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American Morning
Reaction From Arab World to Photos of Saddam's Sons
Aired July 25, 2003 - 07:04 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, CNN ANCHOR: Well, then how is the release of the bloody photos of the Hussein brothers playing with the rest of the Arab world?
Brent Sadler has more on this from his position in Beirut, Lebanon, and joins us live from there.
Brent -- good afternoon.
BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Bill.
The release of the death photographs has made better headlines across newspapers in the Middle East...
HEMMER: All right, obviously, we lost our satellite signal there of Brent Sadler in Beirut. As soon as we get him back, we'll bring it to you.
In the meantime, though, here is what Brent has found on the streets of Beirut.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SADLER (voice-over): In the Arab world, viewers appear to have expected nothing less from the television channels, the full, gory details through close-up images of the bodies of Saddam Hussein's top lieutenants -- his sons, Uday and Qusay.
GEBRAN TUENI, "AN NAHAR" NEWSPAPER: In the Arab mentality, the end of a regime is a dead person, the death penalty. The Iraqi people, even some Arabs, needed to see this.
SADLER: And seeing is believing.
TUENI: Everybody is going to do what we are doing now, to look at the pictures, to look at it again, and they're being more and more convinced.
SADLER: Convincing skeptical and often scared Iraqis is what the photo release is all about.
(on camera): Here in Beirut, as in many other Arab capitals, it's the top news story. Some commentators saying Saddam Hussein's left and right hands are shown to be cut off, now that the Americans have provided photographic proof the two sons are dead.
(voice-over): Syrian television briefly referred to the corpses, while Hezbollah's Al-Manar channel in Beirut gave a straight news report. Abu Dhabi satellite TV included details of the $30 million reward a camera-shy informant should collect, while Al-Arabiya broadcast from Dubai also focused on a statement by Saddam Fedayeen, once led by Uday, threatening more attacks on U.S. troops.
Some Middle East news chiefs now expect that if Saddam Hussein is still alive, he may try to prove it by sending out a new tape recording.
SAMER HAMZEH, FUTURE TV, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: I'm waiting to see that. I'm waiting to see the reaction. Will the attacks on the American army in Iraq will be reduced, or will they decrease or increase? I don't know.
SADLER: When observers say proof of the deaths will certainly have dealt Saddam Hussein, assuming he's still alive, a serious psychological blow. The proof of the deaths could also have destroyed once and for all that Saddam Hussein might have hoped his sons could have been able to restore the Saddam Hussein clan to power in Iraq one day.
Also, it's expected, say observers, that they could also encourage reward hunters to turn in Saddam Hussein himself wherever he might be hiding -- Bill.
HEMMER: Brent, before we lost your signal, you were trying to show us a newspaper headline. What is that headline in Beirut?
SADLER: Yes, Bill, I was telling you that the story really is banner headlines throughout the Middle East. And this is the "An Nahar" newspaper published in Beirut this morning. And the publisher of this journal says that it's possible, and this is speculation in the Middle East, that Qusay Hussein, this photograph here, if you look closely, you can't see it so well on this newspaper shot, but if you look at computer...
HEMMER: And, again, our apologies there. A bit of a problem with the satellite image from Beirut, but Brent Sadler clearly showing us the headlines again today in Beirut, and for that part, all of the Arab world.
We want to get back to Baghdad right now, more reaction now on those photographs.
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 25, 2003 - 07:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Well, then how is the release of the bloody photos of the Hussein brothers playing with the rest of the Arab world?
Brent Sadler has more on this from his position in Beirut, Lebanon, and joins us live from there.
Brent -- good afternoon.
BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Bill.
The release of the death photographs has made better headlines across newspapers in the Middle East...
HEMMER: All right, obviously, we lost our satellite signal there of Brent Sadler in Beirut. As soon as we get him back, we'll bring it to you.
In the meantime, though, here is what Brent has found on the streets of Beirut.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SADLER (voice-over): In the Arab world, viewers appear to have expected nothing less from the television channels, the full, gory details through close-up images of the bodies of Saddam Hussein's top lieutenants -- his sons, Uday and Qusay.
GEBRAN TUENI, "AN NAHAR" NEWSPAPER: In the Arab mentality, the end of a regime is a dead person, the death penalty. The Iraqi people, even some Arabs, needed to see this.
SADLER: And seeing is believing.
TUENI: Everybody is going to do what we are doing now, to look at the pictures, to look at it again, and they're being more and more convinced.
SADLER: Convincing skeptical and often scared Iraqis is what the photo release is all about.
(on camera): Here in Beirut, as in many other Arab capitals, it's the top news story. Some commentators saying Saddam Hussein's left and right hands are shown to be cut off, now that the Americans have provided photographic proof the two sons are dead.
(voice-over): Syrian television briefly referred to the corpses, while Hezbollah's Al-Manar channel in Beirut gave a straight news report. Abu Dhabi satellite TV included details of the $30 million reward a camera-shy informant should collect, while Al-Arabiya broadcast from Dubai also focused on a statement by Saddam Fedayeen, once led by Uday, threatening more attacks on U.S. troops.
Some Middle East news chiefs now expect that if Saddam Hussein is still alive, he may try to prove it by sending out a new tape recording.
SAMER HAMZEH, FUTURE TV, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: I'm waiting to see that. I'm waiting to see the reaction. Will the attacks on the American army in Iraq will be reduced, or will they decrease or increase? I don't know.
SADLER: When observers say proof of the deaths will certainly have dealt Saddam Hussein, assuming he's still alive, a serious psychological blow. The proof of the deaths could also have destroyed once and for all that Saddam Hussein might have hoped his sons could have been able to restore the Saddam Hussein clan to power in Iraq one day.
Also, it's expected, say observers, that they could also encourage reward hunters to turn in Saddam Hussein himself wherever he might be hiding -- Bill.
HEMMER: Brent, before we lost your signal, you were trying to show us a newspaper headline. What is that headline in Beirut?
SADLER: Yes, Bill, I was telling you that the story really is banner headlines throughout the Middle East. And this is the "An Nahar" newspaper published in Beirut this morning. And the publisher of this journal says that it's possible, and this is speculation in the Middle East, that Qusay Hussein, this photograph here, if you look closely, you can't see it so well on this newspaper shot, but if you look at computer...
HEMMER: And, again, our apologies there. A bit of a problem with the satellite image from Beirut, but Brent Sadler clearly showing us the headlines again today in Beirut, and for that part, all of the Arab world.
We want to get back to Baghdad right now, more reaction now on those photographs.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
