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Fmr. Pres. Bush to Speak to Cherry Point Marines

Aired April 02, 2003 - 14:28   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, CNN ANCHOR: Well, it may feel to the former President George Bush that he's done this before. He's going to be rallying the troops in Cherry Point, North Carolina today. It's a visit that he also made 12 years ago during a time of war.
Our Whitney Casey joins us from Cherry Point with more now. Whitney, hello again.

WHITNEY CASEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Judy. That's right. In just about an hour, we expect former President George Bush to arrive here.

Many here are waiting with signs. A lot of American flags around here. There are about 200 people here in this hangar at Cherry Point. This is the Marines' largest air station in the world.

And joining me now is Jennifer Hudson. Jennifer, you were here for the '91 visit, that's right?

JENNIFER HUDSON, WAITING TO HEAR FORMER PRESIDENT: Yes, I was.

CASEY: So how forward are you -- you're really looking forward to this, you told me?

HUDSON: I'm excited. I'm always happy to see these good Republican presidents come to eastern North Carolina. I was so excited in '91 when this same president was here and I'm just -- I'm elated to be here today.

CASEY: And even brought your grandson.

HUDSON: Right here, he's a seventh grader at Broad Creek Middle School in Calderick County (ph).

CASEY: Thank you so much. Enjoy yourself, enjoy yourself, Alan.

And we also have Staff Sergeant Colby -- What was your last name?

STAFF SGT. COLBY RYAN, U.S. MARINES: Colby Ryan.

CASEY: Colby Ryan. Staff Sergeant Colby Ryan and his wife here. You have a lot of friends over there?

RYAN: Yes.

CASEY: What are you expecting to hear? RYAN: Hopefully they'll all come back safe and sound.

CASEY: And President Bush plans on going to Camp Lejeune tomorrow.

RYAN: Right.

CASEY: And there are a lot of people deployed from there. There's been a lot of criticism from President Bush that he has -- that the administration's not sent enough troops over there. Have you heard anything about that?

RYAN: No, I know we have a lot deployed from here at Cherry Point. And there's a lot deployed down there, too, but, no, we haven't heard anything more that they're going to be deploying.

CASEY: You're here to just support your servicemen, right?

RYAN: Yes, I am.

CASEY: All right. Thank you guys, so much.

As to that criticism, President Bush plans on going to Camp Lejune tomorrow.

Now, Camp Lejune -- 17,500 Marines have been deployed. That's about half of the troops over there at Camp Lejune and about a third of the Marines that are actually in theater, although Camp Lejune has incurred quite a few of the casualties. Out of the 44 casualties, 30 Marines have been killed and 12 of them have been from Camp Lejune. Seven are currently missing.

However, the town of Jacksonville and many of the people that are still on the -- the base support the troops wholeheartedly and they're expected to get a progress report on the war in Iraq with the current commander in chief tomorrow -- Judy.

WOODRUFF: Whitney Casey reporting for us from North Carolina where former President George Bush is going to be paying a visit to the troops, as she said, in Cherry Point at Camp Lejune.

And as we heard Whitney say, huge support for the troops in that part of the country tempered only by the sadness over the loss of some of those Marines. And, of course, we share that as well.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired April 2, 2003 - 14:28   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: Well, it may feel to the former President George Bush that he's done this before. He's going to be rallying the troops in Cherry Point, North Carolina today. It's a visit that he also made 12 years ago during a time of war.
Our Whitney Casey joins us from Cherry Point with more now. Whitney, hello again.

WHITNEY CASEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Judy. That's right. In just about an hour, we expect former President George Bush to arrive here.

Many here are waiting with signs. A lot of American flags around here. There are about 200 people here in this hangar at Cherry Point. This is the Marines' largest air station in the world.

And joining me now is Jennifer Hudson. Jennifer, you were here for the '91 visit, that's right?

JENNIFER HUDSON, WAITING TO HEAR FORMER PRESIDENT: Yes, I was.

CASEY: So how forward are you -- you're really looking forward to this, you told me?

HUDSON: I'm excited. I'm always happy to see these good Republican presidents come to eastern North Carolina. I was so excited in '91 when this same president was here and I'm just -- I'm elated to be here today.

CASEY: And even brought your grandson.

HUDSON: Right here, he's a seventh grader at Broad Creek Middle School in Calderick County (ph).

CASEY: Thank you so much. Enjoy yourself, enjoy yourself, Alan.

And we also have Staff Sergeant Colby -- What was your last name?

STAFF SGT. COLBY RYAN, U.S. MARINES: Colby Ryan.

CASEY: Colby Ryan. Staff Sergeant Colby Ryan and his wife here. You have a lot of friends over there?

RYAN: Yes.

CASEY: What are you expecting to hear? RYAN: Hopefully they'll all come back safe and sound.

CASEY: And President Bush plans on going to Camp Lejeune tomorrow.

RYAN: Right.

CASEY: And there are a lot of people deployed from there. There's been a lot of criticism from President Bush that he has -- that the administration's not sent enough troops over there. Have you heard anything about that?

RYAN: No, I know we have a lot deployed from here at Cherry Point. And there's a lot deployed down there, too, but, no, we haven't heard anything more that they're going to be deploying.

CASEY: You're here to just support your servicemen, right?

RYAN: Yes, I am.

CASEY: All right. Thank you guys, so much.

As to that criticism, President Bush plans on going to Camp Lejune tomorrow.

Now, Camp Lejune -- 17,500 Marines have been deployed. That's about half of the troops over there at Camp Lejune and about a third of the Marines that are actually in theater, although Camp Lejune has incurred quite a few of the casualties. Out of the 44 casualties, 30 Marines have been killed and 12 of them have been from Camp Lejune. Seven are currently missing.

However, the town of Jacksonville and many of the people that are still on the -- the base support the troops wholeheartedly and they're expected to get a progress report on the war in Iraq with the current commander in chief tomorrow -- Judy.

WOODRUFF: Whitney Casey reporting for us from North Carolina where former President George Bush is going to be paying a visit to the troops, as she said, in Cherry Point at Camp Lejune.

And as we heard Whitney say, huge support for the troops in that part of the country tempered only by the sadness over the loss of some of those Marines. And, of course, we share that as well.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com