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CNN Live Today
Power Struggle Restoring Power in Baghdad
Aired April 17, 2003 - 12:12 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.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Saddam Hussein's fate and whereabouts are still a huge mystery. But not so, the place where the ex-Iraqi leader apparently did his last official business.
CNN's Jim Clancy is joining us now live with more on all of the latest developments out of the Iraqi capital.
Jim, what's the latest?
JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, when you look at the situation as it was, in the last days of this regime, the beautiful presidential palaces under aerial attack by U.S. forces. Saddam Hussein retreated to a very modest apartment in northern Baghdad. Al Jazeera Television showing pictures of that apartment today, sparsely furnished, but within the sequence of pictures, they are shown the room, the plastic chairs, the Iraqi flag, the table, all indicating this may have been where those videos came from, showing him meeting with his two sons, Uday and Qusay, and some of the other top members of the Revolutionary Command Council, and publishing or broadcasting his final messages to his people and to his army, as his power slipped away, not much more than half an army uniform of the highest ranking badge on it, and a bottle of expensive French cologne left in that -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Jim, what about electricity. It's sporadically coming back to parts of Baghdad. How serious of a problem is this right now?
BITTERMANN: Well, they have gotten generators out to some of the water treatment plants. That's solving that problem. They are get some places connected that way. The biggest problem they have is that all of the elements appear to be very close to working. What they have to do is have a power surge, if you will, across the national grid. They are talking about bringing electricity all the way from Tikrit, using those undamaged pylons to ferry more energy into the Baghdad area to try to restart it.
But we understand the power plants themselves, Wolf, are working quite well. They are ready to work. It would only take about eight hours to fire the boilers. This is a complicated process involving moving oil and fuel, all these kinds of things, to get it up and working. They were thinking today would the day, but it looks it may be a few more days yet -- Wolf.
BLITZER: And, Jim, finally, before I let you go, does anybody really have a good sense why the electricity went down in Baghdad? As you know, the U.S. military, the coalition, the Central Command, they say they didn't target the electricity. What happened? BITTERMANN: No one is quite sure. And I have been out to the south Baghdad power station, talked with the experts. I've met with some of -- the head man in the electrical power generation facilities in Baghdad. He's told me nobody is certain what caused it. It may have been a combination of interruptions within the power grid, broken lines that forced some to shut down temporarily, bombing raids then encouraged other people to leave their jobs and not come back, and there is the key why it never came back on. If the employees had come back, perhaps it would have continuously been supplied. That wasn't the case. But it's still a mystery -- Wolf.
BLITZER: All right, Jim Clancy in Baghdad, thanks, Jim, very much. if anybody can resolve that mystery, it's Jim Clancy on the scene for us.
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 17, 2003 - 12:12 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Saddam Hussein's fate and whereabouts are still a huge mystery. But not so, the place where the ex-Iraqi leader apparently did his last official business.
CNN's Jim Clancy is joining us now live with more on all of the latest developments out of the Iraqi capital.
Jim, what's the latest?
JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, when you look at the situation as it was, in the last days of this regime, the beautiful presidential palaces under aerial attack by U.S. forces. Saddam Hussein retreated to a very modest apartment in northern Baghdad. Al Jazeera Television showing pictures of that apartment today, sparsely furnished, but within the sequence of pictures, they are shown the room, the plastic chairs, the Iraqi flag, the table, all indicating this may have been where those videos came from, showing him meeting with his two sons, Uday and Qusay, and some of the other top members of the Revolutionary Command Council, and publishing or broadcasting his final messages to his people and to his army, as his power slipped away, not much more than half an army uniform of the highest ranking badge on it, and a bottle of expensive French cologne left in that -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Jim, what about electricity. It's sporadically coming back to parts of Baghdad. How serious of a problem is this right now?
BITTERMANN: Well, they have gotten generators out to some of the water treatment plants. That's solving that problem. They are get some places connected that way. The biggest problem they have is that all of the elements appear to be very close to working. What they have to do is have a power surge, if you will, across the national grid. They are talking about bringing electricity all the way from Tikrit, using those undamaged pylons to ferry more energy into the Baghdad area to try to restart it.
But we understand the power plants themselves, Wolf, are working quite well. They are ready to work. It would only take about eight hours to fire the boilers. This is a complicated process involving moving oil and fuel, all these kinds of things, to get it up and working. They were thinking today would the day, but it looks it may be a few more days yet -- Wolf.
BLITZER: And, Jim, finally, before I let you go, does anybody really have a good sense why the electricity went down in Baghdad? As you know, the U.S. military, the coalition, the Central Command, they say they didn't target the electricity. What happened? BITTERMANN: No one is quite sure. And I have been out to the south Baghdad power station, talked with the experts. I've met with some of -- the head man in the electrical power generation facilities in Baghdad. He's told me nobody is certain what caused it. It may have been a combination of interruptions within the power grid, broken lines that forced some to shut down temporarily, bombing raids then encouraged other people to leave their jobs and not come back, and there is the key why it never came back on. If the employees had come back, perhaps it would have continuously been supplied. That wasn't the case. But it's still a mystery -- Wolf.
BLITZER: All right, Jim Clancy in Baghdad, thanks, Jim, very much. if anybody can resolve that mystery, it's Jim Clancy on the scene for us.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
