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American Morning
Some of 20 Soldiers Injured in Crash Talk About Experience
Aired November 05, 2003 - 08:06 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: Three days ago, more than a dozen American soldiers were killed when their helicopter went down near Fallujah. It was the deadliest single attack on American forces since the U.S. invaded Iraq back in late March. Today, some of the 20 soldiers also injured in that crash talked about the experience.
To Baghdad and Matthew Chance, who is tracking this story from there -- Matthew.
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thank you, Bill.
And it's been such a bloody few days here for U.S. forces on the ground. The bloodiest, in fact, since President Bush declared an end to those major combat operations just over six months ago. You talked about that helicopter that was blasted out of the skies over the western town of Fallujah by what eyewitnesses say was a surface to air missile. Well, the exact circumstances are still being investigated.
But we have today heard for the first time from some of the injured soldiers who were on board that chopper. They were then evacuated to Germany and they spoke to reporters earlier today from their hospital beds.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SGT. CHRISTOPHER NELSON, U.S. ARMY: I was in the aircraft and I heard a loud boom sound. And after I heard the sound, I closed my eyes and I prayed. And after that, I don't know what happened because I blanked out. And I woke up, I was on the ground and there was a lot of debris around me. There was people trying to rescue us out of the area.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHANCE: Well, with each day now, it seems that some other incident takes place that further undermines the already fragile sense of security here in Baghdad and elsewhere in the country. Last night was the second night in a row, for instance, that the coalition headquarters was struck by these insurgents that are sort of getting increasingly confident and demonstrating they're increasingly able to strike at the coalition as and when they want to -- Bill.
HEMMER: Matthew Chance, thanks from Baghdad.
Let's talk more about the attacks on U.S. targets there.
Retired Air Force Colonel Sam Gardiner, a military analyst who has taught military strategy at the National War College.
Colonel, good morning to you.
COL. SAM GARDINER, U.S. AIR FORCE (RET.): Hi, Bill.
HEMMER: Thanks for your time here on AMERICAN MORNING.
GARDINER: Thank you.
HEMMER: Nice to see you here.
You said some very interesting things with our producers last evening. I want to go over them point by point. We're going to cut and run in Iraq. Why do you believe that?
GARDINER: Well, obviously that gets to the what we're -- what I think is behind the policy we're working. I mean we don't say we're going to cut and run. We say that we're about making the Iraqi forces able to take over. We're at a point where we have two strategic bookends. We can either reinforce or we can withdraw. We're covering the withdrawal with this notion of we're going to Iraqicize the force.
I mean my goodness, it's just exactly what we did in Vietnam. I remember turning stuff over to the Vietnamese Army and Air Force as quickly as we could, saying we're Vietnamizing the war. But we're really finding a way to get out as quickly as possible.
HEMMER: You talk about reinforcements. Your suggestion is 30,000 to 40,000 more troops. What would that do in a country the size of California?
GARDINER: Well, it's really not the size of California, Bill. You know, that's interesting, the problem is not that big. People tell us that well, you know, in the north it's OK, in the south it's OK. It's only in the Sunni Triangle. Well, that's where the problem is, that's where the people of Iraq are. So really that's the problem you have to deal with.
You have to deal within and around the vicinity of Baghdad and that's where we either decide we're going to take control of the situation or we're going to become victims of the situation.
HEMMER: You also say you do not think we will be there by election time, a year from today.
GARDINER: Sure.
HEMMER: Is that a political answer on your part or part military, as well?
GARDINER: It's a little bit of both. I think what's unfolding is that we have a major decision to make over the next 90 days. There is to be a major reinforcement of the divisions whose one year runs out there. So that by the that time, if we're going to stay, we have to have a lot more people there. Or if we're going to stay at a reasonable level. I think what we'll see is in February there will be a major step function down and then from that point on we'll continue to see major step functions down.
I think what the administration would like to see is that come September or October of next year, that two or three deaths a day are of the Iraqi military and not the American military. So that's...
HEMMER: You know, your opinion on all of this really runs counter to what we've heard from so many throughout the Washington, D.C. area.
GARDINER: Sure.
HEMMER: And you've heard it many times.
GARDINER: Sure.
HEMMER: If you leave Iraq, even within a year, the entire region could go down like dominoes.
GARDINER: Right.
HEMMER: You see that scenario, I'm certain, right?
GARDINER: I don't agree with that, Bill. I mean it's interesting the people that say that are the people -- I mean it's driven by the people who made the decision to go there. What they really are saying, when you cut through that statement, is it will reflect very badly on me. You know, that -- they said the same thing about Vietnam. What happened after we left Vietnam? It's hard to say. We're having an exchange visit with the Vietnamese military this week.
I think it's possible to recover from that. I think it's possible a couple of ways. And one of them clearly, if there were a new administration, we could say well, this was just an aberration. This isn't the way the Americans do things. They don't do preemptive military action. They don't invade other countries.
The other alternative is if this administration wants to stay in power, it can begin to eliminate some of those whose names are totally associated with the war -- Cheney, Wolfowitz, you can make the list. You can repudiate this decision, which was really an aberration in American foreign and military policy.
HEMMER: Interesting viewpoints, nonetheless.
Colonel, thanks.
GARDINER: Thank you.
HEMMER: Sam Gardiner from D.C.
We'll talk again.
Thank you, sir.
GARDINER: Sure.
HEMMER: Colonel.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Experience>
Aired November 5, 2003 - 08:06 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Three days ago, more than a dozen American soldiers were killed when their helicopter went down near Fallujah. It was the deadliest single attack on American forces since the U.S. invaded Iraq back in late March. Today, some of the 20 soldiers also injured in that crash talked about the experience.
To Baghdad and Matthew Chance, who is tracking this story from there -- Matthew.
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thank you, Bill.
And it's been such a bloody few days here for U.S. forces on the ground. The bloodiest, in fact, since President Bush declared an end to those major combat operations just over six months ago. You talked about that helicopter that was blasted out of the skies over the western town of Fallujah by what eyewitnesses say was a surface to air missile. Well, the exact circumstances are still being investigated.
But we have today heard for the first time from some of the injured soldiers who were on board that chopper. They were then evacuated to Germany and they spoke to reporters earlier today from their hospital beds.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SGT. CHRISTOPHER NELSON, U.S. ARMY: I was in the aircraft and I heard a loud boom sound. And after I heard the sound, I closed my eyes and I prayed. And after that, I don't know what happened because I blanked out. And I woke up, I was on the ground and there was a lot of debris around me. There was people trying to rescue us out of the area.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHANCE: Well, with each day now, it seems that some other incident takes place that further undermines the already fragile sense of security here in Baghdad and elsewhere in the country. Last night was the second night in a row, for instance, that the coalition headquarters was struck by these insurgents that are sort of getting increasingly confident and demonstrating they're increasingly able to strike at the coalition as and when they want to -- Bill.
HEMMER: Matthew Chance, thanks from Baghdad.
Let's talk more about the attacks on U.S. targets there.
Retired Air Force Colonel Sam Gardiner, a military analyst who has taught military strategy at the National War College.
Colonel, good morning to you.
COL. SAM GARDINER, U.S. AIR FORCE (RET.): Hi, Bill.
HEMMER: Thanks for your time here on AMERICAN MORNING.
GARDINER: Thank you.
HEMMER: Nice to see you here.
You said some very interesting things with our producers last evening. I want to go over them point by point. We're going to cut and run in Iraq. Why do you believe that?
GARDINER: Well, obviously that gets to the what we're -- what I think is behind the policy we're working. I mean we don't say we're going to cut and run. We say that we're about making the Iraqi forces able to take over. We're at a point where we have two strategic bookends. We can either reinforce or we can withdraw. We're covering the withdrawal with this notion of we're going to Iraqicize the force.
I mean my goodness, it's just exactly what we did in Vietnam. I remember turning stuff over to the Vietnamese Army and Air Force as quickly as we could, saying we're Vietnamizing the war. But we're really finding a way to get out as quickly as possible.
HEMMER: You talk about reinforcements. Your suggestion is 30,000 to 40,000 more troops. What would that do in a country the size of California?
GARDINER: Well, it's really not the size of California, Bill. You know, that's interesting, the problem is not that big. People tell us that well, you know, in the north it's OK, in the south it's OK. It's only in the Sunni Triangle. Well, that's where the problem is, that's where the people of Iraq are. So really that's the problem you have to deal with.
You have to deal within and around the vicinity of Baghdad and that's where we either decide we're going to take control of the situation or we're going to become victims of the situation.
HEMMER: You also say you do not think we will be there by election time, a year from today.
GARDINER: Sure.
HEMMER: Is that a political answer on your part or part military, as well?
GARDINER: It's a little bit of both. I think what's unfolding is that we have a major decision to make over the next 90 days. There is to be a major reinforcement of the divisions whose one year runs out there. So that by the that time, if we're going to stay, we have to have a lot more people there. Or if we're going to stay at a reasonable level. I think what we'll see is in February there will be a major step function down and then from that point on we'll continue to see major step functions down.
I think what the administration would like to see is that come September or October of next year, that two or three deaths a day are of the Iraqi military and not the American military. So that's...
HEMMER: You know, your opinion on all of this really runs counter to what we've heard from so many throughout the Washington, D.C. area.
GARDINER: Sure.
HEMMER: And you've heard it many times.
GARDINER: Sure.
HEMMER: If you leave Iraq, even within a year, the entire region could go down like dominoes.
GARDINER: Right.
HEMMER: You see that scenario, I'm certain, right?
GARDINER: I don't agree with that, Bill. I mean it's interesting the people that say that are the people -- I mean it's driven by the people who made the decision to go there. What they really are saying, when you cut through that statement, is it will reflect very badly on me. You know, that -- they said the same thing about Vietnam. What happened after we left Vietnam? It's hard to say. We're having an exchange visit with the Vietnamese military this week.
I think it's possible to recover from that. I think it's possible a couple of ways. And one of them clearly, if there were a new administration, we could say well, this was just an aberration. This isn't the way the Americans do things. They don't do preemptive military action. They don't invade other countries.
The other alternative is if this administration wants to stay in power, it can begin to eliminate some of those whose names are totally associated with the war -- Cheney, Wolfowitz, you can make the list. You can repudiate this decision, which was really an aberration in American foreign and military policy.
HEMMER: Interesting viewpoints, nonetheless.
Colonel, thanks.
GARDINER: Thank you.
HEMMER: Sam Gardiner from D.C.
We'll talk again.
Thank you, sir.
GARDINER: Sure.
HEMMER: Colonel.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
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