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CNN Live Today

Hussein Halts Oil Exports

Aired April 08, 2002 - 14:10   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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein says he is halting all oil exports immediately as part of an effort to lash out against Israel and the U.S. CNN's Jane Arraf has those details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Fighting from the sidelines, the Iraqi president unleashed the only major weapon he can use right now: an immediate halt to Iraqi oil exports, most of which end up in the United States.

SADDAM HUSSEIN, IRAQI LEADER (through translator): The Revolution Command Council, the Iraqi leadership of the Ba'ath Arab Socialist Party, and the cabinet in their meeting, on the 8th of April, 2002, declare in the name of the faithful, honest, Mujahid, noble Iraqi people, completely stopping oil exporting, starting from this afternoon on April 8th, through the pipelines going to the Turkish port of the Mediterranean and our ports in Basra for the period of 30 days.

ARRAF: The move, like so many recently, was meant to highlight Iraq's support for the Palestinian uprising. It's rare to find President Saddam Hussein sharing the spotlight. At this Baghdad demonstration, though, Yasser Arafat's image was paraded alongside the Iraqi leader's. The rally, in support of Palestinian suicide bombers, was organized by the government. But the rage against Israel and the United States was real.

"Paradise," they chant, "opens its gates only for martyrs." For nearly two years, as the latest Palestinian uprising sparked and burned, Saddam Hussein sent financial support to the families of the suicide bombers. Then last month, news spread that the Iraqi leader had ordered the payments to be more than doubled. Now $25,000 for each family of a suicide bomber, $1,000 to each Palestinian wounded in the uprising, and another $5,000 to each family whose home was destroyed by Israeli forces.

All that money would go a long way to helping ordinary Iraqis. But here, no one is allowed to question how the Iraqi president spends money. Iraq, like other Arab countries, doesn't consider the suicide bombers terrorists, as long as Israel occupies Palestinian land.

(on camera): In the space of just two weeks, Yasser Arafat has become so popular the Iraqi government has named a major street in Baghdad after him.

(voice-over): "He's a hero because he's willing to die," says 15-year-old Mahmoud. "They asked him, 'what do you want, to be a prisoner of war, or a martyr?' He told them three times, 'I want to be a martyr.'"

Despite years of veiled threats, Iraq has either been unwilling or unable to launch a direct, sustained attack on Israel. For the Iraqi president, supporting the Palestinians is a way of trying to prove he's fighting for all Moslems and Arabs, not just for himself. Jane Arraf, CNN, Baghdad.

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