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Iraqi Unrest: Are Attacks Part of Organized Resistance?
Aired June 19, 2003 - 14:32 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 U.S. soldier is dead and two others wounded in today's grenade attack on a military ambulance south of Baghdad. It marks the fourth assault on U.S. forces in less than 24 hours.
Our Ben Wedeman is live in Baghdad with the latest on the continuing trouble for troops in that region -- Ben.
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kyra, that attack occurred in the southern part of the city. A rocket propelled grenade was fired at a U.S. Army ambulance, killing one U.S. soldier, a medic, and wounding two others, Now, U.S. forces quickly flew in a helicopter to take away the wounded. As the helicopter, was doing that it was surrounded by many soldiers. Baghdad, it appears, is becoming a much more dangerous place in the last three days, three U.S. soldiers being killed.
Now, elsewhere in Baghdad, the mounting Iraqi frustration with the new regime became very apparent in the poor suburb in Al Hoari (ph), where hundreds of people participated in a funeral for one of the two Iraqi -- two former Iraqi army officers killed, shot dead by U.S. soldiers outside coalition headquarters yesterday. Now at the funeral, they were chanting, among other things, there is no God, but God -- and America is the enemy of god. That a chant reminiscent of the bad old days of Saddam Hussein.
Now, those former Iraqi army officers are protesting the fact that they have not been paid in four months. They were also protesting the fact that they have been summarily dismissed by the coalition authority as a result of their close relations with the old regime.
Now, elsewhere in Iraq, Operation Desert Scorpion continues apace. The latest news is that in the town of Alga (ph), the birth place of the Iraqi president right outside the city of Tikrit, U.S. forces have found another very large collection of treasure. There they found $8.5 million -- million a U.S. cash, millions of dollars in Iraqi dinars ,as well as $800,000 in jewelry. They also found a passport of Sajita, one of the wives of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
Now, the U.S. forces in the last several weeks have found several very large collections of money and gold. They found three truckloads of gold in the last four weeks. I myself got a chance to see one truckload of 1,138 gold bars. So not only are the Americans successfully rounding up old -- rather, members of the old regime, they're also finding a lot of money as well -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Ben, I must ask -- the money, the jewels, where does this all go?
WEDEMAN: Well, basically it's being collected and it's going to be handed over at some point to some -- an Iraqi government when that is formed.
Now the gold, for instance, is flown to Kuwait where it is analyzed in a modern laboratory and sent back to the treasury in Baghdad. And eventually this will be handed over, as I said, to a new Iraqi government and certainly they're going to need all the money they can to pay for back salaries and reconstruction and other things -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Agreed. Ben Wedeman, live from Baghdad, thank you.
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 19, 2003 - 14:32 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: One U.S. soldier is dead and two others wounded in today's grenade attack on a military ambulance south of Baghdad. It marks the fourth assault on U.S. forces in less than 24 hours.
Our Ben Wedeman is live in Baghdad with the latest on the continuing trouble for troops in that region -- Ben.
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kyra, that attack occurred in the southern part of the city. A rocket propelled grenade was fired at a U.S. Army ambulance, killing one U.S. soldier, a medic, and wounding two others, Now, U.S. forces quickly flew in a helicopter to take away the wounded. As the helicopter, was doing that it was surrounded by many soldiers. Baghdad, it appears, is becoming a much more dangerous place in the last three days, three U.S. soldiers being killed.
Now, elsewhere in Baghdad, the mounting Iraqi frustration with the new regime became very apparent in the poor suburb in Al Hoari (ph), where hundreds of people participated in a funeral for one of the two Iraqi -- two former Iraqi army officers killed, shot dead by U.S. soldiers outside coalition headquarters yesterday. Now at the funeral, they were chanting, among other things, there is no God, but God -- and America is the enemy of god. That a chant reminiscent of the bad old days of Saddam Hussein.
Now, those former Iraqi army officers are protesting the fact that they have not been paid in four months. They were also protesting the fact that they have been summarily dismissed by the coalition authority as a result of their close relations with the old regime.
Now, elsewhere in Iraq, Operation Desert Scorpion continues apace. The latest news is that in the town of Alga (ph), the birth place of the Iraqi president right outside the city of Tikrit, U.S. forces have found another very large collection of treasure. There they found $8.5 million -- million a U.S. cash, millions of dollars in Iraqi dinars ,as well as $800,000 in jewelry. They also found a passport of Sajita, one of the wives of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
Now, the U.S. forces in the last several weeks have found several very large collections of money and gold. They found three truckloads of gold in the last four weeks. I myself got a chance to see one truckload of 1,138 gold bars. So not only are the Americans successfully rounding up old -- rather, members of the old regime, they're also finding a lot of money as well -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Ben, I must ask -- the money, the jewels, where does this all go?
WEDEMAN: Well, basically it's being collected and it's going to be handed over at some point to some -- an Iraqi government when that is formed.
Now the gold, for instance, is flown to Kuwait where it is analyzed in a modern laboratory and sent back to the treasury in Baghdad. And eventually this will be handed over, as I said, to a new Iraqi government and certainly they're going to need all the money they can to pay for back salaries and reconstruction and other things -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Agreed. Ben Wedeman, live from Baghdad, thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
