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CNN Live At Daybreak
Reaction to Purported Saddam Hussein Audio Tape
Aired July 30, 2003 - 05:30 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: If the latest Saddam Hussein audiotape is authentic, the ousted leader is apparently proud of his dead sons. The speaker on the tape acknowledges last week's killing of Uday and Qusay Hussein and calls them martyrs. The speaker also calls on other Iraqis to make similar sacrifices.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If Saddam Hussein had the option to sacrifice other sons other than Uday and Qusay, Saddam Hussein would have sacrificed them the same honorable way. It is our duty. It's a duty on every believer. Our freedom and patriotism call upon every believer to sacrifice himself. We must be of those believers who make history and testify to our bravery.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: An Arab language television station aired the tape. CNN has not confirmed that it is, indeed, the voice of Saddam Hussein.
But we want to get reaction to that audiotape now.
It's after lunchtime in Iraq.
We take you live to Baghdad and Rym Brahimi -- good morning, Rym.
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
Well, as you were mentioning, CNN hasn't been able to verify or confirm that this was the voice of Saddam Hussein, but many Iraqis we speak to are convinced that it is their former president of Iraq. Many of them don't see much into that. They actually just see Saddam as a weakened man now, although they did point out that they thought he had a very strong voice, even stronger than one of the previous tapes that had been released.
This is the fifth tape that Saddam Hussein purportedly gives out or sends to this Arabic satellite channel, Al-Arabia, and this time it was maybe less of a mobilization speech, although, as you point out, Carol, he is calling on people to sacrifice their sons, than maybe just making the point that, of course, acknowledging the death of his sons, making the point that they were martyrs, maybe thereby trying to attract the sympathy of many people using religion, of course. And also just making a point that he's still around and he's still capable of doing something, at any rate.
And some people also don't, I mean many people were convinced by that tape, actually, only that his sons had been killed. But a lot of other people say with regards to the whole aspect of whether they were martyrs or not, they say well, Saddam says they are martyrs because they fought this six hour battle. And people here say well, they fought this six hour battle to defend themselves, not to defend Iraq. If they really wanted to defend Iraq, they say, they would have fought when it was important, before Baghdad fell to U.S. troops.
So a lot of, again, a lot of mixed emotions and a lot of people basically are convinced that despite this tape, well, Saddam isn't a threat anymore -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Rym, we want to talk about the bodies of Uday and Qusay and what could happen to them, like will they be buried or given to family members, because we understand a cousin has come to claim the bodies now.
BRAHIMI: That's right. In fact, two family members have claimed them. One of them is a distant relative who's from the same tribe as Saddam Hussein, and he's in Tikrit. He's actually asked the U.S. military authorities, apparently, to hand over the bodies to him so that he will bury them. But the other one is maybe more significant, because that is a cousin who's more closely related to Saddam and he's also related to the two -- he was actually related to the two sons-in- law of Saddam Hussein, meaning his cousins were married to the daughters of Saddam Hussein.
Now, this person says that Saddam Hussein, Uday and Qusay Hussein actually killed his own four children and wife. And to this day, he says -- when I spoke to him he said to this day I don't know where the graves of my wife and children are. But despite all that, I think as a Muslim, these brothers have to be given a decent burial. It's a humanitarian issue. He wrote a letter to Paul Bremmer, the U.S. administrator, saying not only that it was from a moral point of view, but basically pointing out that if these are the values that the U.S. wants to instill in Iraq, then they should go ahead and bury them. Otherwise, he said it might create trouble -- Carol.
COSTELLO: And, you know, we were talking to you earlier, before we went on the air, and you mentioned that it's eerily quiet there.
Can you expound on that for us?
BRAHIMI: Yes, Carol, it's eerily quiet in the sense that we haven't seen any, you know, major events or we haven't heard of major attacks. That said, it doesn't mean that nothing is happening. It's just the atmosphere is sort of quiet, as if everybody is holding their breaths and waiting to see whether or not Saddam will be apprehended in the next few days.
That said, there has been a few things going on even in Baghdad. First of all, there was a demonstration in the neighborhood of Monsour, where three people at least were killed in a botched raid attempt a couple of days ago. These three people, apparently among them some of them were on their way to church when they got killed by commandos who were conducting a raid in that area and the people are unhappy because they say they still don't even know where the bodies have been taken to.
And then there have been a series of raids conducted in the Tikrit area mainly, but also in the rest of the country, 56 raids, Carol, in 24 hours. One hundred and seventy-eight people have been arrested. And that said, the U.S. military says there has been a series of attacks, as well, against U.S. soldiers, but in the past 24 hours, at least, no casualties that we know of -- Carol.
COSTELLO: And that is good news.
Rym Brahimi live from Baghdad this morning.
And when you get to work this morning, you can log onto our Web site, where you can read the entire audiotaped message purportedly from Saddam Hussein and get reaction to it in Baghdad. You know the address by now, 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 July 30, 2003 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: If the latest Saddam Hussein audiotape is authentic, the ousted leader is apparently proud of his dead sons. The speaker on the tape acknowledges last week's killing of Uday and Qusay Hussein and calls them martyrs. The speaker also calls on other Iraqis to make similar sacrifices.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If Saddam Hussein had the option to sacrifice other sons other than Uday and Qusay, Saddam Hussein would have sacrificed them the same honorable way. It is our duty. It's a duty on every believer. Our freedom and patriotism call upon every believer to sacrifice himself. We must be of those believers who make history and testify to our bravery.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: An Arab language television station aired the tape. CNN has not confirmed that it is, indeed, the voice of Saddam Hussein.
But we want to get reaction to that audiotape now.
It's after lunchtime in Iraq.
We take you live to Baghdad and Rym Brahimi -- good morning, Rym.
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
Well, as you were mentioning, CNN hasn't been able to verify or confirm that this was the voice of Saddam Hussein, but many Iraqis we speak to are convinced that it is their former president of Iraq. Many of them don't see much into that. They actually just see Saddam as a weakened man now, although they did point out that they thought he had a very strong voice, even stronger than one of the previous tapes that had been released.
This is the fifth tape that Saddam Hussein purportedly gives out or sends to this Arabic satellite channel, Al-Arabia, and this time it was maybe less of a mobilization speech, although, as you point out, Carol, he is calling on people to sacrifice their sons, than maybe just making the point that, of course, acknowledging the death of his sons, making the point that they were martyrs, maybe thereby trying to attract the sympathy of many people using religion, of course. And also just making a point that he's still around and he's still capable of doing something, at any rate.
And some people also don't, I mean many people were convinced by that tape, actually, only that his sons had been killed. But a lot of other people say with regards to the whole aspect of whether they were martyrs or not, they say well, Saddam says they are martyrs because they fought this six hour battle. And people here say well, they fought this six hour battle to defend themselves, not to defend Iraq. If they really wanted to defend Iraq, they say, they would have fought when it was important, before Baghdad fell to U.S. troops.
So a lot of, again, a lot of mixed emotions and a lot of people basically are convinced that despite this tape, well, Saddam isn't a threat anymore -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Rym, we want to talk about the bodies of Uday and Qusay and what could happen to them, like will they be buried or given to family members, because we understand a cousin has come to claim the bodies now.
BRAHIMI: That's right. In fact, two family members have claimed them. One of them is a distant relative who's from the same tribe as Saddam Hussein, and he's in Tikrit. He's actually asked the U.S. military authorities, apparently, to hand over the bodies to him so that he will bury them. But the other one is maybe more significant, because that is a cousin who's more closely related to Saddam and he's also related to the two -- he was actually related to the two sons-in- law of Saddam Hussein, meaning his cousins were married to the daughters of Saddam Hussein.
Now, this person says that Saddam Hussein, Uday and Qusay Hussein actually killed his own four children and wife. And to this day, he says -- when I spoke to him he said to this day I don't know where the graves of my wife and children are. But despite all that, I think as a Muslim, these brothers have to be given a decent burial. It's a humanitarian issue. He wrote a letter to Paul Bremmer, the U.S. administrator, saying not only that it was from a moral point of view, but basically pointing out that if these are the values that the U.S. wants to instill in Iraq, then they should go ahead and bury them. Otherwise, he said it might create trouble -- Carol.
COSTELLO: And, you know, we were talking to you earlier, before we went on the air, and you mentioned that it's eerily quiet there.
Can you expound on that for us?
BRAHIMI: Yes, Carol, it's eerily quiet in the sense that we haven't seen any, you know, major events or we haven't heard of major attacks. That said, it doesn't mean that nothing is happening. It's just the atmosphere is sort of quiet, as if everybody is holding their breaths and waiting to see whether or not Saddam will be apprehended in the next few days.
That said, there has been a few things going on even in Baghdad. First of all, there was a demonstration in the neighborhood of Monsour, where three people at least were killed in a botched raid attempt a couple of days ago. These three people, apparently among them some of them were on their way to church when they got killed by commandos who were conducting a raid in that area and the people are unhappy because they say they still don't even know where the bodies have been taken to.
And then there have been a series of raids conducted in the Tikrit area mainly, but also in the rest of the country, 56 raids, Carol, in 24 hours. One hundred and seventy-eight people have been arrested. And that said, the U.S. military says there has been a series of attacks, as well, against U.S. soldiers, but in the past 24 hours, at least, no casualties that we know of -- Carol.
COSTELLO: And that is good news.
Rym Brahimi live from Baghdad this morning.
And when you get to work this morning, you can log onto our Web site, where you can read the entire audiotaped message purportedly from Saddam Hussein and get reaction to it in Baghdad. You know the address by now, 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
