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American Morning

Analysis With Col. Bob Roland

Aired April 14, 2003 - 08:52   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: For the seven POWs rescued on Sunday in Iraq, an amazingly happy ending there. But the release also a new beginning to the first step on a long road to recovery.
What is next for them? And will they eventually join other rescued prisoners of war like Private Jessica Lynch?

Let's talk with Colonel Bob Rowland, who's advising the mental health team that is taking care of Private Lynch in the Washington, D.C. area. Good to have you back here, Colonel, and good morning to you.

COL. BOB ROLAND, NATIONAL DEFENSE UNIV.: Welcome back to you also, Bill. The prayers and the hopes of the American people have been answered in spectacular fashion.

HEMMER: Yes, what a Sunday it was. You are so right with that.

I want to talk about Jessica Lynch and the others and why it is that we hear from the family members that they do not discuss their captivity to any great detail. I remember the Lynch family in Germany saying quite specifically that Jessica did not want to talk about it at all.

Describe to us the trauma they experience and how that process eventually unfolds in their mind.

ROLAND: Right, Bill.

You can imagine, the shock of capture and the -- the various spirals that people go through in these situations. We've been hearing reports today from the POWs of what they've experienced. And even in their phone conversations with their family, they're limit what they're talking about and they're -- that's on purpose.

It takes some time for them to reintegrate and decompress from these experiences. It's very important to give them the time to do this and we have a different situation with the seven that have come out now. They were captured as a -- as a group. We know from previous experiences that it's best to keep them together as a group during their decompression and repatriation phases.

It looks like they've gone fairly successfully through the first phase. The medical screenings have been done. They are looking like they're in good shape. Most of them have had a chance to get on a phone and talk to their families and that's an important first piece of that -- first piece of repatriation.

HEMMER: You know -- you know, Colonel, let me stop you just for a second. You say it's important to keep the seven together in a group. I'm assuming that's to help them talk about their experience among each other, is that right?

ROLAND: That's absolutely correct. Pieces of their capture, pieces of their movement around Iraq as they were brought to that one facility are very important for them to reintegrate and to think about.

Everybody has a piece of the puzzle. Not everybody has the whole story. So it would be very important to keep them together at least through the phases of repatriation.

HEMMER: Yes, of the seven released yesterday -- we'll leave Jessica Lynch to the side for a minute here.

The videotape you saw of them running across the tarmac into waiting vehicles, suggested some are in actually pretty decent health. What does that tell you?

ROLAND: That tells me they're ready for engaging in the process, the second phase of the repatriation process, which will be the mission debrief. Every soldier knows after a -- after a mission, they have to have a debriefing and after action report. That's what the second phase is all about. And it looks like they're fully prepared to engage in that.

You know, Bill, I think that they're going to move three these phases of repatriation very quickly. Whether or not they're actually -- they do all of the phases in the theater, that's not for certain yet. That's a decision made by the CENTCOM commander and his staff as well as the medical people on the ground.

HEMMER: Colonel, I want to get to one more thing quickly here.

CENTCOM said today they do not know why Jessica Lynch was separated from the five others who were released yesterday. Is there any understanding from your department there in D.C. that may explain why she was taken to Nasiriya and the others were moved up north in the country?

ROLAND: It would seem that her significant injuries may have been -- may have played a role in that. There have been some reports from Lansthul that there periods of time when she was unconscious during her captivity, so perhaps there was a situation where she was not -- she might have been taken as a person who would be dead. And that triage might have happened at the hospital where she was and, in fact, that unconsciousness may have saved her life.

HEMMER: Could have. Colonel Bob Roland, thanks for talking again with us down in D.C.

ROLAND: We appreciate it. Thank you.

HEMMER: You got it. We'll speak again.

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 April 14, 2003 - 08:52   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: For the seven POWs rescued on Sunday in Iraq, an amazingly happy ending there. But the release also a new beginning to the first step on a long road to recovery.
What is next for them? And will they eventually join other rescued prisoners of war like Private Jessica Lynch?

Let's talk with Colonel Bob Rowland, who's advising the mental health team that is taking care of Private Lynch in the Washington, D.C. area. Good to have you back here, Colonel, and good morning to you.

COL. BOB ROLAND, NATIONAL DEFENSE UNIV.: Welcome back to you also, Bill. The prayers and the hopes of the American people have been answered in spectacular fashion.

HEMMER: Yes, what a Sunday it was. You are so right with that.

I want to talk about Jessica Lynch and the others and why it is that we hear from the family members that they do not discuss their captivity to any great detail. I remember the Lynch family in Germany saying quite specifically that Jessica did not want to talk about it at all.

Describe to us the trauma they experience and how that process eventually unfolds in their mind.

ROLAND: Right, Bill.

You can imagine, the shock of capture and the -- the various spirals that people go through in these situations. We've been hearing reports today from the POWs of what they've experienced. And even in their phone conversations with their family, they're limit what they're talking about and they're -- that's on purpose.

It takes some time for them to reintegrate and decompress from these experiences. It's very important to give them the time to do this and we have a different situation with the seven that have come out now. They were captured as a -- as a group. We know from previous experiences that it's best to keep them together as a group during their decompression and repatriation phases.

It looks like they've gone fairly successfully through the first phase. The medical screenings have been done. They are looking like they're in good shape. Most of them have had a chance to get on a phone and talk to their families and that's an important first piece of that -- first piece of repatriation.

HEMMER: You know -- you know, Colonel, let me stop you just for a second. You say it's important to keep the seven together in a group. I'm assuming that's to help them talk about their experience among each other, is that right?

ROLAND: That's absolutely correct. Pieces of their capture, pieces of their movement around Iraq as they were brought to that one facility are very important for them to reintegrate and to think about.

Everybody has a piece of the puzzle. Not everybody has the whole story. So it would be very important to keep them together at least through the phases of repatriation.

HEMMER: Yes, of the seven released yesterday -- we'll leave Jessica Lynch to the side for a minute here.

The videotape you saw of them running across the tarmac into waiting vehicles, suggested some are in actually pretty decent health. What does that tell you?

ROLAND: That tells me they're ready for engaging in the process, the second phase of the repatriation process, which will be the mission debrief. Every soldier knows after a -- after a mission, they have to have a debriefing and after action report. That's what the second phase is all about. And it looks like they're fully prepared to engage in that.

You know, Bill, I think that they're going to move three these phases of repatriation very quickly. Whether or not they're actually -- they do all of the phases in the theater, that's not for certain yet. That's a decision made by the CENTCOM commander and his staff as well as the medical people on the ground.

HEMMER: Colonel, I want to get to one more thing quickly here.

CENTCOM said today they do not know why Jessica Lynch was separated from the five others who were released yesterday. Is there any understanding from your department there in D.C. that may explain why she was taken to Nasiriya and the others were moved up north in the country?

ROLAND: It would seem that her significant injuries may have been -- may have played a role in that. There have been some reports from Lansthul that there periods of time when she was unconscious during her captivity, so perhaps there was a situation where she was not -- she might have been taken as a person who would be dead. And that triage might have happened at the hospital where she was and, in fact, that unconsciousness may have saved her life.

HEMMER: Could have. Colonel Bob Roland, thanks for talking again with us down in D.C.

ROLAND: We appreciate it. Thank you.

HEMMER: You got it. We'll speak again.

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