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American Morning
Jay Garner in Iraq to Assess Country's Post-War Needs
Aired April 23, 2003 - 07:08 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.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: While patience with America's presence in Iraq may be growing thin in some parts of that country, you wouldn't know it in the Kurdish-controlled north. The man who heads the Pentagon's Office of Reconstruction for Iraq received a warm welcome today in the town of Erbil. Retired Lieutenant General Jay Garner said it was like coming home.
Our Jane Arraf is there, and she has more now.
Good afternoon to you there -- Jane.
JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Hello, Heidi. You're absolutely right. It was an amazing sort of homecoming.
Now, the general landed in a military field close to here, and then he was driven to a school, first of all, for gifted children, which he said he hoped would be something of a model for the rest of Iraq, not just that school, but the north in general, where he says people are living together, things are working, there's an educated middle class.
And then, he arrived in what was like a giant street party. All of these children throwing flower petals at him, some of them wearing American flags, genuinely, it seems, happy to see him, happy to see the Americans.
That doesn't mean, though, that there isn't a lot of hard work and a lot of tough questions ahead, and he referred to that in a press conference with reporters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LT. GEN. JAY GARNER (RET.), U.S./IRAQ RECONSTRUCTION ADMIN.: It has to be done in a relatively secure environment, and I think what you see now is I think security is getting better every day. And I think this is the natural aftermath of a conflict. I think things are going incredibly fast, and I think they're going a lot better than has been portrayed.
So I have a good feeling about this. I'm sort a glass-half-full guy, not a glass-half-empty guy. So I think the security is getting better. I think public services are getting better. And I think in very short order you will see a change in the attitudes and the will of the people themselves.
(END VIDEO CLIP) ARRAF: In spite of all of those warm words, there were still a lot of searching questions from the Kurds. One is: When is this economy going to get back going? There are government servants here that have not been paid in three months. And the other is: What is the future for the Kurds in the new Iraq? They clearly want a lot more than they did 12 years ago when he was last here -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Jane, quickly to what's happening in Karbala with the Shiites there. We have heard some anti-American sentiment certainly over the past couple of days. But Jay Garner says that some of these demonstrations are staged. What's your feeling on that?
ARRAF: I think you can't really go overnight from a system where everything was staged, essentially, to a system where nothing is staged. And certainly, this is always been a country -- and this is the complication of the war and the post-war -- where so many national interests and international interests are at stake. It seems like everyone wants a piece of Iraq, everyone wants a piece of Iraqis.
They may very well have been staged in some sense, but that doesn't mean that it does not represent a significant and genuine feeling, Heidi, on the part of a lot of people, even here in the north, where they really are very happy to see the Americans. They won't be, as Nic had said, happy to see them stay.
Yesterday, we were in the city of Mosul, still quite volatile, and people were saying, one man in particular waiting for hours for gasoline, said where is the freedom, where is the democracy you promised us? This is not it.
So essentially what we're seeing is probably increasing discontent, because on the ground they haven't seen changes. That doesnt mean that people aren't happy that the old regime is gone, but they are expecting quite a lot -- Heidi.
COLLINS: In a country of five million people, lots of different emotions, I'm sure.
All right, Jane Arraf from Erbil, Iraq this morning. Thanks so much, Jane.
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 - 07:08 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: While patience with America's presence in Iraq may be growing thin in some parts of that country, you wouldn't know it in the Kurdish-controlled north. The man who heads the Pentagon's Office of Reconstruction for Iraq received a warm welcome today in the town of Erbil. Retired Lieutenant General Jay Garner said it was like coming home.
Our Jane Arraf is there, and she has more now.
Good afternoon to you there -- Jane.
JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Hello, Heidi. You're absolutely right. It was an amazing sort of homecoming.
Now, the general landed in a military field close to here, and then he was driven to a school, first of all, for gifted children, which he said he hoped would be something of a model for the rest of Iraq, not just that school, but the north in general, where he says people are living together, things are working, there's an educated middle class.
And then, he arrived in what was like a giant street party. All of these children throwing flower petals at him, some of them wearing American flags, genuinely, it seems, happy to see him, happy to see the Americans.
That doesn't mean, though, that there isn't a lot of hard work and a lot of tough questions ahead, and he referred to that in a press conference with reporters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LT. GEN. JAY GARNER (RET.), U.S./IRAQ RECONSTRUCTION ADMIN.: It has to be done in a relatively secure environment, and I think what you see now is I think security is getting better every day. And I think this is the natural aftermath of a conflict. I think things are going incredibly fast, and I think they're going a lot better than has been portrayed.
So I have a good feeling about this. I'm sort a glass-half-full guy, not a glass-half-empty guy. So I think the security is getting better. I think public services are getting better. And I think in very short order you will see a change in the attitudes and the will of the people themselves.
(END VIDEO CLIP) ARRAF: In spite of all of those warm words, there were still a lot of searching questions from the Kurds. One is: When is this economy going to get back going? There are government servants here that have not been paid in three months. And the other is: What is the future for the Kurds in the new Iraq? They clearly want a lot more than they did 12 years ago when he was last here -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Jane, quickly to what's happening in Karbala with the Shiites there. We have heard some anti-American sentiment certainly over the past couple of days. But Jay Garner says that some of these demonstrations are staged. What's your feeling on that?
ARRAF: I think you can't really go overnight from a system where everything was staged, essentially, to a system where nothing is staged. And certainly, this is always been a country -- and this is the complication of the war and the post-war -- where so many national interests and international interests are at stake. It seems like everyone wants a piece of Iraq, everyone wants a piece of Iraqis.
They may very well have been staged in some sense, but that doesn't mean that it does not represent a significant and genuine feeling, Heidi, on the part of a lot of people, even here in the north, where they really are very happy to see the Americans. They won't be, as Nic had said, happy to see them stay.
Yesterday, we were in the city of Mosul, still quite volatile, and people were saying, one man in particular waiting for hours for gasoline, said where is the freedom, where is the democracy you promised us? This is not it.
So essentially what we're seeing is probably increasing discontent, because on the ground they haven't seen changes. That doesnt mean that people aren't happy that the old regime is gone, but they are expecting quite a lot -- Heidi.
COLLINS: In a country of five million people, lots of different emotions, I'm sure.
All right, Jane Arraf from Erbil, Iraq this morning. Thanks so much, Jane.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
