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U.S. Has Reached Dubious Milestone in War Against Iraq

Aired August 26, 2003 - 05:32   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: Well, the United States has reached a dubious milestone in the war against Iraq. The number of American troops killed after major combat ended now equals the number killed in the thick of the battle.
Live to Baghdad and CNN's Rym Brahimi -- hello, Rym.

RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Carol.

Indeed, and that number is 138 soldiers dead since May 1, when President Bush declared the end of major combat operations here in Iraq. Sixty-one of these died in hostile fire.

Now, if you look at what's been happening, all the events that have been taking place in the past few months since the end of the war and since May the 1st in particular, let me just take you through them. There are some things that have improved in certain areas. There has been some rebuilding, small projects here and there.

But let's just look at what's not going well. Twelve attacks daily, we're told, by U.N. -- U.S. military officials -- against U.S. troops. There were those two massive bombings, the Jordanian embassy bombing and the U.N. headquarters bombing. There are regular kidnappings, carjackings. There are regular thefts. There's gunfire very often, in Baghdad, at any rate, at night on a regular basis. And then you also have ethnic tensions now erupting not only in the north, but also in the south. There was this bomb that exploded yesterday in the holy city of Najaf, killing three of the bodyguards of a prominent religious cleric. There were ethnic tensions in which a number of Turkmens were killed up in the north.

That, those ethnic tensions led to a massive demonstration here in Baghdad, with Shias asking for revenge or asking for an apology. They marched to the Republican Palace demanding an apology because some other ethnic group had desecrated, they said, a shrine that was holy to them.

Just put all these situations together, Carol and then that raises basically three main questions. One of them, how can a military force that is actually under attack and therefore finding it difficult to protect itself secure an entire country? Secondly, has the U.S. military action in Iraq created a safe haven for terrorists in a country where this wasn't the case before? And thirdly, how is it that a coalition that won the war cannot really manage the peace to this day?

So those are the big questions that are being asked, I think, right now, and some of them will have to be answered quite urgently for some more progress to be made. And I know that U.S. and coalition forces insist that they understand security is their responsibility, they are doing all they can, but they do also acknowledge they lack the capacity to train as many policemen as they would want to -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Rym Brahimi reporting 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






Aired August 26, 2003 - 05:32   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Well, the United States has reached a dubious milestone in the war against Iraq. The number of American troops killed after major combat ended now equals the number killed in the thick of the battle.
Live to Baghdad and CNN's Rym Brahimi -- hello, Rym.

RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Carol.

Indeed, and that number is 138 soldiers dead since May 1, when President Bush declared the end of major combat operations here in Iraq. Sixty-one of these died in hostile fire.

Now, if you look at what's been happening, all the events that have been taking place in the past few months since the end of the war and since May the 1st in particular, let me just take you through them. There are some things that have improved in certain areas. There has been some rebuilding, small projects here and there.

But let's just look at what's not going well. Twelve attacks daily, we're told, by U.N. -- U.S. military officials -- against U.S. troops. There were those two massive bombings, the Jordanian embassy bombing and the U.N. headquarters bombing. There are regular kidnappings, carjackings. There are regular thefts. There's gunfire very often, in Baghdad, at any rate, at night on a regular basis. And then you also have ethnic tensions now erupting not only in the north, but also in the south. There was this bomb that exploded yesterday in the holy city of Najaf, killing three of the bodyguards of a prominent religious cleric. There were ethnic tensions in which a number of Turkmens were killed up in the north.

That, those ethnic tensions led to a massive demonstration here in Baghdad, with Shias asking for revenge or asking for an apology. They marched to the Republican Palace demanding an apology because some other ethnic group had desecrated, they said, a shrine that was holy to them.

Just put all these situations together, Carol and then that raises basically three main questions. One of them, how can a military force that is actually under attack and therefore finding it difficult to protect itself secure an entire country? Secondly, has the U.S. military action in Iraq created a safe haven for terrorists in a country where this wasn't the case before? And thirdly, how is it that a coalition that won the war cannot really manage the peace to this day?

So those are the big questions that are being asked, I think, right now, and some of them will have to be answered quite urgently for some more progress to be made. And I know that U.S. and coalition forces insist that they understand security is their responsibility, they are doing all they can, but they do also acknowledge they lack the capacity to train as many policemen as they would want to -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Rym Brahimi reporting 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