Shock and Awe

Subtitles by explosiveskull

Continuing today's hearing on future VA funding...

the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs...

is called back to order.

We'll hear from our next witness.

Will you please stand and raise your right hand?

My apologies.

Please raise your right hand.

Do you swear that the testimony you're about to give...

this committee will be the truth, the whole truth...

and nothing but the truth, so help you God?

I do.

Please state your name.

Private First Class Adam Green, United States Army, retired.

Mr. Green, I understand you've prepared a statement?

I have, sir.

You may enter it into the record at this time.

Mr. Chairman, members of the Committee...

I want to thank you for the opportunity...

to speak with you today.

I served in the military f...

I'm sorry, if I could just...

Sure, go ahead.

Thank you, sir.

I've always liked numbers.

Whenever I have a hard time wrapping my head around...

something, I find that numbers make things clearer for me.

They help me understand decisions that are made...

and the impacts of those decisions.

So, if it's all right...

I'd like the start with the number 1.4 million.

That's the number of men and women...

who are currently serving in our military.

555...

that's how many days passed before we invaded one country...

after having been attacked by another.

19... is how old I was when I enlisted.

Three is the number of hours that passed from the time...

I arrived in Iraq to the time our transport...

was destroyed by an I.E.D.

And then there's six.

That's the number of inches the piece of shrapnel was...

that severed my spinal cord.

The only problems with numbers is they can be impersonal.

A decision you made had a life-changing impact on me...

and a lot of soldiers like me.

Now, I'm not a military expert.

I don't know a whole lot about geopolitical affairs.

I'm just an ordinary American.

And I understand that you've asked me here...

because you all have some questions for me,

but if it's all right, I'd like to ask all of you a question.

How the hell did this happen?

My fellow citizens, at this hour...

American and coalition forces are in the early stages...

of military operations to disarm Iraq, to free...

its people and to defend the world from grave danger.

The start of the campaign called Shock and Awe.

Shock and Awe.

- Shock and Awe. - Shock and Awe, indeed.

Air raid sirens are going off in Baghdad...

The massive military operation...

to topple Saddam Hussein is now in effect.

Firing 600 Cruise missiles...

and every type of war plane in the American arsenal.

A fearsome display of American military might.

The scale of this attack...

is considerably higher than anything we've seen before.

We're taking out whole buildings...

with these Cruise missiles.

U.S. war planes unleashed...

to promise massive bombardment of Baghdad.

3,000 Tomahawk Cruise missiles...

satellite-guided precision bombs, laser-guided bombs.

I think the citizens of Baghdad know...

exactly what the Pentagon means by Shock and Awe.

Just over the Kuwait-Iraq border...

we watched as columns of troops moved into the country.

They're well on their way to Baghdad.

They have met resistance.

We can't leave the television...

every tank, every helicopter... is that my son?

Now Baghdad is within striking distance...

just a few short miles away...

as U.S. troops make their final push forward.

We want to slaughter them all...

those invaders, their tombs will be here in Iraq.

If Saddam Hussein is alive, he is quote...

"Not in control of his military and of his government."

These are opening stages of what will be a broad...

and concerted campaign.

Could be longer and more difficult than some predict.

And helping Iraqis achieve a united, stable...

and free country will require our sustained commitment.

And you can know that our forces will be coming home...

as soon as their work is done.

Keep moving! Keep moving! Let's go!

- Where are they taking us? - Shut up. Head down.

Keep your mouth shut or I'll blow your fucking head off.

- All right, all right. - Are you a soldier?

- Journalist. - Who do you work for?

- Knight Ridder. - Never heard of it.

You should read more.

What is your name?

Jonathan Landay.

Goodbye, Jonathan Landay.

Exercise complete.

What you have just engaged in is called The Gray Man Exercise.

And what you have just witnessed...

is a colossal failure of that exercise.

If a journalist is captured...

terrorists may keep you alive...

in hopes of getting information or exchanging you for a ransom.

But if you give them a reason to kill you, they will.

The purpose of this exercise is to teach you...

how to avoid drawing the attention of your captors.

Hence the name, Gray Man.

Can you untie me?

This could save your life one day, you understand?

I do, I've been in 11 war zones, I've been shot at...

I've been held captive, I take this very seriously.

But if you don't untie me right now, I may lose my job.

And I'm fairly certain that none of this training...

is going to be very useful...

when I'm mopping the floor at Staples.

Both of the twin towers...

the World Trade Center in New York's lower Manhattan...

have been struck by planes this morning within 20 minutes.

First, it was the North Tower that was struck...

with a gaping hole left in two sides of that building.

Good God.

20 minutes later, the second building...

the second tower in that World Trade Center complex...

I think we should keep Elizabeth in school.

Yeah, no, I think that's a good idea.

Why freak her out, huh?

And I'll call Ali and Jennifer as soon as the phones open up.

- I love you. - I love you.

Okay.

We should tell you that...

we have gotten calls from people...

who live and work around the Pentagon who have told us...

that they have seen something...

that they have described as an explosion.

This is information we have not been able to confirm.

Get up.

Sorry, Dad.

Monday Night Football went long.

Let's clean this place up.

Trade Center here in New York...

have been hit by airplanes.

In Washington, there is a large fire at the Pentagon.

The Pentagon has been evacuated.

And there is, you can see, perhaps, the second tower...

the front tower, the top portion of which is collapsing.

Good Lord.

Lot of people going to need a drink tonight.

Soldiers drink free.

There are no words.

All federal office buildings now...

all federal office buildings in Washington, D.C.

are being evacuated as we speak to you now.

We are in the middle of an extraordinary catastrophe.

The most important things to tell you if you just joined in is that it...

what has all the makings of an extraordinarily...

well-planned terrorist attack on both Washington and New York

has taken place this morning.

The Trade Centers here in New York...

the two World Trade Center towers have collapsed...

after being hit by planes.

Yeah, this is John Walcott from Knight Ridder.

Is he there?

Yeah, okay, well, tell him I'll try him back later.

Thank you.

I just spoke with my wife.

She and the kids are afraid to leave the house.

What are they doing over there?

They're watching the White House.

To see if it gets hit?

Yes.

Oh, Jesus. All right, go home to your family.

And tell your colleagues that maybe they want to stay away...

from the windows, okay?

- Thanks, John. - Yeah.

Okay. All right. Okay.

Their working thesis is that this is overseas terrorism...

not domestic.

Attention will quickly turn to the bin Laden group...

because it has long tentacles.

There are very few others that could have pulled this off.

Are we sending somebody to New York?

Ken Moore at Suvu was already up there covering Wall Street.

What's going on over at State?

Powell's in Peru.

They're working on getting him home as soon as possible.

All right, what we need to do is track the President.

Track his top people and find out...

who's responsible for all this.

We need as many sources at as many agencies...

to go on the record and tell us all what we know has to be true.