GWT: WRAP FM Sabri and Info minister on coalition advance, Basra, downed aircraft

(3 Apr 2003)

1. Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf, Iraqi Information Minister, enters briefing room
2. SOUNDBITE: (English) Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf, Iraqi Information Minister:
"We are destroying tanks, personnel carriers, killing them and we will continue."
3. Cutaway Al-Sahhaf
4. SOUNDBITE: (English) Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf, Iraqi Information Minister
"They (the coalition) are not even 100 miles, or whatever, they are not in any place. They are on the move, everywhere. They are a snake moving in the desert, they hold no place in Iraq, this is an illusion. They are trying to give the others, to sell to the others, an illusion. They are not in control even of Umm Qasr."
5. Cutaway Al-Sahhaf
6. SOUNDBITE: (English) Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf, Iraqi Information Minister:
"We have shot down, warplane F-18 south of Karbala, and also the Iraqi combatants shot down an Apache and a Chinook for carrying those mercenaries."
7. Cutaway Al-Sahhaf
8. SOUNDBITE: (English) Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf, Iraqi Information Minister:
"Their military spokesman, they alleged this morning, and they repeated it, saying that they are coming nearer and nearer to Basra city. This is completely untrue. This is a very foolish allegation, because what happened was that a column of American and British troops tried to approach Basra and it was faced by the Iraqi regiment 422, inflicted on that column heavy casualties, and they ran. They retreated and they ran."
9. Al-Sahhaf walks away
10. SOUNDBITE: (English) Naji Sabri, Iraqi Foreign Minister:
"We are contacting other countries and the international community and international organizations to explain the crimes, the war crimes committed by the American and British invaders in our country. They are invading forces and they have been committing a lot of crimes against humanity, a lot of war crimes against our population. They have been targeting civilians, civilian houses and buildings, food stores, post office centres, schools, hospitals. They have been targeting all these places. They have been targeting market places, souls. These war crimes we are explaining these developments to the world."
11. Sabri talking with sound faded down

STORYLINE:

U.S. troops surged forward Thursday to the outskirts of Baghdad, and a special forces unit raided one of Saddam Hussein's presidential palaces. One U.S. spokesman said Iraqi forces appeared on the verge of collapse.

Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf insisted, however, that U.S. claims of being near the airport were untrue. "Their lies are endless," he told a news conference in Baghdad.

Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf also said Iraqi Republican Guard forces engaged coalition forces in the area south of Kut and "taught them lessons, a catastrophe," inflicting heavy casualties and forcing encircled coalition forces to retreat toward Hindiyah.

He denied the battle successes claimed by the coalition.

Al-Sahhaf also said Iraqi forces shot down one F18 jet, one Apache helicopter, and one Chinook helicopter.

He said Iraqi forces also destroyed three tanks and an armored carrier south of Karbala and one tank Muthana areas of the south.

The Iraqi information minister also claimed coalition forces suffered what he called "great humiliation" in the Basra area.

He said Iraq would not provide the numbers of American and British forces killed in the fighting.

Meanwhile, Iraq's Foreign Minister Naji Sabri has accused the US and Britain of committing war crimes and targeting civilians.

Sabri said that Iraq was going to bring the crimes to the attention of the international community.

Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives ​​
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/
You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/2966a74258ff89ed2bff64ca4e215387

Видео GWT: WRAP FM Sabri and Info minister on coalition advance, Basra, downed aircraft канала AP Archive