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American Morning
Deadly Attack Against Coalition Base South of Baghdad
Aired February 18, 2004 - 07:37 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: Now to Iraq, where a pair of suicide car bombings have carried out a deadly attack against a coalition base south of Baghdad.
Brent Sadler is in the Iraqi campaign to tell us what happened and what we know now -- Brent, hello.
BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Bill.
Yes, a variation on what we've seen in suicide attacks in recent months. This time a pair of suicide bombers, it seems, working together to attack a polish military compound, coalition forces, at a place called Hilla, which is some 90 miles south of the capital, Baghdad.
These two suicide bombers, one in a car, the second in a pickup truck, it's understood, attempted to penetrate the hardened compound of the polish base known as Camp Charlie. The plan seemed to have been to get the first vehicle to blow up to clear the way for the second vehicle, a truck, to get inside the compound and create even greater casualties.
So far in terms of numbers of dead and injured, on the coalition side, we have the latest figure of 12, 10 Poles injured, one Hungarian and one U.S. soldier. It's not understood their injuries, however, are of a life threatening nature.
It was Iraqis who bore the brunt of these latest explosions. The latest figures we have, Bill, is that there are 11, at least 11 dead, and many, many, many others injured, including, according to hospital reports, children, because this happened about 7:15 in the morning Iraqi time, when many Iraqi families were taking their children to school.
So just to recap, two bombers, didn't get into the base, but heavy loss of life and injuries among Iraqis -- Bill.
HEMMER: Brent Sadler in Baghdad.
Thank you.
Despite the continued attacks, the U.S. remains committed to handing power to the Iraqis by the 1st of July. But how and to whom?
Mowaffak Rubaei is a member of Iraq's Governing Council.
He is also with us live in Baghdad. Sir, we appreciate your time with us here on AMERICAN MORNING, as well.
There is a story today back in the U.S. from the "New York Times" that suggests there is already a bit of a split occurring in Iraq. The Kurds in the north, the Shiites in the south, saying they will be ready at some point to continue with elections in Iraq, but leaving out the Sunni majority in the central part of Iraq.
What do you know about this plan, sir, and would you support it?
MOWAFFAK AL RUBAIE, IRAQI GOVERNING COUNCIL: I would certainly support the plan for elections and most Iraqis, well, the overwhelming majority of Iraqis support early elections. And we wanted to have a new government, a credible, transparent, inclusive, representative government. And that's what all Iraqis want. And I'm sure Arabs, Kurds, Shia, Sunnis, they want the elections.
And I can break the news for the CNN that our Kurds brothers have agreed to a plan to govern the relationship between the Baghdad and the Kurdistan of Iraq province.
HEMMER: So you are saying, you're a Shiite, point of fact, and also you're saying that you want these elections to be inclusive. But back to the original point about the Sunni population being excluded, that would not be inclusive if the plan you're talking about goes forward, correct?
AL RUBAIE: Well, this is the very point we are talking about. We wanted the new provisional government to govern Iraq during the transitional period, to have some credibility, some inclusiveness, some representativeness. And that's the whole idea.
We don't want the process of selection, whatever that selection may be, we wanted the people to see the people of Iraq are so eager to go to the ballot boxes and to cast their votes and to choose their representatives. And that's what we wanted to do.
And we are working very closely with Lakhdar Brahimi, the special representative of Kofi Annan from the United Nations, we're working to work out a formula where to answer this question -- what is the most representative way and when is the best date, if you like, what's the earliest date the United Nations can help the Iraqis to do this election. And that's what we are talking about now.
HEMMER: And if I could go back to your original point, the news that you're telling us now, the news you're breaking here on CNN is that the Kurdish leadership has reached agreement with those in Baghdad to go forward with some sort of democratic election.
Is that what you're saying now?
AL RUBAIE: Well, basically the difference between the -- well, our Kurds colleagues is that they now agreed with the Coalition Provisional Authority and then with the Governing Council what is the relationship between the center and the Kurdistan of Iraq province during the transitional period. And we have agreed broadly on the -- on this. I mean we, most of us have agreed broadly on this new arrangement.
HEMMER: All right, Mowaffak Rubaie, a member of the Iraqi Governing Council, thank you for your time here.
It can be certainly a complicated matter in your country today, but we'll continue to follow it, obviously. And when you have more news, please, bring it back to us.
Thank you for sharing today.
AL RUBAIE: Thank you.
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 February 18, 2004 - 07:37 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Now to Iraq, where a pair of suicide car bombings have carried out a deadly attack against a coalition base south of Baghdad.
Brent Sadler is in the Iraqi campaign to tell us what happened and what we know now -- Brent, hello.
BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Bill.
Yes, a variation on what we've seen in suicide attacks in recent months. This time a pair of suicide bombers, it seems, working together to attack a polish military compound, coalition forces, at a place called Hilla, which is some 90 miles south of the capital, Baghdad.
These two suicide bombers, one in a car, the second in a pickup truck, it's understood, attempted to penetrate the hardened compound of the polish base known as Camp Charlie. The plan seemed to have been to get the first vehicle to blow up to clear the way for the second vehicle, a truck, to get inside the compound and create even greater casualties.
So far in terms of numbers of dead and injured, on the coalition side, we have the latest figure of 12, 10 Poles injured, one Hungarian and one U.S. soldier. It's not understood their injuries, however, are of a life threatening nature.
It was Iraqis who bore the brunt of these latest explosions. The latest figures we have, Bill, is that there are 11, at least 11 dead, and many, many, many others injured, including, according to hospital reports, children, because this happened about 7:15 in the morning Iraqi time, when many Iraqi families were taking their children to school.
So just to recap, two bombers, didn't get into the base, but heavy loss of life and injuries among Iraqis -- Bill.
HEMMER: Brent Sadler in Baghdad.
Thank you.
Despite the continued attacks, the U.S. remains committed to handing power to the Iraqis by the 1st of July. But how and to whom?
Mowaffak Rubaei is a member of Iraq's Governing Council.
He is also with us live in Baghdad. Sir, we appreciate your time with us here on AMERICAN MORNING, as well.
There is a story today back in the U.S. from the "New York Times" that suggests there is already a bit of a split occurring in Iraq. The Kurds in the north, the Shiites in the south, saying they will be ready at some point to continue with elections in Iraq, but leaving out the Sunni majority in the central part of Iraq.
What do you know about this plan, sir, and would you support it?
MOWAFFAK AL RUBAIE, IRAQI GOVERNING COUNCIL: I would certainly support the plan for elections and most Iraqis, well, the overwhelming majority of Iraqis support early elections. And we wanted to have a new government, a credible, transparent, inclusive, representative government. And that's what all Iraqis want. And I'm sure Arabs, Kurds, Shia, Sunnis, they want the elections.
And I can break the news for the CNN that our Kurds brothers have agreed to a plan to govern the relationship between the Baghdad and the Kurdistan of Iraq province.
HEMMER: So you are saying, you're a Shiite, point of fact, and also you're saying that you want these elections to be inclusive. But back to the original point about the Sunni population being excluded, that would not be inclusive if the plan you're talking about goes forward, correct?
AL RUBAIE: Well, this is the very point we are talking about. We wanted the new provisional government to govern Iraq during the transitional period, to have some credibility, some inclusiveness, some representativeness. And that's the whole idea.
We don't want the process of selection, whatever that selection may be, we wanted the people to see the people of Iraq are so eager to go to the ballot boxes and to cast their votes and to choose their representatives. And that's what we wanted to do.
And we are working very closely with Lakhdar Brahimi, the special representative of Kofi Annan from the United Nations, we're working to work out a formula where to answer this question -- what is the most representative way and when is the best date, if you like, what's the earliest date the United Nations can help the Iraqis to do this election. And that's what we are talking about now.
HEMMER: And if I could go back to your original point, the news that you're telling us now, the news you're breaking here on CNN is that the Kurdish leadership has reached agreement with those in Baghdad to go forward with some sort of democratic election.
Is that what you're saying now?
AL RUBAIE: Well, basically the difference between the -- well, our Kurds colleagues is that they now agreed with the Coalition Provisional Authority and then with the Governing Council what is the relationship between the center and the Kurdistan of Iraq province during the transitional period. And we have agreed broadly on the -- on this. I mean we, most of us have agreed broadly on this new arrangement.
HEMMER: All right, Mowaffak Rubaie, a member of the Iraqi Governing Council, thank you for your time here.
It can be certainly a complicated matter in your country today, but we'll continue to follow it, obviously. And when you have more news, please, bring it back to us.
Thank you for sharing today.
AL RUBAIE: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
