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American Morning
Iraq and a Major Capture
Aired August 19, 2003 - 08:12 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Now to Iraq and a major capture. Earlier today the news broke, about 90 minutes ago, former Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan was caught by Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq last night, turned over to U.S. forces there.
Our Baghdad bureau chief Jane Arraf has more now on this from the capital -- Jane, hello.
JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Bill.
You know, on that list of playing cards, the 55 most wanted, Taha Yassin Ramadan is only number 20. But in Iraqi terms and in an Iraqi view, he deserves to be much higher.
This man was one of the inner circle of Saddam Hussein's cabinet, there from the very beginnings. He started as a bank clerk, fell in with Saddam, rose up through the ranks of the Baath Party and was linked with almost every campaign that Saddam engaged in.
Now, he's an anomaly. Coming from a Kurdish family, born in Mosul, he is inextricably involved in that campaign against the Kurds that destroyed Kurdish villages and used chemical gas in the 1980s. Now, in recent years he was politically quite active. He often stood in for Saddam. Saddam didn't travel to other countries. And it was Taha Yassin Ramadan who would go. Politically very influential, a hard-liner and someone from the ousted president's inner circle -- Bill.
HEMMER: Jane, what does it mean, if anything, that he was caught in the northern part of the country, Kurdish controlled territory?
ARRAF: It means, perhaps, that American officials, military officials may be right when they keep saying that they expect to find these high level people in their homes. That's their base of support, their loyalties, the place they feel safe in going to.
Taha Yassin Ramadan was born in Mosul. He's from the Kurdish areas. And interesting that he was captured by Kurdish forces. There has been a lot of cooperation between U.S. special forces and Kurdish forces who have controlled about a third of the country and know that area intimately.
Now, the fact that he was captured in Mosul indicates probably that they've been on his trail for quite a long time. They have been gathering intelligence about a whole host of people and putting together the pieces of those puzzles. The more arrests they make, the more intelligence they get -- Bill. HEMMER: Number 20 on the list of 55.
Jane Arraf in Baghdad.
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 August 19, 2003 - 08:12 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Now to Iraq and a major capture. Earlier today the news broke, about 90 minutes ago, former Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan was caught by Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq last night, turned over to U.S. forces there.
Our Baghdad bureau chief Jane Arraf has more now on this from the capital -- Jane, hello.
JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Bill.
You know, on that list of playing cards, the 55 most wanted, Taha Yassin Ramadan is only number 20. But in Iraqi terms and in an Iraqi view, he deserves to be much higher.
This man was one of the inner circle of Saddam Hussein's cabinet, there from the very beginnings. He started as a bank clerk, fell in with Saddam, rose up through the ranks of the Baath Party and was linked with almost every campaign that Saddam engaged in.
Now, he's an anomaly. Coming from a Kurdish family, born in Mosul, he is inextricably involved in that campaign against the Kurds that destroyed Kurdish villages and used chemical gas in the 1980s. Now, in recent years he was politically quite active. He often stood in for Saddam. Saddam didn't travel to other countries. And it was Taha Yassin Ramadan who would go. Politically very influential, a hard-liner and someone from the ousted president's inner circle -- Bill.
HEMMER: Jane, what does it mean, if anything, that he was caught in the northern part of the country, Kurdish controlled territory?
ARRAF: It means, perhaps, that American officials, military officials may be right when they keep saying that they expect to find these high level people in their homes. That's their base of support, their loyalties, the place they feel safe in going to.
Taha Yassin Ramadan was born in Mosul. He's from the Kurdish areas. And interesting that he was captured by Kurdish forces. There has been a lot of cooperation between U.S. special forces and Kurdish forces who have controlled about a third of the country and know that area intimately.
Now, the fact that he was captured in Mosul indicates probably that they've been on his trail for quite a long time. They have been gathering intelligence about a whole host of people and putting together the pieces of those puzzles. The more arrests they make, the more intelligence they get -- Bill. HEMMER: Number 20 on the list of 55.
Jane Arraf in Baghdad.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
