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American Morning
Reporting from Northern Iraq
Aired April 01, 2003 - 09:09 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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Right now, we're going to check in with Brent Sadler. He is in northern Iraq, following the latest developments from there. He joins us now.
Brent, what do you have?
BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, thanks, Paula.
You joined me here in what was the heart ever the Ansar Islam terrorist compound. This actually is a mosque. Let me just take you for a quick look around.
This whole area was flattened by U.S. airstrikes. And if you look at the dome of the mosque up there, you'll see that shrapnel holes peppering the mosque. This really was the heartbeat, according to Kurdish and U.S. special force officials on the ground, the very heart of Ansar Islam, with direct links to Al Qaeda. U.S. special forces saying they found documents and equipment that would indicate the presence of chemical weapons in some of this terrain, terrain that Ansar Islam had well defended and well entrenched, a huge area, about 250 square miles.
Coming to the end of the day here, Paula, I see some people have just finished up praying, incredible, given this mosque area is in ruins.
Now, it does beg the question that as U.S. special forces have combined so well with Kurdish fighters, about 10,000 Kurdish fighters were involved in this successful anti-terror operation, it does beg the question, if U.S. special forces and their Kurdish allies can work so well, that in 36 hours they cleared this area, which had been a problem for years, it does beg the question, why not expand operations, possibly to break Saddam Hussein's grip over those key northern cities of Kirkuk and Mosul? There's no specific plan for that to happen, Paula, but the Kurds are certainly pushing for that.
ZAHN: Brent, tell us a little more about what you've learned about this terrorist group and any potential ties it might have to the Iraqi leadership? Is there any evidence of that?
SADLER No, we're getting no indication of hard evidence on the ground. That was ARSTOP (ph) special force officers on the ground here. Obviously, that equipment, that documentation, indicating the presence of chemical or biological weapons in one of the areas. If you think about this place here, it's very much like a mini Tora Bora from Afghanistan days, and that hunt, you'll remember, from Osama bin Laden. So a lot of terrain to cover, a lot of places to check out. but some documents, some equipment, has been sent back to the United States for specialist examination and analysis.
As far as the direct smoking gun connection between Al Qaeda, Ansar Islam and Baghdad, that's not established here on the ground yet -- Paula..
ZAHN: Brent Sadler, thanks so much. Glad we finally got that live shot up. He always has a wealth of information for us.
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 1, 2003 - 09:09 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Right now, we're going to check in with Brent Sadler. He is in northern Iraq, following the latest developments from there. He joins us now.
Brent, what do you have?
BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, thanks, Paula.
You joined me here in what was the heart ever the Ansar Islam terrorist compound. This actually is a mosque. Let me just take you for a quick look around.
This whole area was flattened by U.S. airstrikes. And if you look at the dome of the mosque up there, you'll see that shrapnel holes peppering the mosque. This really was the heartbeat, according to Kurdish and U.S. special force officials on the ground, the very heart of Ansar Islam, with direct links to Al Qaeda. U.S. special forces saying they found documents and equipment that would indicate the presence of chemical weapons in some of this terrain, terrain that Ansar Islam had well defended and well entrenched, a huge area, about 250 square miles.
Coming to the end of the day here, Paula, I see some people have just finished up praying, incredible, given this mosque area is in ruins.
Now, it does beg the question that as U.S. special forces have combined so well with Kurdish fighters, about 10,000 Kurdish fighters were involved in this successful anti-terror operation, it does beg the question, if U.S. special forces and their Kurdish allies can work so well, that in 36 hours they cleared this area, which had been a problem for years, it does beg the question, why not expand operations, possibly to break Saddam Hussein's grip over those key northern cities of Kirkuk and Mosul? There's no specific plan for that to happen, Paula, but the Kurds are certainly pushing for that.
ZAHN: Brent, tell us a little more about what you've learned about this terrorist group and any potential ties it might have to the Iraqi leadership? Is there any evidence of that?
SADLER No, we're getting no indication of hard evidence on the ground. That was ARSTOP (ph) special force officers on the ground here. Obviously, that equipment, that documentation, indicating the presence of chemical or biological weapons in one of the areas. If you think about this place here, it's very much like a mini Tora Bora from Afghanistan days, and that hunt, you'll remember, from Osama bin Laden. So a lot of terrain to cover, a lot of places to check out. but some documents, some equipment, has been sent back to the United States for specialist examination and analysis.
As far as the direct smoking gun connection between Al Qaeda, Ansar Islam and Baghdad, that's not established here on the ground yet -- Paula..
ZAHN: Brent Sadler, thanks so much. Glad we finally got that live shot up. He always has a wealth of information for us.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
