n January 3 of last year, an airport security camera recorded Soleimani's

arrival in Baghdad on a commercial flight from Damascus. Mckenzie was

watching from a different angle.
David Martin: You have the drones overhead. Do you see him...
Frank McKenzie: Yes.
David Martin: ...get off the airplane?
Frank McKenzie: Yes, Yes.
As Soleimani's entourage pulled away from the plane, McKenzie gave the kill
order to the commander controlling the drones.
Frank McKenzie: And then I said, "take your shot when you got it."
Missiles slammed into both vehicles simultaneously.
Frank McKenzie: There's no back slapping. There's no cheering. Because now
I have to prepare to deal with the consequences of the action.
General McKenzie was sure Iran would retaliate, but he didn't know how –
and neither, for a while, did the Iranians.
Frank McKenzie: I believe they went into a period of disorganization because
they had lost the officer who really spoke up and shaped everything up and
told them what they were going to do.
David Martin: So it was kind of an ominous silence.
Frank McKenzie: It was a very ominous silence.
David Martin: And what was the first sign that Iran might really be thinking of
a ballistic missile attack?
Frank McKenzie: They began to move their ballistic missiles.
The attack was just hours away when Major Alan Johnson got the word Iran's
most powerful weapons were aiming for Al Asad. 
Alan Johnson: My intelligence officer pulled me aside and basically said, "Sir,
I've got some bad news for you." "What's up?" (LAUGH) "We have
information that Iran is fueling 27 medium-range ballistic missiles and their
intention is to level this base and we may not survive."
  Lt. Col. Tim Garland
Tim Garland: This is a completely different threat.  
Lt. Col. Tim Garland commanded an Army battalion at Al Asad, a sprawling
airbase about 120 miles west of Baghdad where the U.S. operated scores of
helicopters, drones and other aircraft.  
David Martin: Did the base have any defense against ballistic missiles?
Tim Garland: No sir. It was such an unprecedented threat. I don't think it was
ever calculated, so the capability to prevent a ballistic missile attack it-- it
wasn't there.
David Martin: Did you have a plan for what to do?
Tim Garland: We came up with a plan.
Staci Coleman: The only real defense against a ballistic missile attack is to get
out of harm's way.
  Air Force Lt. Col. Staci Coleman
Air Force Lt. Col. Staci Coleman and the rest of Al Asad scrambled to evacuate
more