] have begun, of course, everybody is

[20:20] trying to figure out a timeline. What

[20:22] have you gathered in your time with

[20:24] those uh soldiers there with the seven

[20:26] cavalry division about a sort of

[20:29] timeline for instance when the major air

[20:31] assault begins? When is the ground

[20:34] assault scheduled?

[20:38] >> Well, nothing that happened in terms of

[20:39] that cruise missile strike on Baghdad

[20:42] and it was a limited strike earlier in

[20:44] the day. Nothing has changed the

[20:46] operational battle plan for this group,

[20:48] the Seventh Cavalry. They have their

[20:50] orders. Uh we can't say exactly when

[20:53] they're supposed to go forward, but I

[20:54] can tell looking at the readiness of the

[20:56] unit around me, these soldiers, they

[20:58] could move very quickly. The problem is

[21:00] the order has not come from the Pentagon

[21:02] yet, and the plan is not going to be

[21:04] changed by that limited cruise missile

[21:07] strike. So, we're looking at least 12,

[21:09] 24 hours, perhaps even longer. The

[21:11] Pentagon, uh the White House is not

[21:13] going to be rushed, and you can see that

[21:15] by the rather, uh laidback position we

[21:17] see in the field. These soldiers could

[21:19] move very very quickly. Uh the men you

[21:21] see behind me, most of them NCOs's could

[21:24] scramble on the top of their uh main

[21:26] battle tanks in down in those turrets 5

[21:29] minutes or so and be out of here, have

[21:30] those engines running. The problem for

[21:32] them, of course, is that the uh that the

[21:34] order has not come forward. Now, we did

[21:36] have some supply vehicles uh 5,000galon

[21:39] and 2500galon tankers come up to bring

[21:42] more fuel or have fuel at the ready for

[21:45] the tanks when the order comes to go

[21:47] forward. But the um uh line of departure

[21:50] has not been crossed yet. That's still

[21:52] ahead of us back over there over the

[21:54] Iraqi border. Back to you, Cristian.

[21:58] >> Walter, thanks very much. And we go back

[22:00] to Aaron now at CNN headquarters.

[22:02] >> Cristian, thank you. We were looking at

[22:04] Sergeant Wheatley. I didn't hear his

[22:06] first name and maybe he didn't give it,

[22:07] but he was the first uh first person

[22:10] Wald interviewed with the big mustache.

[22:12] Everyone who has ever been in the

[22:14] service knows Sergeant Wheatley, knows a

[22:16] non-com who looked like that uh that

[22:18] young man. And and you look at those

[22:20] people, they are about to do some very

[22:22] difficult work in the days ahead. And

[22:24] all of us think of them and worry about

[22:27] them and wish them nothing but safety

[22:29] tonight. Uh their commander-in-chief

[22:31] went on TV at 10:15 Eastern time to

[22:34] announce what had become clear about a

[22:37] half an hour earlier that Operation

[22:39] Iraqi Freedom was underway. Chris Burns

[22:41] is now taking the watch at the White

[22:43] House. Uh Chris, um it was four minutes.

[22:47] The president's statement was four

[22:48] minutes. Not very long, but it certainly

[22:51] said a lot about what's to unfold. Erin,

[22:54] absolutely. And that decision that the

[22:56] president made was made shortly before

[22:58] that. The president had a second

[23:00] National Security Council meeting,

[23:02] actually a war planning meeting in the

[23:03] afternoon. This had begun to happen this

[23:05] week, just this week. This second

[23:08] meeting rolled on longer than expected

[23:11] and what really pricricked our ears up

[23:13] was actually watching the fact that Vice

[23:15] President Dick Cheney had spent an

[23:17] inordinate amount of time there at the

[23:19] meeting and had stayed there. An effort

[23:21] having been made since September 11th,

[23:23] 2001, that both president and vice

[23:25] president should not be together a very

[23:27] long time to try to make sure that

[23:30] leadership would survive in the event of

[23:32] another terrorist attack. So that was a

[23:33] very important indication that a big

[23:35] decision was on its way. President uh

[23:38] Bush having made his decision according

[23:40] to senior administration officials at

[23:42] 6:30 this evening. Uh at 7:30 that

[23:45] meeting broke up. The president then

[23:47] giving his speech uh at 10:15 this

[23:49] evening uh saying that what was

[23:52] happening had only just begun.

[23:55] At this hour, American and coalition

[23:58] forces are in the early stages of

[24:00] military operations to disarm Iraq, to

[24:03] free its people, and to defend the world

[24:06] from grave danger. On my orders,

[24:09] coalition forces have begun striking

[24:11] selected targets of military importance

[24:13] to undermine Saddam Hussein's ability to

[24:16] wage war. These are opening stages of

[24:19] what will be a broad and concerted

[24:21] campaign. Now, the target having been

[24:24] made, the president decided because the

[24:26] CIA and other agencies had told him

[24:28] there was this opportunity to strike at

[24:30] a major leadership target. Now, the

[24:32] Pentagon sources are telling us that it

[24:34] was actually aimed at Saddam Hussein,

[24:36] but we can't confirm that from this end.

[24:38] What was important was that there was a

[24:39] major leadership target, try to cut the

[24:41] head off the military leadership, and

[24:43] perhaps that would make it easier to

[24:44] advance uh in the next few days. Aaron,

[24:47] >> Chris, thank you. Chris Burns, uh I

[24:50] placed you at the White House. you are

[24:52] covering the White House. Um, there

[24:54] comes a point, just so you know why

[24:56] Chris is not standing on the White House

[24:58] lawn when the White House says we don't

[25:00] want any more uh live shots coming out

[25:02] of the area. In part is security. In

[25:04] part, it's because the lights are

[25:06] annoying to those people inside honestly

[25:09] who are trying to sleep. Uh, that would

[25:10] be the president and the first lady and

[25:12] any guests they might have. And so I

[25:14] gather that they um that this is what

[25:16] happened that they moved us across the

[25:18] street and we uh gladly obliged in that

[25:21] situation. Uh the president is in the in

[25:23] in the residence uh the first lady is

[25:26] there also. We haven't seen much of the

[25:27] first lady over the last several days.

[25:29] Um but we are told that while she didn't

[25:32] have a public schedule, uh some friends

[25:34] had come to visit and that they this is

[25:36] obviously an important and difficult

[25:38] time uh for the first family and and our

[25:40] thoughts are with them as well. whatever

[25:42] feelings you have about the war and the

[25:44] appropriateness of it. Um the weight of

[25:47] these sorts of moments and the history

[25:49] of these sorts of moments on any

[25:50] president's important and they are

[25:52] important moments and our thoughts are

[25:53] with them as well. Um among the things

[25:55] that we'll be doing over the course of

[25:58] this war, however long it goes, and we

[26:01] all hope it doesn't go very long, is

[26:03] trying to explain the battle plan as it

[26:05] unfolds. Um, a lot of that duty will

[26:08] fall to Miles O'Brien and an assorted

[26:10] group and distinguished group of

[26:12] analysts, generals, retired and

[26:14] otherwise. Uh, Miles is with us for the

[26:17] first time now uh, tonight. Miles, good

[26:19] to see you.

[26:20] >> Good to see you too, Erin. And I'm

[26:22] joined by Alec Fraser, who is retired as

[26:24] a captain of a cruiser in the Navy and

[26:26] has spent a lot of time at least in

[26:28] training firing off cruise missiles and

[26:30] can tell us a little bit about what goes

[26:32] on a naval ship at this time. First of

[26:34] all, Alec, good to have you with us. We

[26:36] do know this now, as we point out in the

[26:38] map here, we had uh the uh Red Sea and

[26:41] the Persian Gulf were the points of

[26:42] origin for some 40 cruise missiles. Um

[26:46] and we're talking about a range of

[26:48] between 700 to a,000 miles for a cruise

[26:50] missile. So, that's well within their

[26:51] capabilities. Tell us what goes on on a

[26:53] Navy ship when it comes time to fire off

[26:55] a cruise missile. To fire a cruise

[26:57] missile requires you to have a target

[26:59] and that target is downloaded uh from

[27:01] satellite pre-programmed targets. It's

[27:04] loaded into a mainframe computer on the

[27:06] on the ship and then when the target is

[27:09] assigned by the theater commander that

[27:11] target is downloaded into the missile

[27:13] and then it is fired. So it takes about

[27:15] you know 5 10 15 minutes to to get the

[27:18] target loaded onto the missile but the

[27:20] target is already available in the

[27:22] mainframe computer system on the ship.

[27:24] Now, I'm told typically what happens is

[27:26] you're not they don't fly like that that

[27:27] arrow I've just put on there. They fly

[27:29] kind of a zigzag pattern typically as

[27:31] they come in. What's the purpose of

[27:32] that?

[27:33] >> The beauty of a a cruise missile is that

[27:35] you can have a lot of pre-fly points

[27:37] that you go to along the way, avoiding

[27:39] anybody being able to see the missile,

[27:41] being able to detect it and give an

[27:43] early warning. So, you can fly the

[27:44] missile at various quadrants and at a

[27:47] target bring it in from various angles.

[27:49] So, say someone's looking at a

[27:51] particular direction. It sees the

[27:53] missile coming in, but it doesn't see

[27:54] the one coming in behind him at the same

[27:56] time.

[27:56] >> All right, let's take a look at a flight

[27:57] of a cruise missile. Just give you a

[27:59] sense of what it might look like with a

[28:01] graphical depiction of it. Uh, this one

[28:03] would obviously be coming from the

[28:04] Persian Gulf as we depict it here. Comes

[28:06] off of a cruiser like that one. And on

[28:08] it goes, it it comes off with a solid

[28:11] rocket motor and then shifts into

[28:12] basically a small jet engine flying at

[28:14] about 400 500 mph. flying above any

[28:17] other type of uh things it could run

[28:19] into. Then it drops down low once it

[28:21] gets over land. It'll fly to various

[28:22] points along the way. This one's flying

[28:24] straight. Uh but it's it's mapping as it

[28:27] goes along, taking some points and

[28:28] taking GPS coordinates at the same time.

[28:30] >> Low infrared signature, low radar

[28:32] signature. In other words, can't be

[28:33] picked up easily by defenses along the

[28:35] way.

[28:36] >> It has no emissions coming out from it.

[28:38] So therefore, any type of electronic

[28:41] detection device doesn't work against

[28:42] it.

[28:43] >> How accurate are they? Which window

[28:45] would you like to fly it through?

[28:46] >> Really?

[28:47] >> Is that that that accurate?

[28:48] >> When you're talking about 40 cruise

[28:50] missiles coming in, could they all come

[28:51] in simultaneously? Perhaps

[28:53] >> they could. And 40 missiles would not be

[28:55] fired by one ship. It could be fired by

[28:57] several cruisers.

[28:58] >> All right. You know what, Alec? Let's

[29:00] take a look at the air for just a

[29:01] moment. This is from the USS Lincoln

[29:03] where Kira Phillips is. We've been

[29:04] watching uh that appears to be an F-18,

[29:06] perhaps a Super Hornet as they continue

[29:09] launching numerous sorties. Maybe we can

[29:11] listen in to Kira for a moment.

[29:16] Thank you. Uh, Miles,

[29:18] right now you're looking at the, uh,

[29:20] this is from the VFA 115 squadron. This

[29:23] is the F-18 Super Hornet. As you know,

[29:25] there's been a lot of attention on the

[29:27] F-18 uh, Super Hornet, the newest strike

[29:31] fighter uh, to the uh, to the fleet here

[29:33] on the USS Abraham Lincoln. As you can

[29:36] see, the flight deck crew giving the

[29:38] signals, getting ready to go. Here we

[29:40] go. The first super

[30:04] f uh first F-18 Super Horned that was

[30:06] from the BFA 115 Eagles has launched.

[30:10] off the uh USS Abraham Lincoln. Now, the

[30:14] advantages of the Super Hornet, of

[30:15] course, the heat seeeking missiles. You

[30:17] probably saw on the side of uh that

[30:20] aircraft. Also, uh the bunker busters

[30:22] that we told you about the Super

[30:23] Hornets, of course, known for their

[30:26] speed and and air.

[30:28] >> I'm sorry, Cara, we got to interrupt

[30:29] you. We got to go now to the Ministry of

[30:31] Information on Iraqi Television. Uh the

[30:34] Minister of Information. Let's listen in

[30:35] for just a moment

[30:36] >> against the tyrant of this era.

[30:41] the Zionist

[30:43] ally in this day where the

[30:46] determinations will be manifest and Iraq

[30:49] under the leadership of the great leader

[30:51] Saddam Hussein and may God protect him.

[30:55] This will be a protection, a shield for

[30:59] this nation, for humanity

[31:05] against those evils,

[31:08] those tyrants in America and Britain.

[31:12] Dear citizens,

[31:14] the president Saddam Hussein, may God

[31:17] protect him, will speak to you.

[31:25] >> All right, that was Muhammad al- Sahad

[31:26] who is the minister of information

[31:28] speaking on Iraqi television. Uh we have

[31:31] not seen Saddam Hussein. Uh there was a

[31:34] promise. Uh I'm sorry. Go ahead.

[31:38] >> All right. We're going to stay with this

[31:40] speech now. Is that right?

[31:43] All right. We're about to hear from

[31:44] Saddam Hussein. That's what I'm being

[31:46] told right now. Uh and we will probably

[31:48] stay with this uh picture as we wait for

[31:51] Saddam Hussein to appear. This was

[31:53] promised some time ago. Uh and why don't

[31:57] we send it back to Aaron for now. We'll

[31:59] continue our discussion of cruise

[32:00] missiles later. Aaron,

[32:01] >> thank you. Um well, we we look at the

[32:04] slide and that's what it is. Um what we

[32:07] don't know honestly we we know that they

[32:10] say Saddam Hussein is alive and they say

[32:12] that we're going to hear from them but

[32:13] the truth is that um Iraqi information

[32:16] officials have been saying that for at

[32:18] least an hour now a little longer than

[32:20] that. They they say well it'll be

[32:22] another 10 minutes it'll be another 10

[32:24] minutes. Well we'll have something on

[32:26] this channel or that channel but to this

[32:28] point they have not delivered. Um, we

[32:31] know and you know

[32:34] >> in the name of God most merciful, most

[32:36] compassionate,

[32:37] >> they've delivered. Now

[32:40] >> those who are fought

[32:43] as they are treated unjustly were

[32:46] granted permission to fight and God will

[32:49] give them victory.

[32:56] Well, we have the beginning of the

[32:57] signal, but we lost it there. As you can

[32:59] see, that's Iraqi TV. Um,

[33:04] you know, I suppose it is um in some

[33:07] ways fitting um that here we go.

[33:12] >> 20th of March, 2003,

[33:15] corresponding to 17th of the Muharam of

[33:20] 1422 Hijri.

[33:23] The criminal,

[33:26] the criminal Junior Bush committed he

[33:29] and his aid, his crime that he was

[33:32] threatening Iraq with and humanity as

[33:36] well.

[33:38] His criminal act comes from

[33:45] and his and the act of those who helped

[33:47] him

[33:49] and his followers.

[33:53] This is added to the series of their

[33:55] shameful crimes against Iraq and the

[33:57] humanity.

[33:59] This is a start for other additional

[34:02] crimes.

[34:06] Oh, Iraqis and those who care in our

[34:09] nation.

[34:12] acrificing for you and for the values of

[34:15] our nation and the banners of its

[34:18] fighting and for its religion and for

[34:22] the soul, the family, the son.

[34:27] And here I will not repeat what should

[34:30] be said.

[34:33] or it is a duty on all people, good

[34:36] people, you that repeat what has to be

[34:40] done to protect and defend this dear

[34:43] nation and the values and sacreds. But I

[34:47] will say for to each this is a must on

[34:50] all of us. What I say

[34:53] on any of us, on each of us in the

[34:56] family of Iraq, the believing, the

[34:59] honest

[35:02] family that is being treated unjustly by

[35:04] its enemies on all of us, on each of us,

[35:08] we have to remember what

[35:11] was said and what was pledged. And these

[35:14] days will go as God's wills. This will

[35:18] add these days will add to your record

[35:22] your bright record.

[35:25] Oh you male and female dignified people.

[35:29] This is your share of dignity and

[35:31] victory and everything that will raise

[35:35] the status before God and will let

[35:38] infidels down the enemies of humanity

[35:41] and God and that you will be victorious.

[35:46] Oh Iraqis

[35:49] and with you are victorious will be with

[35:52] you are the people of your the sons of

[35:54] your nation and you are victorious with

[35:56] the will of God and your enemies will be

[35:58] in humiliation and defeat God willing

[36:12] go you sword I'm not

[36:17] Draw your sword and I'm not afraid.

[36:21] Draw your sword.

[36:24] The enemy is making a fuss.

[36:29] And the enemy will not be stopped except

[36:32] by

[36:36] let the rains be let go anyway.

[36:40] But hope is there. Let thunderstorms

[36:45] go

[36:49] until the guidance appears and justice

[36:54] goes away

[36:59] and let don't be

[37:03] the way to confront

[37:06] to confront all bad

[37:11] and pull your trigger and keep the fire

[37:14] on

[37:19] with draw your draw your sword.

[37:26] No one will be victorious unless you're

[37:28] unless he is a man and a brave man and

[37:32] prepare a banner

[37:35] and call for the way of God

[37:38] that the wounds will heal quickly.

[37:44] Dear friends,

[37:51] those who call for evil in the world.

[37:56] Oh,

[37:56] >> those who who fight evil in the world,

[37:59] peace be upon him. You notice how

[38:02] Bush the careless underestimated your

[38:06] values

[38:08] that you declared against the war

[38:12] and your call your honest call for peace

[38:16] and he committed this shameful

[38:19] crime this day.

[38:23] We pledge in our name and in the name of

[38:26] the command and leadership and the name

[38:29] of the people, the fighting people and

[38:31] its heroic army

[38:36] in this in in its history and record of

[38:38] civilization. We pledge that we will

[38:40] confront the invaders and we will get

[38:43] them to God willing to the limit where

[38:48] they will lose their patience and they

[38:50] will lose any hope in accomplishing

[38:55] what what they were driven to by the

[38:59] Zionist, the criminal Zionist. And those

[39:01] who have agendas, they will go to to the

[39:05] lowest levels and they will be defeated.

[39:08] A defeat

[39:10] that

[39:12] we hope for them after they went far in

[39:14] unjustice and evil.

[39:21] We love peace and we are working towards

[39:23] this peace.

[39:27] Iraq will be victorious. We'll win. And

[39:30] with Iraq,

[39:32] our nation and humanity will win. And

[39:37] evil

[39:39] will suffer from what makes it incapable

[39:43] of doing any evil or crime

[39:49] at a level similar to the American

[39:51] Zionist

[39:53] alliance against nations. And at the

[39:57] forefront is our dignified nation, Arab

[40:01] nation. God is great. God is great.

[40:07] At the beginning

[40:10] at the forefront is our our nation. God

[40:13] is great. God is great. And live long

[40:17] Iraq and Palestine.

[40:20] God is great. God is great. and our Arab

[40:24] nation, dignified nation, let let that

[40:27] nation live. And the human brotherhood,

[40:31] let it live with those who love peace

[40:33] and security and the right of people in

[40:37] freedom uh according to justice and

[40:40] equality.

[40:41] God is great and let the losers lose.

[40:46] Let Iraq live.

[40:50] Long live jihad and long live Palestine.

[40:55] >> The Iraqi president Saddam Hussein

[40:59] in a speech to his countrymen. What must

[41:01] they think? Uh Saddam Hussein in

[41:04] military garb tonight. Uh normally we

[41:07] see him in civilian clothes, but the

[41:08] last couple of times we've seen him. He

[41:11] has been in his military uniform. He was

[41:13] um he referred to President Bush as

[41:16] little Bush. I actually heard it as

[41:18] Junior Bush. But uh in any case, he

[41:20] wasn't paying the president of the

[41:22] United States a compliment and described

[41:24] this as a crime against Iraq and a crime

[41:26] against humanity. It is the duty of all

[41:29] good people to protect our dear nation.

[41:31] He said, "I am not afraid." And then and

[41:34] this is important. Um three different

[41:37] times as I heard it, he referred to

[41:40] Zionist, the American Zionist Alliance.

[41:42] He said, "Long live Palestine. It is

[41:44] certainly the Iraqi president's hope

[41:46] that the Arab world will see this in the

[41:50] context of the long and difficult

[41:54] dispute between the Palestinians and the

[41:56] Israelis. Uh that that that uh in Arab

[42:00] capitals that citizen that that Islamic

[42:03] citizens will rise up in some way, shape

[42:05] or form. uh and that that will protect

[42:08] or or deflect uh some of what is about

[42:12] to come uh visited upon Iraq. And so we

[42:15] heard it at least three times. Um this

[42:18] notion that this is a an American

[42:20] Zionist, read that Israeli alliance. The

[42:24] question I suppose Nick Robertson or one

[42:27] question Nick is whether in fact that

[42:29] was Saddam Hussein. He is a man we know

[42:32] with a number of lookalikes or doubles.

[42:35] Um, do we know with absolute certainty

[42:38] that we were listening to the Iraqi

[42:40] president?

[42:42] >> It would certainly seem at this time

[42:44] that uh, every intention was given to

[42:46] convey that this was the real president

[42:49] Saddam Hussein. He is known to have a

[42:51] number of doubles and perhaps analyzing

[42:54] that carefully would be difficult

[42:55] because of the large glasses, the beret

[42:59] and the highly the the the fact that his

[43:01] collar was pulled up quite highly. would

[43:04] take a very sophisticated set of

[43:05] analysis, I think, of pictures of him to

[43:08] make a determination. It sounded very

[43:10] much like him. The rhetoric was

[43:12] extremely strong. He looked much more

[43:15] serious than we have seen him look

[43:16] recently. He portrays himself on Iraqi

[43:19] television as looking very relaxed. Very

[43:21] interesting there, Aaron. Of course, the

[43:23] theme that uh that all that all of this

[43:26] is driven by Zionism, is driven by the

[43:28] United States aggression to gain control

[43:31] over the region. And we hear that time

[43:32] and time again from Iraqi officials.

[43:35] Very interesting here to get a hint, the

[43:38] first hint perhaps of how Iraq thinks it

[43:40] will deal with this uh war, saying that

[43:44] uh that uh we will drive them to the

[43:47] limit, drive the invading forces to the

[43:48] limit where they lose their patience and

[43:51] they will lose their hope and the day

[43:54] will come where they are driven down to

[43:56] their lowest level and give up. This is

[43:58] the first time we've heard an Iraqi

[44:01] official articulate how they plan to try

[44:04] and win. They plan to try and do it here

[44:07] by making sure that the United States

[44:09] loses its patience, that the troops lose

[44:11] their hope, that their morale is driven

[44:14] to its lowest level. This is something

[44:17] that we haven't heard before. Very

[44:19] interesting. A call to arms, a call to

[44:21] arms to draw your swords, to draw your

[44:23] guns. uh clearly calling on the Iraqi

[44:27] people at this very very critical time

[44:30] uh for them to stand with the government

[44:32] to stand behind the leadership. Of

[44:34] course, difficult to analyze as well

[44:37] exactly what really what people really

[44:39] are feeling in their hearts of hearts as

[44:41] they stand as they know on the brink of

[44:44] a very very serious war at this time.

[44:46] Maron,

[44:48] >> it is u I to use a colloquialism, it is

[44:51] the knock on the Americans, I suppose,

[44:53] that um and this is a product of Vietnam

[44:56] that the country does not have the

[44:58] staying power uh in moments like this,

[45:02] that it does not have the will to take

[45:04] casualties, that it does not have the

[45:06] will to expend um the human res the

[45:11] lives, I almost said human resources

[45:13] does not have the willingness to accept

[45:14] the casualties of war. Um, that has been

[45:17] the knock on on the country in the

[45:19] postVietnam era. Uh, we would we would

[45:22] just refer again to something that

[45:25] President Bush said. Uh, when he talked,

[45:28] he made it very clear that this may go

[45:30] on a long time. But I think the term was

[45:32] no half measures here, no half victories

[45:35] here. That in the president's view, the

[45:37] president of the United States view, the

[45:39] United States is in it to the end. And

[45:42] there in my in in our view there can be

[45:45] little question that that is indeed the

[45:48] American feeling tonight that that they

[45:51] will do what it takes as quickly as

[45:53] possible but they will do what it takes

[45:55] to do the job the president has

[45:57] annunciated over uh now many many many

[46:01] months. Wolf, this question of whether

[46:04] it was Saddam and the doubles, uh, I I

[46:07] don't mean to use the term paranoid in

[46:08] the classic um, psychiatric sense. We'll

[46:12] use it in the idiomatic sense. He is a

[46:15] man obsessed with security.

[46:19] He certainly is a man obsessed with

[46:21] security. And let me make a couple

[46:22] points about what we've just seen unfold

[46:25] on Iraqi television before coming out

[46:27] here to Kuwait. Over the past several

[46:28] months, I've had several highlevel

[46:30] briefings with US and other intelligence

[46:33] sources, and they point out about the

[46:35] whole issue of Saddam Hussein having

[46:36] body doubles. Usually, that's when he's

[46:39] out in public. They have someone who

[46:41] looks like him, uh, dresses like him,

[46:43] can walk in in a crowd and almost

[46:45] pretend to be him, but you never hear

[46:47] that other person speak. Saddam Hussein

[46:50] has a very distinctive voice in Arabic

[46:52] and anyone who's an Arabic speaker could

[46:55] certainly make out if in fact that was

[46:57] or was not Saddam Hussein given the very

[46:59] recognized voice that he has. In this

[47:02] particular case, he spoke, you saw him

[47:03] reading from his notes so clearly uh

[47:06] anyone who knows Saddam Hussein's voice

[47:09] would be well aware of that this was in

[47:11] fact Saddam Hussein. The other point you

[47:13] have to notice at the top of his speech

[47:14] he referred to the date now in this part

[47:16] of the world 20 March 2003. That

[47:19] indicates that this was not a previously

[47:22] recorded videotape. This was a tape

[47:24] recording that was done uh since the US

[47:27] strike began. Those cruise missiles

[47:29] F-17A launched that attack on those

[47:32] selected targets in Baghdad. the uh the

[47:36] the the Iraqi leader also was very very

[47:38] precise in terms of going after the

[47:41] president of the United States. At one

[47:43] point he called him the criminal Junior

[47:45] Bush. The criminal Junior Bush, a very

[47:47] derogatory term as far as the Arab world

[47:50] is concerned, meaning that he's just a

[47:52] junior as far as his father was

[47:54] concerned. And there's this

[47:55] long-standing, of course, animosity,

[47:57] hatred between the Bush family, of

[47:59] course, and the Saddam Hussein family,

[48:01] if you will. So, it was getting very

[48:03] personal there as well. Let's bring

[48:04] Cristian Amanpur. As you assess this

[48:07] situation, Cristian, you see Saddam

[48:09] Hussein emerging on Iraqi television,

[48:11] literally only very briefly after the US

[48:14] clearly sought to decapitate the Iraqi

[48:17] leadership. It reminded me of what

[48:19] happened earlier in the day when there

[48:20] were rum rumors that Tariq Aziz, the

[48:23] deputy prime minister of Iraq, had had

[48:25] fled or had been killed and he emerged

[48:28] on television right away. It underscores

[48:30] how sophisticated the Iraqi regime is.

[48:33] >> Well, yeah. And Nick Robertson was

[48:34] talking about that as well. I mean, it

[48:36] underscores that they understand the uh

[48:38] the the capacity of the airwaves and

[48:41] they need to show what they want to show

[48:44] quite quickly. But I think in terms of

[48:46] what he said about Americans losing

[48:48] patience and perhaps underestimating

[48:51] America's staying power, I think what

[48:54] many people in the world forget is that

[48:55] that equation changed in the United

[48:58] States after September 11th. That's the

[49:00] one major change I think in terms of the

[49:03] American people's willingness to take

[49:05] casualties and the politicians

[49:07] willingness to commit forces because now

[49:09] after so many Americans were killed on

[49:11] September 11th and so many police and

[49:14] firefighters were killed doing their

[49:15] job, there is no question any longer

[49:18] that the soldiers who are paid to do the

[49:20] job of fighting and sometimes dying will

[49:22] have to do it as well. So, I think it's

[49:24] no longer appropriate for people around

[49:26] the world to uh question whether the

[49:28] United States forces and the United

[49:30] States public will have weak stomachs

[49:33] for this kind of uh of battle.

[49:35] Certainly, we don't know what's going to

[49:37] happen in the long run, but for the

[49:39] moment, I think that the public opinion

[49:41] in the United States shows that this is

[49:43] not in question and that the American

[49:45] people will support their troops uh as

[49:47] long as they get the job done. in terms

[49:49] of his constant repeating and referring

[49:52] to the uh American Zionist plan. This is

[49:55] one of the main reasons why there has

[49:58] been so uh essentially little support in

[50:02] the Arab world for a war in Iraq. The

[50:05] fact that the United States has allowed

[50:08] and not intervened in the Arab-Israeli

[50:10] crisis over the last couple of years and

[50:13] that this is going on unabated certainly

[50:16] does not provide the ideal context in

[50:19] this part of the world for an attack on

[50:21] Iraq. And certainly speaking to many

[50:22] Arab leaders over the last few weeks and

[50:25] months, many of them said that had there

[50:27] been an attempt to uh put out the flames

[50:30] between the Palestinians and the

[50:31] Israelis, many of the Arab leaders would

[50:34] have been much more uh forthright and

[50:36] overt about their support for uh the

[50:39] disarmament of Saddam Hussein. So I

[50:42] think uh that's something that he knows

[50:44] goes down well in this region. Erin

[50:47] >> Christian, thanks. I think um many in

[50:49] the Arab world would in fact say that uh

[50:51] this President Bush, President George W.

[50:53] Bush has been less evenhanded. Uh they

[50:56] would say that. We're not saying that.

[50:58] They would say that then was President

[51:00] Clinton and his dealing with the Israeli

[51:02] dispute. And that has certainly as

[51:04] Cristian indicated um caused Arab

[51:07] leaders and people in Arab capitals and

[51:09] believers in the Palestinian cause great

[51:11] concern. Nick Robertson in Baghdad. Um

[51:16] >> what is

[51:18] Go ahead.

[51:19] >> Go ahead. No, Aaron, I think very much

[51:21] what about what Christian was saying

[51:24] there. This may be the miscalculation by

[51:27] President Saddam Hussein is often been

[51:29] it's often been suggested that he made a

[51:31] miscalculation in understanding United

[51:34] States intentions and world intentions

[51:36] when he invaded Kuwait back in 1990.

[51:39] This may be the flaw in his in his

[51:42] decision-making process at this time

[51:44] rather than going for further

[51:46] cooperation with the UN weapons instate

[51:48] as deciding to perhaps to go to war with

[51:51] the aim of undermining United States

[51:54] resolve undermining public support for

[51:57] an action against Iraq by believing that

[51:59] that can be done through attrition of

[52:02] forces. Uh perhaps this may yet prove to

[52:05] be the major miscalculation of of

[52:07] President Saddam Hussein. This seems to

[52:09] be from his speech however and in that

[52:12] is his first indication perhaps that

[52:14] this is is his intention to approach the

[52:17] war from this point of view not one that

[52:19] he could win outright militarily but one

[52:22] that he can perhaps win by slowing

[52:24] forces and creating casualties on the

[52:26] way to Baghdad. Uh I think that's a

[52:29] great point and just underscore one

[52:30] other point uh actually that Wolf made

[52:32] earlier that ought not get lost in here

[52:35] that uh Saddam and we assume it was

[52:38] Saddam at least we have no reason to

[52:39] believe it was not uh dated the speech.

[52:41] He said this 20th of March and uh and so

[52:45] if the American attempt was to get him I

[52:49] think we can and and if that was him

[52:51] okay there's many qualifiers that we can

[52:53] handle in one sentence uh pretty clearly

[52:55] that part failed. The other point I

[52:57] would make on that is it's hard to know

[52:59] um if he actually believes uh in the

[53:02] American impatience, General Clark, if

[53:04] he actually believes that that's um real

[53:08] still in this postVietnam. We're a long

[53:10] way from Vietnam. Um if he believes that

[53:12] or whether or not that's just the kind

[53:14] of thing you say for public consumption.

[53:16] The audience here is complicated. It's

[53:19] an Iraqi audience. It's an international

[53:21] audience. It's an Arab audience. There

[53:23] are many different constituencies

[53:25] listening to this that he was speaking

[53:27] to.

[53:30] >> That's exact That's exactly right, Erin.

[53:32] He is speaking and and he's speaking as

[53:35] much to the international audience, I

[53:37] believe, as to his own people on this.

[53:40] And so he's projecting what he hopes to

[53:42] be the case. He's trying to project his

[53:44] own moral superiority. I think it's very

[53:46] interesting that he felt like after this

[53:49] strike, he had to come out and show

[53:50] himself. uh which you know on the one

[53:52] hand you say okay we missed on the other

[53:54] hand it's it is a sign of some degree of

[53:56] insecurity that uh you know he's aware

[53:59] enough that and it feels vulnerable

[54:01] enough that hey it's a real possibility

[54:03] they could have got me so I'm going to

[54:05] show myself

[54:06] >> so uh I I think that uh that in it in

[54:10] itself is a measure of some degree of

[54:13] success in the US strategy at this point

[54:16] I mean on the larger field we really

[54:19] don't have a good picture here Erin as I

[54:20] was watching watching all of this

[54:21] tonight unfold. I recall sitting in

[54:24] Belgium during the Kosovo campaign and

[54:26] in my headquarters, we always had CNN or

[54:29] or or another network on because we

[54:31] wanted to see what the public was

[54:33] learning and we wanted to see the

[54:35] pictures of in some cases our own

[54:37] efforts. And it was always surprising

[54:40] when I'd get the battle damage readouts

[54:43] through the official channels how much

[54:45] there was that wasn't captured on the

[54:48] television. Well, it's only

[54:49] understandable, but the the medium is so

[54:52] powerful that it dominates.

[54:53] >> I think that's a great point. And the

[54:55] fact is we have yet to see um anything

[54:58] that says damage. We don't know what was

[55:00] hit and what wasn't hit. We haven't seen

[55:02] it yet. We may see it later today. We

[55:04] may not see it later today. There's a

[55:05] lot of things about this day that's

[55:07] unfolding. We don't know. Um, does it g

[55:11] you as a retired general, uh, when this

[55:15] notion that Americans and the American

[55:17] military does not have the staying

[55:19] power, uh, does that g you or do you

[55:22] just kind of laugh it off as a piece of

[55:24] history that is purely irrelevant?

[55:28] Well, it it's it's really um it's it's

[55:31] really unfortunate if that in fact is

[55:34] what he believes because I I I do

[55:36] believe this country has enormous

[55:38] staying power and the quality of the

[55:41] American armed forces is absolutely

[55:43] superb. And not only the quality in the

[55:45] sense of technology, but the training,

[55:48] the character of the troops and the

[55:50] leadership, they've got staying power

[55:52] like probably no army in history has

[55:54] ever had. So, uh, if it's unfortunate,

[55:58] if people believe that and it leads them

[56:00] to miscalculate and seek war with the

[56:02] United States, I mean, the rational

[56:04] course for Saddam would have been to

[56:06] cooperate with the UN

[56:08] >> a long time ago.

[56:09] >> Not to be glib about it, but here's a

[56:11] guy who was badly trounced a dozen years

[56:15] ago. I mean, it wasn't like this. This

[56:17] is not like this is his first experience

[56:19] in this matter. He's actually done this

[56:21] dance before with the United States and

[56:23] he actually knows how this plays out.

[56:25] And to miscalculate, I asked this

[56:27] question to former Secretary of State

[56:28] Henry Kissinger once. What must he be

[56:30] thinking to see these 300,000 troops on

[56:33] his border to know that there are

[56:35] literally thousands of missiles and

[56:38] hundreds and hundreds of jet planes

[56:40] prepared to launch uh launch other

[56:43] missiles, drop other bombs? What

[56:45] possible military mind is making these

[56:49] decisions?

[56:50] >> It's hard to understand from the

[56:52] outside. But on the other hand, when we

[56:54] watched Malloich go through this, we had

[56:56] every reason to believe that he was

[56:58] being lied to by his generals. And

[57:00] certainly we know that Saddam Hussein is

[57:02] a man who doesn't like bad news. And so

[57:05] it's very possible that his generals are

[57:07] saying to him, "A, we don't believe the

[57:10] United States has those forces. Not all

[57:12] of them there. We looked, we didn't see

[57:13] them. I I'm um I I promise I won't do

[57:17] this too often. Gary Striker is one of

[57:18] our inbeds. Hard to get these guys on

[57:20] the air. He's out at sea. Um report to

[57:24] us what you can.

[57:26] Um well Aaron, uh we're out on the um

[57:30] USS Theodore Roosevelt in the Eastern

[57:31] Mediterranean

[57:33] and uh you may hear above me, we're in a

[57:35] room just below the flight deck. Uh

[57:37] Tomcats and Hornets are taking off, but

[57:39] this is business as usual on this

[57:41] aircraft this time of day.

[57:44] They're practicing uh launches and

[57:46] recoveries and there's no indication

[57:48] that any of the fighter aircraft on on

[57:52] this carrier are participating in uh any

[57:54] action that may be taking place over

[57:56] Iraq right now. Uh the Pentagon as as

[58:00] you've uh indicated uh released some

[58:02] video from the uh Donald Cook, a

[58:05] destroyer uh which actually is in the

[58:08] Red Sea but came from one of the battle

[58:11] groups here in the Mediterranean uh last

[58:14] week. They slipped through the Suez

[58:16] Canal to get to the Red Sea where they

[58:18] would be in a position to uh launch

[58:21] crews as those Tomahawks um uh from from

[58:24] there. there was some question about

[58:26] whether they uh could maintain their

[58:28] position in in the eastern Mediterranean

[58:31] uh as effectively as they could in the

[58:32] Red Sea. So they slipped through the

[58:34] Suez Canal last week with some degree of

[58:37] secrecy. It was a very um uh tedious

[58:42] process of getting through the canal

[58:43] because of uh obvious security concerns,

[58:45] possible terrorist attacks when they're

[58:47] exposed to danger. Um but at at this

[58:50] point now um Aaron there's there's

[58:53] nothing happening on the on the

[58:56] Roosevelt or as we understand on the on

[58:58] the Truman

[58:59] >> uh in in the Eastern Mediterranean that

[59:01] bears on this conflict right now in the

[59:04] over Iraq

[59:05] >> Gary but they are aware are they not

[59:07] what has already happened today or last

[59:10] night are they?

[59:11] >> Oh yes they are.

[59:12] >> Okay. And how did they find out? Do you

[59:13] know?

[59:15] >> Uh the men on the ship.

[59:17] >> Yeah. And women. The men on the ship are

[59:19] are watching um CNN. Uh the men on the

[59:23] ship are watching television. They've

[59:25] got uh they're plugged into uh uh into

[59:28] the internet uh as well, but uh they

[59:31] have televisions throughout this vessel

[59:33] and uh most of them are tuned uh to CNN

[59:37] on a 24-hour basis at this point.

[59:38] >> Well, I I threw a hanging curve and I

[59:40] appreciate very much you're hitting it

[59:41] out of the park. Gary, thank you. Gary

[59:43] Striker out at C Nick Robertson in uh

[59:46] Baghdad. Nick, it is still playing out

[59:48] there. The siren still going off. Is

[59:50] that right?

[59:52] >> Indeed. This seems to be the all clear

[59:54] siren going off again, Aaron. No sounds

[59:58] of anti-aircraft gunfire at this time.

[60:00] It it does appear to be the all clear at

[60:02] this moment.

[60:03] >> Okay. Uh hang on, Nick. Let me go back

[60:04] to General Clark for a second if I can.

[60:06] Uh General, what are what is Tommy

[60:10] Franks doing? General Franks doing? What

[60:12] are the planners doing right now? They

[60:15] have started something. What would you

[60:17] guess they are doing now?

[60:19] >> Well, it it's daylight, so first of all,

[60:22] they're all awake and working on this

[60:23] issue. And secondly, they may be trying

[60:27] to uh continue to adjust the timetable.

[60:29] There may be other targets of

[60:31] opportunity that they're after, they may

[60:32] have decided since they've sprung it

[60:35] now, now they've got to have extra

[60:37] patrols airborne to take advantage of

[60:39] what's happening next. Or they may

[60:40] simply have told people move it up.

[60:42] They're also going to be concerned about

[60:44] how to synchronize the air and the

[60:46] ground. It's possible the ground forces

[60:48] could sit there for a while, but

[60:50] normally doctrally in an attack

[60:52] position, you'd like to pause there for

[60:55] as little time as possible. And so

[60:58] there's probably phone calls going

[61:00] through back and forth trying to figure

[61:02] out okay now they know we're coming and

[61:04] uh so how much tactical surprise is left

[61:07] and how do we play one side off against

[61:09] the other and what does this unit do and

[61:11] that unit do now and if not now then

[61:14] when so I think there's a lot of highle

[61:16] conversations going on right now and I

[61:17] think the troops down uh down at the

[61:20] bottom are cleaning their weapons and

[61:22] looking at their maps again and making

[61:24] routine uh pre- battle checks. Do you

[61:27] have any sense that those troops those

[61:29] particularly you know we we've had this

[61:30] concern over the last couple of days we

[61:32] the United States government has had

[61:34] this concern over the last couple of

[61:35] days that Saddam might launch a

[61:38] preemptive attack now that there has

[61:40] been these cruise missiles uh dropped on

[61:42] him. Is it your view that the American

[61:45] forces the British forces are in any

[61:47] greater danger now than they were at

[61:50] 9:00 Eastern time tonight last night? I

[61:53] think that's I think that's got to be a

[61:54] consideration and surely we're doing

[61:56] everything we can to prevent his ability

[61:59] to execute an attack like that. But in

[62:01] fact, we did move and uh even though

[62:05] this is a big wide open desert, he does

[62:08] not have spy satellites. He cannot see

[62:10] us and he's having a hard time locating

[62:12] us. And Kuwait looks small on a map, but

[62:14] when you consider how the forces are

[62:17] laid out there, you can fire at a lot of

[62:19] empty desert and not hit anything. So, I

[62:20] think we're safer for having moved.

[62:23] >> Um, just hang on a second just to keep

[62:25] viewers a breast of sort of where in the

[62:26] world everything is at this moment. The

[62:28] Iraqi information minister is talking to

[62:30] reporters. We'll get a translation of

[62:32] that as we go. Uh, that's going on.

[62:37] Now, we now we can translate it. So we

[62:39] shall

[62:40] >> our

[62:42] country and our people in defiance

[62:48] of international law international

[62:52] community

[62:56] against

[62:58] nations

[63:00] and as I said

[63:05] we

[63:07] understand

[63:10] to deal with these people.

[63:14] They are criminals. They're mercenaries.

[63:19] The international law that applies to

[63:22] armed struggle does not apply to them.

[63:26] This is naked aggression

[63:29] and piracy. And this is what pirates and

[63:34] mercenaries do. This is what war

[63:37] criminals do. Therefore,

[63:40] international law does not apply to

[63:42] them. They are criminals.

[63:48] Naked aggression will be met by Iraqi

[63:52] resistance.

[63:56] People of Iraq will defeat this

[63:57] aggression.

[64:01] ask you

[64:04] the word

[64:07] crimes of the Americans and the Zionists

[64:10] and the British.

[64:12] We will take over

[64:15] so you can show the world.

[64:19] Feel free to show them these crimes.

[64:23] Now I

[64:29] the minister of

[64:31] culture Ysef Hamadi.

[64:35] Today the American administration has

[64:39] declared its bankruptcy.

[64:43] Today that bankruptcy has become

[64:46] official before the entire world.

[64:50] And I'm not talking about the

[64:56] uh media side. My colleague here has

[65:00] told you

[65:03] I would like to tell the world that the

[65:08] pretext that was used by the American

[65:11] administration that Iraq had weapons of

[65:14] mass destruction that was changed to

[65:18] what's so called regime change.

[65:24] I would like you to go back to the

[65:30] December.

[65:31] >> 9th of December.

[65:35] >> 1988.

[65:37] >> December. September.

[65:39] >> 9th of September.

[65:42] >> 1988.

[65:49] >> The information and culture ministers of

[65:52] Iraq, uh, talking to reporters. Um, I'm

[65:56] not sure what the question was that

[65:58] launched that rhetorical attack or even

[66:01] if there was one. Uh, but that is part

[66:03] of the moment and part of what goes on

[66:05] in these moments in an attempt to play

[66:08] to these multiple constituencies that

[66:10] General Clark uh was talking about a

[66:12] little bit ago. I was a lowly seaman in

[66:14] the Coast Guard. I've I've interrupted a

[66:16] general twice tonight. I will pay for

[66:18] that at some point. Cristian.

[66:23] Well, Aaron, clearly a concerted effort

[66:25] by the top leadership in Baghdad to come

[66:27] out fighting, if you like, at least

[66:29] rhetorically, at least with their

[66:31] presence. If indeed that this uh cruise

[66:33] missile attack, apparently we're told 40

[66:35] cruise missiles launched at so-called

[66:37] leadership target, well then the Iraqis

[66:40] are doing their utmost to show us that

[66:42] the top leadership is intact. Saddam

[66:44] Hussein giving that speech and there you

[66:46] had the minister of uh information and

[66:48] the president of the Iraqi National

[66:50] Assembly talking and carrying on the

[66:53] rhetorical uh barrage against President

[66:56] Bush against the uh US-led action in

[66:59] Iraq right now. Going back to Saddam

[67:01] Hussein's speech, looking at the

[67:02] transcript, at least some of it, he

[67:04] basically, as Wolf pointed out earlier,

[67:06] very cleverly alluded to the date,

[67:09] today, 20th of March, 2003 in this part

[67:12] of the world. And he said, "Draw your

[67:14] sword. I'm not afraid." He went on to

[67:16] denounce President Bush and said that

[67:18] they would have no chance of winning.

[67:20] What we know is that from this end

[67:23] anyway,