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CNN Live At Daybreak
Bomb Explodes Outside Home of Leading Muslim Shiite Cleric
Aired August 25, 2003 - 05:02 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 and U.N. workers aren't the only targets in Iraq. A bomb exploded outside the home of a leading Muslim Shiite cleric, killing three people.
CNN's Rym Brahimi in Baghdad with the story -- hello, Rym.
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Carol.
Well, the prominent religious leader, Mohammed Said al-Hakim, whose premises were targeted, it seems, in that explosion, is now calling on people in the holy city of Najaf, where the blast occurred, to remain calm. There hasn't been any specific finger pointing at any specific group, but a spokesman for his movement, the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, is saying that whoever did this is an enemy of Islam, an enemy of the Iraqi people.
Now, the explosion took place yesterday, early afternoon, at the premises of this religious cleric's home. Two of his bodyguards were killed. One of his office workers was also killed and it injured 10 passersby.
The explosion also occurred, actually, about half a mile away from the Imam Ali Mosque, which is one of the most revered holy sites for Muslim Shias.
Now, the spokesman for that group, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, is also saying that they do hold the United States accountable or responsible for security in Iraq and therefore are holding the U.S. indirectly responsible for that explosion. That said, there is a problem with security. We've just heard, Carol, that the Red Cross is putting out some of its non-Iraqi staff workers. This after several series of incidents, one of them three weeks ago when one of its workers got killed, the Jordanian embassy bombing about a couple of weeks ago and now the U.N. bombing just this past week. All these events have prompted the Red Cross, which is an organization that usually sticks it out under very, very difficult and insecure conditions, to start pulling out some of its staff from here -- Carol.
COSTELLO: And, Rym, in talking about security in Iraq, I know that U.S. troops want the Iraqis to take more responsibility. There is a "New York Times" article this morning that says the U.S. may actually send thousands of Iraqis to Hungary to get police training.
Can you tell us anything more about that?
BRAHIMI: Well, there is an area in Hungary where they have been training Iraqis in terms of security, and Iraqi militias, if you will. But all that was very secret and it took place before the war. Now, what they're planning to do is use an old Soviet base, from what I understand from those reports, in order to train a certain number of Iraqi policemen, to be able to train them properly for some time, and then they will give them six months on the ground training, as they do in the United States.
That said, though, if you talk to people like Paul Bremmer, the U.S. administrator, one of the main problems they've had with trying to train not only Iraqi police, but also all sorts of different Iraqi security services or departments, it costs a lot of money. And so that's one aspect of it.
They are trying to reach the level of 65,000 to 70,000 police in Iraq, but, again, that hasn't been done so far -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, Rym Brahimi 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
Cleric>
Aired August 25, 2003 - 05:02 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 and U.N. workers aren't the only targets in Iraq. A bomb exploded outside the home of a leading Muslim Shiite cleric, killing three people.
CNN's Rym Brahimi in Baghdad with the story -- hello, Rym.
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Carol.
Well, the prominent religious leader, Mohammed Said al-Hakim, whose premises were targeted, it seems, in that explosion, is now calling on people in the holy city of Najaf, where the blast occurred, to remain calm. There hasn't been any specific finger pointing at any specific group, but a spokesman for his movement, the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, is saying that whoever did this is an enemy of Islam, an enemy of the Iraqi people.
Now, the explosion took place yesterday, early afternoon, at the premises of this religious cleric's home. Two of his bodyguards were killed. One of his office workers was also killed and it injured 10 passersby.
The explosion also occurred, actually, about half a mile away from the Imam Ali Mosque, which is one of the most revered holy sites for Muslim Shias.
Now, the spokesman for that group, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, is also saying that they do hold the United States accountable or responsible for security in Iraq and therefore are holding the U.S. indirectly responsible for that explosion. That said, there is a problem with security. We've just heard, Carol, that the Red Cross is putting out some of its non-Iraqi staff workers. This after several series of incidents, one of them three weeks ago when one of its workers got killed, the Jordanian embassy bombing about a couple of weeks ago and now the U.N. bombing just this past week. All these events have prompted the Red Cross, which is an organization that usually sticks it out under very, very difficult and insecure conditions, to start pulling out some of its staff from here -- Carol.
COSTELLO: And, Rym, in talking about security in Iraq, I know that U.S. troops want the Iraqis to take more responsibility. There is a "New York Times" article this morning that says the U.S. may actually send thousands of Iraqis to Hungary to get police training.
Can you tell us anything more about that?
BRAHIMI: Well, there is an area in Hungary where they have been training Iraqis in terms of security, and Iraqi militias, if you will. But all that was very secret and it took place before the war. Now, what they're planning to do is use an old Soviet base, from what I understand from those reports, in order to train a certain number of Iraqi policemen, to be able to train them properly for some time, and then they will give them six months on the ground training, as they do in the United States.
That said, though, if you talk to people like Paul Bremmer, the U.S. administrator, one of the main problems they've had with trying to train not only Iraqi police, but also all sorts of different Iraqi security services or departments, it costs a lot of money. And so that's one aspect of it.
They are trying to reach the level of 65,000 to 70,000 police in Iraq, but, again, that hasn't been done so far -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, Rym Brahimi 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
Cleric>
