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American Morning
Interview with Roland Huguenin-Benjamin
Aired April 08, 2003 - 08:21 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: We're still trying to figure out the impact of that explosion in the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad. It is believed that at least six journalists were wounded. The Pentagon is saying that U.S. forces were responding to sniper fire from the building. However, Defense officials didn't say what weapons the military used to shoot back.
Joining us on the telephone right now, Roland Huguenin-Benjamin, who is a member of the International Red Cross, to bring us up to date on that story, as well as others.
Roland, what can you tell us about what happened at the Palestine Hotel?
ROLAND HUGUENIN-BENJAMIN, INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE RED CROSS: Well, I was with the Reuters team minutes before the accident happened. I drive back to our offices immediately after leaving them. And just as I came to my office, which is really just down the road, I heard that explosion and there was an impact on the hotel. And then I went to the hotel. Excuse me. I went to the hospital to see some of the casualties. I'm sorry about that.
ZAHN: And what were the extent of the injures? Was it pretty bad?
HUGUENIN-BENJAMIN: Well, one person was killed and four are wounded. Some were still in the operating theater. And I suppose that the families will have been informed by the companies they are working for.
ZAHN: And just give us an idea of the vulnerability of that area, particularly as the Iraqi snipers are opening fire on coalition troops around the hotel.
HUGUENIN-BENJAMIN: This area was considered safe. It's on the river -- on the river side. Everybody knows that this is the hotel where journalists are staying. And I have real difficulties to imagine that hundreds of journalists would have stayed in a place if they had any reasons to believe that it was going to be used by snipers.
ZAHN: And Did anybody give you any more information on the scene about how this all unfolded?
HUGUENIN-BENJAMIN: Well, the fact is that something was shot into the floor on which these people happened to be. The hotel is completely full of journalists. For it one party to the floor and a number of people were hit and wounded and one of them was killed.
ZAHN: Roland, can you give us an update on what is going on at Baghdad area hospitals?
HUGUENIN-BENJAMIN: We are very much concerned today about the hospital which is called the Medical City. It's a large complex. It has 650 beds. And as of today, it has had no access to water. Of course electricity has been cut since last Thursday. So everybody -- hospitals are operating on backup generators, which is difficult in itself, but it is obvious impossible to operate -- to keep functioning as a hospital without water.
So the International Committee of the Red Cross has started an emergency operation tracking water with big containers, distributing bags of drinking water to all the patients in that particular hospital. And we have engineers and contractors working now all day long trying to establish some form of connection to a station that could serve that particular hospital. We have to express our concern about the fact that one water station was hit by the bombing and most likely a large segment of one of the poorest suburbs of Baghdad is going to go out without water now. These are civilian infrastructures and they should be spared at all costs, otherwise, we are really going to face a major problem in that city.
ZAHN: Roland Huguenin-Benjamin, thank you so much for trying to make better sense of what happened at the Palestine Hotel. Roland Huguenin-Benjamin of the International Red Cross.
Once again, the Pentagon saying U.S. forces were responding to sniper fire coming from that building, but the Defense Department is not saying exactly what kind of weapons the military used to respond back with.
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 8, 2003 - 08:21 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: We're still trying to figure out the impact of that explosion in the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad. It is believed that at least six journalists were wounded. The Pentagon is saying that U.S. forces were responding to sniper fire from the building. However, Defense officials didn't say what weapons the military used to shoot back.
Joining us on the telephone right now, Roland Huguenin-Benjamin, who is a member of the International Red Cross, to bring us up to date on that story, as well as others.
Roland, what can you tell us about what happened at the Palestine Hotel?
ROLAND HUGUENIN-BENJAMIN, INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE RED CROSS: Well, I was with the Reuters team minutes before the accident happened. I drive back to our offices immediately after leaving them. And just as I came to my office, which is really just down the road, I heard that explosion and there was an impact on the hotel. And then I went to the hotel. Excuse me. I went to the hospital to see some of the casualties. I'm sorry about that.
ZAHN: And what were the extent of the injures? Was it pretty bad?
HUGUENIN-BENJAMIN: Well, one person was killed and four are wounded. Some were still in the operating theater. And I suppose that the families will have been informed by the companies they are working for.
ZAHN: And just give us an idea of the vulnerability of that area, particularly as the Iraqi snipers are opening fire on coalition troops around the hotel.
HUGUENIN-BENJAMIN: This area was considered safe. It's on the river -- on the river side. Everybody knows that this is the hotel where journalists are staying. And I have real difficulties to imagine that hundreds of journalists would have stayed in a place if they had any reasons to believe that it was going to be used by snipers.
ZAHN: And Did anybody give you any more information on the scene about how this all unfolded?
HUGUENIN-BENJAMIN: Well, the fact is that something was shot into the floor on which these people happened to be. The hotel is completely full of journalists. For it one party to the floor and a number of people were hit and wounded and one of them was killed.
ZAHN: Roland, can you give us an update on what is going on at Baghdad area hospitals?
HUGUENIN-BENJAMIN: We are very much concerned today about the hospital which is called the Medical City. It's a large complex. It has 650 beds. And as of today, it has had no access to water. Of course electricity has been cut since last Thursday. So everybody -- hospitals are operating on backup generators, which is difficult in itself, but it is obvious impossible to operate -- to keep functioning as a hospital without water.
So the International Committee of the Red Cross has started an emergency operation tracking water with big containers, distributing bags of drinking water to all the patients in that particular hospital. And we have engineers and contractors working now all day long trying to establish some form of connection to a station that could serve that particular hospital. We have to express our concern about the fact that one water station was hit by the bombing and most likely a large segment of one of the poorest suburbs of Baghdad is going to go out without water now. These are civilian infrastructures and they should be spared at all costs, otherwise, we are really going to face a major problem in that city.
ZAHN: Roland Huguenin-Benjamin, thank you so much for trying to make better sense of what happened at the Palestine Hotel. Roland Huguenin-Benjamin of the International Red Cross.
Once again, the Pentagon saying U.S. forces were responding to sniper fire coming from that building, but the Defense Department is not saying exactly what kind of weapons the military used to respond back with.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
