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CNN Live At Daybreak
Torture Tapes
Aired October 31, 2003 - 06:08 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: Could Saddam Hussein be in charge? There is an article in "The New York Times" this morning that says he is the man coordinating these attacks on U.S. soldiers. The "Times" quotes an American official as saying: "There are some accounts that say he" -- Saddam Hussein -- "is somehow instigating or fomenting some of the resistance." This is new, because the U.S. has characterized Saddam as on the run and a non-factor.
But whether Saddam is in charge is still in question this morning. What is not is how he treated his people before the war. We've got some tapes to show you and they are not pleasant.
Let's head live to Baghdad now and Jane Arraf, who will lead us through the pictures.
Good morning -- Jane.
JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Good morning, Carol.
You know, there are a lot of these sorts of tapes and these sorts of images out there, but these are perhaps among the most gruesome. And it is a gruesome and fascinating example of how Saddam Hussein managed to keep this country under such an iron grip.
Now, what these apparently show -- and these were obtained previously by the U.S. military, obtained by us through independent sources -- is the Fedayeen, which was a key part of his security system.
Now, this was a paramilitary set up in the mid-'90s, and at first it was administered by his eldest son. It had a very fearsome system of imposing discipline, as these tapes show. Apparently, this is punishment being meted out to Fedayeen members who fell afoul of their own laws within the organization.
Now, some parts of the tape show fingers being cut off, arms broken. One part of it, particularly horrifying, shows a beheading. Now, we're not going to show you the actual beheading, but as you can see from the tape, this was really a collective punishment that was meted out as other people were forced to watch. And that really was the way that this system was kept in place, through a system of fear.
Now, these were obviously select punishments. Had he done this a lot, he would not have been able to maintain this country under such control, but certainly this appears to have been not that unusual in terms of the way that he managed and his people managed to organize security and keep that discipline within these very feared organizations -- Carol.
COSTELLO: You know, we all knew how cruel Saddam Hussein was, but seeing it is a whole different story. Let's talk about Saddam Hussein for just a minute, because he is certainly much in the news this morning, especially in light of that "New York Times" article I just told our audience about. Where is the search for him now? Where are they searching?
ARRAF: Well, they're still essentially searching in the same place, Carol, and they believe that he's gone home, and home would be Tikrit, his hometown in the north and the surrounding area. It's where he has tribal roots, where his links are, presumably where he has managed to keep and maintain a network of support and a not inconsiderable sum of money.
Now, there is some contradictory information and a real divergence of views among the intelligence community even as to how directly he might be responsible, if at all, for these attacks that continue.
But I think we have to remember, Carol, one of the things is and one of the disturbing things is that with all of these attacks taking place -- and they have been increasing against U.S. targets and increasing in their boldness against civilian targets and police targets -- it appears not to be focused on Saddam so much. They're now talking about foreign fighters, and certainly there is a large segment of anti-American forces that hate Saddam as well -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, Jane Arraf reporting live for us 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 October 31, 2003 - 06:08 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Could Saddam Hussein be in charge? There is an article in "The New York Times" this morning that says he is the man coordinating these attacks on U.S. soldiers. The "Times" quotes an American official as saying: "There are some accounts that say he" -- Saddam Hussein -- "is somehow instigating or fomenting some of the resistance." This is new, because the U.S. has characterized Saddam as on the run and a non-factor.
But whether Saddam is in charge is still in question this morning. What is not is how he treated his people before the war. We've got some tapes to show you and they are not pleasant.
Let's head live to Baghdad now and Jane Arraf, who will lead us through the pictures.
Good morning -- Jane.
JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Good morning, Carol.
You know, there are a lot of these sorts of tapes and these sorts of images out there, but these are perhaps among the most gruesome. And it is a gruesome and fascinating example of how Saddam Hussein managed to keep this country under such an iron grip.
Now, what these apparently show -- and these were obtained previously by the U.S. military, obtained by us through independent sources -- is the Fedayeen, which was a key part of his security system.
Now, this was a paramilitary set up in the mid-'90s, and at first it was administered by his eldest son. It had a very fearsome system of imposing discipline, as these tapes show. Apparently, this is punishment being meted out to Fedayeen members who fell afoul of their own laws within the organization.
Now, some parts of the tape show fingers being cut off, arms broken. One part of it, particularly horrifying, shows a beheading. Now, we're not going to show you the actual beheading, but as you can see from the tape, this was really a collective punishment that was meted out as other people were forced to watch. And that really was the way that this system was kept in place, through a system of fear.
Now, these were obviously select punishments. Had he done this a lot, he would not have been able to maintain this country under such control, but certainly this appears to have been not that unusual in terms of the way that he managed and his people managed to organize security and keep that discipline within these very feared organizations -- Carol.
COSTELLO: You know, we all knew how cruel Saddam Hussein was, but seeing it is a whole different story. Let's talk about Saddam Hussein for just a minute, because he is certainly much in the news this morning, especially in light of that "New York Times" article I just told our audience about. Where is the search for him now? Where are they searching?
ARRAF: Well, they're still essentially searching in the same place, Carol, and they believe that he's gone home, and home would be Tikrit, his hometown in the north and the surrounding area. It's where he has tribal roots, where his links are, presumably where he has managed to keep and maintain a network of support and a not inconsiderable sum of money.
Now, there is some contradictory information and a real divergence of views among the intelligence community even as to how directly he might be responsible, if at all, for these attacks that continue.
But I think we have to remember, Carol, one of the things is and one of the disturbing things is that with all of these attacks taking place -- and they have been increasing against U.S. targets and increasing in their boldness against civilian targets and police targets -- it appears not to be focused on Saddam so much. They're now talking about foreign fighters, and certainly there is a large segment of anti-American forces that hate Saddam as well -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, Jane Arraf reporting live for us 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.
