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American Morning

Results of Yesterday's Presidential Referendum In

Aired October 16, 2002 - 09:30   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.


PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: The people of Iraq are speaking with one voice this morning, at least according to the Iraqi government. The results of yesterday's presidential referendum are in. With only one candidate on the ballot, you know who won. we wouldn't be giving anything away by telling you Saddam Hussein came out on top.
Nic Robertson, joins us now live from Baghdad for our continuing look inside Iraq.

Good morning, Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.

Well, as you say, no surprise, he did, however, get 100 percent of the vote, we are told by Iraqi officials. Not only that, of the almost 11 1/2 million Iraqi voters, we are told there was 100 percent turnout. Maybe you can hear some of the celebratory gunfire still going on here. But we have had it through the morning, people in cars firing Kalishnikovs out on the streets, children waving pistols, and even some of the big anti-aircraft guns that are on some of the buildings around Baghdad here, some of those have been firing off in celebration of Saddam Hussein's victory.

Also, we've been hearing from Iraqi officials on their position concerning U.N. weapons inspectors, saying that they agree with the chief U.N. weapons inspectors Hans Blix. At the beginning of the month, that indication, they say that they're ready to let weapons inspectors back in, perhaps also indicating a softening of their position. They say that they will let those weapons inspectors back in. They say they will not accept any preconditions from President Bush. However, they do say, if there is a new resolution from the United Nations, then they will cross that bridge when they come to it. That doesn't seem to be a softening of their position there -- Paula.

ZAHN: I know, Nic, every time you're out and about, you are accompanied by an official from the Iraqi government, but do you get any sense from the locals there about what their expectation is? Do they think the inspections would stave off a war, or just put it off?

ROBERTSON: Very difficult to gauge. Certainly the people we talked to when we go out with an official from the Ministry of Information here, whenever we roll our cameras, that person is close by to us, close by to the people we talk to. They also say that they hope the referendum, the vote does show the United States, that they're united behind their leader. When it comes to the issue of weapons inspectors, however, people here do hope that there is political progress, that there is a diplomatic solution, that weapons inspectors can come, and certainly people do see the issue of weapons inspectors coming here, doing their job of dissipating, perhaps those threats that they feel are aligned against this country at this time -- Paula.

ZAHN: Nick, if you would, just give us an idea of the kind of restrictions in place when you try to do a routine report. How does that process work?

ROBERTSON: The way it works at the moment, and there are a large number of journalists in Baghdad invited in to see the referendum. We work from the Ministry of Information. We go to their press center here. They give us an official who goes out with us in our car. They don't translate our interviews. We have our own translators, but they're always with us in when we are on the street. There are certain things around the city that they tell us that we shouldn't film. So we are not allowed to film all parts of the city, but there is a lot that's open to us. We can drive down the street and say yes, let's stop here, and we'd like to interview this person in this store, and they're very accommodating. They let us get on with that. There isn't over-interference.

And perhaps a great difference between the buildup to the gulf war in 1990 when I was here, 1991. At that time, whenever we went to feed our material, it was fed from the TV station here, and there was a government official who would literally pulled the plug on the feed if there was something in there that they felt they didn't like. That's not the case now. We are free to feed whatever we shoot -- Paula.

ZAHN: Nic Robertson, thanks for the insight and for helping us better understand of the challenges you have as you go about your daily life there in Baghdad.

Appreciate it.

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 October 16, 2002 - 09:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: The people of Iraq are speaking with one voice this morning, at least according to the Iraqi government. The results of yesterday's presidential referendum are in. With only one candidate on the ballot, you know who won. we wouldn't be giving anything away by telling you Saddam Hussein came out on top.
Nic Robertson, joins us now live from Baghdad for our continuing look inside Iraq.

Good morning, Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.

Well, as you say, no surprise, he did, however, get 100 percent of the vote, we are told by Iraqi officials. Not only that, of the almost 11 1/2 million Iraqi voters, we are told there was 100 percent turnout. Maybe you can hear some of the celebratory gunfire still going on here. But we have had it through the morning, people in cars firing Kalishnikovs out on the streets, children waving pistols, and even some of the big anti-aircraft guns that are on some of the buildings around Baghdad here, some of those have been firing off in celebration of Saddam Hussein's victory.

Also, we've been hearing from Iraqi officials on their position concerning U.N. weapons inspectors, saying that they agree with the chief U.N. weapons inspectors Hans Blix. At the beginning of the month, that indication, they say that they're ready to let weapons inspectors back in, perhaps also indicating a softening of their position. They say that they will let those weapons inspectors back in. They say they will not accept any preconditions from President Bush. However, they do say, if there is a new resolution from the United Nations, then they will cross that bridge when they come to it. That doesn't seem to be a softening of their position there -- Paula.

ZAHN: I know, Nic, every time you're out and about, you are accompanied by an official from the Iraqi government, but do you get any sense from the locals there about what their expectation is? Do they think the inspections would stave off a war, or just put it off?

ROBERTSON: Very difficult to gauge. Certainly the people we talked to when we go out with an official from the Ministry of Information here, whenever we roll our cameras, that person is close by to us, close by to the people we talk to. They also say that they hope the referendum, the vote does show the United States, that they're united behind their leader. When it comes to the issue of weapons inspectors, however, people here do hope that there is political progress, that there is a diplomatic solution, that weapons inspectors can come, and certainly people do see the issue of weapons inspectors coming here, doing their job of dissipating, perhaps those threats that they feel are aligned against this country at this time -- Paula.

ZAHN: Nick, if you would, just give us an idea of the kind of restrictions in place when you try to do a routine report. How does that process work?

ROBERTSON: The way it works at the moment, and there are a large number of journalists in Baghdad invited in to see the referendum. We work from the Ministry of Information. We go to their press center here. They give us an official who goes out with us in our car. They don't translate our interviews. We have our own translators, but they're always with us in when we are on the street. There are certain things around the city that they tell us that we shouldn't film. So we are not allowed to film all parts of the city, but there is a lot that's open to us. We can drive down the street and say yes, let's stop here, and we'd like to interview this person in this store, and they're very accommodating. They let us get on with that. There isn't over-interference.

And perhaps a great difference between the buildup to the gulf war in 1990 when I was here, 1991. At that time, whenever we went to feed our material, it was fed from the TV station here, and there was a government official who would literally pulled the plug on the feed if there was something in there that they felt they didn't like. That's not the case now. We are free to feed whatever we shoot -- Paula.

ZAHN: Nic Robertson, thanks for the insight and for helping us better understand of the challenges you have as you go about your daily life there in Baghdad.

Appreciate it.

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