Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live Today
Art Harris Brings Back Tales, Video From Iraq
Aired May 01, 2003 - 11:26 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, the embedding process offered the world an extraordinary real time view of the Iraq war. Eighteen CNN correspondents signed up for duty with the military, and our very own Art Harris was one of them. He is here now -- and we are glad to say that he is here now to talk about life with a reconnaissance of the 2nd Marines. Good to see you, and man, you had some fantastic stories to tell.
ART HARRIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Great to be back, Leon. One of the days and nights of nerves was spent in a town called Nasiriya.
L. HARRIS: Yes, we talked a lot about an-Nasiriya.
A. HARRIS: And one night was a firefight that lasted for two hours, and you're going to see pictures here of the aftermath of that firefight that was not between Iraqis and the Marines, but wound up being between two Marine units. This is a Marine unit that looks stunned after the Marine unit I was riding with fired first at Iraqis, and then at them in the middle of the night. No one could tell that this would be the result. Burned out Humvees and trucks, dazed Marines, destroyed vehicles on the other side of one of the bridges in Nasiriya that was fiercely fought for. The Marines later, when once they regained their senses, joked about the fact that this really showed how tough they were, that they didn't stop shooting at each other. No one was killed in this firefight. Twenty were wounded, some were medevaced.
L. HARRIS: Well, what were your guys saying, the guys you were riding with who came in through there, because they were the ones who actually caused that devastation, and killed their -- comrades.
A. HARRIS: The first shots -- the first shots came at them from a bridge. They were Iraqis. The other Marine unit thought that the unit I was with firing back were the Republican Guard, and then this fierce firefight happened the unit I was with and them. In the fog of war, blue on blue as they call it, friendly fire happens.
L. HARRIS: But what does that do to their heads? What did they tell you about that?
A. HARRIS: They feel initially guilty. They would have felt a lot worse if they had killed someone. In this case, a number -- more than 20 were wounded and some miraculously escaped.
L. HARRIS: All right. Let's move on, because you have got a lot of stuff. And folks, we should say -- remind you that this is video that we've never shown before. A. HARRIS: The next is of Nasiriya, night fight that really redeemed the unit I was traveling with. They were sent back into the fight to take on Iraqi snipers across the Euphrates River in Nasiriya. They were armed with rocket-propelled grenades and mortars. They were shooting at the unit I was with, and this is the unit firing back, 25 millimeter cannon to take out a Baath Party headquarters here. They knock off the building brick by brick, shooting at snipers across the river. And as fight as the snipers fired and were taken out, I was told more came back to the windows, and they went down too.
Eventually, the night fell. The fight went on, but that was not the end of it. The next day, Cobra helicopters came in and fired missile after missile. These Hellfire missiles were designed to go into rooms, explode in the rooms without causing a lot of collateral damage, and they were incredibly accurate -- Leon.
L. HARRIS: And you can see that firsthand? Boy. Do we have any more with the helicopters, or is that...
A. HARRIS: Yes. We have actual Cobras coming in in pairs the next day. You'll see them flying over Nasiriya here, coming right over my head, heading toward the Euphrates River. You will see one fire a Cobra -- a Hellfire missile there -- just left the tube. It's going to hit the target.
That's a mosque where a machine gun nest was hidden. The Iraqis were wearing civilian clothes and hiding out among the population. Whenever the unit I was with spotted them, they would fire and call in Hellfire missiles on the Cobras to back them up. The Cobras came in in pairs, Leon. One shooting, the other looking for possible enemy on the ground. You can see the smoke where they hit the target. That's along the Euphrates here in Nasiriya, and some of the other buildings where they were hiding out. You'll see a Cobra here shooting another Hellfire missile. And they just kept coming all day.
L. HARRIS: And you were how close to this?
A. HARRIS: I was just 100, 200 yards from the river, and they would just come in in this attack pattern over my head and go into the river -- over the river, unload their ordnance, and come back for another round.
Out of this an-Nasiriya, out of this blood and gore, Leon, the unit I was traveling, 2nd Marines Light Armored Reconnaissance, found some orphaned puppies. They made them their mascots. This puppy here is named Nas, after Nasiriya. They taught him how to growl. He ate MREs, liked mostly Italian food, and by the end of the battle, they hoped to bring him home. They're trying to get permission now. He learned to growl, and went from puppy to one of the top dogs of war.
L. HARRIS: That is something else. To find that sort of a -- that sort of soft side of a story there in the midst of all that firing...
A. HARRIS: Really boosted their morale.
L. HARRIS: I bet it did.
A. HARRIS: Every morning they looked forward to playing with the pup.
L. HARRIS: To go from being a killing machine to actually holding a puppy. That kind of gives you a chance to get in touch with your human side once again.
A. HARRIS: We saw the toughest sergeants who turned soft after adopting this puppy.
L. HARRIS: I can believe that. Thanks, Art. Appreciate you bringing in that video.
A. HARRIS: Great to be back.
L. HARRIS: Good to have you back.
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 May 1, 2003 - 11:26 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, the embedding process offered the world an extraordinary real time view of the Iraq war. Eighteen CNN correspondents signed up for duty with the military, and our very own Art Harris was one of them. He is here now -- and we are glad to say that he is here now to talk about life with a reconnaissance of the 2nd Marines. Good to see you, and man, you had some fantastic stories to tell.
ART HARRIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Great to be back, Leon. One of the days and nights of nerves was spent in a town called Nasiriya.
L. HARRIS: Yes, we talked a lot about an-Nasiriya.
A. HARRIS: And one night was a firefight that lasted for two hours, and you're going to see pictures here of the aftermath of that firefight that was not between Iraqis and the Marines, but wound up being between two Marine units. This is a Marine unit that looks stunned after the Marine unit I was riding with fired first at Iraqis, and then at them in the middle of the night. No one could tell that this would be the result. Burned out Humvees and trucks, dazed Marines, destroyed vehicles on the other side of one of the bridges in Nasiriya that was fiercely fought for. The Marines later, when once they regained their senses, joked about the fact that this really showed how tough they were, that they didn't stop shooting at each other. No one was killed in this firefight. Twenty were wounded, some were medevaced.
L. HARRIS: Well, what were your guys saying, the guys you were riding with who came in through there, because they were the ones who actually caused that devastation, and killed their -- comrades.
A. HARRIS: The first shots -- the first shots came at them from a bridge. They were Iraqis. The other Marine unit thought that the unit I was with firing back were the Republican Guard, and then this fierce firefight happened the unit I was with and them. In the fog of war, blue on blue as they call it, friendly fire happens.
L. HARRIS: But what does that do to their heads? What did they tell you about that?
A. HARRIS: They feel initially guilty. They would have felt a lot worse if they had killed someone. In this case, a number -- more than 20 were wounded and some miraculously escaped.
L. HARRIS: All right. Let's move on, because you have got a lot of stuff. And folks, we should say -- remind you that this is video that we've never shown before. A. HARRIS: The next is of Nasiriya, night fight that really redeemed the unit I was traveling with. They were sent back into the fight to take on Iraqi snipers across the Euphrates River in Nasiriya. They were armed with rocket-propelled grenades and mortars. They were shooting at the unit I was with, and this is the unit firing back, 25 millimeter cannon to take out a Baath Party headquarters here. They knock off the building brick by brick, shooting at snipers across the river. And as fight as the snipers fired and were taken out, I was told more came back to the windows, and they went down too.
Eventually, the night fell. The fight went on, but that was not the end of it. The next day, Cobra helicopters came in and fired missile after missile. These Hellfire missiles were designed to go into rooms, explode in the rooms without causing a lot of collateral damage, and they were incredibly accurate -- Leon.
L. HARRIS: And you can see that firsthand? Boy. Do we have any more with the helicopters, or is that...
A. HARRIS: Yes. We have actual Cobras coming in in pairs the next day. You'll see them flying over Nasiriya here, coming right over my head, heading toward the Euphrates River. You will see one fire a Cobra -- a Hellfire missile there -- just left the tube. It's going to hit the target.
That's a mosque where a machine gun nest was hidden. The Iraqis were wearing civilian clothes and hiding out among the population. Whenever the unit I was with spotted them, they would fire and call in Hellfire missiles on the Cobras to back them up. The Cobras came in in pairs, Leon. One shooting, the other looking for possible enemy on the ground. You can see the smoke where they hit the target. That's along the Euphrates here in Nasiriya, and some of the other buildings where they were hiding out. You'll see a Cobra here shooting another Hellfire missile. And they just kept coming all day.
L. HARRIS: And you were how close to this?
A. HARRIS: I was just 100, 200 yards from the river, and they would just come in in this attack pattern over my head and go into the river -- over the river, unload their ordnance, and come back for another round.
Out of this an-Nasiriya, out of this blood and gore, Leon, the unit I was traveling, 2nd Marines Light Armored Reconnaissance, found some orphaned puppies. They made them their mascots. This puppy here is named Nas, after Nasiriya. They taught him how to growl. He ate MREs, liked mostly Italian food, and by the end of the battle, they hoped to bring him home. They're trying to get permission now. He learned to growl, and went from puppy to one of the top dogs of war.
L. HARRIS: That is something else. To find that sort of a -- that sort of soft side of a story there in the midst of all that firing...
A. HARRIS: Really boosted their morale.
L. HARRIS: I bet it did.
A. HARRIS: Every morning they looked forward to playing with the pup.
L. HARRIS: To go from being a killing machine to actually holding a puppy. That kind of gives you a chance to get in touch with your human side once again.
A. HARRIS: We saw the toughest sergeants who turned soft after adopting this puppy.
L. HARRIS: I can believe that. Thanks, Art. Appreciate you bringing in that video.
A. HARRIS: Great to be back.
L. HARRIS: Good to have you back.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
