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Why Was Tape of Saddam Released?

Aired April 18, 2003 - 11:06   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.


ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Just over a week ago, Iraqis cheered as the statue of Saddam Hussein was toppled in Baghdad. That was the same day Abu Dhabi TV says the newly released videotape of Saddam was shot.
CNN's Jim Clancy joins us live from the Iraqi capital with more on how these images will be playing there -- Jim.

JIM CLANCY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're going to be playing very sparsely, because there's no electricity for anybody to see them for the most part.

I think what we really want to look at, too, in terms of how they are playing here is when they were recorded. Now, it is -- would be dramatic if president Saddam Hussein was strolling the streets, exhorting the crowds on the very day that his bronzen image was being toppled just miles away, but according to some of the people we've been talking to in that neighborhood where this video was made, they're saying he didn't come out on that day. They said he came out perhaps a couple of days perhaps after the beginning of the war. This is just some of the people on the streets that have neighborhood. It's called the Azamiyah (ph) neighborhood. It's a Sunni Muslim neighborhood, and they say it wasn't a popular place with the former president of Iraq. They say that he came out on that day, but certainly not on April 9th, as is being said by those who have released this videotape.

What is coming out, Anderson, are a lot of questions. Why was this tape released now? Considerable risk, you would imagine, by Iraqi Television cameramen, or whomever had this, to release it, perhaps now trying to get it out to the Western news media, or to even the Arabic news channels, and in doing so, taking that risk, you wonder, is this to send a message that Saddam Hussein is still alive, that he's eluded U.S. capture, or is it sending a message that Saddam Hussein is still a man to be reckoned with?

In that case, it's a far cry from what we're seeing on the streets, where his murals, paintings, posters, still being destroyed with some level of anger by the people of this capital city -- Anderson.

COOPER: Jim, is there a great sense among people there that Saddam is alive? And I ask the question, because if they do see these pictures or hear about the release of these pictures or the release of this audiotape, that would certainly seem to fuel the rumors, and as we just heard from Nic Robertson, the rumor mill is alive and well in Baghdad. CLANCY: Certainly so. I think what it comes down to, Anderson, is this -- people are traumatized after decades of Saddam Hussein's rule, traumatized to the point they're afraid even to talk about him even if they suspect that he's already dead. When you try to ask them, well, do you think he ought to come back when they're arguing about the U.S. role in their country, they'll say you can't even ask us that question, we're afraid even to speak about him. That's how traumatized they are.

So yes, there is this image that lingers on. At the same time, there is another sense here, and that is a sense that he's not coming back. He is not going to be able to regain power. He is gone for good from their lives -- from their lives, and that is very important.

COOPER: I though you raised an excellent question, which is why this tape was released when it was, and it will be very interesting to see in the coming days or weeks if more tapes are released and become almost the Osama bin Laden model of public relations, via proxy.

Jim Clancy, in Baghdad, thanks very much.

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 18, 2003 - 11:06   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Just over a week ago, Iraqis cheered as the statue of Saddam Hussein was toppled in Baghdad. That was the same day Abu Dhabi TV says the newly released videotape of Saddam was shot.
CNN's Jim Clancy joins us live from the Iraqi capital with more on how these images will be playing there -- Jim.

JIM CLANCY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're going to be playing very sparsely, because there's no electricity for anybody to see them for the most part.

I think what we really want to look at, too, in terms of how they are playing here is when they were recorded. Now, it is -- would be dramatic if president Saddam Hussein was strolling the streets, exhorting the crowds on the very day that his bronzen image was being toppled just miles away, but according to some of the people we've been talking to in that neighborhood where this video was made, they're saying he didn't come out on that day. They said he came out perhaps a couple of days perhaps after the beginning of the war. This is just some of the people on the streets that have neighborhood. It's called the Azamiyah (ph) neighborhood. It's a Sunni Muslim neighborhood, and they say it wasn't a popular place with the former president of Iraq. They say that he came out on that day, but certainly not on April 9th, as is being said by those who have released this videotape.

What is coming out, Anderson, are a lot of questions. Why was this tape released now? Considerable risk, you would imagine, by Iraqi Television cameramen, or whomever had this, to release it, perhaps now trying to get it out to the Western news media, or to even the Arabic news channels, and in doing so, taking that risk, you wonder, is this to send a message that Saddam Hussein is still alive, that he's eluded U.S. capture, or is it sending a message that Saddam Hussein is still a man to be reckoned with?

In that case, it's a far cry from what we're seeing on the streets, where his murals, paintings, posters, still being destroyed with some level of anger by the people of this capital city -- Anderson.

COOPER: Jim, is there a great sense among people there that Saddam is alive? And I ask the question, because if they do see these pictures or hear about the release of these pictures or the release of this audiotape, that would certainly seem to fuel the rumors, and as we just heard from Nic Robertson, the rumor mill is alive and well in Baghdad. CLANCY: Certainly so. I think what it comes down to, Anderson, is this -- people are traumatized after decades of Saddam Hussein's rule, traumatized to the point they're afraid even to talk about him even if they suspect that he's already dead. When you try to ask them, well, do you think he ought to come back when they're arguing about the U.S. role in their country, they'll say you can't even ask us that question, we're afraid even to speak about him. That's how traumatized they are.

So yes, there is this image that lingers on. At the same time, there is another sense here, and that is a sense that he's not coming back. He is not going to be able to regain power. He is gone for good from their lives -- from their lives, and that is very important.

COOPER: I though you raised an excellent question, which is why this tape was released when it was, and it will be very interesting to see in the coming days or weeks if more tapes are released and become almost the Osama bin Laden model of public relations, via proxy.

Jim Clancy, in Baghdad, thanks very much.

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