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American Morning
Iraqi Reaction to State of the Union Speech
Aired January 21, 2004 - 08:39 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: Iraqi reaction now to the State of the Union speech. 5:00 a.m. in Baghdad when that speech started. Not many Iraqis saw it or heard it, but there is reaction now and for that here's Michael Holmes standing by live in the Iraqi capital -- Michael, good afternoon there.
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi to you, Bill.
Yes, not many people saw it because, quite frankly, not many people were interested. If I could sum up the reaction here, Bill, it would be we didn't see what the president said, we don't care what the president said. We were out and about around cafes in the streets of Baghdad today, trying to gauge some sort of reaction to the State of the Union address. Quite frankly, there wasn't much, and that is because people don't care.
They, as you say, the speech was at 5:00 a.m. local time and nobody got up to watch it. The newspapers, well, it was too late for them to have any editorial reaction. Arabic language television did run snippets throughout the day. Ironically, in the area we went to, the electricity wasn't on, so nobody could watch it if they wanted to.
Here's just a couple of the comments we got.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All what he said, he is lying because all the American promising before the war and after the war is not true.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): One thing is that this is liberation from Saddam's regime, which was total darkness upon this country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Well, Bill, at best, you can say it was apathetic, the reaction. We spoke to a professor, for example, who said that Iraq is not free, as the president might think. He said it is under occupation by another country. So certainly a very tough audience for the U.S. president, especially here in Baghdad -- Bill.
HEMMER: Michael Holmes, thank you, live in Baghdad.
And certainly the arguments continue as to what sort of role the U.N. may have. It's been a big issue already this week, so we will follow that, as well, as it transpires.
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 January 21, 2004 - 08:39 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Iraqi reaction now to the State of the Union speech. 5:00 a.m. in Baghdad when that speech started. Not many Iraqis saw it or heard it, but there is reaction now and for that here's Michael Holmes standing by live in the Iraqi capital -- Michael, good afternoon there.
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi to you, Bill.
Yes, not many people saw it because, quite frankly, not many people were interested. If I could sum up the reaction here, Bill, it would be we didn't see what the president said, we don't care what the president said. We were out and about around cafes in the streets of Baghdad today, trying to gauge some sort of reaction to the State of the Union address. Quite frankly, there wasn't much, and that is because people don't care.
They, as you say, the speech was at 5:00 a.m. local time and nobody got up to watch it. The newspapers, well, it was too late for them to have any editorial reaction. Arabic language television did run snippets throughout the day. Ironically, in the area we went to, the electricity wasn't on, so nobody could watch it if they wanted to.
Here's just a couple of the comments we got.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All what he said, he is lying because all the American promising before the war and after the war is not true.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): One thing is that this is liberation from Saddam's regime, which was total darkness upon this country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Well, Bill, at best, you can say it was apathetic, the reaction. We spoke to a professor, for example, who said that Iraq is not free, as the president might think. He said it is under occupation by another country. So certainly a very tough audience for the U.S. president, especially here in Baghdad -- Bill.
HEMMER: Michael Holmes, thank you, live in Baghdad.
And certainly the arguments continue as to what sort of role the U.N. may have. It's been a big issue already this week, so we will follow that, as well, as it transpires.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
