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CNN Saturday Morning News
Iraqi Police Recruits Killed in Blast
Aired July 05, 2003 - 07:10 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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: At our continuing look inside Iraq, this breaking story we're following for you now. Just about 75 miles west of Baghdad in a town of Ramadi, Iraq, seven Iraqi police recruits are killed this morning just moments before graduation. What is being blamed is an apparent improvised explosive device, that detonating near the graduation site in this city of Ramadi, and those (UNINTELLIGIBLE), that's the information we have as of yet.
There were reports of at least 40 others wounded in the blast. More later -- Kris.
KRIS OSBORN, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you, Fred.
Yes, they have about 25,000 police officers thus far, and it relates very much to this big question you've likely heard by now, is it really Saddam Hussein speaking on an audiotape given to the Arab TV network Al Jazeera?
And several people who know Saddam's voice say it is him. Now, if that's the case, what impact could the message have on U.S. efforts in Iraq?
Let's discuss this with CNN security analyst Kelly McCann, offering us his perspective this morning.
Good morning to you, Kelly.
I guess first things first. Your thoughts on, is it him?
KELLY MCCANN, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: You know, not being a technical expert in that field, Kris, I can't say. But what I can say is that there's difficulties in determining that when there's white noise, when the original medium has been retaped several times, when the background noise kind of blends in with the vocalization.
But there are experts, you can bet, going through that tape to determine that.
OSBORN: Well, let's talk about that. We have a clip, some sound from the actual audiotape. Let's listen to it, and then we can talk about the kinds of analyses, if you will, that are likely to be going on right now.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
SADDAM HUSSEIN (through translator): I would like to clarify that my friends and my brothers from the leadership are present in Iraq now. Therefore, I greet them with you and greet the mujahadeen in the occupation force's prisons, and in the battlefield. I honor their sacrifices and heroism.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
OSBORN: Well, I guess, first, this clearly has an informational war kind of motive. I mean, Fred was just talking about yet another explosion in Iraq. This clearly -- whoever's behind it, it appears to be an attempt to rally support against the coalition.
MCCANN: That's the key. The key is, is the content and its relevance in some fairly sophisticated and apparently coordinated attacks. For instance, in that tape, "The Post" reported this morning that he had said, What has happened has happened, and now, you know, we're back, and we're doing this, meaning that, Why did we flee the country? Well, we did, so now forgive us for that, but we're back to work against the infidel invaders.
The big thing is, is, as you look at the most recent attacks, like up in Balad, which is 50 miles north of Baghdad, fairly coordinated attacks. I mean, there was a patrol, a mechanized patrol out, it was attacked along its route. And when a small detachment was -- or a patrol element was sent to the linkup point to meet with other reinforcements, they were attacked at the linkup point, which would suggest that there has been reconnaissance, there has been surveillance.
And although they may not be using communications, because knowing that's vulnerable to U.S. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) intelligence, they're certainly coordinating and planning and then executing a fairly sophisticated plan.
Now, no U.S. troops were hurt in that regard, in that particular incident. But then there was another mortar attack also up by Balad, where there were four rounds fired into the compound of the base up there in a hit-and-run kind of tactic, where the users obviously had knowledge of how to use indirect fire weapons, that there was angle and deflection that they needed to be aware of.
And the concern there is, is that they were using that point as a registration point. In other words, they marked down the data, the firing data, see where the rounds were hit, and then adjust, not during that mortar attack but maybe in successive ones.
So that kind of coordination, balanced against this message from Saddam saying, Continue to fight, we're back, we're controlling, that is of concern.
OSBORN: And then I wanted to get your thoughts on despite this coordination, this level of reconnaissance that you were talking about, Lieutenant Colonel Gant (ph), who is a regional commander with the U.S., told Nic Robertson in Fallujah, of course, a hotbed of anti- U.S. sentiment for quite some time now, that this tape and its contents won't have much of an effect at all. He's essentially undaunted by it, you could say. MCCANN: Well, basically, it -- sure, the U.S. forces will be undaunted by it. But the effect really is on the population.
I mean, think of this. If you look at the average Iraqi citizen -- we just saw video during the break of, you know, people rejoicing when the U.S. troops got into Baghdad and striking Saddam's statue with their sandals, et cetera, now, if you look at the average Iraqi's existence, and he's -- he says on balance, Was my life, my individual life, better before the invasion or after the invasion?
It would be easy to see how that person could say, I lived well before the invasion, now I don't have water, I don't have food, my children are sick, et cetera.
So now, if you look at the impact on them hearing that message, it may exacerbate a situation. They're angry right now that the humanitarian aid hasn't been pushed far enough forward.
And that's the problem, not that the U.S. forces will be daunted by this message, but that the population may be invigorated.
OSBORN: Yes, Kelly McCann, CNN security analyst, of course, a battle for hearts and minds gets more complicated when there are humanitarian challenges and uncertainty about Saddam himself.
Thanks for your expertise this morning.
MCCANN: Absolutely. You bet, Kris.
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 July 5, 2003 - 07:10 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: At our continuing look inside Iraq, this breaking story we're following for you now. Just about 75 miles west of Baghdad in a town of Ramadi, Iraq, seven Iraqi police recruits are killed this morning just moments before graduation. What is being blamed is an apparent improvised explosive device, that detonating near the graduation site in this city of Ramadi, and those (UNINTELLIGIBLE), that's the information we have as of yet.
There were reports of at least 40 others wounded in the blast. More later -- Kris.
KRIS OSBORN, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you, Fred.
Yes, they have about 25,000 police officers thus far, and it relates very much to this big question you've likely heard by now, is it really Saddam Hussein speaking on an audiotape given to the Arab TV network Al Jazeera?
And several people who know Saddam's voice say it is him. Now, if that's the case, what impact could the message have on U.S. efforts in Iraq?
Let's discuss this with CNN security analyst Kelly McCann, offering us his perspective this morning.
Good morning to you, Kelly.
I guess first things first. Your thoughts on, is it him?
KELLY MCCANN, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: You know, not being a technical expert in that field, Kris, I can't say. But what I can say is that there's difficulties in determining that when there's white noise, when the original medium has been retaped several times, when the background noise kind of blends in with the vocalization.
But there are experts, you can bet, going through that tape to determine that.
OSBORN: Well, let's talk about that. We have a clip, some sound from the actual audiotape. Let's listen to it, and then we can talk about the kinds of analyses, if you will, that are likely to be going on right now.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
SADDAM HUSSEIN (through translator): I would like to clarify that my friends and my brothers from the leadership are present in Iraq now. Therefore, I greet them with you and greet the mujahadeen in the occupation force's prisons, and in the battlefield. I honor their sacrifices and heroism.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
OSBORN: Well, I guess, first, this clearly has an informational war kind of motive. I mean, Fred was just talking about yet another explosion in Iraq. This clearly -- whoever's behind it, it appears to be an attempt to rally support against the coalition.
MCCANN: That's the key. The key is, is the content and its relevance in some fairly sophisticated and apparently coordinated attacks. For instance, in that tape, "The Post" reported this morning that he had said, What has happened has happened, and now, you know, we're back, and we're doing this, meaning that, Why did we flee the country? Well, we did, so now forgive us for that, but we're back to work against the infidel invaders.
The big thing is, is, as you look at the most recent attacks, like up in Balad, which is 50 miles north of Baghdad, fairly coordinated attacks. I mean, there was a patrol, a mechanized patrol out, it was attacked along its route. And when a small detachment was -- or a patrol element was sent to the linkup point to meet with other reinforcements, they were attacked at the linkup point, which would suggest that there has been reconnaissance, there has been surveillance.
And although they may not be using communications, because knowing that's vulnerable to U.S. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) intelligence, they're certainly coordinating and planning and then executing a fairly sophisticated plan.
Now, no U.S. troops were hurt in that regard, in that particular incident. But then there was another mortar attack also up by Balad, where there were four rounds fired into the compound of the base up there in a hit-and-run kind of tactic, where the users obviously had knowledge of how to use indirect fire weapons, that there was angle and deflection that they needed to be aware of.
And the concern there is, is that they were using that point as a registration point. In other words, they marked down the data, the firing data, see where the rounds were hit, and then adjust, not during that mortar attack but maybe in successive ones.
So that kind of coordination, balanced against this message from Saddam saying, Continue to fight, we're back, we're controlling, that is of concern.
OSBORN: And then I wanted to get your thoughts on despite this coordination, this level of reconnaissance that you were talking about, Lieutenant Colonel Gant (ph), who is a regional commander with the U.S., told Nic Robertson in Fallujah, of course, a hotbed of anti- U.S. sentiment for quite some time now, that this tape and its contents won't have much of an effect at all. He's essentially undaunted by it, you could say. MCCANN: Well, basically, it -- sure, the U.S. forces will be undaunted by it. But the effect really is on the population.
I mean, think of this. If you look at the average Iraqi citizen -- we just saw video during the break of, you know, people rejoicing when the U.S. troops got into Baghdad and striking Saddam's statue with their sandals, et cetera, now, if you look at the average Iraqi's existence, and he's -- he says on balance, Was my life, my individual life, better before the invasion or after the invasion?
It would be easy to see how that person could say, I lived well before the invasion, now I don't have water, I don't have food, my children are sick, et cetera.
So now, if you look at the impact on them hearing that message, it may exacerbate a situation. They're angry right now that the humanitarian aid hasn't been pushed far enough forward.
And that's the problem, not that the U.S. forces will be daunted by this message, but that the population may be invigorated.
OSBORN: Yes, Kelly McCann, CNN security analyst, of course, a battle for hearts and minds gets more complicated when there are humanitarian challenges and uncertainty about Saddam himself.
Thanks for your expertise this morning.
MCCANN: Absolutely. You bet, Kris.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
