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American Morning

Terror in Baghdad

Aired August 21, 2003 - 09:32   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 for more on the capture for the man known as "Chemical Ali." U.S. forces in Iraq confirm this morning that he is in custody.
CNN's Rym Brahimi is live in the Iraqi capital for us this morning.

Hey, Rym, good morning.

RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Soledad.

Indeed, it seems that Ali Hassan Al Majid known, as you mentioned, as Chemical Ali was captured a couple of days ago. It's not known exactly where in the country he would have been captured, but we do know that there have been a certain number of operations in the north around Tikrit and near Mosul.

As a matter of fact, the announcement of the capture of Chemical Ali comes just a few days after they also captured Taha Yassin Ramadan, who was the vice president for former President Saddam Hussein. Chemical Ali, as he was known, actually -- was known by that name because he was believed to have been responsible for the use of chemical weapons against Kurds in the north -- in the northern part of the country, near Hallajah (ph) in 1988. He was also the person that had been placed in charge of Kuwait when Iraq had invaded Kuwait in 1990, and he was obviously a close member of the inner circle of Saddam Hussein.

He was a member of the revolution command council of the formerly ruling Baath Party, and interestingly enough, shortly after the war and during the war actually in April, it was believed that his house had been bombed and that he had been killed in that house in the south, and then it turned out that that wasn't true.

So this time it seemed that the Pentagon is confirming the capture of Ali Hassan Al Majid, also known as Chemical Ali -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Rym, let's take just a moment to turn and talk a little bit about the investigation into the bombing of U.N. headquarters in Baghdad. It's still unclear from what we heard earlier this morning exactly how many people were inside of that building. Where does the investigation stand right now?

BRAHIMI: It's not exactly how many people were inside of the building. I've actually just come back from that site, Soledad, and we were speaking to Army officers, as well as to officials from the United Nations just a few moments ago. The problem is there were several people from different United Nations agencies. There were also visitors in the building, and they haven't quite accounted for all of the people that were there.

In terms of figures, we've been given new figures, updated figures. it seems, according to the United Nation humanitarian coordinator, who just spoke to us, that 20 people have been killed, two people are missing, 86 people injured, and among the injured, some of them are spread out in different hospitals in Baghdad and around Baghdad, and those that could be moved easily were moved to neighboring Jordan.

In terms of the investigation, it continues. Still no clear indication of who would have been behind this, but Army units and the FBI sifting through the rubble for possible clues on those two missing people and possible clues on who may have done this -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Rym, the U.N. has said that it's going to cut back on the staff there, and employees have been quoted as saying that they want to stick it out, they want to stay and help. Give me a sense now, hours since those last reports, about how folks are feeling, folks who were employed by the U.N., are feeling about staying there.

BRAHIMI: It's quite interesting, actually, Soledad, because I've spoken to quite a few people that we knew, because a lot of people we used to be in close contact with actually here in Baghdad. And a lot of them are saying that apart from those who have been extremely traumatized and shocked, because maybe they had friends, colleagues that died or they were maybe they were in the same area when this happened, there were a lot of people who even some of them -- I spoke to a person I know who was in the area who saw it happen, who saw people die in front of her, and she's determined to stay on.

A lot of people who say they don't want to be discouraged by this. They feel they've been working very hard and closely with the Iraqi people. They say they've been very touched as well, because some Iraqi people have actually come forward and said they were very, very sorry for what happened, and they did appreciate the United Nations and would really want them to stay -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Certainly very, very brave. Rym Brahimi for us in Baghdad this morning. Thanks, Rym.

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 August 21, 2003 - 09:32   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 for more on the capture for the man known as "Chemical Ali." U.S. forces in Iraq confirm this morning that he is in custody.
CNN's Rym Brahimi is live in the Iraqi capital for us this morning.

Hey, Rym, good morning.

RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Soledad.

Indeed, it seems that Ali Hassan Al Majid known, as you mentioned, as Chemical Ali was captured a couple of days ago. It's not known exactly where in the country he would have been captured, but we do know that there have been a certain number of operations in the north around Tikrit and near Mosul.

As a matter of fact, the announcement of the capture of Chemical Ali comes just a few days after they also captured Taha Yassin Ramadan, who was the vice president for former President Saddam Hussein. Chemical Ali, as he was known, actually -- was known by that name because he was believed to have been responsible for the use of chemical weapons against Kurds in the north -- in the northern part of the country, near Hallajah (ph) in 1988. He was also the person that had been placed in charge of Kuwait when Iraq had invaded Kuwait in 1990, and he was obviously a close member of the inner circle of Saddam Hussein.

He was a member of the revolution command council of the formerly ruling Baath Party, and interestingly enough, shortly after the war and during the war actually in April, it was believed that his house had been bombed and that he had been killed in that house in the south, and then it turned out that that wasn't true.

So this time it seemed that the Pentagon is confirming the capture of Ali Hassan Al Majid, also known as Chemical Ali -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Rym, let's take just a moment to turn and talk a little bit about the investigation into the bombing of U.N. headquarters in Baghdad. It's still unclear from what we heard earlier this morning exactly how many people were inside of that building. Where does the investigation stand right now?

BRAHIMI: It's not exactly how many people were inside of the building. I've actually just come back from that site, Soledad, and we were speaking to Army officers, as well as to officials from the United Nations just a few moments ago. The problem is there were several people from different United Nations agencies. There were also visitors in the building, and they haven't quite accounted for all of the people that were there.

In terms of figures, we've been given new figures, updated figures. it seems, according to the United Nation humanitarian coordinator, who just spoke to us, that 20 people have been killed, two people are missing, 86 people injured, and among the injured, some of them are spread out in different hospitals in Baghdad and around Baghdad, and those that could be moved easily were moved to neighboring Jordan.

In terms of the investigation, it continues. Still no clear indication of who would have been behind this, but Army units and the FBI sifting through the rubble for possible clues on those two missing people and possible clues on who may have done this -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Rym, the U.N. has said that it's going to cut back on the staff there, and employees have been quoted as saying that they want to stick it out, they want to stay and help. Give me a sense now, hours since those last reports, about how folks are feeling, folks who were employed by the U.N., are feeling about staying there.

BRAHIMI: It's quite interesting, actually, Soledad, because I've spoken to quite a few people that we knew, because a lot of people we used to be in close contact with actually here in Baghdad. And a lot of them are saying that apart from those who have been extremely traumatized and shocked, because maybe they had friends, colleagues that died or they were maybe they were in the same area when this happened, there were a lot of people who even some of them -- I spoke to a person I know who was in the area who saw it happen, who saw people die in front of her, and she's determined to stay on.

A lot of people who say they don't want to be discouraged by this. They feel they've been working very hard and closely with the Iraqi people. They say they've been very touched as well, because some Iraqi people have actually come forward and said they were very, very sorry for what happened, and they did appreciate the United Nations and would really want them to stay -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Certainly very, very brave. Rym Brahimi for us in Baghdad this morning. Thanks, Rym.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com