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CNN Live At Daybreak

Reaction From Middle East on Destruction of Saddam Statue

Aired April 10, 2003 - 05:00   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.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Daryn Kagan live in Kuwait City.
Let's take a look at the headlines at this hour.

Another Saddam statue is in the spotlight. This one was almost destroyed by U.S. explosives. Our Martin Savidge says that it has a crowd gathered around it and is determined to stay there until that statue is demolished. One day after the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime, it is not over yet. Our Walter Rodgers says that Baghdad is relatively quiet this morning, but he has heard sporadic shooting. And Washington is warning that despite all the celebrating, there still is some fighting ahead.

Celebrations, though, did go well on into the night in the Kurdish controlled city of Irbil in northern Iraq. This region has been autonomous since the first Gulf War, but there still may be major battles ahead for other northern cities still under the control of Saddam loyalists.

(NEWS HEADLINES)

KAGAN: Coming up on the war front, reaction from the Middle East on yesterday's destruction of the Saddam statue and the symbolism of that American flag that was draped over the statue's face. Many Iraqis are applauding the moves by coalition forces, but the war is not over yet. We're going to look at what is next on the military radar screen. Plus an update on the big question mark, where is Saddam? Find out what U.S. officials are saying about his fate.

CNN's coverage of the war in Iraq continues right now.

Hello. It is Thursday, April 10th, day 22 of the war.

From Kuwait City, I'm Daryn Kagan.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Daryn.

I'm Carol Costello from CNN's global headquarters in Atlanta.

You are now looking at a live picture of the newly liberated city of Baghdad the morning after the celebrations. And today, U.S. troops hope to secure more sections of the Iraqi capital. We want to show you where they're on patrol now.

CNN's Walter Rodgers reports U.S. Army troops in central Baghdad faced sporadic gunfire on the western side of the Tigris River today. In the meantime, CNN's Martin Savidge is reporting U.S. Marines in Baghdad are searching one of Saddam Hussein's presidential palaces, looking for clues on his fate.

On the northern front, coalition forces have launched their heaviest wave of bombings yet near some key cities and the air strikes have led Kurdish fighters to capture a village in northern Iraq. And here you see them celebrating their success.

Here are some other images from the war. An intense battle breaks out at Baghdad University just moments after the 1st Battalion of the 2nd Marines passed hundreds of cheering Iraqis yesterday. In northern Iraq, more tanks, armed personnel carriers and Bradley fighting vehicles arrive in an air field near the city of Irbil and jubilant Iraqis celebrate in Baghdad after 20 years of iron-fisted rule by Saddam Hussein.

CNN's Walter Rodgers has made his way to Baghdad now. He is no longer embedded with the Army's 7th Cavalry.

He joins us live by videophone from the Iraqi capital -- what are you seeing now, Walter?

WALTER RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what you're seeing is not vice president, but a satellite. And rolling behind me, an M1A1 Abrams tank, the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division. Behind that, you see a mosque in central Baghdad. We've been here several hours now and can report to you the city is relatively quiet. There has been sporadic shooting, but nothing like we've seen with the 7th Cavalry for the past two weeks.

There was a dodgy moment when we had to cross a bridge over the Tigris River. Again, nothing serious.

We've been talking with the citizens of Baghdad this morning. Some of their exuberance seems a little defaulted after yesterday's celebrations. We're learning many interesting things talking to them. For example, I would ask, "Do you feel relieved Saddam is gone?"

Most of them said yes. Some said no. I asked them why. "Why are you not relieved to see a tyrant gone?" They said you have to understand the period of uncertainty we face. They said we've grown up with Saddam Hussein all our lives. This was a young man about 25 years old. Saddam Hussein has been the leader of Iraq that long and now they fear the uncertainty of what will follow.

They're particularly concerned, they tell me, that another "oil thief," someone who will rob Iraqis' oil riches -- and, of course, they were saying that of Saddam Hussein -- and not see that the people of Iraq get those benefits.

Also, the Iraqis are telling us here in the city of Baghdad -- and I've been walking around talking to them -- these are a cultured, educated people, easy to find someone who speaks English.

I ask about the food and water situation. They say pretty good. Some say they're running low. They, what they lament is the loss of electricity, they say. But most of them say they have food stored up in their homes. Most of them say they have access to water. There are some shootings, but there's nothing like the crisis portrayed by some international aid agencies -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Walter, we saw so many images of lawlessness yesterday, who is keeping security inside Iraq now?

RODGERS: Looting has a way of burning itself out, Carol, and that seems to be what has happened. We haven't seen looting today and we've gone by many shops. Some were, indeed, ltd, but what they we're taking yesterday were chairs and, of course, if they could get into a government building everything was up for grabs. Nobody seems to be taking anything today. The Army has not had to make any efforts to put down looting. Recall, the Army is not all over the city. However, the Army is at major intersections like the one you see behind me.

Again, no evidence of looting today, nothing on the scale of what you saw yesterday. Again, looting, like fires, have a way of, has a way of burning itself out -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Is the Army acting as a police officer now? Is that what's happening?

RODGERS: No. The Army's not acting as a police officer. That's not their function here, not yet. Now, when the Army gets transition orders and they go to a SASO (ph) operation, which is security and stability, then perhaps they will have that function.

I should say I was asking Iraqis about how they felt seeing U.S. tanks on their street and they said a little nervous. And I said why? And these Iraqis said to me the reason being that even in Saddam's worst times, he didn't put tanks on the street. He kept his tanks outside the city.

So American soldiers and American armored vehicles do intimidate the Baghdad citizens. They admit it. They know the Americans are not going to hurt them, but they say at night, when the Iraqi renegades, remnants, start shooting at the Americans, the Americans start shooting back. Then they say they're afraid of everyone and they wish the tanks weren't here -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Walter, I have to ask you this, because it's so different seeing you not embedded with the 7th Cavalry, how did you manage to slip away and why did you?

RODGERS: It's the same old T-shirt, Carol. Why did we do it? Because Atlanta needed somebody in the heart of Baghdad and our generals in Atlanta gave us orders to disembed with the 7th Cavalry, which had been a fine unit with which to serve. And then they told us to move into Baghdad on our own.

We drove probably 10, 12 miles through the southern suburbs due north. We saw a lot of burned out Iraqi vehicles. There was much damage down there. You could see the 2nd Brigade of the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division had a fight on its hands.

We came up through checkpoints. There were times, let me show you, I would walk through a checkpoint, an Army checkpoint, and have to go like this to make sure the U.S. Army didn't shoot me. Again, the Army was very good about it, but they were very nervous about anyone approaching them as we were -- Carol.

COSTELLO: I can only imagine. And we're glad to see you safe. And, of course, you'll been providing many more live reports from the heart of Baghdad.

Walter Rodgers, many thanks to you.

Now let's head to Kuwait City and Daryn.

KAGAN: Carol, we want to go ahead and check in in the northern part of the country.

And that's where our Ben Wedeman is standing by with some new developments near the town of Kirkuk -- Ben, hello. BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, Daryn.

Well, it's clearly a rapidly collapsing front on the road to Kirkuk. We're to the northwest of it. We drove through a town, Aljunkubli (ph), which has just been taken over by the Kurdish forces supported by American special forces and I watched in awe as a group of young children trashed their school, really broke the windows, were ripping their books apart, throwing the desks out the window. They said anything related to Saddam Hussein they wanted to destroy.

Now, here on the road to Kirkuk, we've been watching some Kurdish fighters, otherwise known as peshmerga, heading toward that city. I can see a huge plume of smoke in the distance in the direction of that city. Of course, there are many oil wells around it. It's the major oil producing part of northern Iraq.

Now, we've been told that the Kurdish forces, with the Americans, have advanced almost to the outskirts of the city. They've essentially arrived at a large bridge on the edge of town, where it is expected they have run into some resistance and we've been told that the Americans might start calling in air strikes to the Iraqi positions on the other side of the bridge.

But just to sum up, basically the front here has collapsed, i.e., the Iraqis seem to be retreating in some disarray. In fact, in this town, alZankubri (ph), that we passed through, there were Iraqi soldiers who had surrendered but were, their arms had been taken away and they were largely walking aimlessly around the town. And I spoke to one who said that everybody has been just giving up. Morale had collapsed and they were happy to hear that the government of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad had collapsed and were hoping that maybe there might be peace at last -- Daryn.

KAGAN: So just quickly, Ben, so word is making it to the north of what is happening in Baghdad?

WEDEMAN: Yes, it seems to have spread to the troops on the Iraqi side. Obviously, on the Kurdish side they've been watching satellite news coverage of events minute by minute. So they knew about it long ago. But even among the Iraqis, who have much more limited sources of information, the word has spread and it appears that the entire system throughout the north is beginning to collapse.

KAGAN: Ben Wedeman reporting to us from the northern part of Iraq near Kirkuk -- Carol, we toss it back to you.

COSTELLO: All right, we do have some correspondents still embedded. One of them, Gary Tuchman, he's embedded with the Marines. He's somewhere near al-Kut -- Gary, bring us up to date from your perspective.

Do we have Gary?

I believe we have lost Gary, but we'll get him back as soon as we can.

We're going to take a short break.

Hopefully we'll go to al-Kut next. Stick around.

COMMERCIAL

COSTELLO: Those images from yesterday in Baghdad.

It's 5:14 Eastern time, by the way. Things seem to be fairly quiet in Baghdad right now, but we want to take you southeast of the capital city now to Gary Tuchman, who's embedded with the Marines -- Gary, we got you back. We're glad.

What's happening from your perspective?

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, we come to you from an air strip in central Iraq north of the town of al-Kut, about 45 miles southeast of Baghdad. And this is an air strip, along with many others throughout the country of Iraq, that have now been taken over by the coalition.

Behind me right now Marines who have arrived here in Iraq for the very first time. We just came off a transport sortie, one of 1,700 sorties that will take place over Iraq today. This was a sortie to take troops here to Iraq and also to take supplies.

And with us, some of the people who are here for the very first time.

This Marine's name is?

CPL. SHANNON NANDO: Corporal Shannon Nando.

TUCHMAN: Corporal, where are you from?

NANDO: Elton (ph), Illinois.

TUCHMAN: OK, now, Corporal, how do you feel about being here in Iraq for the first time?

NANDO: Good.

TUCHMAN: Any nerves at all about it?

NANDO: No.

TUCHMAN: Tell me why you have no nerves at all being here?

NANDO: I'm here with my group. I'm happy.

TUCHMAN: And that's an important thing.

Now, the Marines who are here, they are medics, they are cooks, they repair helicopters and airplanes. Tell me what you're doing here.

NANDO: I'm a combat cook.

TUCHMAN: A combat, what does that mean, a combat cook?

NANDO: You cook food in a combat area.

TUCHMAN: OK, thanks for talking with us.

I want to talk to your comrade here.

Your name?

TERRY ANTHONY: Terry Anthony (ph).

TUCHMAN: OK, and Terry, this is your first time in Iraq also?

ANTHONY: Yes, sir, it is.

TUCHMAN: How do you feel being here? You've just arrived. Literally, we landed off the plane 10 minutes ago. How do you feel being here in the center of this country?

ANTHONY: I'm quite pleased. I think this is something that should have been done 12 years ago. I'm happy that we're here and the country of Iraq is being liberated.

TUCHMAN: You're a medic. What's your main responsibility while you're here?

ANTHONY: Well, being that I have 36 people in my aid station, and that's what we call them, an aid station, I'm treating any casualty that would come in, being that now we're on the front lines. Any casualty that comes in we assess them, we get them stabilized and then we get them to a more higher echelon care of treatment.

TUCHMAN: Thank you, sir, for talking with us.

ANTHONY: You're welcome.

TUCHMAN: We're in the midst right now of one of the frequent sandstorms that we have here in this country. To tell you about the sortie we took, we boarded a C-130. When we flew over Iraqi territory, we went as low as 200 feet altitude. That's to avoid any Iraqi radar. But the plane is actually so low that the pilot and co- pilot frequently wave to people on the ground who are pointing up in the air to the airplane. That's how close they are, they wave. And the people on the ground wave back.

One thing that's important to point out, several planes have been hit by Iraqi artillery over the past few days, so they take evasive measures while they fly these planes. This plane literally tips way to the left, tips way to the right so they can visually make sure there's no Iraqi artillery on the ground -- Carol, back to you.

COSTELLO: Got you, Gary.

Those new Marines you were talking about, the ones who had just arrived, do they have any sense of how long they will be there, because it could be for a very long time, right?

TUCHMAN: Most of these Marines we've been talking with say they have been told to expect to be here for up to six months.

COSTELLO: Got you.

Gary Tuchman reporting live from somewhere near al-Kut.

Now let's go back to Daryn in Kuwait City.

KAGAN: Carol, we want to go ahead now and take the opportunity to recap the war.

We're going to start with the incredible events of yesterday morning just after nine o'clock Eastern.

Our Miles O'Brien brings us up to speed.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 9:04 a.m., CNN's Martin Savidge rides into Baghdad from the east with the 1st Battalion 7th Marines. They come under heavy fire near the campus of the University of Baghdad.

10:50 a.m., a U.S. Marine armored recovery vehicle pulls down the Saddam Hussein statue in Ferdo Square (ph). Iraqis celebrate by dancing and waving the country's pre-1991 flag.

1:58 p.m., at the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says Saddam Hussein has not been around or active. He says Saddam is either dead, incapacitated or healthy and in hiding. Rumsfeld also adds that the war is not over and that there is more fighting to be done.

2:45 p.m., CNN's Martin Savidge reporting the U.S. Marines did not suffer a single casualty in the fight at the University of Baghdad. Savidge also reports earlier today Marines went into the home of Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz. The Marines found the home deserted and the furniture covered with blankets. 4:22 p.m., CNN's Brent Sadler reports U.S. planes are conducting the heaviest bombing campaign to date against the Iraqi front lines in northern Iraq. Kurdish commanders say ground assaults will follow in an area whose terrain provides ample places for Iraqi troops to regroup or hide.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Miles, thank you very much for that.

Despite the dramatic events of yesterday, the White House insists this is still not over, not this war. There still are hot spots.

We're going to check in on those hot spots coming up.

Also, we'll check in in at the Pentagon, after this break.

COMMERCIAL

KAGAN: The government of President Saddam Hussein is nowhere to be found, but the Pentagon says the war is far from over.

For more on that, let's go to our Chris Plante who is at the Pentagon -- Chris, hello.

CHRIS PLANTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Daryn.

That's right, a lot of feel good stuff from yesterday afternoon, of course, for the people at the Pentagon, the celebrating in the streets, the tanks owning most of downtown. It looks an awful lot like the war is over, but they're quick to caution that it's not.

Still some substantial resistance taking place inside the city of Baghdad in certain areas and around the city of Baghdad. The Fedayeen Saddam, along with certain members of the special Republican Guard and even the regular Republican Guard still rallying up, getting together, meeting in schoolhouses and mosques and coming out on occasion to square off with U.S. forces there in what are described as fairly lopsided battles.

But nonetheless, the shooting at U.S. forces still persists inside the city and throughout the country of Iraq. In northern Iraq in particular, there are substantial forces remaining there to deal with. The Adnan (ph) division, which is a Republican Guard division up around the city of Tikrit, which is Saddam Hussein's hometown, they call it his ancestral home, that's still a significant force that will have to be dealt with at some point in one fashion or another, unless they fold up their tents early and head home.

But there's no expectation that they're going to do that at this point, so air power continues to pick away at the Adnan division around Tikrit. Also, around Mosul, in other areas of northern Iraq, the United States special operations forces are working with air forces to call in strikes against a lot of these locations and there are still engagements going on even in the south, where forces have been for some time now. But sporadic fighting continues. While the capital has fallen, while the regime and the senior leadership of the regime are nowhere to be found, still plenty of fighting to do. And they're not calling it mop up at this point. They are concerned that this is still all out war that is ongoing in the country. The Fedayeen Saddam all by itself a force of 25,000 to 30,000 and it's not clear at all how many of those people have been killed or have simply gone back to their homes. But they know that there are significant numbers of people out there who are still looking to inflict harm on U.S. forces.

And they've also got to be concerned about suicide bombers. The call to Jihad by Saddam Hussein and some of the members of his regime and people from outside of Iraq also calling for military action against forces there.

There is also, as Donald Rumsfeld, the secretary of defense here at the Pentagon briefing said yesterday, a number of things that they feel that they need to get to before they can declare victory, including finding out, making some sort of final determination as to the whereabouts of Saddam Hussein, his sons and other members of the senior leadership. They need to find out what happened to the American POWs and Donald Rumsfeld, interestingly, said not just from this war, but also from the last war, perhaps referring to Navy pilot Michael Scott Speicher (ph), who has been missing since that conflict.

They feel that they need to find weapons of mass destruction and the people in charge of those programs so that they can expose those programs to the world. They need to close off access in and out of the country for weapons of mass destruction and for senior leadership of the regime.

So still a long way to go. You know, a lot of progress yesterday. One of the major dominoes certainly fell with the city of Baghdad. But plenty still going on -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Yes, Chris, I can you tell from here in Kuwait, in continue to cover the arrival of troops here even at this late date. I was out at the port just a couple of days ago. The 4th I.D., the 4th Infantry Division from Fort Hood, Texas, the U.S. Army, just arriving. These were the folks that were supposed to get to go in through Turkey, but did not make it and had to come in through Kuwait.

Chris Plante at the Pentagon, thank you very much for that.

And with that, we'll toss it back to Carol in Atlanta.

COSTELLO: All right, thanks, Daryn.

You heard Chris mention that the fighting was still going on in northern Iraq. It certainly is, near the cities of Kirkuk and Mosul.

Brent Sadler is in northern Iraq. He is near the Iran-Iraq border and he has new information for us -- good morning.

BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thank you, Carol. You join me here just as one of the peshmergas who liberated this town in the past 10 hours or so walks up to that bullet riddled picture of Saddam Hussein, riddled by machine gun fire, and just kicking it. Let me just step out of the way and you can see this. This is just an impromptu act of revenge, I guess, by this man, who is holding a rocket propelled grenade in the left hand. He's doing this to the cheers of everybody around here.

I'm talking to you from Khanaqin (ph), which is all (AUDIO GAP) 10, 12 hours, part of a huge wave of territory in the north of Iraq that has fallen to Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga fighters.

This is a city, a town of about 100,000 people. They tell me they were put under curfew at about 5:00 p.m. in the afternoon yesterday, as there was fighting between the Kurds and the defenders of this town. And they really, they stayed in their homes while the troops here were evacuating. And you can see now people are just coming to this statue, this (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and just hammering it.

I can tell you, Carol, that as they came in here, they were followed by U.S. special forces. They also came in and are in parts of the town. This is a largely Kurdish town. But there were tremendous scenes of jubilation here. I have to tell you, Carol, it gave me goose bumps when one of the people of this town came up to me and said, "Are you American or British?" I said, "Yes." And they kissed me and said, "Thank you, thank you, thank you for setting us free."

It was quite an emotional moment, as I said, goose pimples, to see these kind of scenes in this town.

Now, 200 (UNINTELLIGIBLE) villages, including this population center, have been liberated by the peshmerga fighters and we're hearing reports of this right across the northern front, that key city of Kirkuk now reportedly fallen or falling into the hands of the Iraqi Kurds.

That gunfire you heard in the background, just gunshots, really, to celebrate this historic day, this (UNINTELLIGIBLE) in the collapse, it seems, of Saddam Hussein's former army in the north of Iraq.

I've also seen ambulances here going around the city, trying to persuade people not to open fire with those machine guns in case of any accidental deaths or injuries. But I have to tell you, these scenes here are being repeated now right across liberated areas in the north of Iraq. It's something to see -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Oh, you're not kidding, Brent.

Let's get into Kirkuk just a little bit and repeat what you just said, because if Kirkuk is falling, this is important because, of course, there are major oil fields there.

SADLER: That's right, Carol. Kirkuk is the oil capital of northern Iraq. There's been a lot of concerns over the three weeks or so of war about what might happen to those oil fields. They seem to be intact. Really, what's happened here, Carol, is the speed with which the gravitational effect of the deception of the regime in Baghdad 24 hours ago has rippled right up here to the north, as was the hope and the expectation of allied coalition commanders.

There has been extremely heavy U.S. bombing overnight in key positions around Mosul, around Kirkuk and this area, Khanaqin, close to the Iranian border, and sitting on a main route to Baghdad, which is about 80 miles to my south, to the south of my position here.

So this gravitational effect, if you like, has rippled across the country and now you're seeing the effects of that. And, you know, the gunfire you hear are people really firing their machine guns into the pictures of Saddam Hussein. And really when I first came here a couple of hours ago, we weren't sure just how liberated it was. And I don't think many of the people did, until they saw U.S. special forces drive in here and then the place went wild. Machine guns firing in the air, people coming out in stunned disbelief, really, about this change to their lives in just a few hours.

Iraq's army here having pulled out in the early hours of the morning, gone, possibly towards Tikrit, which is on the western side several hour's drive from here. We're not sure where they disappeared to, but certainly here people are telling me the yoke of tyranny, the terrorist activities, they say, of Saddam Hussein, suppressing this area, mostly Iraqi Kurds in this area, and delighted to see, obviously, the scenes of peshmerga fighters, which, I should add, include units of women peshmerga fighters driving around in these pickup trucks as they go around the city -- back to you, Carol.

Difficult to hear you. Actually, if you would just swing around the camera here, I'll just show you what's going on behind me. This is like a mini auditorium, if you like. And what you're hearing now are people saying "Long Live Bush!" These people have been used to saying we will die for the body and soul of Saddam Hussein. These chants have now changed to "Long Live Bush!"

Just take a look at this. OK, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) move here around this central square in Khanaqin. Things unfolding right in front of me as I look around. More and more peshmerga fighters coming in here and no reports or signs that I can see of any looting nor, of course, any semblance of the beginnings of control or law and order here...

COSTELLO: And we have lost Brent Sadler's transmission.

But what incredible pictures he's showing us.

You heard the crowds chanting "Long Live Bush!" This is in a town called Khanaqin, which is by the Iraq-Iran border. It's now in Kurdish control, stripped away from Iraqi control. And you also heard Brent mention that he believes that Kirkuk, that oil rich city, is falling or has fallen. We'll get an update from Jane Arraf when we get her up on the line.

We want to bring you up to speed now with the latest developments at this hour.

It's 5:32 Eastern Time.

Removing Saddam Hussein from power may prove easier than removing his many images in Baghdad. This statue of the former Iraqi leader was still erect despite high explosives. You see they tried, but they couldn't bring it down. CNN's Martin Savidge is on the scene. He says even a tank couldn't budge that thing. He says a large crowd of Iraqis, though, refuse to leave the area until the Marines destroy that statue.

They're still working on it.

And one day after the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime, the White House cautions it's not over yet. That is evident on the ground. CNN's Walter Rodgers says sporadic shooting can still be heard today in the capital. U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld warns that more battles are yet to be fought, many objectives yet to be met and that more casualties are a certainty.

Widespread looting was observed in the capital, especially of government offices. People took pretty much whatever they could carry. The loss of civil order is particularly worrisome to aid workers, who says the chaotic situation is hindering their relief efforts.

And in northern Iraq, celebrations went on well into the night in the Kurdish controlled city of Irbil. This region has been autonomous since the first Gulf War, but there still may be major battles ahead for other northern cities still under the control of Saddam loyalists, although you heard Brent Sadler just say he believes that Kirkuk is falling or fallen.

(OTHER NEWS HEADLINES)

COSTELLO: Coming up on the war front, reaction from the Middle East on yesterday's destruction of the Saddam statue and the symbolism of that American flag draped over the statue's face. And many Iraqis are applauding the moves by coalition forces, but the war is not over yet. We'll look at what's next on the military radar screen. Plus, an update on the big question mark -- where is Saddam? Find out what U.S. officials are saying now about his fate.

CNN's coverage of the war in Iraq continues right now.

And good morning to you.

It's Thursday, April 10th, day 22 of the war.

From CNN's global headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello.

KAGAN: Good morning and good afternoon from Kuwait City, Carol.

I'm Daryn Kagan.

We want to show you a live picture of the newly liberated city of Baghdad the morning after the celebrations.

We're about an hour and a half away from the next military briefing. It'll come out of Doha, Qatar.

Our Tom Mintier is standing by to tell us perhaps what we can expect and what is next for the U.S. military and coalition forces -- Tom, hello.

TOM MINTIER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, the word here seems to be confirmation of what they were saying yesterday. There may be celebration on the streets of Baghdad, but the war is not over. Reports here at CENTCOM from military officials that there are still elements that are fighting, fighting from mosques and other buildings, engaging coalition troops. So that apparently is still going on.

Also word here from the hallways of CENTCOM, from reliable sources, that a leafleting campaign may soon be under way in the next 72 hours to drop leaflets in the areas that are still being contested, saying that the regime is over, Baghdad has been liberated, go ahead and overthrow the remnants of Saddam's regime.

Now that the military part may be over, the more difficult may be the political resolution in Iraq. There are movements to establish both law and order, the civil affairs that are going on inside Iraq and there is a permanent solution that is being pushed forward. I had one source tell me yesterday that the war on the battlefield in Baghdad may not be as big as the war in the beltway in Washington, between the military planners at the Pentagon and the diplomats at the State Department.

We had a good indication of that today. Someone from the State Department, Dr. Mohamed Al-Jabiri. He is part of the Future of Iraq Project and showed up rather unexpectedly here in Doha for meetings with the Qatari government and with General Franks. He said he expects to meet with General Franks.

Now, Mr. Al-Jabiri is maybe not well known, a not well known name around the world, but his brother and his son were both executed by Saddam Hussein, he says, and he says that there seems to be problems between the State Department and the Pentagon on providing a political solution. They say, he says, told me this morning in an interview that there seems to be a rush to get a solution into place.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOHAMED AL-JABIRI, FUTURE OF IRAQ PROJECT: I think the Pentagon has an interest as the State Department. So I think they must coordinate and cooperate with all the Iraqis and give the operations to all Iraqis. And I don't think there's any interest for the United States, such a great, major power who played such a great role in this liberating the Iraqis, to come forward and say we are the Pentagon who took the arms to challenge Saddam and sent to uproot him and we will decide who is coming to rule Iraq. I think this is very discouraging.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MINTIER: Very discouraging, indeed, according to Mohamed Al- Jabiri. I asked him a question that may be on a lot of people's minds. This is a man who had his son assassinated and his brother assassinated. He was put into solitary confinement by Saddam Hussein for two years, under house arrest for more than a decade. This man was a diplomat previously, a senior Baath Party official, and his anger and resentment towards Saddam Hussein runs very deep.

I asked him, if you were sitting in a room, Saddam Hussein sitting across the table from you and a pistol in the middle, would you pick it up and use it? And he definitely said yes -- Carol, Daryn?

KAGAN: Actually it's -- that's OK, Tom.

We'll look forward to the briefing, as we said, about, just under an hour and a half from right now and for your seat in the front row there and your probing questions to the U.S. military and coalition forces.

Tom Mintier, Doha, Qatar, at U.S. Central Command headquarters -- Carol, now back to you.

COSTELLO: Interesting stories from Tom Mintier this morning.

As you heard Tom also say, the U.S. is not ready to declare victory in Iraq. There is still a lot to do. One pressing question is Saddam Hussein alive or dead? And there are other concerns, as CNN's David Ensor explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

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THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Daryn Kagan live in Kuwait City.
Let's take a look at the headlines at this hour.

Another Saddam statue is in the spotlight. This one was almost destroyed by U.S. explosives. Our Martin Savidge says that it has a crowd gathered around it and is determined to stay there until that statue is demolished. One day after the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime, it is not over yet. Our Walter Rodgers says that Baghdad is relatively quiet this morning, but he has heard sporadic shooting. And Washington is warning that despite all the celebrating, there still is some fighting ahead.

Celebrations, though, did go well on into the night in the Kurdish controlled city of Irbil in northern Iraq. This region has been autonomous since the first Gulf War, but there still may be major battles ahead for other northern cities still under the control of Saddam loyalists.

(NEWS HEADLINES)

KAGAN: Coming up on the war front, reaction from the Middle East on yesterday's destruction of the Saddam statue and the symbolism of that American flag that was draped over the statue's face. Many Iraqis are applauding the moves by coalition forces, but the war is not over yet. We're going to look at what is next on the military radar screen. Plus an update on the big question mark, where is Saddam? Find out what U.S. officials are saying about his fate.

CNN's coverage of the war in Iraq continues right now.

Hello. It is Thursday, April 10th, day 22 of the war.

From Kuwait City, I'm Daryn Kagan.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Daryn.

I'm Carol Costello from CNN's global headquarters in Atlanta.

You are now looking at a live picture of the newly liberated city of Baghdad the morning after the celebrations. And today, U.S. troops hope to secure more sections of the Iraqi capital. We want to show you where they're on patrol now.

CNN's Walter Rodgers reports U.S. Army troops in central Baghdad faced sporadic gunfire on the western side of the Tigris River today. In the meantime, CNN's Martin Savidge is reporting U.S. Marines in Baghdad are searching one of Saddam Hussein's presidential palaces, looking for clues on his fate.

On the northern front, coalition forces have launched their heaviest wave of bombings yet near some key cities and the air strikes have led Kurdish fighters to capture a village in northern Iraq. And here you see them celebrating their success.

Here are some other images from the war. An intense battle breaks out at Baghdad University just moments after the 1st Battalion of the 2nd Marines passed hundreds of cheering Iraqis yesterday. In northern Iraq, more tanks, armed personnel carriers and Bradley fighting vehicles arrive in an air field near the city of Irbil and jubilant Iraqis celebrate in Baghdad after 20 years of iron-fisted rule by Saddam Hussein.

CNN's Walter Rodgers has made his way to Baghdad now. He is no longer embedded with the Army's 7th Cavalry.

He joins us live by videophone from the Iraqi capital -- what are you seeing now, Walter?

WALTER RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what you're seeing is not vice president, but a satellite. And rolling behind me, an M1A1 Abrams tank, the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division. Behind that, you see a mosque in central Baghdad. We've been here several hours now and can report to you the city is relatively quiet. There has been sporadic shooting, but nothing like we've seen with the 7th Cavalry for the past two weeks.

There was a dodgy moment when we had to cross a bridge over the Tigris River. Again, nothing serious.

We've been talking with the citizens of Baghdad this morning. Some of their exuberance seems a little defaulted after yesterday's celebrations. We're learning many interesting things talking to them. For example, I would ask, "Do you feel relieved Saddam is gone?"

Most of them said yes. Some said no. I asked them why. "Why are you not relieved to see a tyrant gone?" They said you have to understand the period of uncertainty we face. They said we've grown up with Saddam Hussein all our lives. This was a young man about 25 years old. Saddam Hussein has been the leader of Iraq that long and now they fear the uncertainty of what will follow.

They're particularly concerned, they tell me, that another "oil thief," someone who will rob Iraqis' oil riches -- and, of course, they were saying that of Saddam Hussein -- and not see that the people of Iraq get those benefits.

Also, the Iraqis are telling us here in the city of Baghdad -- and I've been walking around talking to them -- these are a cultured, educated people, easy to find someone who speaks English.

I ask about the food and water situation. They say pretty good. Some say they're running low. They, what they lament is the loss of electricity, they say. But most of them say they have food stored up in their homes. Most of them say they have access to water. There are some shootings, but there's nothing like the crisis portrayed by some international aid agencies -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Walter, we saw so many images of lawlessness yesterday, who is keeping security inside Iraq now?

RODGERS: Looting has a way of burning itself out, Carol, and that seems to be what has happened. We haven't seen looting today and we've gone by many shops. Some were, indeed, ltd, but what they we're taking yesterday were chairs and, of course, if they could get into a government building everything was up for grabs. Nobody seems to be taking anything today. The Army has not had to make any efforts to put down looting. Recall, the Army is not all over the city. However, the Army is at major intersections like the one you see behind me.

Again, no evidence of looting today, nothing on the scale of what you saw yesterday. Again, looting, like fires, have a way of, has a way of burning itself out -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Is the Army acting as a police officer now? Is that what's happening?

RODGERS: No. The Army's not acting as a police officer. That's not their function here, not yet. Now, when the Army gets transition orders and they go to a SASO (ph) operation, which is security and stability, then perhaps they will have that function.

I should say I was asking Iraqis about how they felt seeing U.S. tanks on their street and they said a little nervous. And I said why? And these Iraqis said to me the reason being that even in Saddam's worst times, he didn't put tanks on the street. He kept his tanks outside the city.

So American soldiers and American armored vehicles do intimidate the Baghdad citizens. They admit it. They know the Americans are not going to hurt them, but they say at night, when the Iraqi renegades, remnants, start shooting at the Americans, the Americans start shooting back. Then they say they're afraid of everyone and they wish the tanks weren't here -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Walter, I have to ask you this, because it's so different seeing you not embedded with the 7th Cavalry, how did you manage to slip away and why did you?

RODGERS: It's the same old T-shirt, Carol. Why did we do it? Because Atlanta needed somebody in the heart of Baghdad and our generals in Atlanta gave us orders to disembed with the 7th Cavalry, which had been a fine unit with which to serve. And then they told us to move into Baghdad on our own.

We drove probably 10, 12 miles through the southern suburbs due north. We saw a lot of burned out Iraqi vehicles. There was much damage down there. You could see the 2nd Brigade of the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division had a fight on its hands.

We came up through checkpoints. There were times, let me show you, I would walk through a checkpoint, an Army checkpoint, and have to go like this to make sure the U.S. Army didn't shoot me. Again, the Army was very good about it, but they were very nervous about anyone approaching them as we were -- Carol.

COSTELLO: I can only imagine. And we're glad to see you safe. And, of course, you'll been providing many more live reports from the heart of Baghdad.

Walter Rodgers, many thanks to you.

Now let's head to Kuwait City and Daryn.

KAGAN: Carol, we want to go ahead and check in in the northern part of the country.

And that's where our Ben Wedeman is standing by with some new developments near the town of Kirkuk -- Ben, hello. BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, Daryn.

Well, it's clearly a rapidly collapsing front on the road to Kirkuk. We're to the northwest of it. We drove through a town, Aljunkubli (ph), which has just been taken over by the Kurdish forces supported by American special forces and I watched in awe as a group of young children trashed their school, really broke the windows, were ripping their books apart, throwing the desks out the window. They said anything related to Saddam Hussein they wanted to destroy.

Now, here on the road to Kirkuk, we've been watching some Kurdish fighters, otherwise known as peshmerga, heading toward that city. I can see a huge plume of smoke in the distance in the direction of that city. Of course, there are many oil wells around it. It's the major oil producing part of northern Iraq.

Now, we've been told that the Kurdish forces, with the Americans, have advanced almost to the outskirts of the city. They've essentially arrived at a large bridge on the edge of town, where it is expected they have run into some resistance and we've been told that the Americans might start calling in air strikes to the Iraqi positions on the other side of the bridge.

But just to sum up, basically the front here has collapsed, i.e., the Iraqis seem to be retreating in some disarray. In fact, in this town, alZankubri (ph), that we passed through, there were Iraqi soldiers who had surrendered but were, their arms had been taken away and they were largely walking aimlessly around the town. And I spoke to one who said that everybody has been just giving up. Morale had collapsed and they were happy to hear that the government of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad had collapsed and were hoping that maybe there might be peace at last -- Daryn.

KAGAN: So just quickly, Ben, so word is making it to the north of what is happening in Baghdad?

WEDEMAN: Yes, it seems to have spread to the troops on the Iraqi side. Obviously, on the Kurdish side they've been watching satellite news coverage of events minute by minute. So they knew about it long ago. But even among the Iraqis, who have much more limited sources of information, the word has spread and it appears that the entire system throughout the north is beginning to collapse.

KAGAN: Ben Wedeman reporting to us from the northern part of Iraq near Kirkuk -- Carol, we toss it back to you.

COSTELLO: All right, we do have some correspondents still embedded. One of them, Gary Tuchman, he's embedded with the Marines. He's somewhere near al-Kut -- Gary, bring us up to date from your perspective.

Do we have Gary?

I believe we have lost Gary, but we'll get him back as soon as we can.

We're going to take a short break.

Hopefully we'll go to al-Kut next. Stick around.

COMMERCIAL

COSTELLO: Those images from yesterday in Baghdad.

It's 5:14 Eastern time, by the way. Things seem to be fairly quiet in Baghdad right now, but we want to take you southeast of the capital city now to Gary Tuchman, who's embedded with the Marines -- Gary, we got you back. We're glad.

What's happening from your perspective?

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, we come to you from an air strip in central Iraq north of the town of al-Kut, about 45 miles southeast of Baghdad. And this is an air strip, along with many others throughout the country of Iraq, that have now been taken over by the coalition.

Behind me right now Marines who have arrived here in Iraq for the very first time. We just came off a transport sortie, one of 1,700 sorties that will take place over Iraq today. This was a sortie to take troops here to Iraq and also to take supplies.

And with us, some of the people who are here for the very first time.

This Marine's name is?

CPL. SHANNON NANDO: Corporal Shannon Nando.

TUCHMAN: Corporal, where are you from?

NANDO: Elton (ph), Illinois.

TUCHMAN: OK, now, Corporal, how do you feel about being here in Iraq for the first time?

NANDO: Good.

TUCHMAN: Any nerves at all about it?

NANDO: No.

TUCHMAN: Tell me why you have no nerves at all being here?

NANDO: I'm here with my group. I'm happy.

TUCHMAN: And that's an important thing.

Now, the Marines who are here, they are medics, they are cooks, they repair helicopters and airplanes. Tell me what you're doing here.

NANDO: I'm a combat cook.

TUCHMAN: A combat, what does that mean, a combat cook?

NANDO: You cook food in a combat area.

TUCHMAN: OK, thanks for talking with us.

I want to talk to your comrade here.

Your name?

TERRY ANTHONY: Terry Anthony (ph).

TUCHMAN: OK, and Terry, this is your first time in Iraq also?

ANTHONY: Yes, sir, it is.

TUCHMAN: How do you feel being here? You've just arrived. Literally, we landed off the plane 10 minutes ago. How do you feel being here in the center of this country?

ANTHONY: I'm quite pleased. I think this is something that should have been done 12 years ago. I'm happy that we're here and the country of Iraq is being liberated.

TUCHMAN: You're a medic. What's your main responsibility while you're here?

ANTHONY: Well, being that I have 36 people in my aid station, and that's what we call them, an aid station, I'm treating any casualty that would come in, being that now we're on the front lines. Any casualty that comes in we assess them, we get them stabilized and then we get them to a more higher echelon care of treatment.

TUCHMAN: Thank you, sir, for talking with us.

ANTHONY: You're welcome.

TUCHMAN: We're in the midst right now of one of the frequent sandstorms that we have here in this country. To tell you about the sortie we took, we boarded a C-130. When we flew over Iraqi territory, we went as low as 200 feet altitude. That's to avoid any Iraqi radar. But the plane is actually so low that the pilot and co- pilot frequently wave to people on the ground who are pointing up in the air to the airplane. That's how close they are, they wave. And the people on the ground wave back.

One thing that's important to point out, several planes have been hit by Iraqi artillery over the past few days, so they take evasive measures while they fly these planes. This plane literally tips way to the left, tips way to the right so they can visually make sure there's no Iraqi artillery on the ground -- Carol, back to you.

COSTELLO: Got you, Gary.

Those new Marines you were talking about, the ones who had just arrived, do they have any sense of how long they will be there, because it could be for a very long time, right?

TUCHMAN: Most of these Marines we've been talking with say they have been told to expect to be here for up to six months.

COSTELLO: Got you.

Gary Tuchman reporting live from somewhere near al-Kut.

Now let's go back to Daryn in Kuwait City.

KAGAN: Carol, we want to go ahead now and take the opportunity to recap the war.

We're going to start with the incredible events of yesterday morning just after nine o'clock Eastern.

Our Miles O'Brien brings us up to speed.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 9:04 a.m., CNN's Martin Savidge rides into Baghdad from the east with the 1st Battalion 7th Marines. They come under heavy fire near the campus of the University of Baghdad.

10:50 a.m., a U.S. Marine armored recovery vehicle pulls down the Saddam Hussein statue in Ferdo Square (ph). Iraqis celebrate by dancing and waving the country's pre-1991 flag.

1:58 p.m., at the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says Saddam Hussein has not been around or active. He says Saddam is either dead, incapacitated or healthy and in hiding. Rumsfeld also adds that the war is not over and that there is more fighting to be done.

2:45 p.m., CNN's Martin Savidge reporting the U.S. Marines did not suffer a single casualty in the fight at the University of Baghdad. Savidge also reports earlier today Marines went into the home of Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz. The Marines found the home deserted and the furniture covered with blankets. 4:22 p.m., CNN's Brent Sadler reports U.S. planes are conducting the heaviest bombing campaign to date against the Iraqi front lines in northern Iraq. Kurdish commanders say ground assaults will follow in an area whose terrain provides ample places for Iraqi troops to regroup or hide.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Miles, thank you very much for that.

Despite the dramatic events of yesterday, the White House insists this is still not over, not this war. There still are hot spots.

We're going to check in on those hot spots coming up.

Also, we'll check in in at the Pentagon, after this break.

COMMERCIAL

KAGAN: The government of President Saddam Hussein is nowhere to be found, but the Pentagon says the war is far from over.

For more on that, let's go to our Chris Plante who is at the Pentagon -- Chris, hello.

CHRIS PLANTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Daryn.

That's right, a lot of feel good stuff from yesterday afternoon, of course, for the people at the Pentagon, the celebrating in the streets, the tanks owning most of downtown. It looks an awful lot like the war is over, but they're quick to caution that it's not.

Still some substantial resistance taking place inside the city of Baghdad in certain areas and around the city of Baghdad. The Fedayeen Saddam, along with certain members of the special Republican Guard and even the regular Republican Guard still rallying up, getting together, meeting in schoolhouses and mosques and coming out on occasion to square off with U.S. forces there in what are described as fairly lopsided battles.

But nonetheless, the shooting at U.S. forces still persists inside the city and throughout the country of Iraq. In northern Iraq in particular, there are substantial forces remaining there to deal with. The Adnan (ph) division, which is a Republican Guard division up around the city of Tikrit, which is Saddam Hussein's hometown, they call it his ancestral home, that's still a significant force that will have to be dealt with at some point in one fashion or another, unless they fold up their tents early and head home.

But there's no expectation that they're going to do that at this point, so air power continues to pick away at the Adnan division around Tikrit. Also, around Mosul, in other areas of northern Iraq, the United States special operations forces are working with air forces to call in strikes against a lot of these locations and there are still engagements going on even in the south, where forces have been for some time now. But sporadic fighting continues. While the capital has fallen, while the regime and the senior leadership of the regime are nowhere to be found, still plenty of fighting to do. And they're not calling it mop up at this point. They are concerned that this is still all out war that is ongoing in the country. The Fedayeen Saddam all by itself a force of 25,000 to 30,000 and it's not clear at all how many of those people have been killed or have simply gone back to their homes. But they know that there are significant numbers of people out there who are still looking to inflict harm on U.S. forces.

And they've also got to be concerned about suicide bombers. The call to Jihad by Saddam Hussein and some of the members of his regime and people from outside of Iraq also calling for military action against forces there.

There is also, as Donald Rumsfeld, the secretary of defense here at the Pentagon briefing said yesterday, a number of things that they feel that they need to get to before they can declare victory, including finding out, making some sort of final determination as to the whereabouts of Saddam Hussein, his sons and other members of the senior leadership. They need to find out what happened to the American POWs and Donald Rumsfeld, interestingly, said not just from this war, but also from the last war, perhaps referring to Navy pilot Michael Scott Speicher (ph), who has been missing since that conflict.

They feel that they need to find weapons of mass destruction and the people in charge of those programs so that they can expose those programs to the world. They need to close off access in and out of the country for weapons of mass destruction and for senior leadership of the regime.

So still a long way to go. You know, a lot of progress yesterday. One of the major dominoes certainly fell with the city of Baghdad. But plenty still going on -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Yes, Chris, I can you tell from here in Kuwait, in continue to cover the arrival of troops here even at this late date. I was out at the port just a couple of days ago. The 4th I.D., the 4th Infantry Division from Fort Hood, Texas, the U.S. Army, just arriving. These were the folks that were supposed to get to go in through Turkey, but did not make it and had to come in through Kuwait.

Chris Plante at the Pentagon, thank you very much for that.

And with that, we'll toss it back to Carol in Atlanta.

COSTELLO: All right, thanks, Daryn.

You heard Chris mention that the fighting was still going on in northern Iraq. It certainly is, near the cities of Kirkuk and Mosul.

Brent Sadler is in northern Iraq. He is near the Iran-Iraq border and he has new information for us -- good morning.

BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thank you, Carol. You join me here just as one of the peshmergas who liberated this town in the past 10 hours or so walks up to that bullet riddled picture of Saddam Hussein, riddled by machine gun fire, and just kicking it. Let me just step out of the way and you can see this. This is just an impromptu act of revenge, I guess, by this man, who is holding a rocket propelled grenade in the left hand. He's doing this to the cheers of everybody around here.

I'm talking to you from Khanaqin (ph), which is all (AUDIO GAP) 10, 12 hours, part of a huge wave of territory in the north of Iraq that has fallen to Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga fighters.

This is a city, a town of about 100,000 people. They tell me they were put under curfew at about 5:00 p.m. in the afternoon yesterday, as there was fighting between the Kurds and the defenders of this town. And they really, they stayed in their homes while the troops here were evacuating. And you can see now people are just coming to this statue, this (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and just hammering it.

I can tell you, Carol, that as they came in here, they were followed by U.S. special forces. They also came in and are in parts of the town. This is a largely Kurdish town. But there were tremendous scenes of jubilation here. I have to tell you, Carol, it gave me goose bumps when one of the people of this town came up to me and said, "Are you American or British?" I said, "Yes." And they kissed me and said, "Thank you, thank you, thank you for setting us free."

It was quite an emotional moment, as I said, goose pimples, to see these kind of scenes in this town.

Now, 200 (UNINTELLIGIBLE) villages, including this population center, have been liberated by the peshmerga fighters and we're hearing reports of this right across the northern front, that key city of Kirkuk now reportedly fallen or falling into the hands of the Iraqi Kurds.

That gunfire you heard in the background, just gunshots, really, to celebrate this historic day, this (UNINTELLIGIBLE) in the collapse, it seems, of Saddam Hussein's former army in the north of Iraq.

I've also seen ambulances here going around the city, trying to persuade people not to open fire with those machine guns in case of any accidental deaths or injuries. But I have to tell you, these scenes here are being repeated now right across liberated areas in the north of Iraq. It's something to see -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Oh, you're not kidding, Brent.

Let's get into Kirkuk just a little bit and repeat what you just said, because if Kirkuk is falling, this is important because, of course, there are major oil fields there.

SADLER: That's right, Carol. Kirkuk is the oil capital of northern Iraq. There's been a lot of concerns over the three weeks or so of war about what might happen to those oil fields. They seem to be intact. Really, what's happened here, Carol, is the speed with which the gravitational effect of the deception of the regime in Baghdad 24 hours ago has rippled right up here to the north, as was the hope and the expectation of allied coalition commanders.

There has been extremely heavy U.S. bombing overnight in key positions around Mosul, around Kirkuk and this area, Khanaqin, close to the Iranian border, and sitting on a main route to Baghdad, which is about 80 miles to my south, to the south of my position here.

So this gravitational effect, if you like, has rippled across the country and now you're seeing the effects of that. And, you know, the gunfire you hear are people really firing their machine guns into the pictures of Saddam Hussein. And really when I first came here a couple of hours ago, we weren't sure just how liberated it was. And I don't think many of the people did, until they saw U.S. special forces drive in here and then the place went wild. Machine guns firing in the air, people coming out in stunned disbelief, really, about this change to their lives in just a few hours.

Iraq's army here having pulled out in the early hours of the morning, gone, possibly towards Tikrit, which is on the western side several hour's drive from here. We're not sure where they disappeared to, but certainly here people are telling me the yoke of tyranny, the terrorist activities, they say, of Saddam Hussein, suppressing this area, mostly Iraqi Kurds in this area, and delighted to see, obviously, the scenes of peshmerga fighters, which, I should add, include units of women peshmerga fighters driving around in these pickup trucks as they go around the city -- back to you, Carol.

Difficult to hear you. Actually, if you would just swing around the camera here, I'll just show you what's going on behind me. This is like a mini auditorium, if you like. And what you're hearing now are people saying "Long Live Bush!" These people have been used to saying we will die for the body and soul of Saddam Hussein. These chants have now changed to "Long Live Bush!"

Just take a look at this. OK, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) move here around this central square in Khanaqin. Things unfolding right in front of me as I look around. More and more peshmerga fighters coming in here and no reports or signs that I can see of any looting nor, of course, any semblance of the beginnings of control or law and order here...

COSTELLO: And we have lost Brent Sadler's transmission.

But what incredible pictures he's showing us.

You heard the crowds chanting "Long Live Bush!" This is in a town called Khanaqin, which is by the Iraq-Iran border. It's now in Kurdish control, stripped away from Iraqi control. And you also heard Brent mention that he believes that Kirkuk, that oil rich city, is falling or has fallen. We'll get an update from Jane Arraf when we get her up on the line.

We want to bring you up to speed now with the latest developments at this hour.

It's 5:32 Eastern Time.

Removing Saddam Hussein from power may prove easier than removing his many images in Baghdad. This statue of the former Iraqi leader was still erect despite high explosives. You see they tried, but they couldn't bring it down. CNN's Martin Savidge is on the scene. He says even a tank couldn't budge that thing. He says a large crowd of Iraqis, though, refuse to leave the area until the Marines destroy that statue.

They're still working on it.

And one day after the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime, the White House cautions it's not over yet. That is evident on the ground. CNN's Walter Rodgers says sporadic shooting can still be heard today in the capital. U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld warns that more battles are yet to be fought, many objectives yet to be met and that more casualties are a certainty.

Widespread looting was observed in the capital, especially of government offices. People took pretty much whatever they could carry. The loss of civil order is particularly worrisome to aid workers, who says the chaotic situation is hindering their relief efforts.

And in northern Iraq, celebrations went on well into the night in the Kurdish controlled city of Irbil. This region has been autonomous since the first Gulf War, but there still may be major battles ahead for other northern cities still under the control of Saddam loyalists, although you heard Brent Sadler just say he believes that Kirkuk is falling or fallen.

(OTHER NEWS HEADLINES)

COSTELLO: Coming up on the war front, reaction from the Middle East on yesterday's destruction of the Saddam statue and the symbolism of that American flag draped over the statue's face. And many Iraqis are applauding the moves by coalition forces, but the war is not over yet. We'll look at what's next on the military radar screen. Plus, an update on the big question mark -- where is Saddam? Find out what U.S. officials are saying now about his fate.

CNN's coverage of the war in Iraq continues right now.

And good morning to you.

It's Thursday, April 10th, day 22 of the war.

From CNN's global headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello.

KAGAN: Good morning and good afternoon from Kuwait City, Carol.

I'm Daryn Kagan.

We want to show you a live picture of the newly liberated city of Baghdad the morning after the celebrations.

We're about an hour and a half away from the next military briefing. It'll come out of Doha, Qatar.

Our Tom Mintier is standing by to tell us perhaps what we can expect and what is next for the U.S. military and coalition forces -- Tom, hello.

TOM MINTIER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, the word here seems to be confirmation of what they were saying yesterday. There may be celebration on the streets of Baghdad, but the war is not over. Reports here at CENTCOM from military officials that there are still elements that are fighting, fighting from mosques and other buildings, engaging coalition troops. So that apparently is still going on.

Also word here from the hallways of CENTCOM, from reliable sources, that a leafleting campaign may soon be under way in the next 72 hours to drop leaflets in the areas that are still being contested, saying that the regime is over, Baghdad has been liberated, go ahead and overthrow the remnants of Saddam's regime.

Now that the military part may be over, the more difficult may be the political resolution in Iraq. There are movements to establish both law and order, the civil affairs that are going on inside Iraq and there is a permanent solution that is being pushed forward. I had one source tell me yesterday that the war on the battlefield in Baghdad may not be as big as the war in the beltway in Washington, between the military planners at the Pentagon and the diplomats at the State Department.

We had a good indication of that today. Someone from the State Department, Dr. Mohamed Al-Jabiri. He is part of the Future of Iraq Project and showed up rather unexpectedly here in Doha for meetings with the Qatari government and with General Franks. He said he expects to meet with General Franks.

Now, Mr. Al-Jabiri is maybe not well known, a not well known name around the world, but his brother and his son were both executed by Saddam Hussein, he says, and he says that there seems to be problems between the State Department and the Pentagon on providing a political solution. They say, he says, told me this morning in an interview that there seems to be a rush to get a solution into place.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOHAMED AL-JABIRI, FUTURE OF IRAQ PROJECT: I think the Pentagon has an interest as the State Department. So I think they must coordinate and cooperate with all the Iraqis and give the operations to all Iraqis. And I don't think there's any interest for the United States, such a great, major power who played such a great role in this liberating the Iraqis, to come forward and say we are the Pentagon who took the arms to challenge Saddam and sent to uproot him and we will decide who is coming to rule Iraq. I think this is very discouraging.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MINTIER: Very discouraging, indeed, according to Mohamed Al- Jabiri. I asked him a question that may be on a lot of people's minds. This is a man who had his son assassinated and his brother assassinated. He was put into solitary confinement by Saddam Hussein for two years, under house arrest for more than a decade. This man was a diplomat previously, a senior Baath Party official, and his anger and resentment towards Saddam Hussein runs very deep.

I asked him, if you were sitting in a room, Saddam Hussein sitting across the table from you and a pistol in the middle, would you pick it up and use it? And he definitely said yes -- Carol, Daryn?

KAGAN: Actually it's -- that's OK, Tom.

We'll look forward to the briefing, as we said, about, just under an hour and a half from right now and for your seat in the front row there and your probing questions to the U.S. military and coalition forces.

Tom Mintier, Doha, Qatar, at U.S. Central Command headquarters -- Carol, now back to you.

COSTELLO: Interesting stories from Tom Mintier this morning.

As you heard Tom also say, the U.S. is not ready to declare victory in Iraq. There is still a lot to do. One pressing question is Saddam Hussein alive or dead? And there are other concerns, as CNN's David Ensor explains.

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