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American Morning
Pentagon Confirms Missing Pilots
Aired March 24, 2003 - 08:00 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.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: And as always, we get thousands of e- mails from the people who watch this program. I want to read you just this one, which I found quite poignant. It came from Karen in Brookfield, Massachusetts.
"It is the soldier, not the poet, who gives us freedom of speech. It is the soldier, not the reporter, who gives us freedom of the press. It's the soldier, not the campus organizer, who gives us freedom to protest. It is the soldier who serves beneath the flag, who salutes the flag and whose coffin is draped in the flag that gives the demonstrators the right to burn the flag."
That's, I thought, one of the more poignant and perhaps meaningful pieces of correspondence we've received.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, I don't think anybody's too confused about that one.
CAFFERTY: No.
ZAHN: Hope not.
CAFFERTY: No.
ZAHN: Thanks, Jack.
See you a little bit later.
CAFFERTY: OK. Sure.
ZAHN: Time to check in with Leon Harris, who's going to bring us up to date on all the stories making headlines this morning -- good morning, Leon.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Paula.
Good morning, folks.
I'm Leon Harris here at the CNN Center in Atlanta with a look now at what's happening this hour.
The Pentagon confirms that two American pilots are missing in Iraq. Iraqi TV has aired footage of what appears to be an intact Apache helicopter. Iraq's foreign minister says two Apaches were shot down this morning in Southern Iraq and the pilots were taken into custody. But U.S. Central Command is reporting to us that one Apache is missing. Now, Saddam Hussein has come out, at least on tape, we believe, and promised that victory is near and that defeat is certain for coalition fighters. Saddam made these comments during a speech on state television this morning.
Now, also this morning, a Syrian bus carrying 37 civilians trying to get out of Iraq was hit by the U.S. missile. This happened about 90 miles from the Syrian border. Five Syrian civilians were killed, 15 were hurt, this according to the Syrian government.
Army Sergeant Asan Akbar is being investigated but has not been charged in Saturday night's grenade attack at an Army camp in Kuwait. One soldier was killed and 15 were injured at that Camp Pennsylvania.
Coming up here this morning on the network, an update on the war from U.S. Central Command. That's set to take place at 9:00 a.m. Eastern from Qatar and we'll have live coverage of it right here. Also, Baghdad bracing for a ground war. Coalition troops are on the move and we'll get the latest from our embedded reporters with those troops. Plus, the first American soldiers wounded in battle arrive in Germany for treatment.
All that and much more coming up in the next hour. So stay with CNN for our continuous war coverage.
Our coverage now continues right now.
ZAHN: Good morning.
Welcome. Glad to have you with us this morning.
I'm Paula Zahn in New York.
It is another very busy morning, another major story coming out of Iraq. The guessing game is on again in regard to the health of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Iraqi TV played a 20 minute speech overnight. As you see, there's no obvious visual evidence to indicate that he was hurt in the attack last week that began the war and even though Saddam mentions fighting in Southern Iraq, U.S. officials say those battles could have easily been anticipated and the tape does not prove Saddam is alive and well.
Now, add to that, Bill Hemmer, what Senator Lugar had to say on the air yesterday, that there is intelligence that suggests that potentially that he was, indeed, carried out of wherever he was that first night of the bombings on a stretcher. We'll see -- Bill.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, we've looked at the split screen.
Hello, again, Paula.
We looked through that split screen comparing him today to his appearance on Thursday evening and when he's wearing those big wire rimmed glasses. And, again, there's a lot of speculation. There has been no confirmation whatsoever as to the difference in what we're seeing today on the right of your screen there and last Thursday evening, which would have been, Paula, about 24 hours after the initial air attacks got under way south of the Iraqi capital city of Baghdad.
Back in the region right now to check the latest developments that we're getting from our embedded reporters, some of the fiercest fighting in the war continues for the town of Nasiriya. Alessio Vinci is there of CNN. The U.S. Marines First Expeditionary Force. He says his unit came under heavy mortar fire again today. Ten Marines and a dozen wounded in heavy fighting there yesterday. Alessio also reporting that about 16 Americans reported missing at this time.
Coalition air attacks continue for Baghdad again today. The Iraqi Air Force building reportedly hit. Meanwhile, Southeastern Iraq, Basra, Iraq's second largest city, population well over a million there, smoke seen coming from oil field trenches apparently set ablaze on the ground in Basra.
About 90 miles, meanwhile, from Baghdad, the U.S. military has taken control of a site that may have been used to produce chemical weapons. The facility was evidently disguised so it could not be seen from the air. Last hour, Paula, Barbara Starr gave us a bit of caution on this story right now, not quite sure how to proceed in that area south of Baghdad. Was it a chemicals facility? Was it not? Is anything found or discovered there? Perhaps we'll get more in about an hour now when Central Command conducts its briefing of the day in Qatar -- see you again in a couple of minutes, Paula.
ZAHN: Thanks, Bill.
New information of the war seems to come flying at us every couple of minutes or so, with many of our reporters seeing the fighting with their own eyes. We're going to be hearing from Karl Penhaul, which is the with 11th Attack Helicopter Regiment in Southern Iraq; Alessio Vinci, who Bill just mentioned is with the Second Marine Division; and Jason Bellini, who is with the Fifteenth Marine Expeditionary Unit.
We're going to get started this morning at the Pentagon.
Barbara Starr has a lot of the answers to the questions you might be asking this morning.
Here she is -- Barbara, good morning.
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
Let's bring everybody up to date on just a few details.
Going back a day or so, we can now tell you that there has been the first strike by an unmanned Predator drone, an unmanned aerial vehicle, which hit an Iraqi artillery piece, anti-aircraft artillery piece in Southern Iraq with a Hellfire missile. This strike is significant because it was apparently a radar and anti-aircraft artillery piece that was close to the border threatening coalition aircraft as they came across the border. So in that very heavy air defense environment, it has now been struck by the missile from an unmanned U.S. Air Force drone.
Now, what Bill was talking about, the town of Najaf and this chemical plant. Officials are warning a note of caution on whether or not this is really a chemical weapons facility. They say at this point it may be a civilian facility. They are not sure. But in the hours ahead, in the next many, many hours, they expect to enter the city, not offering a specific time line, and they do expect that there may be other sites, other facilities that will have some relationship to Iraq's WMD program.
So they will be going through that area very, very carefully.
Now, out in the west, basically throughout Southwestern Iraq, there have been a number of strikes at these missile launchers that the Iraqis have been using to fire at coalition aircraft. And in the far west, sources are telling us now that basically the U.S. military does feel it has control of the H2 air field. This is a very critical air field in far Western Iraq. This is the whole area that there has been so much concern that possibly there are hidden SCUD missiles, SCUD launchers. A number of air missions being flown, looking for those SCUDs. So far, no reports of any activity there.
And in addition, officials now say that they have about 3,000 Iraqis in custody as prisoners of war -- Paula.
ZAHN: Let's talk a little bit more about what you've learned about this Apache that went down I guess about 50 miles south of Baghdad. Do we know the circumstances surrounding it landing upright?
STARR: We don't. Looking at the pictures, there's no immediate visible evidence of this Apache having taken any kind of missile or mortar fire. Very rough estimates here is possibly a mechanical issue. You see the helmets from the two crew members. A lot of concern about their fate, which is currently unknown.
Now, all of this happened about 50 miles south of Baghdad in an engagement with the Medina Division of the Republican Guard. The first clear indication we have that U.S. forces are now coming into contact with those elite Republican Guard units, the so-called elite Republican Guard units south of Baghdad.
We are told that this is a clear indication U.S. units now really are within striking distance of the southern suburbs of the city and in the days ahead we should expect to see more activity in that region.
ZAHN: And once again, you say there's no confirmation on the status of the pilots in this helicopter? The Iraqis, as you know, have at some point earlier today suggested they are being held as POWs.
STARR: The most the Pentagon will say, the most the U.S. military will say for the record is the status of the crew at this time remains unknown.
ZAHN: Barbara Starr, please standby. I know we're going to be coming to you a lot throughout the day.
Thanks so much.
Just a quick footnote to that story. There are procedures that are used to immediately try to pick up members of a downed helicopter and according to what David Grange has told us, that happens on a continuous basis in an effort to get to them.
Back to Bill now in Kuwait City -- Bill.
HEMMER: All right, Paula, listening to your conversation with Barbara regarding that Apache which is on the ground somewhere in Iraq, we'll talk with David Grange about what it may have been doing at the time and what he is gathering right now based on the videotape that we have seen by way of Iraqi television.
Let's move away from that right now.
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 March 24, 2003 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: And as always, we get thousands of e- mails from the people who watch this program. I want to read you just this one, which I found quite poignant. It came from Karen in Brookfield, Massachusetts.
"It is the soldier, not the poet, who gives us freedom of speech. It is the soldier, not the reporter, who gives us freedom of the press. It's the soldier, not the campus organizer, who gives us freedom to protest. It is the soldier who serves beneath the flag, who salutes the flag and whose coffin is draped in the flag that gives the demonstrators the right to burn the flag."
That's, I thought, one of the more poignant and perhaps meaningful pieces of correspondence we've received.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, I don't think anybody's too confused about that one.
CAFFERTY: No.
ZAHN: Hope not.
CAFFERTY: No.
ZAHN: Thanks, Jack.
See you a little bit later.
CAFFERTY: OK. Sure.
ZAHN: Time to check in with Leon Harris, who's going to bring us up to date on all the stories making headlines this morning -- good morning, Leon.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Paula.
Good morning, folks.
I'm Leon Harris here at the CNN Center in Atlanta with a look now at what's happening this hour.
The Pentagon confirms that two American pilots are missing in Iraq. Iraqi TV has aired footage of what appears to be an intact Apache helicopter. Iraq's foreign minister says two Apaches were shot down this morning in Southern Iraq and the pilots were taken into custody. But U.S. Central Command is reporting to us that one Apache is missing. Now, Saddam Hussein has come out, at least on tape, we believe, and promised that victory is near and that defeat is certain for coalition fighters. Saddam made these comments during a speech on state television this morning.
Now, also this morning, a Syrian bus carrying 37 civilians trying to get out of Iraq was hit by the U.S. missile. This happened about 90 miles from the Syrian border. Five Syrian civilians were killed, 15 were hurt, this according to the Syrian government.
Army Sergeant Asan Akbar is being investigated but has not been charged in Saturday night's grenade attack at an Army camp in Kuwait. One soldier was killed and 15 were injured at that Camp Pennsylvania.
Coming up here this morning on the network, an update on the war from U.S. Central Command. That's set to take place at 9:00 a.m. Eastern from Qatar and we'll have live coverage of it right here. Also, Baghdad bracing for a ground war. Coalition troops are on the move and we'll get the latest from our embedded reporters with those troops. Plus, the first American soldiers wounded in battle arrive in Germany for treatment.
All that and much more coming up in the next hour. So stay with CNN for our continuous war coverage.
Our coverage now continues right now.
ZAHN: Good morning.
Welcome. Glad to have you with us this morning.
I'm Paula Zahn in New York.
It is another very busy morning, another major story coming out of Iraq. The guessing game is on again in regard to the health of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Iraqi TV played a 20 minute speech overnight. As you see, there's no obvious visual evidence to indicate that he was hurt in the attack last week that began the war and even though Saddam mentions fighting in Southern Iraq, U.S. officials say those battles could have easily been anticipated and the tape does not prove Saddam is alive and well.
Now, add to that, Bill Hemmer, what Senator Lugar had to say on the air yesterday, that there is intelligence that suggests that potentially that he was, indeed, carried out of wherever he was that first night of the bombings on a stretcher. We'll see -- Bill.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, we've looked at the split screen.
Hello, again, Paula.
We looked through that split screen comparing him today to his appearance on Thursday evening and when he's wearing those big wire rimmed glasses. And, again, there's a lot of speculation. There has been no confirmation whatsoever as to the difference in what we're seeing today on the right of your screen there and last Thursday evening, which would have been, Paula, about 24 hours after the initial air attacks got under way south of the Iraqi capital city of Baghdad.
Back in the region right now to check the latest developments that we're getting from our embedded reporters, some of the fiercest fighting in the war continues for the town of Nasiriya. Alessio Vinci is there of CNN. The U.S. Marines First Expeditionary Force. He says his unit came under heavy mortar fire again today. Ten Marines and a dozen wounded in heavy fighting there yesterday. Alessio also reporting that about 16 Americans reported missing at this time.
Coalition air attacks continue for Baghdad again today. The Iraqi Air Force building reportedly hit. Meanwhile, Southeastern Iraq, Basra, Iraq's second largest city, population well over a million there, smoke seen coming from oil field trenches apparently set ablaze on the ground in Basra.
About 90 miles, meanwhile, from Baghdad, the U.S. military has taken control of a site that may have been used to produce chemical weapons. The facility was evidently disguised so it could not be seen from the air. Last hour, Paula, Barbara Starr gave us a bit of caution on this story right now, not quite sure how to proceed in that area south of Baghdad. Was it a chemicals facility? Was it not? Is anything found or discovered there? Perhaps we'll get more in about an hour now when Central Command conducts its briefing of the day in Qatar -- see you again in a couple of minutes, Paula.
ZAHN: Thanks, Bill.
New information of the war seems to come flying at us every couple of minutes or so, with many of our reporters seeing the fighting with their own eyes. We're going to be hearing from Karl Penhaul, which is the with 11th Attack Helicopter Regiment in Southern Iraq; Alessio Vinci, who Bill just mentioned is with the Second Marine Division; and Jason Bellini, who is with the Fifteenth Marine Expeditionary Unit.
We're going to get started this morning at the Pentagon.
Barbara Starr has a lot of the answers to the questions you might be asking this morning.
Here she is -- Barbara, good morning.
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
Let's bring everybody up to date on just a few details.
Going back a day or so, we can now tell you that there has been the first strike by an unmanned Predator drone, an unmanned aerial vehicle, which hit an Iraqi artillery piece, anti-aircraft artillery piece in Southern Iraq with a Hellfire missile. This strike is significant because it was apparently a radar and anti-aircraft artillery piece that was close to the border threatening coalition aircraft as they came across the border. So in that very heavy air defense environment, it has now been struck by the missile from an unmanned U.S. Air Force drone.
Now, what Bill was talking about, the town of Najaf and this chemical plant. Officials are warning a note of caution on whether or not this is really a chemical weapons facility. They say at this point it may be a civilian facility. They are not sure. But in the hours ahead, in the next many, many hours, they expect to enter the city, not offering a specific time line, and they do expect that there may be other sites, other facilities that will have some relationship to Iraq's WMD program.
So they will be going through that area very, very carefully.
Now, out in the west, basically throughout Southwestern Iraq, there have been a number of strikes at these missile launchers that the Iraqis have been using to fire at coalition aircraft. And in the far west, sources are telling us now that basically the U.S. military does feel it has control of the H2 air field. This is a very critical air field in far Western Iraq. This is the whole area that there has been so much concern that possibly there are hidden SCUD missiles, SCUD launchers. A number of air missions being flown, looking for those SCUDs. So far, no reports of any activity there.
And in addition, officials now say that they have about 3,000 Iraqis in custody as prisoners of war -- Paula.
ZAHN: Let's talk a little bit more about what you've learned about this Apache that went down I guess about 50 miles south of Baghdad. Do we know the circumstances surrounding it landing upright?
STARR: We don't. Looking at the pictures, there's no immediate visible evidence of this Apache having taken any kind of missile or mortar fire. Very rough estimates here is possibly a mechanical issue. You see the helmets from the two crew members. A lot of concern about their fate, which is currently unknown.
Now, all of this happened about 50 miles south of Baghdad in an engagement with the Medina Division of the Republican Guard. The first clear indication we have that U.S. forces are now coming into contact with those elite Republican Guard units, the so-called elite Republican Guard units south of Baghdad.
We are told that this is a clear indication U.S. units now really are within striking distance of the southern suburbs of the city and in the days ahead we should expect to see more activity in that region.
ZAHN: And once again, you say there's no confirmation on the status of the pilots in this helicopter? The Iraqis, as you know, have at some point earlier today suggested they are being held as POWs.
STARR: The most the Pentagon will say, the most the U.S. military will say for the record is the status of the crew at this time remains unknown.
ZAHN: Barbara Starr, please standby. I know we're going to be coming to you a lot throughout the day.
Thanks so much.
Just a quick footnote to that story. There are procedures that are used to immediately try to pick up members of a downed helicopter and according to what David Grange has told us, that happens on a continuous basis in an effort to get to them.
Back to Bill now in Kuwait City -- Bill.
HEMMER: All right, Paula, listening to your conversation with Barbara regarding that Apache which is on the ground somewhere in Iraq, we'll talk with David Grange about what it may have been doing at the time and what he is gathering right now based on the videotape that we have seen by way of Iraqi television.
Let's move away from that right now.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
