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CNN Saturday Morning News

Ammunition Dump Explodes in Baghdad

Aired April 26, 2003 - 07:01   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.


KELLI ARENA, CNN ANCHOR: In a Baghdad neighborhood today, anger and demands for accountability. More than a dozen people are feared dead after an ammunition dump exploded, sending a missile slamming into a private home. The confiscated Iraqi ammunition was being stored at a military base near the Zafrania (ph) neighborhood.
CNN's Rula Amin joins us now with the latest -- Rula.

RULA AMIN, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Kelli, the tragic event, as you said, took place in the Zafrania neighborhood. It's about 10 miles to the southeast of Baghdad. What happened was that there was some kind of ammunition depot. It's weapons that U.S. Army has been collecting that used to belong for -- to the Iraqi army, some missiles, rockets, ammunitions, all kinds of weapons. Some of the missiles were as big as trucks.

And they were there in an open field, surrounded by a high wall. Now, the U.S. Army says that someone sent flares -- they shot flares into that ammunition depot, set a chain of explosions that, in return, had set off some rockets and missiles out of that ammunition depot into a residential neighborhood.

Now, in that residential neighborhood, a few homes have been destroyed, and at least probably a dozen of people have been killed. We still can't confirm how many people killed, because people are still digging, still sipping through the rubble, trying to extract the bodies out.

We know that one person told CNN and other reporters that he saw many bodies being pulled out. Another person said that he was the only survivor in his family. Eleven of his family were buried under the rubble, including his father, his wife, and a brother.

It was a very tragic event, and many of the residents there were extremely angry. They accused the United States and the U.S. Army of being responsible, because they said that in the past few days, they had been appealing to the Army to move these weapons away from their neighborhoods, because they said that in the past few days, there were controlled explosions there, the Army trying to destroy these weapons.

They were concerned. They went to the Army and asked the Army to either to destroy these weapons away from their neighborhood, or somewhere else.

And that's why today they were blaming the Army. Let's listen to one person who was really angry.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why? Why? (UNINTELLIGIBLE), women, an old man! Who responsible all that? Who responsible? Saddam Hussein? (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No! No! No! Saddam Hussein -- Bush, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Saddam Hussein. Why? Who? (UNINTELLIGIBLE)? What does it change about the government? What does it change? (UNINTELLIGIBLE)!

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) America! America, the war is finished in Baghdad. The war is finished. Why (UNINTELLIGIBLE) this building? Why? Who responsible all of that? I ask you, (UNINTELLIGIBLE), (UNINTELLIGIBLE)! Why? Why? You don't know. I don't know. (UNINTELLIGIBLE)? (UNINTELLIGIBLE)? Who know? Who know?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AMIN: You can see there, people are extremely angry. They're blaming both the U.S. and the Saddam Hussein. They're saying the U.S. is killing them with Saddam Hussein weapons.

Even when the Army tried to come to help, to try to dig in the rubble, to help them with its own machines, Iraq -- U.S. engineers tried to come in, people were very angry. At first they wouldn't let them come close to the place. They started throwing stones at them.

So there's a lot of anger there, and most of the blame on the U.S. Army that's in that neighborhood.

Later on, people came from that neighborhood to the Palestine Hotel, where most of the journalists are based. They were shouting slogans, saying that both Saddam Hussein and George Bush don't care about the Iraqi civilians. They were saying that they need to see the U.S. troops out.

One person even had his shoe, he was carrying his shoe, saying he was going to force the troops to leave Iraq with this shoe.

A lot of people were very angry. They thought that this was unfair. Now that they got rid of Saddam Hussein, they were going to have a new life, and it seems they are disappointed, Kelli.

ARENA: Thank you, Rula Amin in Baghdad. Very tragic. That's right.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, really terrible pictures.

Let's check in right now with the Pentagon for any reaction to the incident in Iraq, and try to get an update on Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's trip to the region. He's going to take off later this morning.

CNN's Kathleen Koch's tracking developments there. Good morning, Kathleen.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Anderson.

Well, obviously not the kind of pictures that the Pentagon would like to see. However, in speaking to officials at the Pentagon and at CentCom, at this point they have no confirmation whatsoever on exactly what occurred, how it occurred, or whether any U.S. service members were injured.

However, one official at CentCom told me that they've maintained all along that there were still pockets of resistance in Baghdad, elements loyal to the regime, that it is still a very, very dangerous place to be. And the official said that while it is getting more stable by the day, it's still going to take quite some time before it can be considered what at least the Pentagon would consider safe.

Now, part of getting -- Baghdad getting Iraq on the road to true safety and freedom, have -- that will take establishing a new government in the region. And there have obviously been these reports over the last week or so that Iran is sending emissaries into Iraq to push for it to establish a fundamentalist Muslim regime like Iran's.

And Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld yesterday warned Iran not to interfere on Iraq's road to freedom.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: This much is certain. A vocal minority clamoring to transform Iraq in Iran's image will not be permitted to do so. We will not allow the Iraqi people's democratic transition to be hijacked for -- by those who might wish to install another form of dictatorship.

Our policy in Iraq is simple. It is to stay as long as necessary to finish our work, and then to leave Iraq to the Iraqi people as soon as that work is done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOCH: Secretary Rumsfeld heads to the region today to begin a weeklong visit. This will be his first opportunity to visit Iraq since the war began. Among other things, the defense secretary will be meeting with U.S. forces in the region, forces that the secretary yesterday said that the U.S. would very much like to begin to bring home, but the U.S. is also prepared to increase if it becomes necessary, Anderson.

COOPER: All right, Kathleen Koch, thanks very much, at the Pentagon.

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 26, 2003 - 07:01   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KELLI ARENA, CNN ANCHOR: In a Baghdad neighborhood today, anger and demands for accountability. More than a dozen people are feared dead after an ammunition dump exploded, sending a missile slamming into a private home. The confiscated Iraqi ammunition was being stored at a military base near the Zafrania (ph) neighborhood.
CNN's Rula Amin joins us now with the latest -- Rula.

RULA AMIN, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Kelli, the tragic event, as you said, took place in the Zafrania neighborhood. It's about 10 miles to the southeast of Baghdad. What happened was that there was some kind of ammunition depot. It's weapons that U.S. Army has been collecting that used to belong for -- to the Iraqi army, some missiles, rockets, ammunitions, all kinds of weapons. Some of the missiles were as big as trucks.

And they were there in an open field, surrounded by a high wall. Now, the U.S. Army says that someone sent flares -- they shot flares into that ammunition depot, set a chain of explosions that, in return, had set off some rockets and missiles out of that ammunition depot into a residential neighborhood.

Now, in that residential neighborhood, a few homes have been destroyed, and at least probably a dozen of people have been killed. We still can't confirm how many people killed, because people are still digging, still sipping through the rubble, trying to extract the bodies out.

We know that one person told CNN and other reporters that he saw many bodies being pulled out. Another person said that he was the only survivor in his family. Eleven of his family were buried under the rubble, including his father, his wife, and a brother.

It was a very tragic event, and many of the residents there were extremely angry. They accused the United States and the U.S. Army of being responsible, because they said that in the past few days, they had been appealing to the Army to move these weapons away from their neighborhoods, because they said that in the past few days, there were controlled explosions there, the Army trying to destroy these weapons.

They were concerned. They went to the Army and asked the Army to either to destroy these weapons away from their neighborhood, or somewhere else.

And that's why today they were blaming the Army. Let's listen to one person who was really angry.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why? Why? (UNINTELLIGIBLE), women, an old man! Who responsible all that? Who responsible? Saddam Hussein? (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No! No! No! Saddam Hussein -- Bush, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Saddam Hussein. Why? Who? (UNINTELLIGIBLE)? What does it change about the government? What does it change? (UNINTELLIGIBLE)!

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) America! America, the war is finished in Baghdad. The war is finished. Why (UNINTELLIGIBLE) this building? Why? Who responsible all of that? I ask you, (UNINTELLIGIBLE), (UNINTELLIGIBLE)! Why? Why? You don't know. I don't know. (UNINTELLIGIBLE)? (UNINTELLIGIBLE)? Who know? Who know?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AMIN: You can see there, people are extremely angry. They're blaming both the U.S. and the Saddam Hussein. They're saying the U.S. is killing them with Saddam Hussein weapons.

Even when the Army tried to come to help, to try to dig in the rubble, to help them with its own machines, Iraq -- U.S. engineers tried to come in, people were very angry. At first they wouldn't let them come close to the place. They started throwing stones at them.

So there's a lot of anger there, and most of the blame on the U.S. Army that's in that neighborhood.

Later on, people came from that neighborhood to the Palestine Hotel, where most of the journalists are based. They were shouting slogans, saying that both Saddam Hussein and George Bush don't care about the Iraqi civilians. They were saying that they need to see the U.S. troops out.

One person even had his shoe, he was carrying his shoe, saying he was going to force the troops to leave Iraq with this shoe.

A lot of people were very angry. They thought that this was unfair. Now that they got rid of Saddam Hussein, they were going to have a new life, and it seems they are disappointed, Kelli.

ARENA: Thank you, Rula Amin in Baghdad. Very tragic. That's right.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, really terrible pictures.

Let's check in right now with the Pentagon for any reaction to the incident in Iraq, and try to get an update on Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's trip to the region. He's going to take off later this morning.

CNN's Kathleen Koch's tracking developments there. Good morning, Kathleen.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Anderson.

Well, obviously not the kind of pictures that the Pentagon would like to see. However, in speaking to officials at the Pentagon and at CentCom, at this point they have no confirmation whatsoever on exactly what occurred, how it occurred, or whether any U.S. service members were injured.

However, one official at CentCom told me that they've maintained all along that there were still pockets of resistance in Baghdad, elements loyal to the regime, that it is still a very, very dangerous place to be. And the official said that while it is getting more stable by the day, it's still going to take quite some time before it can be considered what at least the Pentagon would consider safe.

Now, part of getting -- Baghdad getting Iraq on the road to true safety and freedom, have -- that will take establishing a new government in the region. And there have obviously been these reports over the last week or so that Iran is sending emissaries into Iraq to push for it to establish a fundamentalist Muslim regime like Iran's.

And Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld yesterday warned Iran not to interfere on Iraq's road to freedom.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: This much is certain. A vocal minority clamoring to transform Iraq in Iran's image will not be permitted to do so. We will not allow the Iraqi people's democratic transition to be hijacked for -- by those who might wish to install another form of dictatorship.

Our policy in Iraq is simple. It is to stay as long as necessary to finish our work, and then to leave Iraq to the Iraqi people as soon as that work is done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOCH: Secretary Rumsfeld heads to the region today to begin a weeklong visit. This will be his first opportunity to visit Iraq since the war began. Among other things, the defense secretary will be meeting with U.S. forces in the region, forces that the secretary yesterday said that the U.S. would very much like to begin to bring home, but the U.S. is also prepared to increase if it becomes necessary, Anderson.

COOPER: All right, Kathleen Koch, thanks very much, at the Pentagon.

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