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CNN Live Today

Videotapes Show Glimpses into Saddam Hussein's Personal Life

Aired April 24, 2003 - 11:00   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.


LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: We are going to start this hour off with a peek inside the private life of Saddam Hussein. Since the collapse of the Iraqi regime, more and more stories have been coming out about the brutality of the long-time dictator. Well, CNN has obtained exclusive videotape showing glimpses into the dichotomy of his iron-fisted rule and his everyday life.
We get details now from CNN's Rula Amin live in Baghdad.

Hello -- Rula.

RULA AMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Leon.

Leon, the tape documents a side of his private life that we haven't seen before; neither did the Iraqi people.

On one videotape, we see him celebrating his 50th birthday. This has been an occasion in Iraq where there are celebrations all over the country, festive, lavish-style celebrations. At one of those parties you can see a huge cake. He's lighting the candles, cutting the cake. Behind him, his aides, military aides, as well as his private secretary and one of his son-in-laws. You can hear the children chanting, saying he's the love in the heart, he's like the light in the eyes, calling him "Father Saddam."

In a different video, we see him with his wife, Sajida. She is his cousin. She's been his wife for more than 30 years. You can see them there in the mountains in the northern part of the country during the winter of 1989. That is just about one year after the war with Iran had ended. And it's very significant because you can see them there in an intimate walk, holding hands, and these are images that the Iraqi people have never got a chance to see. His wife, Sajida, was always kept away from the public eye. She rarely went on public television or had pictures of her in the newspapers.

In a different video, we see them at the airport, Saddam Hussein at Saddam International Airport then, now Baghdad International Airport, saying good-bye to his wife, Sajida. He gives her a kiss on the cheek, as well as other members of the family. And this kiss on the cheek is probably, if Iraqis get to see it, is the first time where they see Saddam Hussein kissing his wife in such an intimate way. It may be a normal scene in the West, but not in Iraq, as, again, she had been kept away from the public eye.

In a different picture, we see Queen Noor. She is the wife of the late King Hussein of Jordan. She was here on a visit in Baghdad. She just arrived in those pictures at the Baghdad International Airport, the Saddam International Airport, received there by Sajida, the wife of Saddam Hussein, with her entourage, being introduced there. Obviously, it's a rainy day with the umbrellas. We do know that in those days, there was a good relationship going on between Jordan and Iraq. It was very normal for the queen to make such a visit -- Leon.

HARRIS: Well, Rula, what I'm wondering is, do any of these tapes show us or tell us anything about him that we did not know? I mean, aside from these moments of some sort of -- of some intimacy there with his immediate family, but is there anything else on these tapes that tell us anything about this man that we did not know or understand before?

AMIN: Well, there is other footage that we will share with you later. And in most of this footage, you can still see his authoritative status style. He's always there in command even when the family is lining up to take a private picture. He's always calling on other members of the family, come here, go there, are we all in the shot, commanding the photographer.

So you can tell from his (UNINTELLIGIBLE), even around his family, he was very authoritative and very much in command -- Leon.

HARRIS: How about the reactions of the other people there on the tape? Were they fearful of him? Do they seem to be genuinely emotional about him or what? How would you describe that?

AMIN: Well, I'll tell you, to me, what was interesting is to see him kissing his wife, whether it's on the cheek or having a walk, holding her hand. This is something that we wouldn't expect him to do, at least not with this wife. She's been his wife for a long time, and he met a second wife later on. So she was just the first wife, and we know they had huge differences.

But in these pictures, you can tell at some point they had a level of intimacy, much more than we expected -- Leon.

HARRIS: All right, finally, real quickly here. Any of these 55 faces that we've seen on this deck of cards have now been passed around, to hunt these people down there, these regime members, are these faces showing up on these tapes as well?

AMIN: No, but, however, we did see in his birthday party pictures, we saw one of his son-in-laws, who was later killed. You know, it's the son-in-law who had fled here from Iraq, went to Jordan, along with another brother who was also married to one of Saddam's daughters. He exposed some of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs. And then later, for some reason, came back to Iraq, and they were both killed. And you can see in there in the picture, because they were both very close, part of the family and very close aides to him -- Leon.

HARRIS: Yes, I remember that story. I remember it was -- I think it was Saddam's son, Uday, that lured that family member back and had him killed.

Thank you, Rula.

AMIN: Definitely.

HARRIS: Very interesting stuff there with these videotapes -- Rula Amin reporting live for us from Baghdad.

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




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Aired April 24, 2003 - 11:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: We are going to start this hour off with a peek inside the private life of Saddam Hussein. Since the collapse of the Iraqi regime, more and more stories have been coming out about the brutality of the long-time dictator. Well, CNN has obtained exclusive videotape showing glimpses into the dichotomy of his iron-fisted rule and his everyday life.
We get details now from CNN's Rula Amin live in Baghdad.

Hello -- Rula.

RULA AMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Leon.

Leon, the tape documents a side of his private life that we haven't seen before; neither did the Iraqi people.

On one videotape, we see him celebrating his 50th birthday. This has been an occasion in Iraq where there are celebrations all over the country, festive, lavish-style celebrations. At one of those parties you can see a huge cake. He's lighting the candles, cutting the cake. Behind him, his aides, military aides, as well as his private secretary and one of his son-in-laws. You can hear the children chanting, saying he's the love in the heart, he's like the light in the eyes, calling him "Father Saddam."

In a different video, we see him with his wife, Sajida. She is his cousin. She's been his wife for more than 30 years. You can see them there in the mountains in the northern part of the country during the winter of 1989. That is just about one year after the war with Iran had ended. And it's very significant because you can see them there in an intimate walk, holding hands, and these are images that the Iraqi people have never got a chance to see. His wife, Sajida, was always kept away from the public eye. She rarely went on public television or had pictures of her in the newspapers.

In a different video, we see them at the airport, Saddam Hussein at Saddam International Airport then, now Baghdad International Airport, saying good-bye to his wife, Sajida. He gives her a kiss on the cheek, as well as other members of the family. And this kiss on the cheek is probably, if Iraqis get to see it, is the first time where they see Saddam Hussein kissing his wife in such an intimate way. It may be a normal scene in the West, but not in Iraq, as, again, she had been kept away from the public eye.

In a different picture, we see Queen Noor. She is the wife of the late King Hussein of Jordan. She was here on a visit in Baghdad. She just arrived in those pictures at the Baghdad International Airport, the Saddam International Airport, received there by Sajida, the wife of Saddam Hussein, with her entourage, being introduced there. Obviously, it's a rainy day with the umbrellas. We do know that in those days, there was a good relationship going on between Jordan and Iraq. It was very normal for the queen to make such a visit -- Leon.

HARRIS: Well, Rula, what I'm wondering is, do any of these tapes show us or tell us anything about him that we did not know? I mean, aside from these moments of some sort of -- of some intimacy there with his immediate family, but is there anything else on these tapes that tell us anything about this man that we did not know or understand before?

AMIN: Well, there is other footage that we will share with you later. And in most of this footage, you can still see his authoritative status style. He's always there in command even when the family is lining up to take a private picture. He's always calling on other members of the family, come here, go there, are we all in the shot, commanding the photographer.

So you can tell from his (UNINTELLIGIBLE), even around his family, he was very authoritative and very much in command -- Leon.

HARRIS: How about the reactions of the other people there on the tape? Were they fearful of him? Do they seem to be genuinely emotional about him or what? How would you describe that?

AMIN: Well, I'll tell you, to me, what was interesting is to see him kissing his wife, whether it's on the cheek or having a walk, holding her hand. This is something that we wouldn't expect him to do, at least not with this wife. She's been his wife for a long time, and he met a second wife later on. So she was just the first wife, and we know they had huge differences.

But in these pictures, you can tell at some point they had a level of intimacy, much more than we expected -- Leon.

HARRIS: All right, finally, real quickly here. Any of these 55 faces that we've seen on this deck of cards have now been passed around, to hunt these people down there, these regime members, are these faces showing up on these tapes as well?

AMIN: No, but, however, we did see in his birthday party pictures, we saw one of his son-in-laws, who was later killed. You know, it's the son-in-law who had fled here from Iraq, went to Jordan, along with another brother who was also married to one of Saddam's daughters. He exposed some of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs. And then later, for some reason, came back to Iraq, and they were both killed. And you can see in there in the picture, because they were both very close, part of the family and very close aides to him -- Leon.

HARRIS: Yes, I remember that story. I remember it was -- I think it was Saddam's son, Uday, that lured that family member back and had him killed.

Thank you, Rula.

AMIN: Definitely.

HARRIS: Very interesting stuff there with these videotapes -- Rula Amin reporting live for us from Baghdad.

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




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