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Where's Saddam?

Aired June 16, 2003 - 13:14   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: One of Saddam Hussein's daughters is alive and well and says she believes her father is also. In an interview with a British newspaper, 35-year-old Rahad (ph) says that she lives with her sister Rana (ph) in Baghdad. She says she hasn't spoken to her father since five days before the war but believes he is alive and she's not alone.
CNN's Baghdad Bureau Chief Jane Arraf has more for us on this story - Jane.

JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Kyra, there are a lot of people who believe that.

Now the U.S. forces are going around trying to stamp out these anti-Saddam loyalists in this Operation Desert Scorpion. They're going into towns like Fallujah and other places but they're finding it much harder to combat the sentiments that want Saddam Hussein back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARRAF (voice-over): His face has almost disappeared but even with Americans in the palaces, Saddam Hussein is impossible to forget and unwise to dismiss. In the Baghdad tea house that a young Saddam used to frequent when he was only dreaming of power, the owner and many of the patrons say they long for his return.

"We talk about him 24 hours a day" says owner Farat Asam (ph). "We always say there's no one like Saddam who can lead this country."

Two months after the end of the war, the former president remains an elusive target. On April 7th, the U.S. bombed this house in Baghdad believing he was there. They're still doing DNA tests to see if he was.

The fear and hope that he might return is kept alive through reporting sightings. At the (unintelligible) tea house where Ba'ath members secretly met in the 1960s, several people said they saw Saddam after the bombing intended to kill him. Some said they saw him in the street as recently as this week.

Engineer Kamal Anwar (ph) says he and his brother were walking down the street on April 9th when Saddam got out of a car. He said, "Do you have weapons? Throw them away. We threw them. He stood in the middle of us, no guards, nothing. My brother said, sir, won't we see you anymore? He said no, why wouldn't you see me?"

Anwar and others said they were waiting for Saddam to return and to return them to a time when gasoline was cheap and the streets were clean and safe. U.S. officials acknowledge that while Saddam is unaccounted for the Ba'ath Party will exert a dangerous influence.

PAUL BREMER, U.S. RECONSTRUCTION ADMIN.: Because it allows the Ba'athists to go around in the bazaars and in the villages as they're doing saying Saddam is alive and he's going to come back and we're going to come back and the effect of that is to make it more difficult for people who are afraid of the Ba'athists and that's just about everybody that makes it more difficult for them to come forward and cooperate with us.

ARRAF: With the U.S. pledging to pull the Ba'ath Party up by their roots, its operations have been driven underground. The name Ba'ath means rebirth, originally intended to reawaken Arab nationalism, die-hard Ba'ath Party supporters await another resurrection.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ARRAF: Now there are apparently groups and individuals out there, not these ones, who are acting on those impulses. U.S. forces continue to come under attack here in places north of Baghdad where there were two ambushes with rocket-propelled grenades yesterday, and an apparent improvised mine exploded in a tunnel in a major highway in Baghdad just this afternoon injuring a civilian car that drove over it. That's a road that's frequented by U.S. military convoys - Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Jane, quickly back to what we were talking about before your piece, one of Saddam's daughters coming forward and saying she believes her father is alive and well. What do we know? We hear so much about Saddam and the relationship he has with his sons. What do we know about the relationship with Saddam and his daughters Rahad and Rana, historically has it been good?

ARRAF: Well, much different from that of his sons, perhaps a little more traditional in that regional sense. The daughters never really were given any power. His sons, as you know, the eldest Uday was until an attempted assassination had quite a large reign to be in control of business deals and other things. He was later in control of parts of the media and the Olympic Committee.

His younger son Qusay was in charge of security. His daughters we didn't hear a whole lot of but it's remarkable really that one of the daughters is quoted as saying that Saddam Hussein was a very good father and, in essence, she misses him.

Now, he was the person who was responsible for actually executing, having killed her husband who defected Hussein Kamal (ph) who defected to Jordan after revealing weapons secrets. He was enticed to come back saying all was forgiven and he died in a shootout that really was linked back to then President Saddam Hussein.

It's an interesting family to say the least. Now, we know that he - people who knew Saddam say that he had a magnetic effect on people who met him and clearly he had that effect on his daughters but still an interesting story - Kyra. PHILLIPS: Yes, to say the least, Baghdad Bureau Chief Jane Arraf thank you so much - Miles.

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 June 16, 2003 - 13:14   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: One of Saddam Hussein's daughters is alive and well and says she believes her father is also. In an interview with a British newspaper, 35-year-old Rahad (ph) says that she lives with her sister Rana (ph) in Baghdad. She says she hasn't spoken to her father since five days before the war but believes he is alive and she's not alone.
CNN's Baghdad Bureau Chief Jane Arraf has more for us on this story - Jane.

JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Kyra, there are a lot of people who believe that.

Now the U.S. forces are going around trying to stamp out these anti-Saddam loyalists in this Operation Desert Scorpion. They're going into towns like Fallujah and other places but they're finding it much harder to combat the sentiments that want Saddam Hussein back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARRAF (voice-over): His face has almost disappeared but even with Americans in the palaces, Saddam Hussein is impossible to forget and unwise to dismiss. In the Baghdad tea house that a young Saddam used to frequent when he was only dreaming of power, the owner and many of the patrons say they long for his return.

"We talk about him 24 hours a day" says owner Farat Asam (ph). "We always say there's no one like Saddam who can lead this country."

Two months after the end of the war, the former president remains an elusive target. On April 7th, the U.S. bombed this house in Baghdad believing he was there. They're still doing DNA tests to see if he was.

The fear and hope that he might return is kept alive through reporting sightings. At the (unintelligible) tea house where Ba'ath members secretly met in the 1960s, several people said they saw Saddam after the bombing intended to kill him. Some said they saw him in the street as recently as this week.

Engineer Kamal Anwar (ph) says he and his brother were walking down the street on April 9th when Saddam got out of a car. He said, "Do you have weapons? Throw them away. We threw them. He stood in the middle of us, no guards, nothing. My brother said, sir, won't we see you anymore? He said no, why wouldn't you see me?"

Anwar and others said they were waiting for Saddam to return and to return them to a time when gasoline was cheap and the streets were clean and safe. U.S. officials acknowledge that while Saddam is unaccounted for the Ba'ath Party will exert a dangerous influence.

PAUL BREMER, U.S. RECONSTRUCTION ADMIN.: Because it allows the Ba'athists to go around in the bazaars and in the villages as they're doing saying Saddam is alive and he's going to come back and we're going to come back and the effect of that is to make it more difficult for people who are afraid of the Ba'athists and that's just about everybody that makes it more difficult for them to come forward and cooperate with us.

ARRAF: With the U.S. pledging to pull the Ba'ath Party up by their roots, its operations have been driven underground. The name Ba'ath means rebirth, originally intended to reawaken Arab nationalism, die-hard Ba'ath Party supporters await another resurrection.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ARRAF: Now there are apparently groups and individuals out there, not these ones, who are acting on those impulses. U.S. forces continue to come under attack here in places north of Baghdad where there were two ambushes with rocket-propelled grenades yesterday, and an apparent improvised mine exploded in a tunnel in a major highway in Baghdad just this afternoon injuring a civilian car that drove over it. That's a road that's frequented by U.S. military convoys - Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Jane, quickly back to what we were talking about before your piece, one of Saddam's daughters coming forward and saying she believes her father is alive and well. What do we know? We hear so much about Saddam and the relationship he has with his sons. What do we know about the relationship with Saddam and his daughters Rahad and Rana, historically has it been good?

ARRAF: Well, much different from that of his sons, perhaps a little more traditional in that regional sense. The daughters never really were given any power. His sons, as you know, the eldest Uday was until an attempted assassination had quite a large reign to be in control of business deals and other things. He was later in control of parts of the media and the Olympic Committee.

His younger son Qusay was in charge of security. His daughters we didn't hear a whole lot of but it's remarkable really that one of the daughters is quoted as saying that Saddam Hussein was a very good father and, in essence, she misses him.

Now, he was the person who was responsible for actually executing, having killed her husband who defected Hussein Kamal (ph) who defected to Jordan after revealing weapons secrets. He was enticed to come back saying all was forgiven and he died in a shootout that really was linked back to then President Saddam Hussein.

It's an interesting family to say the least. Now, we know that he - people who knew Saddam say that he had a magnetic effect on people who met him and clearly he had that effect on his daughters but still an interesting story - Kyra. PHILLIPS: Yes, to say the least, Baghdad Bureau Chief Jane Arraf thank you so much - Miles.

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