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Afghanistan: Anaconda, Day 12, End of the Beginning or Beginning of the End?
Aired March 12, 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, HOST: Coming up, LIVE FROM AFGHANISTAN, Operation Anaconda, Day 12, is it the end of the beginning or the beginning of the end? Plus, we'll take a look at Ground Zero as it reveals more heroes six months and one day after the attack. And then color coding terror; a new system goes into effect. Do you know the color of the day? It all begins right here, right now, LIVE FROM AFGHANISTAN.
ANNOUNCER: Back from the front lines.
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UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER: It was pretty intense. The first couple of days was very intense.
UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER: I am very, glad to be back.
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ANNOUNCER: But the operation goes on.
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MAJ. BRYAN HILFERTY, U.S. ARMY SPOKESMAN: The battle continues. Anaconda continues.
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ANNOUNCER: Worries in the war zone.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): How many al Qaeda and Taliban forces remain close to here is unknown, that some could melt back into rural communities is likely.
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ANNOUNCER: We'll take you to the battle front. Fallen heroes found in the rubble six months and one day after the September 11 attacks. We'll have a report from Ground Zero.
LIVE FROM AFGHANISTAN, Martin Savidge. SAVIDGE: Good morning. It is just after 5:30 in the morning here. Good evening to you in the United States. It is a very chilly morning here in Bagram as we wait for Bob. Bob is the name that the soldiers give to the sun, Big Orange Ball. It is guaranteed that when the sun does come up, you will see a flock of new birds arriving back here at the Bagram base. These birds carry soldiers, lots of them, bringing them back from the front lines. The question is as Operation Anaconda rolls into Day 12, when will those soldiers be going back out for the fight? We take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SAVIDGE (voice-over): Pilots call it the sound of freedom. Soldiers call it is sound of going home. The morning birds in Bagram fly on rotors. For the past two days, huge CH-47 troop transport helicopters touched down at this coalition base, unloading soldiers fresh from the fighting in eastern Afghanistan. Their return made possible by Afghanistan military forces that have now moved into the valley region, pressing the effort to root out Taliban and al Qaeda pockets that remain.
HILFERTY: The battle continues. Anaconda continues.
SAVIDGE: Close to 2,000 troops are now on the ground in the Shah-e-Kot Valley but there hasn't been any significant fighting in five days. Tuesday, friendly Afghan forces reportedly made major gains, but the respite for U.S. and coalition forces could be brief.
HILFERTY: These guys have been up at 10,000 feet for over a week. They need to come back. They need to get new the better - or new clothes on if their clothes are ripped or dirty. They need to get washed up. They need to sleep and they need to go back out and kill our enemies.
SAVIDGE: For soldiers the break allows them to reflect on what they've been through and what May still lie ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER: I'm very, very glad to be back. I'll be more happy when I get home.
UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER: Proud to be over here serving. And it's tough being away from home and stuff, but they're probably you guys and I do for these.
SAVIDGE: The birds have returned to Bagram, but it won't be long before they take flight again.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SAVIDGE: These have been difficult days for the villagers and people who live near the front lines, especially in the area of Gardez, underneath the sounds of bombs and bullets that are flying nearby. But the war is also bringing a certain sense of stability to some of those villages. CNN's Nic Robertson has that story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ROBERTSON (voice-over): Scouring the terrain, U.S. attack helicopters bank, sweeping in towards the mountains near Shah-e-Kot. A few days ago, flying here could have been far more dangerous, only a few miles from the center of al Qaeda and Taliban resistance.
Under the flight path of these Operation Anaconda pilots, villagers testified to the intensity of the last eight days of bombing.
"It broke all the windows," Hakram (ph) says, "And we had to send the women away."
"This day," Mozorgol (ph) says, "it's different. No bombs have fallen."
They talk of mines on the four miles of road that separate them from the suspected Taliban and al Qaeda stronghold. No one here dares venture in that direction. High and rocky crags overlooking Shah-e- Kot, coalition forces gather, mere specks on the horizon as the attack helicopters fly close to them, apparently out of reach of danger.
Farther still from Shah-e-Kot, a B-52 unloads its deadly munitions on an unseen target. So far away, the detonations cannot be heard, an indication that perhaps Taliban and al Qaeda May have moved on.
(on-camera): For now, at least, Operation Anaconda appears to be entering a new phase. The ease in bombing around Shah-e-Kot allowing time for consolidation of new ground gained.
(voice-over): Time also in the nearest town of Zormat, for local officials to improve stability to this sector of Operation Anaconda. A new security chief in this former pro-Taliban community is sworn in.
"We are all Pashtuns" Commander Matin says, "We can get along."
His appointment by the new interim government necessary because the previous incumbent who was close to the Taliban was detained by coalition forces three weeks ago.
ABDUL MATIN HASAN KEHIEL, ZORMAT SECURITY CHIEF (through translator): The war in Shah-e-Kot is because of the people who are against our country. We invite the Afghans who have been deceived by them to settle their problems peacefully.
ROBERTSON: How ever many al Qaeda and Taliban remain close to here is unknown; that some could melt back into rural communities is likely. Others, it appears, are still being pursued through the mountains.
Nic Robertson, CNN, Spintagh (ph), Afghanistan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SAVIDGE: One of the questions being asked now about Operation Anaconda is how long is it going to go on? We're now going into Day 12. Some have said it is winding down. Others say, oh, no, it is simply moving into a whole new phase. We want to get the very latest now and for that, we turn to CNN's Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN MILITARY AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: At today's Pentagon briefing, more evidence of the now more than 2,500 bombs the U.S. military has dropped on Afghanistan as part of Operation Anaconda. One of the videos showed an F-16 hitting a cave entrance where al Qaeda forces were suspected to be inside. Another one, an F- 14 hitting al Qaeda forces dug in on a ridgeline.
This operation was originally envisioned as only going a couple of days. Instead, it's been more than 10 days now before the U.S. has reached the mopping up stage.
BRIG. GEN. JOHN ROSA, DEP. OPERATIONS DIRECTOR, JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: The heaviest of fighting we've seen in the early days. In the last 72 hours, it's been more sporadic, focused on smaller pockets of Taliban and al Qaeda. But in an area this big and this diverse with as many caves, I would say that there is still work to be done.
MCINTYRE: And while the Pentagon earlier said that it had no knowledge of women or children being killed in Operation Anaconda, late today, the U.S. Central Command released a statement saying that, "In fact, some women and children had been killed in an air strike last week." In fact, they said that "one survivor, a child, had been taken to a U.S. military hospital and was being treated and was in stable condition." The Pentagon insists that that was a legitimate target that the U.S. fighter plane struck a vehicle that was fleeing from a known al Qaeda stronghold.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon is getting ready to dispatch troops to two more fronts in the war on terrorism, Yemen and Georgia. In Georgia, U.S. troops will be limited to training and equipping forces. But in Yemen, Pentagon sources say the U.S. troops May actually go out on anti-terrorist raids with the Yemeni forces.
Jamie McIntyre, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SAVIDGE: The interim leader of Afghanistan is now touring the world in search of aid and support for his nation. Hamid Karzai is paying a visit right now in Russia. That's a former foe, which once invaded Afghanistan in 1980, and then lat left in defeat. Now, Russian President Vladimir Putin is promising his country's expertise and help to rebuild war-ravaged Afghanistan.
Vice President Dick Cheney is also trotting the globe and discussing the war on terrorism. He is in Jordan on a mission focused on two very difficult problems. Those are Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein, and the continuing deadly violence between Israelis and Palestinians. Jordan's King Abdullah says that U.S. military action against Iraq would be disastrous to Middle East stability and security. Meanwhile, it is another bloody day in the Middle East for both sides involved. The latest violence took place in northern Israel where two Palestinian gunmen opened fire on motorists. Six Israelis were killed in that attack. CNN's Ben Wedeman has more from Ramallah on the rising death toll.
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BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Under cover of darkness, Israelis and Palestinians exchange gunfire in Ramallah. Dozens of tanks and armored personnel carriers entered the city surrounding El Amari Refugee Camp and then large parts of the city, the economic, cultural and political capital of the West Bank.
During the fighting, journalists also came under fire. CNN cameraman Joe Durrant and others were filming from a hotel across the street from the refugee camp when an Israeli heavy caliber machine gun opened up on them. It was all a mistake, the Israeli Army said.
Daybreak and the fighting went on and on and on. The Palestinian Authority called on camp residents to resist the Israelis. But their light machine guns were no match for Israel's well equipped forces who took up positions around the camp while attack helicopters hovered overhead. Water gushes from a main crushed by Israeli Army. Amidst the fighting, no one dares to repair it.
Most Ramallah residents stayed inside and under cover listening to the battle raging outside. The advance into Ramallah combined with a similar move into the Gaza refugee camp of Jabalya (ph) represent the biggest Israeli military operation since the 1982 invasion of Lebanon.
(on-camera): After sundown, the fighting rages on. Israel's offensive continues. There seems to be no end to this conflict.
Ben Wedeman, CNN, Ramallah, on the West Bank.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SAVIDGE: We're going to take a break now. But when we come back, we will take you back to the place where it all began. Ground Zero reveals more heroes six months and one day after the attack. LIVE FROM AFGHANISTAN continues in a moment.
ANNOUNCER: Next, a color-coded danger.
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TOM RIDGE, HOMELAND SECURITY DIRECTOR: For every level of threat, there will be a level of preparedness. It is a system that is equal to the threat.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: A new warning system for fighting a new enemy. But first, for more on the war against terror, including reports from the front lines and the home front, head to CNN.com. For AOL users, the keyword is CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: The tribute in lights at Ground Zero in New York City consists of two beams of light rising high into the night sky. It's designed to simulate the fallen twin towers of the World Trade Center. Eighty-eight powerful searchlights are used, each with a 7,000-watt bulb. The tribute will shine each night until April 13.
SAVIDGE: You know, as the soldiers here head off to fight on almost a daily basis, their commanders often remind them about the people who climbed up on the day that the buildings came down in New York City. It is almost impossible to believe that six months after the attack more heroes are still being found amidst the rubble. CNN's Maria Hinojosa joins us now live with more on that - Maria.
MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Marty, New York has just marked six months of the date of the World Trade Center attacks, and the towers of light behind me are a central part of that commemoration. It has been a heavy, emotional time for many here, particularly for those who lost family in the attacks. So today, six months and one day after the attacks on September 11, the bodies of six firefighters and two civilians have been recovered from the rubble. Taken from underneath the south tower, in an area that has not been excavated fully, there is many, many hope -- there is much hope for many families that perhaps their loved ones would be found under this part of the wreckage.
Today, what this means is for the families of eight victims, their wounds will reopen, but they will also have closure. For the lost firefighters, funerals attended by many who served alongside them, a chance for all families to pay their last respects. Two of the firefighters taken from the wreckage today come from Ladder Company 4 in the heart of Manhattan's theater district, a battalion hard hit. They lost 17 members on September 11. Many of the men there still in shock, unable to say anything, any words, and the mixed emotions about what it means to pull any kind of leftover body parts from the wreckage.
Marty, this has been for many families a time of still wanting to find something, anything of their family members who were found, who have been left behind at the World Trade Center. Anything that they can find is still a source of hope. For eight families today that hope has sadly been answered.
Back to you, Marty.
SAVIDGE: Maria, a question for you. Do we know exactly the circumstances of how these six firemen were found? It seems to be a significant number.
HINOJOSA: Well, what we do know is that there has been the hope that because this area underneath the south tower, which was the first tower to collapse and the second tower to be hit, that this particular area of the site has not been fully excavated. There are pockets still underneath where they're hoping -- and this is where these bodies were found. One of the fire battalion chiefs has said that they knew that there were many people in this area. That's why the hope is still there that perhaps they'll be able to pull more from underneath these pockets.
SAVIDGE: Maria Hinojosa reporting to us live from New York City. Thank you very much.
There is a new terror warning system that is in place in the United States. It's a color-coded one and right now, the color of the day is yellow. It is the brainchild of the security director Tom Ridge. And CNN's Jeanne Meserve has more on this new system.
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JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): During the Cold War, radios had specially marked civil defense frequencies where the public could get information about imminent danger. Now, a new warning system for a new enemy, terrorists.
RIDGE: We can fight them not just with conventional arms but with information, and expertise and common sense.
MESERVE: The attorney general will evaluate the credibility, specificity and gravity of terrorist threats and set a color-coded threat level that will be relayed to federal agencies, state and local officials, the private sector and, in most instances to the public. Green for times of low risk, blue when there's a general risk. When the level rises to yellow, there is an elevated risk. Orange indicates a high risk, and red means there is a severe threat. Each level triggers specific responses. For instance, at level red, transportation systems could be stopped just as they were on September 11 and the levels can be targeted geographically or otherwise.
RIDGE: The system will not eliminate risk. No system can. We face an enemies a ruthless and as cunning and unpredictable as any we've ever faced. Our intelligence may not pick up every threat.
MESERVE: One goal of the system is to create a common language to eliminate confusion that has cropped up since 9/11.
GALE NORTON, INTERIOR SECRETARY: I would say our dams are at level three. And someone would say, well, why do you have it at next to the bottom? And I'd say, no, in our system that's next to the top. And someone would say, well, how does that compare with level C or D? We had no common way of explaining how we were preparing.
MESERVE: State and local officials want even more information about pending threats, but say this system is an improvement on earlier generic warnings.
MAYOR PATRICK MCCRORY, CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA: I think it's going to clarify exactly how we can better allocate our resources at the local level and also better communicate to our citizens as to what actions they should take and what actions they shouldn't take.
MESERVE (on-camera): State and local officials and the private sector cannot be forced to follow the plan, but they are expected to. It's already in force for federal agencies. The current threat level, yellow for significant threat.
Jeanne Meserve, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: Next, we'll take a ride to the battle zone.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: We pretty much have this helicopter all to ourself. But enjoy it while you can because when we come back, it will be packed like a Tokyo subway at rush hour.
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ANNOUNCER: Plus, reflections from the front lines.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER: When we touched down and I got off the bird, I was like, reality. I could get out here and get shot and die.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: LIVE FROM AFGHANISTAN is back in two minutes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON COOPER: I'm Anderson Cooper in New York. Coming up on "THE POINT," reaction to the verdict in the Andrea Yates trial. It took jurors less than four hours to find her guilty. Now, they have to decide between live in prison and the death penalty. "THE POINT" begins in less than 10 minutes. Now back to "LIVE FROM AFGHANISTAN."
SAVIDGE: Coming up on LIVE FROM AFGHANISTAN, getting to the front for U.S. soldiers, it is half the battle. We'll take you on a journey that is anything but a joy ride.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: Since Operation Anaconda began almost two weeks ago; the U.S. military says it's dropped more than 2,500 bombs on the Taliban and al Qaeda targets.
SAVIDGE: You know, it's interesting; it only takes about an hour to travel from the relative security of Bagram here to the fighting on the front lines. For the soldiers, that is their commute to work and they hope they survive to come back home again. So join us now on a CH-47 on a journey that is a real lift.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SAVIDGE (voice-over): As they have almost daily since the Battle of Shah-e-Kot began, giant Chinook helicopters barrel through the Afghan sky, bound for the front. Twisting and swerving through mountain passes at over 100 miles an hour, only 30 feet off the ground. Flying so fast and so low gives the enemy only a few seconds to target a chopper before it's gone. But this time, the hair-raising journey is different.
(on-camera): Unlike the last time we went into the battle zone, we pretty much have the helicopter all to ourself. But enjoy it while you can because when we come back, it will be packed like a Tokyo subway at rush hour.
(voice-over): Just because the chopper is empty doesn't mean the flight is any less hazardous. After nine days of battling Taliban and al Qaeda fighters in the high elevations of eastern Afghanistan, U.S. and coalition soldiers began pulling out and heading back to base, leaving what they believed to be only small pockets of enemy fighters alive.
The mission moved the war in Afghanistan from out of the shadows of Special Forces and into the open battlefield of conventional warfare, providing traditional soldiers and the American public something they've rarely seen in the Afghan campaign, action.
UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER: When we touched down and I got off the bird, I was like reality. I could get out here and get shot and die. It was -- it was just different. It's not what I expected at all.
SAVIDGE (on-camera): Yeah. Do you think it changed either one of you being out here?
UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER: Oh, yeah, it gave me a better outlook on actually what combat really is. I mean you get this one image of combat in your head, and then once you get out here, it's almost totally different.
SAVIDGE: Most of the soldiers came here to this valley with little or no combat experience. Now, they leave as veterans with a sense of accomplishment.
(voice-over): Morale was high as the helicopters carrying them back to the front touched down. Soldiers greeted one another and showed the relief of returning from the fight unscathed. The victory in the valley, they called it, noting the date exactly six months to the day since the war on terrorism began.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SAVIDGE: The sun is just now casting an orange glow to the mountain ridge that surrounds Bagram. Sunlight means more helicopters, those coming in, also those heading out.
Last night, for the soldiers a bit of a break, a bit of home, a steak dinner was served to all of them. The line stretched on and on. The break is not going to last long. They know the steak dinner to be enjoyed now will be forgotten when the fighting begins again soon.
Reporting live from Afghanistan, I'm Martin Savidge. Thanks for joining us. We'll see you next time.
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