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CNN Live Today

New 'Saddam' Audiotape Said to be Very Recent

Aired May 07, 2003 - 09:59   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.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Officials are scrutinizing a newly released audiotape purported to be from former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
On the streets of Baghdad, local Iraqis hearing the tape seem less concerned with its authenticity than it's irrelevance.

Nic Robertson joins us now from the capital, from Baghdad.

Nic, hello.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, this audiotape that was given to journalists on Monday night appears to be the first indication of Saddam Hussein trying to rally support after the war. Now it seems to be a call to arms for the Iraqi people. It calls on them to shoot at American soldiers in Iraq. It calls on them to write slogans on the wall. It calls on them not to do business with the United States army inside Iraq. It says anyone that does business here with a foreigner is in fact a traitor toward Iraq.

And there are references in this speech to Saddam Hussein's birthday on the 2th of April, to the looting of Iraq's National Museum, both events that have happened since Saddam Hussein was forced out of power here.

So an indication that this speech is coming after the war, and perhaps is recent speech given by Saddam Hussein. But its authenticity has yet to be judged. But the speech and whoever gave the speech, and certainly they're saying on the speech that they are Saddam Hussein, saying that they are still inside Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Through the secret means I'm talking to you from inside great Iraq, and I say to you the main task for you, Arab and Kurd, Shiite and Sunni, Muslim and Christian, and the whole Iraqi people of all religions, your main task is to kick the enemy out from our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: Now that resistance to fight what it calls U.S. occupation inside Iraq talks about doing it in a secretive way, a hint that Saddam Hussein may be going back to his Baath Party roots, where he ran an underground resistance inside Iraq in the 1960s.

The reaction from people here in Baghdad they don't care whether or not it is Saddam Hussein on the audiotape. They say they will have nothing to do with him anymore.

And we went to one of the areas in Baghdad where Saddam Hussein used to have a lot of support, and people said to us, there's no way we're going to fight the American soldiers, we don't want to fight them at this time; they are providing security for us. And that very much has been the reaction people have given us, that even if this is a message from Saddam Hussein, they're not interested in it at this time.

It is, of course, a concern for people here. Many people say that they won't feel really free from Saddam Hussein's regime until they see him captured or proven killed -- Daryn.

KAGAN: And, Nic, what this other story coming from Baghdad, or outside Baghdad, reports that a nuclear site had been looted?

ROBERTSON: We visited that site yesterday, and there certainly is plenty of evidence the site has been looted. We're told by local villagers they stole drums containing nuclear material. We went there with some of the scientists who worked at that nuclear laboratory. They showed us storage areas where nuclear material had been stored. Windows had been broken into. Some of the yellow cake (ph), the enriched uranium 238 compound lying on the ground. They showed us where they tried to put cement on top of it to stop the radioactivity spreading, and they talked to U.S. soldiers standing guard in that area, and they told us the radioactivity levels coming from the buildings that had been broken into were very high indeed. They called the readings hot, and they wouldn't go near the buildings.

And local villagers told us they needed to take stuff from the villagers, such as containers, because they didn't have anything to put their water in. And the fear that the scientists we were talking to is that this contamination has spread into the villages, close to Al Tuwafayah (ph), and spread into Baghdad, where some of these things have been taken and stored -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Very concerning, indeed. Nic Robertson in Baghdad. Nic, thank you.

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 May 7, 2003 - 09:59   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Officials are scrutinizing a newly released audiotape purported to be from former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
On the streets of Baghdad, local Iraqis hearing the tape seem less concerned with its authenticity than it's irrelevance.

Nic Robertson joins us now from the capital, from Baghdad.

Nic, hello.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, this audiotape that was given to journalists on Monday night appears to be the first indication of Saddam Hussein trying to rally support after the war. Now it seems to be a call to arms for the Iraqi people. It calls on them to shoot at American soldiers in Iraq. It calls on them to write slogans on the wall. It calls on them not to do business with the United States army inside Iraq. It says anyone that does business here with a foreigner is in fact a traitor toward Iraq.

And there are references in this speech to Saddam Hussein's birthday on the 2th of April, to the looting of Iraq's National Museum, both events that have happened since Saddam Hussein was forced out of power here.

So an indication that this speech is coming after the war, and perhaps is recent speech given by Saddam Hussein. But its authenticity has yet to be judged. But the speech and whoever gave the speech, and certainly they're saying on the speech that they are Saddam Hussein, saying that they are still inside Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Through the secret means I'm talking to you from inside great Iraq, and I say to you the main task for you, Arab and Kurd, Shiite and Sunni, Muslim and Christian, and the whole Iraqi people of all religions, your main task is to kick the enemy out from our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: Now that resistance to fight what it calls U.S. occupation inside Iraq talks about doing it in a secretive way, a hint that Saddam Hussein may be going back to his Baath Party roots, where he ran an underground resistance inside Iraq in the 1960s.

The reaction from people here in Baghdad they don't care whether or not it is Saddam Hussein on the audiotape. They say they will have nothing to do with him anymore.

And we went to one of the areas in Baghdad where Saddam Hussein used to have a lot of support, and people said to us, there's no way we're going to fight the American soldiers, we don't want to fight them at this time; they are providing security for us. And that very much has been the reaction people have given us, that even if this is a message from Saddam Hussein, they're not interested in it at this time.

It is, of course, a concern for people here. Many people say that they won't feel really free from Saddam Hussein's regime until they see him captured or proven killed -- Daryn.

KAGAN: And, Nic, what this other story coming from Baghdad, or outside Baghdad, reports that a nuclear site had been looted?

ROBERTSON: We visited that site yesterday, and there certainly is plenty of evidence the site has been looted. We're told by local villagers they stole drums containing nuclear material. We went there with some of the scientists who worked at that nuclear laboratory. They showed us storage areas where nuclear material had been stored. Windows had been broken into. Some of the yellow cake (ph), the enriched uranium 238 compound lying on the ground. They showed us where they tried to put cement on top of it to stop the radioactivity spreading, and they talked to U.S. soldiers standing guard in that area, and they told us the radioactivity levels coming from the buildings that had been broken into were very high indeed. They called the readings hot, and they wouldn't go near the buildings.

And local villagers told us they needed to take stuff from the villagers, such as containers, because they didn't have anything to put their water in. And the fear that the scientists we were talking to is that this contamination has spread into the villages, close to Al Tuwafayah (ph), and spread into Baghdad, where some of these things have been taken and stored -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Very concerning, indeed. Nic Robertson in Baghdad. Nic, thank you.

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