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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports
Iraqis: We Need Food, Electricity, Water, Basic Necessities Before Freedom
Aired April 16, 2003 - 17:20 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.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The U.S. says it wants to bring freedom to Iraq, but before that can happen the Iraqis say we need food, electricity and water, the basic necessities.
CNN's Christiane Amanpour live from Baghdad now. Hello, Christiane.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Miles, talking about those prisoners of war coming home perhaps is easy to forget that back on March 23 they were amongst the darkest days for the Americans fighting this war. Prisoners of war killed in action, all sorts of elements of sort of disaster people were talking about. And perhaps it's easy to forget that it was just one week ago, not so long after that, that the Americans rumbled into Baghdad and liberated this city.
The Marines came here, toppled that statue in the center and in the weeks that followed, we've seen quite a lot of anarchy and chaos, but certain things are beginning to calm down. Certain elements of normal life are beginning to start again. But people are still very worried about basic amenities, not to mention wondering where is Saddam Hussein and what has become of him?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
AMANPOUR (voice-over): One week after U.S. Marines toppled Saddam's statue, a week after creating the war's iconic image, the surprise is how tall the fallen strongman still stands.
He was the people's nightmare, says this man, and all the pictures and statues were installed by force. But there were too many of them to tear down in one day.
So here's Saddam still the station master. Here he is as traffic cop as the once forbidden joke went.
Still the people are trying to wipe the slate clean, trying to wipe the smile off his face. But deeply suspicious, they also want to know where he is.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know.
AMANPOUR: Where is Saddam, laughs Mohammed Ali, nervously. Where is the whole leadership? If you ask any Iraqi, the ghost of Saddam still hangs over them. We don't believe it yet, says this man.
(on camera): Without a body, people wonder when they'll ever be able to put Saddam's ghost to rest. And how long will he remain embarrassing, unfinished business for the United States, like many of their other most wanted? Osama bin Laden? Or holdouts like Caridage (ph) and Vladitch (ph) from the Bosnian War?
(voice-over): The U.S. says Saddam's personal fate doesn't matter as much as freedom for the Iraqi people. And they are free: to talk, to complain openly.
Only many complaints are directed at the United States.
Our history has disappeared, say these people. Who will return it to us? Why didn't the Marines protect the country's heritage from the looters?
The apocalyptic feel of the day after instills fear and bitterness.
They came for our oil, shouts this man. Why didn't they protect our ministries? They've only protected the Oil Ministry.
It's a conspiracy theory bolstered by a ministry that's untouched, except for Marines using it as a base.
Residents survey the rubble of war and ask who will rebuild the infrastructure? They feel too small for such a massive task.
Saddam is finished, says Hali Moussaoui (ph). We thank God and extend Iraq's greeting to Mr. Bush and Mr. Blair. But we ask them to give us water, electricity and medical services.
Amid the fragments of a hated past, the people say they don't want their future tainted by the demons unleashed in that first anarchic week.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AMANPOUR: So ,as well as all of that, there is something of a political vacuum here, too, and some emerging power struggles.
For instance, in the town of Kut, south of Baghdad, there are reports that a Shiite Muslim cleric has taken over city hall and decided to run Kut and says he doesn't want the Americans doing it. The Americans decided against confronting him when they were confronted themselves by an angry mob there.
And that's not the only place where people are taking law and order and other matters into their own hands.
CNN's Nic Robertson reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Weapons at the ready, faces hidden from the camera, vigilantes head out on a patrol of Baghdad's most run down neighborhood.
Down streets scarred by decades of poverty, these Shia Muslim gunmen are bringing their brand of law and order to the suburb that was, until last week, known as Saddam City.
(on camera): A day ago the sound of running gun battles and ambulance sirens echoed around these streets. Now it appears as if Baghdad's most volatile suburb is pulling back from the brink of chaos.
At a nearby mosque, itself under heavy armed guard, the would-be policemen pile up goods liberated from looters. Inside, stolen medical supplies also retrieved from looters and dispensed to the needy.
The move towards stability in this community of 1-and-a-half million Shias, orchestrated by its religious leaders without the help of U.S. troops.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): These men are volunteers to restore security. They are armed not against the people, but the troublemakers backed by the old regime to finish them off, to restore stability.
ROBERTSON: For years those who lived within the confines of this ruinous, sprawling grid of fetted streets chaffed against the regime they daren't fight. Their understanding of why they were downtrodden: simple.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We just want Saddam and his company -- they kill the people -- anything. Anything.
ROBERTSON: Today, a quick glance in the market tells all. Rotting fruit they fair on (ph) offer, but those accustomed to accepting second best.
When those cluster around our car whenever we stop, Saddam's ouster now setting aspirations to set that whole order.
We are happy with our leaders, he says. They are organizing the city. We don't want an American military governor.
Not all agree with the new order though. But unlike the days under Saddam, some brave enough to speak out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is no law. You can't walk safely. Those who holding machine guns. Who can live (UNINTELLIGIBLE) -- who can take that from them?
ROBERTSON: Much in former Saddam City is far from settled. Like the suburb's new name, Sadar (ph) City, named after a Shia leader.
Like the looting though, possession seems nine-tenths of the law.
Nic Robertson, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AMANPOUR: The Marine spokesman told us tonight they have now something like a 100 to 200 police in car patrols and that they hope that number will increase. They also say they hope perhaps by the end of this week, perhaps in a few more days, to have at least some electricity back in at least some parts of the city for at least a few hours. It doesn't seem like much, perhaps, but these people want it and it will also contribute to security -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Thanks, Christiane.
We're going to take a break. What to do with a notorious terrorist is a question on many people's minds this evening.
Still ahead on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS Abu Abbas, mastermind of the Achille Lauro hijacking captured in Iraq. Which country should get him next or could he possibly walk free?
And no sign of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq just yet. Do they even exist? We'll take a closer look at that. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: CNN live this hour, WOLF BLITZER REPORTS, live with correspondents from around the world. Here now is Wolf Blitzer.
O'BRIEN: Hello. I'm Miles O'Brien in for Wolf Blitzer today. Welcome back to CNN's up-to-the-minute coverage of the war in Iraq.
In a moment, where are the chemical weapons?
(NEWSBREAK)
O'BRIEN: Except for isolated incidents, the war in Iraq appears to be over. But the role for U.S. forces far from over.
CNN's senior Pentagon correspondent, Jamie McIntyre, joins us live with details on what the troops will be doing in the post-war period.
They've got their hands full, don't they, Jamie?
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: They sure do, Miles.
And by the way, today at the Pentagon they're also sort of adding up what this is costing, and at this point it's looking like almost $30 billion is -- has been spent or will be spent. All of that while there is still much to be done.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) MCINTYRE: (voice-over): As combat operations wind down, U.S. troops in Iraq are under growing pressure to focus on two uncompleted objectives: providing security for humanitarian relief and finding weapons of mass destruction, the primary justification for the war.
The U.S. remains convinced the weapons are there, but well hidden.
GEN. RICHARD MYERS, CHAIRMAN OF THE JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: I have every confidence we are going to find them. I mean the -- but I don't think it's unusual that we haven't found -- found them yet. I think it will take people telling us where they are.
MCINTYRE: The U.S. military is beginning to transition into what it calls "Phase Four Stabilization Operations."
Under the plan, U.S. Marines will move out of Baghdad and be responsible for an area including roughly 9 million Iraqis in the north. Two other zones will fall under the authority of the U.S. Army, one for the southern part of the country and one for 5 million people in and around Baghdad.
U.S. commander General Tommy Franks made a low-key visit to Baghdad Wednesday, consulting with his field generals, but not mixing with the Iraqi people. Sources say Franks will likely soon establish a headquarters in the Iraqi capital.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At some point I think at some point, as he transitions to the next phase, he will probably recommend and stand up that kind of headquarters and put it right in -- within Iraq.
MCINTYRE: The U.S. is just now beginning to total up the bill for the war, which so far exceeds $20 billion and is projected to grow by roughly $2 billion a month through the rest of the year. The Pentagon says that's in line with the low-end estimates of under $80 billion for a short war.
DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: At first blush, from where we're looking, it seems that once again our estimates played out pretty well.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MCINTYRE: And while General Franks did not take a triumphant victory lap around Baghdad today, he did savor the moment, glad- handing and back-slapping with some of the troops. He smoked a cigar in one of Saddam Hussein's palace which is now serving as a headquarters for the U.S. military and he commented as he inspected the premises that it appeared to be part of what he called the "Oil for Palaces" program -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Very interesting. All right. Jamie McIntyre, thanks very much.
Here's your turn to weigh in on the war in Iraq. Our "Web Question of the Day": Do you think weapons of mass destruction are still in Iraq? We'll have the results later in this broadcast.
To vote, we invite you to point your browse to cnn.com/wolf.
Now let's send it off to Christiane in Baghdad.
AMANPOUR: Miles, there are people in a Baghdad neighborhood today, residents talking about a fierce gun battle that occurred there this week. They said they heard helicopters fighting and all of a sudden doors were being bashed down, and finally they realized after it was made public that a man called Abu Abbas -- Mohammed Abu Abbas -- had been captured by the U.S. forces.
Now many people are saying that he was allowed into Israel for so many years in the late '90s, that the U.S. had, you know, dropped charges apparently against him.
David Ensor broke the story last night and the question, David, is what is the U.S. going to do with him?
DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: That is the question, Christiane.
They -- they've been looking for him for almost 20 years now, both the U.S. government and the Italian government. And finally they have him.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ENSOR (voice-over): Now that the U.S. has Abu Abbas in custody, the question is what to do with him?
VICTORIA CLARKE, PENTAGON SPOKESWOMAN: We're looking at the legal issues and possibilities and have nothing to say right now.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Abu Abbas personally condemned the attack aboard the Achille Lauro.
ENSOR: Abbas was found guilty in absentia in Italy in the 1985 killing of disabled American tourist Leon Klinghoffer on the seized cruise ship the Achille Lauro, murdered by Palestinian guerrillas under Abbas' command.
Italy has asked for Abbas' extradition to serve a life sentence. Good idea, says a former Justice Department official.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why do we want to cause more problems for ourselves by bringing him here on something that we don't even think we have the evidence for right now? I would say let's go with the Italian solution.
ENSOR: But U.S. officials want to question Abbas and figure out whether he has had any role in supporting terrorism in more recent years. Did he help Saddam Hussein pay families of Palestinian suicide bombers? Did he help the Iraqis train terrorists at any point? Should he face charges in the U.S?
BRIG. GEN. VINCENT BROOKS, CENTCOM SPOKESMAN: Abu Abbas is a terrorist. He was a terrorist. He remains a terrorist.
ENSOR: Abu Abbas has lived openly and freely in Baghdad, traveling often to the Gaza Strip since the 1995 signing of a Palestinian-Israeli agreement regarding immunity for actions taken prior to the Oslo Accords. Palestinian officials are pressing the U.S. to free him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have contacted the American administration this morning, and I urged the American administration to honor and respect the agreement signed.
ENSOR: But U.S. officials respond, while Israel is bound by those agreements, the U.S. is not.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The United States is not a party to that or any amnesty arrangements regarding Abu Abbas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ENSOR: U.S. officials say Abbas did try to flee to Syria in recent days, but was stopped at the border by the Syrians. Now he faces a lot of American questions, presumably followed by many years in prison. The only question being, where -- Christiane.
AMANPOUR: David, of course, the United States used the whole terrorist link to al Qaeda as part of its case against Iraq. But, of course, many people in previous administrations in the U.S. are calling Abu Abbas and Iraqi terrorism sort of low-level priorities. So they're hailing his arrest, but how do you answer the cynics who say that they've just grabbed this guy to sort of have any sort of terrorist in their custody?
ENSOR: The -- the -- the U.S. Wanted to get Abu Abbas all along. He mae may be a much lower priority than for example, Zarqawi, the alleged al Qaeda leader who they thought was in Baghdad for a while, but he's still someone they wanted to get. He's -- he faces a life sentence in Italy for complicity in a hijacking that led to the murder of an American. And they also suspect he may know something about the Iraqi regime's involvement with terrorist groups. It's helped for various groups of Palestinians that have committed suicide bombings in Israel, for example. So it's nowhere near as important as al Qaeda, and if anyone suggests that this is somehow a replacement, that's certainly not the case. But they think this is someone they want to talk to and they may even bring charges against him, although it's also quite possible he'll end up in Italian hands -- Christiane.
AMANPOUR: David Ensor, thank you very much, indeed.
Back to you -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Christiane, the war has gone well, but the economy's still struggling. Does the president have an economic plan that will shock and awe? We'll go live to the White House and try to find out.
Also no smoking gun. The U.S. comes up empty handed so far in the search for weapons of mass destruction. What happens if they don't find any?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: President Bush wants to no replay of history when his father won a Persian Gulf War, but lost the next election over the economy.
Senior White House correspondent, John King, is standing by to update us on President Bush's day focusing on that issue.
John, certainly the media has focused on that issue of late, hasn't it?
JOHN KING, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: They have, media and the president is quite mindful of it. Mr. Bush is now at the ranch in Crawford, Texas, an extended Easter weekend, if you will, but he stopped on the way in Saint Louis, Missouri, the hometown of the Democrats running for president against Mr. Bush already, Congressman Dick Gephardt. Mr. Bush briefly discussing the economy in his speech. Here you see him in a Boeing factory where they make the F-18s, one of the weapons of war made in the Iraqi conflict.
Mr. Bush saying a top priority here at home will be passing the Congress which includes another round of big tax cut. That would be more of a priority when the president is back in Washington next week. Aides say look for him to push aggressively to try to get a big as tax cut as possible out of the Congress. But we already know Mr. Bush will not get the $726 billion he wants of the most he will get is $550 billion and many even that believe that is overly optimistic. In this speech Mr. Bush focusing much more on the war effort.
He applauded the U.S. troops. He said the war is not over, but the significant process is being made. Mr. Bush also made note of the meeting yesterday in which Iraqis were brought together for the first time to discuss the first interim Iraqi authority, and then eventually a new Iraqi government. And the president even joking that there were protests outside that meeting in his view, a sure sign that freedom is taking hold inside Iraq. The president said there are difficult days ahead, but in his view, so far so good.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Just days after the people of Iraq realize they were free from the clutches of his terror, the Iraqi people are reclaiming their own streets, their own country and their own future.
(APPLAUSE)
KING: Before leaving Washington, the president signed that nearly $80 billion emergency wartime budget, the money to pay for the war and the post-war effort inside Iraq. And in that speech in Saint Louis, the president said, now that Saddam Hussein is gone from power, it is time for the United Nations to lift the economic sanctions imposed on Iraq after the first Gulf War. Look for that debate about those sanctions being lifted to take hold next week up at the United Nations -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: We'll be watching for that, CNN's John King at the White House. Thank you very much, sir.
Iraqi soldiers on patrol in Baghdad. That's right. Iraqi soldiers. The latest from the war zone when we return.
And where are those weapons of mass destruction? Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Live pictures from the center of Baghdad on a, we hope, quiet moonlit night. Ten minute of 2:00 in the morning there. Let's get caught up on the latest developments in Iraq today.
8:04 a.m.: CNN's Mike Boettcher reports from Baghdad about a 120 U.S.-trained Iraqi soldiers called the Free Iraqi Force entered the city this morning. The FIF armed with AK-47s is patrolling Baghdad, and other Iraqi cities to help restore security.
8:07 a.m.: Central Command confirms General Tommy Franks, commander of coalition forces is in Baghdad today.
10:36 a.m.: Seven U.S. soldiers held as Iraqi prisoners of war left Kuwait City bound for Germany according to U.S. Central Command. The six men and one woman had been resting and undergoing medical checks in Kuwait since their dramatic rescue Sunday.
12:01 p.m., 8:01 p.m. in Baghdad: CNN's Jim Clancy reports electricity and phone service still are out in Baghdad. Red Cross officials say their first priority is the safe delivery of fuel and medical supplies to hospitals.
1:24 p.m.: The Pentagon says as military operations move into a support phase in Iraq, coalition command headquarters will probably move from Qatar to a site within Iraq.
2:01 p.m.: CNN's Christiane Amanpour reports there is an eerie uneasiness in Baghdad because Iraqis want to know when they're going to be able to lay Saddam Hussein's ghost to rest. She says security, water, electricity and medicine are the top concerns of still nervous residents of the Iraqi capital.
2:10 p.m.: The Pentagon's comptroller says the cost of the war with Iraq so far is $20 billion. The cost of ongoing operations expected to be about $2 billion per month.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Now let's send it back to Christiane Amanpour, live in Baghdad. Christiane, I said a moment ago it is hoped that it is a quiet night there. Do you have a sense of how the night is going?
AMANPOUR: It's quiet, certainly around where we are and that's good news. You know, standing on this roof sometimes and hearing the gun fire you get a little bit worried especially in these lights, but so far so good tonight.
Now, one of the main justifications for the war as we've been talking about for so long was the effort to disarm Saddam Hussein of weapons of mass destruction. The Bush administration insisted Saddam Hussein had them, Saddam Hussein denied that he had them ask so far none has been found. CNN's Jonathan Mann looks that the key issue in detail.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JONATHAN MANN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): U.S. forces searching a farm near Karbala found suspicious chemicals that turned out to be pesticide. They found a suspicious warhead at Kirkuk marked in a way suggestive of a chemical weapon, only it wasn't one. They found buried containers that were full of military equipment, but not the banned kind.
Iraq's chief military scientist, General Amir Hamoudi al-Saadi, who surrendered to U.S. forces, said that's because the weapons of mass destruction that Washington wants just aren't there.
LT. GEN. AMIR HAMOUDI AL-SAADI, IRAQI CHIEF SCIENTIST: I was knowledgeable about those programs, the past programs. And I was telling the truth, always telling the truth, never told anything but the truth. And time will bail me out (ph), you will see. There will be no difference after this war.
MANN: Ridding Iraq of its alleged weapons of mass destruction was a cornerstone of the Bush administration's case for attacking Iraq.
COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: Indeed the facts and Iraq's behavior show that Saddam Hussein and his regime are concealing their efforts to produce more weapons of mass destruction.
MANN: And so the obvious irony, the U.S. has won the war without yet finding the very thing it said the war was about.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we don't find them we've got serious issues. We've got issues with international law. We got issues here at home about why the president of the United States told Congress these weapons existed, getting Congress to therefore give him more powers, action.
MANN: The Bush administration says it's confident the weapons are there. But the chief of the U.S. Central Command, General Tommy Frank, says there may be 3,000 places to look and it could take a year to get to them all.
International weapons inspectors are asking to be let back into Iraq to continue their search, but the U.S. believes that Iraqi insiders are more important. People who might come forward more easily now that it's safe and could be lucrative.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People that have knowledge of the weapons of mass destruction program, for example, may be rewarded if they provide information about that program.
MANN: But looters may have been faster than U.S. soldiers or Iraqi experts. The scenes in major cities have reportedly been repeated at some suspect weapons sites which have been robbed before they could be studied.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's going to take the United States quite a long time to search Iraq for weapons of mass destruction, and have a complete answer. I mean they may get lucky tomorrow and stumble across a stock of chemical weapon. But they actually have to find everything so they have assurance that it's not going to be picked up accidentally by someone and kill them or somehow be stolen and given to an enemy of the United States.
MANN: And according to one published account, bureaucratic infighting among U.S. authorities has only added to the muddle, a competition of how the search should be conducted and who should conduct it.
(on camera): It may all come down to honesty. The United States and its allies have clearly won the war in Iraq and they stand every chance of making it a better place because of that fact. Still, millions of people around the world are deeply suspicious about the U.S. and its motives. Real progress on the ground in Iraq, real progress on the weapons of mass destruction may be the only way to put those suspicions to rest.
Jonathan Mann, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AMANPOUR: Well, a few days ago one key man who could provide a treasure drove of information on these weapons of mass destruction surrendered. It was General Amir al-Saadi, the top scientist of Saddam Hussein, the point man with the U.N. weapons inspectors. But as he was sanding himself over to the U.S., he said that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Be interesting to see if his tune changes. Christiane Amanpour in Baghdad. Thank you very much, stay safe.
Do you think weapons of mass destruction are still in Iraq? You still have an opportunity to vote on this issue. The results of "Our Web Question of the Day" will be revealed momentarily. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: All right, here's how you're weighing in on "Our Web Question of the Day." Once again, do you think weapons of mass destruction are still in Iraq? This is a close one. Fifty-one percent of you said yes, 49 percent of you said no. Statistically- speaking a dead heat, but of course, this is not a scientific poll anyway. Nevertheless, obviously a lot of difference of opinion on this matter.
I'm Miles O'Brien at the CNN Center in Atlanta. On behalf of Wolf Blitzer, Who will be back tomorrow, we bid you adieu.
A reminder, you can watch WOLF BLITZER REPORTS each weekday this time, 5:00 p.m. Eastern time.
AMANPOUR: I'm Christiane Amanpour. Good night from Baghdad. Stay with CNN for up-to-the-minute coverage and now to Lou Dobbs and "MONEYLINE" in New York.
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Necessities Before Freedom>
Aired April 16, 2003 - 17:20 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The U.S. says it wants to bring freedom to Iraq, but before that can happen the Iraqis say we need food, electricity and water, the basic necessities.
CNN's Christiane Amanpour live from Baghdad now. Hello, Christiane.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Miles, talking about those prisoners of war coming home perhaps is easy to forget that back on March 23 they were amongst the darkest days for the Americans fighting this war. Prisoners of war killed in action, all sorts of elements of sort of disaster people were talking about. And perhaps it's easy to forget that it was just one week ago, not so long after that, that the Americans rumbled into Baghdad and liberated this city.
The Marines came here, toppled that statue in the center and in the weeks that followed, we've seen quite a lot of anarchy and chaos, but certain things are beginning to calm down. Certain elements of normal life are beginning to start again. But people are still very worried about basic amenities, not to mention wondering where is Saddam Hussein and what has become of him?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
AMANPOUR (voice-over): One week after U.S. Marines toppled Saddam's statue, a week after creating the war's iconic image, the surprise is how tall the fallen strongman still stands.
He was the people's nightmare, says this man, and all the pictures and statues were installed by force. But there were too many of them to tear down in one day.
So here's Saddam still the station master. Here he is as traffic cop as the once forbidden joke went.
Still the people are trying to wipe the slate clean, trying to wipe the smile off his face. But deeply suspicious, they also want to know where he is.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know.
AMANPOUR: Where is Saddam, laughs Mohammed Ali, nervously. Where is the whole leadership? If you ask any Iraqi, the ghost of Saddam still hangs over them. We don't believe it yet, says this man.
(on camera): Without a body, people wonder when they'll ever be able to put Saddam's ghost to rest. And how long will he remain embarrassing, unfinished business for the United States, like many of their other most wanted? Osama bin Laden? Or holdouts like Caridage (ph) and Vladitch (ph) from the Bosnian War?
(voice-over): The U.S. says Saddam's personal fate doesn't matter as much as freedom for the Iraqi people. And they are free: to talk, to complain openly.
Only many complaints are directed at the United States.
Our history has disappeared, say these people. Who will return it to us? Why didn't the Marines protect the country's heritage from the looters?
The apocalyptic feel of the day after instills fear and bitterness.
They came for our oil, shouts this man. Why didn't they protect our ministries? They've only protected the Oil Ministry.
It's a conspiracy theory bolstered by a ministry that's untouched, except for Marines using it as a base.
Residents survey the rubble of war and ask who will rebuild the infrastructure? They feel too small for such a massive task.
Saddam is finished, says Hali Moussaoui (ph). We thank God and extend Iraq's greeting to Mr. Bush and Mr. Blair. But we ask them to give us water, electricity and medical services.
Amid the fragments of a hated past, the people say they don't want their future tainted by the demons unleashed in that first anarchic week.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AMANPOUR: So ,as well as all of that, there is something of a political vacuum here, too, and some emerging power struggles.
For instance, in the town of Kut, south of Baghdad, there are reports that a Shiite Muslim cleric has taken over city hall and decided to run Kut and says he doesn't want the Americans doing it. The Americans decided against confronting him when they were confronted themselves by an angry mob there.
And that's not the only place where people are taking law and order and other matters into their own hands.
CNN's Nic Robertson reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Weapons at the ready, faces hidden from the camera, vigilantes head out on a patrol of Baghdad's most run down neighborhood.
Down streets scarred by decades of poverty, these Shia Muslim gunmen are bringing their brand of law and order to the suburb that was, until last week, known as Saddam City.
(on camera): A day ago the sound of running gun battles and ambulance sirens echoed around these streets. Now it appears as if Baghdad's most volatile suburb is pulling back from the brink of chaos.
At a nearby mosque, itself under heavy armed guard, the would-be policemen pile up goods liberated from looters. Inside, stolen medical supplies also retrieved from looters and dispensed to the needy.
The move towards stability in this community of 1-and-a-half million Shias, orchestrated by its religious leaders without the help of U.S. troops.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): These men are volunteers to restore security. They are armed not against the people, but the troublemakers backed by the old regime to finish them off, to restore stability.
ROBERTSON: For years those who lived within the confines of this ruinous, sprawling grid of fetted streets chaffed against the regime they daren't fight. Their understanding of why they were downtrodden: simple.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We just want Saddam and his company -- they kill the people -- anything. Anything.
ROBERTSON: Today, a quick glance in the market tells all. Rotting fruit they fair on (ph) offer, but those accustomed to accepting second best.
When those cluster around our car whenever we stop, Saddam's ouster now setting aspirations to set that whole order.
We are happy with our leaders, he says. They are organizing the city. We don't want an American military governor.
Not all agree with the new order though. But unlike the days under Saddam, some brave enough to speak out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is no law. You can't walk safely. Those who holding machine guns. Who can live (UNINTELLIGIBLE) -- who can take that from them?
ROBERTSON: Much in former Saddam City is far from settled. Like the suburb's new name, Sadar (ph) City, named after a Shia leader.
Like the looting though, possession seems nine-tenths of the law.
Nic Robertson, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AMANPOUR: The Marine spokesman told us tonight they have now something like a 100 to 200 police in car patrols and that they hope that number will increase. They also say they hope perhaps by the end of this week, perhaps in a few more days, to have at least some electricity back in at least some parts of the city for at least a few hours. It doesn't seem like much, perhaps, but these people want it and it will also contribute to security -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Thanks, Christiane.
We're going to take a break. What to do with a notorious terrorist is a question on many people's minds this evening.
Still ahead on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS Abu Abbas, mastermind of the Achille Lauro hijacking captured in Iraq. Which country should get him next or could he possibly walk free?
And no sign of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq just yet. Do they even exist? We'll take a closer look at that. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: CNN live this hour, WOLF BLITZER REPORTS, live with correspondents from around the world. Here now is Wolf Blitzer.
O'BRIEN: Hello. I'm Miles O'Brien in for Wolf Blitzer today. Welcome back to CNN's up-to-the-minute coverage of the war in Iraq.
In a moment, where are the chemical weapons?
(NEWSBREAK)
O'BRIEN: Except for isolated incidents, the war in Iraq appears to be over. But the role for U.S. forces far from over.
CNN's senior Pentagon correspondent, Jamie McIntyre, joins us live with details on what the troops will be doing in the post-war period.
They've got their hands full, don't they, Jamie?
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: They sure do, Miles.
And by the way, today at the Pentagon they're also sort of adding up what this is costing, and at this point it's looking like almost $30 billion is -- has been spent or will be spent. All of that while there is still much to be done.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) MCINTYRE: (voice-over): As combat operations wind down, U.S. troops in Iraq are under growing pressure to focus on two uncompleted objectives: providing security for humanitarian relief and finding weapons of mass destruction, the primary justification for the war.
The U.S. remains convinced the weapons are there, but well hidden.
GEN. RICHARD MYERS, CHAIRMAN OF THE JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: I have every confidence we are going to find them. I mean the -- but I don't think it's unusual that we haven't found -- found them yet. I think it will take people telling us where they are.
MCINTYRE: The U.S. military is beginning to transition into what it calls "Phase Four Stabilization Operations."
Under the plan, U.S. Marines will move out of Baghdad and be responsible for an area including roughly 9 million Iraqis in the north. Two other zones will fall under the authority of the U.S. Army, one for the southern part of the country and one for 5 million people in and around Baghdad.
U.S. commander General Tommy Franks made a low-key visit to Baghdad Wednesday, consulting with his field generals, but not mixing with the Iraqi people. Sources say Franks will likely soon establish a headquarters in the Iraqi capital.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At some point I think at some point, as he transitions to the next phase, he will probably recommend and stand up that kind of headquarters and put it right in -- within Iraq.
MCINTYRE: The U.S. is just now beginning to total up the bill for the war, which so far exceeds $20 billion and is projected to grow by roughly $2 billion a month through the rest of the year. The Pentagon says that's in line with the low-end estimates of under $80 billion for a short war.
DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: At first blush, from where we're looking, it seems that once again our estimates played out pretty well.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MCINTYRE: And while General Franks did not take a triumphant victory lap around Baghdad today, he did savor the moment, glad- handing and back-slapping with some of the troops. He smoked a cigar in one of Saddam Hussein's palace which is now serving as a headquarters for the U.S. military and he commented as he inspected the premises that it appeared to be part of what he called the "Oil for Palaces" program -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Very interesting. All right. Jamie McIntyre, thanks very much.
Here's your turn to weigh in on the war in Iraq. Our "Web Question of the Day": Do you think weapons of mass destruction are still in Iraq? We'll have the results later in this broadcast.
To vote, we invite you to point your browse to cnn.com/wolf.
Now let's send it off to Christiane in Baghdad.
AMANPOUR: Miles, there are people in a Baghdad neighborhood today, residents talking about a fierce gun battle that occurred there this week. They said they heard helicopters fighting and all of a sudden doors were being bashed down, and finally they realized after it was made public that a man called Abu Abbas -- Mohammed Abu Abbas -- had been captured by the U.S. forces.
Now many people are saying that he was allowed into Israel for so many years in the late '90s, that the U.S. had, you know, dropped charges apparently against him.
David Ensor broke the story last night and the question, David, is what is the U.S. going to do with him?
DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: That is the question, Christiane.
They -- they've been looking for him for almost 20 years now, both the U.S. government and the Italian government. And finally they have him.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ENSOR (voice-over): Now that the U.S. has Abu Abbas in custody, the question is what to do with him?
VICTORIA CLARKE, PENTAGON SPOKESWOMAN: We're looking at the legal issues and possibilities and have nothing to say right now.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Abu Abbas personally condemned the attack aboard the Achille Lauro.
ENSOR: Abbas was found guilty in absentia in Italy in the 1985 killing of disabled American tourist Leon Klinghoffer on the seized cruise ship the Achille Lauro, murdered by Palestinian guerrillas under Abbas' command.
Italy has asked for Abbas' extradition to serve a life sentence. Good idea, says a former Justice Department official.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why do we want to cause more problems for ourselves by bringing him here on something that we don't even think we have the evidence for right now? I would say let's go with the Italian solution.
ENSOR: But U.S. officials want to question Abbas and figure out whether he has had any role in supporting terrorism in more recent years. Did he help Saddam Hussein pay families of Palestinian suicide bombers? Did he help the Iraqis train terrorists at any point? Should he face charges in the U.S?
BRIG. GEN. VINCENT BROOKS, CENTCOM SPOKESMAN: Abu Abbas is a terrorist. He was a terrorist. He remains a terrorist.
ENSOR: Abu Abbas has lived openly and freely in Baghdad, traveling often to the Gaza Strip since the 1995 signing of a Palestinian-Israeli agreement regarding immunity for actions taken prior to the Oslo Accords. Palestinian officials are pressing the U.S. to free him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have contacted the American administration this morning, and I urged the American administration to honor and respect the agreement signed.
ENSOR: But U.S. officials respond, while Israel is bound by those agreements, the U.S. is not.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The United States is not a party to that or any amnesty arrangements regarding Abu Abbas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ENSOR: U.S. officials say Abbas did try to flee to Syria in recent days, but was stopped at the border by the Syrians. Now he faces a lot of American questions, presumably followed by many years in prison. The only question being, where -- Christiane.
AMANPOUR: David, of course, the United States used the whole terrorist link to al Qaeda as part of its case against Iraq. But, of course, many people in previous administrations in the U.S. are calling Abu Abbas and Iraqi terrorism sort of low-level priorities. So they're hailing his arrest, but how do you answer the cynics who say that they've just grabbed this guy to sort of have any sort of terrorist in their custody?
ENSOR: The -- the -- the U.S. Wanted to get Abu Abbas all along. He mae may be a much lower priority than for example, Zarqawi, the alleged al Qaeda leader who they thought was in Baghdad for a while, but he's still someone they wanted to get. He's -- he faces a life sentence in Italy for complicity in a hijacking that led to the murder of an American. And they also suspect he may know something about the Iraqi regime's involvement with terrorist groups. It's helped for various groups of Palestinians that have committed suicide bombings in Israel, for example. So it's nowhere near as important as al Qaeda, and if anyone suggests that this is somehow a replacement, that's certainly not the case. But they think this is someone they want to talk to and they may even bring charges against him, although it's also quite possible he'll end up in Italian hands -- Christiane.
AMANPOUR: David Ensor, thank you very much, indeed.
Back to you -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Christiane, the war has gone well, but the economy's still struggling. Does the president have an economic plan that will shock and awe? We'll go live to the White House and try to find out.
Also no smoking gun. The U.S. comes up empty handed so far in the search for weapons of mass destruction. What happens if they don't find any?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: President Bush wants to no replay of history when his father won a Persian Gulf War, but lost the next election over the economy.
Senior White House correspondent, John King, is standing by to update us on President Bush's day focusing on that issue.
John, certainly the media has focused on that issue of late, hasn't it?
JOHN KING, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: They have, media and the president is quite mindful of it. Mr. Bush is now at the ranch in Crawford, Texas, an extended Easter weekend, if you will, but he stopped on the way in Saint Louis, Missouri, the hometown of the Democrats running for president against Mr. Bush already, Congressman Dick Gephardt. Mr. Bush briefly discussing the economy in his speech. Here you see him in a Boeing factory where they make the F-18s, one of the weapons of war made in the Iraqi conflict.
Mr. Bush saying a top priority here at home will be passing the Congress which includes another round of big tax cut. That would be more of a priority when the president is back in Washington next week. Aides say look for him to push aggressively to try to get a big as tax cut as possible out of the Congress. But we already know Mr. Bush will not get the $726 billion he wants of the most he will get is $550 billion and many even that believe that is overly optimistic. In this speech Mr. Bush focusing much more on the war effort.
He applauded the U.S. troops. He said the war is not over, but the significant process is being made. Mr. Bush also made note of the meeting yesterday in which Iraqis were brought together for the first time to discuss the first interim Iraqi authority, and then eventually a new Iraqi government. And the president even joking that there were protests outside that meeting in his view, a sure sign that freedom is taking hold inside Iraq. The president said there are difficult days ahead, but in his view, so far so good.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Just days after the people of Iraq realize they were free from the clutches of his terror, the Iraqi people are reclaiming their own streets, their own country and their own future.
(APPLAUSE)
KING: Before leaving Washington, the president signed that nearly $80 billion emergency wartime budget, the money to pay for the war and the post-war effort inside Iraq. And in that speech in Saint Louis, the president said, now that Saddam Hussein is gone from power, it is time for the United Nations to lift the economic sanctions imposed on Iraq after the first Gulf War. Look for that debate about those sanctions being lifted to take hold next week up at the United Nations -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: We'll be watching for that, CNN's John King at the White House. Thank you very much, sir.
Iraqi soldiers on patrol in Baghdad. That's right. Iraqi soldiers. The latest from the war zone when we return.
And where are those weapons of mass destruction? Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Live pictures from the center of Baghdad on a, we hope, quiet moonlit night. Ten minute of 2:00 in the morning there. Let's get caught up on the latest developments in Iraq today.
8:04 a.m.: CNN's Mike Boettcher reports from Baghdad about a 120 U.S.-trained Iraqi soldiers called the Free Iraqi Force entered the city this morning. The FIF armed with AK-47s is patrolling Baghdad, and other Iraqi cities to help restore security.
8:07 a.m.: Central Command confirms General Tommy Franks, commander of coalition forces is in Baghdad today.
10:36 a.m.: Seven U.S. soldiers held as Iraqi prisoners of war left Kuwait City bound for Germany according to U.S. Central Command. The six men and one woman had been resting and undergoing medical checks in Kuwait since their dramatic rescue Sunday.
12:01 p.m., 8:01 p.m. in Baghdad: CNN's Jim Clancy reports electricity and phone service still are out in Baghdad. Red Cross officials say their first priority is the safe delivery of fuel and medical supplies to hospitals.
1:24 p.m.: The Pentagon says as military operations move into a support phase in Iraq, coalition command headquarters will probably move from Qatar to a site within Iraq.
2:01 p.m.: CNN's Christiane Amanpour reports there is an eerie uneasiness in Baghdad because Iraqis want to know when they're going to be able to lay Saddam Hussein's ghost to rest. She says security, water, electricity and medicine are the top concerns of still nervous residents of the Iraqi capital.
2:10 p.m.: The Pentagon's comptroller says the cost of the war with Iraq so far is $20 billion. The cost of ongoing operations expected to be about $2 billion per month.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Now let's send it back to Christiane Amanpour, live in Baghdad. Christiane, I said a moment ago it is hoped that it is a quiet night there. Do you have a sense of how the night is going?
AMANPOUR: It's quiet, certainly around where we are and that's good news. You know, standing on this roof sometimes and hearing the gun fire you get a little bit worried especially in these lights, but so far so good tonight.
Now, one of the main justifications for the war as we've been talking about for so long was the effort to disarm Saddam Hussein of weapons of mass destruction. The Bush administration insisted Saddam Hussein had them, Saddam Hussein denied that he had them ask so far none has been found. CNN's Jonathan Mann looks that the key issue in detail.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JONATHAN MANN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): U.S. forces searching a farm near Karbala found suspicious chemicals that turned out to be pesticide. They found a suspicious warhead at Kirkuk marked in a way suggestive of a chemical weapon, only it wasn't one. They found buried containers that were full of military equipment, but not the banned kind.
Iraq's chief military scientist, General Amir Hamoudi al-Saadi, who surrendered to U.S. forces, said that's because the weapons of mass destruction that Washington wants just aren't there.
LT. GEN. AMIR HAMOUDI AL-SAADI, IRAQI CHIEF SCIENTIST: I was knowledgeable about those programs, the past programs. And I was telling the truth, always telling the truth, never told anything but the truth. And time will bail me out (ph), you will see. There will be no difference after this war.
MANN: Ridding Iraq of its alleged weapons of mass destruction was a cornerstone of the Bush administration's case for attacking Iraq.
COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: Indeed the facts and Iraq's behavior show that Saddam Hussein and his regime are concealing their efforts to produce more weapons of mass destruction.
MANN: And so the obvious irony, the U.S. has won the war without yet finding the very thing it said the war was about.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we don't find them we've got serious issues. We've got issues with international law. We got issues here at home about why the president of the United States told Congress these weapons existed, getting Congress to therefore give him more powers, action.
MANN: The Bush administration says it's confident the weapons are there. But the chief of the U.S. Central Command, General Tommy Frank, says there may be 3,000 places to look and it could take a year to get to them all.
International weapons inspectors are asking to be let back into Iraq to continue their search, but the U.S. believes that Iraqi insiders are more important. People who might come forward more easily now that it's safe and could be lucrative.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People that have knowledge of the weapons of mass destruction program, for example, may be rewarded if they provide information about that program.
MANN: But looters may have been faster than U.S. soldiers or Iraqi experts. The scenes in major cities have reportedly been repeated at some suspect weapons sites which have been robbed before they could be studied.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's going to take the United States quite a long time to search Iraq for weapons of mass destruction, and have a complete answer. I mean they may get lucky tomorrow and stumble across a stock of chemical weapon. But they actually have to find everything so they have assurance that it's not going to be picked up accidentally by someone and kill them or somehow be stolen and given to an enemy of the United States.
MANN: And according to one published account, bureaucratic infighting among U.S. authorities has only added to the muddle, a competition of how the search should be conducted and who should conduct it.
(on camera): It may all come down to honesty. The United States and its allies have clearly won the war in Iraq and they stand every chance of making it a better place because of that fact. Still, millions of people around the world are deeply suspicious about the U.S. and its motives. Real progress on the ground in Iraq, real progress on the weapons of mass destruction may be the only way to put those suspicions to rest.
Jonathan Mann, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AMANPOUR: Well, a few days ago one key man who could provide a treasure drove of information on these weapons of mass destruction surrendered. It was General Amir al-Saadi, the top scientist of Saddam Hussein, the point man with the U.N. weapons inspectors. But as he was sanding himself over to the U.S., he said that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Be interesting to see if his tune changes. Christiane Amanpour in Baghdad. Thank you very much, stay safe.
Do you think weapons of mass destruction are still in Iraq? You still have an opportunity to vote on this issue. The results of "Our Web Question of the Day" will be revealed momentarily. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: All right, here's how you're weighing in on "Our Web Question of the Day." Once again, do you think weapons of mass destruction are still in Iraq? This is a close one. Fifty-one percent of you said yes, 49 percent of you said no. Statistically- speaking a dead heat, but of course, this is not a scientific poll anyway. Nevertheless, obviously a lot of difference of opinion on this matter.
I'm Miles O'Brien at the CNN Center in Atlanta. On behalf of Wolf Blitzer, Who will be back tomorrow, we bid you adieu.
A reminder, you can watch WOLF BLITZER REPORTS each weekday this time, 5:00 p.m. Eastern time.
AMANPOUR: I'm Christiane Amanpour. Good night from Baghdad. Stay with CNN for up-to-the-minute coverage and now to Lou Dobbs and "MONEYLINE" in New York.
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