MARK WILLACY: Known as the pearl of the north, Mosul has been fought over for more than 1,200 years. In turn, the Mongols, the Persians, the Ottomans, the British and the Arabs have ruled this city. Today, it remains a melting pot of many cultures. Sheik Ahmed Taha is the chief of Iraq's 30,000 Kurdish families, a position he holds only through the patronage of Saddam Hussein. So, unlike many of his people, he's proud to call Saddam a friend.
SHEIKH AHMED TAHA, CHIEF OF IRAQ'S KURDS (TRANSLATION): Kurdish people like Iraq. The leadership of Saddam Hussein serves our people and our people will stand behind Saddam Hussein and carry the weapon to defend Iraq against the USA. We will never be subject to American control. The Iraqi-Kurdish people won't allow themselves to be agents for the USA.
MARK WILLACY: But thousands of Kurds are willing to join a US push against Baghdad. Only a river lies between rebel Kurdish forces and the road to the capital. This is the front line between Saddam Hussein's Iraq and Kurdish-controlled Iraq. From here to the Turkish border, tens of thousand of Kurdish fighters are protected by a no-fly zone, enforced by US and British war planes. Those same fighters are waiting for the word from the Bush Administration to begin crossing over this no-man's-land to join a war against Saddam Hussein. But on the Iraqi side of the bridge, Kurds are too fearful to speak out against the President. With Iraqi soldiers listening in, we asked this man about the strength of the Kurdish resistance on the other side of the river.
KURDISH MAN (TRANSLATION): I'm just a worker. I can't say anything about the other side. I have no information about them because I have no relationship with them. I am retired and I just take my Iraqi pension.
MARK WILLACY: We were not allowed to film Iraqi military positions near the border. What we did film of Iraqi soldiers was done while our minder wasn't looking. What we certainly couldn't film were dozens of heavy guns dug into earth barricades and tanks being unloaded. Some of these military positions have been the target of strikes by US and British aircraft patrolling the no-fly zone. Miram Yousef lost three of her four sons in a US missile strike two years ago. They were playing soccer in their Turkoman village, north-west of Mosul, when the war planes hit.
MIRAM YOUSEF (TRANSLATION): All of the sons of Iraq are my sons. I lost my three sons. So when I hear the US aircraft, I feel very, very upset.
MARK WILLACY: Miram Yousef's son Yasser survived the air strike. He spent months in hospital and had his left arm amputated.
YASIR KHATIR (TRANSLATION): What did I do to deserve losing my arm? It stops me from working, and my family needs me. But I am useless. What was my crime?
MARK WILLACY: With his three brothers dead, there's no-one left to support Yasser's parent and seven sisters. Others have made the most of the protection afforded by US and British war planes. Kawa Ali Saleh and his son Safin are Kurds. Every day they drive from their home in Kurdish-controlled Iraq to Mosul to work in a bakery.
KAWA ALI SALEH, BAKER (TRANSLATION): I come with my son to work to earn money because work is available here. There is no work over the bridge and no government to give us money or work. I come here to work because I have many children to feed and clothe.
MARK WILLACY: About a quarter of Mosul's population is Kurdish. The rest are Arabs, Assyrians and Turkoman. There are more Christians in this city than anywhere else in the country. But it's another group in northern Iraq which worries the Bush Administration. Washington alleges that Saddam Hussein has allowed Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network to infiltrate the region. But the man in charge of the region scoffs at that charge.
SHEIKH AHMED TAHA: TRANSLATION: Iraq doesn't have any relationship with Al Qaeda or Osama bin Laden and the province where there is Al Qaeda is under the control of the United States and Kurdish rebel leader, Jalal Talabani. It is outside Iraqi government control. Why doesn't the US get rid of these people?
MARK WILLACY: For Sheikh Ahmed Taha, an invasion by US-backed Kurds would mean the end of his rule and possibly even death. While most of Mosul's citizens fear the bloodshed a war would bring, secretly, many would like to see the back end of Saddam Hussein. But what then? Many believe the US, with its awesome firepower, would be just another invader, preying on a city which has seen massive armies come and go for centuries.
SHEIKH AHMED TAHA, CHIEF OF IRAQ'S KURDS (TRANSLATION): Kurdish people like Iraq. The leadership of Saddam Hussein serves our people and our people will stand behind Saddam Hussein and carry the weapon to defend Iraq against the USA. We will never be subject to American control. The Iraqi-Kurdish people won't allow themselves to be agents for the USA.
MARK WILLACY: But thousands of Kurds are willing to join a US push against Baghdad. Only a river lies between rebel Kurdish forces and the road to the capital. This is the front line between Saddam Hussein's Iraq and Kurdish-controlled Iraq. From here to the Turkish border, tens of thousand of Kurdish fighters are protected by a no-fly zone, enforced by US and British war planes. Those same fighters are waiting for the word from the Bush Administration to begin crossing over this no-man's-land to join a war against Saddam Hussein. But on the Iraqi side of the bridge, Kurds are too fearful to speak out against the President. With Iraqi soldiers listening in, we asked this man about the strength of the Kurdish resistance on the other side of the river.
KURDISH MAN (TRANSLATION): I'm just a worker. I can't say anything about the other side. I have no information about them because I have no relationship with them. I am retired and I just take my Iraqi pension.
MARK WILLACY: We were not allowed to film Iraqi military positions near the border. What we did film of Iraqi soldiers was done while our minder wasn't looking. What we certainly couldn't film were dozens of heavy guns dug into earth barricades and tanks being unloaded. Some of these military positions have been the target of strikes by US and British aircraft patrolling the no-fly zone. Miram Yousef lost three of her four sons in a US missile strike two years ago. They were playing soccer in their Turkoman village, north-west of Mosul, when the war planes hit.
MIRAM YOUSEF (TRANSLATION): All of the sons of Iraq are my sons. I lost my three sons. So when I hear the US aircraft, I feel very, very upset.
MARK WILLACY: Miram Yousef's son Yasser survived the air strike. He spent months in hospital and had his left arm amputated.
YASIR KHATIR (TRANSLATION): What did I do to deserve losing my arm? It stops me from working, and my family needs me. But I am useless. What was my crime?
MARK WILLACY: With his three brothers dead, there's no-one left to support Yasser's parent and seven sisters. Others have made the most of the protection afforded by US and British war planes. Kawa Ali Saleh and his son Safin are Kurds. Every day they drive from their home in Kurdish-controlled Iraq to Mosul to work in a bakery.
KAWA ALI SALEH, BAKER (TRANSLATION): I come with my son to work to earn money because work is available here. There is no work over the bridge and no government to give us money or work. I come here to work because I have many children to feed and clothe.
MARK WILLACY: About a quarter of Mosul's population is Kurdish. The rest are Arabs, Assyrians and Turkoman. There are more Christians in this city than anywhere else in the country. But it's another group in northern Iraq which worries the Bush Administration. Washington alleges that Saddam Hussein has allowed Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network to infiltrate the region. But the man in charge of the region scoffs at that charge.
SHEIKH AHMED TAHA: TRANSLATION: Iraq doesn't have any relationship with Al Qaeda or Osama bin Laden and the province where there is Al Qaeda is under the control of the United States and Kurdish rebel leader, Jalal Talabani. It is outside Iraqi government control. Why doesn't the US get rid of these people?
MARK WILLACY: For Sheikh Ahmed Taha, an invasion by US-backed Kurds would mean the end of his rule and possibly even death. While most of Mosul's citizens fear the bloodshed a war would bring, secretly, many would like to see the back end of Saddam Hussein. But what then? Many believe the US, with its awesome firepower, would be just another invader, preying on a city which has seen massive armies come and go for centuries.