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American Morning

Iraqis React to Threat of Attack

Aired September 12, 2002 - 07:02   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Time to look ahead to the president's speech a little bit later on here this morning. And in his speech last night in Ellis Island, the president made no direct reference to Iraq or Saddam Hussein, but he aimed some comments in his direction.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We will not allow any terrorists or tyrant to threaten civilization with weapons of mass murder. Now and in the future, Americans will live as free people and not in fear, and never at the mercy of any foreign plot or power.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: The 9/11 anniversary did not go unnoticed. Inside Iraq, newspaper headlines called it "God's punishment against America." And Iraqi civilians are voicing their anger over what they fear is a coming American attack.

Rula Amin is standing by in Baghdad now.

And Rula, I want you to sort of walk us through what people expect. And the Iraqis don't get completely off the hook today. Even the head of the U.N. is going to say it's time to let U.N. inspectors back in.

RULA AMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.

You know, all Iraqis today are watching. They want to see what does President Bush have to say? Many of them we were talking to in the morning with at the hotel or here at the Ministry or people on the streets, they were saying, what does he have to say?

Now, Iraqi officials, as President Bush is trying to rally the U.N. behind his cause and behind his belief that Iraq is a threat, are also competing at the U.N. They want to rally all kinds of U.N. members, all of the countries, in favor of their case. They are saying they don't have weapons of mass destruction, that they have destroyed whatever weapons they had before, they have complied with the U.N. Security Council resolutions, and that now, it's time for this Council to fulfill its obligations towards Iraq.

Iraqi officials are saying whenever the Council told them or said that they had to get the inspectors back in, they cooperated for over seven years. They didn't see much results. That now, if they are going to cooperate with U.N. weapons inspectors, they need to see this as part of a process that would lead to the lifting of sanctions; that they would have to know what exactly they need to answer to.

Of course, they deny all of these charges that they have weapons of mass destruction or that they are trying to develop some. They say it's complete lies.

And they are, in fact, challenging the U.N. and the Security Council, saying that its responsibility is to guard Iraq, to guard its safety and sovereignty. And in that way, they're saying it's actually the U.N. Security Council's responsibility to protect them from any kind of attack from the U.S. However, they say, if the U.S. attacks, they are going to put (ph) a fight.

This is what Iraq's foreign minister, Naji Sabri, reiterated.

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NAJI SABRI, IRAQI FOREIGN MINISTER: All Iraqi people will fight to defend their own land and to defend their own freedom against colonist invaders.

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AMIN: Now, Naji Sabri is going to be heading to New York later this evening. He's going to address the U.N., and he was going to make Iraq's case that they have destroyed all of their weapons. Now, they want to see some kind of result that they are willing to deal positively with any dialect to get the weapons inspectors back in, but only within a process that would lead to the lifting of sanctions -- Paula.

ZAHN: Thanks so much, Rula.

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