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CNN Live At Daybreak

A Discussion of the Middle East

Aired May 02, 2002 - 06:35   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.
(IN PROGRESS)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: What's it like living there?

BRENT SADLER, CNN BEIRUT BUREAU CHIEF: Well, I have been there for 20 years reporting that story. In fact, in '83 I was actually shot just about 20 miles from where I live in the city of Beirut.

Beirut has changed a lot over the last 10 years since the civil war ended. The city center is flourishing. It has come back to life. But of course, there is still a war, if you like, a technical war in the south of the country going on between Hezbollah guerillas and Israelis. So we have over flights, violations they are called in Lebanon by Israeli jets which break the sound barrier, so a lot of banging going on from time to time.

COSTELLO: So how do you stay safe?

SADLER: That's a good question. It's safe. It feels safe to me living in Beirut having been there for so long. But you know, reporters are at more risk now than we have ever been I think in my 20 years reporting the front lines. You know, we are exposed by television, by CNN, by other networks. You know, our reach is truly global, and all of the bad guys get to see us on television. So if they particularly don't like us and they have guns, then they can use those against you.

COSTELLO: And it seems like nowadays, even if you're wearing the flap jackets with the big TV on the front, that in some ways you become a target by doing that.

SADLER: Indeed. You will see a lot of reporters now wearing the press right clearly across the front and the back. We go around in armored cars, as some of the viewers may know. But there is no protection, you know, really. If someone has a grudge against you as a journalist or as an organization, you run the risk of being shot at, you run the risk of being killed. I have had many friends killed and kidnapped. Of course, the Daniel Pearl story particularly struck home, because I had many of my friends kidnapped during the Lebanese civil war years.

COSTELLO: So why don't you come back here and live in a nice, little town in a nice, little house surrounded by a picket fence and be safe? SADLER: Because I feel more comfortable out there. Rather than being shot at by these cameras here in the studio, I feel more comfortable out there in the field.

COSTELLO: Oh, that's crazy. Let me ask you about the mood in the Middle East. You have covered a number of conflicts. How is this one different?

SADLER: It's not different. It's a continuation of the more than 50-year Arab-Israeli conflict. What's different I think is the media, the way the media, particularly the Arab media, now has the ability to be able to reach every home, if you like, or most homes within the Arab world.

People on the street, we hear much about the Arab street, reaction on the street. They get to see more as a result of satellite television, their own terrestrial broadcast stations really daily pushing out these images of the Palestinian struggle against Israel. Of course, it's one-sided. Very often it's a one-sided account these people get. So that's one of the phenomena we have seen.

How is it different? There is a difference in the fact that two people wanted to live on one land. And until there is a peaceful solution, a resolution to that conflict (UNINTELLIGIBLE) at peace, I don't see any peace anytime soon.

COSTELLO: I think to many Americans, the relationship between Yasser Arafat and Ariel Sharon seems -- it seems like they are two little boys in a schoolyard fighting. Even the language they use is sort of like that, and I think that's very hard for many Americans to understand.

SADLER: Well, there is a more than 20-year conflict between these two warriors, if you like. You have Ariel Sharon, the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) warrior, you know, being one of the great commanders in the Israeli army, in the creation of Israel, in the war of independence. And you have Yasser Arafat who he regards as a terrorist as his nemesis.

You know, Ariel Sharon lay siege to Beirut back in 1982, drove Sharon (sic) to the sea, if you like, forced the PLO and Sharon (sic) into exile into various parts of the Arab world. So there is a battle of wills between these two men, which is a fascinating, obviously a deadly battle between these two leaders and the people they represent.

COSTELLO: I want to talk about Afghanistan now, because you have covered events extensively there. And that's still going on, although it has been kind of put on the back burner, because of the conflict in the Middle East. What was that like in Afghanistan at the height?

SADLER: Afghanistan was an extraordinarily difficult terrain to cover. You know, we were there during the Tora Bora siege, the final hunt it was thought at that time back in November-December for Osama bin Laden in the White Mountains of eastern Afghanistan. Now, I went up with some of the Northern Alliance forces, the anti-Taliban forces, the Afghans, and the terrain was extraordinarily difficult. I mean, I remember doing a 5, 10-mile hike with this flap jacket on, which weighs, you know, 30 pounds. I mean, climbing with that thing and you know, dodging artillery or bullets that were flying around. Al Qaeda actually engaged the group we were with, and we were shot at lying on the ground with bullets whizzing over our heads.

So imagine that. Imagine what the U.S. forces are doing and the Brits and other fighters that are there, the difficulties they faced in tracking down those al Qaeda remnants and Taliban remnants, which are still able to inflict casualties...

COSTELLO: And Osama bin Laden -- yes.

SADLER: ... against U.S. forces and bin Laden and Mullah Omar. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) that was very, very difficult.

COSTELLO: All right. Brent Sadler, thank you for joining us this morning.

SADLER: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: And you are heading back to Beirut when?

SADLER: In about a week.

COSTELLO: OK. Back to the nice safety of Beirut.

SADLER: Absolutely.

COSTELLO: OK. Thank you -- Brent Sadler joining us live this morning.

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