Return to Transcripts main page
Live From...
Iraqi UN Ambassador: 'Game Is Over'
Aired April 09, 2003 - 15:37 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.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: CNN analyst Ken Pollack of the Brookings Institution is with me now to talk a little more about today's events.
Ken, before I talk you, let's listen to something our cameras caught up just a short time ago with Iraq's ambassador to the United Nations, Mohammed Aldouri, outside his residence in New York City. Here's what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MOHAMMED ALDOURI, IRAQ'S AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: My hope now is peace for everybody. (UNINTELLIGIBLE). This is what I have.
QUESTION: Since you're only going to say it once, let us just (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
ALDOURI: Sorry?
QUESTION: Let me just ask you...
ALDOURI: No, I have no -- I cannot answer your question. I told you, I repeat again, the game is over. I hope that peace will prevail, and that the Iraqi people at the end of the day would have a peaceful life.
QUESTION: What do you mean that the game is over, sir?
ALDOURI: The war.
QUESTION: So you are convinced the war is over?
ALDOURI: Yes, yes, yes. It's over.
QUESTION: What is the situation with Saddam Hussein?
ALDOURI: Well, I don't know. This is perhaps America knows. I have no relationship with Saddam, so I can't tell you. I am here, like you. Thank you.
QUESTION: Explain to me, sir, what do you mean you have no relationship with Saddam? What does that mean?
ALDOURI: I have no communication with Iraq. I am here, so I know nothing about what is going (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
QUESTION: What do you make, sir, of the pictures you've seen up?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WOODRUFF: Ken Pollack, an Iraqi ambassador to the United Nations saying he has no connection or no contact with Saddam Hussein's government, saying, though, the game is over, the war is over, let peace prevail. What does it mean?
KEN POLLACK, CNN ANALYST: I think what was seen over the last few days is I don't think Mohammed Aldouri has had much contact with Baghdad, with his regime back there. He seems to be ad-libbing things over the last few days. And today he does seem to recognize that the regime's fall is very close at hand. And he may even be trying to set himself up to kind of distance himself a little bit from the regime, to suggest that he is the representative of the Iraqi people and not of Saddam Hussein's regime itself. Who knows what that may mean. But clearly he recognizes, he sees the writing on the wall.
WOODRUFF: Ken, what do you think is left of Saddam Hussein's government? We've seen the statue come down. We know government buildings were overrun by Iraqi citizens today. What is left of the regime?
POLLACK: Well, I don't think that very much of the governmental apparatus is left. I think that's pretty clear. Baghdad is in the hands of the coalition and the Iraqi people. This is what you are seeing right now. Most of the cities to the south are no longer under the control of the regime.
But it is also important to remember there are a number of important Iraqi cities which the coalition has not yet reached. Towns like Bejey (ph), and Somara (ph), and Losul (ph), and Saddam's own hometown of Tikrit. And chances are there are a number of regime figures who are fleeing to those different places, in particular to Tikrit, where they might be able to take up some kind of refuge. They clearly can't run the country from there, but they might be able to offer some resistance in those places if the regime, if Saddam and his sons can make it back there and recreate some kind of a cohesive effort that can engage whatever forces are left for them to set up one last defense.
WOODRUFF: So how much of a fight do you believe they can still put up in these towns that you're mentioning?
POLLACK: I don't think they can put up much of a fight, but I also think that Central Command is absolutely right to be stressing the fact that the war is not yet over. The fact of the matter is, as we can see, that the people of Baghdad really didn't have a great deal of love for Saddam. They clearly wanted him gone, and that obviously was a complicating factor in his ability to defend the city of Baghdad.
In Tikrit, from everything that we know about Tikrit, the people of Tikrit themselves really do have very strong bonds to Saddam. It is his hometown. So many Tikritis have benefited from his rule, and I think that we have to expect that in Tikrit we may find greater popular support and a greater willingness of the people in Tikrit to assist the last elements of Saddam's loyalist. It's not a big city, but we still need to take it.
WOODRUFF: Ken, just quickly, did most of us just overestimate what there was of this regime and its power?
POLLACK: I certainly think that on the one hand people underestimated the ability of this regime to put up resistance, and then on the other hand I think some people did overestimate it. There is no question that Saddam ruled through fear, that he was not popular, that the Iraqi people did not love Saddam Hussein -- but by the same token, fear was a very powerful force in compelling at least some elements of Iraq society to stand and fight the coalition, at least as long as they thought Saddam had a chance of surviving.
WOODRUFF: And you are saying that fear begins to melt away today, at least on the part of the people that we're seeing in these pictures.
Ken Pollack, who has been a steady presence for us throughout this war, helping us to understand what is behind the power of Saddam Hussein. Thank you, Ken.
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 - 15:37 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: CNN analyst Ken Pollack of the Brookings Institution is with me now to talk a little more about today's events.
Ken, before I talk you, let's listen to something our cameras caught up just a short time ago with Iraq's ambassador to the United Nations, Mohammed Aldouri, outside his residence in New York City. Here's what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MOHAMMED ALDOURI, IRAQ'S AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: My hope now is peace for everybody. (UNINTELLIGIBLE). This is what I have.
QUESTION: Since you're only going to say it once, let us just (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
ALDOURI: Sorry?
QUESTION: Let me just ask you...
ALDOURI: No, I have no -- I cannot answer your question. I told you, I repeat again, the game is over. I hope that peace will prevail, and that the Iraqi people at the end of the day would have a peaceful life.
QUESTION: What do you mean that the game is over, sir?
ALDOURI: The war.
QUESTION: So you are convinced the war is over?
ALDOURI: Yes, yes, yes. It's over.
QUESTION: What is the situation with Saddam Hussein?
ALDOURI: Well, I don't know. This is perhaps America knows. I have no relationship with Saddam, so I can't tell you. I am here, like you. Thank you.
QUESTION: Explain to me, sir, what do you mean you have no relationship with Saddam? What does that mean?
ALDOURI: I have no communication with Iraq. I am here, so I know nothing about what is going (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
QUESTION: What do you make, sir, of the pictures you've seen up?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WOODRUFF: Ken Pollack, an Iraqi ambassador to the United Nations saying he has no connection or no contact with Saddam Hussein's government, saying, though, the game is over, the war is over, let peace prevail. What does it mean?
KEN POLLACK, CNN ANALYST: I think what was seen over the last few days is I don't think Mohammed Aldouri has had much contact with Baghdad, with his regime back there. He seems to be ad-libbing things over the last few days. And today he does seem to recognize that the regime's fall is very close at hand. And he may even be trying to set himself up to kind of distance himself a little bit from the regime, to suggest that he is the representative of the Iraqi people and not of Saddam Hussein's regime itself. Who knows what that may mean. But clearly he recognizes, he sees the writing on the wall.
WOODRUFF: Ken, what do you think is left of Saddam Hussein's government? We've seen the statue come down. We know government buildings were overrun by Iraqi citizens today. What is left of the regime?
POLLACK: Well, I don't think that very much of the governmental apparatus is left. I think that's pretty clear. Baghdad is in the hands of the coalition and the Iraqi people. This is what you are seeing right now. Most of the cities to the south are no longer under the control of the regime.
But it is also important to remember there are a number of important Iraqi cities which the coalition has not yet reached. Towns like Bejey (ph), and Somara (ph), and Losul (ph), and Saddam's own hometown of Tikrit. And chances are there are a number of regime figures who are fleeing to those different places, in particular to Tikrit, where they might be able to take up some kind of refuge. They clearly can't run the country from there, but they might be able to offer some resistance in those places if the regime, if Saddam and his sons can make it back there and recreate some kind of a cohesive effort that can engage whatever forces are left for them to set up one last defense.
WOODRUFF: So how much of a fight do you believe they can still put up in these towns that you're mentioning?
POLLACK: I don't think they can put up much of a fight, but I also think that Central Command is absolutely right to be stressing the fact that the war is not yet over. The fact of the matter is, as we can see, that the people of Baghdad really didn't have a great deal of love for Saddam. They clearly wanted him gone, and that obviously was a complicating factor in his ability to defend the city of Baghdad.
In Tikrit, from everything that we know about Tikrit, the people of Tikrit themselves really do have very strong bonds to Saddam. It is his hometown. So many Tikritis have benefited from his rule, and I think that we have to expect that in Tikrit we may find greater popular support and a greater willingness of the people in Tikrit to assist the last elements of Saddam's loyalist. It's not a big city, but we still need to take it.
WOODRUFF: Ken, just quickly, did most of us just overestimate what there was of this regime and its power?
POLLACK: I certainly think that on the one hand people underestimated the ability of this regime to put up resistance, and then on the other hand I think some people did overestimate it. There is no question that Saddam ruled through fear, that he was not popular, that the Iraqi people did not love Saddam Hussein -- but by the same token, fear was a very powerful force in compelling at least some elements of Iraq society to stand and fight the coalition, at least as long as they thought Saddam had a chance of surviving.
WOODRUFF: And you are saying that fear begins to melt away today, at least on the part of the people that we're seeing in these pictures.
Ken Pollack, who has been a steady presence for us throughout this war, helping us to understand what is behind the power of Saddam Hussein. Thank you, Ken.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
