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New Details of the Ordeal of Jessica Lynch's Unit in Iraq

Aired June 17, 2003 - 14:02   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.


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: We'll begin this hour with the fog of war, rarely more foggy or desperate or disastrous than on the morning of March 23 in Nasiriyah, Iraq. Private First Class Jessica Lynch was about to become the most famous GI of the Iraq war, and 11 of her comrades would die. The twists and turns their unit took at the end of a miles-long convoy are only now coming fully into focus.
And CNN Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr, is our guard.

Barbara -- we've talked a lot about that fatal convoy, but the new details coming forward specifically about how she was treated in this hospital. Let's talk about that. We didn't hear about these Iraqi doctors and nurses that basically are being credited with saving her life.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, that's right. According to the accounts that are now coming to light at the Pentagon, Private First Class Jessica Lynch got some very decent medical attention from the Iraqi doctors at the hospital in An- Nasariyah, where she was taken. She was very, very seriously hurt in this convoy, when a vehicle she was in was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. And it's not -- it appears that all of her injuries were from that portion of the incident, that she did not suffer gunshot or stab wounds but rather very serious concussion fractures, if you will, from this incident.

We should tell you other details have come to light about all of this today. The convoy was to proceed to Baghdad. These people were at the end of an 8,000-vehicle convoy. They made a left turn that -- they failed to make a left turn that was supposed to take them around the town of Nasiriyah. Instead when they missed that turn, they headed north, and that took them right into trouble.

They realized they were in trouble. They tried to turn around and come back, and that's when they came under attack by Iraqi irregulars. The Iraqis tried to block the road when the convoy came back. They began to fire upon them from quite close positions.

At this point, Jessica Lynch and her best friend, Lori Piestawa, were riding in a soft-top Humvee. That was the vehicle that got hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. We've learned today that those same Iraqi doctors have told the U.S. that Lori Piestawa apparently made it alive to that hospital, but with very grave injuries, and that she died shortly thereafter.

We've also learned some stories today of heroic actions in that convoy that did not make the headlines, but are extremely heroic. The senior enlisted man, Robert Dowdy, who was also in that Humvee, tried to rally all of the young soldiers, keep them organized, keep them moving as they came under attack, keep encouraging them to fight against the Iraqis. He was killed instantly when the grenade hit his vehicle.

We have learned also another young U.S. soldier took on a mortar pit full of Iraqi soldiers, killing many of them.

So, Kyra, a lot of this has yet to make the headlines, but some very heroic actions by young soldiers on a day that is now being described as another Mogadishu -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Strong words. Barbara, quickly, back to the treatment of Jessica Lynch in the hospital. At the beginning, we had heard talk that she was being beaten and slapped and treated -- or mistreated in the hospital. Now new details coming to light. Interviews being done with doctors and nurses. One quote specifically I remember reading an Iraqi nurse singing to her at night, rubbing talcum powder on her shoulders.

What have you been able to confirm from your sources with regard to the criticism about that this rescue was staged-managed by the Bush administration?

STARR: Well, Pentagon officials from the very highest levels have very strongly refuted that. There's absolutely no confirmed indication of any stage-managing. Did those U.S. Special Forces go in heavily armed, ready for anything that they might encounter? Absolutely. And they make no apologies for it, because that's the way they would go on any type of mission that essentially is in enemy territory. They must be prepared, they say, for any eventuality.

Now, when they got into the hospital, they did find that there were no known enemy forces there, that there were doctors, that there were people who had assisted Private First Class Jessica Lynch. But they make no apologies for the fact that they went in heavily armed, ready for anything that they might encounter -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr, thank you.

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 - 14:02   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: We'll begin this hour with the fog of war, rarely more foggy or desperate or disastrous than on the morning of March 23 in Nasiriyah, Iraq. Private First Class Jessica Lynch was about to become the most famous GI of the Iraq war, and 11 of her comrades would die. The twists and turns their unit took at the end of a miles-long convoy are only now coming fully into focus.
And CNN Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr, is our guard.

Barbara -- we've talked a lot about that fatal convoy, but the new details coming forward specifically about how she was treated in this hospital. Let's talk about that. We didn't hear about these Iraqi doctors and nurses that basically are being credited with saving her life.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, that's right. According to the accounts that are now coming to light at the Pentagon, Private First Class Jessica Lynch got some very decent medical attention from the Iraqi doctors at the hospital in An- Nasariyah, where she was taken. She was very, very seriously hurt in this convoy, when a vehicle she was in was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. And it's not -- it appears that all of her injuries were from that portion of the incident, that she did not suffer gunshot or stab wounds but rather very serious concussion fractures, if you will, from this incident.

We should tell you other details have come to light about all of this today. The convoy was to proceed to Baghdad. These people were at the end of an 8,000-vehicle convoy. They made a left turn that -- they failed to make a left turn that was supposed to take them around the town of Nasiriyah. Instead when they missed that turn, they headed north, and that took them right into trouble.

They realized they were in trouble. They tried to turn around and come back, and that's when they came under attack by Iraqi irregulars. The Iraqis tried to block the road when the convoy came back. They began to fire upon them from quite close positions.

At this point, Jessica Lynch and her best friend, Lori Piestawa, were riding in a soft-top Humvee. That was the vehicle that got hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. We've learned today that those same Iraqi doctors have told the U.S. that Lori Piestawa apparently made it alive to that hospital, but with very grave injuries, and that she died shortly thereafter.

We've also learned some stories today of heroic actions in that convoy that did not make the headlines, but are extremely heroic. The senior enlisted man, Robert Dowdy, who was also in that Humvee, tried to rally all of the young soldiers, keep them organized, keep them moving as they came under attack, keep encouraging them to fight against the Iraqis. He was killed instantly when the grenade hit his vehicle.

We have learned also another young U.S. soldier took on a mortar pit full of Iraqi soldiers, killing many of them.

So, Kyra, a lot of this has yet to make the headlines, but some very heroic actions by young soldiers on a day that is now being described as another Mogadishu -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Strong words. Barbara, quickly, back to the treatment of Jessica Lynch in the hospital. At the beginning, we had heard talk that she was being beaten and slapped and treated -- or mistreated in the hospital. Now new details coming to light. Interviews being done with doctors and nurses. One quote specifically I remember reading an Iraqi nurse singing to her at night, rubbing talcum powder on her shoulders.

What have you been able to confirm from your sources with regard to the criticism about that this rescue was staged-managed by the Bush administration?

STARR: Well, Pentagon officials from the very highest levels have very strongly refuted that. There's absolutely no confirmed indication of any stage-managing. Did those U.S. Special Forces go in heavily armed, ready for anything that they might encounter? Absolutely. And they make no apologies for it, because that's the way they would go on any type of mission that essentially is in enemy territory. They must be prepared, they say, for any eventuality.

Now, when they got into the hospital, they did find that there were no known enemy forces there, that there were doctors, that there were people who had assisted Private First Class Jessica Lynch. But they make no apologies for the fact that they went in heavily armed, ready for anything that they might encounter -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr, thank you.

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