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American Morning
Local Citizens Gave Info on Jessica Lynch's Whereabouts
Aired April 02, 2003 - 09:14 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: And we are just beginning to get more details on that heroic rescue of Private First Class Jessica Lynch last night involving Army Rangers, Air Force pilots, Navy SEALs, Marines.
Art Harris is near Nasiriya and has even more now on the rescue and how it all came about. He joins us by telephone.
Art, what have you learned? Good morning.
ART HARRIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
As you said, it was a daring rescue that gave them a level of confidence, was that local citizens actually confirmed the location of the kidnapped soldier and that was what helped the special operations forces have confidence to hit that hospital.
It is something that the U.S. Marines are finding in Nasiriya as days go by. People are getting more confident about coming forward and pointing out who are Baath Party members, military, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and this case, Paula, where they were holding an American. Back to you.
ZAHN: So help us better understand, though, how risky of a move this was.
HARRIS: Well, you're talking about nighttime and in an inner city area that is infested with paramilitary that -- and others running around AK-47s rocket propelled grenades. This is their neighborhood. This is their city. And streets are narrow, it is dark.
But one thing about our special operations forces they like to say, Paula, they own the night. They have superior night vision goggles. They rehearse these kinds of scenarios often. They had, I'm told, mockups of this place. So, you know, sometimes they can go through these operations almost with their eyes closed and that's what they like.
But again, I can't stress enough what I was told, that local citizens actually volunteered information that confirmed the whereabouts of this American soldier and that gave them the level of confidence to move forward. Back to you.
ZAHN: Quite remarkable that it was all pulled off at dark. Art Harris, thanks so much. Back to Bill now. I guess, Bill, it hasn't been confirmed how long this operation took, but two published accounts suggesting in the 10 to 12-minute range.
BILL HEMMER, ANCHOR: Wow.
ZAHN: From the time they actually got to the hospital and got Jessica on the helicopter.
HEMMER: Yes. The other thing, it was April 1, that was the new moon. It's the darkest night of the month last night. And again tonight it will be the second darkest night. But as Art points out, the military loves to say that they rule the night, especially with those night vision goggles.
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Aired April 2, 2003 - 09:14 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: And we are just beginning to get more details on that heroic rescue of Private First Class Jessica Lynch last night involving Army Rangers, Air Force pilots, Navy SEALs, Marines.
Art Harris is near Nasiriya and has even more now on the rescue and how it all came about. He joins us by telephone.
Art, what have you learned? Good morning.
ART HARRIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
As you said, it was a daring rescue that gave them a level of confidence, was that local citizens actually confirmed the location of the kidnapped soldier and that was what helped the special operations forces have confidence to hit that hospital.
It is something that the U.S. Marines are finding in Nasiriya as days go by. People are getting more confident about coming forward and pointing out who are Baath Party members, military, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and this case, Paula, where they were holding an American. Back to you.
ZAHN: So help us better understand, though, how risky of a move this was.
HARRIS: Well, you're talking about nighttime and in an inner city area that is infested with paramilitary that -- and others running around AK-47s rocket propelled grenades. This is their neighborhood. This is their city. And streets are narrow, it is dark.
But one thing about our special operations forces they like to say, Paula, they own the night. They have superior night vision goggles. They rehearse these kinds of scenarios often. They had, I'm told, mockups of this place. So, you know, sometimes they can go through these operations almost with their eyes closed and that's what they like.
But again, I can't stress enough what I was told, that local citizens actually volunteered information that confirmed the whereabouts of this American soldier and that gave them the level of confidence to move forward. Back to you.
ZAHN: Quite remarkable that it was all pulled off at dark. Art Harris, thanks so much. Back to Bill now. I guess, Bill, it hasn't been confirmed how long this operation took, but two published accounts suggesting in the 10 to 12-minute range.
BILL HEMMER, ANCHOR: Wow.
ZAHN: From the time they actually got to the hospital and got Jessica on the helicopter.
HEMMER: Yes. The other thing, it was April 1, that was the new moon. It's the darkest night of the month last night. And again tonight it will be the second darkest night. But as Art points out, the military loves to say that they rule the night, especially with those night vision goggles.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
