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CNN Live Today

Report on Operation Anaconda Finished

Aired April 25, 2002 - 14:05   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: U.S. special forces have finished a report on Operation Anaconda. It's a rather dramatic chronicle of one of the fiercest and deadliest battles involving U.S. troops in years. From the Pentagon, Barbara Starr has more on this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The March 4th mission began when an MH-47 Chinook helicopter tried to drop off troops along a ridge line known as Objective Ginger in the opening hours of Operation Anaconda. Enemy gunfire shattered hydraulic lines, causing the helicopter to repeatedly lurch.

One of the Navy SEALS on board, Petty Officer Neil Roberts, fell out of the helicopter. Several sources say he fell when he tried to rescue a door gunner hanging by his harness. Others say it happened when the helicopter lurched.

Roberts landed in a nest of al Qaeda fighters, fighting back until all of his grenades were gone and his pistol empty. It's unclear if he was captured and executed, or killed in an exchange of gunfire. Those who have viewed the still-classified videotape from an unmanned predator drone differ in their conclusions.

CNN has learned there was more, much more, that has not been told. Air Force technical Sergeant John Chapman was part of six-man rescue team sent in to get Roberts back. Sources tell CNN Chapman came under very heavy enemy fire, fighting until his death. Other members of the rescue force, wounded.

What Chapman may not have ever known is that the Navy SEAL may have already been killed by the time the rescue team got there. Two other helicopters brought in more men to get the dead and wounded. These rescuers also faced withering enemy fire. Four were killed, several more wounded.

Senior Airman Jason Cunningham tended to them for hours, moving the injured from the incoming enemy rounds, now landing just feet away, until he too was fatally hit, dying of his wounds on the mountainside while trying to help others. It was Cunningham's first combat mission.

And still under fire, remaining special forces called in air support for more than 12 hours, bringing in an AC-130 gunship to repeatedly drive off the attackers.

(on camera): It was hours before everyone was brought off the mountain. Special operations forces are still waiting for the Pentagon to release the report. They want the men who fought so hard to save each other to be recognized for their valor on a mountain in eastern Afghanistan they have now renamed Robert's ridge. Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.

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