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CNN Live Saturday
Interview With Andrew Young
Aired May 17, 2003 - 16:47 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: Former U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young is rallying the U.S. corporate community to help Iraq get back on its feet. A cargo plane filled with $4 million worth of medical supplies landed at Baghad Airport Friday.
Ambassador Young is currently chairman of Goodworks International. He joins us here in our Atlanta Headquarters of course to talk about his Iraq project. Thanks so much for being here, Andrew, I appreciate it.
Tell us where the idea for Atlanta-Baghdad Airlift first came from?
ANDREW YOUNG, CHAIRMAN, GOODWORKS INTL.: Well, actually the idea came from some Iraqi-American citizens and they suggested to us that the war wouldn't be long and that the important thing would be how quickly we were able to help reestablish order and create some goodwill where there had been so much ill will for so long.
COLLINS: We're looking at some video now on the screen of some of the supplies that were being loaded onto the plane. What exactly are the supplies?
YOUNG: Well, actually the supplies that we were requested to bring were medical supplies and they were antibiotics. They were salves for burns. They were all medical equipment that was requested by specific hospitals from the International Medical Corps. They had 35 of their people on the ground and these were materials they were not able to get, so actually the cargo planes were packed for each hospital.
COLLINS: I see.
YOUNG: And the hospital workers came there and picked up the things that were specifically designated for their clinics.
COLLINS: Tell me how you were able to get these supplies.
YOUNG: Well, the Agency for International Development is supplying materials and has money available for aid to Iraq. They had transportation difficulties so World Airways, located here in Atlanta, is a good friend of ours. We've been working with them on direct flights to Africa and other things. Delta was a part of the effort to load and transship the supplies. We had trucking companies. We had people just coming forth but that's part of the Atlanta spirit.
COLLINS: Right.
YOUNG: We sent 3,000 people into Soviet Georgia during the time of the Cold War. We have had children coming from Iraq to our children's hospitals for treatment in the past.
COLLINS: Right.
YOUNG: And the humanitarian effort of U.S. citizenry is what builds peace and I think we're talking about trying to increase the capacity of our community to build peace in that region and there's a tremendous citizen support that we normally do through C.A.R.E., through the American Red Cross. Actually, we happen to be a business not a charity and it was some of our business colleagues that we went to and said look let's do something and Chevron-Texaco provided the gasoline.
COLLINS: This was just an absolutely huge effort. I imagine it took some time but what I really want to know is what did the people of Iraq and Baghdad in particular, I know there was - supplies were brought there yesterday, what did they think?
YOUNG: I don't know. I think that they thought it was probably too little too late. I think the expectations of America are so great and I'm old enough to remember the post World War II era and it didn't happen automatically. It took a while for peace to settle in, for order to be established, and for development to begin.
Looking back on it now it was a tremendous success. It's going to take a little while in Iraq but I think the more citizen efforts that we can get along with the government efforts the better off it's going to be.
COLLINS: Very good. Former U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young, thank you so much for your time today.
YOUNG: Thank you.
COLLINS: Appreciate it very much.
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 May 17, 2003 - 16:47 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Former U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young is rallying the U.S. corporate community to help Iraq get back on its feet. A cargo plane filled with $4 million worth of medical supplies landed at Baghad Airport Friday.
Ambassador Young is currently chairman of Goodworks International. He joins us here in our Atlanta Headquarters of course to talk about his Iraq project. Thanks so much for being here, Andrew, I appreciate it.
Tell us where the idea for Atlanta-Baghdad Airlift first came from?
ANDREW YOUNG, CHAIRMAN, GOODWORKS INTL.: Well, actually the idea came from some Iraqi-American citizens and they suggested to us that the war wouldn't be long and that the important thing would be how quickly we were able to help reestablish order and create some goodwill where there had been so much ill will for so long.
COLLINS: We're looking at some video now on the screen of some of the supplies that were being loaded onto the plane. What exactly are the supplies?
YOUNG: Well, actually the supplies that we were requested to bring were medical supplies and they were antibiotics. They were salves for burns. They were all medical equipment that was requested by specific hospitals from the International Medical Corps. They had 35 of their people on the ground and these were materials they were not able to get, so actually the cargo planes were packed for each hospital.
COLLINS: I see.
YOUNG: And the hospital workers came there and picked up the things that were specifically designated for their clinics.
COLLINS: Tell me how you were able to get these supplies.
YOUNG: Well, the Agency for International Development is supplying materials and has money available for aid to Iraq. They had transportation difficulties so World Airways, located here in Atlanta, is a good friend of ours. We've been working with them on direct flights to Africa and other things. Delta was a part of the effort to load and transship the supplies. We had trucking companies. We had people just coming forth but that's part of the Atlanta spirit.
COLLINS: Right.
YOUNG: We sent 3,000 people into Soviet Georgia during the time of the Cold War. We have had children coming from Iraq to our children's hospitals for treatment in the past.
COLLINS: Right.
YOUNG: And the humanitarian effort of U.S. citizenry is what builds peace and I think we're talking about trying to increase the capacity of our community to build peace in that region and there's a tremendous citizen support that we normally do through C.A.R.E., through the American Red Cross. Actually, we happen to be a business not a charity and it was some of our business colleagues that we went to and said look let's do something and Chevron-Texaco provided the gasoline.
COLLINS: This was just an absolutely huge effort. I imagine it took some time but what I really want to know is what did the people of Iraq and Baghdad in particular, I know there was - supplies were brought there yesterday, what did they think?
YOUNG: I don't know. I think that they thought it was probably too little too late. I think the expectations of America are so great and I'm old enough to remember the post World War II era and it didn't happen automatically. It took a while for peace to settle in, for order to be established, and for development to begin.
Looking back on it now it was a tremendous success. It's going to take a little while in Iraq but I think the more citizen efforts that we can get along with the government efforts the better off it's going to be.
COLLINS: Very good. Former U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young, thank you so much for your time today.
YOUNG: Thank you.
COLLINS: Appreciate it very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
