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American Morning

Who's Behind Attacks in Iraq?

Aired November 10, 2003 - 08:11   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: U.S. military officials are confirming this morning that an American soldier was killed in Iraq overnight by a rocket propelled grenade. It's been an especially deadly month, with 38 American soldiers killed so far.
So just who is behind the attacks?

Joining us live from Baghdad this morning is Anthony Shadid of the "Washington Post."

Anthony, nice to see you.

Good morning.

ANTHONY SHADID, "WASHINGTON POST": Good morning.

O'BRIEN: Thirty-eight soldiers in 10 days. Much violence, as we as saw last Friday, also, throughout the weekend.

Who is behind the violence?

SHADID: Well, that's one of the big questions right now. The military seems to think that there are three groups that are operating against them. There are former Baathists, people that were loyal to the fallen government of Saddam Hussein; foreign fighters, as well; and there's also another component, possibly, and kind of a homegrown movement of Islamic fighters, particularly in the west of Iraq.

But there's a lot of questions that remain about that and the military will acknowledge the fact that they don't have a clear handle on how those groups are coordinating or how many fighters those groups necessarily command. And that's going to be a more important question as these attacks, you know, continue through the fall and winter.

O'BRIEN: Just how easy is it for, though, any members of those groups to get access to some of this weaponry, the surface to air missiles or the material that's needed to make a car bomb?

SHADID: Well, Iraq is infused with these weapons and they're plentiful. And the military is pretty blunt that they are not able to close the access to all the weapons depots that are spread across the country.

What we saw with the Chinook helicopter was a surface to air missile, and there are hundreds, if not thousands, of that type of missile. It's kind of a poor man's Stinger. What we saw against the Black Hawk helicopter in Tikrit on Friday was a rocket propelled grenade and we've seen over the past few months that rocket propelled grenades are kind of the weapon of choice of these guerrillas, incredibly plentiful, very hard to crack down on in any real sense since, you know, there's plenty of access to them in any place you go.

O'BRIEN: Let's take a look at the recent targets for me -- a judge kidnapped and then killed; a hotel, which was near a Shiite religious site also attacked.

What do you read into these particular targets?

SHADID: Well, I think there has been a pretty consistent campaign for the past few months against officials that are seen as working with the American government, or, in this case, what we saw in Najaf is somebody working just against the Baath Party or the remnants of the Baath Party. And that campaign is probably going to continue.

And there was an unfortunate incident today where a person working with the Americans was killed at an American checkpoint, even.

So it's a real tough environment out there for the efforts of the U.S. government to try to set up new institutions, new authorities in this country. And they're continually bedeviled by, for instance, the Baathists that we saw there or these unfortunate incidents, these accidents, apparently, when the head of the local council in Baghdad was shot yesterday.

O'BRIEN: Anthony, I should mention that as we've been talking, the sandstorm behind you is actually starting to pick up a little bit, so we're able to hear it in our ear. So I just wanted to tell our viewers that's kind of what they're hearing behind you.

People inside of Baghdad, what's been their reaction to these attacks?

SHADID: Well, I think there's a lot of fear. And I think if you look back over the past seven months of the occupation, there have been moments of hope, moments of exhilaration and moments of desperation. But what you've really seen a lot of time is anxiety and unease and uncertainty about what's ahead, what the future holds.

And I think the attacks, particularly the suicide bombings at the three police stations and ICRC really amplified those feelings. It's this uncertainty of what's ahead, of what's going to follow.

And there is, at a certain level, not opposition, necessarily, to the U.S. occupation, although there is that in parts of the country, but a loss of confidence mainly that the U.S. occupation has a future in mind for this country, that the occupation knows exactly where it is taking this country.

O'BRIEN: Anthony Shadid of the "Washington Post" joining us this morning in the middle of a sandstorm.

Thanks so much.

We certainly appreciate it.

SHADID: My pleasure.

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 November 10, 2003 - 08:11   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: U.S. military officials are confirming this morning that an American soldier was killed in Iraq overnight by a rocket propelled grenade. It's been an especially deadly month, with 38 American soldiers killed so far.
So just who is behind the attacks?

Joining us live from Baghdad this morning is Anthony Shadid of the "Washington Post."

Anthony, nice to see you.

Good morning.

ANTHONY SHADID, "WASHINGTON POST": Good morning.

O'BRIEN: Thirty-eight soldiers in 10 days. Much violence, as we as saw last Friday, also, throughout the weekend.

Who is behind the violence?

SHADID: Well, that's one of the big questions right now. The military seems to think that there are three groups that are operating against them. There are former Baathists, people that were loyal to the fallen government of Saddam Hussein; foreign fighters, as well; and there's also another component, possibly, and kind of a homegrown movement of Islamic fighters, particularly in the west of Iraq.

But there's a lot of questions that remain about that and the military will acknowledge the fact that they don't have a clear handle on how those groups are coordinating or how many fighters those groups necessarily command. And that's going to be a more important question as these attacks, you know, continue through the fall and winter.

O'BRIEN: Just how easy is it for, though, any members of those groups to get access to some of this weaponry, the surface to air missiles or the material that's needed to make a car bomb?

SHADID: Well, Iraq is infused with these weapons and they're plentiful. And the military is pretty blunt that they are not able to close the access to all the weapons depots that are spread across the country.

What we saw with the Chinook helicopter was a surface to air missile, and there are hundreds, if not thousands, of that type of missile. It's kind of a poor man's Stinger. What we saw against the Black Hawk helicopter in Tikrit on Friday was a rocket propelled grenade and we've seen over the past few months that rocket propelled grenades are kind of the weapon of choice of these guerrillas, incredibly plentiful, very hard to crack down on in any real sense since, you know, there's plenty of access to them in any place you go.

O'BRIEN: Let's take a look at the recent targets for me -- a judge kidnapped and then killed; a hotel, which was near a Shiite religious site also attacked.

What do you read into these particular targets?

SHADID: Well, I think there has been a pretty consistent campaign for the past few months against officials that are seen as working with the American government, or, in this case, what we saw in Najaf is somebody working just against the Baath Party or the remnants of the Baath Party. And that campaign is probably going to continue.

And there was an unfortunate incident today where a person working with the Americans was killed at an American checkpoint, even.

So it's a real tough environment out there for the efforts of the U.S. government to try to set up new institutions, new authorities in this country. And they're continually bedeviled by, for instance, the Baathists that we saw there or these unfortunate incidents, these accidents, apparently, when the head of the local council in Baghdad was shot yesterday.

O'BRIEN: Anthony, I should mention that as we've been talking, the sandstorm behind you is actually starting to pick up a little bit, so we're able to hear it in our ear. So I just wanted to tell our viewers that's kind of what they're hearing behind you.

People inside of Baghdad, what's been their reaction to these attacks?

SHADID: Well, I think there's a lot of fear. And I think if you look back over the past seven months of the occupation, there have been moments of hope, moments of exhilaration and moments of desperation. But what you've really seen a lot of time is anxiety and unease and uncertainty about what's ahead, what the future holds.

And I think the attacks, particularly the suicide bombings at the three police stations and ICRC really amplified those feelings. It's this uncertainty of what's ahead, of what's going to follow.

And there is, at a certain level, not opposition, necessarily, to the U.S. occupation, although there is that in parts of the country, but a loss of confidence mainly that the U.S. occupation has a future in mind for this country, that the occupation knows exactly where it is taking this country.

O'BRIEN: Anthony Shadid of the "Washington Post" joining us this morning in the middle of a sandstorm.

Thanks so much.

We certainly appreciate it.

SHADID: My pleasure.

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