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Afghanistan: Operation Anaconda to Dictate Outcome
Aired March 06, 2002 - 20:00 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: (AUDIO GAP) ... at the Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, this is LIVE FROM AFGHANISTAN.
The big story now going on -- Operation Anaconda. It is the biggest battle of the Afghan war. Make no joke, the outcome of this battle will determine the outcome of the entire war and perhaps dictate the future course of the war on terrorism.
We begin though with where that operation is focused. It is now in eastern Afghanistan, just south of Gardez, in a valley that is known as the lower Shahi Cote (ph) Valley. It is two miles up in the air being waged under steep mountain conditions, under very extreme and difficult cold and also, under heavy fighting. It is a face-to- face showdown now not a war being fought in the shadows, but one being fought out in the open by conventional U.S. forces up against a large pocket of hardcore Taliban and al Qaeda forces.
It all began early Saturday morning, D-Day, as they call it here. It was then that the first lift of fighting forces went into play and it was then that photographer Scott McWhinnie and myself went in with those troops. We were there as they fought, as they saw exactly what happened, the only television crew on scene, shortly after the battle began. This is something you have never seen before from Afghanistan. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Taliban enemy is...
SAVIDGE (voice-over): Operation Anaconda was at least a month in the planning. Three battalions of over 1,700 soldiers, including the 10th Mountain Division, the 101st Airborne, Coalition and Afghan forces would launch a surprise attack in the area of a town in eastern Afghanistan, known as Shir Conkeel. Intelligence sources said it contained a large pocket of hard core al Qaeda and Taliban fighters, number 150 to 200. But the plan ran into problems even before it lifted off, bad weather. The objective site forced a two delay.
UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER: I think they're just as motivated now as they will be in two days because they know what the mission's for and what it's about and what the purpose is. You know, they're thing that -- they always look back on is what happened on September 11.
UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER: I'm from New York and I have friends that were lost in the World Trade Center. And it just is my job too.
SAVIDGE: The first U.S. forces on the ground found that time wasn't the only thing lost, so was the advantage of surprise. At a number of landing zones, enemy forces were already waiting, heavily armed and anxious to attack.
For two days, we tried to get in with a second wave of reinforcements, both times turned back when the landing area was receiving too much fire. Finally, on a third try, we made it in with a reserve battalion armed with heavy weapons and a will for revenge.
STEPHEN SHOCKEY, SPECIALIST: It felt real good to get back for all the lives lost and you know, let 101st do its job.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got to head back. Radio for the rest of the company all.
SAVIDGE: The first part of the mission -- to seek and destroy al Qaeda caves and operation centers, high in the mountains above 10,000 feet.
UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER: We found a cave. It had good size bricks or rocks covering the front portion of it -- half of the front portion, break. The rest of it is open, break. We've also got -- we're just going right now -- following the footprints that's going to -- maybe to another one. I don't know. Over.
SAVIDGE: Elevation, cold and the constant threat of attack was a triple burden for U.S. soldiers. After the caves, we pushed south for the main objective, the village of Shir Conkeel. Barely had U.S. forces got in position when Taliban forces attacked at dusk with automatic weapons fire and mortars. U.S. soldiers responded back with heavy suppression fire and mortars of their own.
(on-camera): It's early morning here high up in the mountains and we're with Delta Company. They're a heavy-weapons unit assigned to Charlie Company. The fighting has been raging around this area for the last 24 hours. Yesterday, it was behind us on the backside of the mountains. As of last evening and today, it's been raging in a village directly in front of our position.
UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER: Fire.
UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER: Fire.
UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER: It was nuts. Everyone was down. We're moving as fast as possible to get behind cover. And we started taking, you know, casualties, for the most part.
UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER: Well, at first I was pretty upset because, you know, I was like these people are trying to kill me. And then, it's just -- instincts took over and training took over and we just returned fire. We were taught to do. I really didn't have much time to think after that. It was keep my head down, take good shots, hopefully, make sure I got some people. SAVIDGE (voice-over): Then, came the close air support, as for two days, wave after wave of fighter bombers, B-52s and Apache helicopters pounded the surrounding valley around the clock.
More reinforcements arrive and began dislodging the Taliban and al Qaeda force.
UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER: If it wasn't for them, I don't think any of us would have come out alive.
SAVIDGE: The original mission was to last 72 hours. Some thought it might only take 24 hours. Instead, now, the operation has gone on for four days, as it's clear the Taliban and al Qaeda forces with no place to run, also have no plans to surrender.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SAVIDGE: You could not have seen those images. You could have not been to the front lines without the efforts of this man right here, Scott McWhinnie. And to be honest, there were a couple of times; I think that he did actually pull our butts out of the fire, in some of the circumstances that we faced.
We both agreed that one of the most frightening moments was twice we tried to go in, were turned back because of the fighting at the LZ. But then, early Monday morning, we actually land on the ground and it's the getting out of the helicopter. It's pitch dark. You don't know what's going to happen. It's packed with troops. And then you're trying to literally escape that helicopter, get out.
SCOTT MCWHINNIE, PHOTOGRAPHER: Yeah, just very eerie, very spooky. Yeah.
SAVIDGE: You look at the scene, there's the static electricity that is discharging off the helicopter rotors. You're moving out with the soldiers and then, it became the terrain. That was the greatest enemy of all.
MCWHINNIE: Fall flat on your back with the -- those propellers going. Everyone's being pulled out.
SAVIDGE: You got the wash of the chopper.
MCWHINNIE: Yeah.
SAVIDGE: And then, we start moving out and this was the hard part. But you had the camera. The camera weighs what? Twenty pounds?
MCWHINNIE: Two tons, I think it was. But you're right, yeah. But we made it. We got there.
SAVIDGE: They told us that this originally was going to be prepared for six kilometers with all our gear and six kilometers up a mountain. That was the most difficult I'd say.
MCWHINNIE: Yeah, but the walk of death, wasn't it? The never- ending walk.
SAVIDGE: And the soldiers had more. They carried like a 100 pounds on their back. We're following along behind them, slogging along. And it was always up, up, up. And they never seemed they went around the mountain. It was always...
MCWHINNIE: Up and over. Yeah.
SAVIDGE: ... always go over the mountain.
MCWHINNIE: Always the long way.
SAVIDGE: The cold probably another bitter ending.
MCWHINNIE: A cold night. I mean we nearly froze and had to be medivaced out there enough.
SAVIDGE: There was one night in particular; a firefight had separated us from our cold weather gear. We were still in our day dress and as a result of that firefight; we could not get back to our cold weather gear. It dropped below zero. And tell us about how we survived the night.
MCWHINNIE: I have just -- we had to have -- there was about five people in one space blanket. And they wrapped -- so they made us walk up and down hills to keep warm because we'd stop shivering, which was not good apparently.
SAVIDGE: All night long, what we had to do was -- there was fiver of us. We literally laid on the ground, hugging on to one another to share body...
MCWHINNIE: Spooning.
SAVIDGE: Spooning, they call it.
MCWHINNIE: We slept together.
SAVIDGE: And then, you'd wake me up. He forced me to climb up this mountain up and down, just to get the blood circulating and moving again. And then get back down, lay under and just wait the night out.
MCWHINNIE: It was the longest night of ever, wasn't it? It was the longest night ever in my life.
SAVIDGE: Longest of my life, as well. And then, eventually trying to get out. That was another difficult thing.
MCWHINNIE: Yeah, yeah, because we kept going to the wrong landing zone. Choppers would land, run over this hill and take off and run to another hill.
SAVIDGE: We're chasing the CH-47s as they're landing all over the place. The moment you get to one, they can't wait because they're under fire. They lift off and go. And there goes your ride out on the CH-47.
And then, we had to...
MCWHINNIE: You can't see as well. I mean...
SAVIDGE: You can't see a thing.
MCWHINNIE: Blind as a bat.
SAVIDGE: Then we spent the night literally out in a no man's land. We did have protection from some U.S. soldiers. All the while, B-52 bombers coming in and laying down a tremendous amount of fire power from the air.
MCWHINNIE: It lit up the sky.
SAVIDGE: And then, the helicopter shows up and nearly kills us.
(LAUGHTER)
MCWHINNIE: It blew us flat on our back. We couldn't get up and nearly missed there.
SAVIDGE: The helicopter was coming in. We thought it was going to land beside us. No, it comes right to us. When we realize it is going to land on top of us, we dive out of the way. And then we get literally blown over and knocked about and crawl and get on board.
MCWHINNIE: It's exciting but it's really, really spooky, you know, it's like this -- an eerie silence when there.
SAVIDGE: Well, I think the biggest thing was that you knew going in with U.S. forces, there is no escape. When things get bad, there is no way to say, "All right, that's enough."
MCWHINNIE: I'm going home.
SAVIDGE: This is the time to leave, thanks very much.
MCWHINNIE: I'll call a cab.
SAVIDGE: There was none of that. You were there until the bitter end.
MCWHINNIE: Yeah.
SAVIDGE: We ran out of water.
MCWHINNIE: We did and food and everything. Yeah, we had the snow, the snow in the bottles and hopefully it melted in the sun.
SAVIDGE: We climbed up on the mountains to where there was snow and we began scraping it off with a spoon, trying to get down to the cleaner snow, packing it into bottles and then laying the plastic bottles out in the sun so as it would melt.
MCWHINNIE: It had little bits in it, didn't it?
SAVIDGE: Who knows what was in there.
MCWHINNIE: And you could hardly drink anything in there.
SAVIDGE: But that was the way to survive. Soldiers did have water. We couldn't take from them and resupply missions eventually did come in from them.
MCWHINNIE: Yeah, we didn't scrape the yellow snow.
SAVIDGE: No.
MCWHINNIE: The clean snow.
SAVIDGE: We didn't drink the yellow snow. So all in all, it was a remarkable experience. And though we make light of it now, at the time it was not quite so funny.
Scottie.
MCWHINNIE: Thanks very much.
SAVIDGE: Thank you very much for a wild adventure.
MCWHINNIE: Thanks.
SAVIDGE: Thank you.
The overall commander of the operation here is Buster Haggenbeck. He is the general of the 10th Mountain Division, but he is also, as I say, the overall commander of Operation Anaconda and he came out and he has been talking to the media. One of the issues that has been brought up, this, as I pointed out, was supposed to be an operation initially conducted by Afghan forces supported by the U.S. It was not supposed to be direct U.S. confrontation, but commander Zia of the Afghan forces was turned back. And there has been criticism by U.S. soldiers saying he turned tail and ran when he faced opposition. This is what the overall commander of Operation Anaconda described how Zia reacted.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAJ. GEN. FRANK HAGENBECK, CJTF COMMANDER: General Zia's forces with some members of our Fifth Special Forces Group was moving to the battlefield. They were to arrive just prior to our air assault. Along the way, as you know, we've had a lot of rain here over those days, a number of the trucks got stuck in quagmires because they were going off road to get there, had to dismount some soldiers. And as they came on a much-slowed rate than they anticipated, clearly, they were spotted and when they arrived very close to where their battle position was going to be, they came under pretty heavy mortar fire.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: Now, one thing is also clear -- this operation did not begin exactly as planned. That is not to say though that the operation fell apart. It has been in a constant sense of change and transition. And now, as I say, it is the direct battle between al Qaeda and the United States.
The general says that's fine by him. If the al Qaeda want to fight to the death, then the U.S. and coalition forces are only too happy to comply.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HAGENBECK: So, as long as they want to send them here, we'll kill them here. If they go somewhere else, we'll go with our Afghan allies and coalition forces and kill them wherever they go.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: We're going to come back with more LIVE FROM AFGHANISTAN in just a minute. Taking you now from the front lines but also to the home front where the anguish is felt most. Stay with us.
ANNOUNCER: On the hunt for Taliban and al Qaeda fighters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: We're looking for them wherever they are and to the extent that additional forces are needed, we'll put what is needed to do the job.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Marching orders from the Pentagon when we return. And later, remembering those lost in battle.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICK CROSE, FATHER OF SGT. BRADLEY CROSE: He loved his country. He knew why he was there. He went willingly. He went gladly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER: There was a couple times in there that I didn't think any of us were going to make it out of there because there was mortar fire. They were just bouncing back on the ridgeline on us.
UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER: It blew up several rocks that we were trying to hide behind, so, I mean it was pretty close.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: Some of the American troops that have now been wounded as a part of Operation Anaconda have been flown to Germany for medical treatment. Wednesday, 11 U.S. soldiers arrived there at the Ramstein Air Force Base. They are undergoing treatment at the U.S. military hospital.
Special Operation forces were wounded on Monday when their helicopter came under fire and crash landed. That sparked an intense firefight and -- on the ground, as well as sometimes in the air. There was six forces -- six soldiers of that Special Forces unit that were also killed.
We want to get a view, now, on how things are shipping up on Operation Anaconda, the major battle in eastern Afghanistan from the Pentagon now. And for that, we are joined live by Jamie McIntyre -- Jamie.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN MILITARY AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Marty, welcome back to civilization.
The Pentagon has been saying for days that everything was going according to plan with Operation Anaconda. But it's only been in the last day or so, especially since your reporting and images from there have given us a better picture about what was going on that we've been getting an admission from some senior Pentagon officials that everything didn't go according to plan, specifically the best guess of military planners was that these al Qaeda forces, when they realized that they were going to be encountering a far superior U.S. force would flee in fact rather than dig in and fight. And the plan was to try to essentially, trap them by herding them into an area where they would be caught by blocking forces. But as you know probably better than anyone, they dug in and fought pretty fiercely and are still fighting.
Some of those Apache helicopters that were damaged in the initial fight are now going to be replaced with some new helicopters that are going to be dispatched to beef up the Apache force from Fort Campbell. The five that did take enemy fire have also been patched up and are available for service. But Pentagon sources say it's unlikely they're going to send assault helicopters back in to such a dangerous situation. Instead, now, they're relying on A-10 assault planes, ground attack planes, to take on that job of close air support along with, of course, the AC-130 gun ships and of course, the tactical air and the heavy duty bombers like the B-52s.
Nevertheless, the U.S. does say that the al Qaeda fighters are out manned and out equipped and outgunned by U.S. forces. And Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld predicts it's just a matter of days before they're able to rout the al Qaeda completely.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUMSFELD: I believe that the outcome is reasonably assured that they would -- people who have been in the battle will either be -- surrender or be killed in the days ahead.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MCINTYRE: In the Pentagon, they have a saying, no plan survives first contact with the enemy and the key, of course, is adaptability. And I'm sure that you can attest to that, as well as anyone, that the key is that you can't predict everything that's going to happen. You just have to be able to react to it. That's what the U.S. military says it has done and it says it has the upper hand in Operation Anaconda -- Marty.
SAVIDGE: Jamie, you're absolutely right. The soldiers have a saying -- the first casualty of any conflict is the plan. However, that appears to have been the case, although the plan is still being reworked.
Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon, thanks very much.
Eastern Afghanistan though is not the only place where people who had come to Afghanistan to try to aid this country are dying. We take you now to Kabul and that is the capital of Afghanistan. And there, five members of an international security force were killed last night, as they work to try to diffuse a missile that apparently detonated. Those five members included three of the dead coming from Denmark and two from Germany. Seven others were injured, three of them quite seriously. It shows you that the hazards of Afghanistan are not always directly on the front lines, but they remain a deadly legacy of the aftermath of wars that have been fought previously here.
We'll take a break and come back with more after this.
ANNOUNCER: Still to come...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE (voice-over): The morale of the soldiers out there is extremely high. Many of them, despite the risks, feel that they were glad to be there and glad to keep fighting.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Reflections from the front lines. LIVE FROM AFGHANISTAN is back in two minutes.
For more on the war against terrorism, including video from Operation Anaconda and a gallery of photos, head to CNN.com. The AOL keyword is CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Anderson Cooper in New York. Tonight on "THE POINT," a story of a computer hacker who may have stumbled onto clues about al Qaeda's secretive communication system. Also, why some people who lost loved ones on September 11 may not be offered money by the Victim's Compensation Fund. "THE POINT" begins in less than 10 minutes. "LIVE FROM AFGHANISTAN" will be back in two minutes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SAVIDGE (on-camera): And when you get on the helicopter, what were you thinking?
UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER: Relief. Relief. We're going home. We're done with this mission. All we have to do right now is go back home and take care of our guys, you know, at the hospital.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: The casualties of war, of course, are falling here in Afghanistan, but the pain, the suffering and the anguish of family members is falling directly on the home front. CNN's Brian Cabelle takes us across the nation to loved ones who are waiting for those lost to finally come home.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They were seven men who fought and died in one of the fiercest battles of the war, ironically, at a time when many thought the fighting was coming to an end. Thirty-two-year-old Navy SEAL Neal Roberts from Woodland, California suffered, perhaps, the cruelest fate. He fell from a helicopter and was captured and apparently executed by al Qaeda fighters.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Every child in America would want to be a man like this.
CABELL: Thirty-one-year-old Army Sergeant Phillip Svitak dreamed of joining the Army since he was a child. He joined the Civil Air Patrol in high school. He leaves behind a wife and two children.
Senior airman, Jason Cunningham, 26 was a medic on searches and rescues. He, too, leaves behind a wife and two children.
Tech. Sergeant John Chapman was a career man. He served 17 years in the Air Force. He was awarded six medals.
Three of the servicemen came from one post, Hunter Army airfield in Savanna, Georgia. All were Rangers, the Army's elite.
Sergeant Bradley Crose was only 22 years old, an avid reader, say his friends.
Flags are flying at half-staff in his hometown of Orange Park, Florida.
CROSE: Bradley was a very fine, Christian young man. He lived his life to a very high biblical standard. But he was also a warrior.
CABELL: One of Crose's best friends was Specialist Mark Anderson, 30 years old. He was a teacher and a coach at one time, but then switched careers and joined the Army.
STEVE ANDERSON, BROTHER OF SPC. MARK ANDERSON: He tried to think, you know, what have I done that's been so bad that would make somebody want to do this to my little brother.
CABELL: The youngest of the seven, 21-year-old Private First Class Matthew Commons, a high school honor student and a soccer player. He started college, but then dropped out to pursue his dream in the U.S. Army.
Seven men, seven servicemen who lost their lives in battle at a time when many Americans were ready to forget a war that was still raging thousands of miles from home.
Brian Cabell, CNN, Hunter Army Airfield, Georgia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SAVIDGE: The opportunity to be embedded or travel with the U.S. forces and coalition forces was a remarkable one. One of the things that you learn was that you not only were to get into the heads but also be there with the soldiers when things really started to turn down.
And one thing you also realize is that this is an unusual war with two fronts. It has a home front, where thousands lost their lives in the United States and still continue to face the threat of potential future terrorist acts. And then, there is the live front in eastern Afghanistan. The soldiers fight to protect the home front and to protect future terror.
That's the latest from LIVE FROM AFGHANISTAN this evening. Coming up for our domestic viewers will be "THE POINT." For our international viewers, regular programming continues. Thanks for joining us. I'm Martin Savidge, LIVE FROM AFGHANISTAN.
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