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CNN Live Today
Iraqis Target Saddam Hussein Symbols in Iraqi Capital
Aired April 09, 2003 - 11:45 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.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN ANCHOR: We want to go to Octavia Nasser, who has spent a lot of time monitoring the Arab News Channels, and also a lot of time over the years in the Al-Jazeera headquarters nearby in Doha, Qatar, about how the Arab News is relaying what we've been seeing on the streets of Baghdad today, Octavia.
OCTAVIA NASSER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thank you, Christiane.
Yes, today they're all following the news, which is the Marines arriving in Baghdad. They're all racing to get the first interviews with the Marines, get also the first pictures of those tanks rolling into Baghdad. A lot of that is going on.
One interesting element, which I was really surprised to hear, it was on Abu Dhabi TV. The anchor back in Abu Dhabi is asking the reporter on the ground in Baghdad, he said, what happened to the Iraqi army? How come we don't see the Fedayeen of Saddam, we don't see the Republican Army, we we've heard so much about? And the reporter said, we're asking ourselves the same question, because the whole time we're covering this war we were looking around to find them, we were wondering if they're phantoms, if they don't even exist. And he said that he saw soldiers sleeping on the street, starving in some instances, and he couldn't believe -- he couldn't just believe that these are the members of the Iraqi army.
And that is going to be discussed, I think, in the next few days a lot and very heavily, where is this army? Did they just disappear? Is it an army of shadows, or is it for real and hiding somewhere, and we just didn't see it until now -- Christiane.
AMANPOUR: And, Octavia, are they commenting, and how are they commenting on the at least limited scenes of cheering and jubilation that we've seen? Because that was going always to be the test, once people are shown being pleased to be liberated, how will what has been so far a very negative Arab press about the American invasion, how will that be told and relayed to the people once these pictures become available?
NASSER: And these pictures are being played out on Arab TV. We've seen the pictures of the huge Saddam statue come down. We've seen people hit that statue with their shoes, and anyone who knows the Middle East is going to tell you that this is the ultimate insult, when you hit someone with your shoe. You saw children hit the Saddam statue with their shoes, standing on it, stepping on it, celebrating its demise, if you will.
These pictures are being played out right now as we speak on all the Arab television screens. And in a way, especially on Jazeera, you hear something like an apology. You have all these anchors and reporters trying to explain to their viewers, telling them that although we're bringing you first images of this demise of the Iraqi regime, but in no way are we in support of it. We're trying to play fair here. We're trying to bring you an objective view from inside Baghdad.
It is very interesting to see them try to apologize to their viewers. Even one of the interviews, and that was on Al-Jazeera, the Al-Jazeera reporter is talking to a Marine, and he answered, he said, you know, we are from Jazeera, you know how we're viewed, you know who our audience is, what can you tell them about how people greeted you when you arrived in Baghdad? And the Marine said, he turned around and said, just look around you, people are celebrating, people are very happy, I don't want to apologize for this kind of reaction we're getting from the Iraqis. And the Al-Jazeera reporters, Abu Dhabi, Al Arabia (ph), LBC, all of them are trying to explain to their viewers that these celebrations are real, they are genuine, and they're trying now to play the objective journalism game -- Christiane.
AMANPOUR: Interesting, Octavia. Thanks. Back to you, Paula.
(11:49)
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Christiane.
And we are going to check in with Brent Sadler now, who joins us from northern Iraq in an area where there's some joint U.S.-Kurdish operations going on.
Brent, what's the latest?
BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, Paula.
Significant developments in this area of the southeastern sector of the northern front. I've just come back from a battle that's been fought and won as a result of a joint ground operation between U.S. special forces and Iraqi Kurds, Peshmerga guerrillas, just come back with exclusive video of U.S. special forces using a 60-millimeter mortar firing position to open up an assault against a town which is on one of the roots into Baghdad along the eastern -- the northeastern sector. U.S. forces firing into a village a couple of miles away, where there had been incoming fire earlier in the day from a T-55 tank, it was believed, an Iraqi tank, still operating in this area, as well as incoming mortar fire from the Iraqis.
Now, after that opening fire from U.S. special forces, I then saw the amazing running advance of the Kurds running and shooting as they approached bunkers that had just been occupied minutes before by fleeing Iraqis. It's thought Saddam Fedayeen and Iraqi Army Soldiers. And the Kurds emboldened, they told me, by news of what was happening in Baghdad, the portraits and power of Saddam Hussein being torn to shreds with every passing hour. They just went running through to what was a front line. I was with them, and saw them shooting their machine guns and sharpshooters trying to hit, fleeing Iraqi soldiers who were going along a road at high speed, just getting out of here as fast as they could. Incredible scenes here, and ones we're expected to see as U.S. forces and air support move ahead with the Kurds on the ground in the direction of Baghdad, but still about 90 miles away from this location -- Paula.
ZAHN: Brent, you talk about these Kurdish soldiers being emboldened by what they hear is happening in Baghdad. How recent is the information?
SADLER: Well, the information is coming through by the hour. They're picking it up from radios. They're picking it up from their commanders, at headquarters, in Sulaimaniya (ph). What we're not seeing yet, Paula, is a northern front opening in the true sense of the word, in other words, with U.S. ground forces en masse here, because U.S. Forces, as we know, are still spread very thinly here. This is really a lot of air support, Kurds on the ground, moving slowly towards Baghdad, pushing the Iraqis back, and U.S. special forces really guiding them in these movements.
But still there's fighting here, still there is incoming rounds from the Iraqis, and I guess from the position I am now, obviously everybody's left here now, so it's probably time for us to go, but certainly in the daylight hours, the Iraqis had sped off from this direction, got out of town, and the Iraqi Kurds and special forces satisfied that this was a very important day in terms of what's happening in this small sector of the northern battlefield -- Paula.
ZAHN: Brent Sadler, thanks so much for that report out of northern Iraq.
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 9, 2003 - 11:45 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN ANCHOR: We want to go to Octavia Nasser, who has spent a lot of time monitoring the Arab News Channels, and also a lot of time over the years in the Al-Jazeera headquarters nearby in Doha, Qatar, about how the Arab News is relaying what we've been seeing on the streets of Baghdad today, Octavia.
OCTAVIA NASSER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thank you, Christiane.
Yes, today they're all following the news, which is the Marines arriving in Baghdad. They're all racing to get the first interviews with the Marines, get also the first pictures of those tanks rolling into Baghdad. A lot of that is going on.
One interesting element, which I was really surprised to hear, it was on Abu Dhabi TV. The anchor back in Abu Dhabi is asking the reporter on the ground in Baghdad, he said, what happened to the Iraqi army? How come we don't see the Fedayeen of Saddam, we don't see the Republican Army, we we've heard so much about? And the reporter said, we're asking ourselves the same question, because the whole time we're covering this war we were looking around to find them, we were wondering if they're phantoms, if they don't even exist. And he said that he saw soldiers sleeping on the street, starving in some instances, and he couldn't believe -- he couldn't just believe that these are the members of the Iraqi army.
And that is going to be discussed, I think, in the next few days a lot and very heavily, where is this army? Did they just disappear? Is it an army of shadows, or is it for real and hiding somewhere, and we just didn't see it until now -- Christiane.
AMANPOUR: And, Octavia, are they commenting, and how are they commenting on the at least limited scenes of cheering and jubilation that we've seen? Because that was going always to be the test, once people are shown being pleased to be liberated, how will what has been so far a very negative Arab press about the American invasion, how will that be told and relayed to the people once these pictures become available?
NASSER: And these pictures are being played out on Arab TV. We've seen the pictures of the huge Saddam statue come down. We've seen people hit that statue with their shoes, and anyone who knows the Middle East is going to tell you that this is the ultimate insult, when you hit someone with your shoe. You saw children hit the Saddam statue with their shoes, standing on it, stepping on it, celebrating its demise, if you will.
These pictures are being played out right now as we speak on all the Arab television screens. And in a way, especially on Jazeera, you hear something like an apology. You have all these anchors and reporters trying to explain to their viewers, telling them that although we're bringing you first images of this demise of the Iraqi regime, but in no way are we in support of it. We're trying to play fair here. We're trying to bring you an objective view from inside Baghdad.
It is very interesting to see them try to apologize to their viewers. Even one of the interviews, and that was on Al-Jazeera, the Al-Jazeera reporter is talking to a Marine, and he answered, he said, you know, we are from Jazeera, you know how we're viewed, you know who our audience is, what can you tell them about how people greeted you when you arrived in Baghdad? And the Marine said, he turned around and said, just look around you, people are celebrating, people are very happy, I don't want to apologize for this kind of reaction we're getting from the Iraqis. And the Al-Jazeera reporters, Abu Dhabi, Al Arabia (ph), LBC, all of them are trying to explain to their viewers that these celebrations are real, they are genuine, and they're trying now to play the objective journalism game -- Christiane.
AMANPOUR: Interesting, Octavia. Thanks. Back to you, Paula.
(11:49)
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Christiane.
And we are going to check in with Brent Sadler now, who joins us from northern Iraq in an area where there's some joint U.S.-Kurdish operations going on.
Brent, what's the latest?
BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, Paula.
Significant developments in this area of the southeastern sector of the northern front. I've just come back from a battle that's been fought and won as a result of a joint ground operation between U.S. special forces and Iraqi Kurds, Peshmerga guerrillas, just come back with exclusive video of U.S. special forces using a 60-millimeter mortar firing position to open up an assault against a town which is on one of the roots into Baghdad along the eastern -- the northeastern sector. U.S. forces firing into a village a couple of miles away, where there had been incoming fire earlier in the day from a T-55 tank, it was believed, an Iraqi tank, still operating in this area, as well as incoming mortar fire from the Iraqis.
Now, after that opening fire from U.S. special forces, I then saw the amazing running advance of the Kurds running and shooting as they approached bunkers that had just been occupied minutes before by fleeing Iraqis. It's thought Saddam Fedayeen and Iraqi Army Soldiers. And the Kurds emboldened, they told me, by news of what was happening in Baghdad, the portraits and power of Saddam Hussein being torn to shreds with every passing hour. They just went running through to what was a front line. I was with them, and saw them shooting their machine guns and sharpshooters trying to hit, fleeing Iraqi soldiers who were going along a road at high speed, just getting out of here as fast as they could. Incredible scenes here, and ones we're expected to see as U.S. forces and air support move ahead with the Kurds on the ground in the direction of Baghdad, but still about 90 miles away from this location -- Paula.
ZAHN: Brent, you talk about these Kurdish soldiers being emboldened by what they hear is happening in Baghdad. How recent is the information?
SADLER: Well, the information is coming through by the hour. They're picking it up from radios. They're picking it up from their commanders, at headquarters, in Sulaimaniya (ph). What we're not seeing yet, Paula, is a northern front opening in the true sense of the word, in other words, with U.S. ground forces en masse here, because U.S. Forces, as we know, are still spread very thinly here. This is really a lot of air support, Kurds on the ground, moving slowly towards Baghdad, pushing the Iraqis back, and U.S. special forces really guiding them in these movements.
But still there's fighting here, still there is incoming rounds from the Iraqis, and I guess from the position I am now, obviously everybody's left here now, so it's probably time for us to go, but certainly in the daylight hours, the Iraqis had sped off from this direction, got out of town, and the Iraqi Kurds and special forces satisfied that this was a very important day in terms of what's happening in this small sector of the northern battlefield -- Paula.
ZAHN: Brent Sadler, thanks so much for that report out of northern Iraq.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
