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CNN Live Today
Powell Visits Kurdish Survivors of Saddam
Aired September 15, 2003 - 11:01 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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Secretary of State Colin Powell got a hero's welcome from survivors of Saddam's 1988 gas attack against the Kurds. Powell's trip to Iraq was tempered today though by news of yet another U.S. death. Our senior international correspondent Walter Rodgers is on duty in Baghdad. He joins us now live -- Walt.
WALTER RODGERS, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Leon. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell was guaranteed more than a raptious welcome in northern Iraq today. That's the area where the Kurds live. They are an ethnic minority in Iraq which was badly persecuted and brutalized by the regime of Saddam Hussein.
The hallmark of his visit was to the town in Halabja. In 1988 where Saddam Hussein's forces did indeed use chemical weapons to attack the Kurds in that town killing upwards of 5,000. So the symbolism here, and it was more than pregnant with symbolism, is that Secretary of State Powell went to an area where Saddam Hussein did indeed use chemical weapons, weapons of mass destruction against his own people.
Yesterday in Baghdad, the secretary of state received something of a cooler welcome when he met with the Shi'ite clerics, the Shi'ite clerics, the Shi'ite sect. The Shi'ite Muslim sect here in Iraq is about 60 percent of the population here. They are far more suspicious of the United States. They had a bad experience after the 1991 Gulf War.
The first Bush administration was perceived by the Shi'as to urge them to rise up against Saddam Hussein. They did. Saddam butchered them, and the Bush administration -- Bush the Elder administration, did not intercede on their behalf. So there's a good deal of trust lacking on the part of the Shi'a Muslims when they met with Secretary of State Powell.
As you pointed out in Baghdad itself early this morning, there was yet the death, the tragic death of another American soldier. He was out on a patrol shortly after midnight. Someone with a Rocket- Propelled Grenade, perhaps a Saddam loyalist or some sort of Ba'athist insurgent, remember this country is awash in weapons, fired a should -- fired Rocket-Propelled Grenade. It hit the Humvee the soldier was traveling in. That is not an armored vehicle. The soldier was mortally wounded.
He was from the 1st Armored Division, taken to hospital, died a short while later -- Leon.
HARRIS: Thank you, Walt. Walt Rodgers reporting live for us from Baghdad.
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 - 11:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Secretary of State Colin Powell got a hero's welcome from survivors of Saddam's 1988 gas attack against the Kurds. Powell's trip to Iraq was tempered today though by news of yet another U.S. death. Our senior international correspondent Walter Rodgers is on duty in Baghdad. He joins us now live -- Walt.
WALTER RODGERS, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Leon. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell was guaranteed more than a raptious welcome in northern Iraq today. That's the area where the Kurds live. They are an ethnic minority in Iraq which was badly persecuted and brutalized by the regime of Saddam Hussein.
The hallmark of his visit was to the town in Halabja. In 1988 where Saddam Hussein's forces did indeed use chemical weapons to attack the Kurds in that town killing upwards of 5,000. So the symbolism here, and it was more than pregnant with symbolism, is that Secretary of State Powell went to an area where Saddam Hussein did indeed use chemical weapons, weapons of mass destruction against his own people.
Yesterday in Baghdad, the secretary of state received something of a cooler welcome when he met with the Shi'ite clerics, the Shi'ite clerics, the Shi'ite sect. The Shi'ite Muslim sect here in Iraq is about 60 percent of the population here. They are far more suspicious of the United States. They had a bad experience after the 1991 Gulf War.
The first Bush administration was perceived by the Shi'as to urge them to rise up against Saddam Hussein. They did. Saddam butchered them, and the Bush administration -- Bush the Elder administration, did not intercede on their behalf. So there's a good deal of trust lacking on the part of the Shi'a Muslims when they met with Secretary of State Powell.
As you pointed out in Baghdad itself early this morning, there was yet the death, the tragic death of another American soldier. He was out on a patrol shortly after midnight. Someone with a Rocket- Propelled Grenade, perhaps a Saddam loyalist or some sort of Ba'athist insurgent, remember this country is awash in weapons, fired a should -- fired Rocket-Propelled Grenade. It hit the Humvee the soldier was traveling in. That is not an armored vehicle. The soldier was mortally wounded.
He was from the 1st Armored Division, taken to hospital, died a short while later -- Leon.
HARRIS: Thank you, Walt. Walt Rodgers reporting live for us from Baghdad.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
