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In Mosul, Deadly Confrontation Between Marines, Citizens
Aired April 16, 2003 - 14:10 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.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: In the northern city of Mosul, Iraq, a deadly confrontation between U.S. Marines and an angry crowd.
An Intelligence official is telling CNN between seven and 12 people were killed when Marines opened fire after the crowd became unruly.
CNN's Ben Wedeman is nearby in Erbil, and he joins me now with details on all this -- Ben.
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Miles. The incident you're referring to happened yesterday when a crowd of local Iraqis assembled outside the governor's office, which is where one of the main implacements of U.S. forces in central Mosul is.
This crowd started to throw stones in the direction of U.S. troops. U.S. troops fired over their head. The crowd moved back, but apparently people within the crowd started to fire at U.S. forces. U.S. forces, we're told by a Marine official in Mosul, shot specifically at the sources of this fire -- leaving, at this point we understand from the Marines, seven dead.
There was another incident today in Mosul in which three people were killed, roughly in the same area.
Now, the situation in this city -- in Mosul -- remains very tense. This is basically in the western part of the city, which is a predominantly Arab Sunni stronghold. It's a city that traditionally has been loyal to Saddam Hussein.
Now, at this point, the western part of Mosul is, essentially, a no-man's-land. The Americans occupy the governor's office. There are around 200, 250 U.S. troops within the governor's office. But the rest of the city around there -- and we drove through that area -- is a no-man's-land -- basically patrolled or occupied by forces really hostile to the United States. Freelance gunmen, local militias -- a very unstable area.
Now, until yesterday, that area was patrolled by Kurdish forces. But because of the intense historical animosity between Kurds and Arabs, the Kurds have moved out of that area back to the Kurdish areas of town.
Now, we were there also as we watched U.S. helicopters fly very low over the city. Those helicopters bristling with guns, basically a show of force to show the local Arabs that even if the Americans don't control the situation on the ground, they at least can control the sky -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Ben, is there a perception among the Sunni Arabs in that part of the world that for some reason the Kurds may be getting the upper hand? And is that at the root of the discontent?
WEDEMAN: Well, that definitely is. And there is a feeling among the Arab Sunnis in Mosul that they're the losers in all of this -- that they stuck with Saddam Hussein to the bitter end. He left them. He abandoned them. The Kurds came in -- the allies of the winners, the allies of the Americans.
Now, the Kurds are longtime enemies of the Sunnis in the north. And suddenly they find themselves on the winning side. They have been able to obtain -- that is, the Kurds -- many of the weapons left behind by the Iraqi Army.
They now have tanks. They now have armored personnel carriers, some very heavy weaponry, so a very volatile mix in the north -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Ben Wedeman joining us from Erbil. Thank you 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 16, 2003 - 14:10 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: In the northern city of Mosul, Iraq, a deadly confrontation between U.S. Marines and an angry crowd.
An Intelligence official is telling CNN between seven and 12 people were killed when Marines opened fire after the crowd became unruly.
CNN's Ben Wedeman is nearby in Erbil, and he joins me now with details on all this -- Ben.
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Miles. The incident you're referring to happened yesterday when a crowd of local Iraqis assembled outside the governor's office, which is where one of the main implacements of U.S. forces in central Mosul is.
This crowd started to throw stones in the direction of U.S. troops. U.S. troops fired over their head. The crowd moved back, but apparently people within the crowd started to fire at U.S. forces. U.S. forces, we're told by a Marine official in Mosul, shot specifically at the sources of this fire -- leaving, at this point we understand from the Marines, seven dead.
There was another incident today in Mosul in which three people were killed, roughly in the same area.
Now, the situation in this city -- in Mosul -- remains very tense. This is basically in the western part of the city, which is a predominantly Arab Sunni stronghold. It's a city that traditionally has been loyal to Saddam Hussein.
Now, at this point, the western part of Mosul is, essentially, a no-man's-land. The Americans occupy the governor's office. There are around 200, 250 U.S. troops within the governor's office. But the rest of the city around there -- and we drove through that area -- is a no-man's-land -- basically patrolled or occupied by forces really hostile to the United States. Freelance gunmen, local militias -- a very unstable area.
Now, until yesterday, that area was patrolled by Kurdish forces. But because of the intense historical animosity between Kurds and Arabs, the Kurds have moved out of that area back to the Kurdish areas of town.
Now, we were there also as we watched U.S. helicopters fly very low over the city. Those helicopters bristling with guns, basically a show of force to show the local Arabs that even if the Americans don't control the situation on the ground, they at least can control the sky -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Ben, is there a perception among the Sunni Arabs in that part of the world that for some reason the Kurds may be getting the upper hand? And is that at the root of the discontent?
WEDEMAN: Well, that definitely is. And there is a feeling among the Arab Sunnis in Mosul that they're the losers in all of this -- that they stuck with Saddam Hussein to the bitter end. He left them. He abandoned them. The Kurds came in -- the allies of the winners, the allies of the Americans.
Now, the Kurds are longtime enemies of the Sunnis in the north. And suddenly they find themselves on the winning side. They have been able to obtain -- that is, the Kurds -- many of the weapons left behind by the Iraqi Army.
They now have tanks. They now have armored personnel carriers, some very heavy weaponry, so a very volatile mix in the north -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Ben Wedeman joining us from Erbil. Thank you 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
