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CNN Live At Daybreak
U.S. Forces May be Closing in on Saddam Hussein
Aired July 28, 2003 - 05:31 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 game of hide and seek goes on in Iraq. U.S. soldiers were searching two areas in Baghdad and in Tikrit, where they believed Saddam Hussein might be hiding. Did they come close?
Harris Whitbeck is live in Tikrit. He's just back.
You were riding around with U.S. troops. Did they find anything?
HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Not quite, Carol. And while they didn't find Saddam Hussein -- and that's the question that many people are asking here this morning -- however, they did find a large cache of arms and ammunition.
This raid occurred very early this morning, and basically it was the soldiers from the 1st Brigade of the 4th Infantry Division, which is based here in Tikrit. As you know, Tikrit is Saddam Hussein's homeland. Many of the people who live here are members of his tribe.
Now, the raid this morning was on three houses in one Tikrit neighborhood. The soldiers showed up, asked the family to get up out of bed -- this was very early this morning -- and asked the family to gather in the courtyard of the house while they searched the house. As they searched that house, they found a large number of weapons, a large number of ammunition, a large number of photographs, which showed what seemed to be one of the family members being awarded some sort of medal by Saddam Hussein himself, and that person was wearing a uniform that belonged to the Republican Guard.
Now, soldiers here say that this type of raid is very, very useful to them, because not only are they helping to diminish Saddam Hussein's loyalist capabilities to attack U.S. forces here, but they also gather information on what those loyalists might be doing and what movements might somehow be linked to the movement of senior Baath Party members or to Saddam Hussein himself.
I spoke to the commander of this base earlier, and he told me that in the last several days they have been receiving intelligence that would have indicated that Saddam Hussein was in the region. They have been following up on that information, and he says that these raids are a part of that process.
Now, senior military officials told CNN yesterday that they believe that Saddam Hussein is moving around every two to four hours, and they seem to think that that indicates that he is getting more desperate. And commanders here on the ground say that it is only a matter of time before Saddam Hussein is caught -- Carol. COSTELLO: I know, Whitbeck -- Harris, rather, that in some of these raids, civilians -- Iraqi civilians have been killed. Tell us the mood of the troops going into these homes, how tense does it get?
WHITBECK: It can get very, very tense, Carol. And this morning as we were driving out of here in pitch dark, we were driving up Highway 2, which is considered to be one of the most dangerous throughways in this very, very dangerous part of Iraq. So, of course, there is a lot of tension, but these troops are used to carrying out these raids several times a day, and they've been doing that for several weeks now.
As far as the civilians go, of course, they most of the time are not very happy when they are -- you know, U.S. troops blast into their houses, get them out of bed, force them to, you know, lay on the ground, and in some cases are even handcuffed. But the U.S. troops say that's just part of the war, and that's what has to be done -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Harris Whitbeck reporting live from Tikrit this morning. Many thanks.
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 28, 2003 - 05:31 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The game of hide and seek goes on in Iraq. U.S. soldiers were searching two areas in Baghdad and in Tikrit, where they believed Saddam Hussein might be hiding. Did they come close?
Harris Whitbeck is live in Tikrit. He's just back.
You were riding around with U.S. troops. Did they find anything?
HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Not quite, Carol. And while they didn't find Saddam Hussein -- and that's the question that many people are asking here this morning -- however, they did find a large cache of arms and ammunition.
This raid occurred very early this morning, and basically it was the soldiers from the 1st Brigade of the 4th Infantry Division, which is based here in Tikrit. As you know, Tikrit is Saddam Hussein's homeland. Many of the people who live here are members of his tribe.
Now, the raid this morning was on three houses in one Tikrit neighborhood. The soldiers showed up, asked the family to get up out of bed -- this was very early this morning -- and asked the family to gather in the courtyard of the house while they searched the house. As they searched that house, they found a large number of weapons, a large number of ammunition, a large number of photographs, which showed what seemed to be one of the family members being awarded some sort of medal by Saddam Hussein himself, and that person was wearing a uniform that belonged to the Republican Guard.
Now, soldiers here say that this type of raid is very, very useful to them, because not only are they helping to diminish Saddam Hussein's loyalist capabilities to attack U.S. forces here, but they also gather information on what those loyalists might be doing and what movements might somehow be linked to the movement of senior Baath Party members or to Saddam Hussein himself.
I spoke to the commander of this base earlier, and he told me that in the last several days they have been receiving intelligence that would have indicated that Saddam Hussein was in the region. They have been following up on that information, and he says that these raids are a part of that process.
Now, senior military officials told CNN yesterday that they believe that Saddam Hussein is moving around every two to four hours, and they seem to think that that indicates that he is getting more desperate. And commanders here on the ground say that it is only a matter of time before Saddam Hussein is caught -- Carol. COSTELLO: I know, Whitbeck -- Harris, rather, that in some of these raids, civilians -- Iraqi civilians have been killed. Tell us the mood of the troops going into these homes, how tense does it get?
WHITBECK: It can get very, very tense, Carol. And this morning as we were driving out of here in pitch dark, we were driving up Highway 2, which is considered to be one of the most dangerous throughways in this very, very dangerous part of Iraq. So, of course, there is a lot of tension, but these troops are used to carrying out these raids several times a day, and they've been doing that for several weeks now.
As far as the civilians go, of course, they most of the time are not very happy when they are -- you know, U.S. troops blast into their houses, get them out of bed, force them to, you know, lay on the ground, and in some cases are even handcuffed. But the U.S. troops say that's just part of the war, and that's what has to be done -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Harris Whitbeck reporting live from Tikrit this morning. Many thanks.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
