Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Sunday Morning
Iraqi Doctors Put Lives on the Line to Keep Lynch Alive
Aired April 20, 2003 - 08:34 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.
ANDERSON COOPER, ANCHOR: We've heard a lot about the mysterious lawyer who alerted U.S. troops about Private First Class Jessica Lynch. She was, of course, gravely wounded and being held prisoner at a hospital in Nasiriya, a hospital that had been virtually taken over by Fedayeen fighters.
Now it's clear that doctors and others at this hospital also put their lives on the line, or so they are telling our reporter, to keep the young soldier alive.
John Vause has the story they're telling.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At Nasiriya's main hospital, Saddam's name has now gone, but by all accounts the rebellion here began long before the war was over.
Doctors and nurses say they secretly defied senior Iraqi military leaders and Ba'ath Party officials, who were using this building as a temporary headquarters, to care for an American private, who for more than a week lay close to death.
(on camera) Jessica was kept in this room here.
AHMED MUHSIN, RESIDENT DOCTOR: Was kept in this room for the first few days.
VAUSE (voice-over): Ahmed Muhsin was one of the doctors who treated Jessica Lynch. He says at all times she was surrounded by Iraqi soldiers.
MUHSIN: She suffered from the men. She suffered from them.
VAUSE: They beat her, he said and they would try to stop the doctors from checking on Jessica more than twice a day. But doctor Ahmed says they struggled in extra medicine, as well as oranges, biscuits and milk, from their own limited supplies.
MUHSIN: At one time me and -- carried our biscuits for Jessica. And we don't eat it and I carried it for Jessica and we assure her and we assist her, support her psychologically and the medical treatment.
VAUSE: Saad Abd Al-Rasaq is the administrator here. He says when Jessica arrived from an Iraqi military hospital she was in shock. Her blood pressure low, they gave her plasma and two blood transfusions. He says she was covered by little more than a sheet, so he gave her clothes from his wife.
SAAD ABD AL-RASAQ, HOSPITAL ADMINISTRATOR (through translator): She had no family in Iraq and we felt we were her family and so we would visit her often, sometimes with my children.
VAUSE (on camera): The doctors here insist that Jessica Lynch received the best possible medical attention, even better, they say, than local Iraqis.
When I asked them why, they told me it was their duty as doctors as well as Muslims. Under the teachings of Islam, they say, prisoners of war should be cared for and treated well.
(voice-over) But also it seems, by keeping Jessica alive, the staff was making their own defiant stand against Saddam Hussein.
AL-RAZAQ (through translator): Always I spoke with her and told her the American military is close to Nasiriya and will arrive soon.
VAUSE: On a moonless night more than two weeks ago he was right. Special forces stormed the hospital in a rescue straight from the pages of a Hollywood script.
But the doctors say the Iraqi military and other officials had fled at least 10 hours earlier. In fact, they say, early that morning they tried to take Jessica to an American checkpoint, but the say the ambulance was shot at, the driver turned back. Inside they showed me doors which had been blown open with plastic explosives and the phone exchange cables cut. It still hasn't been repaired.
MUHSIN: She was found in this room.
VAUSE: And as for the mysterious Mohammed, the lawyer who walked six miles to an American checkpoint, to tip off the Marines.
AL-RAZAQ: I don't know anything for you.
MUHSIN: The way we left her don't hear anything about this story. Only from the Iraqi on the second or third day we have heard. Maybe two, maybe four.
VAUSE: U.S. officials say Mohammed is safe and being closely watched for his own protection. Most people here believe if he does really exist, by now he must surely be living the good life somewhere in America.
John Vause, CNN, Nasiriya.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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 20, 2003 - 08:34 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, ANCHOR: We've heard a lot about the mysterious lawyer who alerted U.S. troops about Private First Class Jessica Lynch. She was, of course, gravely wounded and being held prisoner at a hospital in Nasiriya, a hospital that had been virtually taken over by Fedayeen fighters.
Now it's clear that doctors and others at this hospital also put their lives on the line, or so they are telling our reporter, to keep the young soldier alive.
John Vause has the story they're telling.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At Nasiriya's main hospital, Saddam's name has now gone, but by all accounts the rebellion here began long before the war was over.
Doctors and nurses say they secretly defied senior Iraqi military leaders and Ba'ath Party officials, who were using this building as a temporary headquarters, to care for an American private, who for more than a week lay close to death.
(on camera) Jessica was kept in this room here.
AHMED MUHSIN, RESIDENT DOCTOR: Was kept in this room for the first few days.
VAUSE (voice-over): Ahmed Muhsin was one of the doctors who treated Jessica Lynch. He says at all times she was surrounded by Iraqi soldiers.
MUHSIN: She suffered from the men. She suffered from them.
VAUSE: They beat her, he said and they would try to stop the doctors from checking on Jessica more than twice a day. But doctor Ahmed says they struggled in extra medicine, as well as oranges, biscuits and milk, from their own limited supplies.
MUHSIN: At one time me and -- carried our biscuits for Jessica. And we don't eat it and I carried it for Jessica and we assure her and we assist her, support her psychologically and the medical treatment.
VAUSE: Saad Abd Al-Rasaq is the administrator here. He says when Jessica arrived from an Iraqi military hospital she was in shock. Her blood pressure low, they gave her plasma and two blood transfusions. He says she was covered by little more than a sheet, so he gave her clothes from his wife.
SAAD ABD AL-RASAQ, HOSPITAL ADMINISTRATOR (through translator): She had no family in Iraq and we felt we were her family and so we would visit her often, sometimes with my children.
VAUSE (on camera): The doctors here insist that Jessica Lynch received the best possible medical attention, even better, they say, than local Iraqis.
When I asked them why, they told me it was their duty as doctors as well as Muslims. Under the teachings of Islam, they say, prisoners of war should be cared for and treated well.
(voice-over) But also it seems, by keeping Jessica alive, the staff was making their own defiant stand against Saddam Hussein.
AL-RAZAQ (through translator): Always I spoke with her and told her the American military is close to Nasiriya and will arrive soon.
VAUSE: On a moonless night more than two weeks ago he was right. Special forces stormed the hospital in a rescue straight from the pages of a Hollywood script.
But the doctors say the Iraqi military and other officials had fled at least 10 hours earlier. In fact, they say, early that morning they tried to take Jessica to an American checkpoint, but the say the ambulance was shot at, the driver turned back. Inside they showed me doors which had been blown open with plastic explosives and the phone exchange cables cut. It still hasn't been repaired.
MUHSIN: She was found in this room.
VAUSE: And as for the mysterious Mohammed, the lawyer who walked six miles to an American checkpoint, to tip off the Marines.
AL-RAZAQ: I don't know anything for you.
MUHSIN: The way we left her don't hear anything about this story. Only from the Iraqi on the second or third day we have heard. Maybe two, maybe four.
VAUSE: U.S. officials say Mohammed is safe and being closely watched for his own protection. Most people here believe if he does really exist, by now he must surely be living the good life somewhere in America.
John Vause, CNN, Nasiriya.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
