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CNN Live At Daybreak
The New Iraq: Latest From Baghdad
Aired June 23, 2003 - 05:05 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 to Iraq, three members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee are in Baghdad this morning to meet with Paul Bremer, the U.S. Administrator for Iraq.
Our Baghdad bureau chief Jane Arraf joins us live now with details on that and other developments.
Good morning -- Jane.
JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Good morning, Carol.
There is going to be a lot to talk about. Now the coalition under Paul Bremer has just announced a move that should ease some of the tension surrounding this capital as we ease into this hot summer, it's a move to pay army officers.
Now this has been a major problem for the past month. These officers have been enraged that they've been cut off from their jobs, told they have no future and they've been left with no money. They've held several demonstrations, the latest of which last week resulted in two of the officers being shot by American troops.
This morning the coalition says that it now has a plan and that plan will actually pay the officers. If they are not from the top four ranks of the Ba'ath Party or the Republican Guard, each officer will get the equivalent of between $50 and $150 a month until a new interim government is arranged to decide what to do with them. So that should help things in that respect.
But sabotage continues, suspected sabotage on the pipelines, as well as the mystery over where Saddam is. Now Pentagon officials are confirming that an air strike on a convoy last week near the Syrian border killed an unknown number of people related to Saddam's regime. A newspaper report says those remains are being tested for DNA to see if it might be Saddam. We haven't confirmed that part of it yet, but clearly that search is still on. And those pipelines, that's a major pipeline, it seems, a gas pipeline in the north.
Now there's a new report that there's a new explosion near the Syrian border on a pipeline. This one broke out late Saturday, unknown causes. It could be sabotage. It could just be a pipeline in very bad repair. No one knows quite yet -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, Jane Arraf, reporting live from Baghdad this morning.
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 23, 2003 - 05:05 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Now to Iraq, three members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee are in Baghdad this morning to meet with Paul Bremer, the U.S. Administrator for Iraq.
Our Baghdad bureau chief Jane Arraf joins us live now with details on that and other developments.
Good morning -- Jane.
JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Good morning, Carol.
There is going to be a lot to talk about. Now the coalition under Paul Bremer has just announced a move that should ease some of the tension surrounding this capital as we ease into this hot summer, it's a move to pay army officers.
Now this has been a major problem for the past month. These officers have been enraged that they've been cut off from their jobs, told they have no future and they've been left with no money. They've held several demonstrations, the latest of which last week resulted in two of the officers being shot by American troops.
This morning the coalition says that it now has a plan and that plan will actually pay the officers. If they are not from the top four ranks of the Ba'ath Party or the Republican Guard, each officer will get the equivalent of between $50 and $150 a month until a new interim government is arranged to decide what to do with them. So that should help things in that respect.
But sabotage continues, suspected sabotage on the pipelines, as well as the mystery over where Saddam is. Now Pentagon officials are confirming that an air strike on a convoy last week near the Syrian border killed an unknown number of people related to Saddam's regime. A newspaper report says those remains are being tested for DNA to see if it might be Saddam. We haven't confirmed that part of it yet, but clearly that search is still on. And those pipelines, that's a major pipeline, it seems, a gas pipeline in the north.
Now there's a new report that there's a new explosion near the Syrian border on a pipeline. This one broke out late Saturday, unknown causes. It could be sabotage. It could just be a pipeline in very bad repair. No one knows quite yet -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, Jane Arraf, reporting live from Baghdad this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
