AC: ...a bunch of galahs, a bunch of drongos..."


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Michael comments on the leak that revealed that Britain's Prince Harry has been serving in Afghanistan for the past ten weeks, while Nic Robertson shows some interview footage shot there by a pool reporter.

During the interview, Michael used some Aussie slang to describe the Australian gossip magazine that first ran the rumor and Matt Drudge's gossip site that first 'went large' with the story; in a second clip, Anderson gives the translation, garnered from fans on the blog and a quick phone call to producer Tommy Evans in Baghdad.

(And if you don't know about the Drudge connections, he printed an absolute lie about Michael last year in a story out of Baghdad that either simply had zero basis in truth or was an April Fool's Joke that Drudge fell for.)



ANDERSON COOPER: Life for Prince Harry on the front lines in Afghanistan.

Joining us again, Nic Robertson, and from Baghdad, CNN's Michael Ware, who has also been into Afghanistan many times.

Michael, you spent time in Helmand Province. Tell us what it's like there, what British troops face there.

MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, look, Anderson, that very much is a Taliban front line.

I lived in Kandahar for almost a year. And I spent a lot of time in Helmand Province. It's very much part of the seat of the Taliban in Afghanistan now.

Now, to the very north of this large province are the mountain valleys, where the Taliban or then the Mujahedeen fought the Russians. And there, British and American troops are going up the same valleys the Russians did, littered with the rusting hulks of Soviet armor from past battles, trying to root them out of the exact same strongholds.

Now, to the south, it's very arid. It's desert. It's where the Marines first came in back in 2001. There, they're the rat lines or the supply lines running in and out of Pakistan. It's where the weapons and the men come. It's also the center of their drug trade. Sangin in Helmand Province is a huge opium market.

So this is tough country that the Taliban know well. And they have almost actually overrun British positions there in the past. So, depending on where he is, he can really be in the thick of the fight there -- Anderson.

COOPER: Nic, you have spent an awful lot of time in Afghanistan. You know it well as well.

British troops, like Americans, like Canadians, are really the NATO troops doing the real fighting in Afghanistan. And a couple of the other NATO countries are in regions where they're not fighting and they won't go into combat. How has the battle been going for the British?

NIC ROBERTSON: It's taken a turn for the better over the last few months.

I had a briefing here at the British Foreign Office, and they were showing me pictures from a town I visited with British troops this time last year, Sangin, where there were no shops open. Now the market is thriving. They say they're getting successes. They just took control of Musa Qala a couple of months ago, a key town, a strategic Taliban stronghold, a town the Taliban were using to dominate part of the area of Helmand. That's now in British and Afghan control.

The British are doing better, but their problems are huge. They're massive. The bigger and longer their supply lines get, the more opportunity the Taliban have to target them.

These great pictures we have of Prince Harry have come because there has been an agreement between the Ministry of Defense here, the British media and CNN that we would allow a pool camera to photograph, film and interview Harry on occasions. We would get the material, wait until Harry got out of the country before broadcasting it. That's why we can get this great picture of what he's been doing inside the country -- Anderson.

COOPER: Michael, now that word has leaked, how -- would it be possible for him to remain safely in Afghanistan?

WARE: Well, as the prince himself calls -- says he's being dubbed, he's the bullet magnet.

Now, I dare say that's the polite version, because, in the field, often they use a different euphemism. I mean, he would really be attracting attention. Now, in combat, there's some blokes you want to be next to, and some you do not, some who are essentially lucky charms or guys, you know, if I'm with him, I will be all right.

But I have to say, if you're in a bunker with Prince Harry and the Taliban know about it, they're going to throw everything they have got at you. So, the sad fact is, despite Prince Harry wanting to step up and be an ordinary bloke -- and full credit to him for it -- and, look, let's condemn -- if it was an Australian magazine or a Web site that leaked this, I mean, they are a bunch of galahs, a bunch of drongos, to use the Australian vernacular, because they have jeopardized not only the prince's safety, but the safety of the men around him. It will be very difficult or it would have been to keep Prince Harry in the field need now -- Anderson.

COOPER: I think you just insulted Matt Drudge, but I don't know what a galah or a drongo is, so I'm not entirely sure. But I'm going to have to look that up. And I'm guessing you insulted Matt Drudge for revealing his whereabouts.

We're going to have more of this never-before-seen video of Prince Harry in Afghanistan coming up.


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ANDERSON COOPER: Now we should point out -- can we do the Ware thing here or is this after the break? Okay. Michael Ware used some Australian slang earlier. Let's play what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: If it was an Australian magazine or a Web site that leaked this, they're a bunch of galahs, a bunch of drongos, to use the Australian vernacular.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: We were scratching our heads, I must admit. Galahs, drongos, what was he talking about?

ERICA HILL: Galah? Drongo?

COOPER: Our viewers, who were live-blogging with us in our conversation during the program at the CNN.com/360blog, have informed us what it means. What is a drongo, Erica?

HILL: Indeed they have. We heard from a couple of different people. Both galah and drongo are apparently types of birds, but also slang for idiot.

COOPER: And Jill and Sanaq and Maya and Lauren in Sydney all e-mailed us, telling us, also, galah is a type of bird, slang for idiot, as in "You guys are acting like a mob of galahs."

Also, Tommy Evans, our producer in Baghdad with Michael, had to also sort of interpret for us. So it was a global effort to try to understand what Michael Ware was talking about.

HILL: Using the global sources of CNN.

COOPER: Yes. Exactly.