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American Morning
Video of Hussein Sons Bodies to be Shown
Aired July 25, 2003 - 08:02 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: Back to Baghdad right now. And reporters west of the city have been taken to see the bodies at the airport the U.S. says are those, indeed, of Uday and Qusay. We expect some video from that location to come at some point today. All this a part, again, of the U.S. effort to further sway skeptical Iraqis that the two sons are, in fact,9 dead.
Harris Whitbeck back live now in Baghdad for more on what he is hearing and seeing on the streets -- Harris, good afternoon.
HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Bill.
Reporters have seen the bodies. They have photographed those, have shot the videotape of them. A Reuters correspondent who was part of that pool says that he saw the bodies and that they do, in fact, look like Saddam Hussein's older brothers.
Now, that tape is being processed now. We still haven't seen it yet. We've been monitoring the Al Jazeera television network because they were allowed in to photograph the bodies. But so far they are in a newscast right now. They have shown the stills of the bodies, but still no videotape.
Many people on the streets of Baghdad saying that if they were -- if they are allowed to see full length body pictures of these two individuals, they might be convinced that, in fact, they were killed during that raid in Mosul a couple of days ago -- Bill.
HEMMER: Harris, I'm not sure what you can add to this, but this is part of what we're hearing through the Associated Press and through some of the Reuters correspondents at the airport. A minimum of 20 bullets in each body, perhaps some facial reconstruction has taken place and the U.S. military emphasizing today that there is no evidence of suicide in either of the two sons.
Can you offer more than what we're getting from the position at the airport?
WHITBECK: Well, in terms of how they were killed, we had heard at one point that the two brothers had been killed when a TOLL (ph) missile impacted the house where they were and that it was actually one of -- the teenage boy who was in that house, who was the son of one of the two brothers, I can't recall which one right now, but the son was actually shot when the soldiers entered the house.
So there are, there have, that version had been circulating. But if officials at the morgue, at the airport say that it was about 20 shots into each one, that must be the case.
So, again, that's what we have.
Now, in terms of the reconstruction work done on the bodies, we had heard at some point that the U.S. was considering having a mortician come in to "clean them up a bit," to make them more recognizable to, you know, and to allow people to actually recognize that in their faces.
Again, those pictures, that videotape has still not been seen here in Iraq. It's still not on Al Jazeera. But I'm sure there'll be reaction when that is seen -- Bill.
HEMMER: All right, Harris, thanks.
Harris Whitbeck, we're back to you in a matter of moments there live in Baghdad with more.
Thanks.
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 - 08:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Back to Baghdad right now. And reporters west of the city have been taken to see the bodies at the airport the U.S. says are those, indeed, of Uday and Qusay. We expect some video from that location to come at some point today. All this a part, again, of the U.S. effort to further sway skeptical Iraqis that the two sons are, in fact,9 dead.
Harris Whitbeck back live now in Baghdad for more on what he is hearing and seeing on the streets -- Harris, good afternoon.
HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Bill.
Reporters have seen the bodies. They have photographed those, have shot the videotape of them. A Reuters correspondent who was part of that pool says that he saw the bodies and that they do, in fact, look like Saddam Hussein's older brothers.
Now, that tape is being processed now. We still haven't seen it yet. We've been monitoring the Al Jazeera television network because they were allowed in to photograph the bodies. But so far they are in a newscast right now. They have shown the stills of the bodies, but still no videotape.
Many people on the streets of Baghdad saying that if they were -- if they are allowed to see full length body pictures of these two individuals, they might be convinced that, in fact, they were killed during that raid in Mosul a couple of days ago -- Bill.
HEMMER: Harris, I'm not sure what you can add to this, but this is part of what we're hearing through the Associated Press and through some of the Reuters correspondents at the airport. A minimum of 20 bullets in each body, perhaps some facial reconstruction has taken place and the U.S. military emphasizing today that there is no evidence of suicide in either of the two sons.
Can you offer more than what we're getting from the position at the airport?
WHITBECK: Well, in terms of how they were killed, we had heard at one point that the two brothers had been killed when a TOLL (ph) missile impacted the house where they were and that it was actually one of -- the teenage boy who was in that house, who was the son of one of the two brothers, I can't recall which one right now, but the son was actually shot when the soldiers entered the house.
So there are, there have, that version had been circulating. But if officials at the morgue, at the airport say that it was about 20 shots into each one, that must be the case.
So, again, that's what we have.
Now, in terms of the reconstruction work done on the bodies, we had heard at some point that the U.S. was considering having a mortician come in to "clean them up a bit," to make them more recognizable to, you know, and to allow people to actually recognize that in their faces.
Again, those pictures, that videotape has still not been seen here in Iraq. It's still not on Al Jazeera. But I'm sure there'll be reaction when that is seen -- Bill.
HEMMER: All right, Harris, thanks.
Harris Whitbeck, we're back to you in a matter of moments there live in Baghdad with more.
Thanks.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
