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Seabees Rebuild Schools and Other Vital Structures in Iraq

Aired August 22, 2003 - 14:39   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: In the aftermath of war and the continued absence of peace, Iraqi reconstruction could easily be a catch phrase or even an afterthought. But for members of the U.S. Navy construction forces, the Seabees, it's a full-time occupation.
This is a former Iraqi school that the Saddam regime converted to a torture chamber. Well, the Seabees converted it back and tomorrow it officially reopens for business. Now note the color scheme chosen by Iraqis in vivid contrast to the dusty yellow favored by Saddam.

Earlier today I spoke via satellite with Petty Officer Scott Norman and his boss, one of many, Rear Admiral Chuck Kubic.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Admiral, let's begin with you. I want to ask you specifically about the project the Seabees have been working on. I mean, daily we're talking about troops dying, the search for Saddam Hussein, the bombing at the U.N. Yet it doesn't seem that your projects have been affected.

I'm looking at the list. The Seabees have been working on schools, banks, fire stations, post offices, courthouses, orphanages -- the list is amazing. Tell me what has made the biggest impact on the Iraqis so far.

REAR AM. CHUCK KUBIC, U.S. NAVY: Well, first of all, we actually started working reconstruction down in the port city of Umm Qasr less than a week after the initial attack. And we've been moving up behind the Marines the whole way to Baghdad working all along the way and in too (ph) we've completed over 150 projects. Some by ourselves, and some with the assistance of Iraqi contractors.

But I think the biggest impact has been the work that the Seabees have done in the schools for the children of Iraq. Well over 70 of these projects were rebuilding schools.

PHILLIPS: Scott, you've been highly involved with this. You're a construction worker. You're a Seabee. Tell me about the first project you put your hands on and how it made an impact on you and how the Iraqis reacted to you.

PETTY OFFICER SCOTT NORMAN, U.S.. NAVY: Well, ma'am, within about a week after arriving in Kuwait, we headed up to Nasiriyah and we began work on a hospital that had received some damage from the war. It was a pretty-good size hole in the roof and we started with that, fixed the hole in the roof and went on to fix some other things in the hospital as far as, like, the utilities, the electric and the plumbing and just -- honestly, that's why I joined the military. That's why I joined the Seabees, to do things like that for people. It was honestly life-changing.

PHILLIPS: And how have the Iraqis responded to you, Scott? What do they say to you?

NORMAN: At first they were a little standoff. They weren't quite sure why we were there at the hospital or we weren't -- they weren't quite sure why we were at, you know, some of the spots we were at, but then once they saw that, you know, we were getting the electricity running and the water back up and running, it was with open arms, like you were doing work for a friend back home. They would bring you little cookies and tea and stuff like that. It was quite impressive to see their turnaround in just a few short days.

PHILLIPS: Wow. And Admiral, you mentioned you have been employing Iraqis, I understand. as craftsman, contractors -- tell us about that.

KUBIC: Well, initially the first seven workers that we hired in Umm Qasr literally risked their lives to come to work for us. But we built from there into small construction crews and ultimately jumpstarted the Iraqi contractor industry again and had much larger projects to the tune of couple $100,000 projects that they could work by them selves.

PHILLIPS: Which obviously is making a tremendous impact on the economy there. Sir, I've got to ask you...

KUBIC: Well, absolutely. In fact, one of the contractors came kind of with tears in his eyes and said because of this work 30 Iraqi families now had food on the table. And they did superb, superb work for us, as well.

PHILLIPS: Admiral, I want to ask you about the security also. How are you dealing with the terrorist threat and how are you preventing your projects from being affected? It has to be a heavy burden for you.

KUBIC: Well, it is. We actually put security on the roofs and on the perimeters while we're working and we-- we're very hardened in our convoys when we move back and forth to the jobs. The Seabees are also trained to fight, if necessary, and have done very, very well in protecting their job sites.

But also the Iraqi people themselves, once they understand and that we're there to help and rebuilding, they provide us tips that we turn over to the Marines and in many cases are able to preempt any sort of strike by intelligence we receive from the local people.

PHILLIPS: And, Scott, as a working Seabee, how do you deal with the security issue and do you worry about your safety? NORMAN: At times you do, but it's somewhat reassuring that you know you always have somebody watching your back, regardless of where you're at or what job you're doing. Just like the admiral said, whenever we go from one place to another we take every precaution we can take to protect ourselves and on the job sites, we have several people doing security. And that's their job is just to protect us while we fix a facility.

PHILLIPS: Petty Officer Scott Norman, Admiral Chuck Kubic, both of you, thank you so much for your time and we salute your efforts and just appreciate everything that you're doing over there. Just in addition to everything that's been having, you're making quite a difference in Iraq. We appreciate your time.

KUBIC: Thank you very much.

NORMAN: Thank you, ma'am.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: And while the Seabees are poring their efforts into rebuilding Iraq, there are some soldiers who have paid the ultimate price while serving there. Let's take a moment to salute them in memory.

(MUSIC)

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





Iraq>


Aired August 22, 2003 - 14:39   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: In the aftermath of war and the continued absence of peace, Iraqi reconstruction could easily be a catch phrase or even an afterthought. But for members of the U.S. Navy construction forces, the Seabees, it's a full-time occupation.
This is a former Iraqi school that the Saddam regime converted to a torture chamber. Well, the Seabees converted it back and tomorrow it officially reopens for business. Now note the color scheme chosen by Iraqis in vivid contrast to the dusty yellow favored by Saddam.

Earlier today I spoke via satellite with Petty Officer Scott Norman and his boss, one of many, Rear Admiral Chuck Kubic.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Admiral, let's begin with you. I want to ask you specifically about the project the Seabees have been working on. I mean, daily we're talking about troops dying, the search for Saddam Hussein, the bombing at the U.N. Yet it doesn't seem that your projects have been affected.

I'm looking at the list. The Seabees have been working on schools, banks, fire stations, post offices, courthouses, orphanages -- the list is amazing. Tell me what has made the biggest impact on the Iraqis so far.

REAR AM. CHUCK KUBIC, U.S. NAVY: Well, first of all, we actually started working reconstruction down in the port city of Umm Qasr less than a week after the initial attack. And we've been moving up behind the Marines the whole way to Baghdad working all along the way and in too (ph) we've completed over 150 projects. Some by ourselves, and some with the assistance of Iraqi contractors.

But I think the biggest impact has been the work that the Seabees have done in the schools for the children of Iraq. Well over 70 of these projects were rebuilding schools.

PHILLIPS: Scott, you've been highly involved with this. You're a construction worker. You're a Seabee. Tell me about the first project you put your hands on and how it made an impact on you and how the Iraqis reacted to you.

PETTY OFFICER SCOTT NORMAN, U.S.. NAVY: Well, ma'am, within about a week after arriving in Kuwait, we headed up to Nasiriyah and we began work on a hospital that had received some damage from the war. It was a pretty-good size hole in the roof and we started with that, fixed the hole in the roof and went on to fix some other things in the hospital as far as, like, the utilities, the electric and the plumbing and just -- honestly, that's why I joined the military. That's why I joined the Seabees, to do things like that for people. It was honestly life-changing.

PHILLIPS: And how have the Iraqis responded to you, Scott? What do they say to you?

NORMAN: At first they were a little standoff. They weren't quite sure why we were there at the hospital or we weren't -- they weren't quite sure why we were at, you know, some of the spots we were at, but then once they saw that, you know, we were getting the electricity running and the water back up and running, it was with open arms, like you were doing work for a friend back home. They would bring you little cookies and tea and stuff like that. It was quite impressive to see their turnaround in just a few short days.

PHILLIPS: Wow. And Admiral, you mentioned you have been employing Iraqis, I understand. as craftsman, contractors -- tell us about that.

KUBIC: Well, initially the first seven workers that we hired in Umm Qasr literally risked their lives to come to work for us. But we built from there into small construction crews and ultimately jumpstarted the Iraqi contractor industry again and had much larger projects to the tune of couple $100,000 projects that they could work by them selves.

PHILLIPS: Which obviously is making a tremendous impact on the economy there. Sir, I've got to ask you...

KUBIC: Well, absolutely. In fact, one of the contractors came kind of with tears in his eyes and said because of this work 30 Iraqi families now had food on the table. And they did superb, superb work for us, as well.

PHILLIPS: Admiral, I want to ask you about the security also. How are you dealing with the terrorist threat and how are you preventing your projects from being affected? It has to be a heavy burden for you.

KUBIC: Well, it is. We actually put security on the roofs and on the perimeters while we're working and we-- we're very hardened in our convoys when we move back and forth to the jobs. The Seabees are also trained to fight, if necessary, and have done very, very well in protecting their job sites.

But also the Iraqi people themselves, once they understand and that we're there to help and rebuilding, they provide us tips that we turn over to the Marines and in many cases are able to preempt any sort of strike by intelligence we receive from the local people.

PHILLIPS: And, Scott, as a working Seabee, how do you deal with the security issue and do you worry about your safety? NORMAN: At times you do, but it's somewhat reassuring that you know you always have somebody watching your back, regardless of where you're at or what job you're doing. Just like the admiral said, whenever we go from one place to another we take every precaution we can take to protect ourselves and on the job sites, we have several people doing security. And that's their job is just to protect us while we fix a facility.

PHILLIPS: Petty Officer Scott Norman, Admiral Chuck Kubic, both of you, thank you so much for your time and we salute your efforts and just appreciate everything that you're doing over there. Just in addition to everything that's been having, you're making quite a difference in Iraq. We appreciate your time.

KUBIC: Thank you very much.

NORMAN: Thank you, ma'am.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: And while the Seabees are poring their efforts into rebuilding Iraq, there are some soldiers who have paid the ultimate price while serving there. Let's take a moment to salute them in memory.

(MUSIC)

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





Iraq>