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CNN LIVE AT DAYBREAK
Townspeople Show Marines Missile Sites
Aired April 9, 2003 - 05:43 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: We continue to gather information and reaction on the images and the pictures we're seeing in Baghdad, but we are also trying to canvas, as much as we can anyway, this country that is huge, the size of the state of California.
Bob Franken embedded with the Marines.
I believe, Bob, you're near the border with Iran by way of telephone. What's happening there this afternoon?
BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're near the town of Al Amarah. Now they've gone through the town of Al Amarah. In fact, standing just feet away, literally, from some missile launchers that the local townspeople have taken Marine commanders to. The missile launchers are for Brazilian Astro missiles. Now Astro missiles are, in effect, a miniature Scud. They are surface-to-air missiles. They run of the range of a size of a Scud. Anyway, they are missile launchers.
We were told by the Marines that they're going to be coming to other places. As a matter of fact, we're about to move out now. The information came in a series of meetings that the general who is in charge of the Marines, General Rich Natonski (ph), had with townspeople, including some of the sheiks, some of the leaders of the tribes that had been putting up a resistance to Saddam Hussein.
Al Amarah is a town of about 340,000, a very large town. It is predominately Shiite. There's a strong resistance to Hussein. The 10th Armored Division was operating from here. It's supposed to be a formidable force, but the Marines have encountered no resistance as they've come in and through Al Amarah.
What we have seen is tanks all over the place, many of them buried, waiting for battle but they're empty. At the meeting this morning, the sheik said that the soldiers, the members of the unit had fled. We're about to leave the area and go to what has been (ph) other missiles sites -- Anderson.
HEMMER: All right, Bob, listen, I apologize about the interruption. Hang with me a second here.
Just so our viewers know, we're getting in more videotape right now, this time from the northern town of Erbil, long considered to be part of the northern front, Kurdish dominated population there. And again, we see the images on our screen, yet again, like we saw in Baghdad today, like we saw in Basra on Monday and Tuesday, there are what appears to be celebrations in the streets. Not a whole lot of information coming out about what's happening in Erbil, whether or not there's looting as well, but clearly there are people now back out on the streets. And this is a contrast to the empty streets we have seen in so many different Iraqi towns now for the past three weeks running.
In fact, it was only early today in Baghdad we were told at daybreak the streets were eerily quiet. And many people in Baghdad were waking up to a much different town than what we're seeing now, at least in the eastern part of the city, Saddam City, as it's known, with the hundreds of people that we're watching right now on the streets in the videotape.
Bob, you're still there. I don't want to interrupt you yet again.
FRANKEN: Yes. Yes.
HEMMER: Continue, please, with your report there.
FRANKEN: Well anyway, we're about to move out to what are told -- we're told are going to be other missile sites, bigger missile sites. The Iraqis were asked, the ones who are friendly to the United States, whether they knew of any chemical weapons sites. And they say they did not, but they're leading them to various missile sites.
Now the general here, General Natonski, and some of his other people have been meeting with the Shiites who have come from the town of Al Amarah to this -- to this small suburb nearby, and they've had conversations. They've said they need food, water, electricity. They have been asking the U.S. forces at checkpoints not to search the women, but that is a very difficult problem where security forces are going to have to work out.
At one point there was a very interesting exchange, the general and the colonel said to the Iraqi resistance people tell us where the Baath Party people are. And the resistance people said no, you tell us and we'll take care of them. To which the general replied, no, you tell us where they are. So there's obviously quite a spirit of revenge.
We do know that there was some fighting in Al Amarah last night before we were permitted to go in. We heard some explosions. We saw evidence of some fires. But as we've come in today, it's been highly smooth sailing, absolutely no sign, as I said, of the 10th Armored Division. According to one of the people who was at the meeting this morning, the tea (ph) with the sheik who was in charge of one of the resistance tribes, when he was asked where are they, he said they went home -- Anderson.
HEMMER: It's Bill, Bob, that's OK though. Bob Franken, again embedded with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, working his way up the eastern edge of Iraq.
And again to our viewers, the videotape you're seeing right now just in to us here at CNN from the northern town of Erbil. And again, much like the images in Baghdad, the celebrations and the people now back on the streets in that town as well. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
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