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American Morning

Military May Have Mistaken Celebratory Fire for Hostile Fire

Aired July 02, 2002 - 07:11   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: On to news out of Afghanistan this morning. An American attack on an Afghan village may have been a deadly mistake. Did the U.S. military confuse celebratory fire from a wedding party for hostile fire, and bomb a group of civilians near Kandahar?

A joint U.S.-Afghan investigative team is on the scene this morning sorting through the different versions of the deadly events and trying to determine just what went wrong.

With his perspective, CNN military analyst General Wesley Clark of Little Rock joins us this morning -- good to see you again, General -- thank you for joining us.

GEN. WESLEY CLARK, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Nice to see you, Paula.

ZAHN: So, General, I know the reports are a bit murky at this hour of the morning, but can you make any sense at all of what happened yesterday?

CLARK: Well, there are really three explanations -- possible explanations for what could have happened. There was apparently a helicopter flying at night. This incident occurred between 1:00 and 2:00 a.m. And the helicopter reported receiving fire. At the same time, there was a B-52 apparently dropping guided munitions on a cave complex. And the -- an AC-130 gunship also came in to respond to the ground fire coming at the helicopter.

So either the AC-130 gunship or the B-52 or some of the ground fire itself misdirected, hit a house in a village where a wedding party was celebrating. It's acknowledged the wedding party were firing weapons up in the air, and it was reported that one of the anti-aircraft sites may have been on top of a building. So when you put all of these pieces together, it is, as you say, very murky.

ZAHN: I am reading a piece of a CNN wire that has just come through, and it is saying a U.S. military spokesman said the celebratory fire could be ruled out in provoking the attack that came in the midst of this U.S. Special Forces operation, but nevertheless, the investigation proceeds.

Tell us a little bit more about the B-52, apparently in the process of dropping seven bombs and the guidance system that would be used. CLARK: Well, these are the Joint Direct Attack Munitions, the JDAM bombs, and they go after a specific location on the ground. The location is put into a computer in the aircraft. It's transmitted into the guidance system in the bomb. The bomb uses satellite guidance. It has an inertial backup based on an inertial navigation system in the aircraft. It's transferred into the bomb. And presumably and usually, the bombs go exactly where they are programmed to go.

Now, this could have been a mistake in putting in a coordinate of the location on the ground. It also could have been a mechanical or an electronic malfunction of the bomb. And it's just too early to know. That's one of the things the investigation should determine, first, by going to the scene to see whether in fact they were struck by a 2,000-pound bomb or a 1,000-pound bomb. And then looking for the pieces of the bomb, and then going back to interview the crew and all of the electronics and the records that are on the aircraft, the electronic records on the aircraft, to determine where a mistake was made, if there was a mistake.

ZAHN: We talked a little bit about the human cost of this accident. Help us better understand how the U.S. military is going to have to navigate waters here with Afghan leader, Karzai. There is a lot of speculation this morning that this is going to have a really negative effect on that relationship.

CLARK: Paula, you're right. I think this is going to be a problem for Hamid Karzai, perhaps not a fatal problem, but it's one of a series of U.S. accidents that have occurred really since the campaign began. About once a month, something is reported like this that happens.

And Hamid Karzai is in a political struggle in Afghanistan. He, of course, is in Kabul. He is in the capital. But he doesn't have a really firm grip on what's happening in the provinces. And in the provinces, there is, in effect, a guerrilla war under way. The al Qaeda and the Taliban are trying to rebuild their base of support. They are out there maneuvering and stirring up anti-Hamid Karzai sentiment, and of course, anti-American sentiment.

The American forces are flying reconnaissance. We are putting Special Forces teams in on the ground. We are trying to get to know the people. We are looking for information, and of course, when we find the Taliban and al Qaeda, we'd like to arrest them and interrogate them. If they resist, we are going to fight them.

All of this means that this very large country of a little bit less than the size of Texas is more or less a battle zone from time to time. And when mistakes like this happen and there are innocent people, they do undercut the support for Hamid Karzai and the support for the American presence there.

ZAHN: All right. General Wesley Clark, we're going to have to leave it there this morning. As always, it's good to have your perspective -- appreciate your dropping by.

CLARK: Thank you.

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