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U.S. Military Controls Calmer Iraq

Aired April 14, 2003 - 13:14   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.


WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: A Canadian reporter embedded with the Marines says he thinks U.S. forces will declare Tikrit under their control by the end of the day.
Matthew Fisher filed this report just a few minutes ago.

MATTHEW FISHER, "NATIONAL POST" CORRESPONDENT: The situation here is, finally, very calm. The last gun reports that a gun fired was about 90 minutes ago.

The Marines are fanning out across the city. They've been doing this for a few hours now. Hundreds and hundreds of U.S. armored vehicles are now all over the place here.

Many thousands of troops are on the ground. The population mostly stayed indoors. This is what the U.S. has requested.

Of them, also perhaps they're inhibited by the fact there have been so many jets overhead throughout the day and also helicopters, such as Cobra assault helicopters.

Very little fighting. Most of it was in the morning and overnight, and there were some air strikes during the night and artillery from the Marines and also U.S. Air Force aircraft were involved during the night.

Once again, it seems that most of the fighters that were here yesterday have disappeared. Civilians have told us that yesterday -- as recently as two days ago -- the governor was around as recently as yesterday. The Republican Guard was around as recently as this morning.

The Fedayeen, the loyalists -- many of them Ba'ath Party members in a regular army for Saddam Hussein -- were around. All those people have either changed clothes or bugged out. And the suspicion is, among the civilians and also many of the Marines, that some of those folks are headed north and west toward Syria, and that's a story just in itself.

I'm standing on the banks of the Tigris River. It's a fantastic view here. I'm on a cliff. I'm in the presidential compound -- the mother of all presidential palaces, you could call it. There are about 150 buildings, many of them quite large.

A few looters here, but nothing like in Baghdad -- the reason, perhaps, so many of the people have stayed indoors. The looters taking away vases and marble things and chandeliers from some of the palaces, but most of the palaces, frankly, look as if they've been pre-looted by Saddam's own people before the civilians could get in and gawk and take away what they could. Some people have taken away Saddam Hussein's stationery. "The Collected Works of Saddam Hussein" -- all 10 volumes.

Marines, now , are securing all of those palaces as we speak. Darkness is falling here. It is quiet. I should say that the Marines still do not control all of the territory that is Saddam Hussein's.

North of the Tigris River, where the bridge has been blown out by the Iraqis a few days ago, there is still a sliver of land that is nominally controlled by Saddam Hussein's people. We have no idea how many of the forces there might still fight. I suspect very, very few.

It's farm land, mostly -- no big communities or anything -- but there still is a bit of land that the Marines and the U.S. do not yet control in Iraq.

This is Matthew Fisher of the " National Post", Canada, for CNN in Tikrit, Iraq.

BLITZER: In Baghdad, meanwhile, U.S. Marines have started some patrols, and there's unfamiliar but important potential for us joining them -- namely, some Iraqi police.

So let's go to CNN's Rula Amin.

She's covering this and all the other developments in the Iraqi capital -- Rula.

RULA AMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, as you said, life is slowly going back to normal here in Baghdad. However, there's still no sense of security among residents of the Iraqi capital.

Chaos still prevails. Today, one of the targets was a library. The looters went there. They took away whatever they can find -- furniture, equipment, books -- and then they set the library on fire.

Many Iraqis are just outraged, and they are calling on the Marines to take an active role in order to stop the looters. In the past couple of days, the Marines were doing just that.

Today, there was in one neighborhood, some men tried to rob a bank. They used rocket-propelled grenades to force their way in, and when the Marines heard about it, they came quickly, pushed all these people who were waiting for those robbers to leave the bank in order to go and get their share. They pushed them away, and then they arrested the robbers, and the Marines told the people who were there that this should be a clear message that looting is not -- and will not -- be tolerated.

Many residents in Baghdad are very happy to hear this news. And as you said, today, for the first time since Baghdad has fallen, there were joint patrols by the Marines and former Iraqi policemen, trying to establish at least -- if not to stop the looters -- but to establish some kind of security among the residents, to establish some kind of deterrent. And many Iraqis are welcoming that move -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Rula, any more firefights near the Palestine Hotel? We spent a lot of time last night talking about one that resulted, I believe, in the arrest of three suspects.

What's the latest on that front?

AMIN: Well, the three suspects -- we were told by the Marines -- are being interrogated. They were not arrested from the building that the Marines suspected the fire was coming from -- very close to where we're standing at the Palestine Hotel. However, they say they were very close to the source of fire, and that's why they're still interrogating them -- thinking that these may be the ones who had carried out this shooting.

But tonight, no firefights so far. Throughout the day, we heard very few shots. I can say less than what we have been hearing in the past few days -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Well, that's encouraging. Rula Amin at the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad for us doing some good reporting.

Thanks, Rula, very much.

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 April 14, 2003 - 13:14   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: A Canadian reporter embedded with the Marines says he thinks U.S. forces will declare Tikrit under their control by the end of the day.
Matthew Fisher filed this report just a few minutes ago.

MATTHEW FISHER, "NATIONAL POST" CORRESPONDENT: The situation here is, finally, very calm. The last gun reports that a gun fired was about 90 minutes ago.

The Marines are fanning out across the city. They've been doing this for a few hours now. Hundreds and hundreds of U.S. armored vehicles are now all over the place here.

Many thousands of troops are on the ground. The population mostly stayed indoors. This is what the U.S. has requested.

Of them, also perhaps they're inhibited by the fact there have been so many jets overhead throughout the day and also helicopters, such as Cobra assault helicopters.

Very little fighting. Most of it was in the morning and overnight, and there were some air strikes during the night and artillery from the Marines and also U.S. Air Force aircraft were involved during the night.

Once again, it seems that most of the fighters that were here yesterday have disappeared. Civilians have told us that yesterday -- as recently as two days ago -- the governor was around as recently as yesterday. The Republican Guard was around as recently as this morning.

The Fedayeen, the loyalists -- many of them Ba'ath Party members in a regular army for Saddam Hussein -- were around. All those people have either changed clothes or bugged out. And the suspicion is, among the civilians and also many of the Marines, that some of those folks are headed north and west toward Syria, and that's a story just in itself.

I'm standing on the banks of the Tigris River. It's a fantastic view here. I'm on a cliff. I'm in the presidential compound -- the mother of all presidential palaces, you could call it. There are about 150 buildings, many of them quite large.

A few looters here, but nothing like in Baghdad -- the reason, perhaps, so many of the people have stayed indoors. The looters taking away vases and marble things and chandeliers from some of the palaces, but most of the palaces, frankly, look as if they've been pre-looted by Saddam's own people before the civilians could get in and gawk and take away what they could. Some people have taken away Saddam Hussein's stationery. "The Collected Works of Saddam Hussein" -- all 10 volumes.

Marines, now , are securing all of those palaces as we speak. Darkness is falling here. It is quiet. I should say that the Marines still do not control all of the territory that is Saddam Hussein's.

North of the Tigris River, where the bridge has been blown out by the Iraqis a few days ago, there is still a sliver of land that is nominally controlled by Saddam Hussein's people. We have no idea how many of the forces there might still fight. I suspect very, very few.

It's farm land, mostly -- no big communities or anything -- but there still is a bit of land that the Marines and the U.S. do not yet control in Iraq.

This is Matthew Fisher of the " National Post", Canada, for CNN in Tikrit, Iraq.

BLITZER: In Baghdad, meanwhile, U.S. Marines have started some patrols, and there's unfamiliar but important potential for us joining them -- namely, some Iraqi police.

So let's go to CNN's Rula Amin.

She's covering this and all the other developments in the Iraqi capital -- Rula.

RULA AMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, as you said, life is slowly going back to normal here in Baghdad. However, there's still no sense of security among residents of the Iraqi capital.

Chaos still prevails. Today, one of the targets was a library. The looters went there. They took away whatever they can find -- furniture, equipment, books -- and then they set the library on fire.

Many Iraqis are just outraged, and they are calling on the Marines to take an active role in order to stop the looters. In the past couple of days, the Marines were doing just that.

Today, there was in one neighborhood, some men tried to rob a bank. They used rocket-propelled grenades to force their way in, and when the Marines heard about it, they came quickly, pushed all these people who were waiting for those robbers to leave the bank in order to go and get their share. They pushed them away, and then they arrested the robbers, and the Marines told the people who were there that this should be a clear message that looting is not -- and will not -- be tolerated.

Many residents in Baghdad are very happy to hear this news. And as you said, today, for the first time since Baghdad has fallen, there were joint patrols by the Marines and former Iraqi policemen, trying to establish at least -- if not to stop the looters -- but to establish some kind of security among the residents, to establish some kind of deterrent. And many Iraqis are welcoming that move -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Rula, any more firefights near the Palestine Hotel? We spent a lot of time last night talking about one that resulted, I believe, in the arrest of three suspects.

What's the latest on that front?

AMIN: Well, the three suspects -- we were told by the Marines -- are being interrogated. They were not arrested from the building that the Marines suspected the fire was coming from -- very close to where we're standing at the Palestine Hotel. However, they say they were very close to the source of fire, and that's why they're still interrogating them -- thinking that these may be the ones who had carried out this shooting.

But tonight, no firefights so far. Throughout the day, we heard very few shots. I can say less than what we have been hearing in the past few days -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Well, that's encouraging. Rula Amin at the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad for us doing some good reporting.

Thanks, Rula, very much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com