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CNN LIVE AT DAYBREAK

People Gather at Ground Zero

Aired April 11, 2003 - 05:50   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back live to Kuwait City.
We want to bring you now the latest on rescued POW Jessica Lynch. It looks like she might be heading back to the United States very soon. She might be transferred to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington within the next few days. Private Lynch is currently being treated at a military hospital in Germany.

And there's this. NBC is already working on a TV movie about her dramatic rescue by U.S. forces. But her family says she has not yet talked about her ordeal as a POW in Iraq.

Meanwhile, nine of Private Lynch's fallen comrades will be remembered today. A memorial service will be held for them at Fort Bliss, Texas. That's where they were based. The soldiers' bodies were found buried at the Nasiriya hospital, where Private Lynch was rescued. Their unit was ambushed by Iraqi forces on March 23rd after they took a wrong turn -- Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Daryn, also here at home, the fall of Saddam's regime is drawing people into the streets of New York City.

CNN's Maria Hinojosa attended a huge rally there at ground zero.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They gathered in this sacred place, they said, to send love laced with patriotism to the troops. There was seriousness. Vietnam veteran William Sekzer lost his son Jason on September 11.

WILLIAM SEKZER, FATHER OF 9/11 VICTIM: It's extremely important that they know that they have 100 percent of our support. I was in 'Nam. I know what the anti-war demonstrations did to our morale. I don't want to see that happen to our guys.

HINOJOSA: But this being New York City...

UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: God bless America.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you tell I'm from Brooklyn? The same guy that put the flag on Saddam Hussein's face was from Brooklyn. See, he's ingenuitive because Brooklyn people come up with things like that.

HINOJOSA: The estimated 25,000 people who gathered here are the workers of New York City, men in hard hats and firefighters, some with sons and daughters in the military.

OLGA GOMEZ, MOTHER: He feels that he needs to be there to bring freedom and liberty to people that cannot help themself. And we are the only ones that could do it.

HINOJOSA: The U.S. has never claimed any link between Iraq and the 9/11 attacks. But it has alleged a link between Iraq and al Qaeda, which carried out the September 11 attacks. And these politicians said watching Saddam's statue fall in Baghdad is a victory in the war on terrorism.

GOV. GEORGE PATAKI (R), NEW YORK: Let's melt it down. Let's bring it to New York and let's put it in one of the girders that's going to rise over here as a symbol of the rebuilding of New York.

HINOJOSA: Some families of September 11th victims felt uncomfortable with the rally on what they call sacred ground. This crowd, though, said it was an appropriate place to support the troops.

BOB DOLE, FORMER U.S. SENATOR: President Bush had this in mind when he stood in the smoking rubble of ground zero and promised that soon the terrorists who had knocked down these towers would be hearing from all of us.

HINOJOSA (on camera): There were some families of September 11 victims who were here with the photographs of their loved ones. Many others choose not to come and others said they were uncomfortable with this site being used for any political rallies whatsoever.

Maria Hinojosa, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And for those of you heading off to work this morning, good-bye for now.

But we have much more to come. I'm Carol Costello.

KAGAN: I'm Daryn Kagan live in Kuwait City.

We're going to start that off with a look at the headlines at the top of the hour.

First, though, a quick break.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com


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