Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live At Daybreak

30th Anniversary of Attack on Israeli Athletes at Munich Games

Aired September 05, 2002 - 05:31   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Of course the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians dates back decades. Today is the 30th anniversary of a horrific event, the massacre of Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympic Games.
Our Bruce Burkhardt takes us back to the Black September attack.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is an ITN news flash from the Olympic Village in Munich.

BRUCE BURKHARDT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was another one of those innocence lost moments and instead of people dropping what they were doing to turn on the TV, hundreds of millions were already watching. The Olympics, a supposed refuge from the ugliness of world politics and warfare.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Early this morning, armed Palestinian guerrillas raided the sleeping quarters of the Israeli team.

BURKHARDT: Munich, 1972, another Black September day, the 5th, not the 11th. In fact, it was a terrorist group calling themselves Black September. Eight Palestinian gunmen disguised as athletes snuck into the Olympic Village in the early morning hours and broke into the quarters of the sleeping Israeli team, immediately killing two.

GURI WEINBERG, SON OF SLAIN COACH: He was fighting to save the other 10 athletes and that's when they shot him. They shot him about twice, two different times, and he kept on fighting until they shot him when he died.

BURKHARDT: With the remaining nine Israelis as hostages, these were the images the world watched for nearly 24 hours, as the captors demanded safe passage out of Germany and the release of 200 Arab prisoners.

Then Prime Minister Golda Meir said no deal. But the Germans arranged to move the terrorists and their hostages to the airport. There, a bungled rescue attempt led to the death of the remaining nine Israelis plus five of the terrorists and a German policeman.

(on camera): The Munich attack tarnished the innocence of the Olympic movement, much like the bomb that exploded here in Atlanta's Centennial Park in 1996. But the attack here appears to have been a lone act of random violence. Munich was different. It was targeted. It was well planned and it marked the beginning of a new, more ominous chapter in the Arab-Israeli quagmire and how Americans perceived it.

(voice-over): In response, Israel struck back hard. Believing Yasser Arafat's PLO to be behind the Black September group, raids were launched on PLO bases across its northern border in Lebanon. And those Olympics, which should have been remembered solely for the athletic exploits of Mark Spitz and Olga Korbut, will instead conjure up images of hooded gunmen and flags at half staff.

Bruce Burkhardt, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com