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Nic Robertson Answers Viewer E-Mail

Aired May 21, 2003 - 15:41   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: All this afternoon on LIVE FROM we've had a special visitor, CNN's Nic Robertson, our senior international correspondent, who you saw quite a bit in -- during the war in Baghdad, in Baghdad, the last U.S. television correspondent to report from there. Want to make sure I got that correct.
Left in the midst of -- well, the war was well under way and you did a great job there, Nic. We're talking about that, as well as what's going on today.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: We'll update, maybe you can brief viewers about what we've been talking about all throughout the day with regard to al Qaeda. We can sort of brief them and then we'll get right to the e-mails.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Certainly a new tame, certainly all the old questions. Is this Ayman Al-Zawari, the second in charge of the al Qaeda, the question because the voice doesn't sound like him. It sounds too young. The tape is edited. It is an Egyptian.

The message, quite a new message for al Qaeda. We've heard some of it before -- but threatening Norwegian embassies of interest along with U.S., British, United States. And a very clear message, a lot of Muslims in the Middle East as well. Your leaders are duping you. They said they weren't for the war in Iraq. They went for the war in Iraq. They supported wholeheartedly. It's time to rise up.

PHILLIPS: With the tape out there, a lot of questions too.

Helen in New York?

O'BRIEN: Helen in New York. You go ahead.

PHILLIPS: "In case there are hidden meanings in the messages, why would the media read the message to the public?"

ROBERTSON: Certainly when we get the messages we analyze them, scrutinize them first. We don't broadcast them in their entirety. We're very careful. We review them and broadcast only parts, not inflammatory parts and certainly not parts that we think could be a direct message.

We think it's important for the audience to know what al Qaeda is saying and know how they're trying to organize and know how they're trying to spread their message, but not to aid them and abet them. O'BRIEN: And certainly it's worth pointing out they have many other means of communication, which...

ROBERTSON: Masters of the art. The electronic media and computers, Internet -- mastered that a long time ago.

O'BRIEN: All right. Lewis in Pennsylvania has this one for you, Nic, and it's a tough question: "Do you see terrorists pressing on no matter what? And what do we do to protect ourselves or retaliate, or do you think our efforts are dismantling terrorism?"

ROBERTSON: One of the interesting things about the recent attacks in Saudi Arabia and Morocco, they weren't attacks in Western Europe; they weren't attacks in the United States. And perhaps we can draw a conclusion that a lot is being done and it's being productive.

You can never let your guard down. We shouldn't, at the same time, let it destroy our lives and dictate our lives and we shouldn't live our lives in fear and carry on. Plenty of countries around the world, and where I come from in England, a lot of people in Northern Ireland over 30 years, terrorism right on the street, try to get on with normal lives. So perhaps -- I think a lot is being done and a lot has been achieved. But a lot there's still out there to be done.

PHILLIPS: Scott wants to know: "Is it possible that Saddam is still underground in a secret bunker that has years worth of supplies?"

Remember the decapitation strike right when the war started there was talks that possibly he was taken underground.

ROBERTSON: A lot of talk about bunkers, and this is something people in Iraq go back to all the time. They think that a lot of their relatives may still be in these underground complexes.

But you know, we've seen these pictures of people fighting to get into air ducting systems and underpasses under highway systems. But nobody's yet found these underground bunkers.

I think it's much more likely that if Saddam is inside Iraq, he's probably in a quiet little village somewhere, a village nobody has any reason to suspect him in, in a modest house. He's probably got guns, weapons. He's probably got a lot of money. He's sitting tight and keeping his head down. But probably not in a bunker.

O'BRIEN: Somebody knows he's there though, and perhaps, perhaps a phone call would be made. Who knows if that is the case?

Sue in Florida has a good one for you. "The night you were expelled from Baghdad, you were on the air. Midway through your report, I noticed a change in your voice. Was there some thing that was happening right then?"

Very perceptive viewer, by the way.

ROBERTSON: Very perceptive. Our -- our minder, who literally had been on my shoulder -- I had been standing on the balcony, watching what was happening; I had to report where the explosions were happening, et cetera, et cetera, and our minder disappeared from my shoulder, went inside because some other minders, officials from the Iraqi government came in and took the tape from our cameraman, who'd been filming.

And right at that moment the mood changed and the minder suddenly realized he had a job to do; he wasn't just listening to me, that he had to stop me saying things. And right then, I was just told to pull back and not be specific about buildings and generalize things a lot more.

O'BRIEN: I remember it very distinctly. There was a distinct change right then and there -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Our viewers, not all of them know what a minder is or handler -- could you explain that -- on how they're basically a protective force in many ways, or a cultural...

ROBERTSON: The Iraqi government used to call them guides. These were the people that the Ministry of Information, who we had to work through, assigned to us. And they were there whenever we went out, whenever we went to interview somebody, they were standing at our side. And you could see the way that people responded and reacted to you because they knew a government official was standing there, and they weren't going to say anything out of line.

And part of -- part of the job of the minders was to keep people in line and to make sure that we didn't get out of line and stray off and try to get into a Republican palace or these places that were off limits. These were the people whose job was to stop that.

PHILLIPS: I was thinking the other type of minder when I was overseas, some one that helps you just communicationwise. I didn't realize that this was an actual person from Iraqi government.

ROBERTSON: Absolutely. They were there to keep a very close eye on us.

PHILLIPS: All right. This comes from Ann in Minnesota: "Do the Iraqi people want us out now or do they want us to stay?"

ROBERTSON: A lot of them say they want us out. There are a lot of Iraqis that I talked to as well that absolutely see the benefits of having the United States, Great Britain, other coalition members inside Iraq.

They look back and see the oil refiners, for example -- I went around with an oil refinery engineer at the oil refinery outside Baghdad. He showed all the parts that had been built by U.S. companies and said, "Look, under Saddam, we were forced to import Chinese and Russian components." He said, "These were inferior quality. We want U.S. companies to come back in here. We want the help. So there is a very strong, very loud message that's coming from some parts of the community, particularly the Shia part of the community, listening to their religious leaders who are beginning to find a political voice that they haven't had and they are the largest section of the community in Iraq, almost two-thirds.

PHILLIPS: Nic, hold tight. I'm told Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld just took to the podium on the Hill.

(INTERRUPTED BY LIVE EVENT)

O'BRIEN: We do have Nic Robertson here and we have an extremely important question for him. Let's get it right up on the screen right now, because I know everybody wants to know the question -- the answer to this, and it comes from Linda: "Did you have more than one blue shirt or did you have multiple identical blue shirts with you over there?"

ROBERTSON: I am fascinated that this is far more interesting than Mr. Rumsfeld at this point. Absolutely fascinated.

The answer is, yes, I did have more than one blue shirt. I like those blue shirts. You know, it's very easy to get up in the morning and just put on the same color. It's great for continuity. I love it.

PHILLIPS: How about your pants?

ROBERTSON: Well, khaki pants -- yes, they are the same every day, I got to say. But I have multiple pairs and well-prepared.

O'BRIEN: I'm told those blue shirts are well received in the executive suites here at CNN. But keep on going with the blue shirts.

Nic Robertson, thanks for being with us.

ROBERTSON: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: Appreciate it.

ROBERTSON: My pleasure.

O'BRIEN: Thanks for taking all of our questions and being a good sport about it.

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 May 21, 2003 - 15:41   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: All this afternoon on LIVE FROM we've had a special visitor, CNN's Nic Robertson, our senior international correspondent, who you saw quite a bit in -- during the war in Baghdad, in Baghdad, the last U.S. television correspondent to report from there. Want to make sure I got that correct.
Left in the midst of -- well, the war was well under way and you did a great job there, Nic. We're talking about that, as well as what's going on today.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: We'll update, maybe you can brief viewers about what we've been talking about all throughout the day with regard to al Qaeda. We can sort of brief them and then we'll get right to the e-mails.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Certainly a new tame, certainly all the old questions. Is this Ayman Al-Zawari, the second in charge of the al Qaeda, the question because the voice doesn't sound like him. It sounds too young. The tape is edited. It is an Egyptian.

The message, quite a new message for al Qaeda. We've heard some of it before -- but threatening Norwegian embassies of interest along with U.S., British, United States. And a very clear message, a lot of Muslims in the Middle East as well. Your leaders are duping you. They said they weren't for the war in Iraq. They went for the war in Iraq. They supported wholeheartedly. It's time to rise up.

PHILLIPS: With the tape out there, a lot of questions too.

Helen in New York?

O'BRIEN: Helen in New York. You go ahead.

PHILLIPS: "In case there are hidden meanings in the messages, why would the media read the message to the public?"

ROBERTSON: Certainly when we get the messages we analyze them, scrutinize them first. We don't broadcast them in their entirety. We're very careful. We review them and broadcast only parts, not inflammatory parts and certainly not parts that we think could be a direct message.

We think it's important for the audience to know what al Qaeda is saying and know how they're trying to organize and know how they're trying to spread their message, but not to aid them and abet them. O'BRIEN: And certainly it's worth pointing out they have many other means of communication, which...

ROBERTSON: Masters of the art. The electronic media and computers, Internet -- mastered that a long time ago.

O'BRIEN: All right. Lewis in Pennsylvania has this one for you, Nic, and it's a tough question: "Do you see terrorists pressing on no matter what? And what do we do to protect ourselves or retaliate, or do you think our efforts are dismantling terrorism?"

ROBERTSON: One of the interesting things about the recent attacks in Saudi Arabia and Morocco, they weren't attacks in Western Europe; they weren't attacks in the United States. And perhaps we can draw a conclusion that a lot is being done and it's being productive.

You can never let your guard down. We shouldn't, at the same time, let it destroy our lives and dictate our lives and we shouldn't live our lives in fear and carry on. Plenty of countries around the world, and where I come from in England, a lot of people in Northern Ireland over 30 years, terrorism right on the street, try to get on with normal lives. So perhaps -- I think a lot is being done and a lot has been achieved. But a lot there's still out there to be done.

PHILLIPS: Scott wants to know: "Is it possible that Saddam is still underground in a secret bunker that has years worth of supplies?"

Remember the decapitation strike right when the war started there was talks that possibly he was taken underground.

ROBERTSON: A lot of talk about bunkers, and this is something people in Iraq go back to all the time. They think that a lot of their relatives may still be in these underground complexes.

But you know, we've seen these pictures of people fighting to get into air ducting systems and underpasses under highway systems. But nobody's yet found these underground bunkers.

I think it's much more likely that if Saddam is inside Iraq, he's probably in a quiet little village somewhere, a village nobody has any reason to suspect him in, in a modest house. He's probably got guns, weapons. He's probably got a lot of money. He's sitting tight and keeping his head down. But probably not in a bunker.

O'BRIEN: Somebody knows he's there though, and perhaps, perhaps a phone call would be made. Who knows if that is the case?

Sue in Florida has a good one for you. "The night you were expelled from Baghdad, you were on the air. Midway through your report, I noticed a change in your voice. Was there some thing that was happening right then?"

Very perceptive viewer, by the way.

ROBERTSON: Very perceptive. Our -- our minder, who literally had been on my shoulder -- I had been standing on the balcony, watching what was happening; I had to report where the explosions were happening, et cetera, et cetera, and our minder disappeared from my shoulder, went inside because some other minders, officials from the Iraqi government came in and took the tape from our cameraman, who'd been filming.

And right at that moment the mood changed and the minder suddenly realized he had a job to do; he wasn't just listening to me, that he had to stop me saying things. And right then, I was just told to pull back and not be specific about buildings and generalize things a lot more.

O'BRIEN: I remember it very distinctly. There was a distinct change right then and there -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Our viewers, not all of them know what a minder is or handler -- could you explain that -- on how they're basically a protective force in many ways, or a cultural...

ROBERTSON: The Iraqi government used to call them guides. These were the people that the Ministry of Information, who we had to work through, assigned to us. And they were there whenever we went out, whenever we went to interview somebody, they were standing at our side. And you could see the way that people responded and reacted to you because they knew a government official was standing there, and they weren't going to say anything out of line.

And part of -- part of the job of the minders was to keep people in line and to make sure that we didn't get out of line and stray off and try to get into a Republican palace or these places that were off limits. These were the people whose job was to stop that.

PHILLIPS: I was thinking the other type of minder when I was overseas, some one that helps you just communicationwise. I didn't realize that this was an actual person from Iraqi government.

ROBERTSON: Absolutely. They were there to keep a very close eye on us.

PHILLIPS: All right. This comes from Ann in Minnesota: "Do the Iraqi people want us out now or do they want us to stay?"

ROBERTSON: A lot of them say they want us out. There are a lot of Iraqis that I talked to as well that absolutely see the benefits of having the United States, Great Britain, other coalition members inside Iraq.

They look back and see the oil refiners, for example -- I went around with an oil refinery engineer at the oil refinery outside Baghdad. He showed all the parts that had been built by U.S. companies and said, "Look, under Saddam, we were forced to import Chinese and Russian components." He said, "These were inferior quality. We want U.S. companies to come back in here. We want the help. So there is a very strong, very loud message that's coming from some parts of the community, particularly the Shia part of the community, listening to their religious leaders who are beginning to find a political voice that they haven't had and they are the largest section of the community in Iraq, almost two-thirds.

PHILLIPS: Nic, hold tight. I'm told Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld just took to the podium on the Hill.

(INTERRUPTED BY LIVE EVENT)

O'BRIEN: We do have Nic Robertson here and we have an extremely important question for him. Let's get it right up on the screen right now, because I know everybody wants to know the question -- the answer to this, and it comes from Linda: "Did you have more than one blue shirt or did you have multiple identical blue shirts with you over there?"

ROBERTSON: I am fascinated that this is far more interesting than Mr. Rumsfeld at this point. Absolutely fascinated.

The answer is, yes, I did have more than one blue shirt. I like those blue shirts. You know, it's very easy to get up in the morning and just put on the same color. It's great for continuity. I love it.

PHILLIPS: How about your pants?

ROBERTSON: Well, khaki pants -- yes, they are the same every day, I got to say. But I have multiple pairs and well-prepared.

O'BRIEN: I'm told those blue shirts are well received in the executive suites here at CNN. But keep on going with the blue shirts.

Nic Robertson, thanks for being with us.

ROBERTSON: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: Appreciate it.

ROBERTSON: My pleasure.

O'BRIEN: Thanks for taking all of our questions and being a good sport about it.

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