Abizaid and Sanchez briefing on Iraq operations
(12 Apr 2004) SHOTLIST Department of Defence Video Washington, April 12, 2004 1. Wide shot of press in Pentagon watching video conference link with briefing Baghdad, Iraq 2. Two shot of General John Abizaid, head of U.S. Central Command (on left) , Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, commander of U.S. ground forces in Iraq 3. SOUNDBITE (English) Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, commander of U.S. ground forces in Iraq: "The part that is tenous is that we are continuing to get attacks from insurgents that are in the city. We have suspended our offensive operations to allow these discussions to go forward, and I must add that these are just initial discussions. We are not negotiating at this point, until we achieve some confidence building and a period of stability - then we would consider going in to significant negotiations to end this battle." Washington, DC 4. Video screen in Pentagon briefing room Baghdad, Iraq 5. SOUNDBITE (English) General John Abizaid, Head of US Central Command: "It is always interesting to me that al Jazeera always manages to show up at the scene of a battle or when a hostage situation arises. So they have not been truthful in their reporting, haven''t been accurate and it is absolutely clear that American forces have been doing their best to protect civilians and at the same time get at the military targets there." Washington, DC 6. Reporters in briefing room Baghdad, Iraq 7. SOUNDBITE (English) General John Abizaid, Head of US Central Command: "The fact of the matter is that some of them did very well and some of them did not. And in the south a number of units, both in the Police force and in the ICDC (Iraqi Civil Defence Corps) did not stand up to the intimidators of Sadr''s militias, and that was a great disappointment to us. " 8. Two shot of Abizaid (left) and Sanchez 9. Close up of Sanchez Washington, DC 10. Close up of media Baghdad, Iraq 11. SOUNDBITE (English) General Ricardo Sanchez, Commander of US ground forces in Iraq "Najaf, as we all know, is a holy city, with a holy shrine there and we are being respectful of the fact that there is a religious ceremony ongoing. We have maneuvered facilities down in to the vicinity of Najaf to ensure that we are ready to conduct offensive operations to eliminate the final elements of Moqtada al Sadr influence down there." Washington, DC 12. Close up of reporters notepad Baghdad, Iraq 13. SOUNDBITE (English) General John Abizaid, Head of US Central Command: "(Radical Shiite cleric Moqtada) Al-Sadr has isolated himself. This was not by any stretch of the imagination a Shi''ite uprising and it''s a combination of some military action on our part but probably much more importantly very importatant Shiite political action that is isolating him and showing people out there that a person such as Moqtada al-Sadr, who is anti-democratic and attacks the people of Iraq and their institutions will not be tolerated." Washington, DC 14. Reporters in briefing room taking notes Baghdad, Iraq 15. SOUNDBITE (English) General John Abizaid, Head of US Central Command: Washington, DC 16. Reporters in briefing room - close-up 17. Video screen in briefing room STORYLINE: Some US-trained Iraqi policemen have defected to the insurgent forces of the radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and some other Iraqi security forces have failed to fulfill their duties in recent days, the top commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East said Monday. The coalition''s mission is to kill or capture al-Sadr, Sanchez said. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: / ap_archive Facebook: / aparchives Instagram: / apnews You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...
