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CNN Live At Daybreak

War in Iraq: View From Northern Iraq

Aired April 01, 2003 - 05:45   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.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: In the north getting reports now through Reuters that recent explosions have been heard in and around the town of Kirkuk, a strategic town in the northern part of Iraq. We do know, based on a reporting from Kevin Sites, Ben Wedeman, Brent Sadler, Jane Arraf, all on the northern front, indicate that the amount of explosions and attacks have increased every day for the past four or five days running.
Want to pick things up with Brent now. He's in the northeastern part of the country looking at a different story now, a recent raid on a terrorist camp there and what information the U.S. may be learning at this point.

Brent, good afternoon.

BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon to you, Bill.

Well, you join me live here in an area that was impossible to get to just a week or so ago. This is the very stronghold, the heart, if you like, of what the officials here, the Kurdish officials and U.S. commanders on the ground, say was the very hub of a terrorist network under the umbrella of an organization called Ansar al-Islam. Funded, supported, they say, by al Qaeda itself, by Osama bin Laden.

Now this has been a problem, a sideshow if you like, for quite some time. For years Ansar al-Islam people have been running terrorist-style attacks against Iraqi Kurds belonging to the patriotic unit of Kurdistan, many, many suicide bombings against Kurdish officials over many, many years. Well that has now been wiped out as a result of a startling joint operation between U.S. Special Forces on the ground here in northern Iraq and Kurdish fighters.

Bill, let me just take you for a quick walk around what we have here. And behind me we have a mosque. You can clearly see this area that was hit by U.S. airstrikes. Damage to the dome up there. That dome peppered with several large holes, shrapnel holes as a result of airstrikes.

Now Kurdish commanders on the ground here lament the fact that a mosque has been hit, but they say it was unavoidable given that this is where the heart of Ansar al-Islam's terror network was beating strongly.

Now the whole area that Ansar al-Islam held was about 250 square miles. They've been well dug in for many years controlling this area. Hundreds have been killed in this joint U.S.-Iraqi Kurdish operation, but many of them, Bill, have got away. We don't know the numbers, perhaps again in the hundreds, across there to those snowcapped mountains. That's the border with Iran. We're slap bang next to the Iranian international border and many of those Ansar al-Islam fighters are understood to have gone over there. So really a very important situation on the battlefield here.

OK, we've seen a situation whereby U.S. Special Forces have, for the first time, engaged in a well-coordinated battlefield scenario. We've had an assist you (ph) situation where Special Forces have been leading airstrikes against al Qaeda positions, weakening them for about a week. And then today, Special Force commanders actually breaking their cover in the town of Halabja, just about an hour's drive from my location here. Special Force commanders breaking their cover to heap, really, incredible praise on the way about 8,000 to 10,000 Kurdish fighters, under supervision and close air support by the Americans, really clearing this area. And really to hear what the Americans had to say about the Kurds gives real pause for thought.

Listen to this, Bill.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's a classic example.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would say it's an outstanding example of what Special Forces train for in the United States, unconventional warfare, working with an indigenous force to add to their capabilities and add assistance and advice where we can. This -- to put this in perspective, this was a division scale attack against about a brigade minus (ph) size force on well entrenched, difficult terrain. And I would say that they did it in a more rapid fashion than most armies of the world would.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SADLER: Praise indeed.

Also some eyewitness accounts from the U.S. Special Forces who say they saw Ansar al-Islam forces pretending to surrender and then blowing themselves up. Also, some evidence found here, documents and equipment, say Special Force commanders, that -- quote -- "would indicate a presence of chemical or biological weapons." That evidence, I'm told, being sent back to the United States for close examination and direct analysis.

Just one more point to add here, Bill -- add here, Bill, if you listen to what those Special Force commanders were saying, that really does button very well with what commanders and politicians amongst the Kurds are saying on the ground here looking at what's happening in the south. And they're saying look, let us, the Kurds, as your local force, link up with you under U.S. command and control. Let us, the Kurds, they're saying, take Kirkuk and Mosul, those two key northern Iraqi cities under Saddam Hussein's control which are being pounded, as we know, every day by U.S. airstrikes. The Kurds now really trying to put forward a strong proposal on the back of this successful operation, a serious blow against terrorism here, but really now mounting on the back of that to persuade U.S. war planners, senior commanders at Central Command, to take greater notice of what the Iraqi opposition is saying and how they could contribute to the war now joined against Saddam Hussein.

Back to you -- Bill.

HEMMER: Thanks, Brent. Brent Sadler, again, in northeastern Iraq.

As Brent was pointing out, that terrorist training camp pounded in recent days. Central Command saying they launched at least 50 Tomahawk cruise missiles to destroy that camp in the northeastern part of the country.

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 April 1, 2003 - 05:45   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: In the north getting reports now through Reuters that recent explosions have been heard in and around the town of Kirkuk, a strategic town in the northern part of Iraq. We do know, based on a reporting from Kevin Sites, Ben Wedeman, Brent Sadler, Jane Arraf, all on the northern front, indicate that the amount of explosions and attacks have increased every day for the past four or five days running.
Want to pick things up with Brent now. He's in the northeastern part of the country looking at a different story now, a recent raid on a terrorist camp there and what information the U.S. may be learning at this point.

Brent, good afternoon.

BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon to you, Bill.

Well, you join me live here in an area that was impossible to get to just a week or so ago. This is the very stronghold, the heart, if you like, of what the officials here, the Kurdish officials and U.S. commanders on the ground, say was the very hub of a terrorist network under the umbrella of an organization called Ansar al-Islam. Funded, supported, they say, by al Qaeda itself, by Osama bin Laden.

Now this has been a problem, a sideshow if you like, for quite some time. For years Ansar al-Islam people have been running terrorist-style attacks against Iraqi Kurds belonging to the patriotic unit of Kurdistan, many, many suicide bombings against Kurdish officials over many, many years. Well that has now been wiped out as a result of a startling joint operation between U.S. Special Forces on the ground here in northern Iraq and Kurdish fighters.

Bill, let me just take you for a quick walk around what we have here. And behind me we have a mosque. You can clearly see this area that was hit by U.S. airstrikes. Damage to the dome up there. That dome peppered with several large holes, shrapnel holes as a result of airstrikes.

Now Kurdish commanders on the ground here lament the fact that a mosque has been hit, but they say it was unavoidable given that this is where the heart of Ansar al-Islam's terror network was beating strongly.

Now the whole area that Ansar al-Islam held was about 250 square miles. They've been well dug in for many years controlling this area. Hundreds have been killed in this joint U.S.-Iraqi Kurdish operation, but many of them, Bill, have got away. We don't know the numbers, perhaps again in the hundreds, across there to those snowcapped mountains. That's the border with Iran. We're slap bang next to the Iranian international border and many of those Ansar al-Islam fighters are understood to have gone over there. So really a very important situation on the battlefield here.

OK, we've seen a situation whereby U.S. Special Forces have, for the first time, engaged in a well-coordinated battlefield scenario. We've had an assist you (ph) situation where Special Forces have been leading airstrikes against al Qaeda positions, weakening them for about a week. And then today, Special Force commanders actually breaking their cover in the town of Halabja, just about an hour's drive from my location here. Special Force commanders breaking their cover to heap, really, incredible praise on the way about 8,000 to 10,000 Kurdish fighters, under supervision and close air support by the Americans, really clearing this area. And really to hear what the Americans had to say about the Kurds gives real pause for thought.

Listen to this, Bill.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's a classic example.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would say it's an outstanding example of what Special Forces train for in the United States, unconventional warfare, working with an indigenous force to add to their capabilities and add assistance and advice where we can. This -- to put this in perspective, this was a division scale attack against about a brigade minus (ph) size force on well entrenched, difficult terrain. And I would say that they did it in a more rapid fashion than most armies of the world would.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SADLER: Praise indeed.

Also some eyewitness accounts from the U.S. Special Forces who say they saw Ansar al-Islam forces pretending to surrender and then blowing themselves up. Also, some evidence found here, documents and equipment, say Special Force commanders, that -- quote -- "would indicate a presence of chemical or biological weapons." That evidence, I'm told, being sent back to the United States for close examination and direct analysis.

Just one more point to add here, Bill -- add here, Bill, if you listen to what those Special Force commanders were saying, that really does button very well with what commanders and politicians amongst the Kurds are saying on the ground here looking at what's happening in the south. And they're saying look, let us, the Kurds, as your local force, link up with you under U.S. command and control. Let us, the Kurds, they're saying, take Kirkuk and Mosul, those two key northern Iraqi cities under Saddam Hussein's control which are being pounded, as we know, every day by U.S. airstrikes. The Kurds now really trying to put forward a strong proposal on the back of this successful operation, a serious blow against terrorism here, but really now mounting on the back of that to persuade U.S. war planners, senior commanders at Central Command, to take greater notice of what the Iraqi opposition is saying and how they could contribute to the war now joined against Saddam Hussein.

Back to you -- Bill.

HEMMER: Thanks, Brent. Brent Sadler, again, in northeastern Iraq.

As Brent was pointing out, that terrorist training camp pounded in recent days. Central Command saying they launched at least 50 Tomahawk cruise missiles to destroy that camp in the northeastern part of the country.

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