Return to Transcripts main page

Live From...

Baghdad Makes Presidential Appeal to Iraqis' Religious Duty to Fight Invading Forces

Aired April 01, 2003 - 13:03   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.


WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Good afternoon to our viewers in the United States. Good evening from here, it's just after 10:00 p.m. at Kuwait City. Also just after 10:00 p.m. in Baghdad, where the news is being made this Tuesday, April 1. I'm Wolf Blitzer.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, Wolf. From CNN studios in Washington, I'm Judy Woodruff. Coming up this hour, on the job dangers, civilians who make their living digging up deadly military mines.

And a little chaos in the midst of caring, the struggle to get aid to Iraqis. An embedded reporter takes us inside a city in desperate need of food and water. And on the front lines with Buster, the dog on duty on military raids. We'll find out what he's sniffing. Now, let's go back to Wolf in Kuwait.

BLITZER: Thanks very much, Judy. In Baghdad today, a presidential appeal to Iraqis' religious duty to fight invading forces, but the Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein, did not appear during the televised statement. Instead, the Iraqi Information Minister, Mohammed Saeed Al Sahaf took to Iraqi television to issue the call for jihad.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOHAMMED SAEED AL-SAHAF, IRAQI INFORMATION MINISTER (through translator): Take your chance, my beloved. It is your chance for immortality. It is your honor. There is no honor after that. Hit them. Fight them. They are cursed. They are evil. You will be...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Washington is immediately reacting to the Saddam Hussein statement. Our David Ensor, our national security correspondence is joining us now live from our Washington bureau -- David.

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NAT'L SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, some analysts I've spoken to say it's quite ironic to see a regime, a secular Baathist Party regime calling on Iraqis to fight the Americans for religious reasons, given, as one of them pointed out, the number of Iraqi religious figures that have died under the regime. But as far as whether there's any surprise to the fact that Saddam was -- did not himself speak in this message, one U.S. official told me that while Al Jazeera did start promoting the idea that there would be a message from Saddam Hussein himself, Iraqi television did not say so, in fact, did not even promote the appearance in any way, according to this official.

So they were not surprised, in a way, to see the information minister instead of Saddam Hussein. They point out that during the first Gulf War, it was Saddam Hussein's practice to not read such messages himself, but to send them periodically to television and have either an announcer or some kind of a minister read them. So, this is in keeping with his practice and, officials say the fact that he didn't turn up in no way proves that he's dead or injured, although they do believe that Saddam Hussein was in that bunker on the first night of bombing and, therefore, they believe he may be injured or dead.

They say there is mixed intelligence. There's some suggesting he's injured, some that he's fine and some that he may be dead. So, there is kind of an effort by U.S. officials now, particularly at the Pentagon, to, as one put it, smoke him out, to point out to the Iraqi public, to everyone, and the world, that Saddam Hussein has not proven that he's alive and in business since March 19 -- Wolf.

BLITZER: They're almost attempting to bait him to come out and speak publicly to prove, in fact, that he's alive. We certainly heard that message come through from the Pentagon yesterday. David, what are they saying about his two sons, Uday and Qusay, as far as they know about their whereabouts, their health, their ability to control the Republican Guard and Saddam Fedayeen units, that they are clearly in control of.

ENSOR: U.S. officials say the same thing about the two sons that they do about Saddam Hussein himself -- that they are unsure whether they are alive, whether they are injured, whether they are in control. There was some intelligence suggesting that one or both of them may have been in the bunker, leadership bunker, along with Saddam Hussein at the site in Baghdad where that first bomb was dropped on March 19. So, same thing for the sons as there is for the father. They just don't know -- Wolf.

BLITZER: David Ensor, our national security correspondent. David, thanks very much. I know you'll be checking with your sources and getting us more information throughout the day. Back to Judy in Washington -- Judy.

WOODRUFF: Thank you, Wolf. We've learned that General Tommy Franks has been given additional authority. Pentagon sources telling CNN that the CENTCOM commander now will be permitted to decide when to launch the battle for Baghdad. CNN's Barbara Starr has been doing the reporting and she has more now from the Pentagon -- Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Judy. Well, to be clear, we now do believe, and we have been told that General Franks has the authority to decide when to go ahead and move into Baghdad, to begin the battle for Baghdad. Now, it's not really clear whether this is brand-new authority or if this has been the plan all the way along. But the way it's been explained to CNN, is General Franks will make that decision without necessarily now having to ask either President Bush or Defense Secretary Rumsfeld.

The strategy being that General Franks now will have the total flexibility to make the decision based on what he sees going on, on the battlefield. And where it stands right now, of course, is about two-thirds of U.S. air strikes, coalition air strikes, every day are directed against the Republican Guard divisions arrayed around Baghdad for defense of the city. What they are doing is softening all that up.

When General Franks, we are told, sees that those Republican Guard units are degraded enough, then he will make the next decision and that will be to move U.S. ground forces closer and begin to further engage Republican Guard units on the ground. Once he gets through all of that, the expression punches through the Republican Guard units, then he makes the decision to go on to Baghdad. And at that point what General Franks will be looking for is a strategy that will keep any leadership elements still alive in Baghdad suppressed, keep any leadership element from issuing orders, from massing troops, from making any decisions whatsoever, continue to attack the special Republican Guard units that are dispersed throughout Baghdad.

So the way officials explain it, there will be maximum flexibility. General Franks looking all the way along the decision- making pipeline here for key places where he can take advantage of tactical surprise on the battlefield and move on ahead. Officials stressing very heavily that there is no absolute set plan. All of it will be flexible, depending on what happens -- Judy.

WOODRUFF: Barbara, how much -- to what extent do we know how much is the resistance that coalition forces are still meeting in places like Nasiriyah, in Basra, and even we heard General Shepperd say in Umm Qasr, the entry point, the entry port, going to have any effect on the decision to go forward toward Baghdad?

STARR: Well this is really the great unknown at the point, and that is the resistance, the level of resistance and the interaction with the Iraqi civilian population. The U.S. believes as long as it keeps moving towards Baghdad and keeps going and can demonstrate to the people of Iraq quickly that the regime is no longer in power, they then believe that the Iraqi people will rally and support the U.S. effort, understanding that the U.S. wants to bring a new government to them. Of course, what officials are saying is even when they get to Baghdad, they don't -- they're not ready -- they don't think five million people will come out in the streets and cheer them.

They believe the people of Iraq are so terrorized that they won't do that at this point. They see some initial areas of cooperation with the civilian population, but they think they have a long way to go on that -- Judy.

WOODRUFF: All right, Barbara Starr. And we're reading this morning about interesting -- the mood among the people in Baghdad, developing almost a blitz-like atmosphere in the city, waiting for what is going to come from coalition forces. All right, Barbara Starr reporting for us from the Pentagon. And we want to remind you, coming up at 2:00 Eastern, we do expect a live briefing from the Pentagon from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. And then, we should let you know the White House briefing is expected to follow that. We're going to bring both of them to you live. Wolf, back to you.

BLITZER: A lot of news coming up this afternoon. Thanks very much, Judy. Thanks to Barbara Starr, as well. Meanwhile, the religious tone of the statement that was just read on behalf of Saddam Hussein is raising questions, especially for those familiar with the Iraqi leader.

CNN's Nic Robertson is joining us now live from the border between Jordan and Iraq. Questions that you've raised in the past, what was your assessment of the statement read by the Information Minister, Mohammed Saeed Al Sahaf, on behalf of Saddam Hussein, Nic?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, this is the first time that we've heard such a direct appeal to the -- to people's religious teachings, if you will. One of the fundamental parts of those teachings that if your land is invaded, then it's an obligation to jihad. This was an appeal at that basic level. What struck me was that it was a very short message for the president delivered by the information minister. It was very focused on this central issue, clearly appealing to that part of the country that holds the religious teachings close to their heart, perhaps hoping to get -- strike more residents in the south of Iraq where the Shia community are the strongest there.

They make up 60 percent of the population in Iraq. Most of them are in the south of the country. The jihad, not necessarily a call to arms, although those were the tones and words used in this particular statement, but it also obligates people here in this particular instance, let's say, not to turn over Republican Guard units who may be close to their house. This is really a fundamental appeal by the Iraqi leadership to win over more support, get more people out on the streets fighting for them. Not clear if this is a last message of desperation, to try and galvanize another part of the population. But clearly, an attempt to bring on those people who hold their religious teachings close to their heart. As the information minister said, this is an obligation because yours is an Islamic nation and it's under attack.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AL-SAHAF (through translator): The religious man with all their fatwas, today they all concur that the invaders and the aggressor is -- what they are doing is an aggression on religion and self and on the Islamic nation. Therefore, jihad is a duty, and whoever dies will be rewarded by heaven, and God will be satisfied with their sacrifice. Take your chance. This is what God requested from you. I swear by God whoever remember their beliefs and confronted and was patient who God advises, God will make us victorious, and the invaders will run away, and they will be cursed. They are evil.

(END VIDEO CLIP) ROBERTSON: Now, we've heard the Iraqi leader weave into other speeches a notion of jihad, but, Wolf, this is the first time we've heard it delivered in this way -- a very focused and direct message for people to rise up in jihad against the coalition.

BLITZER: And presumably he's hoping it will have an impact on those most religious Iraqi, not only Sunnis, but especially Shia, which, of course, are the dominant group in the southern part of Iraq right now. While I have you, Nic, the most recent targets apparently in and around Baghdad included various facilities we're all familiar with. A presidential palace, once again, an air force facility, but also apparently the Iraqi Olympic Committee headquarters. Now, there's a symbolic reason why that might have been targeted, but maybe you can explain that to our viewers a lot better than I can.

ROBERTSON: Oh hugely symbolic, Wolf. This is the building and the committee that is run by Uday Saddam Hussein, President Saddam Hussein's eldest son, perhaps the most feared figure on the streets of Iraq. Certainly that's the reputation that he is purported to have inside Baghdad. He is responsible not only for the religious -- for the Olympic Committee, but he's also responsible for those Fedayeen fighters who will be putting up the stiff resistance we hear in the south.

Whether or not strategically this was an important facility to hit, it is after all an administrative headquarters. Whether or not it's strategically important into the minds of Iraqis, this will show that the coalition is striking at places very close and very dear to the Iraqi leadership who will no doubt be very -- will no doubt be felt as a very personal message by the president's eldest son, Uday Saddam Hussein -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Nic Robertson explaining something obviously significant. Thanks very much Nic Robertson. We'll be getting back to you. Judy, I thought he could explain it better than I could. He clearly did.

WOODRUFF: Well, Nic is a terrific reporter -- so are you, Wolf. Thanks 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




Duty to Fight Invading Forces>


Aired April 1, 2003 - 13:03   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Good afternoon to our viewers in the United States. Good evening from here, it's just after 10:00 p.m. at Kuwait City. Also just after 10:00 p.m. in Baghdad, where the news is being made this Tuesday, April 1. I'm Wolf Blitzer.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, Wolf. From CNN studios in Washington, I'm Judy Woodruff. Coming up this hour, on the job dangers, civilians who make their living digging up deadly military mines.

And a little chaos in the midst of caring, the struggle to get aid to Iraqis. An embedded reporter takes us inside a city in desperate need of food and water. And on the front lines with Buster, the dog on duty on military raids. We'll find out what he's sniffing. Now, let's go back to Wolf in Kuwait.

BLITZER: Thanks very much, Judy. In Baghdad today, a presidential appeal to Iraqis' religious duty to fight invading forces, but the Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein, did not appear during the televised statement. Instead, the Iraqi Information Minister, Mohammed Saeed Al Sahaf took to Iraqi television to issue the call for jihad.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOHAMMED SAEED AL-SAHAF, IRAQI INFORMATION MINISTER (through translator): Take your chance, my beloved. It is your chance for immortality. It is your honor. There is no honor after that. Hit them. Fight them. They are cursed. They are evil. You will be...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Washington is immediately reacting to the Saddam Hussein statement. Our David Ensor, our national security correspondence is joining us now live from our Washington bureau -- David.

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NAT'L SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, some analysts I've spoken to say it's quite ironic to see a regime, a secular Baathist Party regime calling on Iraqis to fight the Americans for religious reasons, given, as one of them pointed out, the number of Iraqi religious figures that have died under the regime. But as far as whether there's any surprise to the fact that Saddam was -- did not himself speak in this message, one U.S. official told me that while Al Jazeera did start promoting the idea that there would be a message from Saddam Hussein himself, Iraqi television did not say so, in fact, did not even promote the appearance in any way, according to this official.

So they were not surprised, in a way, to see the information minister instead of Saddam Hussein. They point out that during the first Gulf War, it was Saddam Hussein's practice to not read such messages himself, but to send them periodically to television and have either an announcer or some kind of a minister read them. So, this is in keeping with his practice and, officials say the fact that he didn't turn up in no way proves that he's dead or injured, although they do believe that Saddam Hussein was in that bunker on the first night of bombing and, therefore, they believe he may be injured or dead.

They say there is mixed intelligence. There's some suggesting he's injured, some that he's fine and some that he may be dead. So, there is kind of an effort by U.S. officials now, particularly at the Pentagon, to, as one put it, smoke him out, to point out to the Iraqi public, to everyone, and the world, that Saddam Hussein has not proven that he's alive and in business since March 19 -- Wolf.

BLITZER: They're almost attempting to bait him to come out and speak publicly to prove, in fact, that he's alive. We certainly heard that message come through from the Pentagon yesterday. David, what are they saying about his two sons, Uday and Qusay, as far as they know about their whereabouts, their health, their ability to control the Republican Guard and Saddam Fedayeen units, that they are clearly in control of.

ENSOR: U.S. officials say the same thing about the two sons that they do about Saddam Hussein himself -- that they are unsure whether they are alive, whether they are injured, whether they are in control. There was some intelligence suggesting that one or both of them may have been in the bunker, leadership bunker, along with Saddam Hussein at the site in Baghdad where that first bomb was dropped on March 19. So, same thing for the sons as there is for the father. They just don't know -- Wolf.

BLITZER: David Ensor, our national security correspondent. David, thanks very much. I know you'll be checking with your sources and getting us more information throughout the day. Back to Judy in Washington -- Judy.

WOODRUFF: Thank you, Wolf. We've learned that General Tommy Franks has been given additional authority. Pentagon sources telling CNN that the CENTCOM commander now will be permitted to decide when to launch the battle for Baghdad. CNN's Barbara Starr has been doing the reporting and she has more now from the Pentagon -- Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Judy. Well, to be clear, we now do believe, and we have been told that General Franks has the authority to decide when to go ahead and move into Baghdad, to begin the battle for Baghdad. Now, it's not really clear whether this is brand-new authority or if this has been the plan all the way along. But the way it's been explained to CNN, is General Franks will make that decision without necessarily now having to ask either President Bush or Defense Secretary Rumsfeld.

The strategy being that General Franks now will have the total flexibility to make the decision based on what he sees going on, on the battlefield. And where it stands right now, of course, is about two-thirds of U.S. air strikes, coalition air strikes, every day are directed against the Republican Guard divisions arrayed around Baghdad for defense of the city. What they are doing is softening all that up.

When General Franks, we are told, sees that those Republican Guard units are degraded enough, then he will make the next decision and that will be to move U.S. ground forces closer and begin to further engage Republican Guard units on the ground. Once he gets through all of that, the expression punches through the Republican Guard units, then he makes the decision to go on to Baghdad. And at that point what General Franks will be looking for is a strategy that will keep any leadership elements still alive in Baghdad suppressed, keep any leadership element from issuing orders, from massing troops, from making any decisions whatsoever, continue to attack the special Republican Guard units that are dispersed throughout Baghdad.

So the way officials explain it, there will be maximum flexibility. General Franks looking all the way along the decision- making pipeline here for key places where he can take advantage of tactical surprise on the battlefield and move on ahead. Officials stressing very heavily that there is no absolute set plan. All of it will be flexible, depending on what happens -- Judy.

WOODRUFF: Barbara, how much -- to what extent do we know how much is the resistance that coalition forces are still meeting in places like Nasiriyah, in Basra, and even we heard General Shepperd say in Umm Qasr, the entry point, the entry port, going to have any effect on the decision to go forward toward Baghdad?

STARR: Well this is really the great unknown at the point, and that is the resistance, the level of resistance and the interaction with the Iraqi civilian population. The U.S. believes as long as it keeps moving towards Baghdad and keeps going and can demonstrate to the people of Iraq quickly that the regime is no longer in power, they then believe that the Iraqi people will rally and support the U.S. effort, understanding that the U.S. wants to bring a new government to them. Of course, what officials are saying is even when they get to Baghdad, they don't -- they're not ready -- they don't think five million people will come out in the streets and cheer them.

They believe the people of Iraq are so terrorized that they won't do that at this point. They see some initial areas of cooperation with the civilian population, but they think they have a long way to go on that -- Judy.

WOODRUFF: All right, Barbara Starr. And we're reading this morning about interesting -- the mood among the people in Baghdad, developing almost a blitz-like atmosphere in the city, waiting for what is going to come from coalition forces. All right, Barbara Starr reporting for us from the Pentagon. And we want to remind you, coming up at 2:00 Eastern, we do expect a live briefing from the Pentagon from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. And then, we should let you know the White House briefing is expected to follow that. We're going to bring both of them to you live. Wolf, back to you.

BLITZER: A lot of news coming up this afternoon. Thanks very much, Judy. Thanks to Barbara Starr, as well. Meanwhile, the religious tone of the statement that was just read on behalf of Saddam Hussein is raising questions, especially for those familiar with the Iraqi leader.

CNN's Nic Robertson is joining us now live from the border between Jordan and Iraq. Questions that you've raised in the past, what was your assessment of the statement read by the Information Minister, Mohammed Saeed Al Sahaf, on behalf of Saddam Hussein, Nic?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, this is the first time that we've heard such a direct appeal to the -- to people's religious teachings, if you will. One of the fundamental parts of those teachings that if your land is invaded, then it's an obligation to jihad. This was an appeal at that basic level. What struck me was that it was a very short message for the president delivered by the information minister. It was very focused on this central issue, clearly appealing to that part of the country that holds the religious teachings close to their heart, perhaps hoping to get -- strike more residents in the south of Iraq where the Shia community are the strongest there.

They make up 60 percent of the population in Iraq. Most of them are in the south of the country. The jihad, not necessarily a call to arms, although those were the tones and words used in this particular statement, but it also obligates people here in this particular instance, let's say, not to turn over Republican Guard units who may be close to their house. This is really a fundamental appeal by the Iraqi leadership to win over more support, get more people out on the streets fighting for them. Not clear if this is a last message of desperation, to try and galvanize another part of the population. But clearly, an attempt to bring on those people who hold their religious teachings close to their heart. As the information minister said, this is an obligation because yours is an Islamic nation and it's under attack.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AL-SAHAF (through translator): The religious man with all their fatwas, today they all concur that the invaders and the aggressor is -- what they are doing is an aggression on religion and self and on the Islamic nation. Therefore, jihad is a duty, and whoever dies will be rewarded by heaven, and God will be satisfied with their sacrifice. Take your chance. This is what God requested from you. I swear by God whoever remember their beliefs and confronted and was patient who God advises, God will make us victorious, and the invaders will run away, and they will be cursed. They are evil.

(END VIDEO CLIP) ROBERTSON: Now, we've heard the Iraqi leader weave into other speeches a notion of jihad, but, Wolf, this is the first time we've heard it delivered in this way -- a very focused and direct message for people to rise up in jihad against the coalition.

BLITZER: And presumably he's hoping it will have an impact on those most religious Iraqi, not only Sunnis, but especially Shia, which, of course, are the dominant group in the southern part of Iraq right now. While I have you, Nic, the most recent targets apparently in and around Baghdad included various facilities we're all familiar with. A presidential palace, once again, an air force facility, but also apparently the Iraqi Olympic Committee headquarters. Now, there's a symbolic reason why that might have been targeted, but maybe you can explain that to our viewers a lot better than I can.

ROBERTSON: Oh hugely symbolic, Wolf. This is the building and the committee that is run by Uday Saddam Hussein, President Saddam Hussein's eldest son, perhaps the most feared figure on the streets of Iraq. Certainly that's the reputation that he is purported to have inside Baghdad. He is responsible not only for the religious -- for the Olympic Committee, but he's also responsible for those Fedayeen fighters who will be putting up the stiff resistance we hear in the south.

Whether or not strategically this was an important facility to hit, it is after all an administrative headquarters. Whether or not it's strategically important into the minds of Iraqis, this will show that the coalition is striking at places very close and very dear to the Iraqi leadership who will no doubt be very -- will no doubt be felt as a very personal message by the president's eldest son, Uday Saddam Hussein -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Nic Robertson explaining something obviously significant. Thanks very much Nic Robertson. We'll be getting back to you. Judy, I thought he could explain it better than I could. He clearly did.

WOODRUFF: Well, Nic is a terrific reporter -- so are you, Wolf. Thanks 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




Duty to Fight Invading Forces>