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CNN Live At Daybreak
Landstuhl Press Conference; Interview With Apache Pilot
Aired April 02, 2003 - 05:00 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Hong Kong now, health officials have narrowed down an outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome to a particular building in a sprawling apartment complex. They say of the 185 SARS cases so far there, most came from Block E of the 1 Division, the Amoy Gardens Apartments. Health officials began moving residents out of that building as of yesterday.
We are bringing you the war on so many different fronts today and there is a lot of news to talk about, too.
Coming up this hour, we'll take you to the war up front on our front lines with our embedded reporters again. They'll bring us the latest on the ground and what they're seeing. Plus, U.S. forces taking on Republican Guard units in what could be the early stages of the battle for Baghdad. And on the home front, how the war is affecting viewers at home. We'll have a look at whether or not the American public is glued to the coverage or if life goes on.
All right, it's two o'clock in Baghdad, one o'clock here in Kuwait, 5:00 a.m. back on the East Coast.
Welcome back to our coverage. We roll on yet another day here.
I'm Bill Hemmer live in Kuwait City -- Carol, good morning.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Bill.
I'm Carol Costello at CNN's global headquarters in Atlanta.
Today is Wednesday, April 2. You are looking at a live picture of downtown Baghdad as Operation Iraqi Freedom enters day 14.
As you heard Bill say, we're awaiting lots of live events this morning. You're taking a live look at Landstuhl, Germany, where there will be a press conference soon with three U.S. servicemen who are now being treated at the medical hospital there. They will come out and talk to the world and, of course, we'll carry that live. It's supposed to start momentarily.
Time now, though, for an early briefing on stories that will be news later today. The journalists who arrived in Jordan after being held in Iraq for a week are expected to hold a news conference later this morning. CNN does plan live coverage.
Former President Bush will address troops and the spouses of deploy troops during a visit to a Marine Corps air station in Cherry Point, North Carolina today. And the World Health Organization is warning people to avoid non- essential travel to Hong Kong or China's Guangdong Province because of a mystery respiratory illness known as SARS.
OK, to the war. A lethal band of steel is slowly tightening around Baghdad. Since crossing the Euphrates River, U.S. armored troops have moved within striking distance of the capital. Marines seized a key bridge over the Tigris River in what was described as a fierce fight that littered the battlefield with Iraqi dead. And the Army's Third Infantry Division has gone on the offense against Republican Guards near Karbala.
Despite these developments, a British commander at Central Command says the battle for Baghdad is not yet joined.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GROUP CAPT. AL LOCKWOOD, BRITISH MILITARY SPOKESMAN: We're moving in the direction of the final objective. But at this stage, it's probably a little premature to say that the battle of Baghdad has begun. We need to obviously move coalition forces in, take out resistance that has been building and, you know, get another step on our route to the final objective.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: As the situation now stands, coalition forces effectively dominate the southern part of Iraq to about 50 miles from Baghdad. Strategic air fields are also under U.S. control in the west and in the north.
As we've said, it's been a day of battles and diplomacy and a day that saw a call to arms and a daring rescue.
Our Miles O'Brien has this summary for you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Noon Eastern time, 9:00 p.m. in Baghdad, Iraq's information ministry urges Iraqis to take their chance for immortality by fighting U.S.-led troops.
1:30 p.m. Eastern time, four journalists who disappeared from a Baghdad hotel a week ago turn up safe in Jordan. A reporter and photographer from "Newsday" and two other freelance photographers are reported in good health.
2:31 p.m. Eastern, Joint Chiefs Chairman Richard Myers says two Iraqi Republican Guard divisions around Baghdad have been reduced to about half their fighting capability by U.S. air, artillery and ground attacks.
2:58 p.m., Secretary of State Colin Powell arrives in Turkey to talk about continued cooperation in the war in Iraq.
6:32 p.m., CNN's Jason Bellini, embedded with the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, reports on a major battle in Nasiriya in an effort to root out militia groups.
6:58 p.m., at the Pentagon CNN's Jamie McIntyre reports an all out offensive is beginning against Iraq's elite Republican Guard in Karbala, southwest of Baghdad.
7:00 p.m., Abu Dhabi Television shows major explosions in central Baghdad, near the Ministry of Information. Central Command says the complex has been the target of repeated strikes by coalition fighters.
7:28 p.m. Eastern, 4:28 a.m. in Qatar, Brigadier General Vincent Brooks announces a soldier who had been a prisoner of war has been rescued. Nineteen-year-old supply clerk Jessica Lynch is now hospitalized in coalition hands.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: All right, now today we are still awaiting a press conference in Landstuhl, Germany at a medical center there. Three U.S. servicemen, we are told, will take questions and talk about their experiences in the battlefield in Iraq. About 5:30 a.m. Eastern Time, about 25 minutes from now, the secretary of state, Colin Powell, will hold a press conference in Turkey. He's there with the foreign minister and that's where we go now, to the capital city of Ankara.
And Sheila MacVicar is watching that front -- Sheila, good afternoon there.
SHEILA MACVICAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you.
Yes, I'm outside the foreign minister's residence, where the secretary of state is expected to arrive very soon for lunch. This has been a very hastily arrived -- arranged trip. The Turks have been saying that they didn't find out about this until Monday afternoon, as a matter of fact.
The secretary of state arrived here late last night. He's been in a series of meetings all day, beginning, of course, with the foreign minister, the president, the prime minister and now this lunch. We're expecting at the end of that lunch there will be some kind of a press conference or press statement.
Now, the key reason why Secretary of State Powell has come here to Turkey at this time has been to mend fences. We all remember how in the beginning of March, the Turkish parliament video against permitting tens of thousands of U.S. troops to enter into northern Iraq via Turkey, which basically shut down a key part of the U.S. war plan. The U.S. war plan had called, of course, for a southern front, a front that would have pushed southwards from the Turkish -- from the Kurdish, rather, controlled areas in northern Iraq towards Baghdad.
Now, the central issue and the big concern here for the United States at the moment is that as the Iraqis fall back towards Baghdad, closer towards the key cities of Kirkuk and Mosul, and as the Kurdish forces move forwards, the Americans are becoming very concerned that Turkey would make a strategic decision based on their own national security interests to move large numbers of their own forces into northern Iraq.
The Americans believe that that could result in a war within a war, if you will, a war between the Kurds and the Turks, a sideshow, something that they do not want and which they are trying to avert. They are looking for assurances today from the Turks that they will not take such a measure.
There's a couple of other issues they're discussing, a humanitarian aid corridor, search and rescue missions, the question of whether or not the border between Turkey and northern Iraq can be reopened for normal trade to help the economy of northern Iraq.
HEMMER: All right, Sheila, thanks.
Sheila MacVicar there in Ankara, Turkey with the latest.
A couple reminders to our viewers right now. We do anticipate the secretary of state, Colin Powell, in a press briefing at 5:30 a.m., about 20 minutes from now. We'll have that live for you when it happens. At 6:00 a.m. Eastern, Tony Blair is going to be in the House of Commons. We'll watch that, as well. And Central Command yet again today will hold their briefing at 7:00 a.m. Eastern time. We will be live all the time with all of it just as soon as it gets under way -- Carol again now at the CNN Center.
COSTELLO: All right, thanks a lot, Bill.
As we've told you, U.S. Marines and Army troops launched a two pronged attack on Republican Guard divisions defending the approach to Baghdad. There's been fierce fighting along the way. So has the battle for Baghdad begun?
Let's go live to the Pentagon and ask that question of our Chris Plante -- good morning, Chris.
KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol.
It's at least the beginning of the beginning. The Army's Third Infantry Division is taking on the Republican Guard Medina division to the south and west of the city of Baghdad and over to the east, the United States Marine Corps 1st Division is taking on the Baghdad division near the town of al-Kut.
It is being described to us here as the beginning or the opening phase of the battle for Baghdad. It is not officially yet the battle for Baghdad, but certainly taking out the Republican Guard divisions south of the city is a key ingredient in approaching the gates of the city, where the forces will still face the 26,000 or so troops from the special Republican Guards. Also, significant troops, not as heavily armed in terms of armor as the other Republican Guard divisions around the city, but certainly to be taken seriously.
Meanwhile, an area of concern for the forces is the red line which has been drawn around the city of Baghdad. A red line, according to U.S. intelligence, is effectively an imaginary line drawn around the city by the leadership in Baghdad and orders have gone out to certain units in the field, Iraqi units in the field that if the U.S. and British forces cross this line they are to us chemical weapons.
So this is certainly a critical time and an area of serious concern -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Yes, I want to talk more about the threat of the use of chemical and biological weapons. Is it a surprise to the Pentagon that we haven't seen that as of yet?
PLANTE: Well, it's not really a surprise at this point. It's still an area of great concern, as I said, and they have found chemical suits with Iraqi troops in the field, thousands of them down south when they took over a hospital near Nasiriya. Other troops that have surrendered have been found in possession of gas masks and other chemical gear.
It's not really a surprise that they haven't used them yet because they are still fighting in Iraq for world public opinion and if they used chemical weapons early on, it's likely that any support they had in the Arab world and elsewhere would fall away. So not a big surprise at this point -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, Chris Plante live at the Pentagon.
As we told you, fierce fighting on the way to Baghdad right now.
We want to check in with one of our embedded correspondents, Karl Penhaul, who is with a helicopter attack unit -- and, Carl, you have a helicopter pilot who has just returned from a mission?
PENHAUL: Indeed, yes.
I'm here with Captain Brian McCort. He was flying a combat mission this morning in support of the Third Infantry Division north of Karbala. This battle is seen as one of the decisive battles in what's being described as the push towards Baghdad.
His aircraft took fire from the ground and bullets were whizzing through the canopy of his aircraft, in fact, started a small fire in the rear of the aircraft.
I'm passing across to him now and he'll be able to tell you a little bit more about his experiences.
VOICE OF BRIAN MCCORT, APACHE PILOT: Hello. Hello?
COSTELLO: We're here. Can you tell us about your mission?
MCCORT: Our mission actually was just to support the ground commanders of the V.C. teams from Third I.D. with their push through, from, towards Baghdad.
COSTELLO: And what happened along the way? Karl Penhaul said that you came under fire. MCCORT: Yes, ma'am, that's correct. We actually, the ground personnel had stopped to refuel and we were scouting out in front of them to get an idea of what was there to come and what had happened was we actually came upon an enemy position. Our lead aircraft did not see it. They turned away from it. And our position in the flight, we saw fresh targets.
COSTELLO: And he said there was actually a fire that broke on aboard your aircraft.
MCCORT: It was. It was actually small and it extinguished on its own. The Apache is a very, very survivable aircraft. And it's nothing, it wasn't anything major of any sorts. The maintenance personnel here are some of the best, you know, in the world. They're going to have this aircraft up and ready to go within a few hours, I'm sure.
COSTELLO: Before we go on, can you tell us your name?
MCCORT: Yes, Brian McCort, Captain Brian McCort.
COSTELLO: Captain McCort.
You sound so calm about this, because I know that these Apache helicopters are sort of like flying tanks, but still, a fire on board, you just sound so calm about it.
MCCORT: Well, actually, to be honest with you, I ride in the -- I fly in the front seat of the aircraft and the fire was behind the pilot, who sits in the back seat of the aircraft. His station actually filled up with smoke. We were afraid we were going to actually have to land the aircraft, but it extinguished itself, the smoke dissipated and we continued on. We had to land behind friendly lines.
COSTELLO: Wow. And you said the fire was sort of put out by itself. What do you mean by that? Can you explain more for us?
MCCORT: Yes, it was just the fact that a round had gone through an electric bundle and it was a small electrical fire. So it basically started, the systems that it actually hit shut itself down and also it extinguished the fire.
COSTELLO: You may have mentioned this before, but I wondered if you could tell us what your targets were.
MCCORT: Actually, to be honest with you, ma'am, just (AUDIO GAP) weren't specific targets. We were just there to support the ground commander and their mission with all the armor and mechanized infantry. So if there was any targets of opportunity that came up or they needed us for our ability to go out in front of the battle, in front of the enemy line or in front of the friendly line, excuse me, then we were there to accomplish that for them and give them a little eye in the sky, so to speak.
COSTELLO: And, Captain, since your vehicle came under fire, your helicopter came under fire, what's in store for you now?
MCCORT: Well, like I said before, staying here with Karl, we have about 15 people in front of my aircraft. There's very little, I mean there's damage to it. However, there's things that, you know, these guys are very, very well trained and very good at what they do. This aircraft should be ready to go and get back into the fight very soon.
COSTELLO: And I know many Americans would want to know -- and I always ask about this -- but there are so many here in this country cheering you on and wondering how you're doing, what the mood is.
MCCORT: I'm sorry, ma'am. I couldn't hear you. Could you say that again please?
COSTELLO: Many Americans here wonder what the mood is there like for you and your spirits, what are they like?
MCCORT: The mood's OK. It's somewhat of anxiousness, waiting, trying to get, you know, mentally prepared to do what we have to do and we're just basically waiting to see what happens in the days to come and how the situation and the war develops.
COSTELLO: And is there a real sense now that the battle for Baghdad has begun?
MCCORT: Well, ma'am, the -- I'm not too sure about the battle for Baghdad, but there's definitely a push towards it. And like I said, the tanks and the mechanized infantry that we deal with, the artillery and the ground commanders, they're just phenomenal. They're rolling through anything and they haven't had a glitch yet. They just, they don't stop. So, you know, I don't know how long it's going to take, but if they want to get there, they will.
COSTELLO: And just one last question. Are you surprised at the level of resistance coming from Iraqi troops?
MCCORT: The levels of resistance, from what we've gathered, has differed from anywhere between people surrendering and from people, you know, putting in the full fight to the last. So as far as surprise, it depends what you mean by that. I guess some are more surprised than others. But it also depends on what they're manning. If they're out, some of the units could be in the middle of nowhere. They have a more, more of a tendency not to defend themselves (AUDIO GAP) more heavily, well fortified units.
COSTELLO: Understand.
Captain McCort, we're going to let you go because we have to go live to Germany now.
There's a press conference ongoing. Three U.S. servicemen are going to speak out about their injuries, how they're feeling, how, in their words, how the war is going.
So let's listen in right now. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... return to the United States for further treatment or retirement to their home units. Today we will have three U.S. military members who were injured during Operation Iraqi Freedom. The three Marines will be accompanied by Colonel David A. Rubenstein (ph), the medical center commander.
The news conference will last approximately 30 minutes and afterwards the members have agreed to conduct one-on-one interviews. As a courtesy, we ask that all still photographers keep their movement to a minimum during the news conference. We appreciate your cooperation.
Following remarks by Colonel Rubenstein, each serviceman will describe his personal experience. Before asking a question, please state your name and your news agency.
To my left is Colonel David A. Rubenstein, 1st Sergeant Bruce Cole, 1st Lieutenant James Uwins and to my far left is Gunnery Sergeant Bill Hale.
Ladies and gentlemen, Colonel Rubenstein.
COL. DAVID A. RUBENSTEIN, LANDSTUHL MEDICAL CENTER: Thank you, Marie.
And thank you all for being here today.
As you've heard, we have received 95 combat casualties from Operation Iraqi Freedom and in the past week one combat casualty from Afghanistan Operation Enduring Freedom.
The staff of Landstuhl continues to run a hospital of 322 beds and has done a superb job taking care of these warriors, Marines, soldiers, airmen, civilians and sailors.
I would like to turn it over to them so they can tell you their story. I would make one announcement, however, to preclude any questions that are asked down the road, and that is in relation to Private Lynch, the prisoner of war. I will tell you that at this point we do expect her to come through Landstuhl as she makes her way back to the United States. I don't have a specific date time group for you at this point, but I assure you that we will keep you advised when we have further information.
And I'll turn it over to 1st Sergeant to start the discussion.
First Sergeant?
SGT. BRUCE COLE, U.S. MARINE CORPS: Good morning.
My name is First Sergeant Cole. I'm a first sergeant with the Second Battalion Fifth Marines stationed at Camp Pendleton in coalition forces.
On the morning that I was hit, our battalion was the main effort for the regimental combat teams' attack northward along a highway. It was, it was somewhat early in the morning. It was a bright morning, which contributed to a lot of confusion of the battle. They were going up the highway. There were many civilians. There were, it was moderately, moderately populated with civilians. There were many houses along the MSR or the highway.
There were along the side of each, each side of the highway, there were multiple berms and ditches that were either dug for military reasons or as a result of the highway being under the construction. I don't know which. It was a concern of everybody because of the restrictive terrain. All of our vehicles had to stick to the road for the most part.
The column that I was in consisted of several hundred vehicles. It was a rather large attack from front to end. We had the majority of our armored vehicles, the tanks and the amphibious assault vehicles were towards the front. Early in the attack, we -- early in the attack we had sporadic engagements with the tanks up towards the front. There were a few engagements in the rear. At one point the engagements with the tanks receiving small arms fire had increased to the point to where the column had to halt for approximately a half hour, at which time those of us that were in the softer vehicles, we had tanks up towards the front, we had amphibious assault vehicles behind them and behind those were the softer vehicles, the Humvees, of which I was in the lead Humvee behind the last armored vehicle.
We dismounted as the momentum slowed for, to give the armored vehicles a chance to clear and zone any resistance that the softer vehicles would encounter. At a certain point there were engagements north of us. There were engagements south of us. We got concerned at that Pentagon that the engagements were going to tie in.
There were civilians that were sort of looky lewing (ph) out of the houses. The further on we went, they were, there was a little bit more bolder and then some of them were as close as maybe 50 meters off the road, standing on top of the berms, standing inside their houses, looking out the windows, waving, friendly to some point.
The, when the engagement started, it was difficult to tell where the firing was coming from. You could see the impacts of the rounds around the vehicles, in the road, in the berms. You could hear the snap of the rounds going over your head or around you or behind you or some striking your vehicle.
The difficult part was trying to return fire and figure out who to shoot at. Not all the civilians that were off to the side were engaging us. I could tell that many of them were just as afraid as anyone else from the look of the fear on their face and the panic and the confusion as the shots started going off. And it was difficult with it being such a bright, clear day to really tell where the, where the shooting was coming from, and it was finding out who to shoot back at was your biggest problem at that point.
So I had turned sideways in the vehicle that I was in so that I could return fire out of the window and as I was returning fire to wherever I could see fire coming from, I was struck in the arm. A bullet entered my forearm, exited through the back of my tricep, knocked the rifle out of my hand.
The convoy, part of the attack, the vehicles, we had discussed the need for the immediate action or what we would do in the event that we were ambushed. And it was something that was well rehearsed, talked about, and I contribute the fact that we survived that ambush to everybody's clear head and good thinking and the training that we had been through.
RUBENSTEIN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Right. Lieutenant?
1ST LT. JAMES UWINS, U.S. MARINE CORPS: Thanks, sir.
RUBENSTEIN: Thanks for (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
UWINS: Good morning, everybody.
My name is 1st Lieutenant James Uwins.
I'm a logistics officer in the U.S. Marine Corps.
Please don't let the excessive amount of hair, especially with my counterparts, make you think otherwise. I've still been looking for a good barber in the area. Let me know if anybody's got some clippers, I'll be on fire by the end of the afternoon.
My parent unit is Headquarters Battalion, 2nd Marine Division out of Camp Lejeune and for operation in Iraqi Freedom, as it's now called, I was attached to the 2nd Battalion 8th Marines.
I had a platoon of seven ton trucks, which is the new standard for the Marine Corps, replacing the Vietnam era five ton trucks. And with these seven ton trucks I attached to the mode of transport section for the 2nd Battalion 8th Marines.
My primary mission was providing lift, tactical lift to get the battalion from one area to another. So not a sexy job by any means, but a necessary one for the battalion to operate in the battlefield.
Basically what happened the day that we kind of came under this nasty ambush was the battalion was fulfilling its mission of securing the southern bridgehead for the town of al-Nasiriya. That southern bridge had crossed the Euphrates River and we had our line companies up around the southern bridgehead.
And over the past 48 hours I had been running from our main command post and our logistics center about four miles south of that area up to the line companies, running them supplies, you know, basically your ammunition, your fuel, your chow. During the day time I'd be running those supplies and come back to the command post at night.
I had just concluded running supplies for the day, came back to the command post and as I arrived, we were displaced from one area to another, which is something you'll do every couple of (AUDIO GAP) into what was an abandoned gas station, which seemed like a pretty good idea. An abandoned gas station. There was already some infrastructure. We'd had a pretty heavy storm the day before. I had been spending most of the day, actually, pulling vehicles out of the mud, something that you don't really expect when, say, you're going to the deserts of Iraq. But the storms happen.
I came back into this area, setting up around the gas station. We had some combat engineers pull some of their aces, which is a bulldozer type equivalent. Built a berm around this gas station, so by no means was it an unsecured area. In fact, it was looking like a pretty good place to spend a couple days.
Had Marines set up on the perimeter around this berm, so our security was in place. It started turning to your conduct for nighttime which is your security and then also looking at our equipment and what we had to be repairing for the next couple of days. It had been a pretty rough 24 hour (AUDIO GAP) about two or three hours of sleep for the past 36, 48 hours. I actually had been discussing with my maintenance chief on some of the issues and trying to get our mechanics to go to sleep.
Right after I had (AUDIO GAP) sleep for my Marines that were eventually lost and ended up working on the truck when I was walking away, I went over to my own Humvee, was pulling my sleeping bag out and I didn't it, but we started having kind of sporadic fire. I saw the tracer rounds passing over the berm of the camp and at that point, you know, first we thought, OK, it was just someone kind of sniping the camp, it won't be much.
It quickly escalated to the point that I hit the ground and made my way over to where I was just talking with my mechanics and my maintenance chief. They were working on one of our armored Humvees.
Just as I was making it over to the armored Humvee, we really started to take heavy fire and that's when the small arms fire escalated to rocket propelled grenades and mortars, if you will. At that point I really didn't have much to say for the battle. A rocket propelled grenade hit the Humvee. Shrapnel coming off the door is my best guess, just from seeing the seize of the hole in the door. It got me lower right leg, perfect piece of shrapnel struck by fibula, taking me out of the battle, which I would do anything to get that shrapnel taken out and have the leg fixed if I could.
But shrapnel in the right leg going all the way up the left leg, kind of stopping right where my flak jacket is. So a testament to us and our gear. And then another large piece of shrapnel lacerating my left arm. I'm going to have a nice scar there.
The shrapnel in the leg kind of took me out of the fight. I tried bearing some weight on it and couldn't. I stuck down on the ground and was pretty much a bystander making sure that my Marines were doing the right thing. Had a corpsman assessing me, the fact that we were under darkness really created the fog of war. No clue on the specific direction where things were coming from, just trying to identify where the tracers were coming from and it was pretty much all three sides of our perimeter, which was one of the things that sort of put us in a very bad position. The fires continued and I managed to stay out of the clear. Being in the center of the camp was by no means the best place to be within where we'd set up. But from there, that's all I really got. I got evacuated after that. About 20 hours later I ended up in Kuwait City at the fleet hospital, 47th Casualty Support Hospital. A couple days later here in Landstuhl. So, they carried out an evacuation but it took me all through the four echelons of medical treatment and that's all I've got to say.
RUBENSTEIN: OK. Bill? Sir?
GUNNERY SGT. BILL HALE, U.S. MARINE CORPS: Good afternoon.
I'm Gunnery Sergeant Hale. I'm with also with the 2nd Battalion 8th Marines, the Americas Battalion.
This is my platoon commander here, Lieutenant Uwins.
When all this took place, like he said, we were up for at least 24 hours, had just withstood a torrential sandstorm, rain. The Marines were tired. We had just moved north about a half a mile or so from one of the bridges leading into al-Nasiriya. We were setting up our command post, getting some of our resupplies resupplied so we had enough stuff to get us through the night so we could take them up to the lines so that the Marines that were fighting the fight had what they needed to do their job.
We had a couple vehicles that needed some maintenance, some heavy machine gun trucks, like the lieutenant was saying. Had to put some springs and shocks on them. We were secure in the area, found a building across the street about 100 meters that had some RPG rounds, some grenades, some Iraqi uniforms that we got the CEB detachment, which is the combat engineers, to go over and blow them so that they couldn't use them against us.
It started to get dark. It started to get cold. I had walked over to where the lieutenant was at. We were having a casual civilians about some issues, making sure that the Marines that were out working were actually the ones that had gotten some rest, that we were going to put down some of the mms that needed some rest so they could effectively do their jobs.
I started to walk away. Half a second went by or so and I heard a loud his in the air. And the next thing you know, a big white flash. I looked to my right and saw a hole probably the size of a softball go right through the passenger side door of the heavy machine gun truck. At that point, you know, you're adrenaline kicks in and got an assessment of the situation. Started looking for my Marines to make sure that they were all right.
I kind of moved behind a wall that was kind of structured around an above ground petroleum storage area where I guess they stored their gasoline. Got my Marines with me. Listened for some directives coming from the command area. Tried to make sure that everybody was all right. One of my Marines was wounded. Put a tourniquet around his arm. Started looking to see where we could go to get into a safe area because at that point the fire was so heavy you could move five feet to your left, five feet to your right and, you know, you'd be in the direct line of fire. So I had to find a clear path to where these Marines could go so we could get them in a safe area so we could redirect our fire so that we could get into the fight.
At that point I started sending Marines out about 100 meters to clear two walls. There were four foot concrete structures that had kind of formed a perimeter around this facility that we were using and I sent them out in pairs of twos as I had some of them providing some security on the south wall. When the last man got across he gave me the thumbs up, Gunney, we're clear, we got you. I took a deep breath, adrenaline kicked in and I said, you know, got to go.
Got up on my feet and started running. Probably got about 25, 35 feet and sort of heard a loud explosion. The next thing I know I was airborne. I was playing Superman for about 15, 20 seconds. Landed flat on my back. Got up. Tried to stand up. Fell back down. Thought my leg was broke. The next thing you know I had a couple of my fellow Marines pulling me out and at point I was in an ambulance on my way to the hospital and that's really it.
RUBENSTEIN: OK.
Be happy to entertain your questions.
Jim, we'll start right here.
QUESTION: First sergeant, I'd like to ask you, as you were talking, giving the narrative of what happened -- Jim Redford with Reuters (UNINTELLIGIBLE). As you were telling the story, I want to ask if your opinion the number of troops that are taking part in this action, given the level of resistance you're encountering, do you feel comfortable with the amount of troops that you have, with the size, the force that the United States is bringing to bear on this?
COLE: Yes, sir, I do. Despite the position that I am in now, we're handling it and we're getting the job done.
QUESTION: Would you say that more are needed or the numbers that you have are sufficient?
COLE: I think, sir, in my opinion, the numbers are sufficient. Any more we could possibly be tripping over each other and I think we have what we need to get the job done.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lieutenant?
UWINS: I would have to concur with that. From my level, platoon level, you know, the highest I'm going to see is really where we're working with the regimental combat team, and that's 3,000 to 4,000 Marines in one area of operations. It wouldn't, to me, be very prudent to gnosh (ph) our force excessively like that. What I see with the flow of forces coming in is exactly what we're going to need, Marines that have been living in tents for a month and a half and are now forward across the line of departure. They're going to need that relief soon and that's what it's going to be. The answer, to me, doesn't seem like having more bodies out there. You are going to start tripping over yourself and that's when you start running into the issues of friendly fire and to me that is not what we're about and not a sound deployment where we have.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
QUESTION: Do either of you have a have a handle on how many people actually ended up being injured in that incident?
HALE: Yes, sir.
QUESTION: How many?
HALE: Out of our company size, it was 31.
QUESTION: And those were sporadic engagements all over this area?
HALE: That was in that one area where the ambush took place.
QUESTION: Any fatalities?
HALE: No. We took no fatalities, thank god. No, nobody was killed.
QUESTION: How much, I mean does that, with all of those injuries and such heavy fire, it seems fairly amazing that you guys could get out of that without a fatality.
HALE: Good leadership, good training. The Marines knew what to do.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)?
QUESTION: Yes, this is just for all three of you. I guess the, if you're not, you're both, you're all feeling that you don't need more people, but it seems to me that you're having a lot of trouble finding out where the enemy is. Do you, is that a problem, with the whole notion of civilians not, you're not sure who is fighting you?
(CROSSTALK)
COLE: Of course, that's a problem. It's a concern. What's the answer? The, if the enemy is unscrupulous enough to dress as civilians and hide behind civilians, I mean the Iraqi people are just as much victims in that instance. The -- I have -- I saw firsthand that not all the Iraqis are fall under the category of being combatant. The, when we crossed the line of departure into Iraq to liberate the Iraqis, we were met with, at first, mass capitulation of the Iraqi troops in the southern area around the oil fields where we first came in at.
Within maybe an hour of crossing the border, I was in a lead vehicle. It was dark for us when we crossed. We were navigating with night vision devices and no lights on any of the vehicles. My driver identified two vehicles that were ahead of the vehicle approximately 100 meters. We stopped. Got out. We took these two prisoners and they were just, it seemed to me that they were probably wandering for hours looking for someone to surrender to.
The, from that point forward, the, what we got from the Iraqi civilians in that area where they seemed relatively glad to see us. The road sides were lined with kids and teenagers and women asking for food, giving us the thumbs up, everything but flying the American flag. And to see the stark contrast to what we encountered on that first, those first two days to moving further north towards Baghdad and to see what these guys are doing, shedding their uniforms, they're putting civilian clothes on over their uniforms, that's, in my opinion, it's horrendous and it, any notion that I had of professional soldiers -- and that was my opinion and my feelings early on -- you know, from one soldier going up against another soldier and the respect that you have as soldiers, you know, my feelings was it's, it was a pity that so many of them were going to have to die to get this done for that cause that they have.
But to shed your uniforms and to hide behind women and children and have absolutely no regard for...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In combat.
COLE: ... for civilians in combat like that, I mean that, they've lost any professional status that they may have had with me in my mind.
QUESTION: When did that happen and how long did the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) take and where exactly?
QUESTION: Yes, that was my question.
COLE: As I don't know where my Marines are at this point, I don't feel comfortable discussing pinpoint locations or exactly where they were at. We were in the al-Nasiriya area.
RUBENSTEIN: OK. Sal?
QUESTION: Could you guys describe any previous combat experience you've had and how that compared to your experience here in Iraq?
HALE: I guess I'm the only one that's been in an environment where combat was involved. But I was in the Gulf War and I can't even compare this to that because the amount of resistance that we encountered during the Gulf War was minimal. I think it lasted a matter of three or four days as far as the ground war.
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Aired April 2, 2003 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Hong Kong now, health officials have narrowed down an outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome to a particular building in a sprawling apartment complex. They say of the 185 SARS cases so far there, most came from Block E of the 1 Division, the Amoy Gardens Apartments. Health officials began moving residents out of that building as of yesterday.
We are bringing you the war on so many different fronts today and there is a lot of news to talk about, too.
Coming up this hour, we'll take you to the war up front on our front lines with our embedded reporters again. They'll bring us the latest on the ground and what they're seeing. Plus, U.S. forces taking on Republican Guard units in what could be the early stages of the battle for Baghdad. And on the home front, how the war is affecting viewers at home. We'll have a look at whether or not the American public is glued to the coverage or if life goes on.
All right, it's two o'clock in Baghdad, one o'clock here in Kuwait, 5:00 a.m. back on the East Coast.
Welcome back to our coverage. We roll on yet another day here.
I'm Bill Hemmer live in Kuwait City -- Carol, good morning.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Bill.
I'm Carol Costello at CNN's global headquarters in Atlanta.
Today is Wednesday, April 2. You are looking at a live picture of downtown Baghdad as Operation Iraqi Freedom enters day 14.
As you heard Bill say, we're awaiting lots of live events this morning. You're taking a live look at Landstuhl, Germany, where there will be a press conference soon with three U.S. servicemen who are now being treated at the medical hospital there. They will come out and talk to the world and, of course, we'll carry that live. It's supposed to start momentarily.
Time now, though, for an early briefing on stories that will be news later today. The journalists who arrived in Jordan after being held in Iraq for a week are expected to hold a news conference later this morning. CNN does plan live coverage.
Former President Bush will address troops and the spouses of deploy troops during a visit to a Marine Corps air station in Cherry Point, North Carolina today. And the World Health Organization is warning people to avoid non- essential travel to Hong Kong or China's Guangdong Province because of a mystery respiratory illness known as SARS.
OK, to the war. A lethal band of steel is slowly tightening around Baghdad. Since crossing the Euphrates River, U.S. armored troops have moved within striking distance of the capital. Marines seized a key bridge over the Tigris River in what was described as a fierce fight that littered the battlefield with Iraqi dead. And the Army's Third Infantry Division has gone on the offense against Republican Guards near Karbala.
Despite these developments, a British commander at Central Command says the battle for Baghdad is not yet joined.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GROUP CAPT. AL LOCKWOOD, BRITISH MILITARY SPOKESMAN: We're moving in the direction of the final objective. But at this stage, it's probably a little premature to say that the battle of Baghdad has begun. We need to obviously move coalition forces in, take out resistance that has been building and, you know, get another step on our route to the final objective.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: As the situation now stands, coalition forces effectively dominate the southern part of Iraq to about 50 miles from Baghdad. Strategic air fields are also under U.S. control in the west and in the north.
As we've said, it's been a day of battles and diplomacy and a day that saw a call to arms and a daring rescue.
Our Miles O'Brien has this summary for you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Noon Eastern time, 9:00 p.m. in Baghdad, Iraq's information ministry urges Iraqis to take their chance for immortality by fighting U.S.-led troops.
1:30 p.m. Eastern time, four journalists who disappeared from a Baghdad hotel a week ago turn up safe in Jordan. A reporter and photographer from "Newsday" and two other freelance photographers are reported in good health.
2:31 p.m. Eastern, Joint Chiefs Chairman Richard Myers says two Iraqi Republican Guard divisions around Baghdad have been reduced to about half their fighting capability by U.S. air, artillery and ground attacks.
2:58 p.m., Secretary of State Colin Powell arrives in Turkey to talk about continued cooperation in the war in Iraq.
6:32 p.m., CNN's Jason Bellini, embedded with the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, reports on a major battle in Nasiriya in an effort to root out militia groups.
6:58 p.m., at the Pentagon CNN's Jamie McIntyre reports an all out offensive is beginning against Iraq's elite Republican Guard in Karbala, southwest of Baghdad.
7:00 p.m., Abu Dhabi Television shows major explosions in central Baghdad, near the Ministry of Information. Central Command says the complex has been the target of repeated strikes by coalition fighters.
7:28 p.m. Eastern, 4:28 a.m. in Qatar, Brigadier General Vincent Brooks announces a soldier who had been a prisoner of war has been rescued. Nineteen-year-old supply clerk Jessica Lynch is now hospitalized in coalition hands.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: All right, now today we are still awaiting a press conference in Landstuhl, Germany at a medical center there. Three U.S. servicemen, we are told, will take questions and talk about their experiences in the battlefield in Iraq. About 5:30 a.m. Eastern Time, about 25 minutes from now, the secretary of state, Colin Powell, will hold a press conference in Turkey. He's there with the foreign minister and that's where we go now, to the capital city of Ankara.
And Sheila MacVicar is watching that front -- Sheila, good afternoon there.
SHEILA MACVICAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you.
Yes, I'm outside the foreign minister's residence, where the secretary of state is expected to arrive very soon for lunch. This has been a very hastily arrived -- arranged trip. The Turks have been saying that they didn't find out about this until Monday afternoon, as a matter of fact.
The secretary of state arrived here late last night. He's been in a series of meetings all day, beginning, of course, with the foreign minister, the president, the prime minister and now this lunch. We're expecting at the end of that lunch there will be some kind of a press conference or press statement.
Now, the key reason why Secretary of State Powell has come here to Turkey at this time has been to mend fences. We all remember how in the beginning of March, the Turkish parliament video against permitting tens of thousands of U.S. troops to enter into northern Iraq via Turkey, which basically shut down a key part of the U.S. war plan. The U.S. war plan had called, of course, for a southern front, a front that would have pushed southwards from the Turkish -- from the Kurdish, rather, controlled areas in northern Iraq towards Baghdad.
Now, the central issue and the big concern here for the United States at the moment is that as the Iraqis fall back towards Baghdad, closer towards the key cities of Kirkuk and Mosul, and as the Kurdish forces move forwards, the Americans are becoming very concerned that Turkey would make a strategic decision based on their own national security interests to move large numbers of their own forces into northern Iraq.
The Americans believe that that could result in a war within a war, if you will, a war between the Kurds and the Turks, a sideshow, something that they do not want and which they are trying to avert. They are looking for assurances today from the Turks that they will not take such a measure.
There's a couple of other issues they're discussing, a humanitarian aid corridor, search and rescue missions, the question of whether or not the border between Turkey and northern Iraq can be reopened for normal trade to help the economy of northern Iraq.
HEMMER: All right, Sheila, thanks.
Sheila MacVicar there in Ankara, Turkey with the latest.
A couple reminders to our viewers right now. We do anticipate the secretary of state, Colin Powell, in a press briefing at 5:30 a.m., about 20 minutes from now. We'll have that live for you when it happens. At 6:00 a.m. Eastern, Tony Blair is going to be in the House of Commons. We'll watch that, as well. And Central Command yet again today will hold their briefing at 7:00 a.m. Eastern time. We will be live all the time with all of it just as soon as it gets under way -- Carol again now at the CNN Center.
COSTELLO: All right, thanks a lot, Bill.
As we've told you, U.S. Marines and Army troops launched a two pronged attack on Republican Guard divisions defending the approach to Baghdad. There's been fierce fighting along the way. So has the battle for Baghdad begun?
Let's go live to the Pentagon and ask that question of our Chris Plante -- good morning, Chris.
KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol.
It's at least the beginning of the beginning. The Army's Third Infantry Division is taking on the Republican Guard Medina division to the south and west of the city of Baghdad and over to the east, the United States Marine Corps 1st Division is taking on the Baghdad division near the town of al-Kut.
It is being described to us here as the beginning or the opening phase of the battle for Baghdad. It is not officially yet the battle for Baghdad, but certainly taking out the Republican Guard divisions south of the city is a key ingredient in approaching the gates of the city, where the forces will still face the 26,000 or so troops from the special Republican Guards. Also, significant troops, not as heavily armed in terms of armor as the other Republican Guard divisions around the city, but certainly to be taken seriously.
Meanwhile, an area of concern for the forces is the red line which has been drawn around the city of Baghdad. A red line, according to U.S. intelligence, is effectively an imaginary line drawn around the city by the leadership in Baghdad and orders have gone out to certain units in the field, Iraqi units in the field that if the U.S. and British forces cross this line they are to us chemical weapons.
So this is certainly a critical time and an area of serious concern -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Yes, I want to talk more about the threat of the use of chemical and biological weapons. Is it a surprise to the Pentagon that we haven't seen that as of yet?
PLANTE: Well, it's not really a surprise at this point. It's still an area of great concern, as I said, and they have found chemical suits with Iraqi troops in the field, thousands of them down south when they took over a hospital near Nasiriya. Other troops that have surrendered have been found in possession of gas masks and other chemical gear.
It's not really a surprise that they haven't used them yet because they are still fighting in Iraq for world public opinion and if they used chemical weapons early on, it's likely that any support they had in the Arab world and elsewhere would fall away. So not a big surprise at this point -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, Chris Plante live at the Pentagon.
As we told you, fierce fighting on the way to Baghdad right now.
We want to check in with one of our embedded correspondents, Karl Penhaul, who is with a helicopter attack unit -- and, Carl, you have a helicopter pilot who has just returned from a mission?
PENHAUL: Indeed, yes.
I'm here with Captain Brian McCort. He was flying a combat mission this morning in support of the Third Infantry Division north of Karbala. This battle is seen as one of the decisive battles in what's being described as the push towards Baghdad.
His aircraft took fire from the ground and bullets were whizzing through the canopy of his aircraft, in fact, started a small fire in the rear of the aircraft.
I'm passing across to him now and he'll be able to tell you a little bit more about his experiences.
VOICE OF BRIAN MCCORT, APACHE PILOT: Hello. Hello?
COSTELLO: We're here. Can you tell us about your mission?
MCCORT: Our mission actually was just to support the ground commanders of the V.C. teams from Third I.D. with their push through, from, towards Baghdad.
COSTELLO: And what happened along the way? Karl Penhaul said that you came under fire. MCCORT: Yes, ma'am, that's correct. We actually, the ground personnel had stopped to refuel and we were scouting out in front of them to get an idea of what was there to come and what had happened was we actually came upon an enemy position. Our lead aircraft did not see it. They turned away from it. And our position in the flight, we saw fresh targets.
COSTELLO: And he said there was actually a fire that broke on aboard your aircraft.
MCCORT: It was. It was actually small and it extinguished on its own. The Apache is a very, very survivable aircraft. And it's nothing, it wasn't anything major of any sorts. The maintenance personnel here are some of the best, you know, in the world. They're going to have this aircraft up and ready to go within a few hours, I'm sure.
COSTELLO: Before we go on, can you tell us your name?
MCCORT: Yes, Brian McCort, Captain Brian McCort.
COSTELLO: Captain McCort.
You sound so calm about this, because I know that these Apache helicopters are sort of like flying tanks, but still, a fire on board, you just sound so calm about it.
MCCORT: Well, actually, to be honest with you, I ride in the -- I fly in the front seat of the aircraft and the fire was behind the pilot, who sits in the back seat of the aircraft. His station actually filled up with smoke. We were afraid we were going to actually have to land the aircraft, but it extinguished itself, the smoke dissipated and we continued on. We had to land behind friendly lines.
COSTELLO: Wow. And you said the fire was sort of put out by itself. What do you mean by that? Can you explain more for us?
MCCORT: Yes, it was just the fact that a round had gone through an electric bundle and it was a small electrical fire. So it basically started, the systems that it actually hit shut itself down and also it extinguished the fire.
COSTELLO: You may have mentioned this before, but I wondered if you could tell us what your targets were.
MCCORT: Actually, to be honest with you, ma'am, just (AUDIO GAP) weren't specific targets. We were just there to support the ground commander and their mission with all the armor and mechanized infantry. So if there was any targets of opportunity that came up or they needed us for our ability to go out in front of the battle, in front of the enemy line or in front of the friendly line, excuse me, then we were there to accomplish that for them and give them a little eye in the sky, so to speak.
COSTELLO: And, Captain, since your vehicle came under fire, your helicopter came under fire, what's in store for you now?
MCCORT: Well, like I said before, staying here with Karl, we have about 15 people in front of my aircraft. There's very little, I mean there's damage to it. However, there's things that, you know, these guys are very, very well trained and very good at what they do. This aircraft should be ready to go and get back into the fight very soon.
COSTELLO: And I know many Americans would want to know -- and I always ask about this -- but there are so many here in this country cheering you on and wondering how you're doing, what the mood is.
MCCORT: I'm sorry, ma'am. I couldn't hear you. Could you say that again please?
COSTELLO: Many Americans here wonder what the mood is there like for you and your spirits, what are they like?
MCCORT: The mood's OK. It's somewhat of anxiousness, waiting, trying to get, you know, mentally prepared to do what we have to do and we're just basically waiting to see what happens in the days to come and how the situation and the war develops.
COSTELLO: And is there a real sense now that the battle for Baghdad has begun?
MCCORT: Well, ma'am, the -- I'm not too sure about the battle for Baghdad, but there's definitely a push towards it. And like I said, the tanks and the mechanized infantry that we deal with, the artillery and the ground commanders, they're just phenomenal. They're rolling through anything and they haven't had a glitch yet. They just, they don't stop. So, you know, I don't know how long it's going to take, but if they want to get there, they will.
COSTELLO: And just one last question. Are you surprised at the level of resistance coming from Iraqi troops?
MCCORT: The levels of resistance, from what we've gathered, has differed from anywhere between people surrendering and from people, you know, putting in the full fight to the last. So as far as surprise, it depends what you mean by that. I guess some are more surprised than others. But it also depends on what they're manning. If they're out, some of the units could be in the middle of nowhere. They have a more, more of a tendency not to defend themselves (AUDIO GAP) more heavily, well fortified units.
COSTELLO: Understand.
Captain McCort, we're going to let you go because we have to go live to Germany now.
There's a press conference ongoing. Three U.S. servicemen are going to speak out about their injuries, how they're feeling, how, in their words, how the war is going.
So let's listen in right now. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... return to the United States for further treatment or retirement to their home units. Today we will have three U.S. military members who were injured during Operation Iraqi Freedom. The three Marines will be accompanied by Colonel David A. Rubenstein (ph), the medical center commander.
The news conference will last approximately 30 minutes and afterwards the members have agreed to conduct one-on-one interviews. As a courtesy, we ask that all still photographers keep their movement to a minimum during the news conference. We appreciate your cooperation.
Following remarks by Colonel Rubenstein, each serviceman will describe his personal experience. Before asking a question, please state your name and your news agency.
To my left is Colonel David A. Rubenstein, 1st Sergeant Bruce Cole, 1st Lieutenant James Uwins and to my far left is Gunnery Sergeant Bill Hale.
Ladies and gentlemen, Colonel Rubenstein.
COL. DAVID A. RUBENSTEIN, LANDSTUHL MEDICAL CENTER: Thank you, Marie.
And thank you all for being here today.
As you've heard, we have received 95 combat casualties from Operation Iraqi Freedom and in the past week one combat casualty from Afghanistan Operation Enduring Freedom.
The staff of Landstuhl continues to run a hospital of 322 beds and has done a superb job taking care of these warriors, Marines, soldiers, airmen, civilians and sailors.
I would like to turn it over to them so they can tell you their story. I would make one announcement, however, to preclude any questions that are asked down the road, and that is in relation to Private Lynch, the prisoner of war. I will tell you that at this point we do expect her to come through Landstuhl as she makes her way back to the United States. I don't have a specific date time group for you at this point, but I assure you that we will keep you advised when we have further information.
And I'll turn it over to 1st Sergeant to start the discussion.
First Sergeant?
SGT. BRUCE COLE, U.S. MARINE CORPS: Good morning.
My name is First Sergeant Cole. I'm a first sergeant with the Second Battalion Fifth Marines stationed at Camp Pendleton in coalition forces.
On the morning that I was hit, our battalion was the main effort for the regimental combat teams' attack northward along a highway. It was, it was somewhat early in the morning. It was a bright morning, which contributed to a lot of confusion of the battle. They were going up the highway. There were many civilians. There were, it was moderately, moderately populated with civilians. There were many houses along the MSR or the highway.
There were along the side of each, each side of the highway, there were multiple berms and ditches that were either dug for military reasons or as a result of the highway being under the construction. I don't know which. It was a concern of everybody because of the restrictive terrain. All of our vehicles had to stick to the road for the most part.
The column that I was in consisted of several hundred vehicles. It was a rather large attack from front to end. We had the majority of our armored vehicles, the tanks and the amphibious assault vehicles were towards the front. Early in the attack, we -- early in the attack we had sporadic engagements with the tanks up towards the front. There were a few engagements in the rear. At one point the engagements with the tanks receiving small arms fire had increased to the point to where the column had to halt for approximately a half hour, at which time those of us that were in the softer vehicles, we had tanks up towards the front, we had amphibious assault vehicles behind them and behind those were the softer vehicles, the Humvees, of which I was in the lead Humvee behind the last armored vehicle.
We dismounted as the momentum slowed for, to give the armored vehicles a chance to clear and zone any resistance that the softer vehicles would encounter. At a certain point there were engagements north of us. There were engagements south of us. We got concerned at that Pentagon that the engagements were going to tie in.
There were civilians that were sort of looky lewing (ph) out of the houses. The further on we went, they were, there was a little bit more bolder and then some of them were as close as maybe 50 meters off the road, standing on top of the berms, standing inside their houses, looking out the windows, waving, friendly to some point.
The, when the engagement started, it was difficult to tell where the firing was coming from. You could see the impacts of the rounds around the vehicles, in the road, in the berms. You could hear the snap of the rounds going over your head or around you or behind you or some striking your vehicle.
The difficult part was trying to return fire and figure out who to shoot at. Not all the civilians that were off to the side were engaging us. I could tell that many of them were just as afraid as anyone else from the look of the fear on their face and the panic and the confusion as the shots started going off. And it was difficult with it being such a bright, clear day to really tell where the, where the shooting was coming from, and it was finding out who to shoot back at was your biggest problem at that point.
So I had turned sideways in the vehicle that I was in so that I could return fire out of the window and as I was returning fire to wherever I could see fire coming from, I was struck in the arm. A bullet entered my forearm, exited through the back of my tricep, knocked the rifle out of my hand.
The convoy, part of the attack, the vehicles, we had discussed the need for the immediate action or what we would do in the event that we were ambushed. And it was something that was well rehearsed, talked about, and I contribute the fact that we survived that ambush to everybody's clear head and good thinking and the training that we had been through.
RUBENSTEIN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Right. Lieutenant?
1ST LT. JAMES UWINS, U.S. MARINE CORPS: Thanks, sir.
RUBENSTEIN: Thanks for (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
UWINS: Good morning, everybody.
My name is 1st Lieutenant James Uwins.
I'm a logistics officer in the U.S. Marine Corps.
Please don't let the excessive amount of hair, especially with my counterparts, make you think otherwise. I've still been looking for a good barber in the area. Let me know if anybody's got some clippers, I'll be on fire by the end of the afternoon.
My parent unit is Headquarters Battalion, 2nd Marine Division out of Camp Lejeune and for operation in Iraqi Freedom, as it's now called, I was attached to the 2nd Battalion 8th Marines.
I had a platoon of seven ton trucks, which is the new standard for the Marine Corps, replacing the Vietnam era five ton trucks. And with these seven ton trucks I attached to the mode of transport section for the 2nd Battalion 8th Marines.
My primary mission was providing lift, tactical lift to get the battalion from one area to another. So not a sexy job by any means, but a necessary one for the battalion to operate in the battlefield.
Basically what happened the day that we kind of came under this nasty ambush was the battalion was fulfilling its mission of securing the southern bridgehead for the town of al-Nasiriya. That southern bridge had crossed the Euphrates River and we had our line companies up around the southern bridgehead.
And over the past 48 hours I had been running from our main command post and our logistics center about four miles south of that area up to the line companies, running them supplies, you know, basically your ammunition, your fuel, your chow. During the day time I'd be running those supplies and come back to the command post at night.
I had just concluded running supplies for the day, came back to the command post and as I arrived, we were displaced from one area to another, which is something you'll do every couple of (AUDIO GAP) into what was an abandoned gas station, which seemed like a pretty good idea. An abandoned gas station. There was already some infrastructure. We'd had a pretty heavy storm the day before. I had been spending most of the day, actually, pulling vehicles out of the mud, something that you don't really expect when, say, you're going to the deserts of Iraq. But the storms happen.
I came back into this area, setting up around the gas station. We had some combat engineers pull some of their aces, which is a bulldozer type equivalent. Built a berm around this gas station, so by no means was it an unsecured area. In fact, it was looking like a pretty good place to spend a couple days.
Had Marines set up on the perimeter around this berm, so our security was in place. It started turning to your conduct for nighttime which is your security and then also looking at our equipment and what we had to be repairing for the next couple of days. It had been a pretty rough 24 hour (AUDIO GAP) about two or three hours of sleep for the past 36, 48 hours. I actually had been discussing with my maintenance chief on some of the issues and trying to get our mechanics to go to sleep.
Right after I had (AUDIO GAP) sleep for my Marines that were eventually lost and ended up working on the truck when I was walking away, I went over to my own Humvee, was pulling my sleeping bag out and I didn't it, but we started having kind of sporadic fire. I saw the tracer rounds passing over the berm of the camp and at that point, you know, first we thought, OK, it was just someone kind of sniping the camp, it won't be much.
It quickly escalated to the point that I hit the ground and made my way over to where I was just talking with my mechanics and my maintenance chief. They were working on one of our armored Humvees.
Just as I was making it over to the armored Humvee, we really started to take heavy fire and that's when the small arms fire escalated to rocket propelled grenades and mortars, if you will. At that point I really didn't have much to say for the battle. A rocket propelled grenade hit the Humvee. Shrapnel coming off the door is my best guess, just from seeing the seize of the hole in the door. It got me lower right leg, perfect piece of shrapnel struck by fibula, taking me out of the battle, which I would do anything to get that shrapnel taken out and have the leg fixed if I could.
But shrapnel in the right leg going all the way up the left leg, kind of stopping right where my flak jacket is. So a testament to us and our gear. And then another large piece of shrapnel lacerating my left arm. I'm going to have a nice scar there.
The shrapnel in the leg kind of took me out of the fight. I tried bearing some weight on it and couldn't. I stuck down on the ground and was pretty much a bystander making sure that my Marines were doing the right thing. Had a corpsman assessing me, the fact that we were under darkness really created the fog of war. No clue on the specific direction where things were coming from, just trying to identify where the tracers were coming from and it was pretty much all three sides of our perimeter, which was one of the things that sort of put us in a very bad position. The fires continued and I managed to stay out of the clear. Being in the center of the camp was by no means the best place to be within where we'd set up. But from there, that's all I really got. I got evacuated after that. About 20 hours later I ended up in Kuwait City at the fleet hospital, 47th Casualty Support Hospital. A couple days later here in Landstuhl. So, they carried out an evacuation but it took me all through the four echelons of medical treatment and that's all I've got to say.
RUBENSTEIN: OK. Bill? Sir?
GUNNERY SGT. BILL HALE, U.S. MARINE CORPS: Good afternoon.
I'm Gunnery Sergeant Hale. I'm with also with the 2nd Battalion 8th Marines, the Americas Battalion.
This is my platoon commander here, Lieutenant Uwins.
When all this took place, like he said, we were up for at least 24 hours, had just withstood a torrential sandstorm, rain. The Marines were tired. We had just moved north about a half a mile or so from one of the bridges leading into al-Nasiriya. We were setting up our command post, getting some of our resupplies resupplied so we had enough stuff to get us through the night so we could take them up to the lines so that the Marines that were fighting the fight had what they needed to do their job.
We had a couple vehicles that needed some maintenance, some heavy machine gun trucks, like the lieutenant was saying. Had to put some springs and shocks on them. We were secure in the area, found a building across the street about 100 meters that had some RPG rounds, some grenades, some Iraqi uniforms that we got the CEB detachment, which is the combat engineers, to go over and blow them so that they couldn't use them against us.
It started to get dark. It started to get cold. I had walked over to where the lieutenant was at. We were having a casual civilians about some issues, making sure that the Marines that were out working were actually the ones that had gotten some rest, that we were going to put down some of the mms that needed some rest so they could effectively do their jobs.
I started to walk away. Half a second went by or so and I heard a loud his in the air. And the next thing you know, a big white flash. I looked to my right and saw a hole probably the size of a softball go right through the passenger side door of the heavy machine gun truck. At that point, you know, you're adrenaline kicks in and got an assessment of the situation. Started looking for my Marines to make sure that they were all right.
I kind of moved behind a wall that was kind of structured around an above ground petroleum storage area where I guess they stored their gasoline. Got my Marines with me. Listened for some directives coming from the command area. Tried to make sure that everybody was all right. One of my Marines was wounded. Put a tourniquet around his arm. Started looking to see where we could go to get into a safe area because at that point the fire was so heavy you could move five feet to your left, five feet to your right and, you know, you'd be in the direct line of fire. So I had to find a clear path to where these Marines could go so we could get them in a safe area so we could redirect our fire so that we could get into the fight.
At that point I started sending Marines out about 100 meters to clear two walls. There were four foot concrete structures that had kind of formed a perimeter around this facility that we were using and I sent them out in pairs of twos as I had some of them providing some security on the south wall. When the last man got across he gave me the thumbs up, Gunney, we're clear, we got you. I took a deep breath, adrenaline kicked in and I said, you know, got to go.
Got up on my feet and started running. Probably got about 25, 35 feet and sort of heard a loud explosion. The next thing I know I was airborne. I was playing Superman for about 15, 20 seconds. Landed flat on my back. Got up. Tried to stand up. Fell back down. Thought my leg was broke. The next thing you know I had a couple of my fellow Marines pulling me out and at point I was in an ambulance on my way to the hospital and that's really it.
RUBENSTEIN: OK.
Be happy to entertain your questions.
Jim, we'll start right here.
QUESTION: First sergeant, I'd like to ask you, as you were talking, giving the narrative of what happened -- Jim Redford with Reuters (UNINTELLIGIBLE). As you were telling the story, I want to ask if your opinion the number of troops that are taking part in this action, given the level of resistance you're encountering, do you feel comfortable with the amount of troops that you have, with the size, the force that the United States is bringing to bear on this?
COLE: Yes, sir, I do. Despite the position that I am in now, we're handling it and we're getting the job done.
QUESTION: Would you say that more are needed or the numbers that you have are sufficient?
COLE: I think, sir, in my opinion, the numbers are sufficient. Any more we could possibly be tripping over each other and I think we have what we need to get the job done.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lieutenant?
UWINS: I would have to concur with that. From my level, platoon level, you know, the highest I'm going to see is really where we're working with the regimental combat team, and that's 3,000 to 4,000 Marines in one area of operations. It wouldn't, to me, be very prudent to gnosh (ph) our force excessively like that. What I see with the flow of forces coming in is exactly what we're going to need, Marines that have been living in tents for a month and a half and are now forward across the line of departure. They're going to need that relief soon and that's what it's going to be. The answer, to me, doesn't seem like having more bodies out there. You are going to start tripping over yourself and that's when you start running into the issues of friendly fire and to me that is not what we're about and not a sound deployment where we have.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
QUESTION: Do either of you have a have a handle on how many people actually ended up being injured in that incident?
HALE: Yes, sir.
QUESTION: How many?
HALE: Out of our company size, it was 31.
QUESTION: And those were sporadic engagements all over this area?
HALE: That was in that one area where the ambush took place.
QUESTION: Any fatalities?
HALE: No. We took no fatalities, thank god. No, nobody was killed.
QUESTION: How much, I mean does that, with all of those injuries and such heavy fire, it seems fairly amazing that you guys could get out of that without a fatality.
HALE: Good leadership, good training. The Marines knew what to do.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)?
QUESTION: Yes, this is just for all three of you. I guess the, if you're not, you're both, you're all feeling that you don't need more people, but it seems to me that you're having a lot of trouble finding out where the enemy is. Do you, is that a problem, with the whole notion of civilians not, you're not sure who is fighting you?
(CROSSTALK)
COLE: Of course, that's a problem. It's a concern. What's the answer? The, if the enemy is unscrupulous enough to dress as civilians and hide behind civilians, I mean the Iraqi people are just as much victims in that instance. The -- I have -- I saw firsthand that not all the Iraqis are fall under the category of being combatant. The, when we crossed the line of departure into Iraq to liberate the Iraqis, we were met with, at first, mass capitulation of the Iraqi troops in the southern area around the oil fields where we first came in at.
Within maybe an hour of crossing the border, I was in a lead vehicle. It was dark for us when we crossed. We were navigating with night vision devices and no lights on any of the vehicles. My driver identified two vehicles that were ahead of the vehicle approximately 100 meters. We stopped. Got out. We took these two prisoners and they were just, it seemed to me that they were probably wandering for hours looking for someone to surrender to.
The, from that point forward, the, what we got from the Iraqi civilians in that area where they seemed relatively glad to see us. The road sides were lined with kids and teenagers and women asking for food, giving us the thumbs up, everything but flying the American flag. And to see the stark contrast to what we encountered on that first, those first two days to moving further north towards Baghdad and to see what these guys are doing, shedding their uniforms, they're putting civilian clothes on over their uniforms, that's, in my opinion, it's horrendous and it, any notion that I had of professional soldiers -- and that was my opinion and my feelings early on -- you know, from one soldier going up against another soldier and the respect that you have as soldiers, you know, my feelings was it's, it was a pity that so many of them were going to have to die to get this done for that cause that they have.
But to shed your uniforms and to hide behind women and children and have absolutely no regard for...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In combat.
COLE: ... for civilians in combat like that, I mean that, they've lost any professional status that they may have had with me in my mind.
QUESTION: When did that happen and how long did the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) take and where exactly?
QUESTION: Yes, that was my question.
COLE: As I don't know where my Marines are at this point, I don't feel comfortable discussing pinpoint locations or exactly where they were at. We were in the al-Nasiriya area.
RUBENSTEIN: OK. Sal?
QUESTION: Could you guys describe any previous combat experience you've had and how that compared to your experience here in Iraq?
HALE: I guess I'm the only one that's been in an environment where combat was involved. But I was in the Gulf War and I can't even compare this to that because the amount of resistance that we encountered during the Gulf War was minimal. I think it lasted a matter of three or four days as far as the ground war.
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