Yet more evidence that Americans are liberators.
Aired November 12, 2004 - 06:27 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: On day five of the massive assault on Falluja, Iraq, U.S. and Iraqi troops have essentially taken the southern sector of the city. Brian Todd helps illustrate what they're up against from even small cells of insurgents in the street-to-street battles.
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BRIAN TODD (voice-over): A wall is no cover if you are on the wrong side of it. In seconds, everything can change, from taking a defensive position to looking for an enemy who's disappeared or the lure he's left behind.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Check it for booby traps.
TODD: Don't tell these guys the most dangerous insurgents have left Falluja. Here, every corner, pile of rubble, dark room or rooftop could be the last thing you see.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Watch out. Watch out. Let me get a shot.
TODD: In one sequence, a cameraman is in the middle of an American unit taking fire in an alleyway. It's a tight cluster of buildings. The Americans at first can't tell if they are being targeted from eye level or above.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where is he?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, you got him?
TODD: With the help of a spotter on an adjacent rooftop, the Americans think they have got a read on him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, he's in that garage!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This one right here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's in there?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's on the roof!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody, frog out. Frog out!
TODD: The Americans open up. More confusion.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, is that friendlies on the roof?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On the roof!
TODD: Whoever they are looking for escapes the camera's eye in this sequence. The combat team keeps firing from behind walls and backed up against them. Then a break, maybe.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, he's wounded in between these two houses. I don't know how far down third squad is.
TODD: They blast into doorways and run in. We don't know if they found their attacker. We know they found weapons. In other quadrants of the city, the fighting is only slightly more distant, weapons stashes found everywhere.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've got one RPG round, two mortar tubes, numerous AK-47 magazines.
TODD: A captain relays his group's immediate orders, but might as well be speaking for all coalition units.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This area right here was templated to be an enemy stronghold, this whole industrial area. So we knew we were going to have to clear it building by building, street by street.