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American Morning
Nic Robertson to Accept George Foster Peabody Award
Aired May 19, 2003 - 07:23 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, CNN ANCHOR: Well, we know that you know Nic Robertson. His dramatic reports out of Baghdad and Afghanistan prior to that and throughout the Middle East for years now, bringing us the rather dramatic unfolding events in the war on terror.
Nic is in New York now to accept the prestigious George Foster Peabody Award for his reporting.
He's here with us today on AMERICAN MORNING, as well.
Congratulations.
SOPHIA CHOI, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thank you. Thank you very much.
HEMMER: Wonderful, wonderful work.
CHOI: That's right.
HEMMER: We're going to get some e-mails a bit later today about what's happening in Iraq today. There was a very interesting quote over the weekend.
In fact, you can e-mail us at am@cnn.com to get those in.
The man in charge of power in Baghdad says if you give me security, I'll give you electricity. It tells us a little bit about the problems right now they're having and trying to keep things safe on the ground in Baghdad.
ROBERTSON: Oh, absolutely. I mean there's still, when you drive through Baghdad, you still hear gunfire. You can drive down the back streets and -- for example, we saw a man being chased down one day and shot down.
The problem for the guys putting up the power lines is that people can come behind them and loot what they've taken. We've been in government buildings where all the equipment's gone inside. Now people are taking the window frames. The window frames, the doors are gone. People are even taking the bricks.
So until the people restoring the services can operate safely, that's going to be a problem.
HEMMER: What do you think explains that widespread looting and why do you think that was so not predicted prior to the fall of Baghdad?
ROBERTSON: It was slow, in a way, to get started. Once people realized that there was no leadership in place anymore, once they realized they could grab what they needed, what they thought would make money for themselves, what they thought could take care of their families, they went out and got it. They knew nobody was there who was going to stop them. They could see the coalition troops, U.S. soldiers on the streets not stopping them. So there was a -- they had a free hand and they still have it.
So many places, such a big country, so many buildings, so many opportunities.
CHOI: Yes, we've seen pictures of it kind of being a free for all. And at times it looks like the police are under armed when you're comparing them to the looters, like they're, you know, have more security than even the police.
ROBERTSON: You do see looters out there with weapons. You do have to keep an eye on that. The police have been authorized to carry Kalashnikovs again, automatic weapons. But not that many policemen are out there on the streets, though. It's still, it's a big city, five million people. That takes a lot of police officers. And that's what they don't have right now.
HEMMER: You've got it.
Nic, thanks again.
Am@cnn.com is the, our e-mail address to get your questions into Nic and we'll get to them a bit later here.
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 May 19, 2003 - 07:23 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Well, we know that you know Nic Robertson. His dramatic reports out of Baghdad and Afghanistan prior to that and throughout the Middle East for years now, bringing us the rather dramatic unfolding events in the war on terror.
Nic is in New York now to accept the prestigious George Foster Peabody Award for his reporting.
He's here with us today on AMERICAN MORNING, as well.
Congratulations.
SOPHIA CHOI, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thank you. Thank you very much.
HEMMER: Wonderful, wonderful work.
CHOI: That's right.
HEMMER: We're going to get some e-mails a bit later today about what's happening in Iraq today. There was a very interesting quote over the weekend.
In fact, you can e-mail us at am@cnn.com to get those in.
The man in charge of power in Baghdad says if you give me security, I'll give you electricity. It tells us a little bit about the problems right now they're having and trying to keep things safe on the ground in Baghdad.
ROBERTSON: Oh, absolutely. I mean there's still, when you drive through Baghdad, you still hear gunfire. You can drive down the back streets and -- for example, we saw a man being chased down one day and shot down.
The problem for the guys putting up the power lines is that people can come behind them and loot what they've taken. We've been in government buildings where all the equipment's gone inside. Now people are taking the window frames. The window frames, the doors are gone. People are even taking the bricks.
So until the people restoring the services can operate safely, that's going to be a problem.
HEMMER: What do you think explains that widespread looting and why do you think that was so not predicted prior to the fall of Baghdad?
ROBERTSON: It was slow, in a way, to get started. Once people realized that there was no leadership in place anymore, once they realized they could grab what they needed, what they thought would make money for themselves, what they thought could take care of their families, they went out and got it. They knew nobody was there who was going to stop them. They could see the coalition troops, U.S. soldiers on the streets not stopping them. So there was a -- they had a free hand and they still have it.
So many places, such a big country, so many buildings, so many opportunities.
CHOI: Yes, we've seen pictures of it kind of being a free for all. And at times it looks like the police are under armed when you're comparing them to the looters, like they're, you know, have more security than even the police.
ROBERTSON: You do see looters out there with weapons. You do have to keep an eye on that. The police have been authorized to carry Kalashnikovs again, automatic weapons. But not that many policemen are out there on the streets, though. It's still, it's a big city, five million people. That takes a lot of police officers. And that's what they don't have right now.
HEMMER: You've got it.
Nic, thanks again.
Am@cnn.com is the, our e-mail address to get your questions into Nic and we'll get to them a bit later here.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
