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American Morning

Deadly Chopper Crash

Aired November 07, 2003 - 07:14   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: Now to Iraq, where there have been several U.S. casualties this morning. An American Black Hawk helicopter has gone down near Saddam Hussein's ancestral hometown of Tikrit. There has been at least one other fatal attack against U.S. troops elsewhere.
For the latest on what's happening in Iraq, live to the ground and Nic Robertson, who is near that crash site in Tikrit.

Nic -- hello. What happened?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Bill, a Black Hawk helicopter came down about six hours ago. If you look just over my shoulder you can see a cloud of dust rising up just below a ridgeline. That is where the helicopter came down this morning in that cloud of dust beaten up there. Four helicopters have just come in. They're just flying off from the site of the crash.

Now, according to one senior U.S. military official on site earlier this morning, he said that, according to local people, the helicopter was brought down by fire from the ground -- ground-to-air fire. He was not able to say whether this was a rocket-propelled grade or surface-to-air missile. But this, he said, was quoting local people.

According to U.S. officials at this time, it is not yet clear what brought that Black Hawk helicopter down. We're looking at two more Black Hawk helicopters here flying into their base at Tikrit, flying roughly along the same line the helicopter that was shot down this morning was flying when it was shot down.

Now, according to the second Black Hawk helicopter that was flying along with the one that was shot down, he did not see anything fired from the ground. The only reports we have at the moment that the helicopter was fired upon are local reports quoted to us by senior U.S. military officials here at this time -- Bill.

HEMMER: Nic, how often does the U.S. military say they take on fire from the ground in Iraq?

ROBERTSON: It's not often that we hear this, Bill. What we know is, last weekend, a Chinook helicopter was shot down killing 16 people. It was believed to have been shot down. Eyewitnesses on the ground say they saw what they believe were surface-to-air missiles being fired at the aircraft. People on board an adjacent aircraft said that they saw trails that could have been surface-to-air missile trails in the air at the time. And on the 25th of October, just two weeks ago, a Black Hawk helicopter in the vicinity of Tikrit was shot down with a rocket- propelled grenade.

Now, the big difference between the rocked-propelled grenade and the surface-to-air missile is the surface-to-air missile has a much, much greater range. It has a range of about two miles at least. And that is perhaps for one of the more rudimentary surface-to-air missiles. A rocket-propelled grenade launcher can only fire for several hundred yards. So, a great difference between the two particular missiles.

We do know that when this helicopter went down this morning, all six people on it were killed. They were traveling from Mosul to Tikrit when that happened -- Bill.

HEMMER: Nic Robertson live on the ground there in Tikrit. Nic, thank 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 November 7, 2003 - 07:14   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Now to Iraq, where there have been several U.S. casualties this morning. An American Black Hawk helicopter has gone down near Saddam Hussein's ancestral hometown of Tikrit. There has been at least one other fatal attack against U.S. troops elsewhere.
For the latest on what's happening in Iraq, live to the ground and Nic Robertson, who is near that crash site in Tikrit.

Nic -- hello. What happened?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Bill, a Black Hawk helicopter came down about six hours ago. If you look just over my shoulder you can see a cloud of dust rising up just below a ridgeline. That is where the helicopter came down this morning in that cloud of dust beaten up there. Four helicopters have just come in. They're just flying off from the site of the crash.

Now, according to one senior U.S. military official on site earlier this morning, he said that, according to local people, the helicopter was brought down by fire from the ground -- ground-to-air fire. He was not able to say whether this was a rocket-propelled grade or surface-to-air missile. But this, he said, was quoting local people.

According to U.S. officials at this time, it is not yet clear what brought that Black Hawk helicopter down. We're looking at two more Black Hawk helicopters here flying into their base at Tikrit, flying roughly along the same line the helicopter that was shot down this morning was flying when it was shot down.

Now, according to the second Black Hawk helicopter that was flying along with the one that was shot down, he did not see anything fired from the ground. The only reports we have at the moment that the helicopter was fired upon are local reports quoted to us by senior U.S. military officials here at this time -- Bill.

HEMMER: Nic, how often does the U.S. military say they take on fire from the ground in Iraq?

ROBERTSON: It's not often that we hear this, Bill. What we know is, last weekend, a Chinook helicopter was shot down killing 16 people. It was believed to have been shot down. Eyewitnesses on the ground say they saw what they believe were surface-to-air missiles being fired at the aircraft. People on board an adjacent aircraft said that they saw trails that could have been surface-to-air missile trails in the air at the time. And on the 25th of October, just two weeks ago, a Black Hawk helicopter in the vicinity of Tikrit was shot down with a rocket- propelled grenade.

Now, the big difference between the rocked-propelled grenade and the surface-to-air missile is the surface-to-air missile has a much, much greater range. It has a range of about two miles at least. And that is perhaps for one of the more rudimentary surface-to-air missiles. A rocket-propelled grenade launcher can only fire for several hundred yards. So, a great difference between the two particular missiles.

We do know that when this helicopter went down this morning, all six people on it were killed. They were traveling from Mosul to Tikrit when that happened -- Bill.

HEMMER: Nic Robertson live on the ground there in Tikrit. Nic, thank 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.