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U.S., Britain Want Basra as Humanitarian Aid Hub

Aired March 31, 2003 - 11:08   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.


LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: We want to get the word on the other southern city that we were talking about earlier, Basra being that particular city, and British forces there still trying to chip away at the resistance they're encountering there.
Our Christiane Amanpour checks in now live. I believe we have the technical problems straightened out.

Now, Christiane, can you hear me now?

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Leon, indeed I can now.

Of course, Basra does remain the central focus for the British. That is their main objective in this southeastern part, which is the area that they're responsible for. A lot of British troops have been moving forward. We've got the one paragroup, the air assault paratroopers who are also flying north in their helicopters.

And around Basra, we have now the British consolidated for a long time now on the west, but they have also now taken positions on the southeast of Basra, after a Sunday operation in which they sent in commandos to attack several companies of Iraqi army infantry troops as well as artillery and tanks.

We're told there were 200 prisoners taken during that battle.

At the same time, the British are trying to win over the population and try to give them space to sort of come to the British side, if you like, by bringing them humanitarian aid.

This is a very, very slow process, and so far they have not been able to bring the aid to Basra, because of the fighting, so they're trying to do it in the towns south of Basra, which they have secured, and hoping they will be able to push further north into the town of Basra.

One slight complication, which is causing some confusion here over the whole water issue, yesterday, the drinking water was turned on to the population of Umm Qasr, and we were following that, and we saw these big tankers of water were going to central distribution points in Umm Qasr. But then it appears now that the civil affairs groups of the United States army are saying that the people of Umm Qasr need to pay a nominal charge for that water. The British are saying that that runs counter to the notion of humanitarian delivery and trying to win hearts and minds. So that's an area that is potentially confusing, and certainly as we know, the people of this area are desperate for water, desperate for drinking water, and they were very angry when they were being told they had to pay for it. So that's going to be a wrinkle that I would assume needs to be ironed out.

HARRIS: That's a very interesting point. We'll have to Try to bring that up next time we go to the Pentagon, and see what the word is from there about that, charging those people for water.

Let me ask you something else, Christiane, about the situation in Basra. Is there any sign at all there that the people there have actually now started to actually believe in the mission of these British forces and are actually helping them track down who these Iraqi fighters are and where they may be hiding there within that city?

AMANPOUR: On the latter part of your question about helping them, not so much in Basra we hear, but in other cities, yes, for instance, Zubare (ph), which is just south of Basra, and which is mostly now consolidated by the British, except for some pockets of resistance, as they call it.

The locals are, they're saying, helping them try to track down the houses, the locations of the Baath Party officials, and indeed some of the irregular militias.

Inside Basra itself, it's more difficult , the British say, to assess what the people are feeling, what they are thinking, because they've got almost no access inside. They have their own methods of a little bit of information gathering from inside, but nothing to give a big picture at the moment.

We have talked to people coming out of Basra. They won't agree to be filmed on cameras; they won't give interviews on camera.

They're very afraid that even though the British and the Americans are here in such large numbers in Iraq, that until they're sure that Saddam Hussein is gone, and that the British and Americans are staying to finish the job, they're not going to be showing their cards, their not going to be saying welcome.

On the quiet, people say we're glad to see the troops, and everybody, they say, wants to see Saddam gone, but there's no outbreak of joy, in this part of the world certainly, and there's unlikely to be until they see which way this war is going to go, and whether the British and the Americans are going to stay.

HARRIS: Very interesting. Thank you, Christiane, be safe.

We'll check back with you later on. Christiane Amanpour.

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 31, 2003 - 11:08   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: We want to get the word on the other southern city that we were talking about earlier, Basra being that particular city, and British forces there still trying to chip away at the resistance they're encountering there.
Our Christiane Amanpour checks in now live. I believe we have the technical problems straightened out.

Now, Christiane, can you hear me now?

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Leon, indeed I can now.

Of course, Basra does remain the central focus for the British. That is their main objective in this southeastern part, which is the area that they're responsible for. A lot of British troops have been moving forward. We've got the one paragroup, the air assault paratroopers who are also flying north in their helicopters.

And around Basra, we have now the British consolidated for a long time now on the west, but they have also now taken positions on the southeast of Basra, after a Sunday operation in which they sent in commandos to attack several companies of Iraqi army infantry troops as well as artillery and tanks.

We're told there were 200 prisoners taken during that battle.

At the same time, the British are trying to win over the population and try to give them space to sort of come to the British side, if you like, by bringing them humanitarian aid.

This is a very, very slow process, and so far they have not been able to bring the aid to Basra, because of the fighting, so they're trying to do it in the towns south of Basra, which they have secured, and hoping they will be able to push further north into the town of Basra.

One slight complication, which is causing some confusion here over the whole water issue, yesterday, the drinking water was turned on to the population of Umm Qasr, and we were following that, and we saw these big tankers of water were going to central distribution points in Umm Qasr. But then it appears now that the civil affairs groups of the United States army are saying that the people of Umm Qasr need to pay a nominal charge for that water. The British are saying that that runs counter to the notion of humanitarian delivery and trying to win hearts and minds. So that's an area that is potentially confusing, and certainly as we know, the people of this area are desperate for water, desperate for drinking water, and they were very angry when they were being told they had to pay for it. So that's going to be a wrinkle that I would assume needs to be ironed out.

HARRIS: That's a very interesting point. We'll have to Try to bring that up next time we go to the Pentagon, and see what the word is from there about that, charging those people for water.

Let me ask you something else, Christiane, about the situation in Basra. Is there any sign at all there that the people there have actually now started to actually believe in the mission of these British forces and are actually helping them track down who these Iraqi fighters are and where they may be hiding there within that city?

AMANPOUR: On the latter part of your question about helping them, not so much in Basra we hear, but in other cities, yes, for instance, Zubare (ph), which is just south of Basra, and which is mostly now consolidated by the British, except for some pockets of resistance, as they call it.

The locals are, they're saying, helping them try to track down the houses, the locations of the Baath Party officials, and indeed some of the irregular militias.

Inside Basra itself, it's more difficult , the British say, to assess what the people are feeling, what they are thinking, because they've got almost no access inside. They have their own methods of a little bit of information gathering from inside, but nothing to give a big picture at the moment.

We have talked to people coming out of Basra. They won't agree to be filmed on cameras; they won't give interviews on camera.

They're very afraid that even though the British and the Americans are here in such large numbers in Iraq, that until they're sure that Saddam Hussein is gone, and that the British and Americans are staying to finish the job, they're not going to be showing their cards, their not going to be saying welcome.

On the quiet, people say we're glad to see the troops, and everybody, they say, wants to see Saddam gone, but there's no outbreak of joy, in this part of the world certainly, and there's unlikely to be until they see which way this war is going to go, and whether the British and the Americans are going to stay.

HARRIS: Very interesting. Thank you, Christiane, be safe.

We'll check back with you later on. Christiane Amanpour.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com