U.S. Forces Strike Back in Iraq
BLITZER: Welcome back to CNN. An exclusive report from Iraq, as U.S. troops go on the hunt for Saddam Hussein guys. First, the latest headlines.</s>BLITZER: It's been almost six weeks since President Bush declared that major combat operations in Iraq were over, but U.S. losses keep mounting. An Apache helicopter was shot down today during what U.S. officials say was an attack on a terrorist camp west of Baghdad. The two-member crew was rescued. During the same operation, an F-16 fighter also went down. The Pentagon says that loss was due to mechanical problems. The pilot was recovered. 183 U.S. troops have been killed in Iraq, 45 of them have died since President Bush declared that end to major combat operations aboard "the Abraham Lincoln ON May 1. For more on the dangers U.S. forces face let's turn to Patty Davis. She is over at the Pentagon -- Patty.</s>PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They continue to find themselves targets of militants in Iraq. The latest killed a paratrooper, just todays ago, at a trash collection point in Baghdad. He was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade.</s>DAVIS (voice-over): As U.S. troops work to restore order in Iraq, they are under attack almost daily. Paul Bremer, who is leading Iraq's reconstruction, says there are no signs the attacks are being orchestrated by a central group.</s>PAUL BREMER, ADMINISTRATOR COALITION PROVISIONAL AUTH.: These are groups that are organized, but they are small. They may be five or six men conducting isolated attacks against our soldiers.</s>DAVIS: But the head of the Iraqi National Congress in Washington to meet with lawmakers, said he believes Saddam Hussein is likely behind the scenes. Even offering bounties to kill U.S. soldiers.</s>AHMED CHALABI, IRAQI NATIONAL CONGRESS: Saddam, I believe, is still alive and he is still inside Iraq working.</s>DAVIS: The U.S. says it has no evidence that Saddam Hussein is alive or dead. And they acknowledge that's allowing members of his Ba'athist party to spread fear he may return. Despite those problems, officials say there is progress on Iraq's reconstruction.</s>BREMER: Here in Baghdad, we are producing 20 hours of electricity a day. The gasoline line that you've read about has almost disappeared, as have the lines for liquid petroleum gas, which is what's used for cooking.</s>DAVIS: Bremer says the priority is getting Iraq's economy moving. Unemployment hovers well over 50 percent. Also, dismantling the former ruling Ba'athist party. A new interim administration, run by Iraqis, is expected to be in place within the next four to five weeks, and then begin work on a new constitution. The U.S. plans to start training a new Iraqi army within the next month.</s>DAVIS: The goal is to have Iraq's demobilized military guard the country's power plants and other important sites. That would take a dangerous job away from U.S. forces and free them up to be soldiers, not policemen -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: Patty Davis, at the Pentagon. Thanks, Patty, very much.. Stunned by a relentless series of attacks, U.S. troops in Iraq have gone back on the offensive. CNN's Ben Wedeman was embedded with some of them during the course of what's called "Operation Peninsula Strike." Here's his exclusive report.</s>BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): American forces in action in the air, in the water, on the ground. In one of the most extensive operations in Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime, up to 4,000 U.S. soldiers descended upon abandoned bend Tigris River, 45 miles north of Baghdad. Searching for hard-core loyalists to the deposed Iraqi leader. In the course of the operation, dubbed "Peninsula Strike" the Americans rounded up hundreds of men, women and children.</s>LT. GEN. DAVID MCKIERNAN, U.S. ARMY: We're just not taking any chances. We're not going to approach them lightly. It's going to be force. Has to be. People are coming up with suicide bombs and weapons and drive-bys.</s>WEDEMAN: By midweek, U.S. troops had detained nearly 400 men, none from their most-wanted list. They also managed, however, to arouse a fair amount of resentment. "The Americans are occupiers, says this man. They have no manners or ethics. One of them grab a Quran and threw it to the ground." This operation comes at a time when attacks against U.S. Forces are on the increase, raising suspicions among some U.S. officers that resistance to the American presence is becoming more organized and more lethal.</s>BREMER: There have been some handbills that we found that offer monetary rewards for attacks against coalition forces.</s>WEDEMAN (on camera): On Thursday, for the first time since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime, hostile fire brought down an American aircraft. An Apache helicopter, 90 miles west of Baghdad. The war may have ended, but troubles for the Americans in Iraq may be only just beginning. Ben Wedeman, CNN, Baghdad.</s>BLITZER: For more on the ongoing dangers in Iraq and the ongoing debate in this country over who knew what about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, let's turn to Senator Saxby Chambliss. He is a key member of the Armed Services and Intelligence Committees. He is joining us live from Capitol Hill. Senator, Chambliss, thanks for joining us. What do you make of what we just heard, that the troubles in Iraq may be just beginning.</s>SAXBY CHAMBLISS (R-GA), INTELLIGENCE CMTE: Well, I don't know that I'd put it exactly like that, Wolf. But certainly this is a war that's unlike any war America's ever been involved in. Iraq is still a dangerous place, even though the conflict has subsided. Anybody who thinks that Iraq was not made up of terrorists, just hasn't seen these groups of five or six people who are roaming around taking shots at Americans. They are acting like terrorists and certainly they are terrorists. It still continues to be very, very dangerous.</s>BLITZER: So the American public should brace for this, more casualties, more terrorism, more action against U.S. Troops, about 160,000 still there?</s>CHAMBLISS: I think the president's been very straightforward in saying that this war is still a long ways from being over with. This is a part of the continuing war on terrorism, and it is very dangerous and unfortunately I'm afraid that we're probably going to see more casualties. But the good news in all of it is that we're winning it. And our troops are doing a great job over there as they did again yesterday.</s>BLITZER: Is Ahmed Chalabi, who was up on Capitol Hill today, right when he says, Saddam Hussein is alive and well is not only that but organizing active resistance against the United States?</s>CHAMBLISS: Well, he could be. Certainly, if he is able to function and communicate with his people. I would suspect he's at least giving orders to take out Americans at every turn. But, you know, we know at the very best, Wolf, that he has been wounded, certainly his communication lines have been disrupted. But they are probably not totally severed. So, he very well could be.</s>BLITZER: A lot of your Democratic colleagues on the Armed Services and Intelligence Committee are suggesting the intelligence before the war was manipulate, exaggerated, the threat of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. How concerned are you about this debate that's unfolding right now?</s>CHAMBLISS: The interesting thing about that is that everybody in the world knew that after the gulf war in 1991 that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction because he admitted to it. He admitted he has mustard gas, sarin gas, VX gas. So we know he had weapons of mass destruction. That's why the United Nations resolutions were passed, directing him to destroy those weapons. He never did. He's never told the world what he did with them. And in the weeks and months leading up to the strike in Iraq, every intelligence community organization in the world agreed with us that Saddam Hussein had those weapons of mass destruction, had the ability to use those weapons. Now that the dispute was whether or not he would use them. But there's been never any disagreement in the intelligence community that he had those weapons. Obviously, as long as he had the capability to do it, he would have used them against Americans. But we're moving that capability was a very, very important aspect of the president's decision to take action against Iraq.</s>BLITZER: How surprised are you that none of those weapons have yet been found?</s>CHAMBLISS: Well, you had several weeks and a couple of months there to either destroy those weapons, to move them out or do something with them. And it's very likely that he did that. But you got to remember, too, wolf. We've identified over 1,100 sites within Iraq that are either places where weapons of mass destruction were manufactured or could be stored. We've only hardly to opportunity to explore about 25 percent of those. We haven't found them. We have found the mobile labs. We found chemical weapons suits that Saddam Hussein had by the thousands for his troops. We found plans for decontamination, when a trooper -- when a soldier became infected with some sort of chemical or biological weapon. Those weren't to be used in favor of Americans. Those were to be used in case they had an accident, or if they used weapons against Americans. So...</s>BLITZER: That's that. Senator Chambliss, unfortunately we have to leave it right there. but always good to speak with you. Thanks for joining us.</s>CHAMBLISS: Same here, Wolf.</s>BLITZER: Senator Saxby Chambliss from Georgia, speaking to us from Capitol Hill. And we have this just in from Capitol Hill here at CNN. The U.S. House of Representatives has approved an $82 billion tax package, approved today. That will boost the child tax credit for millions of families, rich and poor. It was adopted on a vote that generally followed party lines. This is a live picture you are seeing from the floor of the House of Representatives. Congressional negotiators will have to merge that bill with a much smaller Senate measure adopted last week. Stay with CNN for continuing details to see if you qualify for that kind of tax -- child tax credit. A bloody war that's left more than three million people dead. It's raging right now, and the death toll continues to climb. So why isn't the world paying much attention? We'll have a special report.