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CNN Live Today

Interview with Dexter Filkins

Aired March 21, 2003 - 11:39   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.


LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR, CNN LIVE TODAY: Now, we are right now getting word that we have someone with us on the line from "New York Times", one of the embedded reporters who has been out there traveling with these military groups that have been actually making landfall there in southern Iraq. And as I understand it, Dexter Filkins in on the phone with us right now.
Dexter, you have just now reached a town or been in a town that has actually been liberated, if I can use that term now?

DEXTER FILKINS, REPORTER, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": I'm not embedded. I came in with a photographer. On our own. But I'm in Sathwan (ph), which is just over the border.

HARRIS: Thanks for clearing that up for us.

FILKINS: ... Kuwait.

HARRIS: Tell us about what it is that you've seen so far?

FILKINS: Just an extraordinary scene. We got there a few hours after the Americans and the British did. And people were joyous, and you know, crying and whooping and clapping. But at the same time, they very clearly are terribly fearful that this deliverance won't last. Just as in 1991, they thought that Saddam Hussein would be finished and he came back in a terrible way in this village.

And so it's kind of joy and fear mixed together. And it makes for a very strange scene. It's very chaotic at the same time. I mean, they're bringing prisoners - the marines are bringing prisoners out. They're bringing injured people out. We saw Iraqi soldiers surrendering. It's just very, a very chaotic scene.

HARRIS: Well tell us about this process. I want to get to a couple things. Number one, you say the marines have been bringing prisoners out. We have been watching as the marines have been handling these prisoners with very special and tender care in order to send a message to those who may be somewhat skeptical and some of those Iraqi citizens who may be wary because of what happened 13 years ago. They want them to get the message that the U.S. is there to help and not abandon them. How are you seeing the U.S. marines treating those troops who actually have been captured or have surrendered there?

FILKINS: I saw a line of about 20 prisoners basically sitting on the side of the road. I mean, it didn't look especially comfortable, but it wasn't demeaning in any way. They were just sort of waiting to be taken somewhere. They had uniforms on, which was interesting. I think more interesting really was, I had a discussion with a marine major today who said that they were encountering so many Iraqi soldiers who were giving up that they just took their guns and said look, just go home.

And if you walk the streets here in Sathwan (ph), you can run into people who are just standing around in T-shirts and their pants saying yesterday I was a soldier, and I just took everything off and threw everything down and ran for my life when I heard the Americans and British were coming. And so, I mean, I don't think they're ever going to get all these guys. But maybe the other Iraqis will take care of that.

HARRIS: How many guys do you think there are there to get?

FILKINS: I'm sorry?

HARRIS: How many of those guys do you think there are there to actually get in the first place?

FILKINS: Well, I think the Iraqi army here just melted away. I think - I'm not sure that there's that many prisoners to be had. I'm talking about here in Sathwan (ph), I think there's still pockets of resistance and there may in fact be some pretty fierce resistance up toward Basra, which is just down the road, it's Iraq's second largest city.

But, again, I think - I talked to a British brigadier today who said there's no will to fight. They're cutting and running. They're waving white sheets and plastic bags to surrender. I think that's the size of it. He said, military plans don't usually go the way they're supposed to. He said this one did, and boy, that almost never happens.

HARRIS: That's a strange reason to be surprised. Dexter Filkins, thank you very much, appreciate that report. Dexter is with "The New York Times" and they're in al Sathwan (ph), a city there in southern Iraq that has been now reached by U.S. troops and they're now dealing with the folks there who are welcoming them and also with the different Iraqi soldiers who've been surrendering. We've been hearing that report throughout the day.

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 March 21, 2003 - 11:39   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR, CNN LIVE TODAY: Now, we are right now getting word that we have someone with us on the line from "New York Times", one of the embedded reporters who has been out there traveling with these military groups that have been actually making landfall there in southern Iraq. And as I understand it, Dexter Filkins in on the phone with us right now.
Dexter, you have just now reached a town or been in a town that has actually been liberated, if I can use that term now?

DEXTER FILKINS, REPORTER, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": I'm not embedded. I came in with a photographer. On our own. But I'm in Sathwan (ph), which is just over the border.

HARRIS: Thanks for clearing that up for us.

FILKINS: ... Kuwait.

HARRIS: Tell us about what it is that you've seen so far?

FILKINS: Just an extraordinary scene. We got there a few hours after the Americans and the British did. And people were joyous, and you know, crying and whooping and clapping. But at the same time, they very clearly are terribly fearful that this deliverance won't last. Just as in 1991, they thought that Saddam Hussein would be finished and he came back in a terrible way in this village.

And so it's kind of joy and fear mixed together. And it makes for a very strange scene. It's very chaotic at the same time. I mean, they're bringing prisoners - the marines are bringing prisoners out. They're bringing injured people out. We saw Iraqi soldiers surrendering. It's just very, a very chaotic scene.

HARRIS: Well tell us about this process. I want to get to a couple things. Number one, you say the marines have been bringing prisoners out. We have been watching as the marines have been handling these prisoners with very special and tender care in order to send a message to those who may be somewhat skeptical and some of those Iraqi citizens who may be wary because of what happened 13 years ago. They want them to get the message that the U.S. is there to help and not abandon them. How are you seeing the U.S. marines treating those troops who actually have been captured or have surrendered there?

FILKINS: I saw a line of about 20 prisoners basically sitting on the side of the road. I mean, it didn't look especially comfortable, but it wasn't demeaning in any way. They were just sort of waiting to be taken somewhere. They had uniforms on, which was interesting. I think more interesting really was, I had a discussion with a marine major today who said that they were encountering so many Iraqi soldiers who were giving up that they just took their guns and said look, just go home.

And if you walk the streets here in Sathwan (ph), you can run into people who are just standing around in T-shirts and their pants saying yesterday I was a soldier, and I just took everything off and threw everything down and ran for my life when I heard the Americans and British were coming. And so, I mean, I don't think they're ever going to get all these guys. But maybe the other Iraqis will take care of that.

HARRIS: How many guys do you think there are there to get?

FILKINS: I'm sorry?

HARRIS: How many of those guys do you think there are there to actually get in the first place?

FILKINS: Well, I think the Iraqi army here just melted away. I think - I'm not sure that there's that many prisoners to be had. I'm talking about here in Sathwan (ph), I think there's still pockets of resistance and there may in fact be some pretty fierce resistance up toward Basra, which is just down the road, it's Iraq's second largest city.

But, again, I think - I talked to a British brigadier today who said there's no will to fight. They're cutting and running. They're waving white sheets and plastic bags to surrender. I think that's the size of it. He said, military plans don't usually go the way they're supposed to. He said this one did, and boy, that almost never happens.

HARRIS: That's a strange reason to be surprised. Dexter Filkins, thank you very much, appreciate that report. Dexter is with "The New York Times" and they're in al Sathwan (ph), a city there in southern Iraq that has been now reached by U.S. troops and they're now dealing with the folks there who are welcoming them and also with the different Iraqi soldiers who've been surrendering. We've been hearing that report throughout the day.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com