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American Morning

On the Frontlines: Ryan Chilcote Returns to Moscow

Aired April 21, 2003 - 09:18   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: After spending several grueling weeks risking their lives covering the war in Iraq, some of our embedded reporters now have returned home. Ryan Chilcote's back in Moscow. He had been embedded with the 101st Airborne Division through central and southern Iraq. Here now, some of the highlights from Ryan's reporting during the war in Iraq.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Elements of the 101st Airborne Division have moved out of a camp in Kuwait into an assembly area here in the Kuwaiti desert. I'd like to show you a bit of the assembly area now. We're going to go into what's called a "hasty," in other words, a fox hole that the soldiers have hastily dug. It's a defensive position, gives them cover, should there be some kind of incoming missile.

The entire fleet of the 101st Airborne has been grounded. So in terms of -- this is an air assault division. They specialize in moving troops to the battlefield with their helicopters. So they obviously can't do that right now. In addition to that, a lot of -- when this kicked up, the sandstorm began, and I don't think if you're getting an idea, but it's just snowing sand (ph) right now. When this began, it came up so quickly and so violently that a lot of the pilots that were out there, they had to put their helicopters down on the ground right away, wherever they were.

Military convoy was moving through the city today, actually trying to make its way to the mosque to establish contact with the cleric of the Ali mosque here in the city of An-Najaf, when, for various reasons, it had to stop. And people around the convoy -- this is primarily a Shi'a Muslim city -- really just starting chanting pro- American and anti-Saddam slogans. Obviously, there's very little love lost for President Saddam Hussein here in southern Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HEMMER: Ryan Chilcote, no longer embedded, back in Moscow. Great to see (AUDIO GAP) and job well done, my friend. Excellent work in Iraq.

CHILCOTE: Thank you very much, Bill.

HEMMER: We've been asking our viewers for some e-mail questions. This is the million dollar question. Dee Barronson (ph) out of Universal City, Texas. "If given the opportunity, would you take this assignment again?" CHILCOTE: Absolutely. I think it was important to go, and I think it was important to report on -- I didn't hesitate when I was given the opportunity. I went, actually, in mid-December. So considerably earlier than I needed to go, but I would go in a heartbeat. It was fascinating stuff, from even before it began until what we are now seeing in Baghdad. Actually, I wish I was still there -- Bill.

HEMMER: Wow. Maybe you'll get that opportunity. We're looking at some videotape, too, of the day of a high level of unrest in Najaf. You talked about that at great length, about the U.S. Army going in there, trying to keep things calm. Was that the point where you thought at least socially the temperature had risen beyond the point of being comfortable?

CHILCOTE: Absolutely. I mean, it really had all the potential, I think. What really took place there, the troops went in to -- basically they were going towards the Mom (ph) Ali Mosque, which is one of the most sacred spots to Shi'a Muslims. And everything up until then that they had encountered had been very friendly.

I mean, there were lots of Shi'a Muslims out on the street that were very welcoming to the troops. And when they got to that point, they were called by the Grand Ayatollah Sistani, which is one of the most important leaders of Shi'a Muslims, and he asked them to come about halfway down the road to secure his compound and give him some security so he could meet with one of the American commanders. But no one told the crowd about his request, or about the troops' intentions to just do that. So they thought that the troops were going to go all the way up to the mosque.

And it was one of those situations where everything had been so friendly up to that point that I wondered if the troops, perhaps, were getting the wrong idea that perhaps they could really go all the way, that at least maybe that the Iraqis there thought that they could go all the way. So I thought it had a lot of potential for chaos. And as you can see in the first moments of the misunderstanding there, things got very out of control very quickly.

HEMMER: Yes. Hey, Ryan, listen, there was a lot of criticism that's been offered, anyway, criticism that I'm not quite sure if it has much foundation about reporters like yourself getting too cozy with the troops you're with, the soldiers you're with, and not giving a complete view as opposed to a view that the Pentagon would like. With that as a back drop, we get a question from Ray in Minnesota. He says, "What emotions did you feel? What emotions did you feel when you left your unit?" How would you best answer that?

CHILCOTE: Yes. I guess a mixed batch of emotions. On the one hand, I was sad to leave the unit because I had made some good friends there, and I had grown accustomed to reporting there. On the other hand, I felt like it was time to move on. And I guess the biggest feeling I really experienced was that that story continues. It's time for me to go, because like I said, I had already been there since mid- December. But I felt that it was unfortunate that with me leaving, with my leaving, that those troops would basically be uncovered. That is the case. There's really nobody with the 101st Airborne's 3rd brigade at this time.

And my feeling was, Well, the one reason why I felt a little bit bad about leaving was because I knew that basically they weren't going to be reported on anymore. So a mixture of feelings.

HEMMER: Hey, job well done. Congratulations to you. And enjoy Moscow for the moment. Ryan Chilcote, 101st Airborne Division, no longer embedded. Great to see you.

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 21, 2003 - 09:18   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: After spending several grueling weeks risking their lives covering the war in Iraq, some of our embedded reporters now have returned home. Ryan Chilcote's back in Moscow. He had been embedded with the 101st Airborne Division through central and southern Iraq. Here now, some of the highlights from Ryan's reporting during the war in Iraq.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Elements of the 101st Airborne Division have moved out of a camp in Kuwait into an assembly area here in the Kuwaiti desert. I'd like to show you a bit of the assembly area now. We're going to go into what's called a "hasty," in other words, a fox hole that the soldiers have hastily dug. It's a defensive position, gives them cover, should there be some kind of incoming missile.

The entire fleet of the 101st Airborne has been grounded. So in terms of -- this is an air assault division. They specialize in moving troops to the battlefield with their helicopters. So they obviously can't do that right now. In addition to that, a lot of -- when this kicked up, the sandstorm began, and I don't think if you're getting an idea, but it's just snowing sand (ph) right now. When this began, it came up so quickly and so violently that a lot of the pilots that were out there, they had to put their helicopters down on the ground right away, wherever they were.

Military convoy was moving through the city today, actually trying to make its way to the mosque to establish contact with the cleric of the Ali mosque here in the city of An-Najaf, when, for various reasons, it had to stop. And people around the convoy -- this is primarily a Shi'a Muslim city -- really just starting chanting pro- American and anti-Saddam slogans. Obviously, there's very little love lost for President Saddam Hussein here in southern Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HEMMER: Ryan Chilcote, no longer embedded, back in Moscow. Great to see (AUDIO GAP) and job well done, my friend. Excellent work in Iraq.

CHILCOTE: Thank you very much, Bill.

HEMMER: We've been asking our viewers for some e-mail questions. This is the million dollar question. Dee Barronson (ph) out of Universal City, Texas. "If given the opportunity, would you take this assignment again?" CHILCOTE: Absolutely. I think it was important to go, and I think it was important to report on -- I didn't hesitate when I was given the opportunity. I went, actually, in mid-December. So considerably earlier than I needed to go, but I would go in a heartbeat. It was fascinating stuff, from even before it began until what we are now seeing in Baghdad. Actually, I wish I was still there -- Bill.

HEMMER: Wow. Maybe you'll get that opportunity. We're looking at some videotape, too, of the day of a high level of unrest in Najaf. You talked about that at great length, about the U.S. Army going in there, trying to keep things calm. Was that the point where you thought at least socially the temperature had risen beyond the point of being comfortable?

CHILCOTE: Absolutely. I mean, it really had all the potential, I think. What really took place there, the troops went in to -- basically they were going towards the Mom (ph) Ali Mosque, which is one of the most sacred spots to Shi'a Muslims. And everything up until then that they had encountered had been very friendly.

I mean, there were lots of Shi'a Muslims out on the street that were very welcoming to the troops. And when they got to that point, they were called by the Grand Ayatollah Sistani, which is one of the most important leaders of Shi'a Muslims, and he asked them to come about halfway down the road to secure his compound and give him some security so he could meet with one of the American commanders. But no one told the crowd about his request, or about the troops' intentions to just do that. So they thought that the troops were going to go all the way up to the mosque.

And it was one of those situations where everything had been so friendly up to that point that I wondered if the troops, perhaps, were getting the wrong idea that perhaps they could really go all the way, that at least maybe that the Iraqis there thought that they could go all the way. So I thought it had a lot of potential for chaos. And as you can see in the first moments of the misunderstanding there, things got very out of control very quickly.

HEMMER: Yes. Hey, Ryan, listen, there was a lot of criticism that's been offered, anyway, criticism that I'm not quite sure if it has much foundation about reporters like yourself getting too cozy with the troops you're with, the soldiers you're with, and not giving a complete view as opposed to a view that the Pentagon would like. With that as a back drop, we get a question from Ray in Minnesota. He says, "What emotions did you feel? What emotions did you feel when you left your unit?" How would you best answer that?

CHILCOTE: Yes. I guess a mixed batch of emotions. On the one hand, I was sad to leave the unit because I had made some good friends there, and I had grown accustomed to reporting there. On the other hand, I felt like it was time to move on. And I guess the biggest feeling I really experienced was that that story continues. It's time for me to go, because like I said, I had already been there since mid- December. But I felt that it was unfortunate that with me leaving, with my leaving, that those troops would basically be uncovered. That is the case. There's really nobody with the 101st Airborne's 3rd brigade at this time.

And my feeling was, Well, the one reason why I felt a little bit bad about leaving was because I knew that basically they weren't going to be reported on anymore. So a mixture of feelings.

HEMMER: Hey, job well done. Congratulations to you. And enjoy Moscow for the moment. Ryan Chilcote, 101st Airborne Division, no longer embedded. Great to see you.

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