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CNN Live At Daybreak
American Soldiers in Iraq on Heightened State of Alert
Aired July 14, 2003 - 05:31 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: American soldiers in Iraq are on a heightened state of alert. This is a holiday in the former Saddam Hussein regime. The alert status comes as two more Americans are killed, one today, one yesterday.
Harris Whitbeck live from Baghdad.
He's going to talk about Iraq's new governing council first -- good morning, Harris.
HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
As you said, today, July 14th, is a holiday. It's the anniversary of the 1958 coup which toppled the Iraqi monarchy, which led to Saddam Hussein's eventual rise to power. Because of that anniversary today, the U.S. military is on a heightened state of alert. They feel that Saddam loyalists might try to launch attacks against their personnel here.
There was one attack early this morning. A grenade was hurled, a rocket propelled grenade was launched against a convoy traveling through the al-Mansour area of western Baghdad. One U.S. soldiers was killed, six more were injured. The injured have been evacuated to a military combat hospital nearby.
Now, as I say, there is a heightened state of alert because of that. There's also some tension on the street, several protests today. People protesting the installation of the council, the governing council, which took place yesterday. That council is made up of 25 people who will represent the different ethnic and religious groups in Iraq and some people are not happy because they say that most of those new council members are Iraqi exiles who came back and because they were away for so many years, they aren't really in touch with the reality of the problems that many Iraqis faced during the Saddam Hussein era.
So there were some protests related to that today.
Now, the first task of this governing council will be to elect a leader and after that they will start naming interim ministers who will take charge of the Iraqi government and start trying to get things back up and running.
They will also start working on a budget for the year 2004 and start naming diplomats who will be sent to the Iraqi embassies around the world. So a lot of work ahead. Again, all of this work will result in the eventual writing of a new constitution and the election of a new Iraqi president -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Harris Whitbeck 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 July 14, 2003 - 05:31 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: American soldiers in Iraq are on a heightened state of alert. This is a holiday in the former Saddam Hussein regime. The alert status comes as two more Americans are killed, one today, one yesterday.
Harris Whitbeck live from Baghdad.
He's going to talk about Iraq's new governing council first -- good morning, Harris.
HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
As you said, today, July 14th, is a holiday. It's the anniversary of the 1958 coup which toppled the Iraqi monarchy, which led to Saddam Hussein's eventual rise to power. Because of that anniversary today, the U.S. military is on a heightened state of alert. They feel that Saddam loyalists might try to launch attacks against their personnel here.
There was one attack early this morning. A grenade was hurled, a rocket propelled grenade was launched against a convoy traveling through the al-Mansour area of western Baghdad. One U.S. soldiers was killed, six more were injured. The injured have been evacuated to a military combat hospital nearby.
Now, as I say, there is a heightened state of alert because of that. There's also some tension on the street, several protests today. People protesting the installation of the council, the governing council, which took place yesterday. That council is made up of 25 people who will represent the different ethnic and religious groups in Iraq and some people are not happy because they say that most of those new council members are Iraqi exiles who came back and because they were away for so many years, they aren't really in touch with the reality of the problems that many Iraqis faced during the Saddam Hussein era.
So there were some protests related to that today.
Now, the first task of this governing council will be to elect a leader and after that they will start naming interim ministers who will take charge of the Iraqi government and start trying to get things back up and running.
They will also start working on a budget for the year 2004 and start naming diplomats who will be sent to the Iraqi embassies around the world. So a lot of work ahead. Again, all of this work will result in the eventual writing of a new constitution and the election of a new Iraqi president -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Harris Whitbeck 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
