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American Morning

America Strikes Back: Look at the Way the Attacks Were Staged

Aired October 08, 2001 - 11:10   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Some of the key elements in the Allied attacks against Afghanistan were launched from the Arabian Sea.

And CNN's Walt Rodgers has a look at the way the attacks were staged from his vantage point aboard the USS Carl Vinson.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WALTER RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This F-18 fighter-bomber screamed like a dragon, tethered to the deck of the USS Carl Vinson, belching fire as it roared into the night on its on way to Afghanistan. These carrier-based Navy jets had been waiting for the dark of the moon. Waves of bomb-laden F-14s were also launched, shattering the silence of the Arabian Sea.

On the deck of the Vincent flight crews worked and waited. Over the horizon, the guided missile cruiser Philipine (ph) Sea fired its salvo of cruise missiles, also searching for Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda organization.

It was hours before all the navy pilots returned with near empty gas tanks, and despite anti-aircraft fire.

"BIFF," F-14 SQUADRON COMMANDER: You know, it's like sitting in a tree and having kids shoot bottle rockets up at you.

RODGERS: The carrier's skipper made it clear this was his ship's answer to the terrorist attacks on America.

CAPT. RICK WREN: I think that we all were horrified. We all saw the pictures. We all watched CNN out here, too. And so, initially, as you saw in the United States , I think we were all rah, rah, pumped up, and then in dawned on us that we were in a position, a perfect position, to do our job.

RODGERS: All afternoon, the carrier's deck hummed and shuttered as the weapons were loaded, the canopies cleaned, the crews sensing this is more than a training exercise. This lieutenant, whom we cannot identify, flies an F-18 Hornet.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is a lot of adrenaline pumping today. A lot of us have been looking forward to doing something. The ship, the length of three football fields, and its crew of 6,000, had been eager to carry out this order, after the events of September 11th. (on camera): This warship symbolizes the clash between modernity and medieval terrorism, the 21th century superpower against the guerrilla with his Kalishnikov. There is enough destructive force onboard to erase an entire country from the planet. Certainly enough to punish Osama bin Laden. But all this may only further enrage the Islamist radicals.

Walter Rodgers, CNN, aboard the Carl Vinson in the Arabian Sea.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: General Wesley Clark back with us once again. We heard the president say there will be a briefing in an hour, or maybe two hours this afternoon from the Pentagon. What will we learn at that time from Donald Rumsfeld and others?

GEN. WESLEY CLARK, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: I think we're going to get a confirmation first of the number of targets, more clarity on the types of targets struck, probably get an initial look at some of the cockpit video, or some of the assessment.

HEMMER: We'll see video, pictures.

CLARK: I think so. I think that's what we'll do, and maybe some indication of what lies ahead, how long this will continue, or if we are going to do something a little bit beyond it.

HEMMER: The president just said it was executed as planned. As a general, how do you here that? What does that tell you?

CLARK: Well, that's what I would expect to be done. We do detailed planning. We know how to make our linkups for midair refueling. We know how to use electronic warfare to suppress any air defenses. We know how to put those assets on targets, and that's what happened.

HEMMER: We talked about it earlier, the British were saying this morning, about five hours ago, 30 targets were hit. As we look at the map of Afghanistan, where would those targets be, and what would they be?

CLARK: Well, they're going to be a countrywide network of air defense, airfields, command and control, all the way around, all at once to blind him, deceive him, take him out, and then we'll be working on troop concentrations, and we did one of the initial group concentrations apparently last night.

HEMMER: This is area where the Taliban apparently have amassed recently, the Border of Uzbekistan right here.

CLARK: Correct.

HEMMER: Is that a focal point at this point, or can you say, given all the cities and locations we have, what area is more the focal point? CLARK: Well, there is an area where the Taliban and the Northern Alliance have fought for years, and the city has changed hands a number of hands. Of course, this is key terrain, because Uzbekistan is where a U.S. base apparently is located now. And so the Taliban would like to reinforce this, first to hold this, and secondly, to put more pressure on Uzbekistan. And so anytime they concentrate, they are going to be a target for U.S. aircraft.

HEMMER: In a very frank way, we know this is country that has been devastated, 20 years of war and four years of drought. As a military planner strategist what do you hit on the ground?

CLARK: You are going to hit the troops and their equipment. That's the key targets.

HEMMER: And what happened with the U.S. military between yesterday's attacks, and the ones that we possibly anticipate, again, within the next hour or two or three as we go forward? What happens on those ships between that time?

CLARK: Everybody's working. First of all, the aircrews need a little bit of rest. These are long missions. You had the men who were up loading the bombs and working on the aircraft, they're up all night with this. And so they're hustling again. These aircraft have to be checked out, have to be reloaded and rearmed, turned around. Crews have to get up and get briefed, prepare new codes ,everything set for the new day, so a lot of work.

HEMMER: And when you mention those pilots and we look at the map again, how well do they know the terrain right now, general?

CLARK: Well, they have got excellent navigation. But in terms of their actual seeing of the terrain, they're not looking at all. Going in at night, and they may just have a little bit of radar picture as they go on terrain.

HEMMER: And do these pilots need the antiaircraft guns, or possibly different installations on the ground? Do they need those things to light up, in order to tent them heatwise, possibly through a nightscope et cetera? Do you need to draw those out before you can see them?

CLARK: Well, we'll get electronic signatures. We've been watching these all day, and then when they shoot, of course, they're more visible, and we may use that signature to take them out.

HEMMER: And again, earlier, you said this not a second phase we're entering, but it's more a continuation of the first phase.

CLARK: I see this as a continuation of the first phase.

HEMMER: General Wesley Clark, thanks.

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