Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
Special Forces Report Looks at Deadly Battle in Anaconda
Aired April 25, 2002 - 07:07 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: We are going to move on to an exclusive inside look at Operation Anaconda in the U.S. war in Afghanistan just completed. A U.S. Special Forces internal report on how seven men died last month in the opening hours of that operation.
The Pentagon has yet to release the report, but CNN's Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr, joins us now with a preview of what the report reveals about the war's largest and deadliest battle -- good morning, Barbara.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula. Well, what happened in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan may never be fully known. There are differing accounts of the very brutal fighting.
But this classified report attempts, for the first time, to offer details based on interviews with the survivors, and classified videotape taken by a Predator drone flying over the battlefield, disturbing pictures showing American servicemen fighting to their death.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STARR (voice-over): The March 4 mission began when an MH-47 Chinook helicopter tried to drop off troops along a ridge line known as Objective Ginger in the opening hours of Operation Anaconda. Enemy gunfire shattered hydraulic lines, causing the helicopter to repeatedly lurch.
One of the Navy SEALs on board, Petty Officer Neil Roberts, fell out of the helicopter. Several sources say he fell when he tried to rescue a door gunner hanging by his harness. Others say it happened when the helicopter lurched. Roberts landed in a nest of al Qaeda fighters, fighting back until all of his grenades were gone and his pistol empty.
It's unclear if he was captured and executed or killed in an exchange of gunfire. Those who have viewed the still-classified videotape from an unmanned Predator drone differ in their conclusions.
CNN has learned there was more, much more that has not been told. Air Force Technical Sergeant John Chapman was part of a six-man rescue team sent in to get Roberts back. Sources tell CNN Chapman came under very heavy enemy fire, fighting until his death; other members of the rescue force wounded. What Chapman may not have ever known is that the Navy SEAL may have already been killed by the time the rescue team got there.
Two other helicopters brought in more men to get the dead and wounded. These rescuers also faced withering enemy fire; four were killed, several more wounded.
Senior Airman Jason Cunningham tended to them for hours, moving the injured from the incoming enemy rounds, now landing just feet away until he, too, was fatally hit, dying of his wounds on the mountainside while trying to help others. It was Cunningham's first combat mission.
And still under fire, remaining Special Forces called in air support for more than 12 hours, bringing in an AC-130 gunship to repeatedly drive off the attackers.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STARR: Special Forces say they still want the Pentagon to release this report. They want everyone to know how these men fought so hard to save each other on a mountainside they have now renamed Roberts Ridge -- Paula.
ZAHN: I guess this is the first look we have really gotten as to how many heroes were involved here.
STARR: Absolutely. They do hope that in the weeks ahead, the Pentagon will release this report and make many of these details more public.
ZAHN: All right. Thanks, Barbara -- appreciate that report.
Joining us now to talk more about the Pentagon report on Operation Anaconda from Chicago, CNN military analyst, General David Grange -- welcome back -- good to see you again, General.
BRIG. GEN. DAVID GRANGE, U.S. ARMY (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Good morning.
ZAHN: First of all, your reaction to this preview of the report.
GRANGE: Well, it gives credit to the heroes that were fighting. You know, the American military is something to be very proud of, and this fight is an example of the courage that was displayed. This was face-to-face, very close combat.
The force went in to save a fallen comrade. Whether the comrade was dead or alive is irrelevant to these airmen, these soldiers. They went in to get a Navy SEAL that went down, and when subsequent buddies were injured or killed, they went in to get them as well. And that's a creed that is between these types of servicemen that is honored all of the time. And so it's just an example of the courage that they give each other.
ZAHN: And obviously there is still a lot of conflicting information in this report. Will we ever know specific details of exactly what went wrong here?
GRANGE: Well, I don't know if things went wrong. You never know what you are going to find on the ground until you get on the ground. You know, intelligence is not perfect. Operations go a little different than you want them to go. The enemy has a vote in the fight.
So things happen once bullets start flying, and what you have here is the military reacting in this fight to what they found on the ground and taking care of each other in some very personal combat that is expressed here in the story that Barbara just went over. And it should come out to the American people, because it's something to be proud of, the actions that took place once this fight started.
You know, a captured al Qaeda fighter said that when they fought the Soviets, and they shot an officer or they shot a sergeant, everything stopped. In this particular fight and the fights right after that when they shot an American officer or a sergeant, the privates got up and continued the mission. And it just shows the type of people that we have in the military and how good they are.
ZAHN: Everybody should feel tremendous pride this morning. How might this report be used as documentation for medals of honors possibly being awarded to these very valiant men?
GRANGE: Well, I believe that there will be some valor awards that come out of the fight. It's hard to say exactly what they will be until you see a detailed report, and then a board will make that decision. But they are well-deserving to receive something obviously, and I think that will come out, and hopefully the report will be out quite soon.
ZAHN: General Grange, before we let you go this morning, we wanted you to respond to reports that we have seen that you now have U.S. forces involved in covert activities in Pakistan, side-by-side Pakistani troops, as they continue to try to snuff out these caves for remaining al Qaeda members. How dangerous are these missions?
GRANGE: Well, the missions are very dangerous, because the teams are operating in small groups as they should, the special operating forces and there are conventional forces involved as well. But they are dangerous, but it's the only way to find and destroy the remaining pockets of terrorists or Taliban fighters in the area.
Just like the same in Pakistan, the borders used -- just like in Vietnam, they used Laos and Cambodia. And it's very difficult to fight a war like that, unless you have freedom of action to move across boundaries which are invisible to enemy. And so some of these recent developments, even though they are low-key, and they should be low-key, to move across the border, to move freely around the area in small elements is the only way to beat these guys, and we have to do it.
ZAHN: How challenged, though, will American troops be given the fact that the Pakistanis have given them extremely limited permission to join them in these actions? GRANGE: The constraints are there, and they are to be dealt with obviously, but it still is better than having no permission to move across at all. And as long as it's not a really large troop movement, I think President Musharraf will continue to support our needs to pursue the enemy in his hideouts, whether it be in small villages where he is blending in with the people, because you know the force we fight, they use people as cover and concealment. It's something that, you know, our coalition forces would not do. And then the mountains, of course, are very challenging.
So you know, our forces can do it. The coalition forces can do it, and it seems like the effort is picking up, which it should.
ZAHN: All right. General Grange, as always, we appreciate your insights -- thanks for joining us this morning.
GRANGE: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
