[Nguyen:] Well you may have noticed Kyra Phillips has been absent from the NEWSROOM for a while. Well, here's why. She's on special assignment. Kyra will be reporting out of Iraq for the next few weeks and she joins us live now from Baghdad. Let me say, it is so good to see you, Kyra.
[Kyra Phillips, Cnn Anchor:] Let me tell you what, that journey is pretty harrowing and I'm going give you a little inside look to it now, Betty, as you can imagine. A lot of people ask me, and here we are five years into the war, how do you get there? Do you go in by military? How dangerous is it? And I thought, okay, I'll grab the handy cam and I'll try and document my journey to give you all an inside look. Yes, it is still very dangerous. Yes, there have been improvements but I'm going to try to give you a taste of what it's really like through the eyes of my camera.
[Phillips:] So basically, this is the beginning of the trip. Everybody that's boarding for Baghdad are security ties, construction workers and journalists. A lot of people always ask, "What kind of or how we get into Baghdad." And they always think it's the military but believe it or not, you fly a commercial airplane. This one is Royal Jordanian, it's an airbus and it's going to be a packed flight today. For many of these passengers, it's their first trip into Baghdad like Matt, he's a paramedic from Washington State. [on-camera]: Tell us what you're going to be doing in Iraq.
[Unidentified Male:] I'm going to be doing convoy operations out of Baghdad.
[Phillips:] And you're a civilian, so why come in and do this?
[Unidentified Male:] It's good pay.
[Phillips:] The flight is quiet. And it's tense. Passengers are lost in their own thoughts; going to work, going to war, going home. It's time to land. [on-camera]: To come in for a landing you have to do a really tight loop that used to be a lot tighter and faster. These are called the spiral landing. But now it's a gentle turn and then it comes in. So once you hit ground you're totally relieved. Isn't that right?
[Unidentified Female:] Correct.
[Phillips:] You can see Saddam's mansions all across Iraq. Ornate and flashy palaces now mostly military compounds. [on-camera]: We're in Baghdad.
[Unidentified Female:] We are.
[Phillips:] It's always a relief to land. Armed guards hurry us to the bus. We head to baggage claim. And for security reasons, I can't show you very much here. But I can show you we are incredibly protected. [on-camera]: So basically we've got to put our vests on and then we'll have armored cars taking us from the airport to the bureau, it's actually
[Unidentified Male:] Unclean shirt.
[Phillips:] That's all right. The uncleaned shirt's okay. It's actually one of the most dangerous parts of the trip. But we've got great security, we've got a couple of cars, we have Iraqi security and our other security. That's about all I can say. I can't show you faces of our security team but I can tell you the mantra. Weapons, medical packs and communications.
[Unidentified Male:] On the radio, here.
[Phillips:] Safety in numbers and mitigating every threat.
[Unidentified Male:] For the purpose of this journey, should anything happen, do not attempt to get out of the vehicle or open the doors; just listen to me. If do tell you to get down, then try and get down below the window line.
[Phillips:] This is the route from Baghdad International Airport to our bureau, infamous for terrorist attacks. [on-camera]: Why has this essentially been one of the dangerous routes here in Baghdad?
[Unidentified Male:] Because it presents mass groups of foreigners, it uses targets of opportunity. They know that by sitting around and monitoring this route they've got easy pickings. Within an hour, someone is going travel along this road.
[Phillips:] There was a time you could never come down this road without something happening.
[Unidentified Male:] That's about true, yes.
[Phillips:] And now you've got more Iraqi army.
[Unidentified Male:] Yes. More, power in the front line. Today we've had a lot of overpass clear you'll spend probably an hour 10 kilometers an hour from the green zone and sweep the road for IEDs, objects and whatever.
[Phillips:] So it's times like this where security definately becomes more concerned. They call it a bit of a choke hold, where we come it a stand still and all the cars stop. Because if something were to happen, you're a bit of a sitting duck. So security pays attention to the balconies, if anybody's up on balconies of houses. So no-one's allowed to gawk over the overpasses anymore, right?
[Unidentified Male:] Or throw anything, more importantly, at us. Or fire at us. It got easy just to drop a grenade on top of a vehicle.
[Phillips:] About two minutes from our compound, but I'm going to turn off the camera, because the last thing we want to do is compromise where we live and all the security around our compound. We have a lot of Iraqi workers and other workers that work really hard to protect us. So we made it, we're here, we're looking forward to doing a lot of great stories. And Betty, if that's not enough of a reality check, I'll tell you what was truly a reality check was when, as soon as we got to the compound, about ten minutes in when my producer, Isabelle, and I were unpacking and kind of getting ready to get adjusted to everything, a car bomb went off and the whole bureau shook. So we all had to head down to the safe room, do a head count. You could smell the explosion. It's a very distinct smell when something like that happens. And I looked at the Isabelle, it's her first trip, and I said, "Well, welcome to Baghdad. Here we go." And she just sort of looked at me said, "Yep, welcome to Baghdad."
[Nguyen:] That is the reality of the situation. I have to ask you though, I mean, you've been to Baghdad a couple of times now. When you're on that dangerous strip of road, which you were showing us there, what goes through your mind? I know this time you were helping illustrate what it's like. But somewhere deep inside you have to have some kind of feeling as to what the next few days, months will be like for you.
[Phillips:] Sure. I mean, the first thought is, our security team is so incredible and the Iraqis are a huge part of that because they know the area. A number of them used to work under Saddam Hussein, not wanting to work under Saddam Hussein. So they know the threat, they know what to look for and they're the ones you really feel intuned with and close to. You know they have your back. And that's where you get the confidence to go out into the field and work the stories. Truly, that's where it comes from. But going down that road this time around, and I've been here a couple of times now, it actually felt safer to me. I saw more Iraqi army, more Iraqi police, so it was different. It went a lot quicker than the last time around, Betty.
[Nguyen:] Yes, you feel safe until a car bomb goes off and then you realize, yes, indeed, you are in Baghdad. So what's coming up tomorrow? What do you have for us?
[Phillips:] Well, this is pretty exciting, Betty. This is something I wanted to do a year ago but it wasn't up and running yet. You know how much I love to fly those Strike Fighters. Well the Iraqi Air Force isn't to that point yet. But they're working on it. We're going to take you inside the Iraqi Air Force where the U.S. Air Force is training young pilots right now in trainers, in Cessnas, to eventually fly those Strike Fighters. I'm going to follow through one unique pilot, top of his class. We go into simulators, we fly, he'll tell you his story. But here's the best part. When I asked him why he wanted to be a pilot, listen to what he said. Why do you want to be a pilot?
[Lt. Majid, Iraqi Air Force:] I have three answers. First, this is my dream. And I think I want to serve my country. And actually, "Top Gun".
[Phillips:] "Top Gun"?
[Majid:] Yes.
[Phillips:] The movie "Top Gun"?
[Majid:] Yes. I saw this movie three times. So it motivated me to be a pilot.
[Phillips:] So you're Maverick and I'm Goose?
[Majid:] We are.
[Phillips:] There you go, Betty. Tom Cruise influencing young Iraqis to become pilots. And on a serious note, fight the insurgents from the air to the ground. So inside Iraqi top gun, coming up tomorrow.
[Nguyen:] Well let's hope that you're not indeed Goose. Because I saw that movie. It wasn't a good ending. You indeed, though, are our top gun there in Baghdad. Thank you, Kyra, we'll be talking with you shortly.
[Phillips:] Thanks, Betty.
[Holmes:] We want to turn back to something we were keeping our eye on out of Wisconsin. A backhoe that has apparently fallen through the ice there. Racine County. We understand, according to "AP" now, that rescue crews have been called in, divers possibly called in to jump into that water trying to possibly find someone who is trapped in that water and under that machinery. Again, this is a picture we're looking at a little while ago from our affiliate there in Racine, Wisconsin, where this backhoe has fallen through this ice. Now you, probably like us, asking the question: what in the world is a backhoe doing on ice in the first place? We don't have that answer. But Jacqui Jeras is going to help us with this. Jacqui, we're talking about it's never a good idea, one would assume, to be on ice. You don't know how thick it is, you don't know how if it can hold up to your body weight or anything else you might be trying to take across it. So but it is possible, you said, but still it would be tough for a measurement for anybody just coming up on some ice to able to determine whether or not it could support you.
[Jacqui Jeras, Ams Meteorologist:] It is hard. You want to do things like testing how deep that ice is with an auger, for example, if you're going to go out and spend some significant time. And there's a little kind of riddle a little rhyme, basically, that can help you out as well. If it's thin and crispy it's way too risky. If it's dark and blue, tends to be tried and true. But I got a little information here from the DNR from Minnesota, just to give you a better guideline of just how deep the ice needs to be in order for you to go on it. I don't know that a backhoe ever should be on ice. And you certainly I'm guessing that could be an accident there. But what about for people? Let's go ahead and take a look at that. It needs to be about four inches for a person to safely walk or ice fish on the ice. As for snowmobiles or ATVs, about five inches. Eight to 12 inches required for a small car or a pickup. And for a medium truck, about 12 to 15 inches. Now I was looking on many different Web sites out of Wisconsin to get to a better idea of how thick, maybe, the average ice is in that area. I'm seeing areas in northern Wisconsin, up in the north woods, of about 12 to 13 inches of ice and that should be enough to hold a vehicle. But, the temperatures have been really fickle in the last couple of weeks. We've had arctic intrusions and a lot of cold temperatures, but then in the daytime, we'll start to warm up into the 30s and 40s. So you get a lot of freeze thaw and that can help make the ice very unstable as well
[T.j. Holmes:] And, again, you were talking about a truck, the ice would have to be thick. But a backhoe, we don't have that we don't have that calculation. Nobody thinks that a backhoe would be on ice.
[Holmes:] I'll be danged. All right. Jacqui Jeras, we appreciate that info. And we got Bob Bob Kacmarcik now, we're going to get more on this story with the sheriff's department there in Racine County. Again, Bob Kacmarcik. Sir we appreciate you giving us some time. Can you tell us, are you looking for somebody in the water?
[Voice Of Sgt. Bob Kacmarcik, Racine County Sheriff's Dept:] Well, we are, sir. When the backhoe went in, the driver was trapped inside.
[Holmes:] Was trapped inside? Do you know if that that driver's been able to find a bubble and is still alive and getting air or what do you know?
[Kacmarcik:] Well, that's what we're very hopeful of. Either that there was some air trapped inside the cab, or that if there wasn't, we've had many successful cold water drowning saves in northern Wisconsin.
[Holmes:] All right. How long, right now, has this been going on? I guess how long has that person been in the water?
[Kacmarcik:] Initial call came in at 18 minutes after 10:00.
[Holmes:] Eighteen after 10:00. So, looking at time here, so it's been a little bit now I guess do you have how do you go about trying to do a rescue like this? Do you have you people in the water or how is this working?
[Kacmarcik:] Absolutely. We have a very skilled countywide dive rescue team. They train in cold water through the ice dives. They have the proper equipment. They were dispatched immediately also. They were in the water and for some reason couldn't get to the cab. So there's some heavy equipment they're trying to right the backhoe so we can get to the driver.
[Holmes:] Have you had any contact at all? Heard anybody yelling, any banging? Been able to make any kind of a get a visual at all on this person?
[Kacmarcik:] Not to my knowledge. Again, I'm not at the scene. Which nobody has called the dispatch center and said they have him out yet.
[Holmes:] And do we have word, as well sir, with the backhoe I was just talking to our Jacqui Jeras about how thick ice needs to be to support the weight of people, of a car, and things like that. But, what was the backhoe doing out here on the ice? Do we know?
[Kacmarcik:] Well, it's quarry runs all year. Naturally there's less work being done in the winter months. But, 40,000 to 50,000 pounds, boy I don't know how thick ice would have to be to support that.
[Holmes:] Wow.
[Kacmarcik:] And it's hard to tell. We've have record amounts of snowfall here and it's hard to tell where, you know, the ground is and where it isn't.
[Holmes:] And where it isn't. All right.
[Kacmarcik:] And then it's like you said, there's been some warmer weather where we had rain so we have puddles on the ground that are now frozen.
[Holmes:] All right. But again, this I guess this isn't necessarily uncommon, if you will, to see big, heavy equipment like this going across ice or we don't have any indication that the driver was in the wrong location?
[Kacmarcik:] Well I would say it is unusual.
[Holmes:] OK.
[Kacmarcik:] And possibly the driver just thought it was one of the little from the rain where it was a little puddle that froze. Maybe he didn't know it was 10 to 15 feet deep.
[Holmes:] OK. My goodness. Bob Kacmarcik, sir we appreciate you giving us some time with the sheriff's department and best of luck to you and your divers out there. Hopefully this will have a positive ending. Thank you so much.
[Kacmarcik:] Thank you, sir.
[Nguyen:] Goodness, we'll continue to stay on top of that one. Another story that we're following, she couldn't breathe. She begged for help. But when help finally came, it was not enough. Could an airline passenger's death have been prevented?