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Wild Ride in Iraq

Aired June 17, 2003 - 13:00   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.


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: First this hour, some fascinating detail concerning the story of Jessica Lynch. We've all heard the accounts of Private Lynch's famous rescue and the subsequent claims that it wasn't quite as daring as many first believed. What we're learning today has less to do with Lynch's release and more to do with her capture. It's a classic fog of war scenario.
CNN's Barbara Starr is at the Pentagon, and she's here to try to lift the fog for us.

Hello -- Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, Miles.

Well, we are learning a lot more today about how that convoy was ambushed and what happened to these young soldiers on March 23rd in An-Nasariyah in southern Iraq.

Now, as you may remember, the 507th Maintenance was part of a lengthy convoy, some 8,000 vehicles of the 3rd Infantry Division. They were all moving from Kuwait to Baghdad. These 33 vehicles were bringing up the rear.

What happened apparently was as they approached the town of Nasiriyah, they failed to make a critical left turn that would have taken them around the town, not clear why they didn't get the word at the end of that convoy. Everybody else made the turn. They didn't make it.

Instead, they accidentally proceeded north, and that took them right towards the town and right into the heart of enemy territory. They went all the way north of town, made another critical wrong turn to the west, and then they realized they were lost. And so, they made a series of U-turns, tried to double back and come south again. But -- excuse me, Miles -- that's when they really ran into trouble.

A 90-minute firefight broke out. Iraqi paramilitary forces were firing at the convoy from buildings, from rooftops. They were putting apparently debris, trash, vehicles, in the road, trying to block the way of the convoy to make it to safety.

Now, at this point, Private First Class Jessica Lynch and her best friend, Private First Class Lori Piestewa, were transferred from a truck they were riding in into a soft-top Humvee vehicle. They were accompanied by the senior enlisted man, a man named Sergeant Robert Dowdy. He turned out to be one of the heroes of the day. He marshaled all of these young enlisted soldiers, tried to keep them organized, tried to keep them fighting against the attack by the Iraqis. But their Humvee was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade.

Lori Piestewa was driving. She lost control of that vehicle. But we also now know that the U.S. believes Lori Piestewa actually was alive for several minutes after the crash. She apparently later died at the hospital, the same hospital that Jessica Lynch was taken to.

Sergeant Dowdy, one of the heroes of the day, was killed instantly.

We've learned of another story, one of the enlisted soldiers taking on a mortar pit full of Iraqi soldiers that were attacking them. He killed all of those Iraqi soldiers.

One source telling CNN this was another Mogadishu, young American soldiers under attack from all directions. Private First Class Jessica Lynch, of course, going on to be rescued days later by U.S. Special Forces at that hospital where she was taken. Many of them, however, never made it that far -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Barbara, when you mention Mogadishu, it's worth reminding people of the lessons of Mogadishu. A couple of them were, first of all, don't send people out without adequate support, backup, armor and air cover. Is it likely there will be some similar lessons that come out of this, and perhaps the Pentagon wasn't paying attention to the lessons of Mogadishu?

STARR: Well, what we know is this convoy incident is under very close scrutiny by the U.S. Army and by Central Command as to how it exactly happened. It's worth remembering, again, this was an 8,000- vehicle convoy. These were the last 30-33 vehicles in the convoy. And they ran into trouble to some extent because they fell behind. They couldn't keep up with the rest of the unit for some reason. And then they made a wrong turn, and they basically fell out of sync with the rest of the convoy. What we don't know is whether there was any effort to call in air cover when the attack began, any effort to try and help them.

What we do know is that another couple of vehicles from the convoy went ahead. They raced ahead. They looked for a safe way out. They tried to get help. But it wasn't enough and they did come under attack.

So, it's all going to be looked at very closely -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Of course, it's worth reminding people that air support doesn't always work in close combat like that. Barbara Starr at the Pentagon, thank you very much. An interesting story, as it unfolds and is looked at again and again. We appreciate it.

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 June 17, 2003 - 13:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: First this hour, some fascinating detail concerning the story of Jessica Lynch. We've all heard the accounts of Private Lynch's famous rescue and the subsequent claims that it wasn't quite as daring as many first believed. What we're learning today has less to do with Lynch's release and more to do with her capture. It's a classic fog of war scenario.
CNN's Barbara Starr is at the Pentagon, and she's here to try to lift the fog for us.

Hello -- Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, Miles.

Well, we are learning a lot more today about how that convoy was ambushed and what happened to these young soldiers on March 23rd in An-Nasariyah in southern Iraq.

Now, as you may remember, the 507th Maintenance was part of a lengthy convoy, some 8,000 vehicles of the 3rd Infantry Division. They were all moving from Kuwait to Baghdad. These 33 vehicles were bringing up the rear.

What happened apparently was as they approached the town of Nasiriyah, they failed to make a critical left turn that would have taken them around the town, not clear why they didn't get the word at the end of that convoy. Everybody else made the turn. They didn't make it.

Instead, they accidentally proceeded north, and that took them right towards the town and right into the heart of enemy territory. They went all the way north of town, made another critical wrong turn to the west, and then they realized they were lost. And so, they made a series of U-turns, tried to double back and come south again. But -- excuse me, Miles -- that's when they really ran into trouble.

A 90-minute firefight broke out. Iraqi paramilitary forces were firing at the convoy from buildings, from rooftops. They were putting apparently debris, trash, vehicles, in the road, trying to block the way of the convoy to make it to safety.

Now, at this point, Private First Class Jessica Lynch and her best friend, Private First Class Lori Piestewa, were transferred from a truck they were riding in into a soft-top Humvee vehicle. They were accompanied by the senior enlisted man, a man named Sergeant Robert Dowdy. He turned out to be one of the heroes of the day. He marshaled all of these young enlisted soldiers, tried to keep them organized, tried to keep them fighting against the attack by the Iraqis. But their Humvee was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade.

Lori Piestewa was driving. She lost control of that vehicle. But we also now know that the U.S. believes Lori Piestewa actually was alive for several minutes after the crash. She apparently later died at the hospital, the same hospital that Jessica Lynch was taken to.

Sergeant Dowdy, one of the heroes of the day, was killed instantly.

We've learned of another story, one of the enlisted soldiers taking on a mortar pit full of Iraqi soldiers that were attacking them. He killed all of those Iraqi soldiers.

One source telling CNN this was another Mogadishu, young American soldiers under attack from all directions. Private First Class Jessica Lynch, of course, going on to be rescued days later by U.S. Special Forces at that hospital where she was taken. Many of them, however, never made it that far -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Barbara, when you mention Mogadishu, it's worth reminding people of the lessons of Mogadishu. A couple of them were, first of all, don't send people out without adequate support, backup, armor and air cover. Is it likely there will be some similar lessons that come out of this, and perhaps the Pentagon wasn't paying attention to the lessons of Mogadishu?

STARR: Well, what we know is this convoy incident is under very close scrutiny by the U.S. Army and by Central Command as to how it exactly happened. It's worth remembering, again, this was an 8,000- vehicle convoy. These were the last 30-33 vehicles in the convoy. And they ran into trouble to some extent because they fell behind. They couldn't keep up with the rest of the unit for some reason. And then they made a wrong turn, and they basically fell out of sync with the rest of the convoy. What we don't know is whether there was any effort to call in air cover when the attack began, any effort to try and help them.

What we do know is that another couple of vehicles from the convoy went ahead. They raced ahead. They looked for a safe way out. They tried to get help. But it wasn't enough and they did come under attack.

So, it's all going to be looked at very closely -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Of course, it's worth reminding people that air support doesn't always work in close combat like that. Barbara Starr at the Pentagon, thank you very much. An interesting story, as it unfolds and is looked at again and again. We appreciate it.

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