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CNN Live Sunday

Interview With Julian Barnes

Aired April 20, 2003 - 16:44   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.


SOPHIA CHOI, CNN ANCHOR: Joining us for more on the embed's point of view is Julian Barnes. He is a senior editor for "The U.S. News and World Report." And he was with the Army's 101st Airborne Division during the war in Iraq. Welcome, and thanks so much for joining us.
JULIAN BARNES, U.S. NEWS AND WORLD REPORT: Thank you for having me.

CHOI: So you must have had some preconceived notions as you went into this embed process. What stands out in your mind about the weeks that you spent with the 101st Airborne Division, and were you surprised by any of your experiences?

BARNES: I was surprised by it. I was surprised by how open soldiers were and their -- and the officers were at letting me see their planning process. I was surprised by how much access they gave me to their actual fighting. I could walk into the cities with the infantrymen, run into buildings with them, watch them do -- watch them fight this war at a much closer perspective than I thought I would be able to see going into this.

CHOI: And you saw firsthand that accomplishing the mission, as we say, in war comes with some tough decisions having to be made, including one that a sergeant that you had become close to had to make involving a child. Tell us about that.

BARNES: Well, I was in Karbala with the 2nd Brigade, and during the -- I was following around the Bravo Company, and one of the sergeants, Jason Seifert (ph), told me on the second day we were fighting in Karbala -- he had fought his way on the first day to the top of a building. It was a very tough day. It was -- they had run out of water. They had been taking small arms fire. A rocket- propelled grenade had destroyed a Bradley fighting vehicle.

And he and members of his company had fought their way to the top of a building. And Sergeant Seifert (ph) shot a man who was carrying a rocket-propelled grenade launcher. And that man dropped the grenade launcher, and then Sergeant Seifert (ph) watched a child run out to get the grenade launcher. And he told himself, please don't pick it up. And then that child kept going at it. And he screamed at the child to run away. And then he fired a warning shot and skipped around right over that child's head.

And then the child picked up the rocket-propelled grenade, and he made the most difficult decision of his life, and did what he said the next day was the most terrible thing he's ever done, and he shot that child. And he -- when I talked to him the next day, he was having a very difficult time dealing with this. He felt he had done the right thing. His officers told him that he had done the right thing, but he was having a very difficult time dealing with that.

CHOI: And this embed experience got you close enough to that soldier that you could get his first-hand accounts of what happened there. Do you think that the embed system worked?

BARNES: I do. I don't think a news organization, be it "U.S. News and World Report" or be it CNN could cover the war just with embedded reporters. You need the outside perspective of the independent, the unilateral reporters, but the embed allowed us to get close to soldiers, to get them comfortable with seeing reporters on the battlefield, to tell their stories, to tell an honest account of what they had seen. And I think that was an important part of the coverage of this war.

CHOI: Julian Barnes with "U.S. News and World Report," we thank you so much for sharing your experiences about the embed process. Thanks, again.

BARNES: Thank you.

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 April 20, 2003 - 16:44   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOPHIA CHOI, CNN ANCHOR: Joining us for more on the embed's point of view is Julian Barnes. He is a senior editor for "The U.S. News and World Report." And he was with the Army's 101st Airborne Division during the war in Iraq. Welcome, and thanks so much for joining us.
JULIAN BARNES, U.S. NEWS AND WORLD REPORT: Thank you for having me.

CHOI: So you must have had some preconceived notions as you went into this embed process. What stands out in your mind about the weeks that you spent with the 101st Airborne Division, and were you surprised by any of your experiences?

BARNES: I was surprised by it. I was surprised by how open soldiers were and their -- and the officers were at letting me see their planning process. I was surprised by how much access they gave me to their actual fighting. I could walk into the cities with the infantrymen, run into buildings with them, watch them do -- watch them fight this war at a much closer perspective than I thought I would be able to see going into this.

CHOI: And you saw firsthand that accomplishing the mission, as we say, in war comes with some tough decisions having to be made, including one that a sergeant that you had become close to had to make involving a child. Tell us about that.

BARNES: Well, I was in Karbala with the 2nd Brigade, and during the -- I was following around the Bravo Company, and one of the sergeants, Jason Seifert (ph), told me on the second day we were fighting in Karbala -- he had fought his way on the first day to the top of a building. It was a very tough day. It was -- they had run out of water. They had been taking small arms fire. A rocket- propelled grenade had destroyed a Bradley fighting vehicle.

And he and members of his company had fought their way to the top of a building. And Sergeant Seifert (ph) shot a man who was carrying a rocket-propelled grenade launcher. And that man dropped the grenade launcher, and then Sergeant Seifert (ph) watched a child run out to get the grenade launcher. And he told himself, please don't pick it up. And then that child kept going at it. And he screamed at the child to run away. And then he fired a warning shot and skipped around right over that child's head.

And then the child picked up the rocket-propelled grenade, and he made the most difficult decision of his life, and did what he said the next day was the most terrible thing he's ever done, and he shot that child. And he -- when I talked to him the next day, he was having a very difficult time dealing with this. He felt he had done the right thing. His officers told him that he had done the right thing, but he was having a very difficult time dealing with that.

CHOI: And this embed experience got you close enough to that soldier that you could get his first-hand accounts of what happened there. Do you think that the embed system worked?

BARNES: I do. I don't think a news organization, be it "U.S. News and World Report" or be it CNN could cover the war just with embedded reporters. You need the outside perspective of the independent, the unilateral reporters, but the embed allowed us to get close to soldiers, to get them comfortable with seeing reporters on the battlefield, to tell their stories, to tell an honest account of what they had seen. And I think that was an important part of the coverage of this war.

CHOI: Julian Barnes with "U.S. News and World Report," we thank you so much for sharing your experiences about the embed process. Thanks, again.

BARNES: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com