Return to Transcripts main page
Live From...
President Bush Honors Veterans; Remembering the Nurses of Vietnam
Aired November 11, 2003 - 15:01 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: Veterans Day 2003, honors and prayers on the home front, mortar attacks in the Green Zone. Once again, nightfall in Baghdad brought a series of thunderous explosions in the vicinity of the former Saddam palace that now houses the coalition provisional authority.
The so-called Green Zone is a heavily fortified one-mile area that seems an increasingly attempting target of U.S. adversaries. The damage so far has been minimal. We'll bring you more on tonight's attacks as soon as we have more details.
The U.S. commander in chief, meanwhile, marked Veterans Day with a solemn salute to tradition.
CNN's John King live from the White House with more on the ceremony -- John.
JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Miles, good afternoon to you.
But those explosions in Baghdad tonight a reminder that, with the tradition of this Veterans Day also came a sense of urgency here at the Bush White House. As you noted, Mr. Bush, like so many of his predecessors, making the short trip from the White House to Arlington National Ceremony, participating in the traditional wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns.
In his remarks at the cemetery, Mr. Bush also paying tribute not only to veterans of wars past, but also to those now serving in the war on terrorism, especially in Iraq and Afghanistan, Mr. Bush promising at that ceremony at Arlington that those who have died in those conflicts have died serving -- quote -- "a good and just cause."
And in a later speech this afternoon in Washington, Mr. Bush offering a much more pointed defense of his policy in postwar Iraq, Mr. Bush, though, also conceding, Iraq remains, to some degree, quite a dangerous place.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Since the fall of Saddam Hussein, 93 percent of terror attacks have occurred in Baghdad in five of Iraq's 18 provinces. The violence is focused in a 200-mile -- 200 square miles known as the Baathist triangle, the home area of Saddam Hussein and most of his associates. Here, the enemy is waging the battle. And it is here that the enemy will be defeated. (END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: This picture here at the White House this afternoon, you see there Ambassador Paul Bremer -- he's the administration's point man, the man running Iraq on a day-to-day basis -- summoned back to Washington and the White House for high-level consultations, a great debate within the administration over whether to reconstitute some of the disbanded Iraqi army to help with security in postwar Iraq, also, some dissatisfaction in the administration about the failure of the Iraqi Governing Council to move more quickly on writing a constitution, other parts of the political transition that Mr. Bush says is so critical to get more authority over Iraq back into the hands of Iraqis.
Ambassador Bremer continuing his meetings here at the White House this afternoon, a reminder, Miles, that the nation remains very much at war on this Veterans Day, and, as the president pauses to reflect, many urgent challenges on his plate as well.
O'BRIEN: CNN's John King at the White House, thanks much.
It was Veterans Day 1993 that the women who served in Vietnam, women whose dedication was often unnoticed, frequently unrewarded, finally got a monument of their own.
CNN's Kathleen Koch reports, like the women themselves, the monument is dedicated to healing and peace.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It has become a haven, a place to nurture and reconnect.
EUGENA FAULKASON, VIETNAM VETERAN: I realized I wasn't alone and isolated. Everybody had the same experience.
KOCH: Where men who were wounded can say thank you.
SCOTT GACKERMAN, VIETNAM VETERAN: They took very good care of us. So I owe my life to the nurses.
KOCH: Diane Evans had the idea for the bronze sculpture dedicated 10 years ago. She was an Army nurse in Vietnam and believed what she and the 11,000 other women who served had done needed to be recognized.
DIANE EVANS, MEMORIAL FOUNDER: We helped bring these soldiers home. And the mothers and the fathers needed to know that their sons weren't alone, that we were there with them in those last moments.
JANE CARSON, VIETNAM VETERAN: Sharon, a piece of shrapnel caught her in the throat and she bled to death before we could get to her.
KOCH: For retired Army Colonel Jane Carson, the memorial has helped her deal with memories, like the loss of one of her own nurses, Sharon Lane, in a rocket attack. CARSON: The carnage, these young men and women who came in, in pieces, you try to forget so long that, pretty soon, you can't remember. And then, with the dedication and working with Diane, she helped me. It really has been a journey of healing.
KOCH: For some, the upturned face, the limp body of the injured soldier are almost too realistic.
RICK SHULTZ, VIETNAM VETERAN: When you see this person laying there in the arms of someone, it's -- it's a similar -- it will take you right back to November 14, 1968.
KOCH: That was the day 22-year-old Army Staff Sergeant Rick Shultz stepped on a land mine while on patrol and lost both his legs.
SHULTZ: I was treated just like a regular person by the nurses. And I was reassured that, hey, it's going to be OK.
KOCH: For Shultz and other Vietnam veterans, men and women, the sculpture 10 years later truly belongs here, beside the black granite wall.
SHULTZ: It just completed it, like completed the circle.
KOCH: Kathleen Koch, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Vietnam>
Aired November 11, 2003 - 15:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Veterans Day 2003, honors and prayers on the home front, mortar attacks in the Green Zone. Once again, nightfall in Baghdad brought a series of thunderous explosions in the vicinity of the former Saddam palace that now houses the coalition provisional authority.
The so-called Green Zone is a heavily fortified one-mile area that seems an increasingly attempting target of U.S. adversaries. The damage so far has been minimal. We'll bring you more on tonight's attacks as soon as we have more details.
The U.S. commander in chief, meanwhile, marked Veterans Day with a solemn salute to tradition.
CNN's John King live from the White House with more on the ceremony -- John.
JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Miles, good afternoon to you.
But those explosions in Baghdad tonight a reminder that, with the tradition of this Veterans Day also came a sense of urgency here at the Bush White House. As you noted, Mr. Bush, like so many of his predecessors, making the short trip from the White House to Arlington National Ceremony, participating in the traditional wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns.
In his remarks at the cemetery, Mr. Bush also paying tribute not only to veterans of wars past, but also to those now serving in the war on terrorism, especially in Iraq and Afghanistan, Mr. Bush promising at that ceremony at Arlington that those who have died in those conflicts have died serving -- quote -- "a good and just cause."
And in a later speech this afternoon in Washington, Mr. Bush offering a much more pointed defense of his policy in postwar Iraq, Mr. Bush, though, also conceding, Iraq remains, to some degree, quite a dangerous place.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Since the fall of Saddam Hussein, 93 percent of terror attacks have occurred in Baghdad in five of Iraq's 18 provinces. The violence is focused in a 200-mile -- 200 square miles known as the Baathist triangle, the home area of Saddam Hussein and most of his associates. Here, the enemy is waging the battle. And it is here that the enemy will be defeated. (END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: This picture here at the White House this afternoon, you see there Ambassador Paul Bremer -- he's the administration's point man, the man running Iraq on a day-to-day basis -- summoned back to Washington and the White House for high-level consultations, a great debate within the administration over whether to reconstitute some of the disbanded Iraqi army to help with security in postwar Iraq, also, some dissatisfaction in the administration about the failure of the Iraqi Governing Council to move more quickly on writing a constitution, other parts of the political transition that Mr. Bush says is so critical to get more authority over Iraq back into the hands of Iraqis.
Ambassador Bremer continuing his meetings here at the White House this afternoon, a reminder, Miles, that the nation remains very much at war on this Veterans Day, and, as the president pauses to reflect, many urgent challenges on his plate as well.
O'BRIEN: CNN's John King at the White House, thanks much.
It was Veterans Day 1993 that the women who served in Vietnam, women whose dedication was often unnoticed, frequently unrewarded, finally got a monument of their own.
CNN's Kathleen Koch reports, like the women themselves, the monument is dedicated to healing and peace.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It has become a haven, a place to nurture and reconnect.
EUGENA FAULKASON, VIETNAM VETERAN: I realized I wasn't alone and isolated. Everybody had the same experience.
KOCH: Where men who were wounded can say thank you.
SCOTT GACKERMAN, VIETNAM VETERAN: They took very good care of us. So I owe my life to the nurses.
KOCH: Diane Evans had the idea for the bronze sculpture dedicated 10 years ago. She was an Army nurse in Vietnam and believed what she and the 11,000 other women who served had done needed to be recognized.
DIANE EVANS, MEMORIAL FOUNDER: We helped bring these soldiers home. And the mothers and the fathers needed to know that their sons weren't alone, that we were there with them in those last moments.
JANE CARSON, VIETNAM VETERAN: Sharon, a piece of shrapnel caught her in the throat and she bled to death before we could get to her.
KOCH: For retired Army Colonel Jane Carson, the memorial has helped her deal with memories, like the loss of one of her own nurses, Sharon Lane, in a rocket attack. CARSON: The carnage, these young men and women who came in, in pieces, you try to forget so long that, pretty soon, you can't remember. And then, with the dedication and working with Diane, she helped me. It really has been a journey of healing.
KOCH: For some, the upturned face, the limp body of the injured soldier are almost too realistic.
RICK SHULTZ, VIETNAM VETERAN: When you see this person laying there in the arms of someone, it's -- it's a similar -- it will take you right back to November 14, 1968.
KOCH: That was the day 22-year-old Army Staff Sergeant Rick Shultz stepped on a land mine while on patrol and lost both his legs.
SHULTZ: I was treated just like a regular person by the nurses. And I was reassured that, hey, it's going to be OK.
KOCH: For Shultz and other Vietnam veterans, men and women, the sculpture 10 years later truly belongs here, beside the black granite wall.
SHULTZ: It just completed it, like completed the circle.
KOCH: Kathleen Koch, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Vietnam>
