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U.S. Soldier's Death Killed May Have Resulted From Friendly Fire

Aired March 29, 2002 - 14:16   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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: At the Pentagon today, General Tommy Franks told reporters that one U.S. soldier killed during Operation Anaconda may have been hit by friendly fire. With more from Washington, we go to our national correspondent, Bob Franken, at the Pentagon. Bob, hello.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello. This was the first U.S. soldier who was killed in Operation Anaconda, which was the most recent large battle. Stanley Harriman, his name, a chief warrant officer. At first the reports were that he was killed by enemy fire as he was part of a convoy of U.S. soldiers and Afghanistan fighters allied with the United States.

But now the head of the Central Command, General Tommy Franks, in a Pentagon briefing today, said he's not so sure it was friendly fire.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GENERAL TOM FRANKS, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND COMMANDER: There was reporting of one of our convoys, a friendly convoy of Americans and Afghans, being under fire. Simultaneously, on a different radio network, I noticed reporting by an AC-130 gunship, that it was engaging a convoy. I put the two things together and said, OK, what we need to do is to find out the facts associated with that. And so I've asked our special operations component to investigate the facts and circumstances, and see if there is any connection between the two.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKEN: Well, during his briefing, General Franks, in the questioning he got, made it quite clear that the whole context of the war in Afghanistan and the war that is going on -- the near war, if you want to call it that, that's going on in the Mideast -- that there's such a connection.

The Arab League has had a meeting in which it has said that it would look with disfavor on any U.S. plans to make an attack on Iraq. That brings up questions about the relationship with Saudi Arabia and the placement of facilities there. There's a very tangled web. And of course, what is going on now in the Middle East has so much to do with what is going on in Afghanistan and afterwards -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Bob Franken at the Pentagon. Bob, thank you very much. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com