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CNN Live At Daybreak
Jay Garner in Second day Visiting Kurdish North
Aired April 23, 2003 - 06:05 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: There was a warm reception for retired General Jay Garner in Erbil, Iraq. He spoke about an hour ago to a crowd quite receptive of his efforts to oversee the rebuilding of Iraq.
We take you now to northern Iraq and CNN's Jane Arraf.
Good morning -- Jane.
JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
You know, it was almost like a street festival. The retired general landed in a helicopter at the edge of an airfield at the edge of a town near here. But then he actually came into town, touring a school for gifted children and going through the street near these parliament buildings, where he was showered with flowers. All of these children dressed up in very colorful, traditional Kurdish dress, some of them wearing -- sorry -- waving American flags, and all of them seemingly genuinely very, very happy to see him.
Now, this is a much warmer welcome than the south, but as he told reporters just a little while ago, there is a lot of work to be done. Now let's listen to that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LT. GEN. JAY GARNER (RET.), U.S.-IRAQ RECONSTRUCTION ADMIN.: The role that we have, that General Cross (ph) and I have, is a role to do two things, and both of them are types of reconstruction. The first is a physical reconstruction, is turn on the lights, turn on the water, turn on the electricity, get the bridges repaired, get the roads repaired, put the children back in school, make sure the health system is good.
The second one, type of reconstruction is the political reconstruction, and in that framework our goal and our purpose here is to create an environment in Iraq where we can have a democratic process, where Iraqis can choose their own leaders and Iraqis can choose their own type of government. And we've put together a democratic process, so at the end of that Iraqi has a government that represents the freely-elected will of the Iraqi people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ARRAF: Now, one thing is certain: This is a very different part of the country than it was in 1991, when Kurds rose up in that failed uprising, the last time General Garner was here. This time around, they have been governing this place for more than a decade, and they are going to want a significant role in a new central government -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Understand. Things are very warm in the north for Jay Garner, as you said. But when he finally does head down south, to maybe Karbala, it may be a whole different thing for him, right?
ARRAF: Absolutely. And he was asked about some of those demonstrations that we've seen in his first days in the south -- in Baghdad, rather. His point was that at least now, people are allowed to demonstrate. He told reporters that it's essentially a normal process.
At the same time, there are many parts of this country that are still very unsettled, where you don't have basic services and you don't even have basic security. And that's got to be a danger for him, much more in the south and center of Iraq than it is here in the north, where things have been naturally pretty good -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Yes, and next, he's headed to Mosul to check out a bridge there that needs repairing. Jane Arraf, many thanks to you -- live from Erbil, Iraq this morning.
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 23, 2003 - 06:05 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: There was a warm reception for retired General Jay Garner in Erbil, Iraq. He spoke about an hour ago to a crowd quite receptive of his efforts to oversee the rebuilding of Iraq.
We take you now to northern Iraq and CNN's Jane Arraf.
Good morning -- Jane.
JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
You know, it was almost like a street festival. The retired general landed in a helicopter at the edge of an airfield at the edge of a town near here. But then he actually came into town, touring a school for gifted children and going through the street near these parliament buildings, where he was showered with flowers. All of these children dressed up in very colorful, traditional Kurdish dress, some of them wearing -- sorry -- waving American flags, and all of them seemingly genuinely very, very happy to see him.
Now, this is a much warmer welcome than the south, but as he told reporters just a little while ago, there is a lot of work to be done. Now let's listen to that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LT. GEN. JAY GARNER (RET.), U.S.-IRAQ RECONSTRUCTION ADMIN.: The role that we have, that General Cross (ph) and I have, is a role to do two things, and both of them are types of reconstruction. The first is a physical reconstruction, is turn on the lights, turn on the water, turn on the electricity, get the bridges repaired, get the roads repaired, put the children back in school, make sure the health system is good.
The second one, type of reconstruction is the political reconstruction, and in that framework our goal and our purpose here is to create an environment in Iraq where we can have a democratic process, where Iraqis can choose their own leaders and Iraqis can choose their own type of government. And we've put together a democratic process, so at the end of that Iraqi has a government that represents the freely-elected will of the Iraqi people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ARRAF: Now, one thing is certain: This is a very different part of the country than it was in 1991, when Kurds rose up in that failed uprising, the last time General Garner was here. This time around, they have been governing this place for more than a decade, and they are going to want a significant role in a new central government -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Understand. Things are very warm in the north for Jay Garner, as you said. But when he finally does head down south, to maybe Karbala, it may be a whole different thing for him, right?
ARRAF: Absolutely. And he was asked about some of those demonstrations that we've seen in his first days in the south -- in Baghdad, rather. His point was that at least now, people are allowed to demonstrate. He told reporters that it's essentially a normal process.
At the same time, there are many parts of this country that are still very unsettled, where you don't have basic services and you don't even have basic security. And that's got to be a danger for him, much more in the south and center of Iraq than it is here in the north, where things have been naturally pretty good -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Yes, and next, he's headed to Mosul to check out a bridge there that needs repairing. Jane Arraf, many thanks to you -- live from Erbil, Iraq this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
