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American Morning
Commander in Mosul Signs Surrender Letter
Aired April 11, 2003 - 09:05 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: U.S. Central Command says Iraqi forces in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul have surrendered to U.S. forces.
Our Jane Arraf is in Mosul. She joins us now by telephone with the very latest.
Hi, Jane.
JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Paula.
Well, they do indeed appear to have surrendered. But the problem is it's left nobody here in charge. Now, there have been no American forces visible. We know they're there, but they are not out in force, and nobody we've spoken to has seen any, which is part of the problem. There has been a frenzy of looting going on. We're here at one of the presidential palaces, something no ordinary Iraqi would have dreamed of seeing before this morning.
This afternoon, they're crawling through the palace, smashing everything they can, and earlier today, at the central bank, an absolutely amazing scene as Iraqis went in, poured into the bank vault, scooped up huge wallets of Iraqi dinars, which are not really worth very much, to be honest, and amid smoke pouring out of the building, as somebody set fire to it, and guards trying to fire into the air to scare them off, continue to look at this bank. Now these kind of scenes were repeated throughout the city, at hospitals, at colleges, at government warehouses, anything at all to do with the government. And again, no troops in force to stop them -- Paula.
ZAHN: So tell us a little bit of how they expect to restore order in the days to come.
ARRAF: Well, the original plan, actually, the plan that's been taking shape in other cities, for instance, Kirkuk, where we were yesterday, the U.S. special forces moved in after the Iraqi forces withdrew and they were followed very closely by Kurdish soldiers.
Now this hasn't happened today, perhaps because we did see extensive looting by Kurds in other places in Kirkuk yesterday. There were checkpoints set up, so not very many people coming in and out, and really no significant number of Kurdish forces. They may be able to bring in more Kurdish forces, although non-Kurds say they would be afraid of that, or they may be able to put more U.S. troops here to provide a visible presence.
But as of now, with that Iraqi pull-out, there's no government, there's no police force, there's no army, there's nothing going on here but looting, smoke rising, and glass shattering from buildings around me.
ZAHN: The pictures are just stunning to see. Jane Arraf, thanks so 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 11, 2003 - 09:05 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: U.S. Central Command says Iraqi forces in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul have surrendered to U.S. forces.
Our Jane Arraf is in Mosul. She joins us now by telephone with the very latest.
Hi, Jane.
JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Paula.
Well, they do indeed appear to have surrendered. But the problem is it's left nobody here in charge. Now, there have been no American forces visible. We know they're there, but they are not out in force, and nobody we've spoken to has seen any, which is part of the problem. There has been a frenzy of looting going on. We're here at one of the presidential palaces, something no ordinary Iraqi would have dreamed of seeing before this morning.
This afternoon, they're crawling through the palace, smashing everything they can, and earlier today, at the central bank, an absolutely amazing scene as Iraqis went in, poured into the bank vault, scooped up huge wallets of Iraqi dinars, which are not really worth very much, to be honest, and amid smoke pouring out of the building, as somebody set fire to it, and guards trying to fire into the air to scare them off, continue to look at this bank. Now these kind of scenes were repeated throughout the city, at hospitals, at colleges, at government warehouses, anything at all to do with the government. And again, no troops in force to stop them -- Paula.
ZAHN: So tell us a little bit of how they expect to restore order in the days to come.
ARRAF: Well, the original plan, actually, the plan that's been taking shape in other cities, for instance, Kirkuk, where we were yesterday, the U.S. special forces moved in after the Iraqi forces withdrew and they were followed very closely by Kurdish soldiers.
Now this hasn't happened today, perhaps because we did see extensive looting by Kurds in other places in Kirkuk yesterday. There were checkpoints set up, so not very many people coming in and out, and really no significant number of Kurdish forces. They may be able to bring in more Kurdish forces, although non-Kurds say they would be afraid of that, or they may be able to put more U.S. troops here to provide a visible presence.
But as of now, with that Iraqi pull-out, there's no government, there's no police force, there's no army, there's nothing going on here but looting, smoke rising, and glass shattering from buildings around me.
ZAHN: The pictures are just stunning to see. Jane Arraf, thanks so 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
