The Iraqi TV report showing the Apache Longbow attack helicopter
said Iraqi farmers had shot down two U.S. helicopters south of
Baghdad and vowed to show the pilots on television.
The footage aired showed pictures of just one Apache in a field
surrounded by Iraqis waving rifles. The helicopter shown was still
armed with guided missiles with U.S. markings on them.
Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf appeared on
air after the Apache footage was shown. "Farmers shot down two
Apaches. We showed one today and might show the second and the
pilots," al-Sahaf said.
Iraqi Missiles Found in Western Desert
ABCNEWS has learned that for the first time since the start of
the war, the U.S. military has detected and destroyed at least two
Iraqi surface-to-surface missile facilities in the western desert.
U.S. warplanes pounded the missile structures today, said
ABCNEWS' John McWethy, following an intense hunt for Iraqi Scud and
other surface-to-surface missiles.
But Pentagon sources were unable to confirm if the missiles
structures that were struck from the air were in fact Scuds or some
other type of surface-to-surface missile.
There have been fears that Iraq would launch Scud missiles
against neighboring Israel, as it did during the 1991 Gulf War.
Preparing to Meet Republican Guards
A day after coalition troops encountered their fiercest Iraqi
resistance so far, McWethy reported that more than 180,000 U.S.
troops are now inside Iraq and pushing toward Baghdad.
While U.S. military officials were anticipating their first major
encounter with the well-trained, fiercely loyal Iraqi Republican
Guard within the next 12 to 24 hours outside Iraq, McWethy said
deteriorating weather conditions in the region could slow down the
advance.
 Coalition troops were about 100 miles outside
Baghdad. (Maps.com/ABCNEWS.com)
|
| Braving fierce winds
and sandstorms with the 3rd Infantry Division near the central Iraqi
city of Karbala today, ABCNEWS' Ted Koppel said the division had
encountered sniper elements of the Fourth Division of the Republican
Guard today.
One U.S. soldier was killed in the attack and several were
wounded, Koppel reported.
The Pentagon has not yet confirmed the casualties, although U.S.
military sources said they have been anticipating major battles near
the Shiite holy city of Karbala and near al Kut within the next 24
hours.
ABCNEWS has learned that special operations units also
intercepted two Iraqi dhows loaded with mines near the southern
Iraqi port city of Umm Qasr today. Military analysts believe the
interception does not bode well for the rapid movement of
humanitarian aid into southern Iraq. On Sunday, President Bush said
"massive amounts" of humanitarian aid were poised to move into Iraq
in the next 36 hours.
Meanwhile, in northern Iraq, coalition warplanes bombed Iraqi
positions near the Kurdish-controlled village of Chamchamal, right
near the line dividing Iraqi and Kurdish-controlled territories.
Reporting from Chamchamal today, ABCNEWS' Charles Glass said U.S.
warplanes pounded Iraqi bunkers along a ridge about 20 miles from
the strategic northern city of Kirkuk this morning. But hours after
the attack, Iraqi soldiers emerged from their bunkers, Glass said.
U.S. special forces have been flown into northern Iraq in recent
days and have been fighting militants from the Ansar al Islam, which
Washington says has al Qaeda links.
Examining Saddam’s Speech
Earlier, Iraqi TV showed Saddam seated in front of a white sheet,
dressed in a military uniform and with an Iraqi flag over his right
shoulder for a more composed speech than one aired last week. It was
not clear if the broadcast was live or taped.
Exhorting Iraqis to resist a U.S.-led invasion, Saddam
congratulated military officers who he said had served Iraq well,
and named the cities of Umm Qasr, Basra, Mosul and Baghdad, sites of
some of the most intense battles and bombings in recent days.
"Be patient, our brothers," Saddam said, according to an ABCNEWS
translation. "Victory is due soon."
However, Pentagon officials who watched the broadcast remained
unconvinced that the Iraqi leader is still alive, ABCNEWS' Pam
Coulter reported. They said it would not have been difficult to
predict the important port of Umm Qasr, just over the Kuwaiti
border, would be an early target of U.S. forces and site of a
battle.
ABCNEWS' John Cochran said U.S. officials are examining
recordings of this morning's speech to ascertain its authenticity.
There was strong speculation last week that Saddam was injured or
killed in a U.S. airstrike.
Reuters reported explosions in Baghdad as soon as Saddam's speech
ended around 3:30 a.m. ET, 11:30 a.m. in Baghdad.
Occasionally glancing down at papers in his hands, Saddam did not
appear to give specifics of the battles. The camera angle frequently
appeared to shift abruptly as Saddam spoke, perhaps indicating
multiple cameras or editing during the speech, which lasted less
than a half hour.
Saddam's fate has been subject to great speculation since
U.S.-led forces bombed a bunker where he was believed to be staying
in Baghdad Thursday morning, Wednesday evening ET, in what was
called a "decapitation" strike targeting Iraqi leadership.
Eyewitnesses saw Saddam being removed from the building on a gurney
with an oxygen mask on his face, U.S. sources have told ABCNEWS.
Soon after the initial attack, Saddam was seen reading a
statement on Iraqi television, and was shown in subsequent
broadcasts, but the appearances sparked days of debate over whether
they were real, whether it was really Saddam and not a double, and
when the tapes were made.
In this morning's speech, Saddam appeared without the thick
glasses he was wearing in the earlier address.
Dead and Missing
The speech was broadcast the morning after the deadliest day of
the war for U.S.-led forces moving towards Baghdad.
On Sunday, at least two ambushes in the Nasiriya area took a
heavy toll on U.S. units, including one where Iraqi troops allegedly
staged a phony surrender and then opened fire.
"United States Marines defeated an enemy attack there while
sustaining a number of killed and wounded in the sharpest engagement
of the war thus far," Lt. Gen. John Abizaid told a news briefing in
Doha, Qatar, referring to one of the incidents.
He did not have exact casualty figures, but said he believed the
number of Marines killed would "remain less than 10."
About 50 Marines were wounded and evacuated by helicopter,
officials said.
The other casualties came in the apparent capture of 12 U.S.
soldiers in an ambush of another unit in the Nasiriya area.
This unit, made up of maintenance workers, was part of a supply
convoy that is believed to have taken a wrong turn outside of the
city while on a mission to carry out repair work.
The group was traveling in a column of six vehicles that
encountered a roadblock and came under heavy fire. While a number of
other soldiers were wounded in the attack and evacuated by
helicopter, military officials believed seven troops were killed and
the rest were taken captive as prisoners of war.
"We believe them to be in the custody of the irregulars who
coordinated the ambush," Central Command Operations Officer Brig.
Gen. Vincent Brooks told the briefing in Doha.
POWs on TV
Shortly after news of the capture came, video footage of what was
said to be dead and captured American soldiers was aired on the Arab
al Jazeera network and Iraqi state television.
Five of the captured Americans — four men and a woman — appeared
on the video with the bodies of other soldiers. They appeared to be
wounded and were asked to give their names, home states, and state
whether they were Americans.
One of the prisoners of war questioned on the tape has been
identified as Army Spc. Joseph Hudson, 23. His mother, Anecita
Hudson, who lives in New Mexico, saw him on the tape as it aired on
a Filipino television station.
"I saw it, and I started crying," a sobbing Hudson told ABCNEWS.
"I just hope the president can do something about this and get him
out real soon."
A second prisoner was identified as Pfc. Patrick Miller, a father
of two from Park City, Kan., whose family confirmed his identity.
President Bush said Sunday that he expected any American POWs to
be treated properly. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Joint
Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Richard Myers saw the footage and
reacted with "steely anger" over the treatment of the captured
soldiers, saying that videotaping prisoners was a violation of the
Geneva Conventions, ABCNEWS' John McWethy reported.
In another incident of missing coalition soldiers, two British
soldiers were missing after coming under attack on Sunday in
southern Iraq, British defense officials said.
Chemical Weapons Trail?
Up the road from Nasiriya, troops may have gotten a break in the
hunt for weapons of mass destruction. In the city of Najaf, forces
found what appeared to be a chemical weapons plant, sources told
ABCNEWS' John McWethy. The commanding general of the plant was one
of two generals coalition forces claim to have detained.
One official said the general could be "a potential gold mine" of
information about the production and location of weapons of mass
destruction that the United States has accused Saddam of hiding, and
which served as one of the Bush administration's prime
justifications for war.
However, senior military officials told ABCNEWS that no chemical
weapons plant had been discovered by troops, and neither had any
chemical weapons dumps been found. They found a munitions dump, they
said, and they blew it up, adding that they were investigating
approximately 100 sites in the search for banned weapons. 
ABCNEWS' Richard Engel in Baghdad, Jim Dolan in Qatar, and
John McWethy, Pam Coulter, John Cochran, Brian Hartman and Martha
Raddatz in Washington contributed to this report.
| 
Good Morning America 
World News Tonight 
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Saddam Hussein makes a
televised speech, vowing victory and referring to key recent
battles and bombings.
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