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American Morning
In Operation Anaconda, U.S. and Afghan Fighters Battling Not only Terrorists, But Also High-Altitude Cold
Aired March 08, 2002 - 07:04 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: Up front this morning, Operation Anaconda, the battle against hardened al Qaeda forces in eastern Afghanistan. U.S. and Afghan fighters are battling not only the terrorists, but also the high altitude cold. Also this morning, an emotional ceremony at Bagram Air Base for soldiers who were on the front lines.
Martin Savidge is at the air base in Afghanistan. He joins us on the telephone right now to give his take on what happened earlier this morning -- Martin, good morning.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Paula.
The weather is also another factor that the soldiers are battling, which is part of the reason why we can't transmit right now. There is stormy weather that is not only moving through Bagram, but also through the mountainous terrain where the box or the battlefield is. That's hampering air operations, although the ground forces are said to be hunkering down and holding on just fine, thank you very much, according to military officials here.
But you're right, it was the first ceremony and the first medals to be awarded as a result of Operation Anaconda. There were six Purple Hearts that were handed out. One went to an Apache helicopter pilot who was wounded in the face after bullets shattered through the canopy and ricocheted around where he sat as he tried to keep control of his aircraft.
Then the five other Purple Hearts went to members of the 10th Mountain Division, and that is 187, that is the First Battalion, 87th Infantry Division, all of them from Charlie Company. They were wounded during the first lift on that fateful day. That company was pinned down for something like 18 hours struggling under heavy enemy attack and yet they prevailed and they were airlifted out almost 20 hours after they went in.
And it was a very emotional and uplifting for many of the soldiers that were on base. They shook hands with the recipients. There are many more medals likely to come.
About Operation Anaconda, it is moving forward despite the problems they have with a weather. Military officials say they have destroyed a number of caves, but more important they say now that they have destroyed over 50 percent of the fighting force of al Qaeda and Taliban that they believe is in the area of eastern Afghanistan.
Does that mean that they think this battle is almost at an end? Well, I talked to Colonel Frank Wiercinski, he's the man in charge of the ground forces, and he says there is no way to predict when this will end and there's no way to say that the worst of the fighting is over just yet. He does say that when it is completed, this mission will be a complete success and be remembered as possibly a turning point in America's war against terrorism.
There have been no reports of any U.S. casualties or coalition forces in the last 24 hours, Paula, and they expect this bad weather to actually clear up sooner than they had earlier predicted. Perhaps as soon as tomorrow, resuming operations out there on the battlefield.
ZAHN: So have all air operations been suspended?
SAVIDGE: It's difficult to say whether all. There is some operations that can be conducted, certainly emergency operations are always attempted if it is deemed necessary. But for the most part it does appear that the use of, say, surveillance aircraft like the Predator is being done. We have not heard too many helicopters taking off from here and so it would indicate that for the most part right now they are grounded. But the military says they're not worried about that because for days before they knew the weather was coming and you could see the amount of troops and supplies going out to make sure that those with boots on the ground would be in total control, even if there was a temporary halt.
ZAHN: Martin Savidge, thank you very much for that live report.
We will be checking in with you in the next hour as well.
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