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American Morning

Bodies of Two Missing U.S. Soldiers Found; World Refugee Day

Aired June 20, 2006 - 07:35   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: This just in to CNN. The Pentagon is confirming that bodies have been found in the town of Jurf al-Sakhar. It's about 50 miles south of Baghdad, but they are not put anything names. They not identifying those bodies. Thomas Tucker and Private Kristian Menchaca went missing on Friday night after their checkpoint was attacked by insurgents near Yusufiya, which is about 10 miles south of Baghdad. So this latest from the Pentagon confirming that bodies have been found, but not identifying those bodies.
We had reports out of Iraq carried by Reuters and Agents France Press (ph) that the bodies of Thomas Tucker and Kristian Menchaca were found. So far, still no confirmation of that from the Pentagon, though the Pentagon is now saying two bodies have been found in the town of Jurf al-Sakhar, about 50 miles south of Baghdad -- Soledad.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is Africa's first elected women head of state. She is president of Liberia, elected just last year, as Liberia began emerging from 14 years of civil war; 800,000 Liberians were displaced during that war, and it's estimated that a quarter million are still refugees today. President Johnson-Sirleaf is at the U.S. embassy in Monrovia, Liberia.

President Johnson-Sirleaf, it's nice to see you again. I want to warn everybody before we start that we have a very big delay as we talk. So here's the first question for you. Tell me about your refugee situation. What's the situation? What are the conditions? Where are those 250,000 people?

PRES. ELLEN JOHNSON-SIRLEAF, LIBERIA: Well, let me say, first, that we're very pleased that there's a focus on Liberia on this World Refugee Day. We're equally pleased that the U.N. High Commission for Refugees, Mr. Antonio Guterres, is celebrating this day in Liberia.

The records show that, say the last year, we had some 233,000 refugees situated in several of our neighboring countries, the largest number in Guinea, and then Sierra Leone, Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana. We know that quite a few of they'll have been returning since the government took over in January 2006. In fact, we're just excited that they're coming back home. Some 69,000 of them have already returned. The trend is upward. Of course it does increase our challenge. What do we do to make sure that they get resettled? Hopefully in their communities of origin, but that means we've got to help with housing, and jobs and education facilities, health facilities, but we're glad they're coming home. They're needed to join us in the reconstruction effort.

O'BRIEN: Why are they so critical? You mentioned that the last time we spoke you mentioned that the first step is bringing refugees home. When, as you say, they actually make conditions for rebuilding in a lot of ways all the more difficult. Why is it so important that their return is the first step?

JOHNSON-SIRLEAF: Well, it's their home. And we've got support systems here. They have their families, their relatives, their associates, their communities to which they would be returning. That in itself gives impetus to those to whom they are returned. It's also important that the skills that they may have acquired during the years of absence are now brought home, to help us in the reconstruction effort. It sends a signal to everybody that Liberia is now on the way to sustainable peace, on the way to development. When its own citizens have the confidence to return home, that sends a signal to others. If we can come home, we know that we can be a little bit more assured with the new government of our safety, of our lives. And so, their response is very encouraging, and I think those of us at home just continue to welcome more and more of them. And together, we'll try to meet those challenges, you know, of their basic needs for jobs, for housing, for health facilities, for education.

O'BRIEN: Charles Taylor, who ruled Liberia, as you well know, between 1997 and 2003, looks like he is being transferred to the Hague and will hopefully eventually be brought to justice. Do you think that his situation and that trial has to move forward before the refugees can sort of emotionally return home and feel that justice has been done?

JOHNSON-SIRLEAF: We think so. We think, you know, most of them that decided to flee the country because of the security risks which they faced now feel that those risks are largely diminished. The recent development with the former president, we hope, will also further diminish those risk as people in the subregion may be a little more convinced and satisfied that we can put this whole thing behind us, that we can embrace the future and we can now work together to make sure that those ugly, bad days are finally over. So we're very pleased about these developments.

O'BRIEN: You were a refugee. In addition to being in prison, you were also exiled twice. Give us a sense of what it's like. What's the most difficult, and frustrating and scary thing about being a person who really cannot possibly return, at least at that time, to their country?

JOHNSON-SIRLEAF: Well, the first thing for somebody who was a high-profile opposition person, the great fear is that you wouldn't be left alone when you're in exile, that somebody from whom you fled, the person in charge, you know, might get people to come after you, and you wouldn't have, you know, the safety of support systems to which you can run.

The other difficulty one faces in exile is, how do you survive? How do you feed yourself? How do you take care of yourself? And that means most times either you're not in position or the local environment will not enable you to work, so then you begin to wonder, you know, how do I depend -- if I haven't had resources put aside, how do I meet my needs? Also, there's a certain loneliness. You know, at home, you have the extended-family system. You have your friends. Over there you have to make new friends. They may not be very welcoming to strangers.

And so in a way, though, I feel my own situation was a bit better, because I already had an established professional life. I already had many international contacts, and so wherever I went, I had a certain amount of welcome and a certain amount of support because people knew me. So I feel for those who really didn't have these kinds of benefits and had to flee to a strange country, a foreign country with no money, you know, no job, no shelter, they really went through a lot. And I think that's the reason we want to see them come home. So they can lead normal lives again.

O'BRIEN: And it's the reason we're focusing on them today on World Refugee Day. President Johnson-Sirleaf, nice to see you again, ma'am. Thank you very much for talking with us. We sure appreciate it.

JOHNSON-SIRLEAF: And a big thanks to CNN for keeping us in focus. That's very encouraging. It brings hope to our people.

O'BRIEN: We're glad to hear that. Thank you -- John.

ROBERTS: Young adults in the west are beginning to pay attention to refugee crisis in Africa, and some are doing what they can, lending a helping hand to help those in need help themselves.

AMERICAN MORNING's Dan Lothian has that part of the story for us now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Africans fleeing civil war and unrest in neighboring countries, living in Zambia's refugee camps. It's often overcrowded and depressing. But this is where 26-year-old Nicholas Talarico sees hope.

NICHOLAS TALARICO, FORGE DEVELOPMENT DIR.: Where people could just throw their hands up say everything is bad, my whole life is useless, they look at this new time as an opportunity to really change that around.

LOTHIAN: Talarico work with FORGE, a nonprofit organization working with the United Nations that matches Western university students or recent graduates with thousands of young Africans stuck in three Zambian refugee camps.

TALARICO: If they don't have much to besides sit around, stand around all day, things get better.

LOTHIAN: Not anymore. Talarico returned a month ago from Zambia where he took these pictures. He says FORGE and its volunteers are using books, computers, sports to educate refugees on everything from business and women's rights to AIDS prevention, and they've established what they say is the largest library in a refugee camp anywhere in the world, more than 20,000 books. For young and old, rare access to knowledge.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We saw a truck, a food truck, coming with books. We was very happy.

TALARICO: A large computer center is next. Ten brand-new Toughbook laptops powered by three solar panels and brain new building.

LOTHIAN: Shirton Ericcsson (ph), who is currently in Africa, started FORGE three years ago while a student at Stanford University. She saw a need during a visit to help and to partner with refugees, some of whom have been inspired to enroll in college.

TALARICO: Each project is a microgoal.

LOTHIAN: Talarico was working in his family's New Hampshire business within he decided to help, joining FORGE full time.

TALARICO: I have so many resources that I want to give back. I don't think that just doing for yourself is enough nowadays.

LOTHIAN: An investment in Africa's refugees, giving them the power to create social change, wherever they ultimately call home.

Dan Lothian, CNN, Boston.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: We're going this world just in to CNN. As you can see there, live pictures out of Chicago O'Hare airport. An American Airlines plane has made an emergency landing at O'Hare not long ago, just a little bit ago. The plan apparently missing its nose gear. It's an MD-88, 136 passengers, we're told, are onboard. Unclear at this point exactly where that plane was coming from where and where it was en route to. But it has made an emergency landing. We'll bring you an update on condition of those passengers inside as soon as we get some more details. Those pictures coming to us from our affiliate out of Chicago this morning.

A short break we're back in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Thirty teenagers from 13 countries now in the U.S. as part of a World Cup youth soccer delegation sponsored by the State Department. Two of those teenagers are young women from Afghanistan who've had their lives changed by an Afghan-American with some very big dreams.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: It looks like an ordinary day of soccer in New York City. But for these teens on this field and for many watching, this is much more than a game. AWISTA AYUB, AFGHAN YOUTH SPORTS EXCHANGE: I know that the future is very bright for Afghanistan, but it can't happen without cultivating future leaders, and that starts today.

O'BRIEN: Awista Ayub is a 26-year-old woman who came to the United States from Afghanistan at age two. She's always loved sports and felt empowered by athletic competition. So she started a nonprofit group called the Afghan Youth Sports Exchange.

AYUB: I thought of the idea soon after the fall of the Taliban.

O'BRIEN: The idea was to give youngsters in Afghanistan, especially girls and young women sidelined by the Taliban, the skills to become the next generation of leaders.

AYUB: It was one of those a-ha moments that just flows, and makes sense and feels very natural.

O'BRIEN: It all started with eight girls she brought to the U.S. for soccer camp in the summer of 2004. Two of those girls, Shamila Kohestani and Roia Ahmad, are back in the United States now. Awista has changed their lives.

SHAMILA KOHESTANI, AFGHAN SOCCER PLAYER: It's definitely change my life and I want -- I play football and I go to different countries for trips and for football. And I know about their culture.

O'BRIEN: Shamila had never played soccer until two years ago. Now she's one of 250 young women playing on 15 female soccer teams in Afghanistan. And she's the captain of the country's new national team.

KOHESTANI: In period of Taliban, it was very hard for my family especially. We always sat at corner of room thinking that how can we spend all of this life like this? No study. All sit at home. It's too hard.

O'BRIEN: The Taliban kept her out of school for more than four years. Now, at 18, she's nearly caught up and is looking forward college where she wants to study journalism or business. Sixteen year-old Roia has similar dreams.

(on camera): What do you want to do?

ROIA AHMAD, AFGHAN SOCCER: Doctor.

S. O'BRIEN (voice-over): Glamour magazine calls Awista its hero of the month. But she's not the only one being honored. Next month Shamila and Roia will receive an ESPY, called the Arthur Ashe Courage Award, from ESPN.

AYUB: They faced so much tragedy and hardship. And for them to be awarded now finally for showing the perseverance they have, despite all of the challenges they face, I think just will hopefully take soccer and girl so to the next level, and youth sports to the next level, and show that young girls can be role models in their own lives.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Shamila and Roia were going to be in the United States until the end of July, but they're taking a side trip this week to Germany with that State Department group to watch the U.S. flay Ghana in the World Cup -- John.

ROBERTS: We want to add a little bit of programming for you here and a little bit more on our story this morning that two bodies have been found in the town of Jurf al-Sakhar, which is about 50 miles south of Baghdad. We have senior officials confirming that bodies have been found.

On the phone with us now is Major William Willhoite. He's the multinational forces spokesman in Iraq. Good morning or good afternoon to you, Major Willhoite. What can you tell us about the bodies that were found in this town?

MAJ. WILLIAM WILHOITE, SPOKESMAN, MULTI-NATIONAL FORCES, IRAQ: Well, we do know that two bodies have been found, but we haven't made confirmation of whether they're U.S. -- the two U.S. soldiers we're looking for or some other bodies.

ROBERTS: So you can't tell us whether or not these are the bodies of Private Thomas Tucker and Private Kristian Menchaca?

WILHOITE: No, sir, I can't tell at all at this time.

ROBERTS: Have you been conducting search operations down in that area?

WILHOITE: I'm not exactly sure where we've been looking. Obviously, operational concern where we -- what we talk about. But there has been over 8,000 U.S. military and Iraqi army and police working together and doing an intensive search trying to find our soldiers.

ROBERTS: There have also been reports, Major, that the state of the bodies made it appear as though they may have suffered some signs of torture. Can you confirm that?

WILHOITE: I do not know that yet. I haven't heard anything to our official channels on this.

ROBERTS: Major, I'm wondering about the identification of the bodies. Has the military been able to identify the bodies, but you're just holding off on notification of bodies pending potentially notification of next of kin?

WILHOITE: Truthfully, I don't know what the status is on these bodies, whether they're in our control now or they're still in Iraqi control. Obviously, if -- before we made any announcement, if it was our soldiers, we'd have to make notification to the family.

ROBERTS: Right. So these bodies were in Iraqi control. Do you know if the Iraqis were able to positively identify them and is that where these reports came from?

WILHOITE: I do not know. Again, this the first we heard about is when we started getting phone calls from other news organizations asking us questions.

ROBERTS: OK, Major William Wilhoite, who is the multinational forces spokesman in Iraq, thanks for being with us. Appreciate it.

O'BRIEN: Let's get right to the Pentagon now. Barbara Starr's standing by for us. Barbara, good morning. You just heard the major with sort of an update -- very low on specifics what we know. They're confirming the bodies found, but not confirming much more than that.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Soledad. You know, we have to explain to our viewers this is a very, very sensitive matter, of course, because there are two sets of families in the United States waiting for definitive word about their loved ones. Notification of next of kin in these matters is something the military takes extremely seriously and they simply want to make sure, if there is an announcement to be made, that the families will be the first to know the details.

What we do know, of course, is that the Ministry of Defense made a statement a short while ago that two bodies had been found and that clearly, in their view, there was every reason to believe they were the two missing soldiers. So we began to talk to our sources around here. They are aware of the Ministry of Defense statement and what they tell us is that they cannot be specific about the current state of the situation, but if these bodies, in fact, are coming to the U.S. military, which they may well be, that they will then conduct DNA testing on them. That DNA testing may be under way in the field at this hour. We're not entirely clear on that, or it may about to begin.

The military does have mobile pathology labs, if you will, in Iraq that can very readily go to a scene where remains are found and begin to conduct initial identification tests. That is something they're going want to complete as quickly as possible on these remains so they can notify the families. And as we have discussed, the procedure is the families get notified and then typically there is a public announcement 24 hours later in order to give the families the time to have their initial privacy before the world learns of any event. Whether that 24 hour period is held to in this case, of course, remains to be seen now that the Iraqis have made this announcement.

So the best we can tell you is everyone is very aware of what has transpired. We do expect that identification testing is either ongoing or about to begin. And we do expect to learn more in the hours ahead.

O'BRIEN: Barbara, let me ask you a question. So it sounds like what you're saying -- that if, indeed, this is the case, that these two bodies are U.S. soldiers -- that somehow the Iraqi military, which is what's being quoted in some of the wire reports, have not gone the way the procedure is supposed to go. Because as they talk about the bodies not being identified or they sort of haven't -- you know, we heard from the major a moment ago they're not really sure. I mean, they -- it completely is contradictory to what we're hearing from the Iraqis. What do you think is going on here?

STARR: Right. Well, I think that what we can all probably assume is that certainly the families of these two young soldiers are being made aware at this hour that remains have been found in Iraq and that there is an effort under way to make an identification on those remains, so they can give the families definitive word that it either is or is not their loved ones.

You know, there were 8,000 troops since Friday night searching for these two soldiers. That's 8,000 U.S. and Iraqi troops. So it is absolutely possible that the Iraqis came across these two sets of remains in the operations that they were conducting and are now bringing the U.S. military into the process so that the military can begin the formal identification process.

Because, as you can well imagine, Soledad, before any family is notified of the death on the battlefield of their loved one, there is a very, very strict identification procedure to go through. No one would want any mistakes here. So they're trying to follow it by the book. But its a very sensitive matter at this time, until the families get that official notification.

O'BRIEN: Barbara Starr for us at the Pentagon. Barbara, thanks for the explanation. Appreciate that. I should mention also that we're going to be getting a briefing out of Iraq this morning, 8:30 a.m. Eastern time. So in about 30 minutes -- and maybe we'll get some more information, and maybe some clarification on exactly how this information got out.

Short break. We're back in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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