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CNN Sunday Morning
Did Saddam Slip Through U.S. Forces' Fingers?
Aired July 27, 2003 - 11:01 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.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN ANCHOR: Now to Iraq. Did Saddam Hussein slip through the fingers of U.S. forces? There is a report that U.S. troops came within 24 hours of catching Saddam's security chief, and possibly Saddam himself.
We have a report live from Baghdad now. CNN's Rym Brahimi is in the capital, and she joins us live. Rym?
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Andrea, this comes on a day when there's been an additional U.S. casualty, one soldier from the -- who was attached to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force was killed in the early hours of the morning, about 30 kilometers south of Baghdad in a grenade attack.
Yesterday, there were another four casualties among U.S. soldiers, and there's also been violent clashes between U.S. troops and Iraqis in the southern city of Karbala after Iraqis there accused U.S. troops of killing an Iraqi. There were clashes when Iraqis starting throwing stones at the U.S. troops, the U.S. troops shot in the air. So a very tense situation on the whole.
Against this backdrop, as you mention, Andrea, the U.S. troops almost captured the chief of security of Saddam Hussein. Now, this happened when the troops launched three simultaneous raids in the city of Tikrit in three different farms. Military officials say they acted on intelligence reports that these newly appointed security chief, if you will, of Saddam Hussein may be hiding in one of those houses.
Now, nobody was captured in those raids. Nobody was taken into custody. There were no casualties according to U.S. officials. But residents from the area said that the man that they were looking for had left shortly before the troops conducted their raids. Andrea?
KOPPEL: Rym, we know from your reporting earlier that one of Saddam Hussein's second cousins has asked the United States to allow his family to bury the bodies of Uday and Qusay Hussein in the family plot in Tikrit. How important is this not just for Saddam Hussein's family, which I'm sure few people really care about, but for the mood in Iraq and even more largely, or broadly, within the Arab world that this be allowed to happen?
BRAHIMI: Well, that's a very good question, Andrea, and I think it is becoming more and more important, and might turn into an increasingly hot debate if you will, if nothing is done about this. You see, it is important in the Muslim tradition that death be respected, of course, but also that bodies be buried as soon as possible after their deaths. Now, this clearly hasn't happened in this case. There's been all this show of pictures, show of bodies, and that's something that although was initially demanded by most Iraqi people, well, a lot of Iraqi people were almost shocked to see pictures of the bodies -- they were so shocking and gruesome in a way, I think, people had an overload of those pictures.
Many people said, OK, enough with this exhibition, let's just bury them and move on. And this coming from people, Andrea, that didn't necessarily like Saddam, in fact, even from people who hated Saddam and his sons, people who were even tortured by Uday or Qusay. A lot of them have come forward to say, can we just move on and bury them and forget about this?
Now this relative, that relative himself is actually someone who has written a letter to Paul Bremer asking that these two brothers be buried in Tikrit in the family cemetery, and he himself points out that his own family, his children and wife were killed by Saddam Hussein. He doesn't even know where his wife and children are buried to this day. He defected back in '95 and said he would have every reason to hate them, but he wants a decent burial he says in the name of those values which he says the U.S. wants to promote in Iraq. Andrea?
KOPPEL: Rym Brahimi in Baghdad, thank you for that update.
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 July 27, 2003 - 11:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN ANCHOR: Now to Iraq. Did Saddam Hussein slip through the fingers of U.S. forces? There is a report that U.S. troops came within 24 hours of catching Saddam's security chief, and possibly Saddam himself.
We have a report live from Baghdad now. CNN's Rym Brahimi is in the capital, and she joins us live. Rym?
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Andrea, this comes on a day when there's been an additional U.S. casualty, one soldier from the -- who was attached to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force was killed in the early hours of the morning, about 30 kilometers south of Baghdad in a grenade attack.
Yesterday, there were another four casualties among U.S. soldiers, and there's also been violent clashes between U.S. troops and Iraqis in the southern city of Karbala after Iraqis there accused U.S. troops of killing an Iraqi. There were clashes when Iraqis starting throwing stones at the U.S. troops, the U.S. troops shot in the air. So a very tense situation on the whole.
Against this backdrop, as you mention, Andrea, the U.S. troops almost captured the chief of security of Saddam Hussein. Now, this happened when the troops launched three simultaneous raids in the city of Tikrit in three different farms. Military officials say they acted on intelligence reports that these newly appointed security chief, if you will, of Saddam Hussein may be hiding in one of those houses.
Now, nobody was captured in those raids. Nobody was taken into custody. There were no casualties according to U.S. officials. But residents from the area said that the man that they were looking for had left shortly before the troops conducted their raids. Andrea?
KOPPEL: Rym, we know from your reporting earlier that one of Saddam Hussein's second cousins has asked the United States to allow his family to bury the bodies of Uday and Qusay Hussein in the family plot in Tikrit. How important is this not just for Saddam Hussein's family, which I'm sure few people really care about, but for the mood in Iraq and even more largely, or broadly, within the Arab world that this be allowed to happen?
BRAHIMI: Well, that's a very good question, Andrea, and I think it is becoming more and more important, and might turn into an increasingly hot debate if you will, if nothing is done about this. You see, it is important in the Muslim tradition that death be respected, of course, but also that bodies be buried as soon as possible after their deaths. Now, this clearly hasn't happened in this case. There's been all this show of pictures, show of bodies, and that's something that although was initially demanded by most Iraqi people, well, a lot of Iraqi people were almost shocked to see pictures of the bodies -- they were so shocking and gruesome in a way, I think, people had an overload of those pictures.
Many people said, OK, enough with this exhibition, let's just bury them and move on. And this coming from people, Andrea, that didn't necessarily like Saddam, in fact, even from people who hated Saddam and his sons, people who were even tortured by Uday or Qusay. A lot of them have come forward to say, can we just move on and bury them and forget about this?
Now this relative, that relative himself is actually someone who has written a letter to Paul Bremer asking that these two brothers be buried in Tikrit in the family cemetery, and he himself points out that his own family, his children and wife were killed by Saddam Hussein. He doesn't even know where his wife and children are buried to this day. He defected back in '95 and said he would have every reason to hate them, but he wants a decent burial he says in the name of those values which he says the U.S. wants to promote in Iraq. Andrea?
KOPPEL: Rym Brahimi in Baghdad, thank you for that update.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
