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American Morning

Interview With Hassan Fattah, Editor of 'Iraq Today'

Aired October 28, 2003 - 08:18   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.


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Despite two days of daring and deadly attacks in Iraq, President Bush continues to insist the U.S. is making progress in its mission to rebuild that country.
Suicide bombers targeted the International Red Cross and an Iraqi police station -- several of them -- in four separate and apparently synchronized attacks. Another report this morning out of Fallujah of a suicide bombing there, four killed. Thirty were killed in all yesterday, more than 200 wounded.

Joining us from Baghdad to talk about this latest spate of violence is Hassan Fattah. He is editor of the English-language newspaper, "Iraq Today.

Good to have you with us, Mr. Fattah.

HASSAN FATTAH, EDITOR, "IRAQ TODAY": Thanks so much. Good morning.

O'BRIEN: Good morning to you.

Give us a sense of your take on President Bush's comment that terrorists there are responding to progress on the part of the U.S. coalition forces.

FATTAH: Well, certainly there has been a lot of progress. I mean, these hits come at such a critical time, just as things start to seem to be improving, getting better. People are becoming more confident out on the streets. You're starting to see more police out on the streets. The security situation seems to be getting much, much better.

And yet, at the same time, you have these giant attacks. This is a very, very big attack that happened yesterday, especially from the fact that it was synchronized, especially from the fact that it was so well-organized.

O'BRIEN: Is it a coincidence that it occurred as soon as the restrictions were loosened somewhat?

FATTAH: Well, there is some speculation as to whether the loosening of the nighttime curfew helped the bombers last night and the night before. In fact, there is some evidence, in fact, that the bombers who hit the Rashid Hotel (ph), where Assistance Secretary Paul Wolfowitz was, were certainly helped by the lifting of the curfew, because they were able to roll in a trailer that looked like a generator and rolled it into place last at night. The attacks from yesterday were early in the morning. They didn't say much about the curfew itself. They actually said that these terrorists are able to do what they want to do. It was a very pinpointed statement to say we own the streets, we can do this, and you can't stop us.

O'BRIEN: Clearly, one of the goals of these terrorists is to intimidate everyday Iraqis who might otherwise be willing to cooperate with the Americans and try to secure some peace in Iraq. Is it working?

FATTAH: I don't think so. I think that people here really realize what's going on, that there are a lot of outsiders, that there are a lot of outside forces trying to rip this country apart and keep it going until war, keep it in a war zone. And I think people are resisting it.

I think tonight will be telling to see whether people are going to be out on the streets celebrating Ramadan and living like they would normally live.

O'BRIEN: So, the average Iraqi wants to live a normal life. There are calls today here in the U.S. to have the U.S. increase restrictions there, cordon off more of Baghdad, perhaps even raise up the level of combat. Is that a good idea at this juncture?

FATTAH: Well, look at what these guys are doing. Look at what these terrorists are doing. They're basically managing to go up to some of the most secure spaces in Baghdad. I mean, the Rashid Hotel (ph), even I can't get into the Rashid Hotel (ph), a journalist -- and a Western journalist at that. It's very difficult to get at these spots, and yet they're still managing to hit them.

So, I don't see what security -- added security will do. What this country really needs, in fact, is more intelligence, to know what's going on, on the ground.

O'BRIEN: All right, Hassan Fattah, with the noise of the aircraft there, I'll let you. Hassan Fattah is the editor of "Iraq Today," an English-language newspaper in Iraq, and you can see it on the Web as well as iraqtoday.com. Thank you very much for being with us.

FATTAH: Thank you so 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 October 28, 2003 - 08:18   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Despite two days of daring and deadly attacks in Iraq, President Bush continues to insist the U.S. is making progress in its mission to rebuild that country.
Suicide bombers targeted the International Red Cross and an Iraqi police station -- several of them -- in four separate and apparently synchronized attacks. Another report this morning out of Fallujah of a suicide bombing there, four killed. Thirty were killed in all yesterday, more than 200 wounded.

Joining us from Baghdad to talk about this latest spate of violence is Hassan Fattah. He is editor of the English-language newspaper, "Iraq Today.

Good to have you with us, Mr. Fattah.

HASSAN FATTAH, EDITOR, "IRAQ TODAY": Thanks so much. Good morning.

O'BRIEN: Good morning to you.

Give us a sense of your take on President Bush's comment that terrorists there are responding to progress on the part of the U.S. coalition forces.

FATTAH: Well, certainly there has been a lot of progress. I mean, these hits come at such a critical time, just as things start to seem to be improving, getting better. People are becoming more confident out on the streets. You're starting to see more police out on the streets. The security situation seems to be getting much, much better.

And yet, at the same time, you have these giant attacks. This is a very, very big attack that happened yesterday, especially from the fact that it was synchronized, especially from the fact that it was so well-organized.

O'BRIEN: Is it a coincidence that it occurred as soon as the restrictions were loosened somewhat?

FATTAH: Well, there is some speculation as to whether the loosening of the nighttime curfew helped the bombers last night and the night before. In fact, there is some evidence, in fact, that the bombers who hit the Rashid Hotel (ph), where Assistance Secretary Paul Wolfowitz was, were certainly helped by the lifting of the curfew, because they were able to roll in a trailer that looked like a generator and rolled it into place last at night. The attacks from yesterday were early in the morning. They didn't say much about the curfew itself. They actually said that these terrorists are able to do what they want to do. It was a very pinpointed statement to say we own the streets, we can do this, and you can't stop us.

O'BRIEN: Clearly, one of the goals of these terrorists is to intimidate everyday Iraqis who might otherwise be willing to cooperate with the Americans and try to secure some peace in Iraq. Is it working?

FATTAH: I don't think so. I think that people here really realize what's going on, that there are a lot of outsiders, that there are a lot of outside forces trying to rip this country apart and keep it going until war, keep it in a war zone. And I think people are resisting it.

I think tonight will be telling to see whether people are going to be out on the streets celebrating Ramadan and living like they would normally live.

O'BRIEN: So, the average Iraqi wants to live a normal life. There are calls today here in the U.S. to have the U.S. increase restrictions there, cordon off more of Baghdad, perhaps even raise up the level of combat. Is that a good idea at this juncture?

FATTAH: Well, look at what these guys are doing. Look at what these terrorists are doing. They're basically managing to go up to some of the most secure spaces in Baghdad. I mean, the Rashid Hotel (ph), even I can't get into the Rashid Hotel (ph), a journalist -- and a Western journalist at that. It's very difficult to get at these spots, and yet they're still managing to hit them.

So, I don't see what security -- added security will do. What this country really needs, in fact, is more intelligence, to know what's going on, on the ground.

O'BRIEN: All right, Hassan Fattah, with the noise of the aircraft there, I'll let you. Hassan Fattah is the editor of "Iraq Today," an English-language newspaper in Iraq, and you can see it on the Web as well as iraqtoday.com. Thank you very much for being with us.

FATTAH: Thank you so 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.