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American Morning

Nasiriyah Hospital Low on Supplies

Aired April 06, 2003 - 09:04   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.


BILL HEMMER, ANCHOR: Heidi again now at the CNN Center.
HEIDI COLLINS, ANCHOR: Thank you, Bill.

You know, some of the toughest fighting of the war has taken place around Nasiriya. And Jason Bellini is embedded with coalition forces in that southern city. He joins us now by videophone.

Good morning to you, Jason. What can you tell us about where you are?

JASON BELLINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi. I'm standing right now in front of Saddam Hospital in downtown Nasiriya. Now this is the hospital where the American POW was rescued just a few days ago.

We've had a chance to take a look inside this hospital and see that there are other people there. She was in a section of the hospital that was under control of Saddam's loyalists. But there are injured people in that hospital. Here are some of them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over) The children who'll never play soccer again. The expectant mother who'll be unable to lift her baby. The wounds that time won't heal.

Wounded civilians in Iraq are harder for us embedded with the U.S. military to see and report on than the bright and thrilling explosions that hurt them.

Today, in Saddam Hospital in An Nasiriya, we heard just a few of their stories.

Twenty-year-old Hyder (ph) was eating breakfast when he heard a helicopter flying overhead. Then, an explosion which killed his brother, wounded his father, and made him an amputee.

Fifteen-year-old Jesmac (ph) says he was walking down the street when a bomb hit nearby, sending shrapnel into his arms and legs.

The doctor who served as our guide and translator says that over 400 people have died in Nasiriya since the war began. Another 1,300 injured. The hospital woefully unprepared, operating without enough power, water, and medicine.

In Saddam Hospital, Saddam Hussein's picture is two-thirds of the way down, but civilian suffering is far from over.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

Well, if Saddam Hospital didn't have enough problems, they've also been hit by looters, and that's been a big problem throughout this city. now that there's no one really in control from -- locally. The police aren't working. We don't have any of the Ba'ath Party officials who are keeping people in check.

There's been looting in almost all the government buildings. There's a mosque just about a half mile from where we are, and we've heard the last few days, coming from the loud speaker, the imam telling people, stop stealing stuff, because eventually, we're going to have to rebuild this country and the next government is going to have to spend a lot of money to replace the things that you are stealing. Please bring them back and please stop.

That's the situation we're having.

COLLINS: Jason, two quick questions for you. Wondering about any supplies that might be able to be making their way into the hospital, whether it be from the coalition forces or the Red Cross.

And also, about the dog tags of Jessica Lynch that you showed us yesterday. Just incredible pictures that you had.

BELLINI: Heidi, the first thing that's being provided for the hospital is some fresh water. The Marines that I'm with, they have facilities for producing fresh water. They're bringing that to this hospital and to another hospital that has a maternity ward.

And then from there, they're hoping to start bringing in humanitarian aid, but they still feel it's too early to bring in NGOs and doctors and the other types of people to help support the rebuilding of a country while this area is still -- while they consider it stable, it still has its periodic incidents. Not the kind of place where they're quite ready yet to bring in an armed individual to help bring in supplies -- Heidi.

COLLINS: All right. And once again, we did just see minutes ago those dog tags of Jessica Lynch's that Jason had yesterday. Incredible stuff.

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 April 6, 2003 - 09:04   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, ANCHOR: Heidi again now at the CNN Center.
HEIDI COLLINS, ANCHOR: Thank you, Bill.

You know, some of the toughest fighting of the war has taken place around Nasiriya. And Jason Bellini is embedded with coalition forces in that southern city. He joins us now by videophone.

Good morning to you, Jason. What can you tell us about where you are?

JASON BELLINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi. I'm standing right now in front of Saddam Hospital in downtown Nasiriya. Now this is the hospital where the American POW was rescued just a few days ago.

We've had a chance to take a look inside this hospital and see that there are other people there. She was in a section of the hospital that was under control of Saddam's loyalists. But there are injured people in that hospital. Here are some of them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over) The children who'll never play soccer again. The expectant mother who'll be unable to lift her baby. The wounds that time won't heal.

Wounded civilians in Iraq are harder for us embedded with the U.S. military to see and report on than the bright and thrilling explosions that hurt them.

Today, in Saddam Hospital in An Nasiriya, we heard just a few of their stories.

Twenty-year-old Hyder (ph) was eating breakfast when he heard a helicopter flying overhead. Then, an explosion which killed his brother, wounded his father, and made him an amputee.

Fifteen-year-old Jesmac (ph) says he was walking down the street when a bomb hit nearby, sending shrapnel into his arms and legs.

The doctor who served as our guide and translator says that over 400 people have died in Nasiriya since the war began. Another 1,300 injured. The hospital woefully unprepared, operating without enough power, water, and medicine.

In Saddam Hospital, Saddam Hussein's picture is two-thirds of the way down, but civilian suffering is far from over.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

Well, if Saddam Hospital didn't have enough problems, they've also been hit by looters, and that's been a big problem throughout this city. now that there's no one really in control from -- locally. The police aren't working. We don't have any of the Ba'ath Party officials who are keeping people in check.

There's been looting in almost all the government buildings. There's a mosque just about a half mile from where we are, and we've heard the last few days, coming from the loud speaker, the imam telling people, stop stealing stuff, because eventually, we're going to have to rebuild this country and the next government is going to have to spend a lot of money to replace the things that you are stealing. Please bring them back and please stop.

That's the situation we're having.

COLLINS: Jason, two quick questions for you. Wondering about any supplies that might be able to be making their way into the hospital, whether it be from the coalition forces or the Red Cross.

And also, about the dog tags of Jessica Lynch that you showed us yesterday. Just incredible pictures that you had.

BELLINI: Heidi, the first thing that's being provided for the hospital is some fresh water. The Marines that I'm with, they have facilities for producing fresh water. They're bringing that to this hospital and to another hospital that has a maternity ward.

And then from there, they're hoping to start bringing in humanitarian aid, but they still feel it's too early to bring in NGOs and doctors and the other types of people to help support the rebuilding of a country while this area is still -- while they consider it stable, it still has its periodic incidents. Not the kind of place where they're quite ready yet to bring in an armed individual to help bring in supplies -- Heidi.

COLLINS: All right. And once again, we did just see minutes ago those dog tags of Jessica Lynch's that Jason had yesterday. Incredible stuff.

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