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American Morning
America Strikes Back: Radio Used To Reach Afghan People
Aired October 24, 2001 - 10:34 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: All of us know though about the U.S.- led airstrikes against Afghanistan, but there is another, more subtle war being waged by air. Or, more exactly, "on-air." An airborne broadcast station -- taking its message directly to the Afghan people.
Miles O'Brien now with a closer look at this operation. Miles, good morning to you.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Bill. We're talking about a term that the military use, they call "psy ops." And that might sound to you like one eyed monster. But that's cyclops. This is something else, psy ops is something that is used and has been used in, really, every military engagement in history. It's just it's gotten a little bit more advanced.
And here to give us a sense of what might be going on right over Afghanistan, is our military analyst General Don Shepperd, once again. Good to see you, General.
And we're going to focus in on a couple of things. First of all, let's talk to you a little bit about these food drops that we've been hearing about. C-17 aircraft that are based in Germany that fly into the region have been dropping food. It's a fairly straight forward mission. If any mission over Afghanistan now -- right now can be considered straight forward.
Among the things besides food, General, we are told that there is also some leaflets and some radios. Tell us a little bit about this.
MAJ. GEN. DON SHEPPERD (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, the leaflets, basically are part of the psychological operations as well. They basically tell the people what's going on. What to do. Where safe areas are. How to operate the radios that you drop. They can be dropped -- we'll let the Pentagon say who's dropping them, but these leaflets and radios can be dropped by C-17s, by 141s, by C-130s. The leaflets can even be dropped by B-52s. So there's all sorts of capabilities.
O'BRIEN: Alright, we have an example of one of the radios that is currently being dropped into the region. It is a wind-up radio -- you give it a couple cranks like this -- and I'm not sure you're going to be able to hear it, but -- (MUSIC) -- you get some play out of it for some time. Now, a couple of issues come to mind here. First of all, we'll talk a little bit about what the scripts are -- what's going out over the air -- based on the information that is transmitted from some of these aircraft. This would be something that a typical Afghan person would not have in their possession. So the idea to get the radios in their hands?
SHEPPERD: That's right. And get them on the right frequency, yes. Those radios, they don't have batteries in them so it's very ease to do and to and drop -- and gives communications telling the people what's going on.
O'BRIEN: Alright, let's go back to the animation real quickly, and we'll show you the aircraft that's involved there.
SHEPPERD: Right.
O'BRIEN: We'll also give you a picture of it on the web. First of all, in the animation, this is a C-130 that's modified. It has capabilities with some antennas that are rigged on the tail and elsewhere, that allow it to broadcast television and radio signals -- has a pretty significant footprint.
What's interesting about this, this is an Air National Guard staffed aircraft. There are six of them -- or seven of them in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and they're deployed into the theater. That's -- that's an interesting role for the Guard.
SHEPPARD: Long history. Goes back to Vietnam. They had the Lockheed C-121 ECM aircraft that they operated on a volunteer basis throughout the war. Now, these airplanes are the venerable C -- Lockheed C-130, 1950s and 60s vintage. They are being replaced by new J-model, J-30 models, about a 90 million dollar aircraft with TV and radio stations in the back.
O'BRIEN: Alright, let's look at the picture we got off the Federation Of American Scientist's web and they will give you a little better sense of those antennas we're talking about there. It's not a pretty aircraft is it?
SHEPPERD: It is one ugly airplane.
O'BRIEN: Alright. Let's get a sense of some of the broadcasts that are coming out through those antennas as the C-130s are flying over Afghanistan. This is just a general sense of the propaganda. And I don't think you have to be an expert in psychology to understand this is -- el -- well supercharged language.
"Attention Taliban, you are condemned. Did you know that? The instant the terrorists you support took over our planes, you sentenced yourselves to death. Our helicopters will rain fire down upon your camps before you detect them on radar." It continues with this. "Our bombs are so accurate, we can drop them right through your window. When you decide to surrender, approach United States forces with your hands in the hair, sling your weapons across your back, muzzle towards the ground. Doing this is your only chance of survival."
And we're told that in the Gulf War, these were not just broadcast by radio. There was actually leaflets that had similar kinds of things about how to surrender. Many of the Iraqi soldiers were clutching those instructions as they surrendered.
SHEPPERD: They did. They brought the leaflets with them, holding them up in the air, and we also dropped water to those people. This is very important. This goes out on short wave, AM, FM. Can also take over TV stations. This is a tremendous flexible capability. An example of the joint forces again -- Air National Guard operating it for special operations, active duty, what have you. A one of a kind asset. Very important.
O'BRIEN: Alright. Psy Ops, we're now learning a little bit more, each step of the way. We're becoming schooled in military doctrine. Thank you very much, General Don Shepperd, our Military Analyst, we appreciate your insights on that.
If you would like to find out more about what is going on in the way of aircraft in the air war over Afghanistan, check out CNN.com. We have some very interesting 3-D models which you might want to check out.
This happens to be an F-15 Eagle. The F-15E, we know is a player in all of this. The F-15E is designed for ground attacks. We have 3- D models on some of the other aircraft and a lot of depth and context on this entire situation in Afghanistan. We invite you to check out and CNN.com. AOL Keyword: CNN. Bill.
HEMMER: Miles, thank you. Be fascinating to learn if people on the ground are even hearing those messages.
O'BRIEN: Yes, it would.
HEMMER: Nonetheless, though, it goes on. Miles, thanks to you and the General.
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