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CNN Live At Daybreak
In Kuwait, Two Americans Gunned Down
Aired January 21, 2003 - 05:29 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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We want to get back to that breaking news story now out of Kuwait. Two Americans gunned down there. One of them is killed.
Martin Savidge joins us live from Kuwait City with the latest -- one remains in the hospital this morning, Martin, right?
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Carol, said to be in stable condition, undergoing surgery at this particular moment. And at the same time, there is a major manhunt under way here in Kuwait to try to find the attacker or the attackers that carried out this assault on the two American civilians.
It happened at 9:20 in the morning at a four way intersection to the north of Kuwait City, just outside of Camp Doha, a major U.S. military installation. When I talked to authorities on the scene, they say this is what they believe happened, that the two Americans in their SUV leaving, perhaps, Camp Doha, came to that intersection, stopped at a red light and then they were ambushed. It appears that the attackers were lying in wait there at the side of the road.
It's right next to an agricultural area and it is all tree lined and they believe the people may have just been waiting there, looking for a Westerner, waiting for just that opportunity and opened fire. It appears they used an assault rifle. Twenty-four bullet holes police say they found in the vehicle. The passenger was killed and it was the driver which is the one that is wounded. And as we say, no one right now claiming responsibility. It certainly does have the trademark of perhaps a terror attack against a Westerner here in Kuwait. They are rare but they have happened before. And as we say, the wounded man is undergoing treatment and the manhunt well under way -- Carol.
COSTELLO: You know, I know, Martin, whenever something like this happens, we just assume that it's connected to al Qaeda somehow, but no indication of that yet?
SAVIDGE: Not yet, although it was interesting, just yesterday I had a meeting and a sit down with the minister of information. And he pointed out to me when I asked, "Do you think you have al Qaeda cells operating here?," he said it is a possibility, they know it, they investigate it. But he also felt there could be no more than a handful. It could be they're reassessing that statement right now -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Could be.
Martin Savidge live from Kuwait City this morning.
Now to the diplomatic dance surrounding possible military action in Iraq. Secretary of State Colin Powell was at the United Nations on Monday and he was talking tough about Baghdad's pledge to disarm or face consequences. He told U.N. members they may be forced to make some tough decisions in the days ahead.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: We cannot fail to take the action that may be necessary because we are afraid of what others might do. We cannot be shocked into impotence because we are afraid of the difficult choices that are head of us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Powell met some serious resistance to his message, especially from France, Russia and China.
We want to head back to Kuwait City right now to talk with Ryan Chilcote. He's at the hospital where one of those Americans gunned down is hopefully recovering -- Ryan.
RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, we're at the Al- Razi Hospital. This hospital specializes in orthopedic surgery. This is where the one American civilian that was wounded in that attack was brought. He was actually first brought to another hospital, the Al- Sabah Hospital, but then they brought him here. We understand that he is now undergoing, in surgery. They are working on a fracture in his upper right arm and they believe that that surgery should take about two hours. They say that he is in stable condition. And I actually spoke with one of the doctors that's treating him, who said that everything looks good. There's no, that he is out of harm's way.
He also said that he thought that his patient would be released within the next week -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Ryan, we're looking at video, fresh pictures coming in. Can you see this video from your vantage point?
CHILCOTE: Unfortunately I can't, but I was inside of the hotel next to the cameraman who took that video, if you're looking at hospital video.
COSTELLO: So this is inside the hospital?
CHILCOTE: That's correct. That's right outside of the wing where they do operations. Inside, I don't know if you can see in those pictures, they are actually kind of hiding, there are at least two what appear to be U.S. soldiers guarding the operating room, carrying assault rifles. So there is a security contingent on hand.
Also, we learned that the U.S. Army's criminal investigation division, that's the part of the U.S. Army that investigates any kind of crimes, is also present here, conducting an investigation -- Carol. COSTELLO: Do we know who these Americans are yet, Ryan?
CHILCOTE: Well, there are some sketchy details. We understand that one was in his upper 30s. The one that's being treated here was in his upper 30s and that he was a civilian. There are some speculative reports on their names right now, but I think we should stay away from those at this point.
COSTELLO: And these Americans were contractors, they're civilians working for the military?
CHILCOTE: That's right. I mean there's a big guessing game going on, obviously, about exactly who they were working for. But there, it's very clear that they had some relationship to the military. There was several people from the military here earlier. One gentleman, most of them preferring not to identify themselves, one of them telling me that he was an official from the U.S. Air Force. He was the one that initially said that the patient, the one wounded American is in stable condition.
So obviously they have some kind of relationship to the U.S. military, but we understand that they are civilians.
COSTELLO: Understand.
Ryan Chilcote, thanks for bringing us up to date from the hospital in Kuwait City this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired January 21, 2003 - 05:29 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We want to get back to that breaking news story now out of Kuwait. Two Americans gunned down there. One of them is killed.
Martin Savidge joins us live from Kuwait City with the latest -- one remains in the hospital this morning, Martin, right?
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Carol, said to be in stable condition, undergoing surgery at this particular moment. And at the same time, there is a major manhunt under way here in Kuwait to try to find the attacker or the attackers that carried out this assault on the two American civilians.
It happened at 9:20 in the morning at a four way intersection to the north of Kuwait City, just outside of Camp Doha, a major U.S. military installation. When I talked to authorities on the scene, they say this is what they believe happened, that the two Americans in their SUV leaving, perhaps, Camp Doha, came to that intersection, stopped at a red light and then they were ambushed. It appears that the attackers were lying in wait there at the side of the road.
It's right next to an agricultural area and it is all tree lined and they believe the people may have just been waiting there, looking for a Westerner, waiting for just that opportunity and opened fire. It appears they used an assault rifle. Twenty-four bullet holes police say they found in the vehicle. The passenger was killed and it was the driver which is the one that is wounded. And as we say, no one right now claiming responsibility. It certainly does have the trademark of perhaps a terror attack against a Westerner here in Kuwait. They are rare but they have happened before. And as we say, the wounded man is undergoing treatment and the manhunt well under way -- Carol.
COSTELLO: You know, I know, Martin, whenever something like this happens, we just assume that it's connected to al Qaeda somehow, but no indication of that yet?
SAVIDGE: Not yet, although it was interesting, just yesterday I had a meeting and a sit down with the minister of information. And he pointed out to me when I asked, "Do you think you have al Qaeda cells operating here?," he said it is a possibility, they know it, they investigate it. But he also felt there could be no more than a handful. It could be they're reassessing that statement right now -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Could be.
Martin Savidge live from Kuwait City this morning.
Now to the diplomatic dance surrounding possible military action in Iraq. Secretary of State Colin Powell was at the United Nations on Monday and he was talking tough about Baghdad's pledge to disarm or face consequences. He told U.N. members they may be forced to make some tough decisions in the days ahead.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: We cannot fail to take the action that may be necessary because we are afraid of what others might do. We cannot be shocked into impotence because we are afraid of the difficult choices that are head of us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Powell met some serious resistance to his message, especially from France, Russia and China.
We want to head back to Kuwait City right now to talk with Ryan Chilcote. He's at the hospital where one of those Americans gunned down is hopefully recovering -- Ryan.
RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, we're at the Al- Razi Hospital. This hospital specializes in orthopedic surgery. This is where the one American civilian that was wounded in that attack was brought. He was actually first brought to another hospital, the Al- Sabah Hospital, but then they brought him here. We understand that he is now undergoing, in surgery. They are working on a fracture in his upper right arm and they believe that that surgery should take about two hours. They say that he is in stable condition. And I actually spoke with one of the doctors that's treating him, who said that everything looks good. There's no, that he is out of harm's way.
He also said that he thought that his patient would be released within the next week -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Ryan, we're looking at video, fresh pictures coming in. Can you see this video from your vantage point?
CHILCOTE: Unfortunately I can't, but I was inside of the hotel next to the cameraman who took that video, if you're looking at hospital video.
COSTELLO: So this is inside the hospital?
CHILCOTE: That's correct. That's right outside of the wing where they do operations. Inside, I don't know if you can see in those pictures, they are actually kind of hiding, there are at least two what appear to be U.S. soldiers guarding the operating room, carrying assault rifles. So there is a security contingent on hand.
Also, we learned that the U.S. Army's criminal investigation division, that's the part of the U.S. Army that investigates any kind of crimes, is also present here, conducting an investigation -- Carol. COSTELLO: Do we know who these Americans are yet, Ryan?
CHILCOTE: Well, there are some sketchy details. We understand that one was in his upper 30s. The one that's being treated here was in his upper 30s and that he was a civilian. There are some speculative reports on their names right now, but I think we should stay away from those at this point.
COSTELLO: And these Americans were contractors, they're civilians working for the military?
CHILCOTE: That's right. I mean there's a big guessing game going on, obviously, about exactly who they were working for. But there, it's very clear that they had some relationship to the military. There was several people from the military here earlier. One gentleman, most of them preferring not to identify themselves, one of them telling me that he was an official from the U.S. Air Force. He was the one that initially said that the patient, the one wounded American is in stable condition.
So obviously they have some kind of relationship to the U.S. military, but we understand that they are civilians.
COSTELLO: Understand.
Ryan Chilcote, thanks for bringing us up to date from the hospital in Kuwait City this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
