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CNN Live At Daybreak
Saddam's Bodyguard Captured
Aired July 29, 2003 - 06:02 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: They believe they just missed him again, but U.S. troops did nab one of Saddam Hussein's bodyguards, a man officials say is an important get.
Live to Tikrit now and CNN's Harris Whitbeck.
Tell us about this latest raid -- Harris.
HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Carol.
The raid occurred very early this morning. It was a house in downtown Tikrit, which is, as you know, Saddam Hussein's hometown. Three people were caught.
One was Saddam Hussein's bodyguards. The other one was a former brigadier general who is believed to be one of the leaders of Saddam's Fedayeen, this paramilitary group that is also believed to be launching some of the attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq. The third person caught was one of the security managers for Saddam's palaces here in the Tikrit area.
U.S. military officials feel that they can glean valuable information from these individuals. And the fact that one of the bodyguards was in this area means that the U.S. military will continue to focus at least a good part of its attention on this area as they search for Saddam Hussein -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Earlier, our senior international editor was telling us that officials are using special equipment to comb these homes for DNA evidence. Can you tell us more about that?
WHITBECK: Well, what they're doing is they comb all of the sites for all sorts of information, and they believe that they do gather important tidbits, if you will, that will help them to piece together the puzzle that they hope will eventually lead them to Saddam Hussein -- that goes from documents to photographs. There was a photograph that they saw at one place that linked the person in that house to another one that is on the most-wanted list.
So, all sorts of investigation go on. Obviously, intelligence is a very big part of this whole operation. A lot of the intelligence is gathered from the local populous as well, and commanders want to stress that point, because they say that they do feel that they are getting a lot of cooperation from the local population -- that, despite the fact that there is still a very credible threat against U.S. forces in this area. COSTELLO: And, Harris, I was just looking at the video that you were sending us, and it looked like they were taking DNA samples from this bodyguard that they nabbed earlier tonight -- earlier this morning, I should say, our time.
WHITBECK: I'm not sure if that's what they were doing, Carol. That bodyguard did offer some resistance during the raid, and he did receive a blow to his head. So, that might have been one of the medics who was giving some medical attention to him. I'm just not sure if that's what occurred, but we'll try to find out and let you know.
COSTELLO: OK, I'm sorry to ask you a question you didn't know right on the spot, because I know you can't see the video that we're seeing here back in Atlanta. Harris Whitbeck live from Tikrit 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 29, 2003 - 06:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: They believe they just missed him again, but U.S. troops did nab one of Saddam Hussein's bodyguards, a man officials say is an important get.
Live to Tikrit now and CNN's Harris Whitbeck.
Tell us about this latest raid -- Harris.
HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Carol.
The raid occurred very early this morning. It was a house in downtown Tikrit, which is, as you know, Saddam Hussein's hometown. Three people were caught.
One was Saddam Hussein's bodyguards. The other one was a former brigadier general who is believed to be one of the leaders of Saddam's Fedayeen, this paramilitary group that is also believed to be launching some of the attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq. The third person caught was one of the security managers for Saddam's palaces here in the Tikrit area.
U.S. military officials feel that they can glean valuable information from these individuals. And the fact that one of the bodyguards was in this area means that the U.S. military will continue to focus at least a good part of its attention on this area as they search for Saddam Hussein -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Earlier, our senior international editor was telling us that officials are using special equipment to comb these homes for DNA evidence. Can you tell us more about that?
WHITBECK: Well, what they're doing is they comb all of the sites for all sorts of information, and they believe that they do gather important tidbits, if you will, that will help them to piece together the puzzle that they hope will eventually lead them to Saddam Hussein -- that goes from documents to photographs. There was a photograph that they saw at one place that linked the person in that house to another one that is on the most-wanted list.
So, all sorts of investigation go on. Obviously, intelligence is a very big part of this whole operation. A lot of the intelligence is gathered from the local populous as well, and commanders want to stress that point, because they say that they do feel that they are getting a lot of cooperation from the local population -- that, despite the fact that there is still a very credible threat against U.S. forces in this area. COSTELLO: And, Harris, I was just looking at the video that you were sending us, and it looked like they were taking DNA samples from this bodyguard that they nabbed earlier tonight -- earlier this morning, I should say, our time.
WHITBECK: I'm not sure if that's what they were doing, Carol. That bodyguard did offer some resistance during the raid, and he did receive a blow to his head. So, that might have been one of the medics who was giving some medical attention to him. I'm just not sure if that's what occurred, but we'll try to find out and let you know.
COSTELLO: OK, I'm sorry to ask you a question you didn't know right on the spot, because I know you can't see the video that we're seeing here back in Atlanta. Harris Whitbeck live from Tikrit 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.
