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CNN Live At Daybreak
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in Iraqi Capital
Aired April 30, 2003 - 05:37 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: Now back to Baghdad and the latest on Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's trip. He's in the Iraqi capital today to honor the heroes of the Iraq war.
CNN's Rym Brahimi joins us live from Baghdad with details -- hello, Rym.
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, again, Carol.
Well, indeed, U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in Baghdad. That makes him the first top civilian U.S. official in Iraq since the end of the regime. Now, he was, previously to arriving in Baghdad, he landed first in Basra in the south and over there he was met by British officers. He said in Basra that, "A number of human beings have been liberated and they are out from under the heel of a vicious, brutal regime."
Now, here in Baghdad we asked a few people to react to the arrival of U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and there were very mixed reviews, some of them welcoming him and grateful for what the U.S. has done in terms of liberating the Iraqis from under this regime, others, though, much more suspicious and some even angry, saying that until they saw an end to their problems, until they saw restoration of basic services like water, electricity, and, above all, security, well, they weren't prepared to give their vote of confidence.
One area where, of course, tensions are very high and thats likely to be an important point, is Falluja, the western town where there have been, there's been a lot of problems since, in the past two days. One person at least is reported to have been killed there just this morning in another clash between Iraqis and U.S. troops. A reporter from the Associated Press, reporters from the Associated Press say they saw U.S. troops open fire at hundreds of anti-U.S. demonstrators.
Now, this comes right after anti-U.S. demonstrators on Monday had protested the presence of U.S. troops in a school that they were asking them to leave and that, in that incident there was a shootout. Fifteen people were killed, among them three boys under the age of 11, and 53 people were injured.
So the visit of Secretary Rumsfeld comes at a moment of high tension in some areas, at any rate -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Understand.
Rym Brahimi reporting live from Baghdad this morning.
For more on the defense secretary's trip, along with all the other news from Iraq, head to our Web site. That's at cnn.com, AOL keyword: CNN.
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 30, 2003 - 05:37 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Now back to Baghdad and the latest on Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's trip. He's in the Iraqi capital today to honor the heroes of the Iraq war.
CNN's Rym Brahimi joins us live from Baghdad with details -- hello, Rym.
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, again, Carol.
Well, indeed, U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in Baghdad. That makes him the first top civilian U.S. official in Iraq since the end of the regime. Now, he was, previously to arriving in Baghdad, he landed first in Basra in the south and over there he was met by British officers. He said in Basra that, "A number of human beings have been liberated and they are out from under the heel of a vicious, brutal regime."
Now, here in Baghdad we asked a few people to react to the arrival of U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and there were very mixed reviews, some of them welcoming him and grateful for what the U.S. has done in terms of liberating the Iraqis from under this regime, others, though, much more suspicious and some even angry, saying that until they saw an end to their problems, until they saw restoration of basic services like water, electricity, and, above all, security, well, they weren't prepared to give their vote of confidence.
One area where, of course, tensions are very high and thats likely to be an important point, is Falluja, the western town where there have been, there's been a lot of problems since, in the past two days. One person at least is reported to have been killed there just this morning in another clash between Iraqis and U.S. troops. A reporter from the Associated Press, reporters from the Associated Press say they saw U.S. troops open fire at hundreds of anti-U.S. demonstrators.
Now, this comes right after anti-U.S. demonstrators on Monday had protested the presence of U.S. troops in a school that they were asking them to leave and that, in that incident there was a shootout. Fifteen people were killed, among them three boys under the age of 11, and 53 people were injured.
So the visit of Secretary Rumsfeld comes at a moment of high tension in some areas, at any rate -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Understand.
Rym Brahimi reporting live from Baghdad this morning.
For more on the defense secretary's trip, along with all the other news from Iraq, head to our Web site. That's at cnn.com, AOL keyword: CNN.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
