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CNN Live At Daybreak

Marines Patrol Stretches of Afghanistan

Aired January 16, 2002 - 05:30   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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: U.S. Marines are patrolling more than just the security perimeter around the Kandahar Airport.

CNN's Bill Hemmer went on the road with Marines on their daily mission.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Just off Highway 4, the main road outside Kandahar, it's dusty and bare and brutal.

The U.S. military is on a daytime reconnaissance patrol. Several Humvees bump over the dry terrain. The Afghans here take notice. Some flirt, some wave, but they always watch the giant machinery roll across their desert. Part of keeping secure is knowing what's around you. That's what this patrol is all about.

U.S. forces have made local contacts, and as they roll into a village, the contact may be a spy, is nowhere to be seen. The patrol takes no chances. It keeps rolling.

No problems, just precautions. Further down the road, a Marine eyes two men on a mountainside, an armed vehicle has taken cover. Staring at the rock facade, the challenge is obvious. They say there's a cave in here, maybe more. Notes are taken, a check from the air will be called in later.

Cobra gunships now flutter overhead. Below sits the real Afghanistan, a rare irrigation canal in a country locked in four years of deadly droughts. Back in the village now, still no sign of a local contact, but the kids don't mind. Chasing vehicles on bicycles is a growing Afghan pastime.

Three hours later, uneventful but necessary, the patrol returns to its fortified air base back off Highway 4. There will be another run tomorrow and the next day.

Bill Hemmer, CNN, southern Afghanistan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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