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Saddam's Videos Up Close and Personal
Aired April 24, 2003 - 14:09 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: What was Saddam Hussein like when he wasn't posing in his palaces? CNN has obtained old home videos of Saddam and his first wife, Sajida (ph). The videos are from the 1980s.
CNN's Jim Clancy has seen them, and it is talked about in Baghdad, although a lot of people still don't have television. Nevertheless, a glimpse that I think many Iraqis want to see but maybe don't want to see, right, Jim?
JIM CLANCY, CNNI CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right. If they look at them for any reason, it will be the curiosity to add to the condemnation. More evidence of how President Saddam Hussein was unaffected by 12 years of sanctions, while the Iraqi people themselves had their lives crushed. Everything about them, selling everything they owned in order to pay for schools or just pay for food. President Saddam Hussein walking in a stylish Western suit, smiling broadly, looking much thinner -- smiling, as we said, something he wasn't doing in the last videos that we saw. These weren't home videos so much as they were the private collection, I guess, of the first family of Iraq. That because there were professional videographers that were shooting this videotape for the presidential family.
But now these tapes are everywhere, showing all kinds of family events like this one, with children singing in the background for his 50th birthday. I believe this was back in 1987.
In another videotape that was released, Uday Hussein, the president's son, is shown feeding two lion cubs. Now if you look at his left hand, there is a white cane in that hand. He had been shot 17 times in 1996 in an assassination attempt. He almost died, according to one of the doctors, who was called to the hospital and who treated some of his injuries to his leg. An orthopedic surgeon said after he survived, Uday Hussein was bound and determined that he was going to return, make a full recovery, and he worked hard at rehabilitation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. MUTHFAR HABBOUSHE, UDAY'S PHYSICIAN: He was very highly motivated to get well very soon. That's his problem. And, of course, we cannot go ahead of time, and sometimes, you know, he always asked to get well very soon.
QUESTION: A little impatient?
HABBOUSHE: Yes, he got no patience sometimes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CLANCY: The doctor says that Saddam Hussein came to visit Uday while he was in the hospital undergoing rehabilitation and treatment for all of those 17 wounds, just like any father would, he said. And as a response or perhaps in payment, in part, Saddam Hussein sent the doctor a bouquet of flowers at Christmas, a little bit of the personal side of Saddam Hussein -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Jim, a question about Jay Garner's activities this past day. He was meeting with some key people, trying to pull things together. Do you have the sense he's making much progress? Or is it difficult to tell?
CLANCY: It's difficult to tell. You know, this is going to have to be worked out by the Iraqis, after all. What Jay Garner is doing right now is talking to the technocrats, the people that know how to run the power plant, for example, the people that know how to run the hospitals, the people that know how to run the water, run the sewage, all of those other things that are needed in order to make a city of 5 million work. That's elemental. He's also got to take it from here to the political process and steer the Iraqis on a course toward democracy. That's going to be much more difficult. But he's hoping that once Iraqis see that the U.S. his taking them in the direction of self rule. By putting Iraqis in charge of some of these ministries, Miles, it's going to make a difference in the attitudes that the public have toward the U.S. forces that are here.
He knows he's got to show a little progress on the ground before he goes for the gold, so to speak, and get that government, get a democracy really in place.
O'BRIEN: All right, CNN's Jim Clancy in 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 24, 2003 - 14:09 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: What was Saddam Hussein like when he wasn't posing in his palaces? CNN has obtained old home videos of Saddam and his first wife, Sajida (ph). The videos are from the 1980s.
CNN's Jim Clancy has seen them, and it is talked about in Baghdad, although a lot of people still don't have television. Nevertheless, a glimpse that I think many Iraqis want to see but maybe don't want to see, right, Jim?
JIM CLANCY, CNNI CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right. If they look at them for any reason, it will be the curiosity to add to the condemnation. More evidence of how President Saddam Hussein was unaffected by 12 years of sanctions, while the Iraqi people themselves had their lives crushed. Everything about them, selling everything they owned in order to pay for schools or just pay for food. President Saddam Hussein walking in a stylish Western suit, smiling broadly, looking much thinner -- smiling, as we said, something he wasn't doing in the last videos that we saw. These weren't home videos so much as they were the private collection, I guess, of the first family of Iraq. That because there were professional videographers that were shooting this videotape for the presidential family.
But now these tapes are everywhere, showing all kinds of family events like this one, with children singing in the background for his 50th birthday. I believe this was back in 1987.
In another videotape that was released, Uday Hussein, the president's son, is shown feeding two lion cubs. Now if you look at his left hand, there is a white cane in that hand. He had been shot 17 times in 1996 in an assassination attempt. He almost died, according to one of the doctors, who was called to the hospital and who treated some of his injuries to his leg. An orthopedic surgeon said after he survived, Uday Hussein was bound and determined that he was going to return, make a full recovery, and he worked hard at rehabilitation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. MUTHFAR HABBOUSHE, UDAY'S PHYSICIAN: He was very highly motivated to get well very soon. That's his problem. And, of course, we cannot go ahead of time, and sometimes, you know, he always asked to get well very soon.
QUESTION: A little impatient?
HABBOUSHE: Yes, he got no patience sometimes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CLANCY: The doctor says that Saddam Hussein came to visit Uday while he was in the hospital undergoing rehabilitation and treatment for all of those 17 wounds, just like any father would, he said. And as a response or perhaps in payment, in part, Saddam Hussein sent the doctor a bouquet of flowers at Christmas, a little bit of the personal side of Saddam Hussein -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Jim, a question about Jay Garner's activities this past day. He was meeting with some key people, trying to pull things together. Do you have the sense he's making much progress? Or is it difficult to tell?
CLANCY: It's difficult to tell. You know, this is going to have to be worked out by the Iraqis, after all. What Jay Garner is doing right now is talking to the technocrats, the people that know how to run the power plant, for example, the people that know how to run the hospitals, the people that know how to run the water, run the sewage, all of those other things that are needed in order to make a city of 5 million work. That's elemental. He's also got to take it from here to the political process and steer the Iraqis on a course toward democracy. That's going to be much more difficult. But he's hoping that once Iraqis see that the U.S. his taking them in the direction of self rule. By putting Iraqis in charge of some of these ministries, Miles, it's going to make a difference in the attitudes that the public have toward the U.S. forces that are here.
He knows he's got to show a little progress on the ground before he goes for the gold, so to speak, and get that government, get a democracy really in place.
O'BRIEN: All right, CNN's Jim Clancy in 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
