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CNN Live Saturday
Iraqi Refugees Support Regime Change
Aired March 08, 2003 - 18:44 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.
RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: Another aspect of a possible war with Iraq, the refugees. Not only the people who would be displaced by the fighting but others who fled the war a decade ago and are still waiting to go home. As CNN's Ben Wedeman tells us, they support removing Iraq's leaders.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN INT'L CORRESPONDENT (voice over): On a cold day in northern Iraq, warmth and the aroma of baking bread. Avine Abass (ph) and her sister-in-law, Bahar (ph), prepare bread for their families, refugees who have fled to the Kurdish stronghold of Sulemanea (ph), from the oil rich region around the city of Kirkuk, still under Iraqi government control.
These refugees hope a U.S. led invasion will allow them to leave this camp and return home. The adults here tell tales of loss, of homes destroyed, lives shattered, loved ones traumatized, maimed or murdered.
Iraqi forces captured Fatima's son, Aflaton (ph), during the 1991 Kurdish uprising. He escaped but not before being tortured. She says he has since gone mad and missing.
Most everyone here says they would return to their old homes if they could, but many of those homes are now occupied by ethnic Arabs. Resettled in Kirkuk as part of Baghdad's program of Arabization (ph).
Some of the refugees squat in this squalid building once used by the traffic police.
Nasda Kareem (ph) lives in the dank, cold dungeon-like basement with her husband and two-year-old son, Shaharahm (ph). She does her best to bail out the rainwater, but she Shaharahm is often ill.
Her neighbor, Amina Aziz, tells of her son, Sarkout (ph), once a soldier in the Iraqi army, arrested by the secret police. She says he was accused of membership in a banned Kurdish group. He too was tortured and lost his mind.
Amidst these searing memories the children bask in ignorance. This is the only life they know.
WEDEMAN (on camera): Cold, wet, miserable and muddy, that is what winters are like in this camp, where the refugees are hoping this winter will be their last here. Ben Wedeman, CNN, Sulemanea, in Northern Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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 March 8, 2003 - 18:44 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: Another aspect of a possible war with Iraq, the refugees. Not only the people who would be displaced by the fighting but others who fled the war a decade ago and are still waiting to go home. As CNN's Ben Wedeman tells us, they support removing Iraq's leaders.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN INT'L CORRESPONDENT (voice over): On a cold day in northern Iraq, warmth and the aroma of baking bread. Avine Abass (ph) and her sister-in-law, Bahar (ph), prepare bread for their families, refugees who have fled to the Kurdish stronghold of Sulemanea (ph), from the oil rich region around the city of Kirkuk, still under Iraqi government control.
These refugees hope a U.S. led invasion will allow them to leave this camp and return home. The adults here tell tales of loss, of homes destroyed, lives shattered, loved ones traumatized, maimed or murdered.
Iraqi forces captured Fatima's son, Aflaton (ph), during the 1991 Kurdish uprising. He escaped but not before being tortured. She says he has since gone mad and missing.
Most everyone here says they would return to their old homes if they could, but many of those homes are now occupied by ethnic Arabs. Resettled in Kirkuk as part of Baghdad's program of Arabization (ph).
Some of the refugees squat in this squalid building once used by the traffic police.
Nasda Kareem (ph) lives in the dank, cold dungeon-like basement with her husband and two-year-old son, Shaharahm (ph). She does her best to bail out the rainwater, but she Shaharahm is often ill.
Her neighbor, Amina Aziz, tells of her son, Sarkout (ph), once a soldier in the Iraqi army, arrested by the secret police. She says he was accused of membership in a banned Kurdish group. He too was tortured and lost his mind.
Amidst these searing memories the children bask in ignorance. This is the only life they know.
WEDEMAN (on camera): Cold, wet, miserable and muddy, that is what winters are like in this camp, where the refugees are hoping this winter will be their last here. Ben Wedeman, CNN, Sulemanea, in Northern Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
