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Civil Disorder Is on Rise in Baghdad

Aired April 10, 2003 - 15:02   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: For more on the situation in Baghdad and today's suicide bombing there, let's immediately go to CNN's Christiane Amanpour. She's now in the Iraqi capital.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN INTERNAIONTAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, earlier on our way to Baghdad, we had met with some senior Marine commanders at their headquarters and we had been briefed that they were concerned about so-called unconventional attacks such as suicide bombings. They were also concerned that not just Iraqi regulars, or those militias who have melted back into the civilian population would conduct those, but what they called third country nationals. And this colonel told us their main aim in life was, quote, "to kill an American."

Well, then shortly afterwards we arrived here only to learn that as we were here, there was a suicide attack on a Marine checkpoint not far from where we are in Saddam's city. According to the top Marine spokesman here, the 1st Marine Division, he told us that a man had strapped explosives to himself and approached a marine checkpoint and had detonated those explosions. Now, he says four Marines were wounded. There have been some conflicting reports about whether there were fatalities in that instance, but this spokesman tells at the moment the initial reports are that four Marines have been wounded, and we do not know the extent of their wounds or the extent of the wounds that they sustained.

In any event, in other parts of the city, indeed, where we are right now, there is quite a heavy Marine presence, and over the other side of the river there is an Army presence. And for the most part we seem to see them being welcomed quite -- in quite a friendly manner. As we drove in, certainly there were many people who were waving and giving the thumb's up just to our cars, and when we passed Marine checkpoints and places where there were troops, we saw quite a few people gathered around them, chatting, being friendly and in general the reception seems to be very warm.

But there is, of course, other side, and that is a certain sense of lawlessness which has established it itself here in this city. There is a security vacum. There isn't a police force. And neither the Marines or U.S. Army is stepping in to fill that gap. So there is an enormous amount of looting going on. A huge amount of looting going on all over the city. And it spread from just the government buildings, which we're being told about yesterday, to now private property, to embassies and most worringly, to the hospitals.

Apparently vital equipment and vital medicine and things needed to treat the wounded in those hospitals have been looted. And so there is a concern. There is a desperate need for some kind of security to be established here. When we asked the Marine spokesman about that he told us that, look, first of all they're stretched, they don't have enough troops to do all the police work, they're still fighting a war and trying to quail the pockets of resistance in the city. And also he said the city is in a state of flux with the end of one regime and the beginning of another order. And that he said, perhaps the looting and this kind of chaos we're seeing may be expected for several days to come until the full order of the U.S. presence is established here -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Christiane, can you tell if there's any -- I'll call it humanitarian issues in the sense of food, water, electricity, those kinds of issues for average Baghdadis, people who live in Baghdad. Are those critical issues yet or are people OK in that sense?

AMANPOUR: Well, electricity is off. The small lights you see around in the cities, certainly that we can see, are from generaters. There's some electricity in some of the areas somewhere away from us, but for the most part it seems to be off. Telephone is off. And there is also shortages of all sorts of things. But, what we're being told is for the most part they do have water and stockpiled food. But don't forget that in Iraq in general, most of the people have relied on the oil for food program over the last many years, certainly since 1996, and that is something that will need to be started up again to give more than half the people of Iraq their basic food and humanitarian requirements.

BLITZER: What an enormous challenge. CNN's Christiane Amanpour. She is now in Baghdad. She will be back in the next hour as well. 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






Aired April 10, 2003 - 15:02   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: For more on the situation in Baghdad and today's suicide bombing there, let's immediately go to CNN's Christiane Amanpour. She's now in the Iraqi capital.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN INTERNAIONTAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, earlier on our way to Baghdad, we had met with some senior Marine commanders at their headquarters and we had been briefed that they were concerned about so-called unconventional attacks such as suicide bombings. They were also concerned that not just Iraqi regulars, or those militias who have melted back into the civilian population would conduct those, but what they called third country nationals. And this colonel told us their main aim in life was, quote, "to kill an American."

Well, then shortly afterwards we arrived here only to learn that as we were here, there was a suicide attack on a Marine checkpoint not far from where we are in Saddam's city. According to the top Marine spokesman here, the 1st Marine Division, he told us that a man had strapped explosives to himself and approached a marine checkpoint and had detonated those explosions. Now, he says four Marines were wounded. There have been some conflicting reports about whether there were fatalities in that instance, but this spokesman tells at the moment the initial reports are that four Marines have been wounded, and we do not know the extent of their wounds or the extent of the wounds that they sustained.

In any event, in other parts of the city, indeed, where we are right now, there is quite a heavy Marine presence, and over the other side of the river there is an Army presence. And for the most part we seem to see them being welcomed quite -- in quite a friendly manner. As we drove in, certainly there were many people who were waving and giving the thumb's up just to our cars, and when we passed Marine checkpoints and places where there were troops, we saw quite a few people gathered around them, chatting, being friendly and in general the reception seems to be very warm.

But there is, of course, other side, and that is a certain sense of lawlessness which has established it itself here in this city. There is a security vacum. There isn't a police force. And neither the Marines or U.S. Army is stepping in to fill that gap. So there is an enormous amount of looting going on. A huge amount of looting going on all over the city. And it spread from just the government buildings, which we're being told about yesterday, to now private property, to embassies and most worringly, to the hospitals.

Apparently vital equipment and vital medicine and things needed to treat the wounded in those hospitals have been looted. And so there is a concern. There is a desperate need for some kind of security to be established here. When we asked the Marine spokesman about that he told us that, look, first of all they're stretched, they don't have enough troops to do all the police work, they're still fighting a war and trying to quail the pockets of resistance in the city. And also he said the city is in a state of flux with the end of one regime and the beginning of another order. And that he said, perhaps the looting and this kind of chaos we're seeing may be expected for several days to come until the full order of the U.S. presence is established here -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Christiane, can you tell if there's any -- I'll call it humanitarian issues in the sense of food, water, electricity, those kinds of issues for average Baghdadis, people who live in Baghdad. Are those critical issues yet or are people OK in that sense?

AMANPOUR: Well, electricity is off. The small lights you see around in the cities, certainly that we can see, are from generaters. There's some electricity in some of the areas somewhere away from us, but for the most part it seems to be off. Telephone is off. And there is also shortages of all sorts of things. But, what we're being told is for the most part they do have water and stockpiled food. But don't forget that in Iraq in general, most of the people have relied on the oil for food program over the last many years, certainly since 1996, and that is something that will need to be started up again to give more than half the people of Iraq their basic food and humanitarian requirements.

BLITZER: What an enormous challenge. CNN's Christiane Amanpour. She is now in Baghdad. She will be back in the next hour as well. 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