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CNN Live At Daybreak

Iraqi News Conference Reaction

Aired April 05, 2003 - 05:14   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're going to talk some more about that press conference that the Iraqi Information Minister was handling just about 25 minutes ago and he said some things that coalition forces of course disagree with.
Let's go to Rula Amin live in Jordan. And Rula, one of the things he said was that Iraqi forces have crushed coalition forces at the airport and that Republican Guard is in complete control of Saddam International Airport. Of course, that's diametrically opposed to what coalition forces are telling us now. Why the extreme differences here?

RULA AMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we have been hearing conflicting versions of what's happening on the ground throughout the last two weeks. However now it's coming to an extreme extent.

Yesterday Sahaf Bid (ph) warned that the Iraqis are going to carry out a counterattack, he said, against the U.S. troops. Today he just came out, said that they did carry out that counterattack. They succeeded in pushing the troops out of the airport, said the Republican Guards are in full control of that airport and that now the rest of the U.S. troops who haven't been killed or injured are trapped in an area called Abuaribe (ph) and that the Iraqi forces are still attacking them.

Again, this is his version of events. He also told the journalists who were there at the press conference that maybe in a couple of hours he will be able to take them in buses to go to the airport to see for themselves. He seemed very confident and it's very, very, very conflicting version of -- contradictory version of events than what we are hearing from Central Command.

But let me tell you about another development. CNN correspondent Nic Robertson just got us some information from inside Baghdad. He said that eyewitnesses have been actually seeing American troops in a number of locations there. He mentioned a number of locations like Amonsoon (ph) neighborhood, Saddam Bridge, Arishede (ph) military base and this is very significant because throughout the day, Central Command did say that U.S. troops are inside Baghdad, in the heart of Baghdad.

But reporters on the scene from Baghdad have not seen any U.S. tanks. They have been reporting the presence -- a stronger presence of Iraqi Republican Guards of paramilitary forces, of ruling Ba'ath party activists very obviously present on the streets of Baghdad, more artillery, more machine guns on the streets. But no one has seen these U.S. troops yet and this is the first time we're hearing eyewitness accounts of U.S. troops inside Baghdad -- Carol.

COSTELLO: And along those same lines, does Nic have any information what kind of resistance coalition forces are taking there?

AMIN: Well, it seems that these troops are -- people have been seeing them there. We do know that Amonsur, for example, Square, people said, that they saw American troops that the area now is closed to civilians and nobody can get there anymore.

It's still very conflicting reports. It's really bizarre what is happening there because it's very extreme contradictory versions of what actually is taking place inside that Iraqi capital -- Carol.

COSTELLO: We had heard from Iraqi officials before this war began that there would be a huge uprising by the people of Baghdad, but that doesn't seem to have happened. In fact, there are long lines of cars going out of Baghdad right now.

AMIN: That is true. That did not happen yet and we do know that in the last two days it seems that Iraqis living in Baghdad have felt that the battle is coming to them and it's going to be fierce and that they have decided that it's better to flee.

We are hearing reports of eyewitnesses as well as reporters there who speak of hundreds of Iraqis fleeing the city, putting and loading their belongings on their cars, on their buses, whatever vehicle they can find and heading most of the time to the east, because that's the place where there are no U.S. troops, at the exit of Baghdad towards there. So it seems that they're deciding to flee.

But also we do know that many are still there. Baghdad is a large city. There are about five million people living there and not all of them have left. Very few, even if it's a matter of thousands, still many people still in Baghdad without electricity in most of the neighborhoods and without running water also in most neighborhoods.

COSTELLO: Understand.

AMIN: Carol.

COSTELLO: Rula Amin, thanks for the new information. We appreciate it.

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 April 5, 2003 - 05:14   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to talk some more about that press conference that the Iraqi Information Minister was handling just about 25 minutes ago and he said some things that coalition forces of course disagree with.
Let's go to Rula Amin live in Jordan. And Rula, one of the things he said was that Iraqi forces have crushed coalition forces at the airport and that Republican Guard is in complete control of Saddam International Airport. Of course, that's diametrically opposed to what coalition forces are telling us now. Why the extreme differences here?

RULA AMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we have been hearing conflicting versions of what's happening on the ground throughout the last two weeks. However now it's coming to an extreme extent.

Yesterday Sahaf Bid (ph) warned that the Iraqis are going to carry out a counterattack, he said, against the U.S. troops. Today he just came out, said that they did carry out that counterattack. They succeeded in pushing the troops out of the airport, said the Republican Guards are in full control of that airport and that now the rest of the U.S. troops who haven't been killed or injured are trapped in an area called Abuaribe (ph) and that the Iraqi forces are still attacking them.

Again, this is his version of events. He also told the journalists who were there at the press conference that maybe in a couple of hours he will be able to take them in buses to go to the airport to see for themselves. He seemed very confident and it's very, very, very conflicting version of -- contradictory version of events than what we are hearing from Central Command.

But let me tell you about another development. CNN correspondent Nic Robertson just got us some information from inside Baghdad. He said that eyewitnesses have been actually seeing American troops in a number of locations there. He mentioned a number of locations like Amonsoon (ph) neighborhood, Saddam Bridge, Arishede (ph) military base and this is very significant because throughout the day, Central Command did say that U.S. troops are inside Baghdad, in the heart of Baghdad.

But reporters on the scene from Baghdad have not seen any U.S. tanks. They have been reporting the presence -- a stronger presence of Iraqi Republican Guards of paramilitary forces, of ruling Ba'ath party activists very obviously present on the streets of Baghdad, more artillery, more machine guns on the streets. But no one has seen these U.S. troops yet and this is the first time we're hearing eyewitness accounts of U.S. troops inside Baghdad -- Carol.

COSTELLO: And along those same lines, does Nic have any information what kind of resistance coalition forces are taking there?

AMIN: Well, it seems that these troops are -- people have been seeing them there. We do know that Amonsur, for example, Square, people said, that they saw American troops that the area now is closed to civilians and nobody can get there anymore.

It's still very conflicting reports. It's really bizarre what is happening there because it's very extreme contradictory versions of what actually is taking place inside that Iraqi capital -- Carol.

COSTELLO: We had heard from Iraqi officials before this war began that there would be a huge uprising by the people of Baghdad, but that doesn't seem to have happened. In fact, there are long lines of cars going out of Baghdad right now.

AMIN: That is true. That did not happen yet and we do know that in the last two days it seems that Iraqis living in Baghdad have felt that the battle is coming to them and it's going to be fierce and that they have decided that it's better to flee.

We are hearing reports of eyewitnesses as well as reporters there who speak of hundreds of Iraqis fleeing the city, putting and loading their belongings on their cars, on their buses, whatever vehicle they can find and heading most of the time to the east, because that's the place where there are no U.S. troops, at the exit of Baghdad towards there. So it seems that they're deciding to flee.

But also we do know that many are still there. Baghdad is a large city. There are about five million people living there and not all of them have left. Very few, even if it's a matter of thousands, still many people still in Baghdad without electricity in most of the neighborhoods and without running water also in most neighborhoods.

COSTELLO: Understand.

AMIN: Carol.

COSTELLO: Rula Amin, thanks for the new information. We appreciate it.

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