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CNN Live Saturday

At Least 6 Dead in Explosion at Munitions Dump in Baghdad

Aired April 26, 2003 - 16:04   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.


ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: An obstacle today in the battle to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people. Quite an obstacle, to say the least. At least six residents of Baghdad were killed and four others wounded in an explosion at a munitions dump. Now, the Iraqis are outraged. They say they'd warned U.S. troops that the dump was a threat to the nearby residential area. CNN's Nic Robertson is monitoring developments and he bring us this report from Baghdad.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sign language to rescue a family trapped under rubble. Sergeant Major Coker (ph) of the 101st Airborne, desperate to help.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Back me up an ace right here so I can start hooking to some of this rebar and pull.

ROBERTSON: And for a while, the crowd clambering on the rubble of this house follows his orders.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to try desperately to get this wall off of here.

ROBERTSON (on camera): What's under there, do we know?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People. I can't make heads or tails. I know there's somebody alive under there.

ROBERTSON: Are you going to be able to get them out?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to do my best.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Doing his best to undo the damage this crowd says he's responsible for. An errant missile from a burning U.S. controlled weapons dump nearby.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Down America! Down America! Down Saddam, down America!

ROBERTSON: As they work, anger erupts as the missing family's breakfast is found. "We've warned the U.S. soldiers four days ago not to store the weapons close to these houses," he says. A body is pulled out, and reality and pressure crash in from Sergeant Major Coker (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They were all dead. Do you hear a baby? Sir, I can't find anybody. I'm trying.

ROBERTSON: Frustrations rising on both sides. Thirteen people were killed and only one survivor. "This is illegal," he says. Efforts continue. A call for an English speaker to translate. Communications breaking down. Coker (ph) retreats.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know they don't understand. Neither do I.

ROBERTSON (on camera): What's happening, sir?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a little resentment. They don't wish us to help. We didn't do this. A civilian shot a flare into the ammunition dump and set it off. I have soldiers that are hurt too.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): The shouting continues to anyone who will listen. "What do these people have to do with this falling here?" he says.

(on camera): An indication of pent-up frustrations built up through years of Saddam Hussein's regime, and now people are not seeing changes as quickly as they had hoped.

(voice-over): "Talk Arabic," he begs. Misunderstandings rule this day.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They have to work with me.

ROBERTSON: Sergeant Major Coker (ph) tries again.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you will help me talk to them, I'll do everything I can.

ROBERTSON: This time, the armored bulldozer brought in. Progress looks possible. But the crowd turns on them again. Forcing another withdrawal. This time, Sergeant Major Coker's (ph) frustration obvious. Miscommunication possibly this soldier's greatest danger.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON: Now, at the end of the day, representatives of the international community for the Red Cross visited the area, went to a hospital. They say they discovered six people were dead and they believe about 50 injured, Anderson.

COOPER: Nic, in a situation like that, do the U.S. forces, do they have interpreters, do they have any way really of communicating? It would seem that would have helped the situation enormously.

ROBERTSON: It would have helped them a lot to have interpreters. Often, in situations like this, where there's a small unit out on the ground, they just don't appear to have translators. They go in with their absolute best of intentions. They do their best. But in these heated type of situations, getting everyone to agree on what to do on the best way forward, it needs good understanding. And without an interpreter, not everyone in Iraq speaks great English either. So the communications break down, and that's what -- exactly what we're witnessing today.

COOPER: And as you well know in a situation like that, a mob like that can turn in an instant and it can become very ugly very quickly. I understand shortly after that, there was a crowd that appeared outside the Palestine Hotel, and they seemed relatively organized. They had signs printed in English. I saw some video of a cleric of sorts leading them on. How organized are these kind of -- I mean, these demonstrations that appear, how organized are they?

ROBERTSON: Well, certainly, many people in Baghdad know that this hotel is where the journalists stay. They certainly know how to communicate, it's best done through English. They'll make up banners quite quickly to do it. People here know how to go out and protest. It was something Saddam Hussein's regime is very good at organizing, and they would see it on the television a lot, and they know that it's a way to get their message across here. The television cameras point out to the gates behind me, and they know if they come, then they can get their message across. And that's what a lot of people are doing.

It really points, Anderson, I have to say, to the incredible frustration that many people here have been feeling over the last couple of weeks. They just don't feel that their voice is getting out and being heard. And of course, when there's political organization here, they'll perhaps feel that that is happening. But at the moment, it's somewhat of a vacuum, and that frustration exists in that vacuum.

COOPER: All right, Nic Robertson, thanks very much 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 April 26, 2003 - 16:04   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: An obstacle today in the battle to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people. Quite an obstacle, to say the least. At least six residents of Baghdad were killed and four others wounded in an explosion at a munitions dump. Now, the Iraqis are outraged. They say they'd warned U.S. troops that the dump was a threat to the nearby residential area. CNN's Nic Robertson is monitoring developments and he bring us this report from Baghdad.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sign language to rescue a family trapped under rubble. Sergeant Major Coker (ph) of the 101st Airborne, desperate to help.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Back me up an ace right here so I can start hooking to some of this rebar and pull.

ROBERTSON: And for a while, the crowd clambering on the rubble of this house follows his orders.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to try desperately to get this wall off of here.

ROBERTSON (on camera): What's under there, do we know?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People. I can't make heads or tails. I know there's somebody alive under there.

ROBERTSON: Are you going to be able to get them out?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to do my best.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Doing his best to undo the damage this crowd says he's responsible for. An errant missile from a burning U.S. controlled weapons dump nearby.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Down America! Down America! Down Saddam, down America!

ROBERTSON: As they work, anger erupts as the missing family's breakfast is found. "We've warned the U.S. soldiers four days ago not to store the weapons close to these houses," he says. A body is pulled out, and reality and pressure crash in from Sergeant Major Coker (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They were all dead. Do you hear a baby? Sir, I can't find anybody. I'm trying.

ROBERTSON: Frustrations rising on both sides. Thirteen people were killed and only one survivor. "This is illegal," he says. Efforts continue. A call for an English speaker to translate. Communications breaking down. Coker (ph) retreats.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know they don't understand. Neither do I.

ROBERTSON (on camera): What's happening, sir?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a little resentment. They don't wish us to help. We didn't do this. A civilian shot a flare into the ammunition dump and set it off. I have soldiers that are hurt too.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): The shouting continues to anyone who will listen. "What do these people have to do with this falling here?" he says.

(on camera): An indication of pent-up frustrations built up through years of Saddam Hussein's regime, and now people are not seeing changes as quickly as they had hoped.

(voice-over): "Talk Arabic," he begs. Misunderstandings rule this day.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They have to work with me.

ROBERTSON: Sergeant Major Coker (ph) tries again.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you will help me talk to them, I'll do everything I can.

ROBERTSON: This time, the armored bulldozer brought in. Progress looks possible. But the crowd turns on them again. Forcing another withdrawal. This time, Sergeant Major Coker's (ph) frustration obvious. Miscommunication possibly this soldier's greatest danger.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON: Now, at the end of the day, representatives of the international community for the Red Cross visited the area, went to a hospital. They say they discovered six people were dead and they believe about 50 injured, Anderson.

COOPER: Nic, in a situation like that, do the U.S. forces, do they have interpreters, do they have any way really of communicating? It would seem that would have helped the situation enormously.

ROBERTSON: It would have helped them a lot to have interpreters. Often, in situations like this, where there's a small unit out on the ground, they just don't appear to have translators. They go in with their absolute best of intentions. They do their best. But in these heated type of situations, getting everyone to agree on what to do on the best way forward, it needs good understanding. And without an interpreter, not everyone in Iraq speaks great English either. So the communications break down, and that's what -- exactly what we're witnessing today.

COOPER: And as you well know in a situation like that, a mob like that can turn in an instant and it can become very ugly very quickly. I understand shortly after that, there was a crowd that appeared outside the Palestine Hotel, and they seemed relatively organized. They had signs printed in English. I saw some video of a cleric of sorts leading them on. How organized are these kind of -- I mean, these demonstrations that appear, how organized are they?

ROBERTSON: Well, certainly, many people in Baghdad know that this hotel is where the journalists stay. They certainly know how to communicate, it's best done through English. They'll make up banners quite quickly to do it. People here know how to go out and protest. It was something Saddam Hussein's regime is very good at organizing, and they would see it on the television a lot, and they know that it's a way to get their message across here. The television cameras point out to the gates behind me, and they know if they come, then they can get their message across. And that's what a lot of people are doing.

It really points, Anderson, I have to say, to the incredible frustration that many people here have been feeling over the last couple of weeks. They just don't feel that their voice is getting out and being heard. And of course, when there's political organization here, they'll perhaps feel that that is happening. But at the moment, it's somewhat of a vacuum, and that frustration exists in that vacuum.

COOPER: All right, Nic Robertson, thanks very much 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