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CNN Saturday Morning News
U.S. Plans to Divide Iraq in 3 Sections
Aired May 03, 2003 - 09:07 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.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: All morning long, we have been telling you about this new plan to divide Iraq into three sections, U.S.-controlled, Poland, as well as Great Britain, militarily, at least.
We want to head now to Baghdad for the latest on efforts to get that section, that city, back in working order.
CNN's Rym Brahimi has been talking with residents of the Iraqi capital, and she joins us live with more on the mood in Baghdad -- Rym.
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Anderson, well, definitely very relieved -- revealing, if you will, of the atmosphere here and the desperation, maybe, of the Iraqi people with the lack of government and the power vacuum is what happened here at this hotel, the Palestine Hotel, where the international media is based.
The barbed wire was removed by the U.S. Army that had been protecting the compound. And basically it was a matter of hours before crowds formed in front of the entrance of the hotel, everybody trying to ask for something, people pleading to get into ask for jobs, to ask for assistance, to ask for any form of help they could get.
Now, the U.S. Army is still now patrolling the compound, because clearly that's a situation that could get out of hand very easily.
Now, again, another highlight, something else that could highlight the atmosphere in this city for now with the lack of security, is the fact that the schools reopened today. But there again, we went to a couple of neighborhoods and tried to see how many kids were actually going to school. And in one school out of 400 pupils, only 10 attended.
And the reason for this, when we spoke to parents and asked them why they weren't sending their kids to school, well, many of them said it's because they were afraid their children would be assaulted. They were afraid because there was still gunfire here and there. And they just felt there wasn't enough security for them to be able to do that, Anderson.
COOPER: Rym, but just generally speaking, I mean, do most people have access to running water again? Do most people have electricity again?
BRAHIMI: Well, electricity is slowly coming back in certain neighborhoods, and people now have access to running water, but it's not clean water. So again, you talk to people in the streets, and they tell you, Well, we're all sick, my entire family has been sick for a week because the running water we've been getting is dirty water.
And there's nothing they can do. They probably can't afford to buy mineral water, like most foreigners here do.
And so again, a very difficult situation, and it puts a lot of pressure on the Iraqi people, who already have no jobs, no salaries, haven't had that for the past six weeks. And they're really getting more and more impatient as time goes by, Anderson.
COOPER: All right, that is clear. Rym Brahimi, thanks very much.
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 May 3, 2003 - 09:07 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: All morning long, we have been telling you about this new plan to divide Iraq into three sections, U.S.-controlled, Poland, as well as Great Britain, militarily, at least.
We want to head now to Baghdad for the latest on efforts to get that section, that city, back in working order.
CNN's Rym Brahimi has been talking with residents of the Iraqi capital, and she joins us live with more on the mood in Baghdad -- Rym.
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Anderson, well, definitely very relieved -- revealing, if you will, of the atmosphere here and the desperation, maybe, of the Iraqi people with the lack of government and the power vacuum is what happened here at this hotel, the Palestine Hotel, where the international media is based.
The barbed wire was removed by the U.S. Army that had been protecting the compound. And basically it was a matter of hours before crowds formed in front of the entrance of the hotel, everybody trying to ask for something, people pleading to get into ask for jobs, to ask for assistance, to ask for any form of help they could get.
Now, the U.S. Army is still now patrolling the compound, because clearly that's a situation that could get out of hand very easily.
Now, again, another highlight, something else that could highlight the atmosphere in this city for now with the lack of security, is the fact that the schools reopened today. But there again, we went to a couple of neighborhoods and tried to see how many kids were actually going to school. And in one school out of 400 pupils, only 10 attended.
And the reason for this, when we spoke to parents and asked them why they weren't sending their kids to school, well, many of them said it's because they were afraid their children would be assaulted. They were afraid because there was still gunfire here and there. And they just felt there wasn't enough security for them to be able to do that, Anderson.
COOPER: Rym, but just generally speaking, I mean, do most people have access to running water again? Do most people have electricity again?
BRAHIMI: Well, electricity is slowly coming back in certain neighborhoods, and people now have access to running water, but it's not clean water. So again, you talk to people in the streets, and they tell you, Well, we're all sick, my entire family has been sick for a week because the running water we've been getting is dirty water.
And there's nothing they can do. They probably can't afford to buy mineral water, like most foreigners here do.
And so again, a very difficult situation, and it puts a lot of pressure on the Iraqi people, who already have no jobs, no salaries, haven't had that for the past six weeks. And they're really getting more and more impatient as time goes by, Anderson.
COOPER: All right, that is clear. Rym Brahimi, thanks very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
