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Crude Bomb Kills U.S. Soldier in Iraq
Aired January 12, 2004 - 13:03 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: Another crude bomb has killed another U.S. soldier in Iraq, hours after GIs thwarted an apparent plot to tap an Iraqi pipeline.
CNN's Karl Penhaul live from Baghdad with the latest on altercations, military, political and otherwise.
Hello, Karl.
KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Miles.
Yes, a couple of military incidents and one political incident to bring you up to date with. This morning, there was an attack on a small U.S. military convoy as it wound its way through Baghdad streets. A roadside bomb, it seems, exploded as a U.S. Humvee was passing over. And one U.S. soldier has been killed. Two others wounded in that attack.
Now, the previous night, Sunday night, a little further north of Baghdad, around the town of Samarra, U.S. soldiers from the fourth infantry division detected a group of 40 Iraqis that they suspected were trying to attack a pipeline going through that area.
Now it has been common over the last few days and months for certain groups of Iraqis to try and siphon off gasoline as it gets pumped through some of these pipelines, and then sell that on the black-market. It seems this is what was happening here. The U.S. soldiers warned those potential thieves to stop doing what they were doing. There was an exchange of fire and U.S. soldiers killed seven of those Iraqis. They also destroyed a couple of gasoline tankers that they'd brought along for the effect.
Now on the political front, coalition administrator Paul Bremer met with Spanish foreign administer Anna Palacio (ph). They were talking about Iraq's political future, particularly the transition of handing over power to the Iraqi government mid-year.
But this came against the backdrop of a continuing political controversy, should we say. Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, he's the spiritual leader of Iraq's Shia majority, and he's opposed to the way the coalition is planning to hand over power to a transitional Iraqi government. He says that he wants general elections where all Iraqis can have say on the new leadership.
The coalition, meanwhile, says no, there is no time for that, and says that a new government will be chosen through a series of regional committees or caucuses. Paul Bremer tried to distance himself a little today from that controversy, saying that matters should be left in the hands of the Iraqi Governing Council to decide.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL BREMER, U.S. CIVILIAN ADMINISTRATOR: The governor council is in discussions with the grand ayatollah, for we have the greatest respect. And I think it's probably best if I leave those discussions between the Governing Council the ayatollah.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PENHAUL: One should remember Iraqi Governing Council is a leadership group hand-picked by the United States and Britain, so difficult to see really with what independent powers of negotiations they would have in dealing with the grand ayatollah.
Nevertheless, things could become clearer after January 19th. That's when the coalition and Iraqi Governing Council members are due meet Kofi Annan in New York, and there one of the items on top of the agenda will be the transition to an Iraqi government.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Karl Penhaul, Baghdad. Thank you 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 January 12, 2004 - 13:03 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Another crude bomb has killed another U.S. soldier in Iraq, hours after GIs thwarted an apparent plot to tap an Iraqi pipeline.
CNN's Karl Penhaul live from Baghdad with the latest on altercations, military, political and otherwise.
Hello, Karl.
KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Miles.
Yes, a couple of military incidents and one political incident to bring you up to date with. This morning, there was an attack on a small U.S. military convoy as it wound its way through Baghdad streets. A roadside bomb, it seems, exploded as a U.S. Humvee was passing over. And one U.S. soldier has been killed. Two others wounded in that attack.
Now, the previous night, Sunday night, a little further north of Baghdad, around the town of Samarra, U.S. soldiers from the fourth infantry division detected a group of 40 Iraqis that they suspected were trying to attack a pipeline going through that area.
Now it has been common over the last few days and months for certain groups of Iraqis to try and siphon off gasoline as it gets pumped through some of these pipelines, and then sell that on the black-market. It seems this is what was happening here. The U.S. soldiers warned those potential thieves to stop doing what they were doing. There was an exchange of fire and U.S. soldiers killed seven of those Iraqis. They also destroyed a couple of gasoline tankers that they'd brought along for the effect.
Now on the political front, coalition administrator Paul Bremer met with Spanish foreign administer Anna Palacio (ph). They were talking about Iraq's political future, particularly the transition of handing over power to the Iraqi government mid-year.
But this came against the backdrop of a continuing political controversy, should we say. Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, he's the spiritual leader of Iraq's Shia majority, and he's opposed to the way the coalition is planning to hand over power to a transitional Iraqi government. He says that he wants general elections where all Iraqis can have say on the new leadership.
The coalition, meanwhile, says no, there is no time for that, and says that a new government will be chosen through a series of regional committees or caucuses. Paul Bremer tried to distance himself a little today from that controversy, saying that matters should be left in the hands of the Iraqi Governing Council to decide.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL BREMER, U.S. CIVILIAN ADMINISTRATOR: The governor council is in discussions with the grand ayatollah, for we have the greatest respect. And I think it's probably best if I leave those discussions between the Governing Council the ayatollah.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PENHAUL: One should remember Iraqi Governing Council is a leadership group hand-picked by the United States and Britain, so difficult to see really with what independent powers of negotiations they would have in dealing with the grand ayatollah.
Nevertheless, things could become clearer after January 19th. That's when the coalition and Iraqi Governing Council members are due meet Kofi Annan in New York, and there one of the items on top of the agenda will be the transition to an Iraqi government.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Karl Penhaul, Baghdad. Thank you 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
