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Iraq's Former Vice President Caught in Mosul
Aired August 19, 2003 - 07:04 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.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's turn now to a major capture. There are reports this morning that former Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan was reportedly caught by Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq last night, turned over to U.S. forces. That comes to us according to Kurdish officials.
CNN Baghdad bureau chief Jane Arraf is live in the Iraqi capital for us this morning.
Jane -- good morning. What can you tell us about this?
JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Good morning, Soledad.
Well, those reports, we're still trying to confirm them, but the report, as you said, is that they have captured one of Saddam's inner circle.
Now, on that most-wanted list of 55, he's only No. 20, but here in Iraq they think he merits a much higher number. He's the more senior of two vice presidents. He is someone who was with Saddam from the very start, from the humbled beginnings of the Baath Party all the way up to power.
And up until the very end, he was part of that very small circle of people whom Saddam trusted, relied on and were intimately involved in almost every facet of policy in this country.
Again, those reports from Kurdish officials that Taha Yassin Ramadan has been captured in the northern city of Mosul.
Now, he comes from the area in northern Iraq, and that is presumably fairly close to home for him. They have been looking for him obviously for some time. The report is that they finally found him -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: All right, we're going to continue, of course, to follow through on this throughout the morning and the afternoon. Jane Arraf in Baghdad for us this morning. Jane, thanks for that.
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 - 07:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's turn now to a major capture. There are reports this morning that former Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan was reportedly caught by Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq last night, turned over to U.S. forces. That comes to us according to Kurdish officials.
CNN Baghdad bureau chief Jane Arraf is live in the Iraqi capital for us this morning.
Jane -- good morning. What can you tell us about this?
JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Good morning, Soledad.
Well, those reports, we're still trying to confirm them, but the report, as you said, is that they have captured one of Saddam's inner circle.
Now, on that most-wanted list of 55, he's only No. 20, but here in Iraq they think he merits a much higher number. He's the more senior of two vice presidents. He is someone who was with Saddam from the very start, from the humbled beginnings of the Baath Party all the way up to power.
And up until the very end, he was part of that very small circle of people whom Saddam trusted, relied on and were intimately involved in almost every facet of policy in this country.
Again, those reports from Kurdish officials that Taha Yassin Ramadan has been captured in the northern city of Mosul.
Now, he comes from the area in northern Iraq, and that is presumably fairly close to home for him. They have been looking for him obviously for some time. The report is that they finally found him -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: All right, we're going to continue, of course, to follow through on this throughout the morning and the afternoon. Jane Arraf in Baghdad for us this morning. Jane, thanks for that.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
