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CNN Live At Daybreak
Retired Army General Jay Garner in Northern Iraq
Aired April 22, 2003 - 06:00 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: Baghdad's restoration program is just beginning. The former Army general tapped to oversee formation of the new government was in Baghdad yesterday, and he is in northern Iraq today.
Our Rula Amin joins us now live from Baghdad with a look at what else is taking place.
Good morning -- Rula.
RULA AMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
Jay Garner today arrived in Sulaimaniya under very heavy protection. He went to the Kurdish-controlled part of northern Iraq on his second day of his visit here to Iraq. He was trying to look for himself, trying to assess the situation on how to do the job best, how to reconstruct Iraq and how to establish a new interim Iraqi government.
Now, in Kurdistan, in the Kurdish part, he got a very warm welcome. He was met by Jalal Talabani, the Kurdish leader, who told him and offered him that when he retires, that Jay Garner should come back to the northern part of the country, and the Kurds will prepare him a very nice house there.
And he told the Kurds whom he met with that he believes that the time has come now for the Kurds. He said that what they have done so far is a tribute to the free men and women in the world. So he was very optimistic in terms of what future lays for the Kurds there.
This is not his first time in Kurdistan. He was there in 1991 when he led the U.S. forces there in Operation Provide Comfort. That was after Saddam Hussein crushed the Kurdish rebellion there following the Gulf War.
And while Jay Garner was trying to assess how to reconstruct Iraq, other Iraqi opposition groups were actually pursuing and trying to arrest other Iraqi officials from the old regime. The eighth Iraqi official to be captured is Muhammad al-Zubaydi. He was described as the "Shiite thug" of Saddam Hussein. He was Shiite himself, but he was an associate of Saddam Hussein since the 1960s, and he was known for his brutality. He took a role in crushing the Shiite rebellion in the south following the Gulf War, and he is sought by the U.S. for war crimes against humanity, for his role in crushing that rebellion.
Al-Zubaydi was found with his sons in a house about 60 miles to the south of Baghdad. He was found by the Iraqi opposition group's fighters, and then he was handed over to the U.S. troops here -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Understand. I've got to ask you about No. 1 on the list, Saddam Hussein. Apparently, the Iraqi National Congress leader, Ahmed Chalabi and company, hunting down Saddam, is this being taken seriously?
AMIN: Well, they have been able to hunt down al-Zubaydi, and they have been able to convince one of Saddam Hussein's son-in-laws to turn himself in and actually come back from Syria where he was hiding. So it seems that the Chalabi people and followers are making an effort to reach out and find the former Iraqi officials.
They're also saying that they are very close to where Saddam Hussein is. They say they know he's alive, he is moving around, but they are always about half-a-day late in where he is.
So they're still putting a lot of effort in this, because they know as long as he is at large, there are always doubts in the peoples' minds on what he is up to -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Understand. I don't know if you know the answer to this question, but the Iraqi information minister, a lot of people are still interested in his whereabouts. A Syrian -- no -- a Saudi Arabian newspaper is reporting this morning that he's still alive and somewhere near the Iraq-Syrian border.
AMIN: Well, Carol, it's very hard to verify all of these reports, because we've been hearing different rumors from so many people on most Iraqi officials. In the beginning, like last week, we heard rumors that Sahaf actually committed suicide. And I think that people are just fantasizing on what should he do since he had always been the spokesman for the Iraqis. During the war, he had very strong rhetoric on how the Iraqis are going to put up a fight, how they will crush the invaders, in his words. And suddenly, he disappeared, and Baghdad fell without a fight.
So a lot of people are very focused on the fate of Sahaf, because he has become the symbol of the Iraqis' rhetoric during the war -- Carol.
COSTELLO: And he's not in the deck of cards, so who knows?
AMIN: He's not in the deck of cards, that's true.
COSTELLO: No.
AMIN: He's not in the deck of cards.
COSTELLO: I'm sure you'll keep us posted. Rula Amin reporting live from Baghdad this morning.
AMIN: We will.
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 22, 2003 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Baghdad's restoration program is just beginning. The former Army general tapped to oversee formation of the new government was in Baghdad yesterday, and he is in northern Iraq today.
Our Rula Amin joins us now live from Baghdad with a look at what else is taking place.
Good morning -- Rula.
RULA AMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
Jay Garner today arrived in Sulaimaniya under very heavy protection. He went to the Kurdish-controlled part of northern Iraq on his second day of his visit here to Iraq. He was trying to look for himself, trying to assess the situation on how to do the job best, how to reconstruct Iraq and how to establish a new interim Iraqi government.
Now, in Kurdistan, in the Kurdish part, he got a very warm welcome. He was met by Jalal Talabani, the Kurdish leader, who told him and offered him that when he retires, that Jay Garner should come back to the northern part of the country, and the Kurds will prepare him a very nice house there.
And he told the Kurds whom he met with that he believes that the time has come now for the Kurds. He said that what they have done so far is a tribute to the free men and women in the world. So he was very optimistic in terms of what future lays for the Kurds there.
This is not his first time in Kurdistan. He was there in 1991 when he led the U.S. forces there in Operation Provide Comfort. That was after Saddam Hussein crushed the Kurdish rebellion there following the Gulf War.
And while Jay Garner was trying to assess how to reconstruct Iraq, other Iraqi opposition groups were actually pursuing and trying to arrest other Iraqi officials from the old regime. The eighth Iraqi official to be captured is Muhammad al-Zubaydi. He was described as the "Shiite thug" of Saddam Hussein. He was Shiite himself, but he was an associate of Saddam Hussein since the 1960s, and he was known for his brutality. He took a role in crushing the Shiite rebellion in the south following the Gulf War, and he is sought by the U.S. for war crimes against humanity, for his role in crushing that rebellion.
Al-Zubaydi was found with his sons in a house about 60 miles to the south of Baghdad. He was found by the Iraqi opposition group's fighters, and then he was handed over to the U.S. troops here -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Understand. I've got to ask you about No. 1 on the list, Saddam Hussein. Apparently, the Iraqi National Congress leader, Ahmed Chalabi and company, hunting down Saddam, is this being taken seriously?
AMIN: Well, they have been able to hunt down al-Zubaydi, and they have been able to convince one of Saddam Hussein's son-in-laws to turn himself in and actually come back from Syria where he was hiding. So it seems that the Chalabi people and followers are making an effort to reach out and find the former Iraqi officials.
They're also saying that they are very close to where Saddam Hussein is. They say they know he's alive, he is moving around, but they are always about half-a-day late in where he is.
So they're still putting a lot of effort in this, because they know as long as he is at large, there are always doubts in the peoples' minds on what he is up to -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Understand. I don't know if you know the answer to this question, but the Iraqi information minister, a lot of people are still interested in his whereabouts. A Syrian -- no -- a Saudi Arabian newspaper is reporting this morning that he's still alive and somewhere near the Iraq-Syrian border.
AMIN: Well, Carol, it's very hard to verify all of these reports, because we've been hearing different rumors from so many people on most Iraqi officials. In the beginning, like last week, we heard rumors that Sahaf actually committed suicide. And I think that people are just fantasizing on what should he do since he had always been the spokesman for the Iraqis. During the war, he had very strong rhetoric on how the Iraqis are going to put up a fight, how they will crush the invaders, in his words. And suddenly, he disappeared, and Baghdad fell without a fight.
So a lot of people are very focused on the fate of Sahaf, because he has become the symbol of the Iraqis' rhetoric during the war -- Carol.
COSTELLO: And he's not in the deck of cards, so who knows?
AMIN: He's not in the deck of cards, that's true.
COSTELLO: No.
AMIN: He's not in the deck of cards.
COSTELLO: I'm sure you'll keep us posted. Rula Amin reporting live from Baghdad this morning.
AMIN: We will.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
