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CNN Live At Daybreak
Powell Getting Firsthand Look at Situation in Iraq
Aired September 15, 2003 - 05:03 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: Secretary of State Colin Powell is getting a firsthand look at the situation in Iraq. Right now he is meeting with Kurdish officials. That follows a visit to Baghdad.
Let's see how the rest of the trip is going. Walter Rodgers live in Baghdad now -- hello, Walter.
WALTER RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
This is the second day of Secretary of State Powell's visit to Iraq. As you say, he's now in the -- visiting Kurdish areas of Iraq. He was in Kirkuk earlier this morning. The U.S. administration trying to put on a united front and the best possible face for its military occupation of this country. That's more than a little necessary.
The "Washington Post" over the weekend published a poll that said six out of 10 Americans now oppose President Bush's request for spending $87 billion more here. The U.S. is already spending a billion dollars a week.
Secretary of State Powell spent yesterday, Sunday, visiting with the Iraqi Governing Council. That's a U.S.-appointed group of officials who form a nominal interim government here. He also had dinner Sunday evening with a leading Shiite cleric and predictably, of course, Secretary Powell is very upbeat about what he's seeing here.
(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, 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: U.S. soldiers were busy overnight. At least four raids in the Tikrit area. Those raids targeting people who were allegedly bankrolling attacks on U.S. forces in there. Tikrit is, of course, the hometown of Saddam Hussein.
One of those raids, incidentally, was unofficially said to be an Elvis sighting. That's the way the Army refers to the hunt for Saddam Hussein. Someone thought there might have been a raid to arrest him or perhaps take him into custody last night. That turned out to be a bit of a false alarm. Basically these raids in Tikrit were to capture weapons and money which the U.S. forces say are used to bankroll attacks on U.S. forces. Towns like Tikrit and Falluja are more than small hotbeds of attacks against U.S. forces and this remains a very dangerous place for U.S. soldiers -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, Walter Rodgers reporting live from Baghdad.
Colin Powell, by the way, will leave Iraq in just a few hours and he'll go to Kuwait next.
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 September 15, 2003 - 05:03 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Secretary of State Colin Powell is getting a firsthand look at the situation in Iraq. Right now he is meeting with Kurdish officials. That follows a visit to Baghdad.
Let's see how the rest of the trip is going. Walter Rodgers live in Baghdad now -- hello, Walter.
WALTER RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
This is the second day of Secretary of State Powell's visit to Iraq. As you say, he's now in the -- visiting Kurdish areas of Iraq. He was in Kirkuk earlier this morning. The U.S. administration trying to put on a united front and the best possible face for its military occupation of this country. That's more than a little necessary.
The "Washington Post" over the weekend published a poll that said six out of 10 Americans now oppose President Bush's request for spending $87 billion more here. The U.S. is already spending a billion dollars a week.
Secretary of State Powell spent yesterday, Sunday, visiting with the Iraqi Governing Council. That's a U.S.-appointed group of officials who form a nominal interim government here. He also had dinner Sunday evening with a leading Shiite cleric and predictably, of course, Secretary Powell is very upbeat about what he's seeing here.
(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, 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: U.S. soldiers were busy overnight. At least four raids in the Tikrit area. Those raids targeting people who were allegedly bankrolling attacks on U.S. forces in there. Tikrit is, of course, the hometown of Saddam Hussein.
One of those raids, incidentally, was unofficially said to be an Elvis sighting. That's the way the Army refers to the hunt for Saddam Hussein. Someone thought there might have been a raid to arrest him or perhaps take him into custody last night. That turned out to be a bit of a false alarm. Basically these raids in Tikrit were to capture weapons and money which the U.S. forces say are used to bankroll attacks on U.S. forces. Towns like Tikrit and Falluja are more than small hotbeds of attacks against U.S. forces and this remains a very dangerous place for U.S. soldiers -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, Walter Rodgers reporting live from Baghdad.
Colin Powell, by the way, will leave Iraq in just a few hours and he'll go to Kuwait next.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
