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CNN Sunday Morning

Iraqi Christians Celebrate Easter

Aired April 20, 2003 - 07:13   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.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We move on to Baghdad now. Is life as Iraqis don't know it returning to normal? Iraqi Christians today celebrating Easter.
CNN's Rula Amin is live in Baghdad with the latest.

Rula -- hello.

RULA AMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Daryn.

There are about a quarter-million Iraqi Christians here in Iraq. And today at the St. Joseph's Church in the Karabba (ph) neighborhood, about 300 Chaldean Christians celebrated Easter Sunday.

There was no talk of politics there. There were only prayers for peace, for those who were killed and wounded. However, the Easter Sunday this year comes at a time when many of the Iraqi Christians here are a bit anxious. They have been living in a secular state for decades, and now after the removal of Saddam Hussein, they're starting to hear calls from some Iraqis, calling for the establishment of an Islamic state, and they are a bit uneasy about such calls.

At the same time today, we saw Shiite Iraqis performing one of their most important religious pilgrimages. Their walk -- they started their walk from Baghdad, the capital, towards the holy cities of Karbala and Najaf.

For decades, this tradition was banned under the rule of Saddam Hussein, and this time, this year, we'll see hundreds of thousands of Iraqi Shiites actually making the walk from Baghdad to Karbala, which is more than an hour-and-a-half drive away from here. They will be -- most of them will be barefoot, and the ritual will culminate about mid-week.

It's a sensitive issue as the U.S. troops are trying to keep a low profile. With this tradition going on, some Shiite leaders have already called on their followers in order to use the occasion to show their rejection to the presence of U.S. troops here.

At the same time, we saw other Iraqis trying to get back to their normal lives. At the Saddam Hussein Medical School today, students were back at their desks. They changed the name of the school to Iraq's Medical School. This is their third day in a row at the school after about more than six weeks of absence. They were not able to go there because of the war. Today, they are back. Their teachers are back, although they don't know who will pay their salaries. They used to get their salaries from the government; now, there is no Iraqi government. So they're basically volunteering to teach those students -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Rula, interesting that you mentioned the medical school dropping the name of "Saddam." We also saw that area where the Shia Muslims live, that neighborhood, Saddam City, also being renamed. I would imagine in a place that was run by a man who was so into himself, shall we say, Saddam Hussein, there are tons of references to him. Are you seeing a general cleansing of his name, at least across Baghdad?

AMIN: Well, we are, especially with posters and statues, because he had filled the city with his posters and his pictures and his statues. And every day we go on the streets, there's always people trying to tear his pictures, or even hit at the pictures, or trying to bring the statues down.

It was these pictures and statues that were a symbol of his power and his imposition on the people. And so, they are trying very hard to get rid of these symbols -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Rula Amin in Baghdad -- Rula, 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 April 20, 2003 - 07:13   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We move on to Baghdad now. Is life as Iraqis don't know it returning to normal? Iraqi Christians today celebrating Easter.
CNN's Rula Amin is live in Baghdad with the latest.

Rula -- hello.

RULA AMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Daryn.

There are about a quarter-million Iraqi Christians here in Iraq. And today at the St. Joseph's Church in the Karabba (ph) neighborhood, about 300 Chaldean Christians celebrated Easter Sunday.

There was no talk of politics there. There were only prayers for peace, for those who were killed and wounded. However, the Easter Sunday this year comes at a time when many of the Iraqi Christians here are a bit anxious. They have been living in a secular state for decades, and now after the removal of Saddam Hussein, they're starting to hear calls from some Iraqis, calling for the establishment of an Islamic state, and they are a bit uneasy about such calls.

At the same time today, we saw Shiite Iraqis performing one of their most important religious pilgrimages. Their walk -- they started their walk from Baghdad, the capital, towards the holy cities of Karbala and Najaf.

For decades, this tradition was banned under the rule of Saddam Hussein, and this time, this year, we'll see hundreds of thousands of Iraqi Shiites actually making the walk from Baghdad to Karbala, which is more than an hour-and-a-half drive away from here. They will be -- most of them will be barefoot, and the ritual will culminate about mid-week.

It's a sensitive issue as the U.S. troops are trying to keep a low profile. With this tradition going on, some Shiite leaders have already called on their followers in order to use the occasion to show their rejection to the presence of U.S. troops here.

At the same time, we saw other Iraqis trying to get back to their normal lives. At the Saddam Hussein Medical School today, students were back at their desks. They changed the name of the school to Iraq's Medical School. This is their third day in a row at the school after about more than six weeks of absence. They were not able to go there because of the war. Today, they are back. Their teachers are back, although they don't know who will pay their salaries. They used to get their salaries from the government; now, there is no Iraqi government. So they're basically volunteering to teach those students -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Rula, interesting that you mentioned the medical school dropping the name of "Saddam." We also saw that area where the Shia Muslims live, that neighborhood, Saddam City, also being renamed. I would imagine in a place that was run by a man who was so into himself, shall we say, Saddam Hussein, there are tons of references to him. Are you seeing a general cleansing of his name, at least across Baghdad?

AMIN: Well, we are, especially with posters and statues, because he had filled the city with his posters and his pictures and his statues. And every day we go on the streets, there's always people trying to tear his pictures, or even hit at the pictures, or trying to bring the statues down.

It was these pictures and statues that were a symbol of his power and his imposition on the people. And so, they are trying very hard to get rid of these symbols -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Rula Amin in Baghdad -- Rula, 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