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U.S. Shaking Up Leadership Team Overseeing Post-War Reconstruction Effort in Iraq
Aired May 12, 2003 - 11:02 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: The U.S. is shaking up the leadership team that's been overseeing the post-war reconstruction effort in Iraq.
And for the latest now on who's in and who's out, we turn now to our John Vause, who checks in live from Baghdad.
Hello, John.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Leon.
There is a new boss in Baghdad, and his name is Bremer. L. Paul Bremer will take over for Jay Garner in the coming week. You may recall when the White House made this announcement last week, they said Mr. Bremer will, in fact, be working with Jay Garner, but today, here in Baghdad, L. Paul Bremer wasn't talking about working with Jay Garner, he was talking about handovers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL BREMER, U.S. IRAQ CIVIL ADMIN.: As General Garner has said many times in the last week, we intend to have a very effective, efficient and well-organized handover. General Garner and I are pledged to working very closely together. He's done an outstanding job with his team here. I don't anticipate any problems with any of the changes that are ongoing here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Now Mr. Bremer thanked Jay Garner for the great work he and his team have done under difficult circumstances, but many Iraqis would disagree with those circumstances. There is still only limited power here in Baghdad. By the estimates of the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance, only 50 percent power. Baghdad seems to becoming more dangerous by the day. There is still no local police force on duty, even though Americans expect there should be something 4,000 policemen on the streets of Baghdad next week, 17,000 across Iraq.
And many people just haven't been paid. We saw that anger on the streets today. Former Iraqi soldiers, officers and NCOs marching on the Office of Reconstruction, demanding not only back pay, but they want their jobs back, and they say they were promised this in those leaflets that were dropped by the coalition aircraft before the war.
Now they demanded to see Jay Garner and they didn't get it, and, Leon, that's been one of the problems, one of the complaints that Iraqis have, that there has just been no communication between the Americans and the Iraqi people.
Jay Garner and his team have been holed up in a presidential palace behind razor wire.
Also one of the big challenges now for Mr. Bremer will be to try to get that interim authority up and running, the one which is being run by the Iraqis. So far, we've seen little progress on that front as well -- Leon.
HARRIS: Thank you, John. John Vause, reporting for us live from Baghdad.
And, John, I'm not sure if you're able to hear this, but we want to confirm with you what we've been hearing from our David Ensor in Washington, word he is getting from U.S. officials that yet another Iraqi from that deck of cards there, those Iraqis most wanted, if you will, now in custody of the U.S. and coalition forces. We understand that Ibrahim Al-Sattar, Ibrahim Ahmad (ph) Al-Sattar, who is the army chief of staff, or was Saddam Hussein's army chief of staff, we understand is now in the custody of the coalition forces. We'll get more on this story and maybe learn some more about Al-Sattar coming up later on the network here.
Moving on now, we want to get some more perspective on this report there we heard from John Vause a moment ago, this changeover of the personnel running the changeover in Iraq, if you will.
"Time" magazine senior correspondent Michael Weisskopf joins us now. He is in Baghdad. And, Michael, I want to know what you've been hearing about this shake-up now, this replacement of General Garner with Paul Bremer coming in there. Just a matter of weeks ago, General Garner was seen as a person who knew the landscape, knew the people there, and was a logical choice, and he was trumpeted as being the perfect man for the job. What happened?
MICHAEL WEISSKOPF, "TIME" MAGAZINE: Well, on the ground, Leon, you hear that's long overdue, the Garner missed opportunities. He failed to prepare really for this opportunity, and allowed three to four weeks to slip by with very few improvements on the ground. One of the few symbols of the clashing expectations here is in the explosion of satellite TV dishes. Virtually every block in Baghdad is selling them, and even butchers are selling them now, and people are buying them. The problem is there are no TV sets with regular source of electricity to use them.
HARRIS: And as I understand that, that's pretty much understandable why that would cause some tensions amongst the population there, but Garner is not the only person being bounced out of there. Barbara Bodine, an official who is also very familiar with those in that region there. She served as a U.S. ambassador in Yemen. She was also a key member of this transition team, and she's being bounced out.
But what I don't understand is that everything that I have read is that she was one of the people who actually had been saying the kinds of things the Iraqi people wanted to hear right now, like more security is needed, why isn't that happening faster? Why is that she's being bounced out of there?
WEISSKOPF: Because there is a huge gap between rhetoric and reality. It doesn't matter what she says, crime continues -- revenge killings, crime of opportunity, robberies, continue throughout Baghdad and the country at large. The road from Baghdad to Amman for instance is packed with bedouin (ph) robbers who are stopping various convoys of westerners coming back and forth.
Also, water supply is quite iffy, and as Baghdad gets hotter by the day, people need showers. They need to have sources of drinking and cooking water, and they're not here.
HARRIS: All right, then what does this portend for the eventual transfer of authority there to actually this Iraqi panel of nine leaders or whatever. If Bremer is just coming in right now and he's got to get up to speed and take over for Garner, does this all get stretched out now to a timeline that we can't even foresee the end of yet, or what?
WEISSKOPF: Well, despite the dramatic ouster of the first team here, or at least the shifting to go back to Washington, there are few very easy solutions. And as we wrote about this, most dramatized the difficulty of filling government spots. There are about a million government and high factory industry spots that need to be filled. The people who have been running the country thus far have been high and mid-level Baathist Party officials, those loyal to Saddam Hussein. Who replaces them is a big issue. It continues to rankle, however, among Iraqis who don't want to work for the same people who have held a gun to their head for so long.
HARRIS: All right, for those who were raising questions about the administration's plans and whether or not the administration had actually thought about it all the way through and far enough down the road, some of the answers may be coming in now.
Michael Weisskopf, reporting live for us from Baghdad. Thanks, Michael. Appreciate that. Take care.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Reconstruction Effort in Iraq>
Aired May 12, 2003 - 11:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: The U.S. is shaking up the leadership team that's been overseeing the post-war reconstruction effort in Iraq.
And for the latest now on who's in and who's out, we turn now to our John Vause, who checks in live from Baghdad.
Hello, John.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Leon.
There is a new boss in Baghdad, and his name is Bremer. L. Paul Bremer will take over for Jay Garner in the coming week. You may recall when the White House made this announcement last week, they said Mr. Bremer will, in fact, be working with Jay Garner, but today, here in Baghdad, L. Paul Bremer wasn't talking about working with Jay Garner, he was talking about handovers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL BREMER, U.S. IRAQ CIVIL ADMIN.: As General Garner has said many times in the last week, we intend to have a very effective, efficient and well-organized handover. General Garner and I are pledged to working very closely together. He's done an outstanding job with his team here. I don't anticipate any problems with any of the changes that are ongoing here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Now Mr. Bremer thanked Jay Garner for the great work he and his team have done under difficult circumstances, but many Iraqis would disagree with those circumstances. There is still only limited power here in Baghdad. By the estimates of the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance, only 50 percent power. Baghdad seems to becoming more dangerous by the day. There is still no local police force on duty, even though Americans expect there should be something 4,000 policemen on the streets of Baghdad next week, 17,000 across Iraq.
And many people just haven't been paid. We saw that anger on the streets today. Former Iraqi soldiers, officers and NCOs marching on the Office of Reconstruction, demanding not only back pay, but they want their jobs back, and they say they were promised this in those leaflets that were dropped by the coalition aircraft before the war.
Now they demanded to see Jay Garner and they didn't get it, and, Leon, that's been one of the problems, one of the complaints that Iraqis have, that there has just been no communication between the Americans and the Iraqi people.
Jay Garner and his team have been holed up in a presidential palace behind razor wire.
Also one of the big challenges now for Mr. Bremer will be to try to get that interim authority up and running, the one which is being run by the Iraqis. So far, we've seen little progress on that front as well -- Leon.
HARRIS: Thank you, John. John Vause, reporting for us live from Baghdad.
And, John, I'm not sure if you're able to hear this, but we want to confirm with you what we've been hearing from our David Ensor in Washington, word he is getting from U.S. officials that yet another Iraqi from that deck of cards there, those Iraqis most wanted, if you will, now in custody of the U.S. and coalition forces. We understand that Ibrahim Al-Sattar, Ibrahim Ahmad (ph) Al-Sattar, who is the army chief of staff, or was Saddam Hussein's army chief of staff, we understand is now in the custody of the coalition forces. We'll get more on this story and maybe learn some more about Al-Sattar coming up later on the network here.
Moving on now, we want to get some more perspective on this report there we heard from John Vause a moment ago, this changeover of the personnel running the changeover in Iraq, if you will.
"Time" magazine senior correspondent Michael Weisskopf joins us now. He is in Baghdad. And, Michael, I want to know what you've been hearing about this shake-up now, this replacement of General Garner with Paul Bremer coming in there. Just a matter of weeks ago, General Garner was seen as a person who knew the landscape, knew the people there, and was a logical choice, and he was trumpeted as being the perfect man for the job. What happened?
MICHAEL WEISSKOPF, "TIME" MAGAZINE: Well, on the ground, Leon, you hear that's long overdue, the Garner missed opportunities. He failed to prepare really for this opportunity, and allowed three to four weeks to slip by with very few improvements on the ground. One of the few symbols of the clashing expectations here is in the explosion of satellite TV dishes. Virtually every block in Baghdad is selling them, and even butchers are selling them now, and people are buying them. The problem is there are no TV sets with regular source of electricity to use them.
HARRIS: And as I understand that, that's pretty much understandable why that would cause some tensions amongst the population there, but Garner is not the only person being bounced out of there. Barbara Bodine, an official who is also very familiar with those in that region there. She served as a U.S. ambassador in Yemen. She was also a key member of this transition team, and she's being bounced out.
But what I don't understand is that everything that I have read is that she was one of the people who actually had been saying the kinds of things the Iraqi people wanted to hear right now, like more security is needed, why isn't that happening faster? Why is that she's being bounced out of there?
WEISSKOPF: Because there is a huge gap between rhetoric and reality. It doesn't matter what she says, crime continues -- revenge killings, crime of opportunity, robberies, continue throughout Baghdad and the country at large. The road from Baghdad to Amman for instance is packed with bedouin (ph) robbers who are stopping various convoys of westerners coming back and forth.
Also, water supply is quite iffy, and as Baghdad gets hotter by the day, people need showers. They need to have sources of drinking and cooking water, and they're not here.
HARRIS: All right, then what does this portend for the eventual transfer of authority there to actually this Iraqi panel of nine leaders or whatever. If Bremer is just coming in right now and he's got to get up to speed and take over for Garner, does this all get stretched out now to a timeline that we can't even foresee the end of yet, or what?
WEISSKOPF: Well, despite the dramatic ouster of the first team here, or at least the shifting to go back to Washington, there are few very easy solutions. And as we wrote about this, most dramatized the difficulty of filling government spots. There are about a million government and high factory industry spots that need to be filled. The people who have been running the country thus far have been high and mid-level Baathist Party officials, those loyal to Saddam Hussein. Who replaces them is a big issue. It continues to rankle, however, among Iraqis who don't want to work for the same people who have held a gun to their head for so long.
HARRIS: All right, for those who were raising questions about the administration's plans and whether or not the administration had actually thought about it all the way through and far enough down the road, some of the answers may be coming in now.
Michael Weisskopf, reporting live for us from Baghdad. Thanks, Michael. Appreciate that. Take care.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Reconstruction Effort in Iraq>
