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CNN Live At Daybreak

Tariq Aziz Surrenders

Aired April 25, 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: On to Baghdad now for the latest on Tariq Aziz. He has surrendered to U.S. authorities and is now in custody. But will he have the answer to the million-dollar question: Where is Saddam Hussein?
Let's go to Baghdad now and Rula Amin.

Do you think Tariq Aziz knows?

RULA AMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, he may have clues on whether he is dead or alive as least, but we're not sure that he will tell his investigators and he will provide those answers.

We do know that his family has confirmed to CNN that he turned himself in willingly.

Today, Nic Robertson this morning, CNN correspondent, went to one of the family member's house in Azaytuna (ph) neighborhood -- Azayuna (ph) neighborhood. This is in central Baghdad.

Over there, relatives told him that it took a few days in order to arrange for the troops to come to the house. They came on Thursday late in the evening about 11:00 p.m., arrested him from there. He was not handcuffed. The family members told Nic that he was arrested in a very dignified manner. The troops even had some medics with them, because he had recently suffered from two heart attacks and he needed some kind of medication.

That makes Tariq Aziz the highest-ranking Iraqi official to be captured by U.S. troops. He had been a long-time associate of Saddam Hussein. He had been his deputy prime minister, his foreign minister, a member of the Baath Party's Regional Command Council. So he knows a lot about Saddam Hussein.

He had also become Iraq's public face in the West and in the Arab world. He's a seasoned diplomat, very eloquent, fluent English, and a tough negotiator, and he is the only Christian in Saddam Hussein's inner circle.

That doesn't mean he was very powerful or influential in Iraq, because his only source of power was that Saddam Hussein sometimes listened to his advice -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Rula, I was just thinking about his house, how opulent it was. It was quite a large mansion his family owned.

How do the people of Iraq feel about him? AMIN: Well, some people just hated him because of his association with Saddam Hussein. Some admired his skills. Some Iraqi Christians were happy and proud that one Catholic Christian was actually the face of Iraq to the outside world.

We went to the streets and asked people about that, and got mixed reactions.

We also talked to some of the Iraqi opposition leaders here, and we go this reaction from them:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NABIL MUSAWI, IRAQI NATIONAL CONGRESS: From the point of view of the people in Iraq, the regime, while we know it has collapsed, the leading figures in the regime just simply disappeared. So there hasn't been a public display of arrests in the immediate aftermath of the fall of the regime.

So the arrests of the likes of Tariq Aziz and, you know, all of these senior figures will help lay the fears to rest, and will help the Iraqi people to restore their life again and basically feel that they are secure in a new environment, and no reversal of policy by either the United States or the opposition here inside the country that would lead to the return of the Baathist regime of Saddam Hussein and his people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AMIN: Now, his family indicated -- his family indicated that according to their understanding, he is not going to be put under arrest. He was only going to be questioned. However, U.S. officials are saying there was no deal done, and they will question him, and they're hoping for some answers -- Carol.

COSTELLO: That's true, and I'm sure they'll hold him until they get satisfactory answers.

Rula Amin reporting live 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 25, 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: On to Baghdad now for the latest on Tariq Aziz. He has surrendered to U.S. authorities and is now in custody. But will he have the answer to the million-dollar question: Where is Saddam Hussein?
Let's go to Baghdad now and Rula Amin.

Do you think Tariq Aziz knows?

RULA AMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, he may have clues on whether he is dead or alive as least, but we're not sure that he will tell his investigators and he will provide those answers.

We do know that his family has confirmed to CNN that he turned himself in willingly.

Today, Nic Robertson this morning, CNN correspondent, went to one of the family member's house in Azaytuna (ph) neighborhood -- Azayuna (ph) neighborhood. This is in central Baghdad.

Over there, relatives told him that it took a few days in order to arrange for the troops to come to the house. They came on Thursday late in the evening about 11:00 p.m., arrested him from there. He was not handcuffed. The family members told Nic that he was arrested in a very dignified manner. The troops even had some medics with them, because he had recently suffered from two heart attacks and he needed some kind of medication.

That makes Tariq Aziz the highest-ranking Iraqi official to be captured by U.S. troops. He had been a long-time associate of Saddam Hussein. He had been his deputy prime minister, his foreign minister, a member of the Baath Party's Regional Command Council. So he knows a lot about Saddam Hussein.

He had also become Iraq's public face in the West and in the Arab world. He's a seasoned diplomat, very eloquent, fluent English, and a tough negotiator, and he is the only Christian in Saddam Hussein's inner circle.

That doesn't mean he was very powerful or influential in Iraq, because his only source of power was that Saddam Hussein sometimes listened to his advice -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Rula, I was just thinking about his house, how opulent it was. It was quite a large mansion his family owned.

How do the people of Iraq feel about him? AMIN: Well, some people just hated him because of his association with Saddam Hussein. Some admired his skills. Some Iraqi Christians were happy and proud that one Catholic Christian was actually the face of Iraq to the outside world.

We went to the streets and asked people about that, and got mixed reactions.

We also talked to some of the Iraqi opposition leaders here, and we go this reaction from them:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NABIL MUSAWI, IRAQI NATIONAL CONGRESS: From the point of view of the people in Iraq, the regime, while we know it has collapsed, the leading figures in the regime just simply disappeared. So there hasn't been a public display of arrests in the immediate aftermath of the fall of the regime.

So the arrests of the likes of Tariq Aziz and, you know, all of these senior figures will help lay the fears to rest, and will help the Iraqi people to restore their life again and basically feel that they are secure in a new environment, and no reversal of policy by either the United States or the opposition here inside the country that would lead to the return of the Baathist regime of Saddam Hussein and his people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AMIN: Now, his family indicated -- his family indicated that according to their understanding, he is not going to be put under arrest. He was only going to be questioned. However, U.S. officials are saying there was no deal done, and they will question him, and they're hoping for some answers -- Carol.

COSTELLO: That's true, and I'm sure they'll hold him until they get satisfactory answers.

Rula Amin reporting live 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.