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CNN Live Today
Franks Distributes Medals; U.S. Assaults Convoy in Afghanistan
Aired March 18, 2002 - 10:01 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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Up first this morning on CNN, the final hours of Operation Anaconda. CNN's Martin Savidge joins us now, live from Bagram Air Base, which was a vital link in the military offensive. Good morning, Marty.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Leon. To use baseball terminology, they are rounding third and heading for home -- home being the Bagram Air Base here for the roughly 750 soldiers of the coalition force that spent the remaining day, last day of Operation Anaconda, day 17, and we want to show you some footage that we got today.
Actually, we were able to obtain by putting a television camera inside of an AH-1H Cobra attack helicopter. This is a -- primarily a platform being used by the U.S. Marines. It is a phenomenal helicopter, heavily armed, and also high performance.
The view you have got here is -- the camera is actually just in front of the pilot, and just behind the navigator, or the gunner. And they have like a 20-millimeter cannon on board there, they have missiles. They have the capability of flying over 200 miles an hour, they are yanking and banking through the mountain passes. They are targeting, specifically, the caves, and I think we can even show you as the missiles leave the rails (AUDIO GAP) target of the caves, part of the last pockets of resistance that they are running up against with the al Qaeda and Taliban forces.
This has been a helicopter that has been very vital throughout all of this operation. That and the Apache helicopters as well. Soldiers on the ground very glad to see those, especially when there is some sort of fire fight in the works.
Today was not just a day to talk about Operation Anaconda, but to honor those for their heroics in the very first days. As you know, from being out there at the front lines, the very first two days, really, were full of a lot of heavy combat. And today, they were handing out medals. Bronze Stars, to five soldiers. There were actually four of them that were up on the platform there.
The man handing out those medals was General Tommy Franks. He is the overall commander of all the forces here in Afghanistan, came up from CINC, that is the Central Command down there in Florida, and presented those medals. And one of those who received them is Sergeant 1st Class Michael Petersen, and he joins us here now. Congratulations to you, sir.
SGT. 1ST CLASS MICHAEL PETERSEN, BRONZE STAR RECIPIENT: Thanks a lot.
SAVIDGE: What was the feeling like for you, standing up there on the platform, the general pinning that onto you?
PETERSEN: I was very proud. I was -- happy about my soldiers' performance and my performance in combat, and just overwhelming pride.
SAVIDGE: I bet it would be. Tell us about -- specifically what you did, in order to receive the medal.
PETERSEN: I'm in charge of a 120 mortar platoon, and once he got off the aircraft, LG-13, we made contact with the enemy, and I got my platoon down for direct fire, and myself and one of my sergeants ran out, exposed ourselves, grabbed the mortar equipment, and established a casualty collection point, and moved the casualties away from the fight.
SAVIDGE: Well, you make it sound very simple, but the Bronze Star you got was for valor. Eventually, what happened? You ran out of ammunition? What was the...
PETERSEN: We ran out of mortar ammo, and we started taking -- they started zeroing in on our mortar tube, and we had to move to the battalion TAC (ph) about 50 meters away from our mortar equipment to set up a perimeter there and help fight there for 18 hours.
SAVIDGE: Remarkable. You were in Desert Storm, now you are here. How would you say the two compare?
PETERSEN: Actually, the fighting here, for me, has been much more intense. It is definitely a light infantry fight. The enemy here is -- they are not that good. They're actually poor marksmen, but they are fanatics. So it has been a much more heavy fight.
SAVIDGE: As an American soldier, has it been good for you to a part of Operation Enduring Freedom?
PETERSEN: Yeah, of course it has. Good for us all.
SAVIDGE: What does your family say? What have you heard from them?
PETERSEN: When are you coming home, keep up the good work.
SAVIDGE: Well, thank you, sir.
PETERSEN: Thank you.
SAVIDGE: Congratulations, and we do hope you get home safe, and soon.
Operation Anaconda in the final chapters, bringing back those soldiers, should be arriving shortly. It was always said by the commanders here on the ground that the final say as to when this operation would end rested in the hands of General Tommy Franks. It was the general himself, here, who announced when the mission was coming to an end -- Leon.
HARRIS: All right, Marty, maybe that means even you can come home soon. You have been over there for a while. We hope to see you soon. Stay safe over there, buddy. In the evening over there at Bagram Air Base -- Carol, over to you.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Yeah, we do miss him a lot. In the meantime, we are still following a developing story this morning in Eastern Afghanistan. U.S. commandos have attacked a convoy of suspected al Qaeda personnel. CNN Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr has been following this throughout the morning. Barbara, what is the latest? This is new action, right?
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: This is. Even if Operation Anaconda is technically winding up, there is still plenty of action, plenty of mopping up along the way, and it can get very, very nasty. We are told that U.S. Special Forces conducted a ground assault against a convoy of al Qaeda vehicles yesterday that were leaving the Operation Anaconda area. This was apparently a group of al Qaeda that was trying to escape.
They were traveling south. This ground assault by the United States happened about 70 kilometers south of Gardez, where most of the fighting had been. This was a convoy of three vehicles, 16 people were killed, one injured, one captured. There was a fourth vehicle in the region that was briefly stopped, it was said to contain a family, and it was released by U.S. Special Forces.
Now, the U.S. military had been observing this convoy moving south for some period of time. The commandos moved in, staged a ground assault, they firmly believe that it was full of escaping al Qaeda. They had weapons, grenades. No U.S. forces were injured in this exchange, and more information is expected here later today.
There are two other items that are sort of cooking away at the Pentagon this morning. We are confirming that the military and the White House have decided to stop continuous 24-hour, around the clock, combat air patrols over New York City. Now, you'll remember, these combat air patrols have been going on since moments after the attacks on September 11th, but they are very man-power intensive. They are a big drain on Air Force and the Navy, and they wear out airplanes.
So, the military has got the agreement of the White House, 24- hour air patrols will be replaced by intermittent air patrols and by strip alert. In other words, aircraft will remain on the ground, but be ready to fly within moments if there is some sort of emergency. Officials say they can make this change safely because of the increased airport security and security on board airplanes since September 11th. They feel it will not be a problem. However, this change only applies to New York City at the moment. There still will be continuous air patrols over Washington, D.C.
And one last item, those military tribunals or commissions the Pentagon is getting ready to conduct against al Qaeda and Taliban leaders that have been in detention in Guantanamo Bay. We are learning more details. We are now told, while those proceedings will technically be open to the public, there is a decision that television cameras will not be allowed, only people taking notes, reporters taking notes, in these commissions. There is a lot of concern about security. It is not at all clear that the military will even fully identify the judges and juries that take part in these proceedings. A lot of concern about security -- Carol.
LIN: And a lot of secrecy there. Thank you very much. Barbara Starr, busy morning at the Pentagon.
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