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Baghdad Struggling to Get Its Bearings

Aired April 18, 2003 - 13:34   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.


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's get the latest now from Baghdad.
CNN's Jim Clancy is standing by in a city that is still struggling to get its bearings in a brand new era.

Hello, Jim.

JIM CLANCY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Miles, and good evening from Baghdad.

Tens of thousands of Muslims marched in the streets of the capital city in an anti-U.S., anti-British, and anti-Israeli protest. It all began in a Sunni mosque. It was billed as a show of unity between Sunni and Shia Muslims in this city, but the message was one of defiance. The leader at the mosque said that the entire U.S./British intervention was on behalf of Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon.

After the prayers, crowd surged into the streets, about 10,000 strong, carrying anti-U.S. posters and calling for an Islamic republic. While this would seem to be a disturbing development, we're told this mosque has long been the scene of calls for an Islamic republic inside Iraq, and that the views aren't necessarily supported by even a minority of people in the capital city or throughout Iraq.

In other developments, there was that videotape of President Saddam Hussein. It was said to be on the 9th of April. That was the very day when the bronze statue came toppling down. If the video sources is to be believed, it would have been just miles away from that scene that President Saddam Hussein, the then president, made this appearance. His son Qusay also seen on the videotape, cheering people around him, armed bodyguards around him.

But we have been talking with residents in that Azmania (ph) neighborhood, some of whom are pouring cold water on the theory this was videotaped April 9th. He said yes, he visited the neighborhood twice after the war began, but not on the 9th; it was much earlier than that he made this videotaped appearance. One of the people we talked to said that it wasn't Saddam Hussein; it was one of his doubles -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Jim, tell us about how normal things are. I guess that's all very relative right now. For instance, just where you're standing they're right now, are you still hearing gunfire? Do you have the sense you're in the middle of chaos? Or is it where you are, kind of in the stern of old Baghdad, is it fairly stable? CLANCY: Well, well, this, of course, is not a teeming residential area. This is the area where a lot of the ministries were. It's downtown, so to speak. There are some residents around here, apartment buildings, to be sure.

But it's been relatively quiet. We have noticed a dropoff in shooting. I was down in some of the other neighborhoods to the south in Baghdad today, and there was intermittent gunfire. There were also bodies on streets, bodies said to be looters. A lot of the people angry, saying that Saddam Hussein let the criminals out of the prisons. They, then, turned their rage against the citizenry, anything they could get their hands on; they blamed them for it. Apparently, the looters killing one another, their body just left on the streets.

There's still some instability, still a need for some of the infrastructure to be restored and certainly a need to fill the political vacuum. We have heard from various leaders both inside and outside of Iraq, expressing optimism that will be done some time soon -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: All right, Jim Clancy, you be safe there. Thank you very much. We'll check in with you a little bit later.

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 18, 2003 - 13:34   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's get the latest now from Baghdad.
CNN's Jim Clancy is standing by in a city that is still struggling to get its bearings in a brand new era.

Hello, Jim.

JIM CLANCY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Miles, and good evening from Baghdad.

Tens of thousands of Muslims marched in the streets of the capital city in an anti-U.S., anti-British, and anti-Israeli protest. It all began in a Sunni mosque. It was billed as a show of unity between Sunni and Shia Muslims in this city, but the message was one of defiance. The leader at the mosque said that the entire U.S./British intervention was on behalf of Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon.

After the prayers, crowd surged into the streets, about 10,000 strong, carrying anti-U.S. posters and calling for an Islamic republic. While this would seem to be a disturbing development, we're told this mosque has long been the scene of calls for an Islamic republic inside Iraq, and that the views aren't necessarily supported by even a minority of people in the capital city or throughout Iraq.

In other developments, there was that videotape of President Saddam Hussein. It was said to be on the 9th of April. That was the very day when the bronze statue came toppling down. If the video sources is to be believed, it would have been just miles away from that scene that President Saddam Hussein, the then president, made this appearance. His son Qusay also seen on the videotape, cheering people around him, armed bodyguards around him.

But we have been talking with residents in that Azmania (ph) neighborhood, some of whom are pouring cold water on the theory this was videotaped April 9th. He said yes, he visited the neighborhood twice after the war began, but not on the 9th; it was much earlier than that he made this videotaped appearance. One of the people we talked to said that it wasn't Saddam Hussein; it was one of his doubles -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Jim, tell us about how normal things are. I guess that's all very relative right now. For instance, just where you're standing they're right now, are you still hearing gunfire? Do you have the sense you're in the middle of chaos? Or is it where you are, kind of in the stern of old Baghdad, is it fairly stable? CLANCY: Well, well, this, of course, is not a teeming residential area. This is the area where a lot of the ministries were. It's downtown, so to speak. There are some residents around here, apartment buildings, to be sure.

But it's been relatively quiet. We have noticed a dropoff in shooting. I was down in some of the other neighborhoods to the south in Baghdad today, and there was intermittent gunfire. There were also bodies on streets, bodies said to be looters. A lot of the people angry, saying that Saddam Hussein let the criminals out of the prisons. They, then, turned their rage against the citizenry, anything they could get their hands on; they blamed them for it. Apparently, the looters killing one another, their body just left on the streets.

There's still some instability, still a need for some of the infrastructure to be restored and certainly a need to fill the political vacuum. We have heard from various leaders both inside and outside of Iraq, expressing optimism that will be done some time soon -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: All right, Jim Clancy, you be safe there. Thank you very much. We'll check in with you a little bit later.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com