Return to Transcripts main page
Live From...
Interview With Fred Wellman
Aired September 30, 2003 - 15:39 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: Well we've told you about the soldiers that have helped rebuild those schools and we told you about a U.S. Army major a couple of months ago and his personal mission to help some northern Iraqis in some very tangible ways.
Major Fred Wellman is with the 101st Airborne Division. And once combat operations ended in Iraq, he called on his friends stateside to pitch in with schools and medical supplies, a mission that became known as Operation Fred.
Now those supplies for buildings and are being used. Today bragging rights go to Fred's entire battalion, six of the 101st and the new projects they've taken on to rebuild Iraq. Major Wellman joins us once again with an update. He's on a satellite phone from Iraq. Fred, you hear us all right?
MAJ. FRED WELLMAN, 101ST AIRBORNE DIV., U.S. ARMY: I can, Kyra. Thanks very much.
PHILLIPS: You bet. First of all, it the let's talk about the supplies you received from Operation Fred and talk about the medical clinic that finally is up and running and Dr. Mohammed (ph) and you're telling me he had 61 patients the other night, kids that have never had a check-up before.
WELLMAN: Yes, Kyra. It's pretty exciting. I don't want to talk about Operation Fred in the past tense. I received a dozen boxes from a town in Illinois just yesterday. So I think we've gotten over 3,000 pounds of supplies from the United States in that project. It's overwhelming.
And as you said, we are delivering the supplies out in the schools right now. Dr. Mohammed is just a super human. He does his business with his (UNINTELLIGIBLE) village and (UNINTELLIGIBLE) serves in the Tigris River Council which our council here in our region which does the people's business.
And at night, at 4:00 in the evening he goes back and he starts taking care of patients until 11:00, midnight (UNINTELLIGIBLE). So it's an amazing the feat that he manages to manage every single day.
PHILLIPS: All right, well we've got some pictures of Dr. Mohammed. You sent them to us today. We're get those up so folks can actually see him. And you are in these pictures also. And he's actually treating some of the kids and looking at them. I think -- I didn't -- I guess one of the most amazing things for me is to think that these kids have never seen a doctor before.
WELLMAN: Well, that's where the 61 patients come in. He was telling me what happens a lot of times, a man will come in with dermatitis, a rash on his hand, and he'll bring his whole family, 10, 11, 12 people because they've never seen a doctor in their region.
So they come to Dr. Mohammed and he sees them for free. Right now he is not accepting any fees. We have provided medicines to his clinic through Operation Fred and through the U.S. government purchasing supplies in the Iraqi market.
So right now all of these people are getting to see a doctor for free which is pretty amazing if you think about that.
PHILLIPS: That is amazing.
WELLMAN: As a matter of fact, it's exciting, too because think I may have told you before, we were able to save a life for the first time using Operation Fred medicine and his clinic.
A woman came in in the middle of the night who was visiting his village and she had respiratory arrest from a severe asthma attack. And he came to me the day excited to tell me that he had opened the boxes of medicine he received through Operation Fred, gave her an injection and he pulled her back from the edge of a very close call.
So it's pretty exciting times here.
PHILLIPS: Well something else that you told me about that the Iraqis desperately need and that's water. Tell me about the water project in Asbah (ph( and the ribbon cutting that took place the other day.
WELLMAN: Yes, it's one of those small victories, Kyra. You always go for the big hit, everyone wants to hear about the million dollar projects. But Asbah is a wonderful case. It's a small village near our base. Actually not that small, 800 people. They're actually Kurd villages, unusual in our area. Wonderful people.
And they have never had running water to speak of in the village. We had been delivering water. They had pipes that they'd years ago. They came out and said, Look, let us lay the pipes, let us put it all out there, we'll do the work. We just need a little bit of seed money to buy the digging equipment, to purchase extra supplies and we'll tap into the existing water lines -- which is raw water, by the way to fix the pumping plant.
And we said, All right. We'll do that. So we gave them the money and these people did their own work all themselves for about a month's time. And yesterday we were very fortunate to go out there and open the spigot. And now every house in that village, some 80 houses now has running water for the first time.
It's a small victory for a small town. But when you meet these people and the sheer joy and appreciation (UNINTELLIGIBLE) for what's coming, it means a lot. PHILLIPS: Well let's talk about the interaction with Iraqis and how your battalion has actually taken on a number of Iraqi carpenters. You were telling me they're making $20 a week now and tell me how they're helping you, the troops and also helping rebuild their area of living.
WELLMAN: Well, there's actually a couple of works programs going to with the division. And we can't take a lot of credit. One of the programs for the carpenters is actually our division commanders came out, said, Look, hire carpenters. Let's put them to work (UNINTELLIGIBLE) fixing up our living spaces.
So we have 60 young men who come in here, very skilled and they build us whatever we want, tables, chairs. Some incredible bunkbeds for my soldiers who are living on top of each other inside of their buildings that we have here. And they've done that. They're making about $8 a day which is an incredible amount of money here in Iraq.
In addition to that, the 101st Aviation Brigade, under the auspices of a great young officer named Captain Kelly Rourke (ph) who's running our civil affairs, she started programs for Iraqi workers to work in public works projects. It's being run by some of the Iraqi friends. And we are actually up to 523 employees right now a week. And these folks are making $20 a week, filling in all of (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Iraqi army built. The bunkers that we don't need anymore that the Iraqi army built. And getting rid of the look of warfare here in our area.
And when I tell you for 523 a week, we rotate that by the week, giving everyone in the area a chance to get some work and get money. And it's interesting, a lot of the young men want to work to earn money buy school clothes for their children who will be going to school for the very first time in the 23 schools that our brigade has built in the area for the children.
So it's pretty neat little (UNINTELLIGIBLE) there.
PHILLIPS: That's pretty incredible stuff. Another side of the story, we can always look to you for that. Major Fred Wellman, 101st Airborne Division. Thank you so much for updating us and your time again today.
WELLMAN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) I really appreciate you having me on and letting us tell the good news story about the 101st Airborne's mission and what we're doing here in Iraq (UNINTELLIGIBLE) our friends. I appreciate the opportunity.
PHILLIPS: We 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 September 30, 2003 - 15:39 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well we've told you about the soldiers that have helped rebuild those schools and we told you about a U.S. Army major a couple of months ago and his personal mission to help some northern Iraqis in some very tangible ways.
Major Fred Wellman is with the 101st Airborne Division. And once combat operations ended in Iraq, he called on his friends stateside to pitch in with schools and medical supplies, a mission that became known as Operation Fred.
Now those supplies for buildings and are being used. Today bragging rights go to Fred's entire battalion, six of the 101st and the new projects they've taken on to rebuild Iraq. Major Wellman joins us once again with an update. He's on a satellite phone from Iraq. Fred, you hear us all right?
MAJ. FRED WELLMAN, 101ST AIRBORNE DIV., U.S. ARMY: I can, Kyra. Thanks very much.
PHILLIPS: You bet. First of all, it the let's talk about the supplies you received from Operation Fred and talk about the medical clinic that finally is up and running and Dr. Mohammed (ph) and you're telling me he had 61 patients the other night, kids that have never had a check-up before.
WELLMAN: Yes, Kyra. It's pretty exciting. I don't want to talk about Operation Fred in the past tense. I received a dozen boxes from a town in Illinois just yesterday. So I think we've gotten over 3,000 pounds of supplies from the United States in that project. It's overwhelming.
And as you said, we are delivering the supplies out in the schools right now. Dr. Mohammed is just a super human. He does his business with his (UNINTELLIGIBLE) village and (UNINTELLIGIBLE) serves in the Tigris River Council which our council here in our region which does the people's business.
And at night, at 4:00 in the evening he goes back and he starts taking care of patients until 11:00, midnight (UNINTELLIGIBLE). So it's an amazing the feat that he manages to manage every single day.
PHILLIPS: All right, well we've got some pictures of Dr. Mohammed. You sent them to us today. We're get those up so folks can actually see him. And you are in these pictures also. And he's actually treating some of the kids and looking at them. I think -- I didn't -- I guess one of the most amazing things for me is to think that these kids have never seen a doctor before.
WELLMAN: Well, that's where the 61 patients come in. He was telling me what happens a lot of times, a man will come in with dermatitis, a rash on his hand, and he'll bring his whole family, 10, 11, 12 people because they've never seen a doctor in their region.
So they come to Dr. Mohammed and he sees them for free. Right now he is not accepting any fees. We have provided medicines to his clinic through Operation Fred and through the U.S. government purchasing supplies in the Iraqi market.
So right now all of these people are getting to see a doctor for free which is pretty amazing if you think about that.
PHILLIPS: That is amazing.
WELLMAN: As a matter of fact, it's exciting, too because think I may have told you before, we were able to save a life for the first time using Operation Fred medicine and his clinic.
A woman came in in the middle of the night who was visiting his village and she had respiratory arrest from a severe asthma attack. And he came to me the day excited to tell me that he had opened the boxes of medicine he received through Operation Fred, gave her an injection and he pulled her back from the edge of a very close call.
So it's pretty exciting times here.
PHILLIPS: Well something else that you told me about that the Iraqis desperately need and that's water. Tell me about the water project in Asbah (ph( and the ribbon cutting that took place the other day.
WELLMAN: Yes, it's one of those small victories, Kyra. You always go for the big hit, everyone wants to hear about the million dollar projects. But Asbah is a wonderful case. It's a small village near our base. Actually not that small, 800 people. They're actually Kurd villages, unusual in our area. Wonderful people.
And they have never had running water to speak of in the village. We had been delivering water. They had pipes that they'd years ago. They came out and said, Look, let us lay the pipes, let us put it all out there, we'll do the work. We just need a little bit of seed money to buy the digging equipment, to purchase extra supplies and we'll tap into the existing water lines -- which is raw water, by the way to fix the pumping plant.
And we said, All right. We'll do that. So we gave them the money and these people did their own work all themselves for about a month's time. And yesterday we were very fortunate to go out there and open the spigot. And now every house in that village, some 80 houses now has running water for the first time.
It's a small victory for a small town. But when you meet these people and the sheer joy and appreciation (UNINTELLIGIBLE) for what's coming, it means a lot. PHILLIPS: Well let's talk about the interaction with Iraqis and how your battalion has actually taken on a number of Iraqi carpenters. You were telling me they're making $20 a week now and tell me how they're helping you, the troops and also helping rebuild their area of living.
WELLMAN: Well, there's actually a couple of works programs going to with the division. And we can't take a lot of credit. One of the programs for the carpenters is actually our division commanders came out, said, Look, hire carpenters. Let's put them to work (UNINTELLIGIBLE) fixing up our living spaces.
So we have 60 young men who come in here, very skilled and they build us whatever we want, tables, chairs. Some incredible bunkbeds for my soldiers who are living on top of each other inside of their buildings that we have here. And they've done that. They're making about $8 a day which is an incredible amount of money here in Iraq.
In addition to that, the 101st Aviation Brigade, under the auspices of a great young officer named Captain Kelly Rourke (ph) who's running our civil affairs, she started programs for Iraqi workers to work in public works projects. It's being run by some of the Iraqi friends. And we are actually up to 523 employees right now a week. And these folks are making $20 a week, filling in all of (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Iraqi army built. The bunkers that we don't need anymore that the Iraqi army built. And getting rid of the look of warfare here in our area.
And when I tell you for 523 a week, we rotate that by the week, giving everyone in the area a chance to get some work and get money. And it's interesting, a lot of the young men want to work to earn money buy school clothes for their children who will be going to school for the very first time in the 23 schools that our brigade has built in the area for the children.
So it's pretty neat little (UNINTELLIGIBLE) there.
PHILLIPS: That's pretty incredible stuff. Another side of the story, we can always look to you for that. Major Fred Wellman, 101st Airborne Division. Thank you so much for updating us and your time again today.
WELLMAN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) I really appreciate you having me on and letting us tell the good news story about the 101st Airborne's mission and what we're doing here in Iraq (UNINTELLIGIBLE) our friends. I appreciate the opportunity.
PHILLIPS: We 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
