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CNN Live At Daybreak
Town Hall Meeting in Baghdad
Aired April 28, 2003 - 05:03 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: It's been hours now that town hall meeting is still going on in Baghdad. In attendance, hundreds of Iraqi community leaders. And outside, protesters.
We take you live to Baghdad now and Rula Amin -- good morning, Rula.
RULA AMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
That town hall meeting is still going on. There's a lot to discuss. The delegates there are going to discuss with Jay Garner the future of Iraq. U.S. officials who organized the town hall meeting invited about 300 to 400 different delegates. It's called an all faction meeting, different people representing all the different political, religious and ethnic groups in Iraq.
There were technocrats, academics, politicians, tribal leaders, anything you can think of. About 250 of them did show up and Jay Garner addressed them all. The first thing that he addressed in his message was the Iraqis' sense of pride.
This is what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LT. GEN. JAY GARNER (RET.), U.S./IRAQ RECONSTRUCTION ADMINISTRATION: It's very humbling for me to be here before you because the blood in your veins and your land gave force to the civilization. It is here that we started the government process thousands of years ago and it's in this land that we codified laws for the first time. So society as we know it began here in this land.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AMIN: And Jay Garner told the delegates that on this day, Saddam Hussein's birthday, which is today, Iraqis should start a democratic process for their own children.
And some people were doing just that. Outside the Palestine Hotel, you can see live pictures of Iraqi Shiites, a few hundreds of them. They came earlier today, just as that town hall meeting was starting, protesting that their clerics in Najaf were not properly represented over there in the town hall meeting, and they were calling for an Islamic state, not a secular one -- Carol.
COSTELLO: I was just curious, is Ahmed Chalabi in that meeting or any members of his representatives? AMIN: He himself was not seen inside that town hall meeting. But some representatives who are associated with him and loyal to him are there. All kind of Iraqi groups are in that meeting. Some of them will have complaints, not only to present their own views -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Rula Amin reporting live from Baghdad this morning.
Many thanks.
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 28, 2003 - 05:03 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: It's been hours now that town hall meeting is still going on in Baghdad. In attendance, hundreds of Iraqi community leaders. And outside, protesters.
We take you live to Baghdad now and Rula Amin -- good morning, Rula.
RULA AMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
That town hall meeting is still going on. There's a lot to discuss. The delegates there are going to discuss with Jay Garner the future of Iraq. U.S. officials who organized the town hall meeting invited about 300 to 400 different delegates. It's called an all faction meeting, different people representing all the different political, religious and ethnic groups in Iraq.
There were technocrats, academics, politicians, tribal leaders, anything you can think of. About 250 of them did show up and Jay Garner addressed them all. The first thing that he addressed in his message was the Iraqis' sense of pride.
This is what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LT. GEN. JAY GARNER (RET.), U.S./IRAQ RECONSTRUCTION ADMINISTRATION: It's very humbling for me to be here before you because the blood in your veins and your land gave force to the civilization. It is here that we started the government process thousands of years ago and it's in this land that we codified laws for the first time. So society as we know it began here in this land.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AMIN: And Jay Garner told the delegates that on this day, Saddam Hussein's birthday, which is today, Iraqis should start a democratic process for their own children.
And some people were doing just that. Outside the Palestine Hotel, you can see live pictures of Iraqi Shiites, a few hundreds of them. They came earlier today, just as that town hall meeting was starting, protesting that their clerics in Najaf were not properly represented over there in the town hall meeting, and they were calling for an Islamic state, not a secular one -- Carol.
COSTELLO: I was just curious, is Ahmed Chalabi in that meeting or any members of his representatives? AMIN: He himself was not seen inside that town hall meeting. But some representatives who are associated with him and loyal to him are there. All kind of Iraqi groups are in that meeting. Some of them will have complaints, not only to present their own views -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Rula Amin reporting live from Baghdad this morning.
Many thanks.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
