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CNN Live At Daybreak

Reuters Photographer Shot, Killed

Aired August 18, 2003 - 06:09   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.


FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Shifting focus now to the new Iraq. Suspected acts of sabotage, like this oil pipeline fire near Mosul, are slowing the country's recovery.
The U.S. military says it was a tragic mistake that a Reuters cameraman was shot and killed by an American soldier.

And what a face -- take a look at this. U.S. troops in Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit gave the deposed leader a new look. They say it's a message to the people Saddam is not coming back.

Let's now head to Baghdad for more details on all that's going on there today.

CNN's Baghdad bureau chief Jane Arraf is there -- Jane.

JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Oh, Fredricka, the press community certainly and a lot of Iraqis are mourning the death of that Reuters cameraman, who was killed by U.S. troops. Now, there are Iraqis -- a lot of Iraqis who have been killed in a similar fashion, but this a highly visible incident.

The U.S. Army says that they opened fire after people in a tank -- their soldiers in a tank near the Abu Ghraib prison believed that Mazen Dana was holding up a rocket-propelled grenade launcher. He was, in fact, holding up his television camera. And with that attached lens from a distance, they say, it might have looked to nervous soldiers as if he were actually about to launch something at them. They opened fire and he died.

He's not the first Reuters cameraman to have died and not the first journalist to have died, but certainly a very sad incident at a very public event. This had been a prison that had been hit by mortar rounds the previous night. There were six people who were killed, and journalists had been gathered around the prison.

In other areas of the country they're still trying to clean up the fires that are burning on that oil pipeline -- a 600-mile pipeline to Turkey that carries Iraq's main oil exports from the north. Now, the main fire has been put out. There are still residual fires burning, but it will take several days before oil starts flowing again.

And several days before residents in Baghdad get water. Sabotage hit a main water pipeline, and although that water stopped flooding out of the pipe, a lot of people are still without water in this searing heat -- Fredricka. WHITFIELD: All right, Jane Arraf in Baghdad, thanks very much for the update.

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 18, 2003 - 06:09   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Shifting focus now to the new Iraq. Suspected acts of sabotage, like this oil pipeline fire near Mosul, are slowing the country's recovery.
The U.S. military says it was a tragic mistake that a Reuters cameraman was shot and killed by an American soldier.

And what a face -- take a look at this. U.S. troops in Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit gave the deposed leader a new look. They say it's a message to the people Saddam is not coming back.

Let's now head to Baghdad for more details on all that's going on there today.

CNN's Baghdad bureau chief Jane Arraf is there -- Jane.

JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Oh, Fredricka, the press community certainly and a lot of Iraqis are mourning the death of that Reuters cameraman, who was killed by U.S. troops. Now, there are Iraqis -- a lot of Iraqis who have been killed in a similar fashion, but this a highly visible incident.

The U.S. Army says that they opened fire after people in a tank -- their soldiers in a tank near the Abu Ghraib prison believed that Mazen Dana was holding up a rocket-propelled grenade launcher. He was, in fact, holding up his television camera. And with that attached lens from a distance, they say, it might have looked to nervous soldiers as if he were actually about to launch something at them. They opened fire and he died.

He's not the first Reuters cameraman to have died and not the first journalist to have died, but certainly a very sad incident at a very public event. This had been a prison that had been hit by mortar rounds the previous night. There were six people who were killed, and journalists had been gathered around the prison.

In other areas of the country they're still trying to clean up the fires that are burning on that oil pipeline -- a 600-mile pipeline to Turkey that carries Iraq's main oil exports from the north. Now, the main fire has been put out. There are still residual fires burning, but it will take several days before oil starts flowing again.

And several days before residents in Baghdad get water. Sabotage hit a main water pipeline, and although that water stopped flooding out of the pipe, a lot of people are still without water in this searing heat -- Fredricka. WHITFIELD: All right, Jane Arraf in Baghdad, thanks very much for the update.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.