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CNN Live At Daybreak

Two Separate Attacks on U.S. Troops in Iraq

Aired July 23, 2003 - 05:32   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: All right, we have lots of breaking news out of Iraq this morning. Two separate attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq, one west of Baghdad.
Let's go live to Baghdad right now and check in with Rym Brahimi.

Two soldiers are dead, one was killed just west of Baghdad. Tell us about that attack, Rym.

RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, indeed, one of them was killed west of Baghdad in the city of Ramadi. Now, you know, that area is part of what's known as the Sunni triangle, which is where most of the attacks against U.S. soldiers have taken place.

Now, it appears that around 8:00 a.m. this morning, his convoy, the convoy of the soldier who was killed, was driving in that area and it hit what's known here as an improvised explosive device, in other words, probably an explosive device that would have been detonated remotely.

And that happened just two hours after another soldier was killed near the northern city of Mosul, which is, of course, the area where the two sons of Saddam Hussein, Uday and Qusay Hussein, were killed yesterday in a massive raid.

Now, the soldier who died near Mosul, again, a similar incident. He died in a convoy. The convoy was driving somewhere in that area and they also hit an explosive device -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Rym Brahimi reporting live out of Baghdad this morning.

With Saddam's sons out of the picture, the U.S. is celebrating a major step forward in their effort towards a new Iraq.

CNN's Harris Whitbeck has the latest on the take down and the aftermath and he's got some new information for us this morning.

Harris Whitbeck is live from Mosul -- good morning, Harris.

HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning once again, Carol.

A high ranking officer who was involved in yesterday's operation here told us that they had received the information about 24 hours before the actual operation took place, information leading them to the house behind me which was the scene of this firefight, which resulted in the deaths of Saddam Hussein's two older sons.

He said that the source of this information is now in protective custody. He also said that that one source, that one person would receive the two $15 million rewards that had been offered for information on Saddam Hussein's two older sons.

He said that about 80 soldiers took part in this operation yesterday. They initially used a megaphone to ask the people inside the house to come out. The people inside the house responded with small arms fire and that's when this huge firefight ensued, which resulted in the deaths of four people, among them Saddam Hussein's two older sons.

The officer also told us that they did find documents that are considered to be valuable in terms of intelligence. Those documents have been sent to another location and are being studied or will be studied shortly by intelligence specialists -- Carol.

COSTELLO: This walk in that gave the tip to U.S. forces, do we know anything more about him or her?

WHITBECK: I'm sorry, Carol, I lost you there for a second.

Could you repeat that, please?

COSTELLO: The walk in that tipped off the U.S. military as to the whereabouts of Uday and Qusay Hussein, do we know anything more about the walk in?

WHITBECK: No, we don't. All we know is that that person is in protective custody. We did ask why he was in protective custody and the officer told us, "people know who owned the house." So you can read what you want into that quote. Again, he is being protected, for obvious reasons. We are not sure whether the identity will ever be known.

COSTELLO: Well, that's true, for his safety's sake. But it is apparent to you right now that he will get that reward money, some, what, 15 million to 20 million bucks?

WHITBECK: Actually, it's two rewards of $15 million each. That's $30 million.

COSTELLO: And it's likely he will get that?

WHITBECK: Yes, yes. That was confirmed last night by General Ricardo Sanchez, who is in command of U.S. forces in Iraq, and it was also confirmed to us by this officer on the ground. In fact, the officer on the ground told us that he believed that the money had already been delivered. We have not been able to confirm that. But we do know that both of those rewards have gone to one source.

COSTELLO: All right, Harris Whitbeck live from Mosul 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 July 23, 2003 - 05:32   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, we have lots of breaking news out of Iraq this morning. Two separate attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq, one west of Baghdad.
Let's go live to Baghdad right now and check in with Rym Brahimi.

Two soldiers are dead, one was killed just west of Baghdad. Tell us about that attack, Rym.

RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, indeed, one of them was killed west of Baghdad in the city of Ramadi. Now, you know, that area is part of what's known as the Sunni triangle, which is where most of the attacks against U.S. soldiers have taken place.

Now, it appears that around 8:00 a.m. this morning, his convoy, the convoy of the soldier who was killed, was driving in that area and it hit what's known here as an improvised explosive device, in other words, probably an explosive device that would have been detonated remotely.

And that happened just two hours after another soldier was killed near the northern city of Mosul, which is, of course, the area where the two sons of Saddam Hussein, Uday and Qusay Hussein, were killed yesterday in a massive raid.

Now, the soldier who died near Mosul, again, a similar incident. He died in a convoy. The convoy was driving somewhere in that area and they also hit an explosive device -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Rym Brahimi reporting live out of Baghdad this morning.

With Saddam's sons out of the picture, the U.S. is celebrating a major step forward in their effort towards a new Iraq.

CNN's Harris Whitbeck has the latest on the take down and the aftermath and he's got some new information for us this morning.

Harris Whitbeck is live from Mosul -- good morning, Harris.

HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning once again, Carol.

A high ranking officer who was involved in yesterday's operation here told us that they had received the information about 24 hours before the actual operation took place, information leading them to the house behind me which was the scene of this firefight, which resulted in the deaths of Saddam Hussein's two older sons.

He said that the source of this information is now in protective custody. He also said that that one source, that one person would receive the two $15 million rewards that had been offered for information on Saddam Hussein's two older sons.

He said that about 80 soldiers took part in this operation yesterday. They initially used a megaphone to ask the people inside the house to come out. The people inside the house responded with small arms fire and that's when this huge firefight ensued, which resulted in the deaths of four people, among them Saddam Hussein's two older sons.

The officer also told us that they did find documents that are considered to be valuable in terms of intelligence. Those documents have been sent to another location and are being studied or will be studied shortly by intelligence specialists -- Carol.

COSTELLO: This walk in that gave the tip to U.S. forces, do we know anything more about him or her?

WHITBECK: I'm sorry, Carol, I lost you there for a second.

Could you repeat that, please?

COSTELLO: The walk in that tipped off the U.S. military as to the whereabouts of Uday and Qusay Hussein, do we know anything more about the walk in?

WHITBECK: No, we don't. All we know is that that person is in protective custody. We did ask why he was in protective custody and the officer told us, "people know who owned the house." So you can read what you want into that quote. Again, he is being protected, for obvious reasons. We are not sure whether the identity will ever be known.

COSTELLO: Well, that's true, for his safety's sake. But it is apparent to you right now that he will get that reward money, some, what, 15 million to 20 million bucks?

WHITBECK: Actually, it's two rewards of $15 million each. That's $30 million.

COSTELLO: And it's likely he will get that?

WHITBECK: Yes, yes. That was confirmed last night by General Ricardo Sanchez, who is in command of U.S. forces in Iraq, and it was also confirmed to us by this officer on the ground. In fact, the officer on the ground told us that he believed that the money had already been delivered. We have not been able to confirm that. But we do know that both of those rewards have gone to one source.

COSTELLO: All right, Harris Whitbeck live from Mosul 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