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CNN Live At Daybreak
Iraqi Soldiers Walking Home from Northern Iraq
Aired April 11, 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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you.
The long walk home for former Iraqi soldiers tops war developments at this hour. Thousands of them in civilian clothes are walking south along a main highway in northern Iraq after surrendering to Kurdish forces or abandoning their posts. One soldier tells CNN's Brent Sadler it could take him a week to get to his home in southern Iraq.
Reuters is reporting two children were killed by U.S. Marines when the vehicle they were in refused repeated warnings to stop. The incident occurred at a checkpoint in Nasiriya. Nine other people in the van were wounded. A Marine officer says it was "a regrettable mistake" but the Marines believed they were under attack by a suicide bomber.
U.S. Central Command says new casualties in Baghdad show the city is still "an ugly place." One Marine was killed, 22 others injured in an hour long firefight with Iraqi forces firing from inside an eighth century mosque. The Marines were looking for senior Iraqi leaders. In another incident in Baghdad, three U.S. Marines and one sailor were seriously injured in a suicide attack at a checkpoint. Investigators believe the attacker used a hand grenade in that attack.
Islamic cleric who supported the coalition was stabbed to death yesterday in a mob attack in Najaf. It happened at one of the Shiite Islam's holiest shrines. The imam had just returned to Iraq last week from exile in London.
Also of note, the weather. Seventy-five degrees in Baghdad. That's the low. It could reach 100 degrees in Baghdad on Saturday with blowing dust.
And coming up in this hour, CNN journalists targeted. Hear directly from the would be assassins directed by Saddam Hussein's regime. Plus, New Yorkers pay tribute. We'll take you to ground zero, where thousands gathered to honor American troops in the war on Iraq. And the long walk home, CNN's exclusive look at the thousands of former Iraqi soldiers giving up without a fight in northern Iraq.
And good morning to you.
It's Friday, April 11, day 23 of the war.
I'm Carol Costello at CNN's global headquarters in Atlanta.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Carol. From Kuwait City, I'm Daryn Kagan.
We want to show you a live picture of Baghdad. That is where lawlessness rules across the ancient capital.
Now, let's take a look at the latest on the situation in Iraq. Although coalition forces may be in control of Baghdad, U.S. Marines are still battling sporadic resistance as they work to disarm the Iraqi capital. Our Martin Savidge reports lawlessness pervades throughout Baghdad.
In northern Iraq, the leader of the Iraqi Army's 5th Corps has effectively surrendered the city of Mosul to U.S. special forces. And Kurdish fighters backed by U.S. special forces have seized control of Kirkuk. Iraqi soldiers surrendered their weapons and uniforms to Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq. They are now walking toward Baghdad.
Here are some of the latest images of the war in Iraq. A medevac team airlifts Marines wounded in the battle for Baghdad to a field hospital outside the capital. The Marines are being treated by the so-called Devil Docs. For a third straight day, looting is rampant in Baghdad. Now Marines are starting to crack down by imposing a dusk to dawn curfew in parts of the capital. And Iraqis who fled their homeland to Iran celebrate the fall of Saddam Hussein, while hundreds of Iraqis stormed their embassy in the Iranian capital of Tehran. They denounced the Iraqi leader and the possibility that the U.S. would run the government that replaces him.
Along the front in northern Iraq, where we're told to expect a formal ceremony for surrendering Mosul -- that is Iraq's third largest city.
Our Jane Arraf is standing by with more from there -- Jane.
JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, we're just in the square in front of an extraordinary scene. Now, I'm just going to tell you a little bit about it. Right across the street you can see this mass of people going in and out of the building. Just a moment ago, they were going in in a way that indicated some of them were going to be trampled to death. What they're doing is trying to loot a bank. And it's an indication of what has been going on here in Mosul all morning.
Now, we've heard those reports that you have, that U.S. forces along with the Kurdish peshmerga are in control of the city. But from what we're seeing and hearing, from those gunshots, there is no one in control. We've been throughout the city and at every government building, anything vaguely related to the government, there has been looting and burning going on.
Daryn, that was obviously automatic gunfire just across the street. People don't seem to be running from it, so it does appear to have been up in the air.
Now, this is one of the main squares. It's called Republic Square and just across the street is the governor's office. We were in there a while ago. Children were still carrying out chairs. People were ripping light fixtures from the sockets and they were smashing and looting anything they could find.
But the really significant thing, Daryn, is they have put up a new flag. Now, it may look like the old flag, but it's missing a key element. It's the symbol that Saddam Hussein inserted in the Iraqi flag after the Gulf War -- "Allah Akbar," god is greater. This is the old Iraqi flag and it's a symbol here that people are looking forward to a new regime, whatever that may be, when order is restored here -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Well, Jane, before I ask you ask you any questions, I just want to make sure, are you personally safe to keep standing where you are and continue to report?
ARRAF: Thanks, Daryn.
We're OK here. The gunfire so far has been going up in the air. It's the way they celebrate, although they do it with automatic weapons. As soon as we see some indication that it's not firing in the air, then we'll probably leave very quickly.
KAGAN: OK. All right. Well, don't stand on ceremony if you do have to move. But as long as I have the opportunity, let me ask you, we certainly have seen other towns, other cities, especially in the north, fall. But I think this is the first time I've heard about a formal ceremony with a letter and a negotiated surrender. What can you tell me that's special about Mosul that it's taking place there?
ARRAF: Daryn, I have to say that in, with all the people we've spoken to, everything we've seen here, no one has any word of this. We know it happened, but since there are no Americans soldiers in the streets, no Kurdish soldiers in the streets, it's almost as if the Iraqi army just melted away.
Now, the surrender obviously was significant because it does send a message to whatever other Iraqi units might be there in other places, particularly in the town of Tikrit. In terms of the practical effect it's had here, it has none, because nobody knows about it. The only thing they know here on the ground is that their city is being looted. The hospitals are being looted. We just came from one of the government buildings where I saw a man come out of the door with a rifle under one arm and a painting under the other.
They are literally running away with everything they can take and people here are asking what is going on? Where are the American soldiers?
Daryn.
KAGAN: It sounds like it is a very fluid situation in Mosul.
Jane Arraf, thank you so much and please, you and our CNN crew, safety first.
Appreciate that -- Carol, we'll toss it back to you in Atlanta.
COSTELLO: All right, we're going to stay in northern Iraq right now. If you're wondering where the Iraqi troops are, well, as you saw, it's daylight in Iraq and thousands of Iraqi soldiers in the north are actually on the move, but they have no weapons, no uniforms and no will to fight.
CNN's Brent Sadler has been watching this extraordinary scene unfold and he filed this report just a short time ago.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): American special forces speed into newly liberated towns of northern Iraq, catching sight along the way of Iraqi friends, not foes, on a road to freedom. This is the Kurdish town of Khanaqin, some 80 miles north of Baghdad, overrun by Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga fighters under the command of a new face in town, Jalal Talabani, one of the top Kurdish leaders.
Khanaqin was the first of the big northern towns to fall, thanks, they say here, to President George W. Bush. Remnants of the doomed regime fled the previous night. No one knows where they escaped to and for now, at least, they don't seem to care.
(on camera): Scenes of jubilation are being repeated in towns and villages throughout northern Iraq. Once the capital, Baghdad, fell, the gravitational pull was simply too great. Saddam Hussein's power in the north crushed. His countless images machine gunned into oblivion.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're are liberated today by the power of the American soldier and the peshmerga, the self-sacrificers to liberate Khanaqin.
SADLER (voice-over): It's a day to remember and record, with a parade of the conventional and the unconventional, on an historic day. For decades they lived under the brutal whims of a tyrant. It'll take time to adjust.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now I am seem, I am dreaming.
SADLER: But dreams could turn to nightmares if law and order is not reestablished soon. A wooden coffin holds the body of an Iraqi Arab killed, it's claimed here, in a revenge attack by Iraqi Kurds. Old rivalries die hard in a country that's reeling from the tremors of change and the uncertainty that brings, even on this much celebrated day.
Brent Sadler, CNN, Khanaqin, northern Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: OK, let's move south now to Baghdad, where security is a huge concern in the sprawling city.
CNN's Martin Savidge is live from the Iraqi capital -- what do things look like from your vantage point today, Martin?
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Carol.
It is relatively quiet and calm here in Baghdad today. Of course, this is a holy day of prayer, as it is throughout the Muslim world. It is also a holy day of prayer down in Basra, where many people have been going to the mosque to take part in prayers there.
And also here in Baghdad -- of course, keep in mind here in Baghdad this is the first holy day, Friday prayers, since the major body of U.S. military forces and coalition troops came into Baghdad itself.
Even as you hear the call to prayer rising, you also see smoke still rising in the capital itself and occasionally still the crackle of gunfire ringing out and echoing amongst the tall buildings here. Unclear who's shooting, whether it is coalition forces or whether coalition forces are being fired upon.
So you still realize this is not a normal day and the situation in Baghdad not normal at all. Security, primary issue. But there is a new way of trying to approach it. Obviously you have the continuing presence and a growing presence of coalition forces here, and the Marines constantly on patrol now, reinforcing, expanding and securing their areas that are now under their cover.
But also, too, it's the realization now by military commanders here that life has to get back to normal. Now, the best way to do that is you have to start getting the infrastructure back to normal. And what I mean by that is the lights have to come on at night. You have to the have the water circulating now so people can drink and bathe. And you also need sanitation. You also need the police force to come out. And all of these things need to happen because what you do is you weave then the fabric that is the underlying part of society. And they hope by doing that you return the sense of security, you return the sense of normalcy, you end the days of lawlessness and you end the days of looting.
So, to that end, military officials here are putting out a plea, essentially, to the community at large, to the city of Baghdad, saying that if you're with the police department, come back to your job, come back to the police office buildings. If you work for any of the city's services, come back, you are needed now, needed now perhaps more than ever.
The hard part, how do you deliver a message in a population that have electricity or television or radio? They're still trying to figure that one out right now -- clear.
COSTELLO: Yes, exactly.
I also understand that the Marines are going to institute a dusk to dawn curfew. Might that help, as well?
SAVIDGE: Well, it will help. I mean in some respects there has already been that. Many people do not venture out on the streets after it gets dark from the simple aspect that that is when trouble seems to begin. The gunfire tends to increase, explosions increase more, and then you have military vehicles that are moving around in the darkness so it makes it highly dangerous to drive, get behind the wheel or even walk on the streets because it's difficult for them to see you and you to see them.
So whether there really has to be a curfew, it would become pretty much official militarily. But there is already a non-official one in effect because of the situation at hand -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Understand. And while things seem calm around where you are, Baghdad is quite a large city. Are you hearing of any massive firefights in other parts of Baghdad?
SAVIDGE: No, we have not. We haven't had reports from the Marines, at least who control the eastern side of the sector, which is where we are right now, of major confronts. But the thing about these things is that they can spark in a heartbeat. That a patrol that had gone down a street before, perhaps 10, 12 times in their regular routine, can turn down that street again and something happens.
So it is very difficult to predict where the problem areas are. They shift all the time. And they can literally ignite in a moment. So just because it seems quiet now, just because there has been no major instances that we know of in this area doesn't mean that check back in five minutes and it will be the same situation -- Carol.
COSTELLO: I understand.
Martin Savidge reporting live from Baghdad.
Many thanks to you.
Let's head back to Kuwait City and Daryn.
KAGAN: Well, Carol, it has been an active day in the northern city of Kirkuk. A day after the city fell to U.S.-backed Kurdish forces, the Kurds are beginning to withdraw and the U.S. is beginning to secure those oil fields.
More now from our Ben Wedeman.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The people of Kirkuk greet a new era by bidding a pointed farewell to the old. "God preserve Iraq and Saddam," the sign says. Decades of repressed anger and hatred suddenly unleashed. Also unleashed, an almost uncontrollable urge, shared by all ages, to sack, loot and destroy everything associated with the dying regime. Like this soft drink factory, the property, we were told, of Uday Saddam Hussein, the hated son of Saddam. The theme of this day, smash and steal.
There was no class at this school outside Kirkuk. In fact, there weren't really any classrooms, either. Students ransacked it with utter contempt for the man whose face adorned every school book in Iraq. "Anything with Saddam we destroy," they tell me. At a government store, a fire sale of sorts, all you can haul away and then some for free. A modest form of revenge for a lifetime of fear and oppression.
Throughout the day, hundreds of triumphant Kurdish fighters poured into the city. Backed by a small number of American troops, the Kurds drove Iraqi forces out of Kirkuk without much of a fight. There appeared to be no secret to their victory.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We just hammered them with bombs day and night. So it's pretty much had a pretty good, a pretty positive effect, or I guess a negative effect on the Iraqis, so.
WEDEMAN: In the town's main square, Saddam's likeness no longer the object of adulation and respect, but rather of whatever you could throw at it. Holes punched in a figure the day before treated as semi-divine. Here, no need for American help to tear down Saddam. Iraqi petrol torched this portrait of the president. Amidst the destruction and chaos, a less violent celebration, a tune of liberation and release, a dance of deliverance.
(on camera): For years, the people of Kirkuk had to sing and dance for Saddam Hussein. Now, they can finally sing and dance in freedom.
Ben Wedeman, CNN, Kirkuk, northern Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: And coming your way next, we'll recount the day's events leading to the fall of northern Iraq.
But first, let's look at these images of war.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: We want to show you live pictures we're getting in right now. These are coming from Mosul. That is Iraq's third largest city. We just had a live report from Jane Arraf describing how fluid the situation is in that town. Iraqi soldiers are scheduled to sign a letter to surrender and yet she says the situation is very up in the air and you can see from the pictures that there is some fire, some smoke from a building, also a lot of looting taking place in that city as well as a number of cities all across Iraq.
We go from there to a brief recap of the past 20 hours or so, this in the ongoing collapse of Saddam Hussein's army.
And Miles O'Brien handles that for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 8:46 a.m., a crowd in Kirkuk knocks down a statue of Saddam Hussein.
9:22 a.m., CNN's Kevin Sites reports from Kirkuk he's seen many men who appear to be Iraqi soldiers, most of them out of uniform, making their way out of Tikrit towards their homes in northern Iraq.
10:00 a.m. Eastern, 6:00 p.m. in Baghdad, in a videotape broadcast in Baghdad, President George Bush tells Iraqis, "At this moment, the regime of Saddam Hussein is being removed from power."
10:30 a.m., a prominent Iraqi Shiite Muslim leader is assassinated in an attack that began inside a mosque in Najaf.
11:55 a.m., CNN's Walter Rodgers reports four U.S. Marines are injured seriously when a suicide bomber strapped with explosives strikes near the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad.
1:55 p.m., U.S. military officials tell CNN a contingent of Iraqi troops and two top commanders have agreed to surrender to U.S. and Kurdish authorities outside Mosul.
2:00 p.m., Pentagon officials say with the Iraqi regime gone, they hope to soon get accurate information on U.S. POWs captured early in the war. Major General Stanley McChrystal also says coalition troops still face organized resistance around Tikrit, the ancestral home of Saddam Hussein.
6:18 p.m., Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says U.S. troops and Kurdish fighters have begun moving into the northern Iraq city of Mosul in an orderly process. He also warns the combat phase of the campaign is not over and many dangers remain in parts of Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAGAN: Well, just when you think you might have heard it all, get this. Saddam Hussein's regime have actually accused CNN of being a cover for the CIA.
When we come back, we're going to show you the Iraqi intelligence agents with an explosive plot against our own CNN journalists. That story is just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Those are frightening pictures out of Baghdad from last night. But we want to talk about what's happening in northern Iraq right now. The city of Mosul ready to fall completely into coalition hands. The oil rich city of Kirkuk already in coalition control. And now new word from the Pentagon.
Let's go there now and check in with Chris Plante -- good morning Chris.
CHRIS PLANTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol.
Yes, big news out of northern Iraq this morning. I just got off the phone with some officials who informed me that they have accepted the surrender of the general in charge of Mosul. Mosul is the third largest city in Iraq. It is the largest city in northern Iraq. This general in charge of the Iraqi 5th Corps. The 5th Corps is a very large military organization. A corps is typically made up of a number of divisions, as is this one. I think that the original strength of the 5th Corps was probably between 20,000 and 30,000 Iraqi troops there to defend the city.
They have been taking a pounding from the air for some time now and as we understand it, large numbers of members of the 5th Corps have essentially taken off their uniforms, dropped their weapons and gone home. But at this point, the third largest city in the country has now capitulated -- and this was the word that was used -- and that they have surrendered. They're expecting perhaps a more official surrender ceremony to take place in the city of Mosul later on in the day. But as far as the U.S. military and the coalition are concerned right now, 5th Corps and the defenders of Mosul are out of the fight.
Also earlier today, as we know, Kirkuk was taken by a small number of American special forces troops along with Kurdish fighters who are indigenous to the area up there. This is sort of good on one hand, because it's important to take these cities, the latest strongholds in northern Iraq, the last two major strongholds in northern Iraq. And there it has caused a bit of tension at the same time with the government of Turkey because the Turks don't want to see their Kurdish population there take control of too much of the economic power of northern Iraq, which includes the oil fields.
The oil fields also a high priority for U.S. troops there, probably now in the process of securing those. But as I understand that is ongoing. This is important because of the future economic viability of the country. U.S. and coalition forces want to make sure that the oil industry is up and running so that they can get the economy fired up and going quickly.
But we've seen surrenders taking place at Mosul now. The last fight that remains is the city of Tikrit, which is north of Baghdad, south of Mosul. It is Saddam Hussein's hometown and a Baath Party headquarters, stronghold there, considered to be the last major metropolitan area that has to fall -- Carol.
COSTELLO: OK, Chris Plante reporting live from the Pentagon.
Many thanks to you.
There is so much more ahead.
When we come back, thousands of Iraqi soldiers in the north put down their arms, shed their military clothes and walk south, sometimes in their bare feet. Let's take a look at these images of war.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: I'm Daryn Kagan live in Kuwait City.
Let's take a look at the latest headlines right now.
The long walk home for former Iraqi soldiers tops war developments at this hour. Thousands of them in civilian clothes are walking south along a main highway in northern Iraq after surrendering to Kurdish forces or abandoning their posts altogether. One soldier tells CNN's Brent Sadler it could take him a week to get to his home in southern Iraq.
Reuters reports that two children were killed by U.S. Marines today when the vehicle they were in was refused repeated warnings to stop. The incident happened at a checkpoint in Nasiriya. Nine of the people in the van were wounded. A Marine officer says it was "a regrettable mistake" but the Marines believed they were under attack by a suicide bomber.
U.S. Central Command says the new casualties from Baghdad show the city is still what they call "an ugly place." One Marine was killed and 22 others were injured in an hour long firefight with Iraqi forces firing from inside an eighth century mosque. The Marines were looking for senior Iraqi leaders.
In another incident in Baghdad, three U.S. Marines and one sailor were seriously injured in a suicide attack at a checkpoint yesterday. Investigators believe the attacker used a hand grenade in that attack.
Islamic cleric Abdul Majid al-Khoei, who supported the coalition, was stabbed to death yesterday in a mob attack in Najaf. It happened at one of Islam's holiest Shiite shrines. Al-Khoei had just returned to Iraq last week from exile in London.
Coming up this hour, CNN journalists targeted. Hear directly from the would be assassins directed by Saddam Hussein's regime.
Plus, New Yorkers pay tribute. We'll take you to ground zero. That is where top story gathered to honor American troops in the war on Iraq. And the long walk home, CNN's exclusive look at the thousands of former Iraqi soldiers giving up without a fight in northern Iraq.
Good morning.
I'm Daryn Kagan live in Kuwait City.
COSTELLO: Good morning to you, Daryn.
I'm Carol Costello at CNN's global headquarters in Atlanta.
It's 5:30 a.m. on the East Coast of the United States, 1:30 in the afternoon in Baghdad, where U.S. troops are facing pockets of resistance. In northern Iraq, though, Kurdish fighters backed by the U.S. special forces did seize control of Kirkuk and Kurdish troops and the Army's 173rd Airborne entered Mosul, Iraq's largest northern city. The leader of the Iraq's Army 5th Corps has surrendered the city of Mosul to U.S. special forces. In Baghdad, U.S. Marines say people are taking pot shots at them as they work to disarm that city. Iraqi soldiers surrender their weapons and their uniforms to Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq and are now walking south.
And here are some images of the war in Iraq right now. U.S. Marines injured in the fight for Baghdad were taken by helicopter to a Devil Docs field hospital near the city. The wounded troops were treated and then medevaced to Kuwait City on a C-130 cargo plane. Here you see two vases being hauled away in Baghdad. Looters are rampaging across the Iraqi capital and other cities under coalition control. They're making off with anything they can get their hands on.
And nightmare is a particularly dangerous time in Baghdad. U.S. troops were on alert at traffic checkpoints around the city. One of the main threats to U.S. forces comes from suicide attackers at those checkpoints.
Coalition military commanders say the head of the army -- the Iraqi Army's 5th Corps in Mosul have signed an informal letter of surrender.
CNN's Brent Sadler has more on the mass surrenders now taking place in northern Iraq.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Unarmed soldiers from Saddam Hussein's defeated army on the move in northern Iraq. They are mostly Muslim Shiite troops heading home, walking to southern Iraq, a journey of around 100 miles, perhaps seven days by foot. Feet that are cracked and blistered, boots missing and there's a long way to go.
But these men don't complain about the hardships of a grueling journey. Rather, they seem thankful to be still alive after years of military service with infantry units filled with unwilling conscripts. Life under Saddam Hussein's iron fist rule, they told me, was a life of hell.
(on camera): Go ahead and translate at the same time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Really, for two months, for two months we haven't eaten anything because of our situations and the clothes we got, these are our clothes. We have brought them with us when you attended that regiment, our regiment in the mountains, and really we were in bad situations. So we decided to escape and surrender.
SADLER (voice-over): And, they explained, they had been forced to fight at gunpoint.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Many punishments. One of them is to cut all, to cut the hair, to cut the hair completely and to cut the eyebrows, also, and if you will not defend, if you will not fight for Saddam Hussein, your punishment will be execution.
SADLER: They claimed their commanders abandoned them days ago. But not before seizing their identification papers, so they couldn't travel. Forced to hold their front line positions. Cannon fodder for an officer corps that ran away. This was an uncontrolled and unsupervised exodus from areas recently liberated by Iraqi Kurds. Their weapons and much of their military clothing was left with the Kurds. And they seem to pose no obvious security threat here. No American military presence on this road and little Kurdish interest in their former enemy, drifting south on a long walk to freedom.
Brent Sadler, CNN, near Kifri, northern Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAGAN: It's just after 1:30 in Baghdad.
Let's check in right now with our Martin Savidge to find out what is happening in the Iraqi capital right now -- Marty, hello.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Daryn.
Quiet in the capital, at least so far. This is the Muslim holy day of prayer, Friday, so the mosque behind us was busy with prayers. There is still smoke rising that you can see some places in the skyline of Baghdad and there is still the crackle of gunfire that goes off. In fact, there's been some of it, actually, quite a bit of it around here occasionally from time to time.
The interesting thing is to observe the Marines now guarding the checkpoints. Had this been one month ago and you heard the crackle of gunfire, they would be diving to take security positions. Now they don't even look up. They pay it no mind. It happens at night, as well. Only when it gets really close do they prepare their weapons and sometimes fire back.
Here's the situation with the city today. The looting is still continuing, although not the fervor that we saw, say, in the past two days. The military also realizes that they have spread their security net inside of this city. They have branched out about as far as they can go. They continue to patrol on a regular basis.
It is trying to get society back to normal that is the next goal here. They need to turn on the lights. They need to get the water flowing into homes. They need to get the stores open. They need to get the city services going. That is crucial because that will help to establish the sense that life will be normal, even with the heavy presence of military forces here. And it will help to ease some of the disquiet and the nervousness amongst the population once they get there lives back into normal.
So the military is now actually putting out a plea, saying that if there are police officers that want to and are willing to, report back to their precincts, go back to your stations. If there are public servants, go back to your jobs. And if there are those that work in any of the city services, they are needed as much now, if more so, perhaps, than ever before.
Trying to get that message out, though, in a city that has no electricity, obviously people don't listen on radio unless they've got batteries, and they may run dry. There's no television. That's the difficult challenge. They may end up having to go through street by street with the loudspeakers they have on some of their jeeps, making this sort of plea to try to get the city back on its feet -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Marty, one of the problems with people going back to their jobs, as I understand it, is the problem and the question of currency. All the currency, the Iraqi dinar right now, has a picture of Saddam Hussein. So I wonder if it's worth it, if it's worth anything, its value, and what could people use to pay each other?
SAVIDGE: Well, they still use the currency because it is the only currency that is out there. Obviously, I think the only one that might replace it is the American dollar, and there isn't enough of that flowing around. So for lack of any other currency, that's all there is to barter or to exchange with.
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Aired April 11, 2003 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you.
The long walk home for former Iraqi soldiers tops war developments at this hour. Thousands of them in civilian clothes are walking south along a main highway in northern Iraq after surrendering to Kurdish forces or abandoning their posts. One soldier tells CNN's Brent Sadler it could take him a week to get to his home in southern Iraq.
Reuters is reporting two children were killed by U.S. Marines when the vehicle they were in refused repeated warnings to stop. The incident occurred at a checkpoint in Nasiriya. Nine other people in the van were wounded. A Marine officer says it was "a regrettable mistake" but the Marines believed they were under attack by a suicide bomber.
U.S. Central Command says new casualties in Baghdad show the city is still "an ugly place." One Marine was killed, 22 others injured in an hour long firefight with Iraqi forces firing from inside an eighth century mosque. The Marines were looking for senior Iraqi leaders. In another incident in Baghdad, three U.S. Marines and one sailor were seriously injured in a suicide attack at a checkpoint. Investigators believe the attacker used a hand grenade in that attack.
Islamic cleric who supported the coalition was stabbed to death yesterday in a mob attack in Najaf. It happened at one of the Shiite Islam's holiest shrines. The imam had just returned to Iraq last week from exile in London.
Also of note, the weather. Seventy-five degrees in Baghdad. That's the low. It could reach 100 degrees in Baghdad on Saturday with blowing dust.
And coming up in this hour, CNN journalists targeted. Hear directly from the would be assassins directed by Saddam Hussein's regime. Plus, New Yorkers pay tribute. We'll take you to ground zero, where thousands gathered to honor American troops in the war on Iraq. And the long walk home, CNN's exclusive look at the thousands of former Iraqi soldiers giving up without a fight in northern Iraq.
And good morning to you.
It's Friday, April 11, day 23 of the war.
I'm Carol Costello at CNN's global headquarters in Atlanta.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Carol. From Kuwait City, I'm Daryn Kagan.
We want to show you a live picture of Baghdad. That is where lawlessness rules across the ancient capital.
Now, let's take a look at the latest on the situation in Iraq. Although coalition forces may be in control of Baghdad, U.S. Marines are still battling sporadic resistance as they work to disarm the Iraqi capital. Our Martin Savidge reports lawlessness pervades throughout Baghdad.
In northern Iraq, the leader of the Iraqi Army's 5th Corps has effectively surrendered the city of Mosul to U.S. special forces. And Kurdish fighters backed by U.S. special forces have seized control of Kirkuk. Iraqi soldiers surrendered their weapons and uniforms to Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq. They are now walking toward Baghdad.
Here are some of the latest images of the war in Iraq. A medevac team airlifts Marines wounded in the battle for Baghdad to a field hospital outside the capital. The Marines are being treated by the so-called Devil Docs. For a third straight day, looting is rampant in Baghdad. Now Marines are starting to crack down by imposing a dusk to dawn curfew in parts of the capital. And Iraqis who fled their homeland to Iran celebrate the fall of Saddam Hussein, while hundreds of Iraqis stormed their embassy in the Iranian capital of Tehran. They denounced the Iraqi leader and the possibility that the U.S. would run the government that replaces him.
Along the front in northern Iraq, where we're told to expect a formal ceremony for surrendering Mosul -- that is Iraq's third largest city.
Our Jane Arraf is standing by with more from there -- Jane.
JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, we're just in the square in front of an extraordinary scene. Now, I'm just going to tell you a little bit about it. Right across the street you can see this mass of people going in and out of the building. Just a moment ago, they were going in in a way that indicated some of them were going to be trampled to death. What they're doing is trying to loot a bank. And it's an indication of what has been going on here in Mosul all morning.
Now, we've heard those reports that you have, that U.S. forces along with the Kurdish peshmerga are in control of the city. But from what we're seeing and hearing, from those gunshots, there is no one in control. We've been throughout the city and at every government building, anything vaguely related to the government, there has been looting and burning going on.
Daryn, that was obviously automatic gunfire just across the street. People don't seem to be running from it, so it does appear to have been up in the air.
Now, this is one of the main squares. It's called Republic Square and just across the street is the governor's office. We were in there a while ago. Children were still carrying out chairs. People were ripping light fixtures from the sockets and they were smashing and looting anything they could find.
But the really significant thing, Daryn, is they have put up a new flag. Now, it may look like the old flag, but it's missing a key element. It's the symbol that Saddam Hussein inserted in the Iraqi flag after the Gulf War -- "Allah Akbar," god is greater. This is the old Iraqi flag and it's a symbol here that people are looking forward to a new regime, whatever that may be, when order is restored here -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Well, Jane, before I ask you ask you any questions, I just want to make sure, are you personally safe to keep standing where you are and continue to report?
ARRAF: Thanks, Daryn.
We're OK here. The gunfire so far has been going up in the air. It's the way they celebrate, although they do it with automatic weapons. As soon as we see some indication that it's not firing in the air, then we'll probably leave very quickly.
KAGAN: OK. All right. Well, don't stand on ceremony if you do have to move. But as long as I have the opportunity, let me ask you, we certainly have seen other towns, other cities, especially in the north, fall. But I think this is the first time I've heard about a formal ceremony with a letter and a negotiated surrender. What can you tell me that's special about Mosul that it's taking place there?
ARRAF: Daryn, I have to say that in, with all the people we've spoken to, everything we've seen here, no one has any word of this. We know it happened, but since there are no Americans soldiers in the streets, no Kurdish soldiers in the streets, it's almost as if the Iraqi army just melted away.
Now, the surrender obviously was significant because it does send a message to whatever other Iraqi units might be there in other places, particularly in the town of Tikrit. In terms of the practical effect it's had here, it has none, because nobody knows about it. The only thing they know here on the ground is that their city is being looted. The hospitals are being looted. We just came from one of the government buildings where I saw a man come out of the door with a rifle under one arm and a painting under the other.
They are literally running away with everything they can take and people here are asking what is going on? Where are the American soldiers?
Daryn.
KAGAN: It sounds like it is a very fluid situation in Mosul.
Jane Arraf, thank you so much and please, you and our CNN crew, safety first.
Appreciate that -- Carol, we'll toss it back to you in Atlanta.
COSTELLO: All right, we're going to stay in northern Iraq right now. If you're wondering where the Iraqi troops are, well, as you saw, it's daylight in Iraq and thousands of Iraqi soldiers in the north are actually on the move, but they have no weapons, no uniforms and no will to fight.
CNN's Brent Sadler has been watching this extraordinary scene unfold and he filed this report just a short time ago.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): American special forces speed into newly liberated towns of northern Iraq, catching sight along the way of Iraqi friends, not foes, on a road to freedom. This is the Kurdish town of Khanaqin, some 80 miles north of Baghdad, overrun by Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga fighters under the command of a new face in town, Jalal Talabani, one of the top Kurdish leaders.
Khanaqin was the first of the big northern towns to fall, thanks, they say here, to President George W. Bush. Remnants of the doomed regime fled the previous night. No one knows where they escaped to and for now, at least, they don't seem to care.
(on camera): Scenes of jubilation are being repeated in towns and villages throughout northern Iraq. Once the capital, Baghdad, fell, the gravitational pull was simply too great. Saddam Hussein's power in the north crushed. His countless images machine gunned into oblivion.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're are liberated today by the power of the American soldier and the peshmerga, the self-sacrificers to liberate Khanaqin.
SADLER (voice-over): It's a day to remember and record, with a parade of the conventional and the unconventional, on an historic day. For decades they lived under the brutal whims of a tyrant. It'll take time to adjust.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now I am seem, I am dreaming.
SADLER: But dreams could turn to nightmares if law and order is not reestablished soon. A wooden coffin holds the body of an Iraqi Arab killed, it's claimed here, in a revenge attack by Iraqi Kurds. Old rivalries die hard in a country that's reeling from the tremors of change and the uncertainty that brings, even on this much celebrated day.
Brent Sadler, CNN, Khanaqin, northern Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: OK, let's move south now to Baghdad, where security is a huge concern in the sprawling city.
CNN's Martin Savidge is live from the Iraqi capital -- what do things look like from your vantage point today, Martin?
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Carol.
It is relatively quiet and calm here in Baghdad today. Of course, this is a holy day of prayer, as it is throughout the Muslim world. It is also a holy day of prayer down in Basra, where many people have been going to the mosque to take part in prayers there.
And also here in Baghdad -- of course, keep in mind here in Baghdad this is the first holy day, Friday prayers, since the major body of U.S. military forces and coalition troops came into Baghdad itself.
Even as you hear the call to prayer rising, you also see smoke still rising in the capital itself and occasionally still the crackle of gunfire ringing out and echoing amongst the tall buildings here. Unclear who's shooting, whether it is coalition forces or whether coalition forces are being fired upon.
So you still realize this is not a normal day and the situation in Baghdad not normal at all. Security, primary issue. But there is a new way of trying to approach it. Obviously you have the continuing presence and a growing presence of coalition forces here, and the Marines constantly on patrol now, reinforcing, expanding and securing their areas that are now under their cover.
But also, too, it's the realization now by military commanders here that life has to get back to normal. Now, the best way to do that is you have to start getting the infrastructure back to normal. And what I mean by that is the lights have to come on at night. You have to the have the water circulating now so people can drink and bathe. And you also need sanitation. You also need the police force to come out. And all of these things need to happen because what you do is you weave then the fabric that is the underlying part of society. And they hope by doing that you return the sense of security, you return the sense of normalcy, you end the days of lawlessness and you end the days of looting.
So, to that end, military officials here are putting out a plea, essentially, to the community at large, to the city of Baghdad, saying that if you're with the police department, come back to your job, come back to the police office buildings. If you work for any of the city's services, come back, you are needed now, needed now perhaps more than ever.
The hard part, how do you deliver a message in a population that have electricity or television or radio? They're still trying to figure that one out right now -- clear.
COSTELLO: Yes, exactly.
I also understand that the Marines are going to institute a dusk to dawn curfew. Might that help, as well?
SAVIDGE: Well, it will help. I mean in some respects there has already been that. Many people do not venture out on the streets after it gets dark from the simple aspect that that is when trouble seems to begin. The gunfire tends to increase, explosions increase more, and then you have military vehicles that are moving around in the darkness so it makes it highly dangerous to drive, get behind the wheel or even walk on the streets because it's difficult for them to see you and you to see them.
So whether there really has to be a curfew, it would become pretty much official militarily. But there is already a non-official one in effect because of the situation at hand -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Understand. And while things seem calm around where you are, Baghdad is quite a large city. Are you hearing of any massive firefights in other parts of Baghdad?
SAVIDGE: No, we have not. We haven't had reports from the Marines, at least who control the eastern side of the sector, which is where we are right now, of major confronts. But the thing about these things is that they can spark in a heartbeat. That a patrol that had gone down a street before, perhaps 10, 12 times in their regular routine, can turn down that street again and something happens.
So it is very difficult to predict where the problem areas are. They shift all the time. And they can literally ignite in a moment. So just because it seems quiet now, just because there has been no major instances that we know of in this area doesn't mean that check back in five minutes and it will be the same situation -- Carol.
COSTELLO: I understand.
Martin Savidge reporting live from Baghdad.
Many thanks to you.
Let's head back to Kuwait City and Daryn.
KAGAN: Well, Carol, it has been an active day in the northern city of Kirkuk. A day after the city fell to U.S.-backed Kurdish forces, the Kurds are beginning to withdraw and the U.S. is beginning to secure those oil fields.
More now from our Ben Wedeman.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The people of Kirkuk greet a new era by bidding a pointed farewell to the old. "God preserve Iraq and Saddam," the sign says. Decades of repressed anger and hatred suddenly unleashed. Also unleashed, an almost uncontrollable urge, shared by all ages, to sack, loot and destroy everything associated with the dying regime. Like this soft drink factory, the property, we were told, of Uday Saddam Hussein, the hated son of Saddam. The theme of this day, smash and steal.
There was no class at this school outside Kirkuk. In fact, there weren't really any classrooms, either. Students ransacked it with utter contempt for the man whose face adorned every school book in Iraq. "Anything with Saddam we destroy," they tell me. At a government store, a fire sale of sorts, all you can haul away and then some for free. A modest form of revenge for a lifetime of fear and oppression.
Throughout the day, hundreds of triumphant Kurdish fighters poured into the city. Backed by a small number of American troops, the Kurds drove Iraqi forces out of Kirkuk without much of a fight. There appeared to be no secret to their victory.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We just hammered them with bombs day and night. So it's pretty much had a pretty good, a pretty positive effect, or I guess a negative effect on the Iraqis, so.
WEDEMAN: In the town's main square, Saddam's likeness no longer the object of adulation and respect, but rather of whatever you could throw at it. Holes punched in a figure the day before treated as semi-divine. Here, no need for American help to tear down Saddam. Iraqi petrol torched this portrait of the president. Amidst the destruction and chaos, a less violent celebration, a tune of liberation and release, a dance of deliverance.
(on camera): For years, the people of Kirkuk had to sing and dance for Saddam Hussein. Now, they can finally sing and dance in freedom.
Ben Wedeman, CNN, Kirkuk, northern Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: And coming your way next, we'll recount the day's events leading to the fall of northern Iraq.
But first, let's look at these images of war.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: We want to show you live pictures we're getting in right now. These are coming from Mosul. That is Iraq's third largest city. We just had a live report from Jane Arraf describing how fluid the situation is in that town. Iraqi soldiers are scheduled to sign a letter to surrender and yet she says the situation is very up in the air and you can see from the pictures that there is some fire, some smoke from a building, also a lot of looting taking place in that city as well as a number of cities all across Iraq.
We go from there to a brief recap of the past 20 hours or so, this in the ongoing collapse of Saddam Hussein's army.
And Miles O'Brien handles that for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 8:46 a.m., a crowd in Kirkuk knocks down a statue of Saddam Hussein.
9:22 a.m., CNN's Kevin Sites reports from Kirkuk he's seen many men who appear to be Iraqi soldiers, most of them out of uniform, making their way out of Tikrit towards their homes in northern Iraq.
10:00 a.m. Eastern, 6:00 p.m. in Baghdad, in a videotape broadcast in Baghdad, President George Bush tells Iraqis, "At this moment, the regime of Saddam Hussein is being removed from power."
10:30 a.m., a prominent Iraqi Shiite Muslim leader is assassinated in an attack that began inside a mosque in Najaf.
11:55 a.m., CNN's Walter Rodgers reports four U.S. Marines are injured seriously when a suicide bomber strapped with explosives strikes near the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad.
1:55 p.m., U.S. military officials tell CNN a contingent of Iraqi troops and two top commanders have agreed to surrender to U.S. and Kurdish authorities outside Mosul.
2:00 p.m., Pentagon officials say with the Iraqi regime gone, they hope to soon get accurate information on U.S. POWs captured early in the war. Major General Stanley McChrystal also says coalition troops still face organized resistance around Tikrit, the ancestral home of Saddam Hussein.
6:18 p.m., Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says U.S. troops and Kurdish fighters have begun moving into the northern Iraq city of Mosul in an orderly process. He also warns the combat phase of the campaign is not over and many dangers remain in parts of Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAGAN: Well, just when you think you might have heard it all, get this. Saddam Hussein's regime have actually accused CNN of being a cover for the CIA.
When we come back, we're going to show you the Iraqi intelligence agents with an explosive plot against our own CNN journalists. That story is just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Those are frightening pictures out of Baghdad from last night. But we want to talk about what's happening in northern Iraq right now. The city of Mosul ready to fall completely into coalition hands. The oil rich city of Kirkuk already in coalition control. And now new word from the Pentagon.
Let's go there now and check in with Chris Plante -- good morning Chris.
CHRIS PLANTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol.
Yes, big news out of northern Iraq this morning. I just got off the phone with some officials who informed me that they have accepted the surrender of the general in charge of Mosul. Mosul is the third largest city in Iraq. It is the largest city in northern Iraq. This general in charge of the Iraqi 5th Corps. The 5th Corps is a very large military organization. A corps is typically made up of a number of divisions, as is this one. I think that the original strength of the 5th Corps was probably between 20,000 and 30,000 Iraqi troops there to defend the city.
They have been taking a pounding from the air for some time now and as we understand it, large numbers of members of the 5th Corps have essentially taken off their uniforms, dropped their weapons and gone home. But at this point, the third largest city in the country has now capitulated -- and this was the word that was used -- and that they have surrendered. They're expecting perhaps a more official surrender ceremony to take place in the city of Mosul later on in the day. But as far as the U.S. military and the coalition are concerned right now, 5th Corps and the defenders of Mosul are out of the fight.
Also earlier today, as we know, Kirkuk was taken by a small number of American special forces troops along with Kurdish fighters who are indigenous to the area up there. This is sort of good on one hand, because it's important to take these cities, the latest strongholds in northern Iraq, the last two major strongholds in northern Iraq. And there it has caused a bit of tension at the same time with the government of Turkey because the Turks don't want to see their Kurdish population there take control of too much of the economic power of northern Iraq, which includes the oil fields.
The oil fields also a high priority for U.S. troops there, probably now in the process of securing those. But as I understand that is ongoing. This is important because of the future economic viability of the country. U.S. and coalition forces want to make sure that the oil industry is up and running so that they can get the economy fired up and going quickly.
But we've seen surrenders taking place at Mosul now. The last fight that remains is the city of Tikrit, which is north of Baghdad, south of Mosul. It is Saddam Hussein's hometown and a Baath Party headquarters, stronghold there, considered to be the last major metropolitan area that has to fall -- Carol.
COSTELLO: OK, Chris Plante reporting live from the Pentagon.
Many thanks to you.
There is so much more ahead.
When we come back, thousands of Iraqi soldiers in the north put down their arms, shed their military clothes and walk south, sometimes in their bare feet. Let's take a look at these images of war.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: I'm Daryn Kagan live in Kuwait City.
Let's take a look at the latest headlines right now.
The long walk home for former Iraqi soldiers tops war developments at this hour. Thousands of them in civilian clothes are walking south along a main highway in northern Iraq after surrendering to Kurdish forces or abandoning their posts altogether. One soldier tells CNN's Brent Sadler it could take him a week to get to his home in southern Iraq.
Reuters reports that two children were killed by U.S. Marines today when the vehicle they were in was refused repeated warnings to stop. The incident happened at a checkpoint in Nasiriya. Nine of the people in the van were wounded. A Marine officer says it was "a regrettable mistake" but the Marines believed they were under attack by a suicide bomber.
U.S. Central Command says the new casualties from Baghdad show the city is still what they call "an ugly place." One Marine was killed and 22 others were injured in an hour long firefight with Iraqi forces firing from inside an eighth century mosque. The Marines were looking for senior Iraqi leaders.
In another incident in Baghdad, three U.S. Marines and one sailor were seriously injured in a suicide attack at a checkpoint yesterday. Investigators believe the attacker used a hand grenade in that attack.
Islamic cleric Abdul Majid al-Khoei, who supported the coalition, was stabbed to death yesterday in a mob attack in Najaf. It happened at one of Islam's holiest Shiite shrines. Al-Khoei had just returned to Iraq last week from exile in London.
Coming up this hour, CNN journalists targeted. Hear directly from the would be assassins directed by Saddam Hussein's regime.
Plus, New Yorkers pay tribute. We'll take you to ground zero. That is where top story gathered to honor American troops in the war on Iraq. And the long walk home, CNN's exclusive look at the thousands of former Iraqi soldiers giving up without a fight in northern Iraq.
Good morning.
I'm Daryn Kagan live in Kuwait City.
COSTELLO: Good morning to you, Daryn.
I'm Carol Costello at CNN's global headquarters in Atlanta.
It's 5:30 a.m. on the East Coast of the United States, 1:30 in the afternoon in Baghdad, where U.S. troops are facing pockets of resistance. In northern Iraq, though, Kurdish fighters backed by the U.S. special forces did seize control of Kirkuk and Kurdish troops and the Army's 173rd Airborne entered Mosul, Iraq's largest northern city. The leader of the Iraq's Army 5th Corps has surrendered the city of Mosul to U.S. special forces. In Baghdad, U.S. Marines say people are taking pot shots at them as they work to disarm that city. Iraqi soldiers surrender their weapons and their uniforms to Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq and are now walking south.
And here are some images of the war in Iraq right now. U.S. Marines injured in the fight for Baghdad were taken by helicopter to a Devil Docs field hospital near the city. The wounded troops were treated and then medevaced to Kuwait City on a C-130 cargo plane. Here you see two vases being hauled away in Baghdad. Looters are rampaging across the Iraqi capital and other cities under coalition control. They're making off with anything they can get their hands on.
And nightmare is a particularly dangerous time in Baghdad. U.S. troops were on alert at traffic checkpoints around the city. One of the main threats to U.S. forces comes from suicide attackers at those checkpoints.
Coalition military commanders say the head of the army -- the Iraqi Army's 5th Corps in Mosul have signed an informal letter of surrender.
CNN's Brent Sadler has more on the mass surrenders now taking place in northern Iraq.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Unarmed soldiers from Saddam Hussein's defeated army on the move in northern Iraq. They are mostly Muslim Shiite troops heading home, walking to southern Iraq, a journey of around 100 miles, perhaps seven days by foot. Feet that are cracked and blistered, boots missing and there's a long way to go.
But these men don't complain about the hardships of a grueling journey. Rather, they seem thankful to be still alive after years of military service with infantry units filled with unwilling conscripts. Life under Saddam Hussein's iron fist rule, they told me, was a life of hell.
(on camera): Go ahead and translate at the same time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Really, for two months, for two months we haven't eaten anything because of our situations and the clothes we got, these are our clothes. We have brought them with us when you attended that regiment, our regiment in the mountains, and really we were in bad situations. So we decided to escape and surrender.
SADLER (voice-over): And, they explained, they had been forced to fight at gunpoint.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Many punishments. One of them is to cut all, to cut the hair, to cut the hair completely and to cut the eyebrows, also, and if you will not defend, if you will not fight for Saddam Hussein, your punishment will be execution.
SADLER: They claimed their commanders abandoned them days ago. But not before seizing their identification papers, so they couldn't travel. Forced to hold their front line positions. Cannon fodder for an officer corps that ran away. This was an uncontrolled and unsupervised exodus from areas recently liberated by Iraqi Kurds. Their weapons and much of their military clothing was left with the Kurds. And they seem to pose no obvious security threat here. No American military presence on this road and little Kurdish interest in their former enemy, drifting south on a long walk to freedom.
Brent Sadler, CNN, near Kifri, northern Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAGAN: It's just after 1:30 in Baghdad.
Let's check in right now with our Martin Savidge to find out what is happening in the Iraqi capital right now -- Marty, hello.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Daryn.
Quiet in the capital, at least so far. This is the Muslim holy day of prayer, Friday, so the mosque behind us was busy with prayers. There is still smoke rising that you can see some places in the skyline of Baghdad and there is still the crackle of gunfire that goes off. In fact, there's been some of it, actually, quite a bit of it around here occasionally from time to time.
The interesting thing is to observe the Marines now guarding the checkpoints. Had this been one month ago and you heard the crackle of gunfire, they would be diving to take security positions. Now they don't even look up. They pay it no mind. It happens at night, as well. Only when it gets really close do they prepare their weapons and sometimes fire back.
Here's the situation with the city today. The looting is still continuing, although not the fervor that we saw, say, in the past two days. The military also realizes that they have spread their security net inside of this city. They have branched out about as far as they can go. They continue to patrol on a regular basis.
It is trying to get society back to normal that is the next goal here. They need to turn on the lights. They need to get the water flowing into homes. They need to get the stores open. They need to get the city services going. That is crucial because that will help to establish the sense that life will be normal, even with the heavy presence of military forces here. And it will help to ease some of the disquiet and the nervousness amongst the population once they get there lives back into normal.
So the military is now actually putting out a plea, saying that if there are police officers that want to and are willing to, report back to their precincts, go back to your stations. If there are public servants, go back to your jobs. And if there are those that work in any of the city services, they are needed as much now, if more so, perhaps, than ever before.
Trying to get that message out, though, in a city that has no electricity, obviously people don't listen on radio unless they've got batteries, and they may run dry. There's no television. That's the difficult challenge. They may end up having to go through street by street with the loudspeakers they have on some of their jeeps, making this sort of plea to try to get the city back on its feet -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Marty, one of the problems with people going back to their jobs, as I understand it, is the problem and the question of currency. All the currency, the Iraqi dinar right now, has a picture of Saddam Hussein. So I wonder if it's worth it, if it's worth anything, its value, and what could people use to pay each other?
SAVIDGE: Well, they still use the currency because it is the only currency that is out there. Obviously, I think the only one that might replace it is the American dollar, and there isn't enough of that flowing around. So for lack of any other currency, that's all there is to barter or to exchange with.
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