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CNN Live Sunday

U.S. Captures 2 More Members of Iraqi Leadership

Aired April 20, 2003 - 17:00   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.


SOPHIA CHOI, CNN ANCHOR: The U.S. isn't quite ready to say the war in Iraq is over. Australian officials, though, say a declaration will come in just a few days.
Meantime, two more big captures from the old Iraqi regime.

CNN's Patty Davis is standing by at the Pentagon with all the latest -- Patty.

PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Sophia, he is a big catch for sure. He is the four of hearts on the U.S. most wanted deck of cards. His name Abd al-Ghafar, the former higher education and scientific research minister. Now, with him in custody, that now makes six in that deck of playing cards given out to U.S. troops now in custody, three in addition now in U.S. custody not on that list.

Now, the Iraqi National Congress says that it has another person in its custody, and that is Saddam Hussein's son-in-law, Jamal Mustafa Sultan, the nine of clubs on that Iraq's deck of most wanted. And we've got U.S. Central Command, however, telling us that, indeed, they do not have custody yet. That is the plan, according to the Iraqi National Congress, to turn him over to U.S. U.S. so far saying that it does not have custody of Saddam Hussein's son-in-law. So U.S. slowly making progress on that deck of cards. Six now in custody, perhaps another one later today -- Sophia.

CHOI: Patty, have you heard anything out of the Pentagon about the news that the U.S. may want to hang on to up to four bases in Iraq for a time?

DAVIS: Well, military officials, a Central Command official, indeed, tells CNN that the U.S. is interested in maintaining some kind of presence in Iraq, a military presence. What's not certain at this point is exactly if it will be a permanent presence, that would have to be something that would be worked out with Iraqi officials, some kind of agreement come to this official says. Or whether it would be used on an intermittent basis, used for emergency purposes. But clearly, the U.S. now in Iraq wants to maintain some kind of presence in Iraq, and that still something to be negotiated -- Sophia.

CHOI: And, Patty, we heard today that we had some problems with F-117s at the beginning of the campaign. Any more details on that? What were the problems exactly?

DAVIS: Well, you remember when those F-117s, it was the first night they went in and attacked a bunker because there was intelligence that Saddam Hussein and his sons were in that bunker. Well, it turns out there were some communications problems, two of those F-117s had trouble communicating with one another. And despite the fact that they had those communications troubles, they were able to hit the target successfully. Now, it's still not certain whether or not Saddam Hussein hid in that attack or not, although we've seen pictures of him since. And U.S. intelligence analyzing those to determine whether or not that was him and when exactly those photos were indeed taken -- Sophia.

CHOI: And, Patty, just one more question just out of curiosity, I read in the "New York Times" today that Donald Rumsfeld, the defense secretary, is getting a lot of kudos because of the way that this war has played out. What are the honchos saying at the Pentagon saying?

DAVIS: Well, everybody here at the Pentagon, obviously, publicly saying that they love Donald Rumsfeld. And, of course, this war went very well for him. You remember at the beginning of the war, there were articles out there of Pentagon officials complaining that Donald Rumsfeld had been calling the shots and had been telling Tommy Franks, you know, not to put in as many troops as he wanted to put in. That was denied here at the Pentagon, but it's all come out in Donald Rumsfeld's favor here. He is he basically the man of the hour here at the Pentagon and in Washington.

CHOI: All right, Patty Davis at the Pentagon, 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 20, 2003 - 17:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOPHIA CHOI, CNN ANCHOR: The U.S. isn't quite ready to say the war in Iraq is over. Australian officials, though, say a declaration will come in just a few days.
Meantime, two more big captures from the old Iraqi regime.

CNN's Patty Davis is standing by at the Pentagon with all the latest -- Patty.

PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Sophia, he is a big catch for sure. He is the four of hearts on the U.S. most wanted deck of cards. His name Abd al-Ghafar, the former higher education and scientific research minister. Now, with him in custody, that now makes six in that deck of playing cards given out to U.S. troops now in custody, three in addition now in U.S. custody not on that list.

Now, the Iraqi National Congress says that it has another person in its custody, and that is Saddam Hussein's son-in-law, Jamal Mustafa Sultan, the nine of clubs on that Iraq's deck of most wanted. And we've got U.S. Central Command, however, telling us that, indeed, they do not have custody yet. That is the plan, according to the Iraqi National Congress, to turn him over to U.S. U.S. so far saying that it does not have custody of Saddam Hussein's son-in-law. So U.S. slowly making progress on that deck of cards. Six now in custody, perhaps another one later today -- Sophia.

CHOI: Patty, have you heard anything out of the Pentagon about the news that the U.S. may want to hang on to up to four bases in Iraq for a time?

DAVIS: Well, military officials, a Central Command official, indeed, tells CNN that the U.S. is interested in maintaining some kind of presence in Iraq, a military presence. What's not certain at this point is exactly if it will be a permanent presence, that would have to be something that would be worked out with Iraqi officials, some kind of agreement come to this official says. Or whether it would be used on an intermittent basis, used for emergency purposes. But clearly, the U.S. now in Iraq wants to maintain some kind of presence in Iraq, and that still something to be negotiated -- Sophia.

CHOI: And, Patty, we heard today that we had some problems with F-117s at the beginning of the campaign. Any more details on that? What were the problems exactly?

DAVIS: Well, you remember when those F-117s, it was the first night they went in and attacked a bunker because there was intelligence that Saddam Hussein and his sons were in that bunker. Well, it turns out there were some communications problems, two of those F-117s had trouble communicating with one another. And despite the fact that they had those communications troubles, they were able to hit the target successfully. Now, it's still not certain whether or not Saddam Hussein hid in that attack or not, although we've seen pictures of him since. And U.S. intelligence analyzing those to determine whether or not that was him and when exactly those photos were indeed taken -- Sophia.

CHOI: And, Patty, just one more question just out of curiosity, I read in the "New York Times" today that Donald Rumsfeld, the defense secretary, is getting a lot of kudos because of the way that this war has played out. What are the honchos saying at the Pentagon saying?

DAVIS: Well, everybody here at the Pentagon, obviously, publicly saying that they love Donald Rumsfeld. And, of course, this war went very well for him. You remember at the beginning of the war, there were articles out there of Pentagon officials complaining that Donald Rumsfeld had been calling the shots and had been telling Tommy Franks, you know, not to put in as many troops as he wanted to put in. That was denied here at the Pentagon, but it's all come out in Donald Rumsfeld's favor here. He is he basically the man of the hour here at the Pentagon and in Washington.

CHOI: All right, Patty Davis at the Pentagon, 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