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CNN Saturday Morning News

Iraqi Mother Asks to Be Reunited With Child in Kuwait

Aired April 19, 2003 - 08:36   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, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Continuing our coverage of the new Iraq, humanitarian aid is causing a lot of anxiety throughout the country, and particularly for one family. A mother in Baghdad is asking to be reunited with her child, who is now in Kuwait.
You may remember the little girl. She was shot by U.S. soldiers in Baghdad then rescued by a reporter's translator and airlifted for medical care to Kuwait.

Lindsey Taylor is following her recovery.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LINDSEY TAYLOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was the moment translator Mohamed Fakna (ph) crossed the line. American Marines would not go near the car they'd just shot to a halt, but he returns from it with 6-year-old Zara, suffering from a serious head wound.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As the Marines cleaned up her injury, we learned that her aunt and the driver were also injured. They didn't want us to film. We pointed out that they had shot her and it was only because of Muhamed that they had any chance of saving her now.

TAYLOR: Zara was flown out of Baghdad for treatment. What will become of her? For a week there's been barely a word, until now. This is Zara, recovering in hospital in Kuwait, apparently in good spirits. Her father is at her bedside. He was with her as she was flown first to a field hospital south of Baghdad and then finally to Kuwait where doctors have the necessary special equipment to treat her serious head injuries. Zara is able to walk, with help, but her father says she still has metal fragments lodged in her brain, which surgeons have been unable to remove.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They say that these metals should the body take care of them because anything they can't do anything, they couldn't do anything and they leave these metals in her body for the rest of her life.

TAYLOR: He has two wives, one of them still being treated in Iraq after being hit in the lower back in the shooting, the second, Zara's mother, who's remained out of contact in north Baghdad. He's not been able to tell her Zara's alive.

In Baghdad, a Channel 4 news satellite phone brought them the news they'd dreamt of. Zara's mother, sister and brother were told she was alive and was missing them.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My daughter needs me. I'm told her say all the night and day she said mom, mom. She needs me. Thank goodness. I don't know what I do. But my god, my god help us. Nothing else. And they, and he first and you second, you help us. Thank you.

TAYLOR: Zara's mother now wants to go to Kuwait to be with her daughter. Here, her father is appreciative of the U.S. efforts to get her treatment, but with understandable reservations.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All of these people, they did their job in the way that I appreciate it for both sides, except that one that who shot our family.

TAYLOR: It has been a war in which there have been countless tragedies, many of them still untold. But for Zara's family, this is as close as it gets to a happy ending.

(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 19, 2003 - 08:36   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Continuing our coverage of the new Iraq, humanitarian aid is causing a lot of anxiety throughout the country, and particularly for one family. A mother in Baghdad is asking to be reunited with her child, who is now in Kuwait.
You may remember the little girl. She was shot by U.S. soldiers in Baghdad then rescued by a reporter's translator and airlifted for medical care to Kuwait.

Lindsey Taylor is following her recovery.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LINDSEY TAYLOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was the moment translator Mohamed Fakna (ph) crossed the line. American Marines would not go near the car they'd just shot to a halt, but he returns from it with 6-year-old Zara, suffering from a serious head wound.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As the Marines cleaned up her injury, we learned that her aunt and the driver were also injured. They didn't want us to film. We pointed out that they had shot her and it was only because of Muhamed that they had any chance of saving her now.

TAYLOR: Zara was flown out of Baghdad for treatment. What will become of her? For a week there's been barely a word, until now. This is Zara, recovering in hospital in Kuwait, apparently in good spirits. Her father is at her bedside. He was with her as she was flown first to a field hospital south of Baghdad and then finally to Kuwait where doctors have the necessary special equipment to treat her serious head injuries. Zara is able to walk, with help, but her father says she still has metal fragments lodged in her brain, which surgeons have been unable to remove.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They say that these metals should the body take care of them because anything they can't do anything, they couldn't do anything and they leave these metals in her body for the rest of her life.

TAYLOR: He has two wives, one of them still being treated in Iraq after being hit in the lower back in the shooting, the second, Zara's mother, who's remained out of contact in north Baghdad. He's not been able to tell her Zara's alive.

In Baghdad, a Channel 4 news satellite phone brought them the news they'd dreamt of. Zara's mother, sister and brother were told she was alive and was missing them.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My daughter needs me. I'm told her say all the night and day she said mom, mom. She needs me. Thank goodness. I don't know what I do. But my god, my god help us. Nothing else. And they, and he first and you second, you help us. Thank you.

TAYLOR: Zara's mother now wants to go to Kuwait to be with her daughter. Here, her father is appreciative of the U.S. efforts to get her treatment, but with understandable reservations.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All of these people, they did their job in the way that I appreciate it for both sides, except that one that who shot our family.

TAYLOR: It has been a war in which there have been countless tragedies, many of them still untold. But for Zara's family, this is as close as it gets to a happy ending.

(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