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American Morning

The New Iraq: Scene in Baghdad

Aired April 18, 2003 - 07:39   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.


HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Let's go ahead now and move on to Baghdad where there have been protests following Friday prayer. We heard a little bit about it at the CENTCOM briefing, and we also have Rula Amin. She's at the Iraqi capital now.
Rula, good afternoon to you there.

RULA AMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon to you.

Thousands of Iraqis marched today demanding that the U.S. troops here leave. These were people who had been praying at the mosque. That a man (ph) told them that the U.S. came to Iraq and invaded Iraq in order to defend Israel. When the prayers ended, they went by the thousands, marching in the streets, carrying banners saying no to America, no to a secular state, yes to an Islamic state.

Now we have been seeing many protests in the past few days, but it's usually smaller groups, just a few dozen, and they come to the Palestine Hotel where the Marines and the journalists are based, and they have different demands. But this is the biggest we have seen since the Marines and the troops came into Baghdad. They were very vocal, demanding that it's the Iraqis who rule Baghdad and Iraq, no one else.

At the same time, other Iraqis are busy trying to make ends meet, trying to satisfy other needs. Many here are trying to reach out to their relatives abroad to tell them they are still alive and they are still OK. It has been difficult to do so because no telephone lines here are working.

During the war, coalition forces bombed the telephone exchanges and no phones are working. The only way out is mobile satellite phones. And in the past few days, some people have been trying to make money. They went, bought some mobile satellite phones and they're renting them out $10 per minute. This is very expensive for Iraqis. Many of them don't even that much money for a whole month. So -- but they're still using those phones. They are desperate to reach out to their relatives -- Heidi.

COLLINS: How are they affording that, Rula, I'm curious?

AMIN: Sorry, I didn't hear that.

COLLINS: Just curious how they might be affording that during these times? Ten dollars a minute, it's clearly not even that much here in the United States. AMIN: It is very expensive. I think people are using their savings to do so, but they are desperate. And as I said before, they have been trying and before to use the journalist's mobile phones. They have come up to us so many times asking to use our satellite mobile phones and they said we would pay you anything just so we would be able to make this phone call for one minute.

You know they have been out of touch with their relatives, with their families for so many weeks now. Even before the war actually started, they were not able to call. And then now that the war happened and after the war, they are desperate to send their messages. And I -- we also know that we have been getting a lot of messages from different people abroad who are trying to make sure that their relatives inside Iraq are safe. So it's very desperate and very sad -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Understandably so. All right. Rula Amin, in Baghdad this morning, thanks so 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 April 18, 2003 - 07:39   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Let's go ahead now and move on to Baghdad where there have been protests following Friday prayer. We heard a little bit about it at the CENTCOM briefing, and we also have Rula Amin. She's at the Iraqi capital now.
Rula, good afternoon to you there.

RULA AMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon to you.

Thousands of Iraqis marched today demanding that the U.S. troops here leave. These were people who had been praying at the mosque. That a man (ph) told them that the U.S. came to Iraq and invaded Iraq in order to defend Israel. When the prayers ended, they went by the thousands, marching in the streets, carrying banners saying no to America, no to a secular state, yes to an Islamic state.

Now we have been seeing many protests in the past few days, but it's usually smaller groups, just a few dozen, and they come to the Palestine Hotel where the Marines and the journalists are based, and they have different demands. But this is the biggest we have seen since the Marines and the troops came into Baghdad. They were very vocal, demanding that it's the Iraqis who rule Baghdad and Iraq, no one else.

At the same time, other Iraqis are busy trying to make ends meet, trying to satisfy other needs. Many here are trying to reach out to their relatives abroad to tell them they are still alive and they are still OK. It has been difficult to do so because no telephone lines here are working.

During the war, coalition forces bombed the telephone exchanges and no phones are working. The only way out is mobile satellite phones. And in the past few days, some people have been trying to make money. They went, bought some mobile satellite phones and they're renting them out $10 per minute. This is very expensive for Iraqis. Many of them don't even that much money for a whole month. So -- but they're still using those phones. They are desperate to reach out to their relatives -- Heidi.

COLLINS: How are they affording that, Rula, I'm curious?

AMIN: Sorry, I didn't hear that.

COLLINS: Just curious how they might be affording that during these times? Ten dollars a minute, it's clearly not even that much here in the United States. AMIN: It is very expensive. I think people are using their savings to do so, but they are desperate. And as I said before, they have been trying and before to use the journalist's mobile phones. They have come up to us so many times asking to use our satellite mobile phones and they said we would pay you anything just so we would be able to make this phone call for one minute.

You know they have been out of touch with their relatives, with their families for so many weeks now. Even before the war actually started, they were not able to call. And then now that the war happened and after the war, they are desperate to send their messages. And I -- we also know that we have been getting a lot of messages from different people abroad who are trying to make sure that their relatives inside Iraq are safe. So it's very desperate and very sad -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Understandably so. All right. Rula Amin, in Baghdad this morning, thanks so 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