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Suicide Bomber Strikes U.N. Building in Iraq Again

Aired September 22, 2003 - 13:59   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: For the second time in little more than a months, a suicide bomber has hit the U.N.'s Baghdad headquarters. Today's blast was far less damaging than the first. The timing may or may not be significant, coming on the eve of President Bush's address to the U.N. General Assembly, an address in which he'll defend the war, while seeking the U.N. support for reconstruction,
CNN's Nic Robertson live with an update on all this -- Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, the attack today could have been much worse had it not been for the security measures the U.N. put in place around their building. Following that attack a month ago, what they did was move the security perimeter further away from the building, have new checks put in place.

What happened we're told is the suicide bomber tried to drive through the security checks into the U.N. compound, he was turned back, he went into a holding area, a sort of car park where Iraqi security officials were waiting. When he was there, he detonated a bomb, himself killing, killing an Iraqi security person on duty there, wounding about 19 other people. Four of them remain in critical condition in hospital here. And what we are told is many of those injured people were security personnel, the security that the U.N. had put in place, seeming to deflect the worst the bomb could have inflicted upon the U.N. building, upon employees there.

But we are told by U.N. officials here they are right now reconsidering their staffing levels in Iraq. They're very concerned about their safety.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONIA PARADELLA, DIR., WORLD FOOD PROGRAM: How many more people needs to die for the U.N. to operate here? I mean, we need to operate in safe conditions, in conditions where we can work with Iraqis to work with the key infrastructure, to give key humanitarian assistance in a very difficult time in Iraq.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: Now the sort of humanitarian programs that could be affected are thing like inoculation programs for children. The U.N. here has already drawn down its staff over the last month from some 600 before the attack on the U.N. building a month ago, down to about 50, and maybe they'll go down more -- Miles. O'BRIEN: Nic, after the attack a month ago, the U.N. was pretty hard fast in saying does not want to build fortress-like compounds, which would be good for security, but not necessarily good for the U.N. mission. What's the thinking right now after this?

ROBERTSON: Well, they have, in fact, provided a lot more security at their compounds. They're providing standoff measures. They have another U.N. office in Baghdad. It has a high concrete wall around it. It has metal containers, oil drums filled with concrete. It has security guards keeping people further away from it. They have, in fact, increased their security because of the perceived threat. They have even founded -- the last few weeks we have heard of cases where somebody has put a video recording device, a camera on the dashboard of their car, driven them at high speed through some of these security checkpoints outside U.N. buildings. What U.N. security officials believe is that they have been cased by terrorists for just this type of attack.

So certainly they have, in effect, really ramped up their security, despite the best efforts to remain open and available, easily available, to the Iraqi people -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Must be hard for them to do their job under those circumstances, but I guess that's an understatement. Nic Robertson in Baghdad. Thanks very much.

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 September 22, 2003 - 13:59   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: For the second time in little more than a months, a suicide bomber has hit the U.N.'s Baghdad headquarters. Today's blast was far less damaging than the first. The timing may or may not be significant, coming on the eve of President Bush's address to the U.N. General Assembly, an address in which he'll defend the war, while seeking the U.N. support for reconstruction,
CNN's Nic Robertson live with an update on all this -- Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, the attack today could have been much worse had it not been for the security measures the U.N. put in place around their building. Following that attack a month ago, what they did was move the security perimeter further away from the building, have new checks put in place.

What happened we're told is the suicide bomber tried to drive through the security checks into the U.N. compound, he was turned back, he went into a holding area, a sort of car park where Iraqi security officials were waiting. When he was there, he detonated a bomb, himself killing, killing an Iraqi security person on duty there, wounding about 19 other people. Four of them remain in critical condition in hospital here. And what we are told is many of those injured people were security personnel, the security that the U.N. had put in place, seeming to deflect the worst the bomb could have inflicted upon the U.N. building, upon employees there.

But we are told by U.N. officials here they are right now reconsidering their staffing levels in Iraq. They're very concerned about their safety.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONIA PARADELLA, DIR., WORLD FOOD PROGRAM: How many more people needs to die for the U.N. to operate here? I mean, we need to operate in safe conditions, in conditions where we can work with Iraqis to work with the key infrastructure, to give key humanitarian assistance in a very difficult time in Iraq.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: Now the sort of humanitarian programs that could be affected are thing like inoculation programs for children. The U.N. here has already drawn down its staff over the last month from some 600 before the attack on the U.N. building a month ago, down to about 50, and maybe they'll go down more -- Miles. O'BRIEN: Nic, after the attack a month ago, the U.N. was pretty hard fast in saying does not want to build fortress-like compounds, which would be good for security, but not necessarily good for the U.N. mission. What's the thinking right now after this?

ROBERTSON: Well, they have, in fact, provided a lot more security at their compounds. They're providing standoff measures. They have another U.N. office in Baghdad. It has a high concrete wall around it. It has metal containers, oil drums filled with concrete. It has security guards keeping people further away from it. They have, in fact, increased their security because of the perceived threat. They have even founded -- the last few weeks we have heard of cases where somebody has put a video recording device, a camera on the dashboard of their car, driven them at high speed through some of these security checkpoints outside U.N. buildings. What U.N. security officials believe is that they have been cased by terrorists for just this type of attack.

So certainly they have, in effect, really ramped up their security, despite the best efforts to remain open and available, easily available, to the Iraqi people -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Must be hard for them to do their job under those circumstances, but I guess that's an understatement. Nic Robertson in Baghdad. Thanks very much.

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