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CNN Live At Daybreak

Tales From a Baghdad Slum

Aired June 13, 2003 - 05:07   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: In another hot spot, Iraq -- U.S. troops have killed at least 70 people in a raid on what they say is a terrorist training camp. A U.S. military spokesman says one U.S. soldier was wounded in the operation 90 miles northwest of Baghdad. The United States says the raid is an effort to root out Saddam Hussein loyalists who are blamed for a wave of deadly attacks on U.S. troops.
For the Iraqi people, life before the war was oppressive and difficult. Now, in the new Iraq, many say life is still hard and they blame the Americans.

CNN's Ben Wedeman has tales from a Baghdad slum once known as Saddam City.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's hot, it's sweaty, it's dirty, it's dusty. It's another day in Sadr City, a vast Baghdad slum. On this day, men and mostly women wait for hours in the withering summer heat to buy a canister of cooking gas at $0.25 apiece. Few here can afford the $3 black market canisters being sold on the street.

American troops try to maintain control and pitch in where they can. But out of this chaos, it is difficult to bring order. For the lucky ones whose wait wasn't in vain, the long and noisy roll home. Until two months ago, Sadr City was known as Saddam City. When the old dictator fell, the city's predominantly Shiite Muslim inhabitants renamed their suburb after Imam Mohammed Bakr al Sadr, assassinated by Saddam's regime in 1999.

Long opponents of the Baathist regime, the people of Sadr City feel the new era shows no signs of becoming a golden age.

"Of course there's been an improvement," says taxi driver Mohammed. "There's no more oppression. But that's the only change. Everything else is worse."

Large parts of Sadr City are flooded with sewage and waste water. The only way to get around it is to wade through it. The streets strewn with rubbish. A local religious organization is paying these men the equivalent of around $2 a day to pile up the trash. But there's only enough money to pay a few people to do it and lots of garbage.

(on camera): Sadr City is poor. It has always been poor. And there is probably very little the Americans can do to change that.

(voice-over): American officials say one of their top priorities is to create jobs. Many here thought the Americans could solve all problems, big and small. Now, they're disappointed.

"They're just driving around and around on their patrols," says this man. "They don't give any humanitarian aid, nothing."

Some feel it's simply a failure to communicate. "If the Americans could speak Arabic like you, if they could just speak with us, we would love them," says this man.

Love could help, but cooking gas and clean streets would be more appreciated.

Ben Wedeman, CNN, Sadr City, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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 June 13, 2003 - 05:07   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: In another hot spot, Iraq -- U.S. troops have killed at least 70 people in a raid on what they say is a terrorist training camp. A U.S. military spokesman says one U.S. soldier was wounded in the operation 90 miles northwest of Baghdad. The United States says the raid is an effort to root out Saddam Hussein loyalists who are blamed for a wave of deadly attacks on U.S. troops.
For the Iraqi people, life before the war was oppressive and difficult. Now, in the new Iraq, many say life is still hard and they blame the Americans.

CNN's Ben Wedeman has tales from a Baghdad slum once known as Saddam City.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's hot, it's sweaty, it's dirty, it's dusty. It's another day in Sadr City, a vast Baghdad slum. On this day, men and mostly women wait for hours in the withering summer heat to buy a canister of cooking gas at $0.25 apiece. Few here can afford the $3 black market canisters being sold on the street.

American troops try to maintain control and pitch in where they can. But out of this chaos, it is difficult to bring order. For the lucky ones whose wait wasn't in vain, the long and noisy roll home. Until two months ago, Sadr City was known as Saddam City. When the old dictator fell, the city's predominantly Shiite Muslim inhabitants renamed their suburb after Imam Mohammed Bakr al Sadr, assassinated by Saddam's regime in 1999.

Long opponents of the Baathist regime, the people of Sadr City feel the new era shows no signs of becoming a golden age.

"Of course there's been an improvement," says taxi driver Mohammed. "There's no more oppression. But that's the only change. Everything else is worse."

Large parts of Sadr City are flooded with sewage and waste water. The only way to get around it is to wade through it. The streets strewn with rubbish. A local religious organization is paying these men the equivalent of around $2 a day to pile up the trash. But there's only enough money to pay a few people to do it and lots of garbage.

(on camera): Sadr City is poor. It has always been poor. And there is probably very little the Americans can do to change that.

(voice-over): American officials say one of their top priorities is to create jobs. Many here thought the Americans could solve all problems, big and small. Now, they're disappointed.

"They're just driving around and around on their patrols," says this man. "They don't give any humanitarian aid, nothing."

Some feel it's simply a failure to communicate. "If the Americans could speak Arabic like you, if they could just speak with us, we would love them," says this man.

Love could help, but cooking gas and clean streets would be more appreciated.

Ben Wedeman, CNN, Sadr City, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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