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Contrition & Confidence From President Bush; CIA Probing Iraq, Afghanistan Prison Deaths
Aired May 06, 2004 - 15:00 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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. Welcome back to LIVE FROM. I'm Kyra Phillips AT the CNN Center in Atlanta.
Let's check the headlines.
Saying he's sorry. President Bush today offered apologies for the humiliation suffered by Iraqi prisoners. Mr. Bush made those remarks at a Rose Garden event a short while ago with Jordan's King Abdullah. Mr. Bush had faced some criticism for not issuing a formal apology yesterday when he was interviewed about the scandal on Arabic- language TV.
Democratic presidential John Kerry speaking out about Iraqi prisoner abuse at. A campaign stop in California just a short while ago, Kerry says he would not be the last to know what's going on under his command. Kerry is also promoting his education policies.
A group calling itself the Islamic Anger Brigade says it has taken a U.S. citizen hostage in Iraq. A video showing the purported captive, 41-year-old Iraqi-American Aban Elias, aired on Arab TV network Al-Arabiya today. In Denver, Colorado, family members pleaded for Elias' immediate release. They say he was in Iraq working on road projects.
Getting tougher on Cuba. President Bush met today with members of his Cuba Commission. It's recommending ways to end communist rule on that island. In one get-tough measure, the president has ordered C-130 military planes to fly over international waters near Cuba as part of efforts to end the jamming of U.S. broadcasts to the island.
Well, we begin with this hour with contrition and confidence from the commander in chief. As you may have seen live here on CNN, President Bush made it known today that he told the king of Jordan he was sorry for the humiliation inflicted on some Iraqi POWs by some U.S. soldiers. That's the closest he's come to an outright apology since the prison scandal abuse broke out. Mr. Bush also insisted the embattled defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld -- quote -- "will stay in my Cabinet."
We get the latest on all of from this from CNN White House correspondent Dana Bash -- Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, you remember the first major attempt by the president at damage control was, of course, yesterday. He did two interviews with Arab television and he talked about how abhorrent the acts were, but he left out two words: I'm sorry. And that certainly caused some criticism both here and, more importantly for the president and what he was trying to achieve, in the Arab world. They wondered why he didn't say it. Now, yesterday, we were told that the president simply wasn't asked and that others, like his spokesmen, were saying it for him.
But today, in the Rose Garden, after meeting and discussing the issue with Jordan's King Abdullah, the president came out and uttered the words not once, but twice, talking about the fact that he is sorry about the humiliation to the prisoners and also sorry about the reputation that has been hurt in America.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I told him I was sorry for the humiliation suffered by the Iraqi prisoners and the humiliation suffered by their families. I told him I was equally sorry that people who have been seeing those pictures didn't understand the true nature and heart of America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Now, this is an issue that the White House has been trying to address particularly in the Arab world, particularly as they are trying to win the hearts and minds, if you will of Iraqis, as they move towards transitioning sovereignty at the end of June. So, it's one thing for the president to say it, but it's another thing for somebody who is a leader in the Arab world to also address this issue.
And the fact that King Abdullah in the Rose Garden with the president also said that this is not exactly what America stands for, essentially assisting the president, was also interesting. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KING ABDULLAH II, JORDAN: An immediate investigation has been asked for to bring the people who perpetrated these heinous crimes to justice. And we hope that that will happen very quickly and that, you know, it doesn't reflect on the morals, the values that the United States stands for.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Now, the king called the images horrible. And, also, the president said that they made him sick to his stomach, said that there were a stain on America. These are pictures that he did not find out about, of course, until they actually aired on television last week. The president said again in the Rose Garden that he told the defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, in a private meeting yesterday that he should have known about these pictures.
He also said he should have known about a classified report that was cataloging some of these abuses. However, the president, in the face of growing calls for the defense secretary to resign, stood by the -- his defense secretary, essentially saying that he's a good secretary of defense, that he's led the country through two wars, and that he has confidence in Secretary Rumsfeld.
So the president standing by somebody who is very close to him in the face of mounting criticism and mounting calls for his resignation -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Dana Bash, thank you so much.
And Rumsfeld's testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee is due to start at 11:45 Eastern tomorrow -- that's 8:45 Pacific -- and should run about two hours. CNN will bring it to you live.
In addition to all the other probes that are suddenly piling up, officials at the Central Intelligence Agency are examining several cases in which prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan have died in American custody.
With more on that, our national security correspondent David Ensor brings us the details -- David.
DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, the spotlight is certainly on the treatment of prisoners because of those photographs.
And we're learning more about some of the other cases that people are looking into. An Iraqi prisoner who died in November while being interrogated by CIA officers and a contract translator arrived at Abu Ghraib Prison with broken ribs and breathing difficulties after being arrested by Navy SEALs, U.S. officials say.
That contradicts what Pentagon officials were quoted as saying yesterday, that the man had been delivered to prison in good health. In another case, an independent contractor for the CIA who was interrogating a prisoner in Afghanistan sometime back when the man died could face assault charges, knowledgeable sources are telling me. One source says the case is being looked into as a possible murder case.
Now, most independent contractors conducting interrogations for the CIA are former employees of the agency. But officials would not say whether the individual in this case is a former employee. These two cases are being looked into by the CIA's inspector general, who testified, along with the director of central intelligence, George Tenet, behind closed doors before the House Intelligence Committee Wednesday.
There are going to be CIA people testifying behind closed doors again today by other committees. Committee staff say that there is also a third case that the CIA inspector general is looking into, but they don't think that any CIA wrongdoing will be found in that case. Still, there is a spotlight on all these cases now, Kyra, because of those photos.
PHILLIPS: David Ensor, we'll keep following it. Thank you.
And in Baghdad today, a classic rush hour car bomb, that's one coalition official's description of the mighty explosion that killed seven people, including the bomber, on the edge of the so-called Green Zone housing coalition headquarters. A U.S. soldier is also among the dead. Claiming responsibility is an obscure group that vows allegiance to suspected terrorists and instigator Abu Musab al- Zarqawi.
Now to that U.S. boot in the door of the Shiite holy city of Najaf. As you know, if you've been watching CNN, members of the 2nd U.S. Cavalry took over the compound of the regional governor today, a measure both symbolic and practical. The U.S.-led coalition named a new governor as it gradually encroaches on the influence and the of a renegade cleric. Soon afterwards, the Mahdi Army of Muqtada al-Sadr pushed back.
And CNN's Jane Arraf was there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jane.
JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Can you see us? Can you hear us?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Now, as you can see, it got dangerous for Jane, so she sent us this update just before nightfall.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARRAF (voice-over): U.S. troops backed by tanks came through these gates just a short while ago without meeting any resistance. In fact, the Iraqi security guards who were here welcomed them. Shortly after, gunfire erupted. Gunmen from alleyways nearby and from rooftops, according to military officials here. The U.S. Army, the 2nd Armored Calvary Regiment, the 2nd Battalion 37th Armored Unit responded with gun-mounted tanks and other weapons. It went on for several hours.
And as darkness falls, military officials here believe that the militia is still out there and will continue to keep firing here. But they say they'll stay to allow the return of the civilian governor and to secure other government buildings as the U.S. and British coalition try to bring back civilian authorities to the city where Muqtada al- Sadr's forces are still very much in control.
Jane Arraf, CNN, reporting from Najaf, Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Well, still ahead, miracles do come true. Just ask this guy. The X-rays say it all. But is there a happy ending to it. And 50 years ago today what is arguably the greatest moment in British sports history. Do you remember this man? Well, we remember him, Roger Bannister and his sub-four-minute mile. He's a man who ran in those same footsteps. Wait until you meet him.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(WEATHER UPDATE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Checking entertainment headlines this Thursday, May 6, after months of hype and anticipation, the final episode of the long- running sitcom "Friends" will air tonight. NBC expects up to 50 million viewers to watch the hour-long send-off filmed in January. The six-member "Friends" ensemble will be watching tonight as we bid farewell to Ross, Rachel, Monica, Chandler, Phoebe, and Joey.
Heidi Klum is a new mom. Reps say the 30-year-old German supermodel gave birth Tuesday to a daughter. According to her Web site, the newborn, named Leni, tipped the scale at just over 8 pounds.
And keep off Madonna's grass. The pop star Madonna and her husband, director Guy Ritchie, spewed a British law allowing the public to walk freely through part of their 1,200-acre estate. Lawyers for the Ritchies are contesting an agency's designation of about 100 acres of open countryside. The agency says famous people should not get special treatment.
Well, you're at the most expensive painting ever sold at auction. Somebody -- and Sotheby's won't say who -- paid $104 million for this early work by Pablo Picasso. He painted "Boy With a Pipe" in 1905, when he was just 24 years old. The previous record was $82.5 million for a van Gogh painting.
More proof that everything is for sale these cases. Bases in Major League ballparks will carry ads for the movie "Spider-Man 2" the weekend of June 11. Former baseball commissioner Fay Vincent called the sponsorship of bases inevitable, but Sadr. You won't find the ads at Yankee Stadium the whole time. The team says it isn't going to fully participate in that promotion.
(FINANCIAL UPDATE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, the flight crew that transports wounded soldiers faces many challenges on its daily flights to and from Iraq. How do they keep soldiers with serious injuries comfortable and of course alive among turbulence and cramped quarters?
CNN's Beth Nissen goes aboard the Army's flying hospital to find out how.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BETH NISSEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Thirteen hundred hours, Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany. On approach, the day's medical evacuation flight from downrange, a C-141 Starlifter bringing in sick and wounded troops from Iraq.
CAPT. DAN LEGERE, MEDICAL CREW DIRECTOR: We continuously move patients out of theater. The patients that we see, most of them have trauma of one type or another from their battle injuries.
NISSEN: The war wounded, almost 20 on this flight, are all floated on to buses that will take them to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, the big Army hospital nearby. The plane is immediately reconfigured for the next medevac flight to carry another set of sick and wounded troops from Landstuhl to military hospitals in the U.S. for more surgery, treatment, long-term rehab.
SMSGT. RICKY SMITH, PRIMARY LOADMASTER: These kids, they've done their job. And it is our job to make sure they get back to medical attention and get put back together, if you will.
NISSEN: Seventeen hundred hours: 37 patients loaded on to the plane for the long flight to the U.S. Their injuries are typical of those carried on medevac flights, especially in the last five weeks, gunshot wounds to the chest and abdomen, legs and arms fractured in mortar blasts, eyes ruptured by shrapnel. Two patients are in critical condition, both with spinal chord injuries. One is on a ventilator.
For the ground and flight crews, seeing so many so badly injured is hard, yet hardens their sense of mission.
LEGERE: A few things that you see will really tug at your heart.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just sympathize with them so much. And I just want to make sure that we do everything, everything possible for them.
NISSEN: That isn't easy on board a C-141 cargo plane, an inhospitable flying hospital. The challenges start on takeoff, especially for the critical patients.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The most dramatic thing here is when the airplane takes off and the nose pitches up, the head pitches down and kind of destabilizes things for us when that happens.
NISSEN: Changes in altitude, cabin pressure can cause drops in blood pressure. Turbulence can cause spikes in pain.
MAJ. STEVE GRIFFIN, AIRCRAFT COMMANDER: We try to watch out for it. We keep the smoothest flight that we can for our patients. It is their comfort level we're concerned about. And we try to make it as comfortable as what we can for them.
NISSEN: Things are far from comfortable for the medical flight crew. Most crew members are Air Force reservists, Air National Guard. In civilian, they are E.R. nurses, EMTs. At 30,000 feet, their work is the same, but working conditions are radically different. The light is dim. Space is cramped. Stethoscopes are useless in the roar of the C-141's engines.
TECH SGT. TIMOTHY MITZEL, MEDICAL FLIGHT CREW: We all have to wear ear plugs. We can't hear. We can't hear blood pressures. We can't hear lung sounds.
NISSEN: Crew members use monitors, use informal sign language, lean in to listen to patients. For nine hours, they work to control pain, to monitor mortar and bullet wounds.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're OK.
NISSEN: To dispense comfort.
LEGERE: The kids that we see, they've all got still that great spirit. You don't ever hear any of them complaining or whining or any of the things that you really would expect seeing the disfiguring and the severe injuries that these guys have.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.
NISSEN: Twenty-two hundred hours: Andrews Air Force Base in Washington, D.C. Patients are off-loaded onto buses bound for Walter Reed Army Medical Center or Bethesda Naval Hospital. It is hard for the flight crew, especially the older ones, to see them go.
GRIFFIN: You don't look at them as some stranger that is on the other side of the world. You look at them as, wow, this could have been my son or my daughter.
NISSEN: There is little time for reflection. Within hours, the medevac missions go again, back to Germany, back downrange, back home with the latest casualties of war.
Beth Nissen, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Well, that wraps up this Thursday edition of LIVE FROM.
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 May 6, 2004 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. Welcome back to LIVE FROM. I'm Kyra Phillips AT the CNN Center in Atlanta.
Let's check the headlines.
Saying he's sorry. President Bush today offered apologies for the humiliation suffered by Iraqi prisoners. Mr. Bush made those remarks at a Rose Garden event a short while ago with Jordan's King Abdullah. Mr. Bush had faced some criticism for not issuing a formal apology yesterday when he was interviewed about the scandal on Arabic- language TV.
Democratic presidential John Kerry speaking out about Iraqi prisoner abuse at. A campaign stop in California just a short while ago, Kerry says he would not be the last to know what's going on under his command. Kerry is also promoting his education policies.
A group calling itself the Islamic Anger Brigade says it has taken a U.S. citizen hostage in Iraq. A video showing the purported captive, 41-year-old Iraqi-American Aban Elias, aired on Arab TV network Al-Arabiya today. In Denver, Colorado, family members pleaded for Elias' immediate release. They say he was in Iraq working on road projects.
Getting tougher on Cuba. President Bush met today with members of his Cuba Commission. It's recommending ways to end communist rule on that island. In one get-tough measure, the president has ordered C-130 military planes to fly over international waters near Cuba as part of efforts to end the jamming of U.S. broadcasts to the island.
Well, we begin with this hour with contrition and confidence from the commander in chief. As you may have seen live here on CNN, President Bush made it known today that he told the king of Jordan he was sorry for the humiliation inflicted on some Iraqi POWs by some U.S. soldiers. That's the closest he's come to an outright apology since the prison scandal abuse broke out. Mr. Bush also insisted the embattled defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld -- quote -- "will stay in my Cabinet."
We get the latest on all of from this from CNN White House correspondent Dana Bash -- Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, you remember the first major attempt by the president at damage control was, of course, yesterday. He did two interviews with Arab television and he talked about how abhorrent the acts were, but he left out two words: I'm sorry. And that certainly caused some criticism both here and, more importantly for the president and what he was trying to achieve, in the Arab world. They wondered why he didn't say it. Now, yesterday, we were told that the president simply wasn't asked and that others, like his spokesmen, were saying it for him.
But today, in the Rose Garden, after meeting and discussing the issue with Jordan's King Abdullah, the president came out and uttered the words not once, but twice, talking about the fact that he is sorry about the humiliation to the prisoners and also sorry about the reputation that has been hurt in America.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I told him I was sorry for the humiliation suffered by the Iraqi prisoners and the humiliation suffered by their families. I told him I was equally sorry that people who have been seeing those pictures didn't understand the true nature and heart of America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Now, this is an issue that the White House has been trying to address particularly in the Arab world, particularly as they are trying to win the hearts and minds, if you will of Iraqis, as they move towards transitioning sovereignty at the end of June. So, it's one thing for the president to say it, but it's another thing for somebody who is a leader in the Arab world to also address this issue.
And the fact that King Abdullah in the Rose Garden with the president also said that this is not exactly what America stands for, essentially assisting the president, was also interesting. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KING ABDULLAH II, JORDAN: An immediate investigation has been asked for to bring the people who perpetrated these heinous crimes to justice. And we hope that that will happen very quickly and that, you know, it doesn't reflect on the morals, the values that the United States stands for.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Now, the king called the images horrible. And, also, the president said that they made him sick to his stomach, said that there were a stain on America. These are pictures that he did not find out about, of course, until they actually aired on television last week. The president said again in the Rose Garden that he told the defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, in a private meeting yesterday that he should have known about these pictures.
He also said he should have known about a classified report that was cataloging some of these abuses. However, the president, in the face of growing calls for the defense secretary to resign, stood by the -- his defense secretary, essentially saying that he's a good secretary of defense, that he's led the country through two wars, and that he has confidence in Secretary Rumsfeld.
So the president standing by somebody who is very close to him in the face of mounting criticism and mounting calls for his resignation -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Dana Bash, thank you so much.
And Rumsfeld's testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee is due to start at 11:45 Eastern tomorrow -- that's 8:45 Pacific -- and should run about two hours. CNN will bring it to you live.
In addition to all the other probes that are suddenly piling up, officials at the Central Intelligence Agency are examining several cases in which prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan have died in American custody.
With more on that, our national security correspondent David Ensor brings us the details -- David.
DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, the spotlight is certainly on the treatment of prisoners because of those photographs.
And we're learning more about some of the other cases that people are looking into. An Iraqi prisoner who died in November while being interrogated by CIA officers and a contract translator arrived at Abu Ghraib Prison with broken ribs and breathing difficulties after being arrested by Navy SEALs, U.S. officials say.
That contradicts what Pentagon officials were quoted as saying yesterday, that the man had been delivered to prison in good health. In another case, an independent contractor for the CIA who was interrogating a prisoner in Afghanistan sometime back when the man died could face assault charges, knowledgeable sources are telling me. One source says the case is being looked into as a possible murder case.
Now, most independent contractors conducting interrogations for the CIA are former employees of the agency. But officials would not say whether the individual in this case is a former employee. These two cases are being looked into by the CIA's inspector general, who testified, along with the director of central intelligence, George Tenet, behind closed doors before the House Intelligence Committee Wednesday.
There are going to be CIA people testifying behind closed doors again today by other committees. Committee staff say that there is also a third case that the CIA inspector general is looking into, but they don't think that any CIA wrongdoing will be found in that case. Still, there is a spotlight on all these cases now, Kyra, because of those photos.
PHILLIPS: David Ensor, we'll keep following it. Thank you.
And in Baghdad today, a classic rush hour car bomb, that's one coalition official's description of the mighty explosion that killed seven people, including the bomber, on the edge of the so-called Green Zone housing coalition headquarters. A U.S. soldier is also among the dead. Claiming responsibility is an obscure group that vows allegiance to suspected terrorists and instigator Abu Musab al- Zarqawi.
Now to that U.S. boot in the door of the Shiite holy city of Najaf. As you know, if you've been watching CNN, members of the 2nd U.S. Cavalry took over the compound of the regional governor today, a measure both symbolic and practical. The U.S.-led coalition named a new governor as it gradually encroaches on the influence and the of a renegade cleric. Soon afterwards, the Mahdi Army of Muqtada al-Sadr pushed back.
And CNN's Jane Arraf was there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jane.
JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Can you see us? Can you hear us?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Now, as you can see, it got dangerous for Jane, so she sent us this update just before nightfall.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARRAF (voice-over): U.S. troops backed by tanks came through these gates just a short while ago without meeting any resistance. In fact, the Iraqi security guards who were here welcomed them. Shortly after, gunfire erupted. Gunmen from alleyways nearby and from rooftops, according to military officials here. The U.S. Army, the 2nd Armored Calvary Regiment, the 2nd Battalion 37th Armored Unit responded with gun-mounted tanks and other weapons. It went on for several hours.
And as darkness falls, military officials here believe that the militia is still out there and will continue to keep firing here. But they say they'll stay to allow the return of the civilian governor and to secure other government buildings as the U.S. and British coalition try to bring back civilian authorities to the city where Muqtada al- Sadr's forces are still very much in control.
Jane Arraf, CNN, reporting from Najaf, Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Well, still ahead, miracles do come true. Just ask this guy. The X-rays say it all. But is there a happy ending to it. And 50 years ago today what is arguably the greatest moment in British sports history. Do you remember this man? Well, we remember him, Roger Bannister and his sub-four-minute mile. He's a man who ran in those same footsteps. Wait until you meet him.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(WEATHER UPDATE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Checking entertainment headlines this Thursday, May 6, after months of hype and anticipation, the final episode of the long- running sitcom "Friends" will air tonight. NBC expects up to 50 million viewers to watch the hour-long send-off filmed in January. The six-member "Friends" ensemble will be watching tonight as we bid farewell to Ross, Rachel, Monica, Chandler, Phoebe, and Joey.
Heidi Klum is a new mom. Reps say the 30-year-old German supermodel gave birth Tuesday to a daughter. According to her Web site, the newborn, named Leni, tipped the scale at just over 8 pounds.
And keep off Madonna's grass. The pop star Madonna and her husband, director Guy Ritchie, spewed a British law allowing the public to walk freely through part of their 1,200-acre estate. Lawyers for the Ritchies are contesting an agency's designation of about 100 acres of open countryside. The agency says famous people should not get special treatment.
Well, you're at the most expensive painting ever sold at auction. Somebody -- and Sotheby's won't say who -- paid $104 million for this early work by Pablo Picasso. He painted "Boy With a Pipe" in 1905, when he was just 24 years old. The previous record was $82.5 million for a van Gogh painting.
More proof that everything is for sale these cases. Bases in Major League ballparks will carry ads for the movie "Spider-Man 2" the weekend of June 11. Former baseball commissioner Fay Vincent called the sponsorship of bases inevitable, but Sadr. You won't find the ads at Yankee Stadium the whole time. The team says it isn't going to fully participate in that promotion.
(FINANCIAL UPDATE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, the flight crew that transports wounded soldiers faces many challenges on its daily flights to and from Iraq. How do they keep soldiers with serious injuries comfortable and of course alive among turbulence and cramped quarters?
CNN's Beth Nissen goes aboard the Army's flying hospital to find out how.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BETH NISSEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Thirteen hundred hours, Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany. On approach, the day's medical evacuation flight from downrange, a C-141 Starlifter bringing in sick and wounded troops from Iraq.
CAPT. DAN LEGERE, MEDICAL CREW DIRECTOR: We continuously move patients out of theater. The patients that we see, most of them have trauma of one type or another from their battle injuries.
NISSEN: The war wounded, almost 20 on this flight, are all floated on to buses that will take them to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, the big Army hospital nearby. The plane is immediately reconfigured for the next medevac flight to carry another set of sick and wounded troops from Landstuhl to military hospitals in the U.S. for more surgery, treatment, long-term rehab.
SMSGT. RICKY SMITH, PRIMARY LOADMASTER: These kids, they've done their job. And it is our job to make sure they get back to medical attention and get put back together, if you will.
NISSEN: Seventeen hundred hours: 37 patients loaded on to the plane for the long flight to the U.S. Their injuries are typical of those carried on medevac flights, especially in the last five weeks, gunshot wounds to the chest and abdomen, legs and arms fractured in mortar blasts, eyes ruptured by shrapnel. Two patients are in critical condition, both with spinal chord injuries. One is on a ventilator.
For the ground and flight crews, seeing so many so badly injured is hard, yet hardens their sense of mission.
LEGERE: A few things that you see will really tug at your heart.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just sympathize with them so much. And I just want to make sure that we do everything, everything possible for them.
NISSEN: That isn't easy on board a C-141 cargo plane, an inhospitable flying hospital. The challenges start on takeoff, especially for the critical patients.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The most dramatic thing here is when the airplane takes off and the nose pitches up, the head pitches down and kind of destabilizes things for us when that happens.
NISSEN: Changes in altitude, cabin pressure can cause drops in blood pressure. Turbulence can cause spikes in pain.
MAJ. STEVE GRIFFIN, AIRCRAFT COMMANDER: We try to watch out for it. We keep the smoothest flight that we can for our patients. It is their comfort level we're concerned about. And we try to make it as comfortable as what we can for them.
NISSEN: Things are far from comfortable for the medical flight crew. Most crew members are Air Force reservists, Air National Guard. In civilian, they are E.R. nurses, EMTs. At 30,000 feet, their work is the same, but working conditions are radically different. The light is dim. Space is cramped. Stethoscopes are useless in the roar of the C-141's engines.
TECH SGT. TIMOTHY MITZEL, MEDICAL FLIGHT CREW: We all have to wear ear plugs. We can't hear. We can't hear blood pressures. We can't hear lung sounds.
NISSEN: Crew members use monitors, use informal sign language, lean in to listen to patients. For nine hours, they work to control pain, to monitor mortar and bullet wounds.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're OK.
NISSEN: To dispense comfort.
LEGERE: The kids that we see, they've all got still that great spirit. You don't ever hear any of them complaining or whining or any of the things that you really would expect seeing the disfiguring and the severe injuries that these guys have.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.
NISSEN: Twenty-two hundred hours: Andrews Air Force Base in Washington, D.C. Patients are off-loaded onto buses bound for Walter Reed Army Medical Center or Bethesda Naval Hospital. It is hard for the flight crew, especially the older ones, to see them go.
GRIFFIN: You don't look at them as some stranger that is on the other side of the world. You look at them as, wow, this could have been my son or my daughter.
NISSEN: There is little time for reflection. Within hours, the medevac missions go again, back to Germany, back downrange, back home with the latest casualties of war.
Beth Nissen, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Well, that wraps up this Thursday edition of LIVE FROM.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
