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CNN Live Today

Karl Penhaul Reports with Army's Fifth Corps

Aired March 24, 2003 - 11:14   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.


LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: By telephone, here's Karl to bring us up to date on what's happening now.
Karl, hello.

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT; Hi, Bill.

Yes, it's very difficult, as you say, to know exactly what happened to that Apache helicopter, as you mentioned, General Tommy Franks said is on the ground inside Iraq.

What I can tell you is that the other Apache helicopters that flew alongside that came under heavy antiaircraft fire, as they flew a mission to attack Republican Guard positions around the town of Karbala. The aim of the MiG was to destroy tank placements up to 90 T-72 tanks in that region, heavy artillery pieces, but as the helicopters flew into the target area, they came under heavy antiaircraft fire, both from military emplacements, and also, commanders say, from residential areas.

In an effort not to target civilians or cause possible civilian deaths, many of the helicopters didn't unleash their Hellfire missiles for fear of destroying homes and the like. On return to the airfield, where these apache helicopters are now they've been assessing the damage they've received to their crop. Not one of them have escaped without a bullet impact. Most of them have anything between 10 and 20 bullet impacts. One even had an engine blown off by a rocket propelled grenade.

So again, a lot of these pilots are feeling that they were very lucky. Though talking to one of the unit commanders, Colonel Daniel Ball, he says he's been very impressed by his men in this initial combat, says he never expected the Republican Guard to fold. And although there is damage, significant damage in some cases to some of these helicopters, Colonel Ball says that efforts are going ahead to repair the aircraft. He said he's ready to continue the fight against the Republican Guard, which he sees as one of the crucial battles of the war, given this Medina division of the Republican Guard controls the southern approaches to Baghdad -- Bill.

HEMMER: Karl, two questions. We'll go through them quickly. Number one, do you know of any search and rescue mission that was launched to try and find these pilots? And is it happening now, based on your understanding?

PENHAUL: Those things, Bill, I'm not at liberty to talk about under the terms of the ground rules for imbeds with the U.S. forces. AMANPOUR: The second question then, knowing the amount of damage that these Apache helicopters took. You described it yourself, every single one at least took some sort of incoming bullets fired from the ground, how surprised were these pilots to take that, and what does that say about the Iraqi forces that they went in to take on?

PENHAUL: The pilots this morning have told me that they were very surprised. Seeing them wake up this morning, they looked stunned, possibly even a little bit dazed. They realized there was some antiaircraft fire out there. They didn't realize it was so widespread. It also wasn't arrayed in any special military formation, but buried in a lot of residential areas. That's what surprised them.

In terms of injuries, wounded, only one pilot was wounded, a slight injury in the neck. The others have been shaken up in some cases, but no serious injuries on the part of the others -- Bill.

HEMMER: All right, Karl. Karl Penhaul with the Army's Fifth Corp, south of Baghdad in Iraq, traveling with that attack helicopter regiment.

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 March 24, 2003 - 11:14   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: By telephone, here's Karl to bring us up to date on what's happening now.
Karl, hello.

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT; Hi, Bill.

Yes, it's very difficult, as you say, to know exactly what happened to that Apache helicopter, as you mentioned, General Tommy Franks said is on the ground inside Iraq.

What I can tell you is that the other Apache helicopters that flew alongside that came under heavy antiaircraft fire, as they flew a mission to attack Republican Guard positions around the town of Karbala. The aim of the MiG was to destroy tank placements up to 90 T-72 tanks in that region, heavy artillery pieces, but as the helicopters flew into the target area, they came under heavy antiaircraft fire, both from military emplacements, and also, commanders say, from residential areas.

In an effort not to target civilians or cause possible civilian deaths, many of the helicopters didn't unleash their Hellfire missiles for fear of destroying homes and the like. On return to the airfield, where these apache helicopters are now they've been assessing the damage they've received to their crop. Not one of them have escaped without a bullet impact. Most of them have anything between 10 and 20 bullet impacts. One even had an engine blown off by a rocket propelled grenade.

So again, a lot of these pilots are feeling that they were very lucky. Though talking to one of the unit commanders, Colonel Daniel Ball, he says he's been very impressed by his men in this initial combat, says he never expected the Republican Guard to fold. And although there is damage, significant damage in some cases to some of these helicopters, Colonel Ball says that efforts are going ahead to repair the aircraft. He said he's ready to continue the fight against the Republican Guard, which he sees as one of the crucial battles of the war, given this Medina division of the Republican Guard controls the southern approaches to Baghdad -- Bill.

HEMMER: Karl, two questions. We'll go through them quickly. Number one, do you know of any search and rescue mission that was launched to try and find these pilots? And is it happening now, based on your understanding?

PENHAUL: Those things, Bill, I'm not at liberty to talk about under the terms of the ground rules for imbeds with the U.S. forces. AMANPOUR: The second question then, knowing the amount of damage that these Apache helicopters took. You described it yourself, every single one at least took some sort of incoming bullets fired from the ground, how surprised were these pilots to take that, and what does that say about the Iraqi forces that they went in to take on?

PENHAUL: The pilots this morning have told me that they were very surprised. Seeing them wake up this morning, they looked stunned, possibly even a little bit dazed. They realized there was some antiaircraft fire out there. They didn't realize it was so widespread. It also wasn't arrayed in any special military formation, but buried in a lot of residential areas. That's what surprised them.

In terms of injuries, wounded, only one pilot was wounded, a slight injury in the neck. The others have been shaken up in some cases, but no serious injuries on the part of the others -- Bill.

HEMMER: All right, Karl. Karl Penhaul with the Army's Fifth Corp, south of Baghdad in Iraq, traveling with that attack helicopter regiment.

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