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American Morning

Marine Corps Holidays in Kandahar

Aired December 24, 2001 - 07:33   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: Time now to go back to Afghanistan, specifically the Kandahar International Airport, and our Bill Hemmer who is with the troops reuniting families.

The choppers are blaring in the background there, Bill. I also see there's a fire over your right shoulder there. I know it's about dinnertime here, are they cooking up dinner there?

BILL HEMMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A little bit. You know they kind of go in shifts depending on their jobs and the operation that has to be carried out, really, on a 24-hour basis.

You mentioned the choppers, Miles. As soon as it gets dark here, about 14 C-130s take turns coming into Kandahar airport, landing, taxiing, unloading, taxiing again and taking off. It can be a very loud evening here as one could imagine.

Want to point out, though, that there are 17 detainees here at the Kandahar International Airport under constant 24-hour observation. In fact, two more suspected al Qaeda members were brought in over the weekend. They have spotlights on them 24 hours a day and certainly they're being observed and also questioned at different times.

And as I mentioned, that security also is a paramount concern here. And we're being told that on a daily basis the perimeter here around the airport gets extended a little more every day. But especially during the holidays, the Marines here want to be extra vigilant with the idea that they want to make sure things are indeed safe in and around the base here.

And as I mention that, this time about yesterday, we saw a B-52 high in the air above us loading for about two hours. A few of us did spot about three large explosions on the side of a mountain about five miles northwest of here.

We're not sure yet through the Pentagon what they were trying to hit there, but we do have some information there's a few telecomplexes over there, might be a whole lot of armaments and munitions and (UNINTELLIGIBLE) that be the target, though, of those bombs being dropped yesterday trying to blow them up and get rid of them then. We'll try and confirm that throughout the day as things wake up on Washington. We'll try and confirm that with the Pentagon.

Also though, it is the holidays, it's Christmas Eve, we do expect midnight Mass to take place here in about six hours time. We'll have that for you, and also some special Santa packages delivered to the Marines today. We'll show you that next hour here as our coverage continues live from Kandahar.

Miles, back to you (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

Merry Christmas to you and your family.

O'BRIEN: All right. And same to you. Thank you very much. We'll see you in a little bit.

Bill Hemmer with the troops, with the Marines specifically, in Kandahar.

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