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American Morning

Iraqi Violence

Aired August 29, 2003 - 08:31   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.


ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: And we've been following this car bombing in Najaf all morning long. We want to go back to Iraq now for more, for the latest information that we have on the attack. The explosion occurred outside one of the holiest of Shiite shrines in the city of Najaf.
Reports are still coming in on exactly the number of deaths and injuries.

CNN's Rym Brahimi is live in Baghdad -- Rym.

RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, indeed, we've actually received reports now of the death of a very prominent Shiite leader, Muhammad Bakir Al Hakeem (ph). He was the leader of SCIRI, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq. His office is confirming his death in that car bomb that sources say exploded at 2:00 p.m. in front of the Imam Ali (ph) mosque in Najaf. Now that Imam Al mosque is actually the holiest shrine for Shia Muslims.

2:00 p.m. is when most people would have come out of Friday prayers. It's clearly very, very well-timed.

We're also hearing reports of up to at least 20 other people dead. We've yet to confirm that. And dozens of people injured, extensive damage also probably to the mosque itself. Now it's the third massive bombing in Iraq in just a month.

If you remember, well, the beginning of the month, the Jordanian embassy was hit by truck bomb, and just on the 19th of August, a little over a week ago, the United Nations headquarters here in Baghdad were also hit by a very big truck bomb that killed at least 22 people -- Anderson.

COOPER: Rym, just for my own clarification, the man who is apparently been killed, Mohammed Bakir Al Hakim, he's the nephew, is he not, of Mohammed Saeed (ph) Al Hakim who is a cleric there was an attempt against on Sunday, is that correct?

BRAHIMI: My understand is he is related to him. I believe he was actually his cousin, and this happened less than a week ago in Najaf as well, in the office of that religious cleric, Mohammed Saeed Al Hakim, the cousin of the person who died today. In that explosion it was a small explosion, a different type of explosion that hit his office, and three of his bodyguards were killed then, and a few people were injured. But definitely, there seems to be a pattern of violence that's now even hitting the holy city of Najaf -- Anderson.

COOPER: All right, Rym Brahimi, appreciate the clarification. Thank you for the update.

We want to check in a little bit more now in-depth on the deadly attacks today in Iraq. We are joined from Baghdad by Hassan Fattah. He's been reporting for "The New Republic Magazine," as well as the English-language newspaper he started in Baghdad, Iraq today.

Mr. Fattah, appreciate you joining us.

Who stands to benefit from the death not only of the cleric today, but of his cousin who there was a car bomb against on Sunday? Who stands to benefit?

HASSAN FATTAH, EDITOR, "IRAQ TODAY": Well, that's actually the fundamental question. The explosions on Monday were so significantly different that, in fact, there has to be a big question as to, are these related, and what is the pattern? Comparing it also to other explosions that have happened before the Jordanian embassy bombing several weeks ago, and of course the U.N. bombing two weeks ago -- excuse me last week.

Who stands to benefit really? You could say, of course, members of the former regime, remnants of the Fedayeen, people like that. There's also been a lot of internal fighting among the groups themselves, the Shia groups. And the suspects can -- the suspect list can be quite long in fact.

COOPER: Mr. Fattah, I want to talk to you about some of that internal fighting, because my understanding, and correct me on the details here, but that there are four main Shiite clerics in -- throughout Iraq, or I think they're ayatollahs or grand ayatollahs, but there is this young cleric, he's like 30 years old, he is in Najaf, and he has basically publicly threatened some of these older clerics.

FATTAH: Indeed. I mean, his name might be the first to come up on the list. And there's a lot of questions whether he or people around him would be capable of doing something like this.

This is a Friday. It's basically the Muslim Sabbath. This is a very holy day, and it is quite -- it would be quite surprising if someone would actually do something like this at a mosque, especially a mosque as holy and as significant as the Iman Ali.

COOPER: Does the U.S. in some way get blamed for this by Shiites in Najaf throughout Iraq?

FATTAH: Well, I spent a couple of days in Najaf earlier this week with a lot of different clerics and a lot of the different people in Najaf. Najaf has been enjoying a lot of security. It's been enjoying, really, a lot of the promise of the U.S. occupation.

But in recent weeks, things have turned. The security situation has changed. Definitely, this shows how dramatically, or how quickly things are changing, and certainly the U.S. might get blamed for, for instance, allowing things like this to happen, or worse yet, allowing conditions like an open border, basically open borders all around the country to continue, allowing outsiders, all kinds of troublemakers to pour into the country.

COOPER: Well, today's bombing is the second attack in Najaf in the last week.

Hassan Fatah, appreciate you joining us for some clarification. Thanks very much.

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 29, 2003 - 08:31   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: And we've been following this car bombing in Najaf all morning long. We want to go back to Iraq now for more, for the latest information that we have on the attack. The explosion occurred outside one of the holiest of Shiite shrines in the city of Najaf.
Reports are still coming in on exactly the number of deaths and injuries.

CNN's Rym Brahimi is live in Baghdad -- Rym.

RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, indeed, we've actually received reports now of the death of a very prominent Shiite leader, Muhammad Bakir Al Hakeem (ph). He was the leader of SCIRI, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq. His office is confirming his death in that car bomb that sources say exploded at 2:00 p.m. in front of the Imam Ali (ph) mosque in Najaf. Now that Imam Al mosque is actually the holiest shrine for Shia Muslims.

2:00 p.m. is when most people would have come out of Friday prayers. It's clearly very, very well-timed.

We're also hearing reports of up to at least 20 other people dead. We've yet to confirm that. And dozens of people injured, extensive damage also probably to the mosque itself. Now it's the third massive bombing in Iraq in just a month.

If you remember, well, the beginning of the month, the Jordanian embassy was hit by truck bomb, and just on the 19th of August, a little over a week ago, the United Nations headquarters here in Baghdad were also hit by a very big truck bomb that killed at least 22 people -- Anderson.

COOPER: Rym, just for my own clarification, the man who is apparently been killed, Mohammed Bakir Al Hakim, he's the nephew, is he not, of Mohammed Saeed (ph) Al Hakim who is a cleric there was an attempt against on Sunday, is that correct?

BRAHIMI: My understand is he is related to him. I believe he was actually his cousin, and this happened less than a week ago in Najaf as well, in the office of that religious cleric, Mohammed Saeed Al Hakim, the cousin of the person who died today. In that explosion it was a small explosion, a different type of explosion that hit his office, and three of his bodyguards were killed then, and a few people were injured. But definitely, there seems to be a pattern of violence that's now even hitting the holy city of Najaf -- Anderson.

COOPER: All right, Rym Brahimi, appreciate the clarification. Thank you for the update.

We want to check in a little bit more now in-depth on the deadly attacks today in Iraq. We are joined from Baghdad by Hassan Fattah. He's been reporting for "The New Republic Magazine," as well as the English-language newspaper he started in Baghdad, Iraq today.

Mr. Fattah, appreciate you joining us.

Who stands to benefit from the death not only of the cleric today, but of his cousin who there was a car bomb against on Sunday? Who stands to benefit?

HASSAN FATTAH, EDITOR, "IRAQ TODAY": Well, that's actually the fundamental question. The explosions on Monday were so significantly different that, in fact, there has to be a big question as to, are these related, and what is the pattern? Comparing it also to other explosions that have happened before the Jordanian embassy bombing several weeks ago, and of course the U.N. bombing two weeks ago -- excuse me last week.

Who stands to benefit really? You could say, of course, members of the former regime, remnants of the Fedayeen, people like that. There's also been a lot of internal fighting among the groups themselves, the Shia groups. And the suspects can -- the suspect list can be quite long in fact.

COOPER: Mr. Fattah, I want to talk to you about some of that internal fighting, because my understanding, and correct me on the details here, but that there are four main Shiite clerics in -- throughout Iraq, or I think they're ayatollahs or grand ayatollahs, but there is this young cleric, he's like 30 years old, he is in Najaf, and he has basically publicly threatened some of these older clerics.

FATTAH: Indeed. I mean, his name might be the first to come up on the list. And there's a lot of questions whether he or people around him would be capable of doing something like this.

This is a Friday. It's basically the Muslim Sabbath. This is a very holy day, and it is quite -- it would be quite surprising if someone would actually do something like this at a mosque, especially a mosque as holy and as significant as the Iman Ali.

COOPER: Does the U.S. in some way get blamed for this by Shiites in Najaf throughout Iraq?

FATTAH: Well, I spent a couple of days in Najaf earlier this week with a lot of different clerics and a lot of the different people in Najaf. Najaf has been enjoying a lot of security. It's been enjoying, really, a lot of the promise of the U.S. occupation.

But in recent weeks, things have turned. The security situation has changed. Definitely, this shows how dramatically, or how quickly things are changing, and certainly the U.S. might get blamed for, for instance, allowing things like this to happen, or worse yet, allowing conditions like an open border, basically open borders all around the country to continue, allowing outsiders, all kinds of troublemakers to pour into the country.

COOPER: Well, today's bombing is the second attack in Najaf in the last week.

Hassan Fatah, appreciate you joining us for some clarification. Thanks very much.

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