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CNN Saturday Morning News
Shiite Muslims March in Baghdad
Aired June 21, 2003 - 07:29 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.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: In Iraq today, Shiite Muslims march in Baghdad, demanding a greater clerical role in running Iraq. Demonstrators gathered outside the compound of the U.S.-led administration.
CNN's Ben Wedeman is live in Baghdad now with the very latest on that situation. Ben, hello.
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi.
Yes, well, the coalition authorities certainly got a vivid reminder today of the importance of one ethnic group that represents essentially the majority of Iraqis, around 60 percent, and that is these Shiite Muslims.
Now, the Shiite Muslims, they don't harbor any nostalgia for Saddam Hussein. In fact, they were some of his bitterest enemies. But they came out today to air their grievances with a coalition authority they feel has been unresponsive to their demands.
Now, today they were out there demanding an immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces and the immediate formation of an Iraqi government. Now, they also want a larger role for Shiite clerics, these are the religious leaders who were essentially the only institution in Iraq that was allowed to function during the time of Saddam Hussein, who crushed down -- crushed, essentially, all civil groups or political parties. For instance, Shiites used to make up a large percentage of the Communist Party of Iraq, which really was the most effective political party before the rise of Saddam Hussein.
Now, the Shiite clerics really are the mainstay of the Shiite minority, and they want a much larger role than they are given at the moment within the context of this coalition authority.
COLLINS: Ben, something else has been happening in Iraq I'm curious about, are these raids. U.S. forces breaking into a community hall as of late and finding a whole lot of what they're calling potentially significant documents. What can you tell us about that?
WEDEMAN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) one raid in the Tikrit area where they did find a large cache of documents and other paper that may help in pursuing the question of weapons of mass destruction, and the whereabouts of the remnants of the old regime.
Now, coalition forces are really carrying out a fairly broad campaign across central Iraq, focused in the predominantly Arab Sunni towns of Ramadi (ph), Tikrit, and Fallujah. And overnight we saw another series of raids in which individuals suspected of attacks on U.S. forces were brought in for further questioning.
And, of course, really the focus of this raid, these raids, in addition to trying to find these remnants of the old regime and documents and paperwork, is really to go after those who've been involved in attacks on U.S. forces.
But we've seen over the last week, that whereas the number of attacks in those areas have decreased, in Baghdad they've increased. Within the last week alone, three American soldiers being killed in the capital.
COLLINS: Ben Wedeman, thanks so much for the update, live from Baghdad this morning.
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 June 21, 2003 - 07:29 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: In Iraq today, Shiite Muslims march in Baghdad, demanding a greater clerical role in running Iraq. Demonstrators gathered outside the compound of the U.S.-led administration.
CNN's Ben Wedeman is live in Baghdad now with the very latest on that situation. Ben, hello.
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi.
Yes, well, the coalition authorities certainly got a vivid reminder today of the importance of one ethnic group that represents essentially the majority of Iraqis, around 60 percent, and that is these Shiite Muslims.
Now, the Shiite Muslims, they don't harbor any nostalgia for Saddam Hussein. In fact, they were some of his bitterest enemies. But they came out today to air their grievances with a coalition authority they feel has been unresponsive to their demands.
Now, today they were out there demanding an immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces and the immediate formation of an Iraqi government. Now, they also want a larger role for Shiite clerics, these are the religious leaders who were essentially the only institution in Iraq that was allowed to function during the time of Saddam Hussein, who crushed down -- crushed, essentially, all civil groups or political parties. For instance, Shiites used to make up a large percentage of the Communist Party of Iraq, which really was the most effective political party before the rise of Saddam Hussein.
Now, the Shiite clerics really are the mainstay of the Shiite minority, and they want a much larger role than they are given at the moment within the context of this coalition authority.
COLLINS: Ben, something else has been happening in Iraq I'm curious about, are these raids. U.S. forces breaking into a community hall as of late and finding a whole lot of what they're calling potentially significant documents. What can you tell us about that?
WEDEMAN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) one raid in the Tikrit area where they did find a large cache of documents and other paper that may help in pursuing the question of weapons of mass destruction, and the whereabouts of the remnants of the old regime.
Now, coalition forces are really carrying out a fairly broad campaign across central Iraq, focused in the predominantly Arab Sunni towns of Ramadi (ph), Tikrit, and Fallujah. And overnight we saw another series of raids in which individuals suspected of attacks on U.S. forces were brought in for further questioning.
And, of course, really the focus of this raid, these raids, in addition to trying to find these remnants of the old regime and documents and paperwork, is really to go after those who've been involved in attacks on U.S. forces.
But we've seen over the last week, that whereas the number of attacks in those areas have decreased, in Baghdad they've increased. Within the last week alone, three American soldiers being killed in the capital.
COLLINS: Ben Wedeman, thanks so much for the update, live from Baghdad this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
