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President Bush Says He'll Try Diplomacy With Iraq One More Time
Aired October 22, 2002 - 05:30 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.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: And now to the Iraq situation. President Bush says that he will try diplomacy one more time. He says he hopes that Saddam Hussein will disarm peacefully. Mr. Bush's comments come hours after U.S. diplomats delivered a new softer draft resolution on Iraq to U.N. Security Council members.
Let's take you live to the Iraqi capital now, where we are joined by our Baghdad bureau chief, Jane Arraf -- Jane, what's the latest from there?
JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Catherine.
Well, ordinary Iraqis are certainly breathing a sigh of relief over this apparent softening of the position by the U.S. president, although many feel it is only a temporary reprieve in this threat.
Now, as for the Iraqi government, it takes a long time for reaction to filter down from the presidential palace, so no reaction to those moves yet. But the government here is still very much preoccupied with congratulating itself over a referendum that it held last week in which it said 100 percent of Iraqis came out and voted their support for President Saddam Hussein.
Now, in the street behind me this morning, you might be able to hear, at least, the remnants of a small demonstration that happened just outside our door a few minutes ago. These were people who were chanting their support for the Iraqi president. People are still being encouraged to go out and celebrate. Late last night there were fireworks and automatic gunfire, a traditional way of celebrating, in the air, long into the night.
Now, that 100 percent, of course, doesn't really hold up to scrutiny, but the Iraqi government says it is an indication that there is support for the Iraqi leader -- Catherine.
CALLAWAY: Yes, and what is the reaction there, Jane, to the release of the, the historic release that we saw this weekend of the political prisoners?
ARRAF: Well, that really was an amazing move, in many people's view. What it did was it released, according to the government, every single Iraqi prisoner, including, for the first time in the history of Saddam Hussein's regime, political prisoners. Those are thought to be in the thousands. So it's all sorts of people are seeing long lost relatives, long lost friends. Now, this demonstration outside our door was for the, to celebrate the prison release, as well. But as in most things here, there was a darker side. There were some of the people in the demonstration saying they had gone to the prisons and were told that their relatives weren't there, that there was nobody there. Now, clearly there are a lot of people still unaccounted for.
Among them, two people with American passports. The American interest section here says the Iraqi government is still holding two people of Iraqi origin with U.S. passports on spying charges. It has been some time and it's not releasing them -- Catherine.
CALLAWAY: That's an interesting development, Jane. Any reaction from the Iraqi government on that?
ARRAF: Well, the Iraqi government has just informed the U.S. interest section, which, again, is run by the Poles, actually. The United States doesn't have direct diplomatic presence here. But the Polish head of the U.S. interest section tells us that he has just been informed by the foreign ministry here that it intends to continue to hold these two people.
Now, the presidential decree said that all Iraqis would be freed and all Arabs would be freed, except those accused of spying. It seems to be saying that it will continue to hold these two people, who have U.S. passports, as many people here do, because they have been convicted of spying -- Catherine.
CALLAWAY: All right, thank you.
That's Jane Arraf joining us from Baghdad.
Thanks, Jane.
And you can stay on top of all the developments that involve Iraq. Just join our Wolf Blitzer for "Showdown Iraq." It comes your way weekdays at noon Eastern time, 9:00 a.m. out there on the West Coast.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Time>
Aired October 22, 2002 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: And now to the Iraq situation. President Bush says that he will try diplomacy one more time. He says he hopes that Saddam Hussein will disarm peacefully. Mr. Bush's comments come hours after U.S. diplomats delivered a new softer draft resolution on Iraq to U.N. Security Council members.
Let's take you live to the Iraqi capital now, where we are joined by our Baghdad bureau chief, Jane Arraf -- Jane, what's the latest from there?
JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Catherine.
Well, ordinary Iraqis are certainly breathing a sigh of relief over this apparent softening of the position by the U.S. president, although many feel it is only a temporary reprieve in this threat.
Now, as for the Iraqi government, it takes a long time for reaction to filter down from the presidential palace, so no reaction to those moves yet. But the government here is still very much preoccupied with congratulating itself over a referendum that it held last week in which it said 100 percent of Iraqis came out and voted their support for President Saddam Hussein.
Now, in the street behind me this morning, you might be able to hear, at least, the remnants of a small demonstration that happened just outside our door a few minutes ago. These were people who were chanting their support for the Iraqi president. People are still being encouraged to go out and celebrate. Late last night there were fireworks and automatic gunfire, a traditional way of celebrating, in the air, long into the night.
Now, that 100 percent, of course, doesn't really hold up to scrutiny, but the Iraqi government says it is an indication that there is support for the Iraqi leader -- Catherine.
CALLAWAY: Yes, and what is the reaction there, Jane, to the release of the, the historic release that we saw this weekend of the political prisoners?
ARRAF: Well, that really was an amazing move, in many people's view. What it did was it released, according to the government, every single Iraqi prisoner, including, for the first time in the history of Saddam Hussein's regime, political prisoners. Those are thought to be in the thousands. So it's all sorts of people are seeing long lost relatives, long lost friends. Now, this demonstration outside our door was for the, to celebrate the prison release, as well. But as in most things here, there was a darker side. There were some of the people in the demonstration saying they had gone to the prisons and were told that their relatives weren't there, that there was nobody there. Now, clearly there are a lot of people still unaccounted for.
Among them, two people with American passports. The American interest section here says the Iraqi government is still holding two people of Iraqi origin with U.S. passports on spying charges. It has been some time and it's not releasing them -- Catherine.
CALLAWAY: That's an interesting development, Jane. Any reaction from the Iraqi government on that?
ARRAF: Well, the Iraqi government has just informed the U.S. interest section, which, again, is run by the Poles, actually. The United States doesn't have direct diplomatic presence here. But the Polish head of the U.S. interest section tells us that he has just been informed by the foreign ministry here that it intends to continue to hold these two people.
Now, the presidential decree said that all Iraqis would be freed and all Arabs would be freed, except those accused of spying. It seems to be saying that it will continue to hold these two people, who have U.S. passports, as many people here do, because they have been convicted of spying -- Catherine.
CALLAWAY: All right, thank you.
That's Jane Arraf joining us from Baghdad.
Thanks, Jane.
And you can stay on top of all the developments that involve Iraq. Just join our Wolf Blitzer for "Showdown Iraq." It comes your way weekdays at noon Eastern time, 9:00 a.m. out there on the West Coast.
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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