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Discussion with Craig Nelson of 'Cox Newspapers'
Aired April 09, 2003 - 12:27 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: We have on the phone with us Craig Nelson of "Cox Newspapers." He's in Baghdad. He's at the Palestine Hotel, which is where most of the international journalists have been staying.
Craig, tell us what's going on where you are?
CRAIG NELSON, "COX NEWSPAPERS": Hello, Wolf. As I look out the balcony from the ninth floor room, the circle in which the statue of Saddam Hussein stood only about an hour-and-a-half ago has been toppled. And around the circle are Bradley fighting vehicles and M-1 Abrams tanks. It looks like U.S. soldiers will be spending the nice here on the east side of the Tigris River.
BLITZER: The -- all the government minders, as they're called, the government officials from the ministry of information are gone from the Palestine Hotel, is that right?
NELSON: Yes, they have completely fled. They started leaving last night, and by early this morning, they were gone. And now people are quite happy to see them go, but they're surprised to see U.S. soldiers walking through the lobbies of the hotel we have been in for the last four, five weeks.
BLITZER: Are you saying, Craig, that American soldiers, Marines, are walking through the Palestine Hotel?
NELSON: Yes, absolutely. They came in, and they inspected the building. They said they secured the building, and, you know, Wolf, that we had a tank shell hit the building yesterday and killed two journalists and wounded another couple. And so today, now in the irony of ironies, we had U.S. soldiers in the lobby. Outside the emotion is tremendous. I was walking down the street and I saw Iraqis jumping up and down spontaneously and cheering. I saw some bringing flowers to U.S. Marines on their tanks.
On the other hand, I saw Iraqis who were incredibly distraught. I saw many with tears -- you know, weeping copiously, and I asked them what was wrong, and they said, we were humiliated. This was a very, very sad day. We don't like -- some of us like Saddam, but this is a humiliation to see this all in front of us.
And so I think it's going to be now something that U.S. policymakers are going to have to reckon with. I think people like Mr. Chalabi may be surprised about their reception here. I think a lot of people think of the exiles not particularly fondly and especially if they're associated closely with the Pentagon and State Department. They're not -- in many, many circles here in Iraq, I don't think they're going to get a warm welcome.
BLITZER: Craig, Christiane Amanpour is with me here in Kuwait City, and she wants to ask you a question as well -- Christiane.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Craig, I just wanted to know, we had heard that, in fact, the manager of the Palestine was quite concerned about the looting around town, and had actually sort of said that he wanted to see some American military to help secure the hotel. Is that just (UNINTELLIGIBLE), or do you think that they were pleased to see the Marines turn up there?
NELSON: Well, I don't know who asked the Marines to come here. I know that many journalists who saw the armored column coming up (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Avenue mentioned to the Marines they saw, look, can you guys come up to the Palestine Hotel, because we really felt this morning the sense that the place could be looted as the Information Ministry people fled?
So whoever urged them, it doesn't really matter. We're glad they're here. We hope for a safe night, although I think Baghdad is still a very dangerous place, and I think there are obviously a lot of people, a lot of Special Republican Guards that haven't been accounted for. There are lots of pockets of resistance. There are lots of guns. And I think it's a very volatile situation still.
So I think we have to sit tight for a while and see what happens.
BLITZER: Craig, before we let you go, and we're deeply appreciative of your time you're spending with us, for all practical purposes, any evidence that the Saddam Hussein regime government still exists in Baghdad?
NELSON: No, there's absolutely no sense of it at all. We don't see -- we saw no soldiers on the corners this morning, we saw no policemen. In fact, we were told that policemen were shedding their uniforms and running.
What the key is and the reason it seems to me that the regime is really over is that for the first time today we saw people expressing their feelings openly. It may have been against Saddam or it may have been for Saddam, it may have been against the United States or for the United States, but we saw sort of giddiness and people expressing their feelings that ran the gamut, and that's something that for many of us who have been here for weeks and weeks have not seen. And for all intents and purpose, I think that means that the regime is over and done with.
BLITZER: All right. Craig Nelson of "Cox Newspapers." He's at the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad reporting for us. Craig, thank you 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 April 9, 2003 - 12:27 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: We have on the phone with us Craig Nelson of "Cox Newspapers." He's in Baghdad. He's at the Palestine Hotel, which is where most of the international journalists have been staying.
Craig, tell us what's going on where you are?
CRAIG NELSON, "COX NEWSPAPERS": Hello, Wolf. As I look out the balcony from the ninth floor room, the circle in which the statue of Saddam Hussein stood only about an hour-and-a-half ago has been toppled. And around the circle are Bradley fighting vehicles and M-1 Abrams tanks. It looks like U.S. soldiers will be spending the nice here on the east side of the Tigris River.
BLITZER: The -- all the government minders, as they're called, the government officials from the ministry of information are gone from the Palestine Hotel, is that right?
NELSON: Yes, they have completely fled. They started leaving last night, and by early this morning, they were gone. And now people are quite happy to see them go, but they're surprised to see U.S. soldiers walking through the lobbies of the hotel we have been in for the last four, five weeks.
BLITZER: Are you saying, Craig, that American soldiers, Marines, are walking through the Palestine Hotel?
NELSON: Yes, absolutely. They came in, and they inspected the building. They said they secured the building, and, you know, Wolf, that we had a tank shell hit the building yesterday and killed two journalists and wounded another couple. And so today, now in the irony of ironies, we had U.S. soldiers in the lobby. Outside the emotion is tremendous. I was walking down the street and I saw Iraqis jumping up and down spontaneously and cheering. I saw some bringing flowers to U.S. Marines on their tanks.
On the other hand, I saw Iraqis who were incredibly distraught. I saw many with tears -- you know, weeping copiously, and I asked them what was wrong, and they said, we were humiliated. This was a very, very sad day. We don't like -- some of us like Saddam, but this is a humiliation to see this all in front of us.
And so I think it's going to be now something that U.S. policymakers are going to have to reckon with. I think people like Mr. Chalabi may be surprised about their reception here. I think a lot of people think of the exiles not particularly fondly and especially if they're associated closely with the Pentagon and State Department. They're not -- in many, many circles here in Iraq, I don't think they're going to get a warm welcome.
BLITZER: Craig, Christiane Amanpour is with me here in Kuwait City, and she wants to ask you a question as well -- Christiane.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Craig, I just wanted to know, we had heard that, in fact, the manager of the Palestine was quite concerned about the looting around town, and had actually sort of said that he wanted to see some American military to help secure the hotel. Is that just (UNINTELLIGIBLE), or do you think that they were pleased to see the Marines turn up there?
NELSON: Well, I don't know who asked the Marines to come here. I know that many journalists who saw the armored column coming up (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Avenue mentioned to the Marines they saw, look, can you guys come up to the Palestine Hotel, because we really felt this morning the sense that the place could be looted as the Information Ministry people fled?
So whoever urged them, it doesn't really matter. We're glad they're here. We hope for a safe night, although I think Baghdad is still a very dangerous place, and I think there are obviously a lot of people, a lot of Special Republican Guards that haven't been accounted for. There are lots of pockets of resistance. There are lots of guns. And I think it's a very volatile situation still.
So I think we have to sit tight for a while and see what happens.
BLITZER: Craig, before we let you go, and we're deeply appreciative of your time you're spending with us, for all practical purposes, any evidence that the Saddam Hussein regime government still exists in Baghdad?
NELSON: No, there's absolutely no sense of it at all. We don't see -- we saw no soldiers on the corners this morning, we saw no policemen. In fact, we were told that policemen were shedding their uniforms and running.
What the key is and the reason it seems to me that the regime is really over is that for the first time today we saw people expressing their feelings openly. It may have been against Saddam or it may have been for Saddam, it may have been against the United States or for the United States, but we saw sort of giddiness and people expressing their feelings that ran the gamut, and that's something that for many of us who have been here for weeks and weeks have not seen. And for all intents and purpose, I think that means that the regime is over and done with.
BLITZER: All right. Craig Nelson of "Cox Newspapers." He's at the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad reporting for us. Craig, thank you 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
