On The Scene: The Battle For Umm Qasr

CBS News Correspondent Scott Pelley Travels With The Marines

(CBS)  CBS News Correspondent Scott Pelley is traveling with the 15th Marine Expeditionary Force and filed this report on the battle for Umm Qsar.

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Securing the vital port of Umm Qasr has been a tougher fight than expected. U.S. Marines and British forces swept into the port this past weekend but they are still taking fire from small, determined bands of Iraqi troops. Marine Capt. Rick Crevier told us they’re Saddam Hussein's Special Republican Guard, and they’re using special guerilla tactics.

Crevier told me that, "It appears their modus operandi is to dress up in civilian clothes, wave a white flag, but then they get into their bunkers and shoot at us."

They shot at Fox Company Sunday. The Marines hit back with all they had, but the battles continued all day.

Umm Qasr is Iraq's deep-water port, essential to military supplies and desperately-needed humanitarian aid. The Navy is finding sea mines hidden on civilian boats. Captain Mike Tollitson worries the Iraqis planted them without our spy satellites noticing.

Mines crippled two U.S. warships in 1991. Tuesday, the Navy plans to use trained dolphins to hunt for the mines in the harbor.

In the southern oil fields, sporadic resistance chased away American civilian fire fighters Monday. They said they felt like sitting ducks. It's part of a pattern of guerilla warfare resembling the unconventional tactics of the West Bank or Chechnya. Crevier says it's tougher than he expected, but even after days of battle, he doesn't expect it to last.

"They can stand only so much of our artillery so we're rolling tanks on them," Crevier said. "When we see fire we roll tanks on them so you start to understand there is no other alternative but to capitulate or surrender."

If that's coming, it won't be soon enough for the port. Dock workers won’t come back here until they feel secure. Monday, Marines who were guarding the port flew north to fresh combat. British Royal Marines will remain, fighting building to building, to dig out the small but determined opposition.