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Baghdad in Transition
Aired April 16, 2003 - 14:59 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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: It's nighttime in Baghdad. As the city sleeps it continues to evolve. Today, coalition commander, General Tommy Franks, set foot in the Iraqi capital for the first time since combat began, and about 120 armed Iraqi soldiers, trained by U.S. Special Forces, moved into the city, charged with helping to restore order. Still, some Iraqis wonder if their country is truly rid of Saddam Hussein and his regime.
CNN's Christiane Amanpour joins us now live from Baghdad with more -- Christiane.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, indeed it was almost exactly a week ago to the very hour that the Marines came up to Palestine Square, the hotel where we're at right now, and helped tear down that statue of Saddam Hussein in the middle of the square. And then the regime fell and this has been this last week that we've all been witnessing.
Now, people are still asking here, Where is Saddam Hussein? Is he alive? Is he dead? Is he plotting to come back? Has he escaped? What has happened to him? They're quite worried about it -- really nervous more than physically scared. They're just saying, where is he and they're having all these sort of, you know, the ghost of Saddam Hussein is still hanging over them.
But more seriously, there is still the security problem. As you mentioned, there are about 120 of the so-called Free Iraqi Forces that have come to Baghdad and also some of the Baghdad police have gone back on the streets, or at least they're going out and about in their patrol cars. But when it comes to things like gasoline, like water, electricity and all those kinds of things -- medical equipment -- things are not as good as people had hoped. There are a few gasoline stations opening, but just about everywhere we also we see people looting great big stores of gasoline and great big barrels of them that certain companies had been storing.
Now, the American Marines tell us they are trying, they will be trying in the next week or so to get at least some electricity back on. They've been trying with the water. Only about 40 percent of Baghdad residents have water and they're trying to bring medical supplies to at least one of the big medical centers which they have secured.
Let's hear what the International Committee of the Red Cross statement -- rather, representative, has to say about things getting slightly better by the day. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROLAND HUGUENIN-BENJAMIN, INTL. CMTE. OF THE RED CROSS: I think that right now we are at an extremely delicate situation. Meaning the fact that there is still no basic infrastructure operating normally. People have been without electricity for a long time. The -- many people have been without water, although there is some improvement right now. There have been no telephones operating. It's a very basic problem. People can't even get in touch with their relatives anywhere in the country. They really don't know what has happened with them during the war. And I believe that it's not something very tangible, very visible happens soon. People will grow extremely impatient.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AMANPOUR: And certainly that's what we're hearing from people.
But also we can see that they have completely changed their way of behaving over the last week. After so many years of tyranny, after not being able to speak in public, after being afraid of opening their mouths about anything, they are now lively in the streets. They're demonstrations.
They're a lot of people talking openly for the first time and even religious freedoms are coming back. There was a big Shiite Muslim celebration in one of the Shiite sectors of town today. It is one of the Muslim holy months right now, and in the past the Shiites would not have been allowed to so overtly display their -- their -- their religious freedoms. So that is something that people here are appreciating. It's making for a great deal of lively debate wherever you turn on the streets -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Christiane Amanpour, live from Baghdad.
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 16, 2003 - 14:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: It's nighttime in Baghdad. As the city sleeps it continues to evolve. Today, coalition commander, General Tommy Franks, set foot in the Iraqi capital for the first time since combat began, and about 120 armed Iraqi soldiers, trained by U.S. Special Forces, moved into the city, charged with helping to restore order. Still, some Iraqis wonder if their country is truly rid of Saddam Hussein and his regime.
CNN's Christiane Amanpour joins us now live from Baghdad with more -- Christiane.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, indeed it was almost exactly a week ago to the very hour that the Marines came up to Palestine Square, the hotel where we're at right now, and helped tear down that statue of Saddam Hussein in the middle of the square. And then the regime fell and this has been this last week that we've all been witnessing.
Now, people are still asking here, Where is Saddam Hussein? Is he alive? Is he dead? Is he plotting to come back? Has he escaped? What has happened to him? They're quite worried about it -- really nervous more than physically scared. They're just saying, where is he and they're having all these sort of, you know, the ghost of Saddam Hussein is still hanging over them.
But more seriously, there is still the security problem. As you mentioned, there are about 120 of the so-called Free Iraqi Forces that have come to Baghdad and also some of the Baghdad police have gone back on the streets, or at least they're going out and about in their patrol cars. But when it comes to things like gasoline, like water, electricity and all those kinds of things -- medical equipment -- things are not as good as people had hoped. There are a few gasoline stations opening, but just about everywhere we also we see people looting great big stores of gasoline and great big barrels of them that certain companies had been storing.
Now, the American Marines tell us they are trying, they will be trying in the next week or so to get at least some electricity back on. They've been trying with the water. Only about 40 percent of Baghdad residents have water and they're trying to bring medical supplies to at least one of the big medical centers which they have secured.
Let's hear what the International Committee of the Red Cross statement -- rather, representative, has to say about things getting slightly better by the day. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROLAND HUGUENIN-BENJAMIN, INTL. CMTE. OF THE RED CROSS: I think that right now we are at an extremely delicate situation. Meaning the fact that there is still no basic infrastructure operating normally. People have been without electricity for a long time. The -- many people have been without water, although there is some improvement right now. There have been no telephones operating. It's a very basic problem. People can't even get in touch with their relatives anywhere in the country. They really don't know what has happened with them during the war. And I believe that it's not something very tangible, very visible happens soon. People will grow extremely impatient.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AMANPOUR: And certainly that's what we're hearing from people.
But also we can see that they have completely changed their way of behaving over the last week. After so many years of tyranny, after not being able to speak in public, after being afraid of opening their mouths about anything, they are now lively in the streets. They're demonstrations.
They're a lot of people talking openly for the first time and even religious freedoms are coming back. There was a big Shiite Muslim celebration in one of the Shiite sectors of town today. It is one of the Muslim holy months right now, and in the past the Shiites would not have been allowed to so overtly display their -- their -- their religious freedoms. So that is something that people here are appreciating. It's making for a great deal of lively debate wherever you turn on the streets -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Christiane Amanpour, live from Baghdad.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
