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CNN Live At Daybreak
Iraq Claiming U.S. Forces Targeting Civilians
Aired March 27, 2003 - 05:40 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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We want to go to Jordan right now, Amman Jordan, and check in with Rym Brahimi to talk more about this Baghdad marketplace that was apparently hit by someone, and we don't know who, right -- Rym?
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, Carol.
Well this is the -- as far as the Iraqis are concerned, it was hit by a U.S. cruise missile and it caused, according to Iraq's Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, some 15 civilian deaths. Now some reporters that we know, some photographers who were taken there by the Iraqi authorities. As you know, Carol, the Iraqi authorities have been extremely keen to take reporters and every single place that's been hit by the U.S.-led forces.
Now they took them to that place. It's in the northern outskirts of Baghdad. A very, very popular area, I might add, a very poor area as well. And the photographers we spoke to said that they saw charred cars, they saw some undetermined number of bodies that appears to be civilian.
Now a short while ago, Carol, the Minister of Health of Iraq came out and he accused the United States of deliberately targeting civilians. Saying that in the past week or so since the conflict began, 350 civilian deaths, mostly women, children and the elderly Iraqi deaths had occurred in Iraq. The minister also said that this was something the United States and Britain were doing deliberately.
Let's listen to how he put it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UMID MIDHAT MUBARAK, IRAQI HEALTH MINISTER (through translator): You see that these aggressors, the American and British and their allies, are targeting civilians regardless of age. And today in the popular area, they targeted stores and civilian areas.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRAHIMI: Now the Health Minister also accused the United Nations of not respecting its engagements by having pulled out all its humanitarian staff before the war began, saying that it prevents -- it's not doing its job, it's not doing its duty, it's carrying out its responsibilities and it's stopping a lot of food and humanitarian aid from going through the Iraqi people.
Now I'd like to go back to those pictures of the marketplace. Now these pictures, as you know, have been broadcast on much of the Arab media, especially everything that's been happening in Baghdad, the blast overnight, a lot of what's been happening. Arab media -- Arab satellite media, mainly Al Jazeera, Abu Dhabi, MBC (ph), Middle East Broadcast, and of course the new one, El Ala Via (ph), they've been broadcasting these pictures a lot. Little commentary, however. Maybe a way of telling the people they don't really know exactly what happened there, but also maybe allowing their people to make their own judgement on that.
But on the whole, the Arab press has been extremely pro Iraqi, especially in countries in the Gulf, for instance, that have been supportive in one way of U.S. military-led action, allowing newspapers to be a forum for -- to vent maybe public sentiment that's largely pro Iraqi in the region -- Carol.
COSTELLO: And one question for you, Rym, and quickly now, we noticed that this press briefing by the Iraqi Health Minister was done mostly in English and we don't usually see that. Is that significant?
BRAHIMI: They usually -- the Iraqi officials I think usually start by talking in Arabic and then answer questions in English. I think -- my impression was more that maybe most of the questions he had were from English speaking reporters. But it is a very, very significant trend that the Iraqi officials when they brief the press usually start off by making a statement in Arabic. They provided a lot of access to Arab language networks. And it's also significant, there could be also maybe a guideline that they give in Arabic as the national language and they have to start by Arabic and then accommodate the other foreign language press, media present in the briefing room -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Thanks for your insight. Rym Brahimi reporting live from Jordan this morning.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Carol, we are going to go to a short break.
But before we do, just two items to mention. One, just a few moments ago Richard Gaisford (ph), a British poll (ph) reporter, informed us that British forces he is with outside Basra, who have encircled Basra in an area outside of Basra, they engaged four companies of entrenched Iraqi infantry. Apparently no injuries on the British side. They destroyed the four companies, this according to Richard Gaisford, also 14 T55 tanks. Those are those old Soviet-made tanks that the Iraqis have been using, not state of the art. Also five armored personnel carriers all destroyed in this attack on the outskirts of Basra.
This information is just coming in. We were following it up trying to get more information. Just keep in mind that the earlier we heard from CENTCOM the situation in Basra is difficult, confused. The classic ambiguous battle space, that is what the British categorized it as.
We should also just remind you we have a press conference coming up in about 15 minutes. You're going to want to stay tuned for it. A live press conference with three U.S. military members, two Army, one Marine, wounded in battle. They are now at Lundstuhl Hospital and they are going to be talking to reporters live in about 15 minutes.
Have a short break and we'll be right back.
COSTELLO: We'll be back.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired March 27, 2003 - 05:40 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We want to go to Jordan right now, Amman Jordan, and check in with Rym Brahimi to talk more about this Baghdad marketplace that was apparently hit by someone, and we don't know who, right -- Rym?
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, Carol.
Well this is the -- as far as the Iraqis are concerned, it was hit by a U.S. cruise missile and it caused, according to Iraq's Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, some 15 civilian deaths. Now some reporters that we know, some photographers who were taken there by the Iraqi authorities. As you know, Carol, the Iraqi authorities have been extremely keen to take reporters and every single place that's been hit by the U.S.-led forces.
Now they took them to that place. It's in the northern outskirts of Baghdad. A very, very popular area, I might add, a very poor area as well. And the photographers we spoke to said that they saw charred cars, they saw some undetermined number of bodies that appears to be civilian.
Now a short while ago, Carol, the Minister of Health of Iraq came out and he accused the United States of deliberately targeting civilians. Saying that in the past week or so since the conflict began, 350 civilian deaths, mostly women, children and the elderly Iraqi deaths had occurred in Iraq. The minister also said that this was something the United States and Britain were doing deliberately.
Let's listen to how he put it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UMID MIDHAT MUBARAK, IRAQI HEALTH MINISTER (through translator): You see that these aggressors, the American and British and their allies, are targeting civilians regardless of age. And today in the popular area, they targeted stores and civilian areas.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRAHIMI: Now the Health Minister also accused the United Nations of not respecting its engagements by having pulled out all its humanitarian staff before the war began, saying that it prevents -- it's not doing its job, it's not doing its duty, it's carrying out its responsibilities and it's stopping a lot of food and humanitarian aid from going through the Iraqi people.
Now I'd like to go back to those pictures of the marketplace. Now these pictures, as you know, have been broadcast on much of the Arab media, especially everything that's been happening in Baghdad, the blast overnight, a lot of what's been happening. Arab media -- Arab satellite media, mainly Al Jazeera, Abu Dhabi, MBC (ph), Middle East Broadcast, and of course the new one, El Ala Via (ph), they've been broadcasting these pictures a lot. Little commentary, however. Maybe a way of telling the people they don't really know exactly what happened there, but also maybe allowing their people to make their own judgement on that.
But on the whole, the Arab press has been extremely pro Iraqi, especially in countries in the Gulf, for instance, that have been supportive in one way of U.S. military-led action, allowing newspapers to be a forum for -- to vent maybe public sentiment that's largely pro Iraqi in the region -- Carol.
COSTELLO: And one question for you, Rym, and quickly now, we noticed that this press briefing by the Iraqi Health Minister was done mostly in English and we don't usually see that. Is that significant?
BRAHIMI: They usually -- the Iraqi officials I think usually start by talking in Arabic and then answer questions in English. I think -- my impression was more that maybe most of the questions he had were from English speaking reporters. But it is a very, very significant trend that the Iraqi officials when they brief the press usually start off by making a statement in Arabic. They provided a lot of access to Arab language networks. And it's also significant, there could be also maybe a guideline that they give in Arabic as the national language and they have to start by Arabic and then accommodate the other foreign language press, media present in the briefing room -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Thanks for your insight. Rym Brahimi reporting live from Jordan this morning.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Carol, we are going to go to a short break.
But before we do, just two items to mention. One, just a few moments ago Richard Gaisford (ph), a British poll (ph) reporter, informed us that British forces he is with outside Basra, who have encircled Basra in an area outside of Basra, they engaged four companies of entrenched Iraqi infantry. Apparently no injuries on the British side. They destroyed the four companies, this according to Richard Gaisford, also 14 T55 tanks. Those are those old Soviet-made tanks that the Iraqis have been using, not state of the art. Also five armored personnel carriers all destroyed in this attack on the outskirts of Basra.
This information is just coming in. We were following it up trying to get more information. Just keep in mind that the earlier we heard from CENTCOM the situation in Basra is difficult, confused. The classic ambiguous battle space, that is what the British categorized it as.
We should also just remind you we have a press conference coming up in about 15 minutes. You're going to want to stay tuned for it. A live press conference with three U.S. military members, two Army, one Marine, wounded in battle. They are now at Lundstuhl Hospital and they are going to be talking to reporters live in about 15 minutes.
Have a short break and we'll be right back.
COSTELLO: We'll be back.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
