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American Morning
Kurdish-Controlled Northern Iraq
Aired October 11, 2002 - 07:09 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Early this morning, the Senate followed the House and passed a resolution giving the president broad authority to use force against Iraq. Now Mr. Bush turns his attention to the international community, warning Iraq that its days as an outlaw state are coming to an end.
With the threat of war growing more imminent, we now have a report from the city of Erbil in northern Iraq.
CNN's Brent Sadler is one of the few Western journalists to report live from the Kurdish-controlled area. He joins us from that region now.
Good morning -- Brent.
BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
Well, first of all, just to explain for a short time of how we got here, it took about 22 hours to drive from our CNN bureau in Beirut to Syria to the banks of the River Tigris.
Now, you'll see here some video we took during that crossing. It took several hours, and you'll see, we used small boats with small engines on the back which spluttered their way across the fast-moving river. We were very heavily-laden with our satellite transmission equipment and all of our boxes, moving across what is a vital lifeline connecting the riverbanks on one side, Syria, to what's called here Iraqi Kurdistan in northern Iraq on the other side of that river.
Now, that is, as I say, a vital crossing, some 20,000 expatriate Iraqi Kurds and businessmen, delegations of diplomats and so forth, dignitaries, use this river, crossing with these small boats to ferry themselves, shuttle people and equipment, across that river crossing indeed.
Francois Mitterand, the former French president, his wife, who attended a joint session of Parliament here last week, used this very same crossing that we did to go across the River Tigris.
We then drove many more hours here to the provincial capital Erbil. And if you look behind me there, it's pretty quiet here today, Friday, Friday prayers, very similar scenes to what you see in Baghdad, which his about 200 miles south of where I'm now standing.
The reception, when we got here, of course, very warm, because Iraqi Kurds, having lived for some 11 years free of Saddam Hussein's dictatorial rule, say that they have a bubble of freedom, if you like -- freedom of expression. Liberated Iraq, they call it here, and they want to see a situation evolving in the future whereby they maintain their autonomous region, but within what they call a democratic federal Iraq -- Paula.
ZAHN: So, is the expectation among the people you've talked with there that there will be a war?
SADLER: Oh, absolutely. There's very little doubt amongst the politicians of the parties, and there are many, many parties -- two main parties that control this territory.
And let me just give you an idea of the size. It's about a tenth of the whole of Iraq. It's about an area -- the northern Iraqi area here under the control of the Kurdish Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, it's about the size of Switzerland, a crescent-shaped area.
But Iraqi troops, columns of their armored brigades, are only about a 20-minute drive from here. There is trade which passes from Saddam-controlled Iraq into this area. There is reliance on each other. They do maintain Iraq's institutions here.
For example -- let's show you some video taken just a short time. You'll see, for example, that the taxicabs here in Erbil are painted the same colors as they are in Baghdad. In fact, you could easily forgive yourself for thinking you were in Saddam Hussein's controlled area in Baghdad by looking around at not only the taxicabs, but also the police. They wear the same uniforms.
That says the regional government that control these areas are really very much a part of how they want to see their future, whatever happens -- whatever happens, they say, after military action, if that happens. And they want to maintain Iraq's integrity but have a high degree of autonomy.
Back to you -- Paula.
ZAHN: I know you've had some long days and nights getting in there. Thank you very much for that live report -- Brent Sadler in exclusive pictures coming out of northern Iraq this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired October 11, 2002 - 07:09 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Early this morning, the Senate followed the House and passed a resolution giving the president broad authority to use force against Iraq. Now Mr. Bush turns his attention to the international community, warning Iraq that its days as an outlaw state are coming to an end.
With the threat of war growing more imminent, we now have a report from the city of Erbil in northern Iraq.
CNN's Brent Sadler is one of the few Western journalists to report live from the Kurdish-controlled area. He joins us from that region now.
Good morning -- Brent.
BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
Well, first of all, just to explain for a short time of how we got here, it took about 22 hours to drive from our CNN bureau in Beirut to Syria to the banks of the River Tigris.
Now, you'll see here some video we took during that crossing. It took several hours, and you'll see, we used small boats with small engines on the back which spluttered their way across the fast-moving river. We were very heavily-laden with our satellite transmission equipment and all of our boxes, moving across what is a vital lifeline connecting the riverbanks on one side, Syria, to what's called here Iraqi Kurdistan in northern Iraq on the other side of that river.
Now, that is, as I say, a vital crossing, some 20,000 expatriate Iraqi Kurds and businessmen, delegations of diplomats and so forth, dignitaries, use this river, crossing with these small boats to ferry themselves, shuttle people and equipment, across that river crossing indeed.
Francois Mitterand, the former French president, his wife, who attended a joint session of Parliament here last week, used this very same crossing that we did to go across the River Tigris.
We then drove many more hours here to the provincial capital Erbil. And if you look behind me there, it's pretty quiet here today, Friday, Friday prayers, very similar scenes to what you see in Baghdad, which his about 200 miles south of where I'm now standing.
The reception, when we got here, of course, very warm, because Iraqi Kurds, having lived for some 11 years free of Saddam Hussein's dictatorial rule, say that they have a bubble of freedom, if you like -- freedom of expression. Liberated Iraq, they call it here, and they want to see a situation evolving in the future whereby they maintain their autonomous region, but within what they call a democratic federal Iraq -- Paula.
ZAHN: So, is the expectation among the people you've talked with there that there will be a war?
SADLER: Oh, absolutely. There's very little doubt amongst the politicians of the parties, and there are many, many parties -- two main parties that control this territory.
And let me just give you an idea of the size. It's about a tenth of the whole of Iraq. It's about an area -- the northern Iraqi area here under the control of the Kurdish Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, it's about the size of Switzerland, a crescent-shaped area.
But Iraqi troops, columns of their armored brigades, are only about a 20-minute drive from here. There is trade which passes from Saddam-controlled Iraq into this area. There is reliance on each other. They do maintain Iraq's institutions here.
For example -- let's show you some video taken just a short time. You'll see, for example, that the taxicabs here in Erbil are painted the same colors as they are in Baghdad. In fact, you could easily forgive yourself for thinking you were in Saddam Hussein's controlled area in Baghdad by looking around at not only the taxicabs, but also the police. They wear the same uniforms.
That says the regional government that control these areas are really very much a part of how they want to see their future, whatever happens -- whatever happens, they say, after military action, if that happens. And they want to maintain Iraq's integrity but have a high degree of autonomy.
Back to you -- Paula.
ZAHN: I know you've had some long days and nights getting in there. Thank you very much for that live report -- Brent Sadler in exclusive pictures coming out of northern Iraq this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
