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CNN Live At Daybreak

Colin Powell Meeting With Kurdish Leaders in Northern Iraq

Aired September 15, 2003 - 06:05   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: Shifting our focus now to the latest from Iraq. Secretary of State Colin Powell is getting a firsthand look at the situation there. After meeting with officials in Baghdad, he's talking with Kurdish leaders in the north.
In the meantime, another attack on U.S. forces has left one soldier dead, three others wounded. Coalition officials say an improvised explosive device hit a convoy in Fallujah on Sunday.

And here at home, the vice president is defending the cost of war.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have not tried to hide it under a bush, and the president has been very direct. We're working closely with the Congress and put in the request together.

But I come back again to the proposition of what's the cost if we don't act? What's the cost if we do nothing? What's the cost if we don't succeed with respect to our current operation in Iraq? And I think that's far higher than getting the job done right here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Getting the job done is what everyone wants.

For more, we take you live to Baghdad now and Walter Rodgers.

What is Colin Powell doing now -- Walter?

WALTER RODGERS, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Well, the U.S. secretary of state has made something of a pilgrimage this morning. He's visiting the Kurdish areas in northern Iraq, the pilgrimage to the Kurdish town of Halabjah. Recall that in 1988 that is the city in which Saddam Hussein's forces employed chemical weapons, and those chemical weapons killed upwards of 5,000 people, according to most sources. The secretary of state will be meeting with some of the victims and survivors of those chemical weapons attacks.

This is fairly consistent with U.S. foreign policy, which these days seem to shift the emphasis toward the evils of Saddam Hussein himself -- this in the absence of capturing Saddam, and this in the absence of finding any weapons of mass destruction.

Sunday, Secretary of State Powell was in Baghdad. He met with the Executive Governing Council, which is the U.S.-appointed body. That body is responsible, at least nominally, for the governance of Iraq at this point. And the secretary of state also had dinner with a leading Shiite Muslim cleric.

Secretary of State Powell's message here, of course, was predictably upbeat.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: I'm deeply impressed by what I saw. I saw people hard at work rebuilding a nation and rebuilding a society. I saw people hard at work knowing that the United States was going to support them in that work. And that work has a very simple, direct and clear purpose, and that is to help rebuild this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RODGERS: Overnight, Saddam Hussein's old hometown, Tikrit, was the subject of more than a few raids, at least four raids in the Tikrit area, U.S. soldiers out trying to make arrests of people who were suspected to be bankrolling attacks on American soldiers in Tikrit. And overall in the Sunni triangle -- the Sunni Muslim triangle, there were at least seven arrests, confiscations of weapons. This is despite the administration's claims that everything is going swimmingly. Tikrit and cities like Fallujah are very hostile areas for U.S. forces, and they remain very dangerous for U.S. forces -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Walter Rodgers 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.




Iraq>


Aired September 15, 2003 - 06:05   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Shifting our focus now to the latest from Iraq. Secretary of State Colin Powell is getting a firsthand look at the situation there. After meeting with officials in Baghdad, he's talking with Kurdish leaders in the north.
In the meantime, another attack on U.S. forces has left one soldier dead, three others wounded. Coalition officials say an improvised explosive device hit a convoy in Fallujah on Sunday.

And here at home, the vice president is defending the cost of war.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have not tried to hide it under a bush, and the president has been very direct. We're working closely with the Congress and put in the request together.

But I come back again to the proposition of what's the cost if we don't act? What's the cost if we do nothing? What's the cost if we don't succeed with respect to our current operation in Iraq? And I think that's far higher than getting the job done right here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Getting the job done is what everyone wants.

For more, we take you live to Baghdad now and Walter Rodgers.

What is Colin Powell doing now -- Walter?

WALTER RODGERS, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Well, the U.S. secretary of state has made something of a pilgrimage this morning. He's visiting the Kurdish areas in northern Iraq, the pilgrimage to the Kurdish town of Halabjah. Recall that in 1988 that is the city in which Saddam Hussein's forces employed chemical weapons, and those chemical weapons killed upwards of 5,000 people, according to most sources. The secretary of state will be meeting with some of the victims and survivors of those chemical weapons attacks.

This is fairly consistent with U.S. foreign policy, which these days seem to shift the emphasis toward the evils of Saddam Hussein himself -- this in the absence of capturing Saddam, and this in the absence of finding any weapons of mass destruction.

Sunday, Secretary of State Powell was in Baghdad. He met with the Executive Governing Council, which is the U.S.-appointed body. That body is responsible, at least nominally, for the governance of Iraq at this point. And the secretary of state also had dinner with a leading Shiite Muslim cleric.

Secretary of State Powell's message here, of course, was predictably upbeat.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: I'm deeply impressed by what I saw. I saw people hard at work rebuilding a nation and rebuilding a society. I saw people hard at work knowing that the United States was going to support them in that work. And that work has a very simple, direct and clear purpose, and that is to help rebuild this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RODGERS: Overnight, Saddam Hussein's old hometown, Tikrit, was the subject of more than a few raids, at least four raids in the Tikrit area, U.S. soldiers out trying to make arrests of people who were suspected to be bankrolling attacks on American soldiers in Tikrit. And overall in the Sunni triangle -- the Sunni Muslim triangle, there were at least seven arrests, confiscations of weapons. This is despite the administration's claims that everything is going swimmingly. Tikrit and cities like Fallujah are very hostile areas for U.S. forces, and they remain very dangerous for U.S. forces -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Walter Rodgers 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.




Iraq>