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CNN 20: Iraqi Missile Hits USS Stark, May 17, 1987

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: "CNN 20" today: Iraqi missiles hit an American warship.

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(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CARL ROCHELLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I got a call at home: Wake up. How quickly can you get to the Pentagon? We've got a report that a U.S. ship has been fired on.

It was almost disbelief in the beginning because, in that particular iteration of the Gulf War, it was Iran versus Iraq and the U.S. Navy was in sort of patrolling to help out oil vessels that were going up and down the Persian Gulf. The captain ultimately was removed from command of that particular ship because he had permitted this -- any aircraft to get within that particular area. And, of course, protests were made to the Iraqi government.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, 1987)

GEORGE SHULTZ, SECRETARY OF STATE: We've called in the Iraqi ambassador here in Washington and issued the strongest protest and demanded a full accounting. Our ambassador in Baghdad has been instructed to deliver our protest there, and we are in continuous contact with our embassies in Baghdad and Bahrain.

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ROCHELLE: Everyone said, oops, it's a mistake, it's an accident, it should not have happened that way. But, in fact, it did and a number of Americans died. I think a lot of people in the intelligence community believed that Iraq, in fact, intended to do this. And, of course, Iraq was very apologetic at that time.

I think the -- most of the feeling was, if it was a mistake, it was a clumsy mistake.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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