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American Morning

U.S. Crew Homecoming: Q&A for Crew Continues

Aired April 13, 2001 - 13:00   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.
LOU WATERS, CNN ANCHOR: And it is another day of Q&A for the 24 crew members attached to that ill-fated U.S. surveillance flight. Military investigators in Hawaii are trying to learn every last detail surrounding the crash, the landing, and the crew's detention. But the debriefings will be relatively brief.

Tomorrow, the crew returns to its home base in Washington state. And the real celebrations there will begin. In the meantime, officials who've been privy to the questions and answers say they're more convinced than ever the mid-air bump with a Chinese fighter jet was China's fault. U.S. diplomats now say it's possible, though, that Chinese leaders initially were misled about that by their own military.

JOIE CHEN, CNN ANCHOR: As of now, the crew members, 21 men and three women, representing the Navy, the Air Force, and the Marines, are behind closed doors today at Naval Station Pearl Harbor. CNN's Rusty Dornin is at Pearl Harbor today as well. Rusty, what's going on today?

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Joie, the sun is up. And so is the crew, the 24-member crew of EP-3. We understand they are scheduled to have breakfast about 7:30. That's about a half-hour from now Honolulu time. And then it will be a second round of very intense questioning throughout the day that we are told will go to about 10:00 tonight.

Now, after their arrival on Thursday at Hickam Air Force Base and that short celebration, they were whisked off to Pearl Harbor Naval Station where they began debriefings and medical exams. And we've been reporting they're under good health. Initial reports at least say that. And they were also given cell phones so they could have contact with their loved ones. And what we hear they've been doing plenty of that. In between the interviews and examinations, they've been calling their family.

They also have access to Internet. One of the first requests for phones, newspapers, and fast food. So apparently all those requests are being honored.

So throughout today, they will be going through the interviews. As we've been learning more and more details about what happened, we understand now that the plane was flying level on autopilot when the Chinese fighter came up under the left wing, causing the collision. That may have not been the first time that EP-3 did have sort of hot- dogging Chinese fighter pilots come and threaten them in air airspace. So we will be learning more about that hopefully as the day goes on.

And, of course, tomorrow morning we have now learned that there will be a press conference at 6:30 a.m. Honolulu times where we will be able to question the crew members a little bit more about what went on before they get on two aircraft and fly from Honolulu to Whidbey Island, Washington, where they will have joyous homecoming with family, friends, and the entire town of Whidbey Island, Joie.

CHEN: CNN's Rusty Dornin for us at Pearl Harbor today, Lou.

WATERS: That's where we go right now, Joie, to Whidbey Island, the Naval Air Station, where after the debriefings today there will be the warm embrace of friends and relatives tomorrow. And Brian Cabell is there keeping watch over the anticipation. Brian, what's going on?

BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Lou, simple and dignified. That's what the Navy wants the celebration to be tomorrow. And it will also be very short we're told from the time they actually land here, the 24 crewmen, to the time they leave. The end of ceremony will be only about an hour, perhaps even less than that. The prime area of concern is to get them reunited with their families.

Of course, preparations have been underway for a couple of days . They're intensified today.

They expect as many as 10,000 people to show up in that hangar tomorrow to welcome them. Eighty media outlets, as many as 250 media representatives. So it's going to be a big deal here on Whidbey Island.

Excitement, of course, has been building here on this island for the last couple of weeks. It's been an ordeal for them.

Do they regard the 24 returning men and women as heroes? You bet they do.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just the way they handled themselves, the way the pilot handled the plane, what we are finding out now if he wasn't as strong as he was, he would have never made that plane the way it did.

CABELL (on camera): Were you worried about their safety?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I really wasn't. The Chinese have got too much to lose. I don't think they were ever in real harm's way. But just the whole incident just makes everybody nervous.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think that if anything had happened to them, China would have a lot to answer for. And I don't think they're ready to do that yet.

(END VIDEOTAPE) CABELL: Local merchants are putting together gift baskets for their returning heroes. But as the mayor mentioned yesterday, they don't want to overwhelm these 24 men and women. They want to give them some time, some space, some privacy, some time especially with their families. Back to you, Lou.

WATERS: Brian, as I understand it, not all 24 of these men and women are home-based in Whidbey. Some are from Japan. And because this is, as you put it, a big deal, was there some effort to keep the group together for this celebration tomorrow?

CABELL: I think so. That's the only way to do it, as the way the Navy figured it. They were all together over there in Hainan. They want them all to be together, welcomed back by the Navy, welcomed by the entire community here. And then they'll go back to their separate ways. But, yeah, they want to keep them together at least for the one day.

WATERS: OK, Brian Cabell out there at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station where the pomp and circumstance gets underway tomorrow about 3:00 p.m. That's local time, 6:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN. You will see it all live, Joie.

CHEN: Lou, a bit more light is being shed today no the meeting plans for next week in Beijing between U.S. envoys and Chinese officials. CNN's national security correspondent David Ensor joins us now from Washington with the latest on that -- David.

DAVID ENSOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Joie, it promises to be rather contentious meeting based on what the U.S. officials plan to raise at the meeting. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said the first issue, the foremost issue, of course, for the U.S. side will be getting its plane back. He said the plane is worth something in the range of $80 million or more. It's a valuable piece of equipment. It's ours. And we want it back.

Now, officials say that -- senior administration officials say that there will be series of rather pointed questions raised at the meeting in Beijing between the U.S. and Chinese delegations. And by the way, the U.S. delegation will be about seven or eight people. It will be headed by a civilian from the Pentagon, we understand, although the State Department will also be represented.

First and foremost, why the aggressive tactics by these Chinese pilots against the surveillance planes? Second, why did they -- why have they been coming within 20 feet even once or twice three feet of the surveillance planes? Clearly a dangerous way to maneuver around aircraft in the air.

Thirdly, why were the crew held in detention for so long? Why at all? And fourthly, why did China demand an apology before there has even been an investigation into who is to blame, if anyone?

So a lot of pointed questions. And a senior administration official also stating in response to the question "will there be more surveillance flights?", "You can expect us to do what we need to do." The official pointing out that five or six nations conduct surveillance flights in the Asian area, including China and of course the United States, Joie?

CHEN: David, I certainly understand that a lot of the interest will be on what happens in the future and future policies set. But I'm wondering if the U.S. delegation really expects to get much of an answer on these questions about what did happen. After all, would they really expect to get straight answers on why did you guy do this and in what order these things happened?

ENSOR: Well, this is supposed to be joint meeting to try and assess who is to blame for the crash. It's little hard to imagine a meeting of the minds at this meeting. It sounds as if there is going to be some fairly harsh rhetoric on both sides. But perhaps, officials say it may go on for some days. Perhaps by the end of it all, they will have reached at least some understandings about how to prevent this kind of thing in the future.

CHEN: CNN national security correspondent David Ensor with us from our Washington studio. Thank you.

His first international policy test largely but not completely behind him, President Bush is resting up today at his ranch in Crawford, Texas. And that's where we find CNN White House correspondent Kelly Wallace traveling with the traveling White House this week -- Kelly?

KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Joie, some rest and relaxation for President Bush this weekend. Still, though, he is monitoring any developments as the debriefing continues of those 24 crew members.

And just following up with what David Ensor was saying, still some very tough questions President Bush saying that U.S. representatives will ask of the Chinese when they meet next week. And as we've seen with those 24 crew members now safely in the United States, Mr. Bush taking a tougher stand and sending a stern message to the Chinese.

The president arrived in Texas last night. He is going to be spending the weekend at his ranch with his family. We're not really expected to see him until probably about Sunday when he will attend Easter services.

But before the president did arrive in Texas, of course, he did come out to the Rose Garden and deliver a statement that a senior administration official is saying was to send a clear signal that we would not want something like this to be repeated, that we do not think that this is consistent with a productive relationship. This official saying that the president believes that this incident underscores his view that China is a strategic competitor to the United States.

And the two countries disagreeing over a number of issues. So the big question, of course, is the relationship and what happens to that relationship between the two countries. Of course, the president also focusing on those 24 crew members. He did take time yesterday afternoon to place a phone call to those crew members, telling them how proud he was of them, speaking also to the pilot, Lieutenant Shane Osborn, the president commenting to the pilot himself, commending lieutenant Osborn for bringing that aircraft safely down and also telling the whole crew that if they're ever in Washington, they should knock on his door.

Now at this time, there are no plans for President Bush to travel to Washington state to attend that welcoming ceremony. But aides say the president much looking forward to seeing those crew members reunited with their families.

And also what we're learning, Joie, is a little more of the behind-the-scenes over these 11 days during the standoff between Washington and Beijing. Senior officials saying that Mr. Bush was on the phone earlier this week with some world leaders, including British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the Canadian prime minister, the French president, as well as the president of Brazil, basically updating them on the situation. Also, letting them know that obviously if they would like to communicate to Chinese that this incident was not consistent with the good relationship between the U.S. and Beijing, the president would certainly appreciate that. Joie, back to you.

CHEN: CNN's Kelly Wallace traveling with the traveling Bush White House in Crawford, Texas this weekend. Thanks, Kelly.

WATERS: And we're getting word out of the Pentagon, Joie, that all of the attempts to get rid of secrets aboard the EP-3 surveillance plan that landed in Hainan were not successful. Apparently some secrets were left behind. And military affairs correspondent Jamie McIntyre checks in now from the Pentagon with more on that -- Jamie.

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Lou, let's not make any mistake about this. Nobody here at the Pentagon is criticizing the performance of that crew. They're very proud of the job they were able the do.

But in the very brief conversations they initially had with them while they were in captivity, the crew simply indicated that it had completed its destruction checklist. The more full debriefings now reveal that while they got through a good portion of that checklist, there were still some things undone. The most important highly classified data and equipment had been destroyed, but not absolutely everything.

And the U.S. is trying to put together a picture of exactly what intelligence damage was done. This, one of the reasons why the U.S. wants to get the plane back, to take a look inside the plane and see what exactly has been -- if anything has been removed, if anything has been compromised.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld who has been basically the invisible man during this crisis, only issuing a couple of paper statements, will break his silence today, coming out just about an hour from now and making the case about how dangerous these intercepts have been by Chinese pilots. The Pentagon will release a videotape showing how close they've come on previous encounters.

CNN has obtained pictures of some of those close calls that were taken by one of the crew members of the just-released plane and e- mailed home. This pictures taken just a few days before the actual incident, this one in particular showing the pilot Wang Wei, the pilot -- the Chinese pilot who is believed to have died in the collision, in his jet. You can see him there making some sort of a gesture just a few days before the actual collision.

But, again, more details coming out now on what the crew had to overcome and how it just took really brute strength by pilot lieutenant Shane Osborn to maintain control of the plane as it almost turned upside down and crashed in the South China Sea. He considered ordering his troops to bail out. He considered ditching the plane at sea but then managed to figure out that he could make it to the Lingshui military air base, which is about 40 to 50 miles away. So he put the plane down there.

By the way, Pentagon officials, although they apologized, the U.S. apologized for the plane not getting permission, they say that the pilot, Lieutenant Osborn, did call five separate times to the tower at the base trying to get permission to land. He said there was either no response or that he couldn't hear any response because of the noise of the air rushing around the cockpit created by the nose cone being knocked off the plane, Lou.

WATERS: It's quite extraordinary if you put yourself inside the plane after it got hit, lost a couple of its engines, and plunges 8,000 feet that anyone would have the chance to destroy any of that classified equipment on board?

MCINTYRE: Well, he did get the plane righted. And that did give the plane time to work through the checklist. And one of the things that the people have told me who have had access to these debriefing is that they're very impressed with the leadership, not just the airmanship of Lieutenant Osborn, but the leadership he led.

Also his senior chief, the senior chief enlisted person on the plane, very calm, methodically worked through everything they had to do. And there's a lot of talk here that they suspect that those people will be recommended for some sort of a medal or commendation by their commanding officers.

WATERS: All right, military affairs correspondent Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon. As Jamie mentioned, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld will break his silence on this business. We will hear from him in about an hour. And we will carry that live, 2:00 p.m. Eastern here on CNN.

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