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American Morning

The New Iraq: Dire Situation

Aired April 18, 2003 - 07:48   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.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: We've been telling you this week about that boy in Baghdad who lost both of his arms and most of his family in a coalition bombing raid. The medical attention he's receiving back in Kuwait City now is the exception to the rule. The U.N. is saying the situation for most of Iraqi children is dire, some say dreadful. It was not good before the war, and now with the loss of services and clean water and a number of medical supplies, it has grown even worse.
The U.N.'s Children's Fund has been active in Iraq for more than 50 years. And Charles Lyons, the President of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF joins us live here in New York City.

Good morning to you.

CHARLES LYONS, U.S. FUND FOR UNICEF: Morning -- Bill.

HEMMER: What is the one thing that Iraq needs the most right now?

LYONS: Water. I would say security first, but water. And where there is security, we can get water supplies in.

HEMMER: What about the 600,000 gallons coming into Umm Qasr every day in the southeastern part of the country, does that not help?

LYONS: Anything helps, and -- but that's just one place. Baghdad doesn't have that kind of water supply. Where there has been security, we've been able to get truck convoys in, set up thousand gallon water bladders. You run pipes off of them, then you can have standpipes and you can get a kind of systemic distribution of water in an orderly way for folks. But absent that, people are really left to their own.

HEMMER: I don't know if you have an answer on this, and the military is very good about finding water points, finding areas in the ground, drilling in and then sucking the water out, purifying it and distributing it. Is that happening at all in Baghdad?

LYONS: No, I don't think it is happening in Baghdad. I'm not sure it's happening systemically, really, anywhere at this point. I think people are still very much struggling with day-to-day, week-to- week kinds of things. Iraq had a decent water system before the conflict, but it was a complicated system that required electricity for the pumps and that -- and so on. Absent electricity, we're going to have to do these piecemeal kinds of distribution schemes.

HEMMER: Without the power, without even having it on for a couple of hours a day, how much is that hurting?

LYONS: Well, again, absent the water, you can't really provide for people's immediate health requirements if you don't have clean water. So everything -- the hospitals are screaming for clean water. They're trying to do basic surgery. They're trying to care for -- even, for example, the largest number of patients right now is kids with diarrhea, but I mean chronic diarrhea because they've been drinking foul water for days. You can't treat them adequately if you don't have clean water just to respond to their dehydration.

HEMMER: The current situation, how long do you see it lasting? Many would consider it temporary, but I think it depends on how you define the word temporary.

LYONS: Yes, no, I don't think it is temporary. I don't think we know exactly. I mean we're trying to get people in just to assess the situation. I was struck by the images. One of the untold stories about Iraq is it's a country of young people. Fifty percent of Iraqis are under the age of 18. The images we see are of men in the streets. I don't think we know at all how serious the situation is for a majority of these kids.

HEMMER: I think the silver lining I see in that country, though, is that they have resources. They have natural resources. It's just a matter of gaining access to them.

LYONS: And the silver lining of 50 percent of your population being under the age of 18 is they're young.

HEMMER: Yes.

LYONS: If they're educated, if they are inspired to start over again, they do have the potential of having a bright -- Iraq need not be poor, but we can't wait six months, two years, five years for systems to be developed. We're talking about the day-to-day survival needs of a million kids who were chronically malnourished before the conflict started.

HEMMER: Quickly, we have no time, www.UNICEFUSA.org or 1-800-- FOR-KIDS if you want more information or want to help.

LYONS: And if you can help, yes.

HEMMER: Thank you -- Charles.

LYONS: Thank you.

HEMMER: Charles Lyons.

LYONS: Good to see you.

HEMMER: Good to see you, again. You too.

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 - 07:48   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: We've been telling you this week about that boy in Baghdad who lost both of his arms and most of his family in a coalition bombing raid. The medical attention he's receiving back in Kuwait City now is the exception to the rule. The U.N. is saying the situation for most of Iraqi children is dire, some say dreadful. It was not good before the war, and now with the loss of services and clean water and a number of medical supplies, it has grown even worse.
The U.N.'s Children's Fund has been active in Iraq for more than 50 years. And Charles Lyons, the President of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF joins us live here in New York City.

Good morning to you.

CHARLES LYONS, U.S. FUND FOR UNICEF: Morning -- Bill.

HEMMER: What is the one thing that Iraq needs the most right now?

LYONS: Water. I would say security first, but water. And where there is security, we can get water supplies in.

HEMMER: What about the 600,000 gallons coming into Umm Qasr every day in the southeastern part of the country, does that not help?

LYONS: Anything helps, and -- but that's just one place. Baghdad doesn't have that kind of water supply. Where there has been security, we've been able to get truck convoys in, set up thousand gallon water bladders. You run pipes off of them, then you can have standpipes and you can get a kind of systemic distribution of water in an orderly way for folks. But absent that, people are really left to their own.

HEMMER: I don't know if you have an answer on this, and the military is very good about finding water points, finding areas in the ground, drilling in and then sucking the water out, purifying it and distributing it. Is that happening at all in Baghdad?

LYONS: No, I don't think it is happening in Baghdad. I'm not sure it's happening systemically, really, anywhere at this point. I think people are still very much struggling with day-to-day, week-to- week kinds of things. Iraq had a decent water system before the conflict, but it was a complicated system that required electricity for the pumps and that -- and so on. Absent electricity, we're going to have to do these piecemeal kinds of distribution schemes.

HEMMER: Without the power, without even having it on for a couple of hours a day, how much is that hurting?

LYONS: Well, again, absent the water, you can't really provide for people's immediate health requirements if you don't have clean water. So everything -- the hospitals are screaming for clean water. They're trying to do basic surgery. They're trying to care for -- even, for example, the largest number of patients right now is kids with diarrhea, but I mean chronic diarrhea because they've been drinking foul water for days. You can't treat them adequately if you don't have clean water just to respond to their dehydration.

HEMMER: The current situation, how long do you see it lasting? Many would consider it temporary, but I think it depends on how you define the word temporary.

LYONS: Yes, no, I don't think it is temporary. I don't think we know exactly. I mean we're trying to get people in just to assess the situation. I was struck by the images. One of the untold stories about Iraq is it's a country of young people. Fifty percent of Iraqis are under the age of 18. The images we see are of men in the streets. I don't think we know at all how serious the situation is for a majority of these kids.

HEMMER: I think the silver lining I see in that country, though, is that they have resources. They have natural resources. It's just a matter of gaining access to them.

LYONS: And the silver lining of 50 percent of your population being under the age of 18 is they're young.

HEMMER: Yes.

LYONS: If they're educated, if they are inspired to start over again, they do have the potential of having a bright -- Iraq need not be poor, but we can't wait six months, two years, five years for systems to be developed. We're talking about the day-to-day survival needs of a million kids who were chronically malnourished before the conflict started.

HEMMER: Quickly, we have no time, www.UNICEFUSA.org or 1-800-- FOR-KIDS if you want more information or want to help.

LYONS: And if you can help, yes.

HEMMER: Thank you -- Charles.

LYONS: Thank you.

HEMMER: Charles Lyons.

LYONS: Good to see you.

HEMMER: Good to see you, again. You too.

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