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American Morning
Series of Deadly Attacks Against U.S. Forces in Baghdad
Aired July 07, 2003 - 08:06 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.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's turn now to Iraq and a series of deadly attacks against U.S. forces in Baghdad. Three soldiers are dead. Two were killed overnight, the third yesterday.
CNN's Baghdad bureau chief Jane Arraf has more from the Iraqi capital.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Baghdad's City Council has successfully met for the first time. This normally would be bigger news, a historic occasion. But it has been overshadowed by word of the deaths of two more U.S. soldiers overnight, bringing to three the total of American soldiers killed in the last 24 hours. These two were two separate attacks in two different parts of the city, an indication that things are still dangerous out there on the streets for U.S. soldiers and the Iraqis that they're working with.
Also word that four American soldiers were wounded in a rocket propelled grenade attack overnight in the troubled city of Ramadi, west of Baghdad. That's the city where seven Iraqi police were killed when a bomb was thrown at them on the weekend.
Now, to help counter that, U.S. officials are announcing a reward, a reward for information leading to the arrest of people plotting attacks on Iraqi policemen and others working with the coalition forces. The fear is that these attacks are widening not just in their boldness, but widening also to include an increase number of targets of Iraqis working with American and British forces here in Iraq.
Jane Arraf, CNN, reporting from Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: One of Saddam Hussein's former bodyguards was captured yesterday. A huge cache of weapons was also seized, including AK-47 rifles and thousands of rounds of ammunition. U.S. officials credit the arrests to tips that they are getting from Iraqis.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BERNARD KERIK, SENIOR U.S. ADVISER TO IRAQI INTERIOR MINISTRY: The information for this seizure came from an Iraqi. The arrest and seizures that we've attained and gone through over the last week or so, just about every night, this information has come in from the Iraqi people.
(END VIDEO CLIP) O'BRIEN: To keep the tips coming, U.S. officials today are announcing a $2,500 reward program. Will it work?
Phebe Marr of the "Middle East Journal" is our guest in Washington, D.C. this morning.
Ms. Marr, good morning.
I thank you for joining us.
PHEBE MARR, "MIDDLE EAST JOURNAL": Good morning.
O'BRIEN: Reward for Saddam Hussein now $25 million. Other information, as we just heard, $2,500. Do you expect that these rewards are true incentives for information?
MARR: Oh, they certainly will be an incentive. Something as large as $25 million will certainly be an incentive and as you can see, we are getting information from informers.
O'BRIEN: General Richard Myers describes the triangle of lawlessness, predominantly the Sunni Muslim cities, Baghdad, Tikrit, also Ramadi.
Do you think that that is accurate to describe it that way? And, also, would you expect it to be limited, then, to these areas or to spread?
MARR: Well, actually, that triangle is known informally as the Sunni triangle. It extends from Baghdad -- some people would put it up to Mosul on the Tigris and on the Euphrates over to the Syrian and Jordanian border. And, yes, that's exactly what we call it.
Much of that territory is small towns. It's Arab Sunni. They have tended to be somewhat isolated, conservative and tribally organized. And Saddam has recruited much of his support, particularly in the Barakaat, the intelligence, the security forces and so on, from that area.
They've also gotten a lot of privilege and benefits from the regime and so it's not surprising that this is the area from which we would be having that kind of problem.
And, frankly, I don't expect much trouble from the Kurds in the north, who have been supporting us. We could get a little trouble from the Shia, but the Shia were very opposed to the regime, and except for a few sporadic episodes, the Shia areas appear to be quiet.
O'BRIEN: For the areas in which there is trouble, who is responsible for the escalation in violence? Is it the remnants of Saddam Hussein's followers or is it different factions sort of all joining together with a common enemy, American soldiers?
MARR: Well, first of all, if Saddam is still alive -- and the evidence seems to indicate that he is -- he probably has some command and control. Up to this point, it seems to me that it's remnants, certainly, of his forces, which may be getting more organized.
There are others, as well. There may be some religious elements. There may be these criminals they let out of jail. But, of course, the problem is no one likes occupation and we have been a little slow in getting the electricity and the power on, getting the economy going. And so there's always a potential for this to spread if we don't move ahead smartly to get the economy moving.
But, indeed, we are doing that. There's, that's clear.
O'BRIEN: We only have a few seconds left. The new audiotape or the most recent audiotape, I should say, allegedly from Saddam Hussein praised resistance, also encouraged them to continue their fight.
Just how far do tapes like this go in destabilizing any efforts to try to put the country back on track, from an American perspective?
MARR: Well, it is important. Even before the tape, people were not convinced he was gone. There's a group calling itself al-Awda, The Return, indicating that the Baath expects to come back. And whatever the accuracy of the tape, there is fear and anxiety that somehow the Americans are going to leave and theyll be stuck with him again. Despite the fact that that's not true, undoubtedly, the fear is there.
O'BRIEN: Well, Phebe Marr of "The Middle East Journal," our guest this morning.
Ms. Marr, thanks so much for joining us.
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 July 7, 2003 - 08:06 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's turn now to Iraq and a series of deadly attacks against U.S. forces in Baghdad. Three soldiers are dead. Two were killed overnight, the third yesterday.
CNN's Baghdad bureau chief Jane Arraf has more from the Iraqi capital.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Baghdad's City Council has successfully met for the first time. This normally would be bigger news, a historic occasion. But it has been overshadowed by word of the deaths of two more U.S. soldiers overnight, bringing to three the total of American soldiers killed in the last 24 hours. These two were two separate attacks in two different parts of the city, an indication that things are still dangerous out there on the streets for U.S. soldiers and the Iraqis that they're working with.
Also word that four American soldiers were wounded in a rocket propelled grenade attack overnight in the troubled city of Ramadi, west of Baghdad. That's the city where seven Iraqi police were killed when a bomb was thrown at them on the weekend.
Now, to help counter that, U.S. officials are announcing a reward, a reward for information leading to the arrest of people plotting attacks on Iraqi policemen and others working with the coalition forces. The fear is that these attacks are widening not just in their boldness, but widening also to include an increase number of targets of Iraqis working with American and British forces here in Iraq.
Jane Arraf, CNN, reporting from Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: One of Saddam Hussein's former bodyguards was captured yesterday. A huge cache of weapons was also seized, including AK-47 rifles and thousands of rounds of ammunition. U.S. officials credit the arrests to tips that they are getting from Iraqis.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BERNARD KERIK, SENIOR U.S. ADVISER TO IRAQI INTERIOR MINISTRY: The information for this seizure came from an Iraqi. The arrest and seizures that we've attained and gone through over the last week or so, just about every night, this information has come in from the Iraqi people.
(END VIDEO CLIP) O'BRIEN: To keep the tips coming, U.S. officials today are announcing a $2,500 reward program. Will it work?
Phebe Marr of the "Middle East Journal" is our guest in Washington, D.C. this morning.
Ms. Marr, good morning.
I thank you for joining us.
PHEBE MARR, "MIDDLE EAST JOURNAL": Good morning.
O'BRIEN: Reward for Saddam Hussein now $25 million. Other information, as we just heard, $2,500. Do you expect that these rewards are true incentives for information?
MARR: Oh, they certainly will be an incentive. Something as large as $25 million will certainly be an incentive and as you can see, we are getting information from informers.
O'BRIEN: General Richard Myers describes the triangle of lawlessness, predominantly the Sunni Muslim cities, Baghdad, Tikrit, also Ramadi.
Do you think that that is accurate to describe it that way? And, also, would you expect it to be limited, then, to these areas or to spread?
MARR: Well, actually, that triangle is known informally as the Sunni triangle. It extends from Baghdad -- some people would put it up to Mosul on the Tigris and on the Euphrates over to the Syrian and Jordanian border. And, yes, that's exactly what we call it.
Much of that territory is small towns. It's Arab Sunni. They have tended to be somewhat isolated, conservative and tribally organized. And Saddam has recruited much of his support, particularly in the Barakaat, the intelligence, the security forces and so on, from that area.
They've also gotten a lot of privilege and benefits from the regime and so it's not surprising that this is the area from which we would be having that kind of problem.
And, frankly, I don't expect much trouble from the Kurds in the north, who have been supporting us. We could get a little trouble from the Shia, but the Shia were very opposed to the regime, and except for a few sporadic episodes, the Shia areas appear to be quiet.
O'BRIEN: For the areas in which there is trouble, who is responsible for the escalation in violence? Is it the remnants of Saddam Hussein's followers or is it different factions sort of all joining together with a common enemy, American soldiers?
MARR: Well, first of all, if Saddam is still alive -- and the evidence seems to indicate that he is -- he probably has some command and control. Up to this point, it seems to me that it's remnants, certainly, of his forces, which may be getting more organized.
There are others, as well. There may be some religious elements. There may be these criminals they let out of jail. But, of course, the problem is no one likes occupation and we have been a little slow in getting the electricity and the power on, getting the economy going. And so there's always a potential for this to spread if we don't move ahead smartly to get the economy moving.
But, indeed, we are doing that. There's, that's clear.
O'BRIEN: We only have a few seconds left. The new audiotape or the most recent audiotape, I should say, allegedly from Saddam Hussein praised resistance, also encouraged them to continue their fight.
Just how far do tapes like this go in destabilizing any efforts to try to put the country back on track, from an American perspective?
MARR: Well, it is important. Even before the tape, people were not convinced he was gone. There's a group calling itself al-Awda, The Return, indicating that the Baath expects to come back. And whatever the accuracy of the tape, there is fear and anxiety that somehow the Americans are going to leave and theyll be stuck with him again. Despite the fact that that's not true, undoubtedly, the fear is there.
O'BRIEN: Well, Phebe Marr of "The Middle East Journal," our guest this morning.
Ms. Marr, thanks so much for joining us.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
