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CNN Live At Daybreak
New Purported Saddam Hussein Tape Airs on Al-Jazeera
Aired August 01, 2003 - 06:32 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: A ramble about fear, treason and being "a gun pointed at the enemy," another tape supposedly of Saddam Hussein airs on Al-Jazeera. This, as the search for Saddam takes a new twist.
Let's head live to Baghdad and Rym Brahimi.
Hello -- Rym.
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Carol.
Indeed, it's the sixth tape that's been released, the same format, an audio tape purportedly the voice of Saddam Hussein. This time, however, released to Al-Jazeera and not Al Arabiya, the other Arabic satellite channel, as done previously.
Now, of course, CNN has no way of verifying independently that this is indeed the voice of the former Iraqi president, but the tone, if you will, and the language is very, very similar to the previous speeches we used to hear from him. Basically, telling the people, again, to resist the occupation, calling on them to make sure that they will be able to preserve all of the properties of the state and the properties of the formerly ruling Baath Party, so that when things return to normal, says Saddam Hussein, well, everything will be ready.
But he also calls on people, and especially people who may have acted out of vengeance and people who have been looting, not to give their properties to the occupying forces, and also to behave with respect to certain laws.
Let's listen in.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We call on all of those that have suffered under the hands of looters and the occupying forces to be patient, wise and not out for revenge. God is on the side of the faithful.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
BRAHIMI: Now, he's basically telling them to be behave properly with regards to those members among the U.S. troops that they might capture, basically saying that they need to respect international law. So, it's a very different tone of speech, if you will, than the previous audio tapes. The previous one, you'll remember, Carol, was mourning the deaths of his sons and just calling on people to fight, and previous ones have just been mainly mobilizing. But this is probably the first time that he talks about the return of the Baath Party to power -- Carol.
COSTELLO: I don't know, it seems somewhat delusional to me, but I guess you never know. Tell us about these pictures of Saddam being circulated amongst U.S. troops.
BRAHIMI: Well, U.S. troops are now saying that the focus, the emphasis, continues to be the hunt for Saddam Hussein, and to that effect, they've been distributing some pictures, some of them digital pictures, if you will, of what Saddam Hussein might look like now four months after his regime was toppled by U.S. forces.
Now, some of these pictures depict Saddam Hussein with gray hair and a gray mustache, others depict him growing a beard, others yet with longer hair. And some of them are also sketches. And this has been distributed to the 4th Infantry Division troops that are stationed in the north around Tikrit, which is the hometown of Saddam Hussein, and also to Task Force 20, this joint command of elite special forces, if you will, that have been carrying out some of the raids to find Saddam Hussein -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Rym Brahimi reporting live for us out of 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 August 1, 2003 - 06:32 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: A ramble about fear, treason and being "a gun pointed at the enemy," another tape supposedly of Saddam Hussein airs on Al-Jazeera. This, as the search for Saddam takes a new twist.
Let's head live to Baghdad and Rym Brahimi.
Hello -- Rym.
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Carol.
Indeed, it's the sixth tape that's been released, the same format, an audio tape purportedly the voice of Saddam Hussein. This time, however, released to Al-Jazeera and not Al Arabiya, the other Arabic satellite channel, as done previously.
Now, of course, CNN has no way of verifying independently that this is indeed the voice of the former Iraqi president, but the tone, if you will, and the language is very, very similar to the previous speeches we used to hear from him. Basically, telling the people, again, to resist the occupation, calling on them to make sure that they will be able to preserve all of the properties of the state and the properties of the formerly ruling Baath Party, so that when things return to normal, says Saddam Hussein, well, everything will be ready.
But he also calls on people, and especially people who may have acted out of vengeance and people who have been looting, not to give their properties to the occupying forces, and also to behave with respect to certain laws.
Let's listen in.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We call on all of those that have suffered under the hands of looters and the occupying forces to be patient, wise and not out for revenge. God is on the side of the faithful.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
BRAHIMI: Now, he's basically telling them to be behave properly with regards to those members among the U.S. troops that they might capture, basically saying that they need to respect international law. So, it's a very different tone of speech, if you will, than the previous audio tapes. The previous one, you'll remember, Carol, was mourning the deaths of his sons and just calling on people to fight, and previous ones have just been mainly mobilizing. But this is probably the first time that he talks about the return of the Baath Party to power -- Carol.
COSTELLO: I don't know, it seems somewhat delusional to me, but I guess you never know. Tell us about these pictures of Saddam being circulated amongst U.S. troops.
BRAHIMI: Well, U.S. troops are now saying that the focus, the emphasis, continues to be the hunt for Saddam Hussein, and to that effect, they've been distributing some pictures, some of them digital pictures, if you will, of what Saddam Hussein might look like now four months after his regime was toppled by U.S. forces.
Now, some of these pictures depict Saddam Hussein with gray hair and a gray mustache, others depict him growing a beard, others yet with longer hair. And some of them are also sketches. And this has been distributed to the 4th Infantry Division troops that are stationed in the north around Tikrit, which is the hometown of Saddam Hussein, and also to Task Force 20, this joint command of elite special forces, if you will, that have been carrying out some of the raids to find Saddam Hussein -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Rym Brahimi reporting live for us out of 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.
