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CNN Live At Daybreak
The New Iraq: Ace in the Hole
Aired June 19, 2003 - 05:09 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: With Saddam's right hand man now in custody, there is one pressing question, will he talk? U.S. officials believe Abid Hamid Mahmud al-Tikriti knows the fate of Saddam and the whereabouts of those elusive weapons of mass destruction.
For the latest, live to Baghdad now and Ben Wedeman.
Hello -- Ben.
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, Carol.
No word yet as to what the secretary Amid Hamid Mahmud of the secretary of Saddam Hussein has to say. He's obviously in American custody, and these interrogations tend to be highly secretive and somewhat prolonged.
Now Baghdad itself is still simmering from the killing yesterday of two Iraqis outside the provisional coalition headquarters. They were former members of the Iraqi army who were demonstrating there, calling for back pay, as well as their jobs back. Of course the United States several weeks ago disbanded not only the defense ministry, the army, the security, the interior minister -- ministry and the security services, that putting about 400,000 people out of work. And now these people want their jobs back, would like to see some sort of compensation as well.
Now today, the first funeral for the two who were killed yesterday took place. I spent a good bit of the morning speaking to these former members of the army. They say that they are not Saddam -- members of Saddam's army, that they were the Iraqi army. And like many other Iraqis, because of Saddam's reign of terror, they really had no choice but to carry out their duties. But they never were really had any particular affection for the former president and want the Americans to understand that during the war, during the invasion of Kuwait, they basically put down their arms and did not actively resist them and therefore, want some sort of recognition for that -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Well I was wondering a little bit about crowd control, too, because I know U.S. troops practiced a lot of patience in quelling that disturbance yesterday. But why don't they have something like rubber bullets? Why must they fire real bullets into a crowd of people that were apparently unarmed?
WEDEMAN: That's a good question. And in fact, that's something that the coalition authorities are trying to study. But we have to remember these are soldiers. They are trained to fight and to kill. They are not policemen, for instance, who are trained to deal with unruly crowds. These men are armed with weapons with live ammunition. And when they feel they are in danger, when they feel that there is a threat, they will use those live weapons. And they apparently do not have the sort of crowd control methods or training that one would expect in these situations -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Ben Wedeman live from Baghdad this morning.
Our Web site has a photo gallery on the various raids of Operation Desert Scorpion. The address, 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 June 19, 2003 - 05:09 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: With Saddam's right hand man now in custody, there is one pressing question, will he talk? U.S. officials believe Abid Hamid Mahmud al-Tikriti knows the fate of Saddam and the whereabouts of those elusive weapons of mass destruction.
For the latest, live to Baghdad now and Ben Wedeman.
Hello -- Ben.
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, Carol.
No word yet as to what the secretary Amid Hamid Mahmud of the secretary of Saddam Hussein has to say. He's obviously in American custody, and these interrogations tend to be highly secretive and somewhat prolonged.
Now Baghdad itself is still simmering from the killing yesterday of two Iraqis outside the provisional coalition headquarters. They were former members of the Iraqi army who were demonstrating there, calling for back pay, as well as their jobs back. Of course the United States several weeks ago disbanded not only the defense ministry, the army, the security, the interior minister -- ministry and the security services, that putting about 400,000 people out of work. And now these people want their jobs back, would like to see some sort of compensation as well.
Now today, the first funeral for the two who were killed yesterday took place. I spent a good bit of the morning speaking to these former members of the army. They say that they are not Saddam -- members of Saddam's army, that they were the Iraqi army. And like many other Iraqis, because of Saddam's reign of terror, they really had no choice but to carry out their duties. But they never were really had any particular affection for the former president and want the Americans to understand that during the war, during the invasion of Kuwait, they basically put down their arms and did not actively resist them and therefore, want some sort of recognition for that -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Well I was wondering a little bit about crowd control, too, because I know U.S. troops practiced a lot of patience in quelling that disturbance yesterday. But why don't they have something like rubber bullets? Why must they fire real bullets into a crowd of people that were apparently unarmed?
WEDEMAN: That's a good question. And in fact, that's something that the coalition authorities are trying to study. But we have to remember these are soldiers. They are trained to fight and to kill. They are not policemen, for instance, who are trained to deal with unruly crowds. These men are armed with weapons with live ammunition. And when they feel they are in danger, when they feel that there is a threat, they will use those live weapons. And they apparently do not have the sort of crowd control methods or training that one would expect in these situations -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Ben Wedeman live from Baghdad this morning.
Our Web site has a photo gallery on the various raids of Operation Desert Scorpion. The address, 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
