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CNN Live Sunday
Iraqi Tribes Try to Fill Power Vacuum
Aired April 27, 2003 - 19:13 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.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: With the war in Iraq essentially over, now comes the task of rebuilding a nation. A tough task it is. Iraq's various tribes already are trying to fill some of the void left by Saddam Hussein's fall. CNN's Jane Arraf takes a look at that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the tribal heart of Iraq, there is a desert democracy that has always played a part in who takes power. Near the Syrian border, clan leaders from the Chammar tribe gather each evening to discuss how to deal with the new Iraq, and whom to support to rule it. The discussions are slow-paced, punctuated by small cups of Arabic coffee. This is the biggest tribe in Iraq, more than 1.5 million people, with territory stretching for hundreds of miles from the center of the country to the Syrian border. They have a lot at stake.
(on camera): Before Iraq even existed as a country, there were the tribes. They were responsible for law and order, for almost every facet of everyday life. Now, in the absence of a functioning government, they are taking on that role again.
(voice-over): From a mosque in Mosul, the tribe provides neighborhood health care, security and policing. It's recovering looted flour, rice and other commodities, and distributing them to the poor. The tribe has played an important role in Iraqi politics and diplomacy. In the 1930s, when the British were running Iraq and propping up kings, tribal chief Sheik Ajil Al'Jawar was a palace envoy.
SHEIK ABDULLA AJIL AL'JAWAR: Yes, Ajil Al'Jawar was (UNINTELLIGIBLE), the prime minister of Iraq.
ARRAF: Ajil's descendant, Sheik Abdulla Ajil Al'Jawar says the Chammar started the first school in the region.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This was a gift.
ARRAF (on camera): In 1935?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
ARRAF: Very good.
(voice-over): At a tribal palace near the Syrian border, modernity is layered with centuries of tradition. Sheik's daughters and nieces are like small princesses. Even his 5-year-old son carries a rifle, loaded with ammunition. "It's our custom," the sheik says.
It was also custom that under Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi regime and many of the tribes, by implicit agreement, stayed out of each other's business. Sheik Abdulla says despite the Iraqi leader's attempts to fragment the country, the Chammar made a point of maintaining good relations with their Kurdish and other neighbors.
AL'JAWAR: It is no different. Iraq lives from many hundreds of years, and peaceful, but maybe in the last 20 years, we have trouble here in Iraq. But Iraq history, there is no trouble between Kurds and Arabs and Shia and some of this. No different.
ARRAF: He hopes in this new round of nation building, with Saddam Hussein gone, it could be that way again.
Jane Arraf, CNN, near the Syrian border in Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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 27, 2003 - 19:13 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: With the war in Iraq essentially over, now comes the task of rebuilding a nation. A tough task it is. Iraq's various tribes already are trying to fill some of the void left by Saddam Hussein's fall. CNN's Jane Arraf takes a look at that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the tribal heart of Iraq, there is a desert democracy that has always played a part in who takes power. Near the Syrian border, clan leaders from the Chammar tribe gather each evening to discuss how to deal with the new Iraq, and whom to support to rule it. The discussions are slow-paced, punctuated by small cups of Arabic coffee. This is the biggest tribe in Iraq, more than 1.5 million people, with territory stretching for hundreds of miles from the center of the country to the Syrian border. They have a lot at stake.
(on camera): Before Iraq even existed as a country, there were the tribes. They were responsible for law and order, for almost every facet of everyday life. Now, in the absence of a functioning government, they are taking on that role again.
(voice-over): From a mosque in Mosul, the tribe provides neighborhood health care, security and policing. It's recovering looted flour, rice and other commodities, and distributing them to the poor. The tribe has played an important role in Iraqi politics and diplomacy. In the 1930s, when the British were running Iraq and propping up kings, tribal chief Sheik Ajil Al'Jawar was a palace envoy.
SHEIK ABDULLA AJIL AL'JAWAR: Yes, Ajil Al'Jawar was (UNINTELLIGIBLE), the prime minister of Iraq.
ARRAF: Ajil's descendant, Sheik Abdulla Ajil Al'Jawar says the Chammar started the first school in the region.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This was a gift.
ARRAF (on camera): In 1935?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
ARRAF: Very good.
(voice-over): At a tribal palace near the Syrian border, modernity is layered with centuries of tradition. Sheik's daughters and nieces are like small princesses. Even his 5-year-old son carries a rifle, loaded with ammunition. "It's our custom," the sheik says.
It was also custom that under Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi regime and many of the tribes, by implicit agreement, stayed out of each other's business. Sheik Abdulla says despite the Iraqi leader's attempts to fragment the country, the Chammar made a point of maintaining good relations with their Kurdish and other neighbors.
AL'JAWAR: It is no different. Iraq lives from many hundreds of years, and peaceful, but maybe in the last 20 years, we have trouble here in Iraq. But Iraq history, there is no trouble between Kurds and Arabs and Shia and some of this. No different.
ARRAF: He hopes in this new round of nation building, with Saddam Hussein gone, it could be that way again.
Jane Arraf, CNN, near the Syrian border in Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
