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CNN Live At Daybreak

Explosive Day in Baghdad

Aired October 27, 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.


HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: We want to get right to the details now on this explosive day in Baghdad. Several blasts shook the city, the first just about five hours ago.
Back live now to the Iraqi capital and our Jane Arraf, CNN's bureau chief there -- hello once again, Jane.

JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Heidi.

This is a very different scene from the way it normally looks, these tanks, the U.S. military vehicles and this damaged building. Now, this morning at 8:30, according to military officials and witnesses, a suicide bomber drove up to the gates of the International Committee of the Red Cross that we're seeing in front of us. The vehicle detonated, killing at least 10 people.

Now, the hospital next to us says 11 died, 13 more injured. Several of those were Iraqi employees of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Now, this was a building, this was an organization notable for its lack of visible security. It has worked in Iraq for more than 20 years. It depends on being neutral and being seen as neutral, non- military, not affiliated to any government. It did not have armed guards.

But apparently there were some Iraqi guards, according to U.S. military officials, who managed, at least, to stop this explosive device from getting any further. And the horrible thing, Heidi, on this first day of Ramadan, according, again, to U.S. soldiers and to witnesses, the explosives were packed in a truck bearing the symbol of the Red Crescent, the Muslim version of the Red Cross -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Jane Arraf live from Baghdad this morning.

Thanks so much, Jane.

For more perspective now on this morning's blasts in Baghdad, we turn to our senior international editor, David Clinch -- David, thanks for being here.

DAVID CLINCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Heidi.

COLLINS: An awful lot going on.

CLINCH: Yes. I mean normally I say good morning.

COLLINS: Right.

CLINCH: It's not a good morning. It's a sickening morning, in many ways, and also a frustrating one for us in terms of how to cover a story like this. Sickening to look at the kind of attack, the nature of the attacks in Baghdad today. The Red Cross basically telling the American forces they do not want them to be around their building, they do not want them to protect them, and yet -- and the Americans, obviously, obliging them and not protecting them. And these attacks still happen, these terrorists still attacking targets like the Red Cross, even though they are relatively unprotected.

It's sickening, also, I mean you'll see the pictures of the explosions and the fire and everything. I hope you never have to see the pictures of the Iraqi guards blown to bits that I had to watch coming in last night. It's a very frustrating story for us, too, in some ways to cover. One of the main reasons it's frustrating is because we still -- there's one thing that we are still not sure of. We do not know how organized these attacks are and exactly who is carrying them out.

You can throw phrases out like Saddam loyalists or, you know, al Qaeda suspects or terrorists or whatever, one of the key questions we're still trying to find out more about is exactly who is behind these attacks.

COLLINS: And, interesting, too, when we talked about the Al- Rasheed Hotel yesterday and then in light of these newest explosions and attacks today, we did learn yesterday that authorities thought the Al-Rasheed Hotel bombings were -- missiles, I should say -- were very organized, that this had been planned for a couple of months.

CLINCH: Absolutely. I think it's clear that there is organization in some form. It's just it's very easy to assume that these are all organized, that they're all coordinated. We simply don't know. And we will do our best to find out more.

The other reason it's frustrated is because we have a lot of people in Iraq. Other news organizations have a lot of people in Iraq. We want to give you the big picture. We want to tell you not just about these attacks, but about Ramadan, about the curfew being lifted, about schools open, people going to the market. That is happening today. Even as we drive to the scenes of these bombings, people are actually living a relatively normal life. But we have only so many people in Baghdad and believe it or not, we don't even have enough people to cover all the bad news today. Four American soldiers were killed yesterday. There were five attacks today. We can't even be at all of those scenes today, let alone freeing up our people and expanding the coverage to give you a bigger, a wider picture so that people can understand that it's not just about these attacks.

But, again, we'll do our best. You know, as the day progresses, these attacks have happened. There is more going on in Iraq. There is more going on in Baghdad than just these attacks and we will do our best to cover it as much as we can.

But, you know, here in the U.S., they always say that no matter what else is going on in politics and everything else, it's the economy, stupid. But I think one of the things we're hearing today from the Iraqis and from a member of the Iraqi Governing Council today is that it's the security, stupid. You know, none of these other things matter, really, to Iraqis -- schools opening, you know, living a better life, going out. All of those things are important, but I think nothing really changes until this security situation is sorted out.

COLLINS: Yes, and the push becomes then how quickly can the Iraqis be trained to help in that security situation.

CLINCH: Absolutely. Absolutely.

COLLINS: All right, David Clinch, thanks so very much.

For more now on that Baghdad blast, you can always log onto our Web site. There's even a picture gallery of the bombing aftermath if you want to see that. Our address, cnn.com. The AOL keyword is CNN.

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 October 27, 2003 - 05:32   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: We want to get right to the details now on this explosive day in Baghdad. Several blasts shook the city, the first just about five hours ago.
Back live now to the Iraqi capital and our Jane Arraf, CNN's bureau chief there -- hello once again, Jane.

JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Heidi.

This is a very different scene from the way it normally looks, these tanks, the U.S. military vehicles and this damaged building. Now, this morning at 8:30, according to military officials and witnesses, a suicide bomber drove up to the gates of the International Committee of the Red Cross that we're seeing in front of us. The vehicle detonated, killing at least 10 people.

Now, the hospital next to us says 11 died, 13 more injured. Several of those were Iraqi employees of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Now, this was a building, this was an organization notable for its lack of visible security. It has worked in Iraq for more than 20 years. It depends on being neutral and being seen as neutral, non- military, not affiliated to any government. It did not have armed guards.

But apparently there were some Iraqi guards, according to U.S. military officials, who managed, at least, to stop this explosive device from getting any further. And the horrible thing, Heidi, on this first day of Ramadan, according, again, to U.S. soldiers and to witnesses, the explosives were packed in a truck bearing the symbol of the Red Crescent, the Muslim version of the Red Cross -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Jane Arraf live from Baghdad this morning.

Thanks so much, Jane.

For more perspective now on this morning's blasts in Baghdad, we turn to our senior international editor, David Clinch -- David, thanks for being here.

DAVID CLINCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Heidi.

COLLINS: An awful lot going on.

CLINCH: Yes. I mean normally I say good morning.

COLLINS: Right.

CLINCH: It's not a good morning. It's a sickening morning, in many ways, and also a frustrating one for us in terms of how to cover a story like this. Sickening to look at the kind of attack, the nature of the attacks in Baghdad today. The Red Cross basically telling the American forces they do not want them to be around their building, they do not want them to protect them, and yet -- and the Americans, obviously, obliging them and not protecting them. And these attacks still happen, these terrorists still attacking targets like the Red Cross, even though they are relatively unprotected.

It's sickening, also, I mean you'll see the pictures of the explosions and the fire and everything. I hope you never have to see the pictures of the Iraqi guards blown to bits that I had to watch coming in last night. It's a very frustrating story for us, too, in some ways to cover. One of the main reasons it's frustrating is because we still -- there's one thing that we are still not sure of. We do not know how organized these attacks are and exactly who is carrying them out.

You can throw phrases out like Saddam loyalists or, you know, al Qaeda suspects or terrorists or whatever, one of the key questions we're still trying to find out more about is exactly who is behind these attacks.

COLLINS: And, interesting, too, when we talked about the Al- Rasheed Hotel yesterday and then in light of these newest explosions and attacks today, we did learn yesterday that authorities thought the Al-Rasheed Hotel bombings were -- missiles, I should say -- were very organized, that this had been planned for a couple of months.

CLINCH: Absolutely. I think it's clear that there is organization in some form. It's just it's very easy to assume that these are all organized, that they're all coordinated. We simply don't know. And we will do our best to find out more.

The other reason it's frustrated is because we have a lot of people in Iraq. Other news organizations have a lot of people in Iraq. We want to give you the big picture. We want to tell you not just about these attacks, but about Ramadan, about the curfew being lifted, about schools open, people going to the market. That is happening today. Even as we drive to the scenes of these bombings, people are actually living a relatively normal life. But we have only so many people in Baghdad and believe it or not, we don't even have enough people to cover all the bad news today. Four American soldiers were killed yesterday. There were five attacks today. We can't even be at all of those scenes today, let alone freeing up our people and expanding the coverage to give you a bigger, a wider picture so that people can understand that it's not just about these attacks.

But, again, we'll do our best. You know, as the day progresses, these attacks have happened. There is more going on in Iraq. There is more going on in Baghdad than just these attacks and we will do our best to cover it as much as we can.

But, you know, here in the U.S., they always say that no matter what else is going on in politics and everything else, it's the economy, stupid. But I think one of the things we're hearing today from the Iraqis and from a member of the Iraqi Governing Council today is that it's the security, stupid. You know, none of these other things matter, really, to Iraqis -- schools opening, you know, living a better life, going out. All of those things are important, but I think nothing really changes until this security situation is sorted out.

COLLINS: Yes, and the push becomes then how quickly can the Iraqis be trained to help in that security situation.

CLINCH: Absolutely. Absolutely.

COLLINS: All right, David Clinch, thanks so very much.

For more now on that Baghdad blast, you can always log onto our Web site. There's even a picture gallery of the bombing aftermath if you want to see that. Our address, cnn.com. The AOL keyword is CNN.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com