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101st Airborne Takes Six Prisoners
Aired March 27, 2003 - 13:09 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.
JUDY WOODRUFF, ANCHOR: As we continue to keep up these live pictures of Baghdad, we want to turn now to the 101st Airborne Division. It is also in central Iraq. And that is where six Iraqi men in a white SUV tried to infiltrate the U.S. helicopter assault unit.
CNN's Ryan Chilcote is with the 101st Airborne. Ryan, what happened?
RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Exactly, soldiers from the 101st Airborne were out on guard duty yesterday on the perimeter of this base when they saw this white SUV approaching the base. They said it was moving very slowly and erratically. They -- excuse me. They approached it, surrounded it, saw that six Iraqi men were inside.
The Iraqi men, when they saw the soldiers, immediately surrendered. They were taken into custody.
Now the U.S. military -- The commanders here at this base are saying that they believe that these men are part of a paramilitary group that is loyal to President Saddam Hussein. And they believe that these men are -- were couriers, perhaps, for this group.
They say that they found a lot of money, in fact, a lot of U.S. dollars inside of the SUV that indicates that they perhaps were moving money. They also found a lot of mess messages and instructions. They think all of that was going perhaps to some Ba'ath Party leaders in nearby towns.
Now, I had an opportunity to see both the Iraqi soldiers, the six men, and speak with some of the U.S. soldiers who were guarding them later in the evening here at the base.
I asked one of the soldiers what he thought about how they were treating the Iraqi soldiers, versus how U.S. POWs in Iraq are being treated. This is what he had to say, Judy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAPT. MICHAEL TITUS, 101ST AIRBORNE DIVISION: I think -- I think that regardless of what they do, you know, we're not them and just because, you know, somebody else does that, you know, Golden Rule you know, do unto others as you'd have done unto them.
And I think it, also, makes our resolve to fight stronger because we don't want to get captured. But it makes their resolve to fight less, because they know if they get captured, they're going to get treated humanely. They're going to get fed, they're going to get blankets, they're going to get shelter and medical treatment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHILCOTE: Judy, a little explanation. It's not entirely clear that those soldiers, when they set out in the direction of the base, intended to surrender. In fact, what the commanders here think is that they simply got lost in the sand storm and didn't realize where they were.
A quick note on their conditions. One of the six soldiers was given some medical attention. The doctor here gave him some medicine for his asthma. While I was there watching some of what was taking place at the camp, he was given some medicine.
Also, the soldiers -- some of the Iraqi soldiers were given blankets. The soldier we just heard from said that they were going to improve conditions for them, build some kind of shelter to get them out of the cold.
This is all part of the U.S. strategy to encourage Iraqis to surrender to U.S. forces. They want to make those conditions as good as possible to encourage other Iraqis to surrender -- Judy.
WOODRUFF: Isn't that extraordinary, Ryan, to think of our U.S. troops providing medicine and blankets to these Iraqis, right after they've taken them into custody?
Ryan, how much other resistance has the 101st run into, the unit you're with, run into, in the last day or so?
CHILCOTE: Not an incredible lot. There are what the military is calling irregular groups, or militia groups. Usually, between three and 10 soldiers, carrying -- armed with nothing more than, say, an RPG, a rocket propelled grenade launcher, out there.
They are watching this base, sometimes trying to infiltrate it, watching convoy routes. So far, pretty much researching what the U.S. troops here are up to. Very little active resistance -- Judy.
WOODRUFF: And just quickly, Ryan, how are the U.S. troops holding up?
CHILCOTE: Pretty good. Everyone was -- all the troops were very happy to see that the sand storm ended. That made life very tough. And I think that was really tough on morale.
A lot of these troops were in Afghanistan, just got back from Afghanistan about seven months ago. And all of them said these are the toughest conditions that they've ever seen, out of all of the conflicts they've covered. It was really tough.
You have to keep in mind that at this base where the 101st is set up now -- they just set it up about four days ago. They don't have any running water. They don't have showers. They don't have toilets. They don't have a kitchen where they can get hot food. They don't even have any tents.
Basically, in order for the soldiers to sleep, they dig what they call hasties, or hastily dug fighting positions, foxholes, that they sleep in to protect themselves from any kind of missile attacks. Really difficult conditions.
And on top of that, of course, the terrain here -- this is the desert, very desolate, and when we have those wind storms, there's nothing to stop that wind. There's absolutely no ground cover. So it gets very cold and very, very uncomfortable with that sand blowing up against you. Not to mention the fact, you just simply can't see a thing.
So today, nice, clear day. All the soldiers really smiling about that, Judy.
WOODRUFF: Boy, it's hard to -- for those of us who are back here in comfortable homes and offices in the U.S., it's really hard for us to imagine. But thank you for giving us a better understanding.
Ryan Chilcote, he is with the 101st Airborne in central Iraq.
And, Wolf, as I come back to you, these conditions really do sound tough.
WOLF BLITZER, ANCHOR: Very tough, Judy. I know a lot of our reporters tend to minimize it and say they're doing just fine. But having spoken to a lot of them off camera, I can tell you, they are going through a rough, rough assignment. They want to do it and that's why they're there and they're doing an excellent job, as our viewers, of course, know.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
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Aired March 27, 2003 - 13:09 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JUDY WOODRUFF, ANCHOR: As we continue to keep up these live pictures of Baghdad, we want to turn now to the 101st Airborne Division. It is also in central Iraq. And that is where six Iraqi men in a white SUV tried to infiltrate the U.S. helicopter assault unit.
CNN's Ryan Chilcote is with the 101st Airborne. Ryan, what happened?
RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Exactly, soldiers from the 101st Airborne were out on guard duty yesterday on the perimeter of this base when they saw this white SUV approaching the base. They said it was moving very slowly and erratically. They -- excuse me. They approached it, surrounded it, saw that six Iraqi men were inside.
The Iraqi men, when they saw the soldiers, immediately surrendered. They were taken into custody.
Now the U.S. military -- The commanders here at this base are saying that they believe that these men are part of a paramilitary group that is loyal to President Saddam Hussein. And they believe that these men are -- were couriers, perhaps, for this group.
They say that they found a lot of money, in fact, a lot of U.S. dollars inside of the SUV that indicates that they perhaps were moving money. They also found a lot of mess messages and instructions. They think all of that was going perhaps to some Ba'ath Party leaders in nearby towns.
Now, I had an opportunity to see both the Iraqi soldiers, the six men, and speak with some of the U.S. soldiers who were guarding them later in the evening here at the base.
I asked one of the soldiers what he thought about how they were treating the Iraqi soldiers, versus how U.S. POWs in Iraq are being treated. This is what he had to say, Judy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAPT. MICHAEL TITUS, 101ST AIRBORNE DIVISION: I think -- I think that regardless of what they do, you know, we're not them and just because, you know, somebody else does that, you know, Golden Rule you know, do unto others as you'd have done unto them.
And I think it, also, makes our resolve to fight stronger because we don't want to get captured. But it makes their resolve to fight less, because they know if they get captured, they're going to get treated humanely. They're going to get fed, they're going to get blankets, they're going to get shelter and medical treatment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHILCOTE: Judy, a little explanation. It's not entirely clear that those soldiers, when they set out in the direction of the base, intended to surrender. In fact, what the commanders here think is that they simply got lost in the sand storm and didn't realize where they were.
A quick note on their conditions. One of the six soldiers was given some medical attention. The doctor here gave him some medicine for his asthma. While I was there watching some of what was taking place at the camp, he was given some medicine.
Also, the soldiers -- some of the Iraqi soldiers were given blankets. The soldier we just heard from said that they were going to improve conditions for them, build some kind of shelter to get them out of the cold.
This is all part of the U.S. strategy to encourage Iraqis to surrender to U.S. forces. They want to make those conditions as good as possible to encourage other Iraqis to surrender -- Judy.
WOODRUFF: Isn't that extraordinary, Ryan, to think of our U.S. troops providing medicine and blankets to these Iraqis, right after they've taken them into custody?
Ryan, how much other resistance has the 101st run into, the unit you're with, run into, in the last day or so?
CHILCOTE: Not an incredible lot. There are what the military is calling irregular groups, or militia groups. Usually, between three and 10 soldiers, carrying -- armed with nothing more than, say, an RPG, a rocket propelled grenade launcher, out there.
They are watching this base, sometimes trying to infiltrate it, watching convoy routes. So far, pretty much researching what the U.S. troops here are up to. Very little active resistance -- Judy.
WOODRUFF: And just quickly, Ryan, how are the U.S. troops holding up?
CHILCOTE: Pretty good. Everyone was -- all the troops were very happy to see that the sand storm ended. That made life very tough. And I think that was really tough on morale.
A lot of these troops were in Afghanistan, just got back from Afghanistan about seven months ago. And all of them said these are the toughest conditions that they've ever seen, out of all of the conflicts they've covered. It was really tough.
You have to keep in mind that at this base where the 101st is set up now -- they just set it up about four days ago. They don't have any running water. They don't have showers. They don't have toilets. They don't have a kitchen where they can get hot food. They don't even have any tents.
Basically, in order for the soldiers to sleep, they dig what they call hasties, or hastily dug fighting positions, foxholes, that they sleep in to protect themselves from any kind of missile attacks. Really difficult conditions.
And on top of that, of course, the terrain here -- this is the desert, very desolate, and when we have those wind storms, there's nothing to stop that wind. There's absolutely no ground cover. So it gets very cold and very, very uncomfortable with that sand blowing up against you. Not to mention the fact, you just simply can't see a thing.
So today, nice, clear day. All the soldiers really smiling about that, Judy.
WOODRUFF: Boy, it's hard to -- for those of us who are back here in comfortable homes and offices in the U.S., it's really hard for us to imagine. But thank you for giving us a better understanding.
Ryan Chilcote, he is with the 101st Airborne in central Iraq.
And, Wolf, as I come back to you, these conditions really do sound tough.
WOLF BLITZER, ANCHOR: Very tough, Judy. I know a lot of our reporters tend to minimize it and say they're doing just fine. But having spoken to a lot of them off camera, I can tell you, they are going through a rough, rough assignment. They want to do it and that's why they're there and they're doing an excellent job, as our viewers, of course, know.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
cn
