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CNN Live At Daybreak
Some Stories About Being Caught in Crossfire
Aired April 17, 2003 - 05:35 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: The total number of coalition service members killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom has now risen to 156. That's according to U.S. and British officials. New figures show 125 of the dead are Americans. One hundred seven killed in combat. Eighteen died in non-combat situations. And the number of troops listed as missing in action now stands at three after one Marine who had been listed as MIA was moved to the combat death category. Four hundred ninety-five U.S. troops were wounded in the war.
The British have lost 31 troops in the war. Nine of them killed in combat, 20 in non-combat situations and two British troop deaths are still listed as undetermined.
As for Iraqi casualties, unfortunately, no reliable figures for civilians killed or wounded in the war. Before the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime, Abu Dhabi TV put the number of civilian deaths at more than 1,200 based on Iraqi government figures. The U.S. has reported thousands of Iraqi military deaths and more than 7,300 Iraqi POWs.
Our Karl Penhaul has been in Najaf, where he spoke with some of the Iraqi civilians listed in that casualty reports. He tells us some of their stories about being caught in the crossfire.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Faces of freedom. They have names. Abbas (ph), Nahadad (ph), Awad (ph), Tahia (ph). Doctors say they were civilians. Ask 15-year-old Sadar (ph) about the price of her liberation and this is what you hear. "Of course I feel angry," she says, "I've lost my father, my uncles and a nephew. Stop the war and destruction."
Red Crescent officials say bombs from coalition war planes hit Sadar's home in this neighborhood around Najaf. The sketches and plastic shoes of her younger cousin still lie in the rubble. Bloodstains left by the hands of a dying father.
Less than 100 yards from Sadar's home, the targets of those coalition bombs -- and Iraqi Army truck. Residents say it was mounted with a radar. A troop carrier and sandbagged trenches right in the middle of their neighborhood.
But as Sadar's mother, Mariam Abd-Al-Hussein, nurses another of her injured children, she struggles to understand. "We're not happy because I lost my husband and my children have been wounded," she says. "I don't know what my future will be. We didn't harm the American and British Army."
But maybe they're some of the lucky ones.
(on camera): Almost all those I spoke to in the hospital said they lost family, friends and neighbors in the bombings, many of whom are now buried here. What coalition forces call the liberation of Iraq has, indeed, cost them dearly.
(voice-over): In a city of 300,000, the directors of three of the four main hospitals estimate that more than 370 civilians died and more than 500 were wounded during 17 days of coalition attacks.
DR. SALIH MAHDI ALI AKBAR, SADDAM TEACHING HOSPITAL: Any patients, any injured man, injured children, he hate the Americans and say to them why we pay the price? And you can avoid such bombs.
PENHAUL: Soldiers of the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division control al- Najaf now. They're beginning to deliver basic food and water supplies. But more humanitarian assistance is needed. The Army says doctors at the city hospital say they're running low on antibiotics and sterile dressings.
Despite the civilian casualties, all the citizens I spoke to here were glad coalition forces had shattered the regime of Saddam Hussein. "I'm sorry for the people who were killed in these actions," he says, "but it's all the fault of the tyrant, Saddam Hussein."
As for Sadar, she'll never forget the trouble war has brought her and her family and she's not yet ready to forgive.
Karl Penhaul, CNN, al-Najaf, Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: And still to come, we'll tell you about some furry victims of the war in Iraq. Stick around.
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 17, 2003 - 05:35 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The total number of coalition service members killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom has now risen to 156. That's according to U.S. and British officials. New figures show 125 of the dead are Americans. One hundred seven killed in combat. Eighteen died in non-combat situations. And the number of troops listed as missing in action now stands at three after one Marine who had been listed as MIA was moved to the combat death category. Four hundred ninety-five U.S. troops were wounded in the war.
The British have lost 31 troops in the war. Nine of them killed in combat, 20 in non-combat situations and two British troop deaths are still listed as undetermined.
As for Iraqi casualties, unfortunately, no reliable figures for civilians killed or wounded in the war. Before the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime, Abu Dhabi TV put the number of civilian deaths at more than 1,200 based on Iraqi government figures. The U.S. has reported thousands of Iraqi military deaths and more than 7,300 Iraqi POWs.
Our Karl Penhaul has been in Najaf, where he spoke with some of the Iraqi civilians listed in that casualty reports. He tells us some of their stories about being caught in the crossfire.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Faces of freedom. They have names. Abbas (ph), Nahadad (ph), Awad (ph), Tahia (ph). Doctors say they were civilians. Ask 15-year-old Sadar (ph) about the price of her liberation and this is what you hear. "Of course I feel angry," she says, "I've lost my father, my uncles and a nephew. Stop the war and destruction."
Red Crescent officials say bombs from coalition war planes hit Sadar's home in this neighborhood around Najaf. The sketches and plastic shoes of her younger cousin still lie in the rubble. Bloodstains left by the hands of a dying father.
Less than 100 yards from Sadar's home, the targets of those coalition bombs -- and Iraqi Army truck. Residents say it was mounted with a radar. A troop carrier and sandbagged trenches right in the middle of their neighborhood.
But as Sadar's mother, Mariam Abd-Al-Hussein, nurses another of her injured children, she struggles to understand. "We're not happy because I lost my husband and my children have been wounded," she says. "I don't know what my future will be. We didn't harm the American and British Army."
But maybe they're some of the lucky ones.
(on camera): Almost all those I spoke to in the hospital said they lost family, friends and neighbors in the bombings, many of whom are now buried here. What coalition forces call the liberation of Iraq has, indeed, cost them dearly.
(voice-over): In a city of 300,000, the directors of three of the four main hospitals estimate that more than 370 civilians died and more than 500 were wounded during 17 days of coalition attacks.
DR. SALIH MAHDI ALI AKBAR, SADDAM TEACHING HOSPITAL: Any patients, any injured man, injured children, he hate the Americans and say to them why we pay the price? And you can avoid such bombs.
PENHAUL: Soldiers of the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division control al- Najaf now. They're beginning to deliver basic food and water supplies. But more humanitarian assistance is needed. The Army says doctors at the city hospital say they're running low on antibiotics and sterile dressings.
Despite the civilian casualties, all the citizens I spoke to here were glad coalition forces had shattered the regime of Saddam Hussein. "I'm sorry for the people who were killed in these actions," he says, "but it's all the fault of the tyrant, Saddam Hussein."
As for Sadar, she'll never forget the trouble war has brought her and her family and she's not yet ready to forgive.
Karl Penhaul, CNN, al-Najaf, Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: And still to come, we'll tell you about some furry victims of the war in Iraq. Stick around.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
