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American Morning
Blackhawk Crash
Aired January 08, 2004 - 09:04 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.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Eight American soldiers were killed today in a helicopter crash near Fallujah, Iraq.
Karl Penhaul has details from Baghdad this morning, and these are the very latest pictures as well that we are getting from Baghdad.
Karl, good morning.
KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Soledad.
Coalition military officials are telling us that the Blackhawk helicopter that went down near Fallujah was on a medical evacuation mission. They have also confirmed to us that the four crew members and four passengers aboard that have all died in that crash.
Now military officials have described to us that this was an emergency landing. They haven't said what the cause of the emergency was. They haven't stipulated to us, Soledad, whether it was hostile fire that brought that helicopter down. If it is confirmed as a hostile act, though, though, it would certainly be the worst attack on the U.S. helicopter since November. That's when we had a couple Blackhawks going down and also the Chinook, which went down in this same area.
The place where the helicopter went down today is in the so- called Sunni Triangle, and this is the heartland of the insurgency against the coalition. It comes, one should mention, a few hours after a mortar attack on a logistics base in the same general area in which one soldier died -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Karl, let's turn now and talk a little bit about this -- the first wave of Iraqi prisoners now being released. How is this being received? How many have been released so far?
PENHAUL: As far as we understand, a number of trucks streamed out of Abu Gray (ph) Prison on the outskirts of Baghdad about an hour and a half or two hours ago. Prisoners aboard those trucks waving to relatives and bystanders nearby. We understand about 66 have come out. What isn't totally clear at this stage, though, Soledad, is whether these are part of the group of prisoners that ambassador Paul Bremer announced would be released, people that he described as low- level suspects in the war against the insurgency here. It's not clear whether these are prisoners that have been in prison for something else entirely, or whether this is the first group of detainees being released -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Karl Penhaul for us in Baghdad this morning. Karl, thank you very much, updating us on some breaking news out of Baghdad.
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 January 8, 2004 - 09:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Eight American soldiers were killed today in a helicopter crash near Fallujah, Iraq.
Karl Penhaul has details from Baghdad this morning, and these are the very latest pictures as well that we are getting from Baghdad.
Karl, good morning.
KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Soledad.
Coalition military officials are telling us that the Blackhawk helicopter that went down near Fallujah was on a medical evacuation mission. They have also confirmed to us that the four crew members and four passengers aboard that have all died in that crash.
Now military officials have described to us that this was an emergency landing. They haven't said what the cause of the emergency was. They haven't stipulated to us, Soledad, whether it was hostile fire that brought that helicopter down. If it is confirmed as a hostile act, though, though, it would certainly be the worst attack on the U.S. helicopter since November. That's when we had a couple Blackhawks going down and also the Chinook, which went down in this same area.
The place where the helicopter went down today is in the so- called Sunni Triangle, and this is the heartland of the insurgency against the coalition. It comes, one should mention, a few hours after a mortar attack on a logistics base in the same general area in which one soldier died -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Karl, let's turn now and talk a little bit about this -- the first wave of Iraqi prisoners now being released. How is this being received? How many have been released so far?
PENHAUL: As far as we understand, a number of trucks streamed out of Abu Gray (ph) Prison on the outskirts of Baghdad about an hour and a half or two hours ago. Prisoners aboard those trucks waving to relatives and bystanders nearby. We understand about 66 have come out. What isn't totally clear at this stage, though, Soledad, is whether these are part of the group of prisoners that ambassador Paul Bremer announced would be released, people that he described as low- level suspects in the war against the insurgency here. It's not clear whether these are prisoners that have been in prison for something else entirely, or whether this is the first group of detainees being released -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Karl Penhaul for us in Baghdad this morning. Karl, thank you very much, updating us on some breaking news out of Baghdad.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
