Covering war? She’s got it ‘Black Hawk’ down

The Pentagon was faulted by the press for severely limiting journalists’ access to U.S. military action in conflicts coming after the Vietnam War. In a new spirit of openness, though, its policy of embedding media members within combat units for possible war with Iraq is underway, and already a smashing success.

For example:

“Here we see ‘em coming in on the vehicles right now. They’re gonna roll in hot and immediately disperse.”

The helmet, the camouflage suit, the flak jacket, the breathy narrative in short gasps projecting action and fervor, the voice rippling with tension. There she was, facing the camera in full combat gear, embedded deep inside a Special Forces unit, telling viewers what it was like to be at war.

In North Carolina.

Like all TV news operations, CNN has some good people in the field, including the tinderbox Middle East where they are poised to cover any military conflict with Iraq. Yet how is this for scary when it comes to CNN war coverage? Anchor Anderson Cooper in Atlanta throwing it to anchor Kyra Phillips with the troops.

Although no newcomer to combat-training stories, she is not a war correspondent, isn’t billed as one, and by now is probably back in Atlanta, cozily re-embedded in CNN Central. The sight of a decked-out Phillips doing her multiple-part live, “rare, exclusive” story on a training exercise at Fort Bragg, N.C., last week, though, brought back memories of helmeted Michael Dukakis looking like a UFO while riding in a tank as a presidential candidate in 1988.

“The scenario is downed air crews in a small-city setting,” Phillips reported on the Special Services faux rescue operations -- a training drill performed with dangerous Iraq in mind -- she was observing with a major at her side telling her what was up.

“Let’s follow the entry right here,” she said from this mock town built by the military. “Here we go. They’re lookin’ for bad guys. Lookin’ for any type of threat. You can see here, they’re up on the door.”

There was movement, so Phillips, a USC grad and former KCBS-TV anchor-reporter, responded, spitting Special Services lingo: “The flash-bang. Destructed. Turn around leap. Get ready. They’re gonna breach the door. Make entry into the door here.” An explosion, then more excitement from an excited Phillips. “There we go! We’re goin’ in! Let’s go! We’re followin’ the troops!”

Actually her cameraman, not Phillips, followed the Special Forces trainees into a building where they would soon emerge with a man playing a downed comrade, as CNN’s observer continued her commentary from outside.

“You think of a downed pilot. You automatically think of Mogadishu. ‘Black Hawk Down.’ Not a good scenario. If you’ve seen the movie, it gets so crazy and things are out of control ... “

Wait. Stop the action. Play that back. Had she said “the movie”? Meaning “Black Hawk Down,” Ridley Scott’s pulsating re-creation of the U.S. military’s 1993 calamity in which 18 Americans were killed and 73 injured in a battle between U.S. forces and Somali fighters on the streets of Mogadishu? Phillips made a feature film’s staged battle her frame of reference while covering soldiers training for perilous real action? In a later segment, she would again refer to the movie and “its story that we can’t forget,” art and reality appearing to merge in her mind.

Cooper (back in the studio): “Kyra Phillips, live at Fort Bragg. Pretty exciting stuff.” Because “exciting stuff” seemed to be what much of this was about for CNN.

All right. End the second-guessing. Keep this show going. Some news and commercials, then back to another segment with Capt. Kyra: “They just made an entry, and we’re waiting for them. And behind us you can see the guys running. Those are your bad guys. Turn around. Here we go, far right! Here we go! Now we’re having a confrontation here! Bad guy scenario!”

A bit later, the troops appeared ready to enter a building. Phillips: “Obviously, they’re getting ready to breach the door. OK, no, they don’t have to.”

The troops opened the door and blew in.

Phillips to the major: “Tell me the difference between opening the door and breaching the door?”

The major: “If the door is open, you go through the open door.”

All right. Lesson learned. Door locked, blow it open. Door unlocked, open it and enter.

Later, Phillips was apologetic. “I’d like to bring you as much action as possible,” she told Cooper in the studio. The film “Black Hawk Down” -- now there was action.

“But we’re following a real-life scenario, sort of following the training,” Phillips added. “It isn’t much of a visual, but I’m assuming you can get a feel for what we’re dealing with here.”

Cooper: “Yes, it’s very easy to get a feel for it.”

Wait. Stop the action. Play that back. Was there a touch of the sardonic in Cooper’s tone? A hint of a smile on his face? A faint snicker just dying to explode as full-blown laughter? Nahhh. Must have imagined it.

Back to the show. Some additional news and commercials, then more of Phillips in the next hour, barking instructions to her cameraman who had followed troops inside a building. “Leon, turn around, Leon! We got a downed pilot! Leon, hard right! There you go!”

There we all went. It wasn’t pretty. But it wasn’t supposed to be.

CNN ended this segment with tape of Phillips in a yellow jumpsuit, being whipped around while airborne in a wind tunnel that was meant to simulate jumping from a plane, the grimace on her face telling America that war was hell.

If you don’t believe it, see the movie.

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Howard Rosenberg’s column appears Mondays, Fridays. He can be contacted at howard. rosenberg@latimes. com