Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=3/23/03

TYPE=INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT

TITLE=BOBB IRAQ

NUMBER=3-611

BYLINE=STEVE NORMAN

DATELINE=WASHINGTON

INTERNET=

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HOST: The U-S-led military campaign in Iraq continues with Baghdad a key target. V-O-A's Scott Bobb is covering the campaign from Central Command Headquarters in Doha, Qatar. He updates News Now's Steve Norman on the latest aerial bombardment of the capital:

MR. BOBB: Officials are calling it the second most intense night of bombing since the one on Friday, which was probably several times greater in intensity, but again, dozens of missiles rained down on Baghdad, hitting, in one case, the Republican Palace, in other cases, strategic targets like ammunition dumps, barracks and communication facilities.

MR. NORMAN: Is the air campaign concentrating primarily on Baghdad, or are they also active in other parts of the country?

MR. BOBB: It would appear that most of the activity is concentrated on Baghdad, but there have been strikes in a number of cities: Mosul, Basra in the south, and some cities in the western part of Iraq as well, or, I should say, targets in the western part of Iraq. The purpose is to reduce the ability of the Iraqi forces to communicate, to impede command and control of the military command, and also to perhaps target sites that could be used to launch missiles or weapons of mass destruction.

MR. NORMAN: And I would assume also clearing the way for the ground troops who are headed in that direction?

MR. BOBB: That is correct. In the middle of all this, several thousand ground troops are moving toward Baghdad, very quickly in fact, and, at the end of Sunday, were less than 160-kilometers from the capital. It is quite possible that they would arrive on the outskirts by dusk on Monday, and then we would see whether they attack or just wait and lay siege and wait for the defenses of Baghdad to be further softened.

MR. NORMAN: We have already talked about Mosul, we've talked about Basra, they are fighting, the coalition forces, on a number of fronts. Meantime, Iraqi officials have gone on regional television and said that they, the troops controlled by Baghdad, have the upper hand. Is there any evidence to support their contention that they are winning, whatever is going on?

MR. BOBB: There is no evidence coming from this base, which of course is the coalition command headquarters. It is clear that Sunday was a day of some severe setbacks for the coalition forces. They met pockets of stiff resistance at Umm Qasr in the south. They were attacked around Nassariyah and, according to U.S. officials, at least nine soldiers were killed. In addition, a supply convoy was ambushed in southern Iraq, and the U.S. version is that 12 U.S. soldiers disappeared. Five prisoners were shown on a regional television station, and Iraqi officials said most of the others had been killed in the battle. Four of these were wounded but were rescued by coalition forces.

In addition, the resistance in Nassariyah was so intense that coalition forces decided to not try to take it, but just bypass it on their way to Baghdad. The hope is that they can convince the Iraqi leadership to surrender or else overthrow President Saddam Hussein, and then the pockets such as Nassariyah and the areas of southern Iraq would then no longer really be very difficult to take over.

MR. NORMAN: And what about the mood of the coalition forces there, how are they feeling this many days into the conflict?

MR. BOBB: I think the mood among the military forces, whereas you had a certain euphoria the first couple of days after weeks of waiting and the actual offensive began, Sunday was a bit more somber. The reality of war hit home. We now have about 30 coalition troops dead from this operation, about two-thirds of them in air accidents, collisions and crashes of coalition aircraft. You also have the prisoners of war. So, the somber fact of war has been driven home very graphically, that in war there are casualties on both sides.

HOST: Correspondent Scott Bobb at Central Command headquarters in Doha, Qatar. He spoke with News Now's Steve Norman.

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