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CNN Live At Daybreak
Sandstorm Grounded 101st Helicopters
Aired March 26, 2003 - 06:11 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.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: And we are going to check in with our Bill Hemmer who is in Kuwait City.
And, Bill, I don't know if you were able to hear the British reporter who was embedded with some of the Scottish forces talking about some -- the latest news just coming out of Basra that the Scottish forces are apparently seeing some surrenders. People, regular forces coming out of the city with their hands up. So some good news for coalition forces out of Basra right now -- Bill.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, Anderson, again, if that holds up, that would be good news because they've taken a substantial number of military resources and directed toward Basra. And if you talk to anyone on the planning stage of this conflict right now, they did not anticipate, at the outset anyway, to give so much attention to the southeastern part of the country.
I thought it was curious to note, and I know he is essentially embedded with that group of the British military, he doesn't have a complete picture of the battlefield around him. He could not give us a number of Iraqi soldiers who were leaving that town and surrendering. But certainly as developments warrant there, we'll get them to you.
Just a bit past 2:00 local time here in Kuwait and also north in Iraq.
Meanwhile, the news is not good. If you remember on Sunday that ugly incident involving the 101st Airborne Division out of Camp Pennsylvania, yet another member of the U.S. military has died as a result of something that now the military is telling us was carried out by a Sergeant Asan Akbar who dropped what is said now to be at least three grenades that exploded, also opened up small arms fire on a number of operations tents at Camp Pennsylvania. At the time, one dead, 15 wounded on Sunday. But now we know another has died. Major Gregory Stone, age 40, out of Boise, Idaho, died of his injuries in the past 24 hours.
Meanwhile here in Kuwait, you're going to hear a lot about humanitarian aid. Suffice to say the Health Minister here in Kuwait indicating to CNN this large convoy of humanitarian aid again frozen at the border, stuck in neutral, not able to go on because of the weather conditions right now. And we also know the humanitarian aid in southeastern Iraq is critical. When that convoy moves is unclear, possibly Thursday, maybe later today, a lot of that depending not only on the weather but also the security situation inside of Iraq. Want to show you quickly a quick glance around the world about the number of protests that we've been witnessing over the past 24 hours. Want to take you to Seoul, South Korea where at least 30 protesters went at the U.S. Embassy there, climbing inside of a wall there and unfurling a banner reading stop the war. That was the scene in Seoul, South Korea.
Sydney, Australia, about 10,000 came out to express what they consider right now is their opposition to the current conflict in Iraq. Australia, by the way, has 2,000 troops fighting along the U.S. and British forces in Iraq right now.
In Syria, a massive demonstration there. They closed the schools, the universities, a number of government agencies as well. As a result, they got about 500,000 on the streets of Damascus. Many there chanting stop the war and labeling the American and British leaders as -- quote -- "international terrorists."
Back here in Kuwait City, a bit of a different show of protest. A couple hundred came out late last night to show their support for the British and U.S.-led campaign saying that Saddam Hussein and his regime must be ended now.
So as we watch all that, different sides of the coin certainly, but nonetheless, the protests in various parts of the world do continue.
In another note here, the weather is certainly going to be another factor throughout the day here. We woke up to a very intense sandstorm with the wind blowing. You can see the haze behind me. And clearly this is going to be a factor yet again today.
I know we've talked to a number of our embedded reporters throughout the day and it was clear in different parts of Iraq the conditions that were so severe yesterday are not present in some areas, but yet they still crop up in others. So a bit of touch and go right now with the weather system. It's possible, we're told, maybe later tonight, maybe into Thursday you're going to get more clearing skies. But right now you can see behind us it continues to be a factor.
Talked about the 101st Airborne Division, embedded with the 3rd Brigade is CNN's Ryan Chilcote and joins us yet again today. And he knows these conditions better than anyone, he's been living with them now for about 24 hours running.
Ryan, hello, and good afternoon to you.
RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Bill.
Well the sandstorm continues with force. It's just as bad as it was yesterday. Visibility, I mean it couldn't be more than 10 meters, 10 yards. Basically as it was yesterday, the entire helicopter fleet on the 101st Airborne is grounded. I seen, in fact, some helicopters that were up when this sandstorm kicked up pretty violently and quickly yesterday. They had, you know, already out on missions, and they had to stop down, they had to land wherever they were, whether it was in a friendly or not so friendly area.
Also, one helicopter that I know of was slinging some parts for some other helicopters, and it got into the sandstorm. It got so bad, you know when you have that sling load, it kind of already creates a real difficult situation for the helicopter because it can be easily imbalanced, if you will. So it had to drop that load of spare parts and land where it was. It has since -- the helicopter has since been recovered and flown out of the area, but this is a real issue.
And it's also an issue for the infantrymen on the ground, if you will. For example, just yesterday afternoon, one soldier went to the latrines. He was found eight hours later on an entirely different part of the base. He just lost his way and just trying to make it a couple of yards over to the latrine. So this is -- that's kind of a funny matter, but this is actually a really serious situation because this is a -- the ideal conditions for Iraqi forces, really, to move around in right now.
Without the helicopters in the air, it's difficult to watch and destroy Iraqi forces moving towards, for example, this base or anywhere. And even with those fixed wing aircraft up there, high up, monitoring the situation for U.S. forces, it's difficult for them because their radar does really well even through fog and smoke, but really poorly with these sandstorms. So this is a good time for the Iraqi forces tactically to move around, a bad time for U.S. forces to keep up with what the Iraqis are doing.
HEMMER: Ryan, thanks. Ryan Chilcote embedded with the 101st Airborne Division. We'll check in with Ryan again throughout the day. Weather another concern yet again today.
Important to note that Ryan talked about a number of these helicopters. When that dust storm came up yesterday, literally had to put their helicopters down in the sand wherever they were whether it was friendly or foe territory, as Ryan pointed out.
Meanwhile, Anderson, we'll continue to watch this story in Basra. As you well know, this could be a significant development. How many Iraqi soldiers are surrendering based on this embedded reporter, we do not know, but it could be very significant as the coalition tries to secure that part of Iraq.
More from Kuwait in a moment. Back to you now at the CNN Center.
COOPER: Yes, thanks very much, Bill.
And we had earlier had reports that there were as many as 1,000 regular fighters who had withdrawn into the city of Basra. So will be interesting, very interesting to see how many are surrendering, if that is in fact what is happening right now in and around Basra.
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 26, 2003 - 06:11 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: And we are going to check in with our Bill Hemmer who is in Kuwait City.
And, Bill, I don't know if you were able to hear the British reporter who was embedded with some of the Scottish forces talking about some -- the latest news just coming out of Basra that the Scottish forces are apparently seeing some surrenders. People, regular forces coming out of the city with their hands up. So some good news for coalition forces out of Basra right now -- Bill.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, Anderson, again, if that holds up, that would be good news because they've taken a substantial number of military resources and directed toward Basra. And if you talk to anyone on the planning stage of this conflict right now, they did not anticipate, at the outset anyway, to give so much attention to the southeastern part of the country.
I thought it was curious to note, and I know he is essentially embedded with that group of the British military, he doesn't have a complete picture of the battlefield around him. He could not give us a number of Iraqi soldiers who were leaving that town and surrendering. But certainly as developments warrant there, we'll get them to you.
Just a bit past 2:00 local time here in Kuwait and also north in Iraq.
Meanwhile, the news is not good. If you remember on Sunday that ugly incident involving the 101st Airborne Division out of Camp Pennsylvania, yet another member of the U.S. military has died as a result of something that now the military is telling us was carried out by a Sergeant Asan Akbar who dropped what is said now to be at least three grenades that exploded, also opened up small arms fire on a number of operations tents at Camp Pennsylvania. At the time, one dead, 15 wounded on Sunday. But now we know another has died. Major Gregory Stone, age 40, out of Boise, Idaho, died of his injuries in the past 24 hours.
Meanwhile here in Kuwait, you're going to hear a lot about humanitarian aid. Suffice to say the Health Minister here in Kuwait indicating to CNN this large convoy of humanitarian aid again frozen at the border, stuck in neutral, not able to go on because of the weather conditions right now. And we also know the humanitarian aid in southeastern Iraq is critical. When that convoy moves is unclear, possibly Thursday, maybe later today, a lot of that depending not only on the weather but also the security situation inside of Iraq. Want to show you quickly a quick glance around the world about the number of protests that we've been witnessing over the past 24 hours. Want to take you to Seoul, South Korea where at least 30 protesters went at the U.S. Embassy there, climbing inside of a wall there and unfurling a banner reading stop the war. That was the scene in Seoul, South Korea.
Sydney, Australia, about 10,000 came out to express what they consider right now is their opposition to the current conflict in Iraq. Australia, by the way, has 2,000 troops fighting along the U.S. and British forces in Iraq right now.
In Syria, a massive demonstration there. They closed the schools, the universities, a number of government agencies as well. As a result, they got about 500,000 on the streets of Damascus. Many there chanting stop the war and labeling the American and British leaders as -- quote -- "international terrorists."
Back here in Kuwait City, a bit of a different show of protest. A couple hundred came out late last night to show their support for the British and U.S.-led campaign saying that Saddam Hussein and his regime must be ended now.
So as we watch all that, different sides of the coin certainly, but nonetheless, the protests in various parts of the world do continue.
In another note here, the weather is certainly going to be another factor throughout the day here. We woke up to a very intense sandstorm with the wind blowing. You can see the haze behind me. And clearly this is going to be a factor yet again today.
I know we've talked to a number of our embedded reporters throughout the day and it was clear in different parts of Iraq the conditions that were so severe yesterday are not present in some areas, but yet they still crop up in others. So a bit of touch and go right now with the weather system. It's possible, we're told, maybe later tonight, maybe into Thursday you're going to get more clearing skies. But right now you can see behind us it continues to be a factor.
Talked about the 101st Airborne Division, embedded with the 3rd Brigade is CNN's Ryan Chilcote and joins us yet again today. And he knows these conditions better than anyone, he's been living with them now for about 24 hours running.
Ryan, hello, and good afternoon to you.
RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Bill.
Well the sandstorm continues with force. It's just as bad as it was yesterday. Visibility, I mean it couldn't be more than 10 meters, 10 yards. Basically as it was yesterday, the entire helicopter fleet on the 101st Airborne is grounded. I seen, in fact, some helicopters that were up when this sandstorm kicked up pretty violently and quickly yesterday. They had, you know, already out on missions, and they had to stop down, they had to land wherever they were, whether it was in a friendly or not so friendly area.
Also, one helicopter that I know of was slinging some parts for some other helicopters, and it got into the sandstorm. It got so bad, you know when you have that sling load, it kind of already creates a real difficult situation for the helicopter because it can be easily imbalanced, if you will. So it had to drop that load of spare parts and land where it was. It has since -- the helicopter has since been recovered and flown out of the area, but this is a real issue.
And it's also an issue for the infantrymen on the ground, if you will. For example, just yesterday afternoon, one soldier went to the latrines. He was found eight hours later on an entirely different part of the base. He just lost his way and just trying to make it a couple of yards over to the latrine. So this is -- that's kind of a funny matter, but this is actually a really serious situation because this is a -- the ideal conditions for Iraqi forces, really, to move around in right now.
Without the helicopters in the air, it's difficult to watch and destroy Iraqi forces moving towards, for example, this base or anywhere. And even with those fixed wing aircraft up there, high up, monitoring the situation for U.S. forces, it's difficult for them because their radar does really well even through fog and smoke, but really poorly with these sandstorms. So this is a good time for the Iraqi forces tactically to move around, a bad time for U.S. forces to keep up with what the Iraqis are doing.
HEMMER: Ryan, thanks. Ryan Chilcote embedded with the 101st Airborne Division. We'll check in with Ryan again throughout the day. Weather another concern yet again today.
Important to note that Ryan talked about a number of these helicopters. When that dust storm came up yesterday, literally had to put their helicopters down in the sand wherever they were whether it was friendly or foe territory, as Ryan pointed out.
Meanwhile, Anderson, we'll continue to watch this story in Basra. As you well know, this could be a significant development. How many Iraqi soldiers are surrendering based on this embedded reporter, we do not know, but it could be very significant as the coalition tries to secure that part of Iraq.
More from Kuwait in a moment. Back to you now at the CNN Center.
COOPER: Yes, thanks very much, Bill.
And we had earlier had reports that there were as many as 1,000 regular fighters who had withdrawn into the city of Basra. So will be interesting, very interesting to see how many are surrendering, if that is in fact what is happening right now in and around Basra.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
