CNN, American Morning:
Fallujah [transcript only]
Tuesday, November 09, 2004
SOLEDAD
O'BRIEN: Day two for the battle of Falluja, and more
than 10,000 U.S. troops, 2,000 Iraqi forces pounding
targets in that city. Military officials say as many
as 5,000 insurgents may still be inside Falluja, but
the whereabouts of terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi,
believed to have been in the insurgent stronghold,
are still unknown according to Defense Secretary
Donald Rumsfeld.
Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi says the removal
of insurgents in Falluja will help pave the way for
the January elections. Let's go right now to Michael
Ware. He is "TIME" magazine's Baghdad Bureau chief.
He is one of our embedded reporters for us this
morning.
Michael, good morning. What can you tell us?
MICHAEL WARE, BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF, "TIME" MAGAZINE:
The U.S. Army is currently leading this assault on
the insurgent stronghold of Falluja. The Army units
that I'm attached, from Task Force 22 of the 2nd
Battalion 2nd Infantry regiment have punched deep
(INAUDIBLE) the resistance that was put up by the
insurgents through the night and the early hours of
this morning. We have reached significant landmarks
and now control significant parts of the city.
The advance was plagued by continued attacks from the
insurgents, explosions from booby-traps all over the
city, and by sustained mortar and rocket-propelled
grenade fire. However, the fierce battle that we were
led to believe would occur has yet to take place. The
insurgents, while resisting in street-to-street gun
battles, have yet to organize themselves into a stiff
resistance.
So, the question remains as to whether the insurgents
can still be rooted out or whether, in fact, they
have already fled the city.
O'BRIEN: Michael, can I ask you a question about
casualties that you are seeing where you are?
WARE: The U.S. Army unit that I am with has suffered
only light casualties, none of them life threatening.
The platoon that I have been with has sustained two
casualties, one of which was more serious, yet again
that one was not life threatening.
However, I believe they have been able to inflict
some damage on the insurgents that they have
confronted. and certainly there has been considerable
collateral damage to the buildings and the mosques
and the infrastructure of Falluja.
O'BRIEN: You said, Michael, that you have been seeing
street-to- street fighting by the insurgents, not a
real organized resistance. Can you give me a sense, a
lot of resistance, a minimal amount of resistance --
how would you put it?
WARE: It's been minimal -- that's another explosion.
The battle is still continuing as I speak, so you'll
have to excuse me. It's been minimal. Perhaps it's
been crafted as such by the insurgents. They allowed
us to enter the city to a certain degree before they
began assaulting our positions.
But once they began attacking, the attacks were
fierce, with mortar fire, rocket-propelled grenades,
and very, very close quarters, small arms fire. We
were literally fighting house to house. So, when they
stopped to fight, they really put up quite a battle.
However, the largest concentration of insurgents that
I have seen so far has been no more than 20 to 25
individuals. By and large, they are operating in
small teams or squads, picking us off with sniper
fire and ambushes.
O'BRIEN: Michael Ware is "TIME" magazine's Baghdad
Bureau chief reporting for us this morning where he
is embedded with the 22nd Task Force. Michael, thank
you very much and, obviously, stay safe. Appreciate
it.