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American Morning
Black Hawk Helicopter Crashes in Honduras
Aired December 12, 2002 - 08:17 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: A few moments ago we told you that story of breaking news out of the Pentagon. Let's get there right now with Barbara Starr to bring more on what's happening now.
Black Hawk down in Honduras, is that right, Barbara?
Good morning.
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, Bill. Good morning.
Some very sad news coming to the Pentagon just a few moments ago. A U.S. Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter has crashed overnight in Honduras. Search and rescue is on the way, but they are being hindered by bad weather. There were five persons on board at this time. They are all presumed dead. A ground convoy is trying to reach the site.
But to bring our viewers up to date now this morning on the latest about that SCUD ship back on its way to Yemen, we can tell you that Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz called the Spanish defense minister overnight, made a telephone call and apologized for how the entire incident ended. Of course, the Spanish are still saying when they boarded that ship back on Monday, the ship was carrying no documentation authorizing it to carry weapons.
But according to the Spanish, Deputy Defense Secretary Wolfowitz told them that the U.S. had no option but to respect a deal, an arms deal between North Korea and Yemen. And so that ship had to be sent on its way.
We are told this morning the crew members are back on board the So San. It hasn't quite gotten fully under way yet. There apparently is bad weather, high seas out in the Indian Ocean, so things are going a bit more slowly. We are also told the ship will simply be sent on its way. It will not be escorted back into Yemen by any warship, certainly no U.S. Navy warships. It's very likely, however, we are told, there will be aerial surveillance as the ship makes its way to Yemen just to make sure, as one official said, it doesn't get lost along the way and wind up going to another port.
Now, officials here at the Pentagon continue to emphasize that once the government of Yemen yesterday publicly stepped up and said the SCUDs were theirs and that they bought and paid for them, that's what turned this entire incident around, that they had no option but to agree that there was legal cargo on board and that the missiles had to be delivered to Yemen. But, of course, a lot of diplomatic maneuvering. We know now, before all of this was finally agreed to, a lot of high level phone calls between the government of Yemen and the Bush administration.
HEMMER: Barbara, you know, there was a massive amount of confusion the past 24 hours, the legalities being argued back and forth. Whatever happened to this flagless ship that apparently made it legal to go ahead and board and seize? That argument went where?
STARR: Well, for those of us who aren't maritime lawyers, that's a tough one. It's, the understanding that we have, if you are a stateless vessel, if you are not carrying a flag or clear markings, under maritime law you can be boarded and searched and if you have dangerous cargo with no clear owner, it can be seized.
Now, the Spanish make the point that that's what they were confronting. They had no idea who owned the ship. They had no idea who was claiming this cargo. That's why the United States asked them to board and, of course, the crew resisted. The Spanish had to fire warning shots to make the ship stop.
The big wrinkle is yesterday Yemen stepped up and said it was their cargo, that the missiles belonged to them. And at that point, the Bush administration said it had no legal standing. But, of course, there's a real delicate diplomatic issue here. Yemen is a key ally in the war on terrorism. The U.S. wants to keep it on its side. And what's most interesting is while we're not, the Bush administration is not criticizing Yemen, it is still criticizing North Korea for selling the missiles -- Bill.
HEMMER: Thank you, Barbara.
Barbara Starr at the Pentagon. The latest there.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired December 12, 2002 - 08:17 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: A few moments ago we told you that story of breaking news out of the Pentagon. Let's get there right now with Barbara Starr to bring more on what's happening now.
Black Hawk down in Honduras, is that right, Barbara?
Good morning.
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, Bill. Good morning.
Some very sad news coming to the Pentagon just a few moments ago. A U.S. Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter has crashed overnight in Honduras. Search and rescue is on the way, but they are being hindered by bad weather. There were five persons on board at this time. They are all presumed dead. A ground convoy is trying to reach the site.
But to bring our viewers up to date now this morning on the latest about that SCUD ship back on its way to Yemen, we can tell you that Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz called the Spanish defense minister overnight, made a telephone call and apologized for how the entire incident ended. Of course, the Spanish are still saying when they boarded that ship back on Monday, the ship was carrying no documentation authorizing it to carry weapons.
But according to the Spanish, Deputy Defense Secretary Wolfowitz told them that the U.S. had no option but to respect a deal, an arms deal between North Korea and Yemen. And so that ship had to be sent on its way.
We are told this morning the crew members are back on board the So San. It hasn't quite gotten fully under way yet. There apparently is bad weather, high seas out in the Indian Ocean, so things are going a bit more slowly. We are also told the ship will simply be sent on its way. It will not be escorted back into Yemen by any warship, certainly no U.S. Navy warships. It's very likely, however, we are told, there will be aerial surveillance as the ship makes its way to Yemen just to make sure, as one official said, it doesn't get lost along the way and wind up going to another port.
Now, officials here at the Pentagon continue to emphasize that once the government of Yemen yesterday publicly stepped up and said the SCUDs were theirs and that they bought and paid for them, that's what turned this entire incident around, that they had no option but to agree that there was legal cargo on board and that the missiles had to be delivered to Yemen. But, of course, a lot of diplomatic maneuvering. We know now, before all of this was finally agreed to, a lot of high level phone calls between the government of Yemen and the Bush administration.
HEMMER: Barbara, you know, there was a massive amount of confusion the past 24 hours, the legalities being argued back and forth. Whatever happened to this flagless ship that apparently made it legal to go ahead and board and seize? That argument went where?
STARR: Well, for those of us who aren't maritime lawyers, that's a tough one. It's, the understanding that we have, if you are a stateless vessel, if you are not carrying a flag or clear markings, under maritime law you can be boarded and searched and if you have dangerous cargo with no clear owner, it can be seized.
Now, the Spanish make the point that that's what they were confronting. They had no idea who owned the ship. They had no idea who was claiming this cargo. That's why the United States asked them to board and, of course, the crew resisted. The Spanish had to fire warning shots to make the ship stop.
The big wrinkle is yesterday Yemen stepped up and said it was their cargo, that the missiles belonged to them. And at that point, the Bush administration said it had no legal standing. But, of course, there's a real delicate diplomatic issue here. Yemen is a key ally in the war on terrorism. The U.S. wants to keep it on its side. And what's most interesting is while we're not, the Bush administration is not criticizing Yemen, it is still criticizing North Korea for selling the missiles -- Bill.
HEMMER: Thank you, Barbara.
Barbara Starr at the Pentagon. The latest there.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
