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CNN Live At Daybreak

U.S. Troops Fear Retaliation

Aired July 24, 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: U.S. troops fear retaliation after the death of Saddam Hussein's sons. And now three soldiers in the division that took part in that raid are dead after an attack just hours ago.
For more on this, let's go to Baghdad and CNN's Rym Brahimi -- good morning, Rym.

RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Carol.

Indeed, three soldiers were killed, according to U.S. officials, in the early hours of the morning near the town of Mosul, in an area called Kayama (ph). Now, they actually were in a convoy and they fell under small arms fire and rocket propelled grenade fire. That happened, again, just following another attack yesterday against two other U.S. soldiers.

Interesting, as you point out, that these soldiers were part of that same division that raided and eventually killed the two sons of Saddam Hussein, and that follows the death of those two sons by two days -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Rym, about the pictures, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld says they may clean up the bodies before they release the pictures. But if they do that, won't that make the Iraqi people suspicious?

BRAHIMI: To be honest, Carol, I think there's very little that will not make the Iraqi people suspicious at this stage. They do definitely want to see pictures. They do want to see that those same people that made so many Iraqis suffer and tortured so many Iraqis and executed so many others, they do want to see pictures of those people dead. They want to make sure that this is behind them.

On the other hand, of course, what, the U.S., generally speaking, their presence here as an occupying power makes them, puts them in a position where a lot of what they do will be suspicious in any case.

But I think it will at least alleviate certain fears on the part of a lot of people who to this day, Carol, are still afraid of talking and of saying things about that era, about that time when the previous regime was still in place and Uday and Qusay were above the law and did what they want -- Carol.

COSTELLO: And, also, the longer the United States waits to put out those pictures, might that make them more suspicious, too? I was just wondering about that aspect of it. BRAHIMI: Well, it might very well. You know, there are amazing rumors, Carol, around here since the death of the two sons, even before that. You know, one of the reasons is because the Iraqis question the intentions of the United States in having conducted this invasion and toppled the regime. Many people say well, it wasn't for our benefit because the proof is that they haven't improved our lives and we still have no electricity and water, all they were interested in was getting access to the oil.

And some people, among the most amazing rumors that you'll hear, Carol, if you ever came here is, for instance, people saying that the Americans are in synch with Saddam Hussein, they're just letting him remain where he is in order for the people to be subdued and feel threatened. Other people are saying that the real Qusay and Uday, sons of Saddam Hussein, were actually flown to the U.S. because they have business dealings and the bodies that they will show are not the real bodies.

At this stage, there's very little anyone can do -- Carol.

COSTELLO: I was going to say that might surprise most Americans, but I don't think Americans are surprised by anything anymore.

Rym Brahimi 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 July 24, 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: U.S. troops fear retaliation after the death of Saddam Hussein's sons. And now three soldiers in the division that took part in that raid are dead after an attack just hours ago.
For more on this, let's go to Baghdad and CNN's Rym Brahimi -- good morning, Rym.

RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Carol.

Indeed, three soldiers were killed, according to U.S. officials, in the early hours of the morning near the town of Mosul, in an area called Kayama (ph). Now, they actually were in a convoy and they fell under small arms fire and rocket propelled grenade fire. That happened, again, just following another attack yesterday against two other U.S. soldiers.

Interesting, as you point out, that these soldiers were part of that same division that raided and eventually killed the two sons of Saddam Hussein, and that follows the death of those two sons by two days -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Rym, about the pictures, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld says they may clean up the bodies before they release the pictures. But if they do that, won't that make the Iraqi people suspicious?

BRAHIMI: To be honest, Carol, I think there's very little that will not make the Iraqi people suspicious at this stage. They do definitely want to see pictures. They do want to see that those same people that made so many Iraqis suffer and tortured so many Iraqis and executed so many others, they do want to see pictures of those people dead. They want to make sure that this is behind them.

On the other hand, of course, what, the U.S., generally speaking, their presence here as an occupying power makes them, puts them in a position where a lot of what they do will be suspicious in any case.

But I think it will at least alleviate certain fears on the part of a lot of people who to this day, Carol, are still afraid of talking and of saying things about that era, about that time when the previous regime was still in place and Uday and Qusay were above the law and did what they want -- Carol.

COSTELLO: And, also, the longer the United States waits to put out those pictures, might that make them more suspicious, too? I was just wondering about that aspect of it. BRAHIMI: Well, it might very well. You know, there are amazing rumors, Carol, around here since the death of the two sons, even before that. You know, one of the reasons is because the Iraqis question the intentions of the United States in having conducted this invasion and toppled the regime. Many people say well, it wasn't for our benefit because the proof is that they haven't improved our lives and we still have no electricity and water, all they were interested in was getting access to the oil.

And some people, among the most amazing rumors that you'll hear, Carol, if you ever came here is, for instance, people saying that the Americans are in synch with Saddam Hussein, they're just letting him remain where he is in order for the people to be subdued and feel threatened. Other people are saying that the real Qusay and Uday, sons of Saddam Hussein, were actually flown to the U.S. because they have business dealings and the bodies that they will show are not the real bodies.

At this stage, there's very little anyone can do -- Carol.

COSTELLO: I was going to say that might surprise most Americans, but I don't think Americans are surprised by anything anymore.

Rym Brahimi 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