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CNN Live Today
Look at Kurdish Minority in Iraq
Aired October 16, 2002 - 10:42 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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Ever since the Gulf War ended, U.S. and British planes have enforced a no-fly zone in Northern Iraq. The mission: to protect the Kurdish minority living there. As a new war threatens, we look at the Kurds and their lifestyle.
CNN's Brent Sadler files this report from inside Northern Iraq.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An enduring image of a humanitarian catastrophe along Iraq's mountainous border with Turkey 11 years ago, in the wake of the Gulf War. As many as a million Iraqi Kurds fled in terror to escape the revenge of Iraq's president for a failed attempt to smash his rule.
A far cry from life in Northern Iraq today, they're celebrating the marriage of Sala (ph) and Nasdar Disea (ph) in the confines of the Iraqi Kurdish safe haven, shielded by U.S. and British warplanes enforcing a no-fly zone.
But now, as the United States ponders a sequel to the Gulf War, Kurds are becoming nervous of Saddam Hussein with good reason. This is where Iraqi Kurdish self-rule ends and President Saddam Hussein's territorial control over the rest of Iraq begins, along this mostly passive front line. But you can clearly see Iraqi soldiers on the ridge line within rifle range of Kurdish homes.
Just 20 minutes' drive away, the newlyweds say they are tense about the buildup to possible war, scared that Iraq's leader might attack the Kurds to upset U.S. war plans.
SALA DISEA (ph): I don't know how he might react, says Sala (ph), but the Kurds are afraid.
SADLER: But they're also widely supportive of possible U.S. action to topple Iraq's president, accepting the risks.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This (INAUDIBLE) will have no scruple at all from making another incursion into these peaceful area and inflicting maximum damage.
SADLER: And Kurdish history tells a disheartening story of bloodshed and betrayal amongst themselves and their powerful neighbors. They've been denied any notion of statehood during a long struggle for self-determination. And were encouraged by President George Bush Sr. to rise up after the Gulf War only to be crushed, yet again, by Saddaam Hussein. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have the experience of being gassed before, being '80s, '7, '88 and so on, so that's still in the back of everybody's mind, this fear.
SADLER: Even before Iraq's president unleashed chemical weapons on civilians in Helajabda (ph), Kurds have already suffered the force of his rage. Villages razed. Tens of house of civilians reportedly killed during an infamous campaign of ethnic cleansing in the 1980s. But nowadays, northern Iraq's 3 1/2 million Kurds have got used to running their own lives in a kind of dream land. But they are still haunted by their past while in thoughts and prayer fearful for the future.
Brent Sadler, CNN, northern Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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 16, 2002 - 10:42 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Ever since the Gulf War ended, U.S. and British planes have enforced a no-fly zone in Northern Iraq. The mission: to protect the Kurdish minority living there. As a new war threatens, we look at the Kurds and their lifestyle.
CNN's Brent Sadler files this report from inside Northern Iraq.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An enduring image of a humanitarian catastrophe along Iraq's mountainous border with Turkey 11 years ago, in the wake of the Gulf War. As many as a million Iraqi Kurds fled in terror to escape the revenge of Iraq's president for a failed attempt to smash his rule.
A far cry from life in Northern Iraq today, they're celebrating the marriage of Sala (ph) and Nasdar Disea (ph) in the confines of the Iraqi Kurdish safe haven, shielded by U.S. and British warplanes enforcing a no-fly zone.
But now, as the United States ponders a sequel to the Gulf War, Kurds are becoming nervous of Saddam Hussein with good reason. This is where Iraqi Kurdish self-rule ends and President Saddam Hussein's territorial control over the rest of Iraq begins, along this mostly passive front line. But you can clearly see Iraqi soldiers on the ridge line within rifle range of Kurdish homes.
Just 20 minutes' drive away, the newlyweds say they are tense about the buildup to possible war, scared that Iraq's leader might attack the Kurds to upset U.S. war plans.
SALA DISEA (ph): I don't know how he might react, says Sala (ph), but the Kurds are afraid.
SADLER: But they're also widely supportive of possible U.S. action to topple Iraq's president, accepting the risks.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This (INAUDIBLE) will have no scruple at all from making another incursion into these peaceful area and inflicting maximum damage.
SADLER: And Kurdish history tells a disheartening story of bloodshed and betrayal amongst themselves and their powerful neighbors. They've been denied any notion of statehood during a long struggle for self-determination. And were encouraged by President George Bush Sr. to rise up after the Gulf War only to be crushed, yet again, by Saddaam Hussein. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have the experience of being gassed before, being '80s, '7, '88 and so on, so that's still in the back of everybody's mind, this fear.
SADLER: Even before Iraq's president unleashed chemical weapons on civilians in Helajabda (ph), Kurds have already suffered the force of his rage. Villages razed. Tens of house of civilians reportedly killed during an infamous campaign of ethnic cleansing in the 1980s. But nowadays, northern Iraq's 3 1/2 million Kurds have got used to running their own lives in a kind of dream land. But they are still haunted by their past while in thoughts and prayer fearful for the future.
Brent Sadler, CNN, northern Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
