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CNN Live At Daybreak
Explosions Rock Two Heavily Guarded Hotels in Central Baghdad
Aired November 21, 2003 - 05:08 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 LIN, CNN ANCHOR: In the meantime, international news now. Overnight, explosions rocked two heavily guarded hotels in central Baghdad, including the hotel where CNN is based. Iraq's oil ministry was also hit.
Our Baghdad bureau chief Jane Arraf was inside one of the hotels when at least five rockets slammed into the building and she joins us live from there -- Jane, good to see you in good condition.
What was that like?
JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kind of amazing, Carol. We're now in the room -- this is actually directly across from my room, in much worse shape, this one. Now, at least seven rockets appeared to have slammed into this hotel, as you mentioned, frequented by Western journalists, including us, and a lot of Western businesspeople. And this is what did the damage. This is the nose cone of one of the rockets. It's a Russian made military rocket and there are an awful lot of these still left from the Iraqi Army.
Now, they were launched in a novel way, on the back of a cart pulled by a donkey. And we just wanted to show you a little bit of the damage that it's done.
This room, fortunately, was empty. You can imagine what would have happened had there been someone there. There were at least two rockets that slammed into the side of the wall. They punched huge holes in the concrete. There's twisted metal, as you can see, broken glass everywhere. It is going to take a lot to fix this.
Among all this, only one injury. This was someone believed to have worked for a U.S. contracting firm to the American military. He was taken out on a stretcher attached to an I.V. drip.
And across the street, where the adjoining hotel is, the former Sheraton Hotel, there were several rockets that hit there, as well. A bellboy there was believed to have been injured. Not the only attack in what appears to have been a considerable level of coordination at roughly the same time. Eight rockets hit the oil ministry across town.
Now, this is Friday, the day of rest, so there were virtually no employees there. But it did start a fire and that fire was still blazing several hours after the eight rockets hit.
In addition to that, U.S. military officials and Iraqi police tell us that they have found two other rocket platforms, rocket pods with similar types of rockets destined to go up. They appear to have been abandoned for some reason, one of them in a neighborhood with some embassies in it -- Carol.
LIN: Jane, who do you think the intended targets were? Were they Western journalists?
ARRAF: Well, certainly this is really an attractive target in the sense that these are two what used to be luxury hotels and they're now very much identified with Westerners, not necessarily the American military, although they are protected by the military.
Now, they're very heavily secured against things like car bombs, not so much against rockets. But they're identified with U.S. and other journalists and with Westerners in general.
The oil ministry, of course, you'll remember, was perhaps the most heavily guarded building, outside of military installations, in Baghdad. It was guarded by U.S. tanks when other ministries weren't during the war.
So the fact that it's launched on a Friday, I mean obviously they would have known that there would be very few Iraqi employees in that building. But it does send a very strong message, rockets into the heart of a building that had been the most heavily secured -- Carol.
LIN: Yes, and rockets certainly being carted around town with such a heavy military presence.
How can that be, Jane?
And I just need a quick answer from you here.
ARRAF: When you think about it, it's kind of ingenious. In many parts of town, particularly the old ones, you still see a lot of donkeys pulling carts. Now, the ones that were used to attack this would have been the type that would be used to deliver cooking fuel and other things early in the morning. Two of the other confiscated carts were disguised with vegetables on top. It really wouldn't have provoked much notice on a busy morning -- Carol.
LIN: All right, thank you very much.
Jane Arraf live and alive in Baghdad.
Thank you very much.
Take care of yourself out there, Jane.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Baghdad>
Aired November 21, 2003 - 05:08 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: In the meantime, international news now. Overnight, explosions rocked two heavily guarded hotels in central Baghdad, including the hotel where CNN is based. Iraq's oil ministry was also hit.
Our Baghdad bureau chief Jane Arraf was inside one of the hotels when at least five rockets slammed into the building and she joins us live from there -- Jane, good to see you in good condition.
What was that like?
JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kind of amazing, Carol. We're now in the room -- this is actually directly across from my room, in much worse shape, this one. Now, at least seven rockets appeared to have slammed into this hotel, as you mentioned, frequented by Western journalists, including us, and a lot of Western businesspeople. And this is what did the damage. This is the nose cone of one of the rockets. It's a Russian made military rocket and there are an awful lot of these still left from the Iraqi Army.
Now, they were launched in a novel way, on the back of a cart pulled by a donkey. And we just wanted to show you a little bit of the damage that it's done.
This room, fortunately, was empty. You can imagine what would have happened had there been someone there. There were at least two rockets that slammed into the side of the wall. They punched huge holes in the concrete. There's twisted metal, as you can see, broken glass everywhere. It is going to take a lot to fix this.
Among all this, only one injury. This was someone believed to have worked for a U.S. contracting firm to the American military. He was taken out on a stretcher attached to an I.V. drip.
And across the street, where the adjoining hotel is, the former Sheraton Hotel, there were several rockets that hit there, as well. A bellboy there was believed to have been injured. Not the only attack in what appears to have been a considerable level of coordination at roughly the same time. Eight rockets hit the oil ministry across town.
Now, this is Friday, the day of rest, so there were virtually no employees there. But it did start a fire and that fire was still blazing several hours after the eight rockets hit.
In addition to that, U.S. military officials and Iraqi police tell us that they have found two other rocket platforms, rocket pods with similar types of rockets destined to go up. They appear to have been abandoned for some reason, one of them in a neighborhood with some embassies in it -- Carol.
LIN: Jane, who do you think the intended targets were? Were they Western journalists?
ARRAF: Well, certainly this is really an attractive target in the sense that these are two what used to be luxury hotels and they're now very much identified with Westerners, not necessarily the American military, although they are protected by the military.
Now, they're very heavily secured against things like car bombs, not so much against rockets. But they're identified with U.S. and other journalists and with Westerners in general.
The oil ministry, of course, you'll remember, was perhaps the most heavily guarded building, outside of military installations, in Baghdad. It was guarded by U.S. tanks when other ministries weren't during the war.
So the fact that it's launched on a Friday, I mean obviously they would have known that there would be very few Iraqi employees in that building. But it does send a very strong message, rockets into the heart of a building that had been the most heavily secured -- Carol.
LIN: Yes, and rockets certainly being carted around town with such a heavy military presence.
How can that be, Jane?
And I just need a quick answer from you here.
ARRAF: When you think about it, it's kind of ingenious. In many parts of town, particularly the old ones, you still see a lot of donkeys pulling carts. Now, the ones that were used to attack this would have been the type that would be used to deliver cooking fuel and other things early in the morning. Two of the other confiscated carts were disguised with vegetables on top. It really wouldn't have provoked much notice on a busy morning -- Carol.
LIN: All right, thank you very much.
Jane Arraf live and alive in Baghdad.
Thank you very much.
Take care of yourself out there, Jane.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Baghdad>
