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CNN Live Saturday
Saddam's Sons and Granson Buried In Tikrit Today
Aired August 02, 2003 - 16:06 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.
FREDERICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: More violence in Iraq today, and Saddam Hussein's two sons and grandson are buried near their ancestral home. CNN's Rym Brahimi has a live report from Baghdad now -- Rym.
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredericka, more than a week after their death in a raid in Mosul, the northern part of Iraq, the two sons of the former Iraqi president, Uday and Qusay, were finally buried in the hometown of Saddam Hussein in Tikrit.
It was a rushed ceremony. There were a handful of tribesmen from the clan of Saddam Hussein. They wrapped the three bodies, in fact, it was the bodies of Uday and Qusay, the two feared sons of Saddam Hussein, but also the body of the grandson of Saddam Hussein, said a prayer and then it was over pretty quickly.
Now, at the same time, of course U.S. officials are hoping that this burial will help bring some closure to Iraq's recent history. But, of course, they also are aware that that won't come until they capture or kill, as they say, Saddam Hussein himself. Now, they say that if they do that, a lot of the attacks against U.S. soldiers will be reduced.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL BREMER, U.S. ADMINISTRATOR IN IRAQ: I think the attacks will be reduced if we can till or capture Saddam. Those are attacks which are coming to us from desperadoes from the Ba'athist party, the trained killers of the Fedayeen Saddam, and the trained killers of many of the intelligence services which Saddam had in this country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRAHIMI: Now, Paul Bremer, the U.S. administrator in Iraq who was speaking there, also says that there is clear evidence, according to him, of foreign fighters in Iraq that are also behind some of the attacks. And that, he says, is a threat that won't go away with Saddam Hussein.
As you mentioned, there has been more violence, one U.S. soldier was killed. He was killed by rocket-propelled grenade fire yesterday evening in the north of Iraq. And an Iraqi civilian woman was caught in the crossfire in Baghdad when another convoy of six vehicles of U.S. troops was attacked in the Iraqi capital.
So there is another concern now. And that is that along with -- as U.S. troops remain and continue their raids and continue to be attacked and as long as Iraqi civilians continue to be caught in crossfire, well, there is a risk that their presence here will continue to alienate the Iraqi population -- Fredericka.
WHITFIELD: All right. Rym Brahimi in Baghdad, thank you.
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 August 2, 2003 - 16:06 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDERICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: More violence in Iraq today, and Saddam Hussein's two sons and grandson are buried near their ancestral home. CNN's Rym Brahimi has a live report from Baghdad now -- Rym.
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredericka, more than a week after their death in a raid in Mosul, the northern part of Iraq, the two sons of the former Iraqi president, Uday and Qusay, were finally buried in the hometown of Saddam Hussein in Tikrit.
It was a rushed ceremony. There were a handful of tribesmen from the clan of Saddam Hussein. They wrapped the three bodies, in fact, it was the bodies of Uday and Qusay, the two feared sons of Saddam Hussein, but also the body of the grandson of Saddam Hussein, said a prayer and then it was over pretty quickly.
Now, at the same time, of course U.S. officials are hoping that this burial will help bring some closure to Iraq's recent history. But, of course, they also are aware that that won't come until they capture or kill, as they say, Saddam Hussein himself. Now, they say that if they do that, a lot of the attacks against U.S. soldiers will be reduced.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL BREMER, U.S. ADMINISTRATOR IN IRAQ: I think the attacks will be reduced if we can till or capture Saddam. Those are attacks which are coming to us from desperadoes from the Ba'athist party, the trained killers of the Fedayeen Saddam, and the trained killers of many of the intelligence services which Saddam had in this country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRAHIMI: Now, Paul Bremer, the U.S. administrator in Iraq who was speaking there, also says that there is clear evidence, according to him, of foreign fighters in Iraq that are also behind some of the attacks. And that, he says, is a threat that won't go away with Saddam Hussein.
As you mentioned, there has been more violence, one U.S. soldier was killed. He was killed by rocket-propelled grenade fire yesterday evening in the north of Iraq. And an Iraqi civilian woman was caught in the crossfire in Baghdad when another convoy of six vehicles of U.S. troops was attacked in the Iraqi capital.
So there is another concern now. And that is that along with -- as U.S. troops remain and continue their raids and continue to be attacked and as long as Iraqi civilians continue to be caught in crossfire, well, there is a risk that their presence here will continue to alienate the Iraqi population -- Fredericka.
WHITFIELD: All right. Rym Brahimi in Baghdad, thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
