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American Morning
U.S.-Trained Iraqi Soldiers in Baghdad
Aired April 16, 2003 - 08:04 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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Arriving in Baghdad today to restore order, there are more than 100 American-trained Iraqi soldiers.
Mike Boettcher is in Baghdad. He joins us now live by videophone.
Good morning, Mike. What's the latest from there?
MIKE BOETTCHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Paula.
It might have been a shock for the citizens of Baghdad this morning, seeing Iraqi soldiers with AK-47s going through the streets for the first time since American forces took control of this city. But this was not a force of Saddam Hussein; this is an anti-Saddam Hussein force called the FIF, or Free Iraqi Forces.
Now, this force was put together several months ago. They had some training in northern Iraq. We've been with them for the past several days in south central Iraq at an advanced training base run by U.S. special forces, and at that base, they were evaluated. They're training. They were also given some additional training, taught how to do checkpoints, go into houses, clear those houses, human rights, engagements and all of those various things.
Now they're in Baghdad, and the response of the people along the street was rather indifferent as they came by. There were a few claps, some whistles and thumb's up, in marked contrast to what the reception was for the Free Iraqi Forces in the cities around Nasiriyah, where we went with them on operations the last several days.
In those cities, the town's folks would follow them, chanting Chalabi, Chalabi, Chalabi. Chalabi is Dr. Ahmad Chalabi, who was the head of the Iraqi National Congress, the anti-Saddam group, the exile group. He is now a leader of the Free Iraqi Forces, but in Baghdad, you didn't get that kind of response.
So it remains to be seen how this Free Iraqi Force will be used in Baghdad. They believe that they are the seeds for a future Iraqi army, a future security force, and they believe that they should be utilized by the U.S. government to the fullest extent, so we'll see what happens here in Baghdad.
Most of these FIF soldiers are from this city who came here, 120 this morning, and they would like to see their families. They were driving by areas of town they hadn't seen since they left and went into exile. Most of these people are -- were in exile. Some lived in Iran, some in Lebanon, Syria, other places all over the world, and they're all so anxious to join up again with their families -- Paula.
ZAHN: Mike, just describe to us some of what you have seen in your wandering around of Baghdad in terms of the looting dying down and how people are slowly trying to return to a normal state of life there.
BOETTCHER: Well, we drove straight through the city with this convoy of FIF, and frankly, for me, it's been since December of 1990, my last visit here before Desert Storm, the town looked very different to me in terms of the blown-up buildings around. Many of the streets were deserted, and I think people are at the beginning stages of getting things back together -- Paula.
ZAHN: Mike Boettcher, thanks so much for the update. Mike reporting from Baghdad this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired April 16, 2003 - 08:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Arriving in Baghdad today to restore order, there are more than 100 American-trained Iraqi soldiers.
Mike Boettcher is in Baghdad. He joins us now live by videophone.
Good morning, Mike. What's the latest from there?
MIKE BOETTCHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Paula.
It might have been a shock for the citizens of Baghdad this morning, seeing Iraqi soldiers with AK-47s going through the streets for the first time since American forces took control of this city. But this was not a force of Saddam Hussein; this is an anti-Saddam Hussein force called the FIF, or Free Iraqi Forces.
Now, this force was put together several months ago. They had some training in northern Iraq. We've been with them for the past several days in south central Iraq at an advanced training base run by U.S. special forces, and at that base, they were evaluated. They're training. They were also given some additional training, taught how to do checkpoints, go into houses, clear those houses, human rights, engagements and all of those various things.
Now they're in Baghdad, and the response of the people along the street was rather indifferent as they came by. There were a few claps, some whistles and thumb's up, in marked contrast to what the reception was for the Free Iraqi Forces in the cities around Nasiriyah, where we went with them on operations the last several days.
In those cities, the town's folks would follow them, chanting Chalabi, Chalabi, Chalabi. Chalabi is Dr. Ahmad Chalabi, who was the head of the Iraqi National Congress, the anti-Saddam group, the exile group. He is now a leader of the Free Iraqi Forces, but in Baghdad, you didn't get that kind of response.
So it remains to be seen how this Free Iraqi Force will be used in Baghdad. They believe that they are the seeds for a future Iraqi army, a future security force, and they believe that they should be utilized by the U.S. government to the fullest extent, so we'll see what happens here in Baghdad.
Most of these FIF soldiers are from this city who came here, 120 this morning, and they would like to see their families. They were driving by areas of town they hadn't seen since they left and went into exile. Most of these people are -- were in exile. Some lived in Iran, some in Lebanon, Syria, other places all over the world, and they're all so anxious to join up again with their families -- Paula.
ZAHN: Mike, just describe to us some of what you have seen in your wandering around of Baghdad in terms of the looting dying down and how people are slowly trying to return to a normal state of life there.
BOETTCHER: Well, we drove straight through the city with this convoy of FIF, and frankly, for me, it's been since December of 1990, my last visit here before Desert Storm, the town looked very different to me in terms of the blown-up buildings around. Many of the streets were deserted, and I think people are at the beginning stages of getting things back together -- Paula.
ZAHN: Mike Boettcher, thanks so much for the update. Mike reporting from Baghdad this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
