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American Morning

Sabotage Threatens Iraq's Economy

Aired August 18, 2003 - 07:17   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.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: We want to get to Iraq right now, where sabotage appears to be the latest obstacle for the U.S. military in its effort to rebuild post-war Iraq.
Our Rym Brahimi, now in Kirkuk, now has the latest from there.

Rym -- good afternoon.

RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon to you, Bill.

Before we get to that, I'd just like to report a couple of incidents. A couple of U.S. soldiers were wounded yesterday in an attempt to attack them. That was near Tikrit. And a couple of Iraqi civilians were killed. Actually, one of them was shot. He was apparently a looter, according to U.S. military officials. Another one was shot at a checkpoint when he didn't realize maybe that this was a checkpoint. But at any rate, he drove through and was shot and killed.

But, as you were mentioning, a couple of sabotage incidents -- in fact, a series of sabotage incidents really goes to show the link between security and the economy in the country. Basically, it's not enough to just fix what was in shambles, but once it's fixed, the challenge now is making sure it stays that way.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRAHIMI (voice-over): On Friday, only two days after the northern pipeline had begun to export oil from Kirkuk to the Mediterranean port of Ceyhan in Turkey, a fire erupted on the line about 200 kilometers north of Baghdad, interrupting the oil flow.

Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Paul Bremer, the U.S. administrator in Iraq, blamed this dire state of Iraq's economy on the previous regime and on acts of sabotage against Iraq's infrastructure.

PAUL BREMER, U.S./IRAQ RECONSTRUCTION ADMINISTRATOR: Iraq finds itself poor, because of the astonishing mismanagement of the Iraqi economy over the last four decades, and the great cost to the Iraqi people of the political sabotage which continues in Iraq, including the attack on the Kirkuk pipeline just two days ago, the cost of which is $7 million a day to the Iraqi people.

BRAHIMI: Iraq's newly-appointed deputy chief of police appeals to the patriotism of all Iraqis, including the tribal chiefs, to help put an end to sabotage. But by Sunday, the northern pipeline was ablaze again only a few kilometers away from the first fire, apparently a successful attempt out of many carried out recently against oil installations in the north.

In Baghdad, another incident believed to be an act of sabotage cut off the flow of water from entire neighborhoods, after a fire broke out at a sewage center on the outskirts of the capital.

A videotape showing a group of masked men at an undisclosed location was aired on the Arabic satellite network, Al-Jazeera, saying the resistance to the U.S. occupation was making progress, and that put what they called the enemy on the defensive, preventing, they said, the occupiers from implanting themselves.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

Basically, Iraqi engineers and U.S. soldiers have been working very hard to try and get that pipeline restored, but it could take about more than 10 days or at least two weeks, we're told. And water in Baghdad has been restored to some 60 percent in the neighborhoods that were affected.

But it does go to show you that there is a crucial problem. Security remains a scarce but crucial commodity here in Iraq, a country that's still reeling from years of war, sanctions and mismanagement.

Rym Brahimi.

HEMMER: Rym, thank you for that.

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 - 07:17   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: We want to get to Iraq right now, where sabotage appears to be the latest obstacle for the U.S. military in its effort to rebuild post-war Iraq.
Our Rym Brahimi, now in Kirkuk, now has the latest from there.

Rym -- good afternoon.

RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon to you, Bill.

Before we get to that, I'd just like to report a couple of incidents. A couple of U.S. soldiers were wounded yesterday in an attempt to attack them. That was near Tikrit. And a couple of Iraqi civilians were killed. Actually, one of them was shot. He was apparently a looter, according to U.S. military officials. Another one was shot at a checkpoint when he didn't realize maybe that this was a checkpoint. But at any rate, he drove through and was shot and killed.

But, as you were mentioning, a couple of sabotage incidents -- in fact, a series of sabotage incidents really goes to show the link between security and the economy in the country. Basically, it's not enough to just fix what was in shambles, but once it's fixed, the challenge now is making sure it stays that way.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRAHIMI (voice-over): On Friday, only two days after the northern pipeline had begun to export oil from Kirkuk to the Mediterranean port of Ceyhan in Turkey, a fire erupted on the line about 200 kilometers north of Baghdad, interrupting the oil flow.

Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Paul Bremer, the U.S. administrator in Iraq, blamed this dire state of Iraq's economy on the previous regime and on acts of sabotage against Iraq's infrastructure.

PAUL BREMER, U.S./IRAQ RECONSTRUCTION ADMINISTRATOR: Iraq finds itself poor, because of the astonishing mismanagement of the Iraqi economy over the last four decades, and the great cost to the Iraqi people of the political sabotage which continues in Iraq, including the attack on the Kirkuk pipeline just two days ago, the cost of which is $7 million a day to the Iraqi people.

BRAHIMI: Iraq's newly-appointed deputy chief of police appeals to the patriotism of all Iraqis, including the tribal chiefs, to help put an end to sabotage. But by Sunday, the northern pipeline was ablaze again only a few kilometers away from the first fire, apparently a successful attempt out of many carried out recently against oil installations in the north.

In Baghdad, another incident believed to be an act of sabotage cut off the flow of water from entire neighborhoods, after a fire broke out at a sewage center on the outskirts of the capital.

A videotape showing a group of masked men at an undisclosed location was aired on the Arabic satellite network, Al-Jazeera, saying the resistance to the U.S. occupation was making progress, and that put what they called the enemy on the defensive, preventing, they said, the occupiers from implanting themselves.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

Basically, Iraqi engineers and U.S. soldiers have been working very hard to try and get that pipeline restored, but it could take about more than 10 days or at least two weeks, we're told. And water in Baghdad has been restored to some 60 percent in the neighborhoods that were affected.

But it does go to show you that there is a crucial problem. Security remains a scarce but crucial commodity here in Iraq, a country that's still reeling from years of war, sanctions and mismanagement.

Rym Brahimi.

HEMMER: Rym, thank you for that.

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