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CNN Live Saturday
Bodies of 2 Missing American Soldiers Found in Iraq
Aired June 28, 2003 - 18:01 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.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Earlier today U.S. troops made a grim discovery outside of the capital, finding the remains of two missing American soldiers, both believed killed by hostile forces with possible links to Saddam Hussein.
CNN's Chris Plante is at the Pentagon with details -- Chris.
CHRIS PLANTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Marty, that's right, this morning the bodies of the two soldiers that had been listed missing since Wednesday were found in an area approximately 20 miles to the north and west of Baghdad.
The Pentagon has identified the two soldiers as private first class Kevin Ott, 27 years old, of Columbus, Ohio, and Sergeant First Class Gladimir Philippe, 37 years old, of Linden, New Jersey.
This is Sergeant First Class Philippe seen here; we do not currently have a photograph of Private Ott.
The search began on Wednesday when soldiers failed to contact the two soldiers by radio on a regular check in and they sent vehicles there to their location to see where they were -- they and their vehicle were both gone and the search began.
That was on Wednesday. The search included soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division, there were Black Hawk helicopters involved, there were Apache attack helicopters involved.
There was also what the Pentagon calls a UAV, an unmanned aerial vehicle -- that is a pilot-less reconnaissance drone involved in the search -- the search was fruitful finally, today, after yesterday soldiers searched house to house in an area where they had intelligence that there may have been people in this area involved in the disappearance of the two soldiers.
Soldiers from Task Force 20, which is a task force searching for a high priority leaders in the regime, was also involved in the search. Four people were arrested in this village during the house- to-house search yesterday where some personal belongings of the soldiers were found.
Now the father of Sergeant First Class Philippe came out and spoke to news cameras earlier today and discussed his concern with not only the situation involving his son, but also with the ongoing problems in Iraq.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RENISSE PHILIPPE, FATHER: I was going to say every (UNINTELLIGIBLE) to community to what they knew what happened, but to every day people die, people die, so what's going to happen today. I say they going to let me say -- the war is over but the war is not over. That's what I say. People die every day, almost every day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PLANTE: Clearly some low level combat still going on there in Iraq; these are now 23 causalities inflicted by hostile fire since President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1. Now the Army's criminal investigators are still looking into the situation -- Marty.
SAVIDGE: Chris, two questions. One I understood there was a Humvee that they had been driving in; was that located? And also is it believed that their bodies were dumped at that place where they were found? Or is that where they were murdered?
PLANTE: Well on the first matter, the Humvee, in fact, was taken it was recovered, I believe, yesterday during the search of this house where some of the personal belongings of the two soldiers were found. The Humvee; there were reports from local people in there -- investigators did get help from a number of Iraqis in this investigation.
There were reports of the Humvee being in a variety of areas. It was apparently being driven around for several days by someone; it's not known whom.
But that was recovered yesterday and it is assumed but there is no clarity as to whether the bodies were dumped there; whether these two soldiers were killed at the location, a lot of that still remains to be learned -- Martin.
SAVIDGE: Chris Plante live at the Pentagon, thanks for the update.
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 June 28, 2003 - 18:01 Â ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Earlier today U.S. troops made a grim discovery outside of the capital, finding the remains of two missing American soldiers, both believed killed by hostile forces with possible links to Saddam Hussein.
CNN's Chris Plante is at the Pentagon with details -- Chris.
CHRIS PLANTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Marty, that's right, this morning the bodies of the two soldiers that had been listed missing since Wednesday were found in an area approximately 20 miles to the north and west of Baghdad.
The Pentagon has identified the two soldiers as private first class Kevin Ott, 27 years old, of Columbus, Ohio, and Sergeant First Class Gladimir Philippe, 37 years old, of Linden, New Jersey.
This is Sergeant First Class Philippe seen here; we do not currently have a photograph of Private Ott.
The search began on Wednesday when soldiers failed to contact the two soldiers by radio on a regular check in and they sent vehicles there to their location to see where they were -- they and their vehicle were both gone and the search began.
That was on Wednesday. The search included soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division, there were Black Hawk helicopters involved, there were Apache attack helicopters involved.
There was also what the Pentagon calls a UAV, an unmanned aerial vehicle -- that is a pilot-less reconnaissance drone involved in the search -- the search was fruitful finally, today, after yesterday soldiers searched house to house in an area where they had intelligence that there may have been people in this area involved in the disappearance of the two soldiers.
Soldiers from Task Force 20, which is a task force searching for a high priority leaders in the regime, was also involved in the search. Four people were arrested in this village during the house- to-house search yesterday where some personal belongings of the soldiers were found.
Now the father of Sergeant First Class Philippe came out and spoke to news cameras earlier today and discussed his concern with not only the situation involving his son, but also with the ongoing problems in Iraq.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RENISSE PHILIPPE, FATHER: I was going to say every (UNINTELLIGIBLE) to community to what they knew what happened, but to every day people die, people die, so what's going to happen today. I say they going to let me say -- the war is over but the war is not over. That's what I say. People die every day, almost every day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PLANTE: Clearly some low level combat still going on there in Iraq; these are now 23 causalities inflicted by hostile fire since President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1. Now the Army's criminal investigators are still looking into the situation -- Marty.
SAVIDGE: Chris, two questions. One I understood there was a Humvee that they had been driving in; was that located? And also is it believed that their bodies were dumped at that place where they were found? Or is that where they were murdered?
PLANTE: Well on the first matter, the Humvee, in fact, was taken it was recovered, I believe, yesterday during the search of this house where some of the personal belongings of the two soldiers were found. The Humvee; there were reports from local people in there -- investigators did get help from a number of Iraqis in this investigation.
There were reports of the Humvee being in a variety of areas. It was apparently being driven around for several days by someone; it's not known whom.
But that was recovered yesterday and it is assumed but there is no clarity as to whether the bodies were dumped there; whether these two soldiers were killed at the location, a lot of that still remains to be learned -- Martin.
SAVIDGE: Chris Plante live at the Pentagon, thanks for the update.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
