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Saturday Morning News

Iraq Bills Allied Bombing as Holy War

Aired February 17, 2001 - 7:00 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: We begin in Baghdad, where U.S. and British planes bombed the outskirts of the Iraqi capital about 18 hours ago. Officials say the targets were military command posts and radar units that were directing antiaircraft missiles at allied planes enforcing the no-fly zones in Iraq.

Iraq says civilians were killed and injured in the attacks, and it is threatening decisive retaliation and what it calls a "holy war."

CNN's Jane Arraf is in Baghdad with the latest. Hello, Jane.

JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Miles.

Well, Iraqis woke up this morning with their government warning them to expect more trouble. It says basically -- the Iraqi newspapers they're reading in the morning tell them basically that it's like father, like son, that this new Bush administration will be like the old Bush administration, which went to war against Iraq.

The Iraqi newspapers warning that Iraq will retaliate against this and strike what it calls the "son of the viper."

Now, Iraq is billing this as a holy war in terms. Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, meeting with his leadership last night, issued a communique saying that this was proof that the United States was allied with Israel. It says the attack on Iraq is not just an attack on the outskirts of Baghdad but an attack on the Arab world.

A demonstration held today in a Palestinian neighborhood in Baghdad, officially sponsored and organized, where Palestinian and Iraqi demonstrators professed their support for President Saddam Hussein and their opposition to the U.S. and to Israel.

An Iraqi official tells us that the attack last night is also proof, if anyone needed any, that Kuwait and Saudi Arabia are aligning themselves with Israel and with the United States, another clear indication of the religious element of what Iraq says will be a continuing confrontation -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Jane, just give us a sense of the rules of engagement there for reporters right now. How much free and unfettered access do you have to make independent assessments about the damage which came in the wake of that attack? ARRAF: Well, Iraq says, as in any country after a military attack, there are certain limits as to what we can and can't do. One of the things we can't do at the moment is actually go to the sites that were hit. Authorities here at the information ministry, where journalists are required to work out of, say that they're considering that, that they will at some point possibly allow us to go there.

So far, they've allowed journalists only to the hospitals where some of the wounded are taken. We've had some official statements from authorities and been able to interview some authorities, including one official who tells CNN that they are calling on Iraq -- sorry, calling on U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan to condemn the attack and get serious in his dialogue with Iraq.

This is important, because it means that they're not giving up on a dialogue scheduled next month. There are some indications coming out, but so far not a lot of access -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Jane Arraf in Baghdad, thanks very much.

The Pentagon says two dozen U.S. and British planes took part in the strike against Iraq using so-called standoff weapons.

Kathleen Koch at the Pentagon with the latest from there. Good morning, Kathleen.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.

The U.S. Pentagon says that this strike on Iraqi antiaircraft surveillance radar and command and control centers was purely a defensive move. Apparently over the last six weeks, according to the U.S. military, Iraq has fired antiaircraft missiles at coalition aircraft 60 times. That's more than during the entire previous six months.

So rather than take a chance at losing aircraft, this strike was launched. Now, the military says it was targeted at five sites around Baghdad, all of them outside of Baghdad, and in what the U.S. military called unpopulated areas.

This was the first strike north of the southern no-fly zone since December of 1998, and the largest. Members of the U.S. Congress say they believe it was time to send Saddam Hussein a message.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: Bush's actions in Iraq, they are needed. Saddam Hussein is a bully, and he has thumbed his nose at the West for too long. The only way you treat a bully, as we learned in Brooklyn, is show some strength. And today we did.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOCH: Now, 24 aircraft were involved in the mission, Air Force F-15s, Navy F-18s, and four British Tornadoes. All the aircraft returned safely either to the USS Harry Truman, an aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf, or to a base in Saudi Arabia.

The U.S. military hasn't yet completed full damage assessment, but they do believe that the mission was a success. And Miles, for that reason, the Pentagon says it does not see the need for any further air strikes any time in the near future.

Reporting live at the Pentagon, I'm Kathleen Koch. Back to you.

O'BRIEN: All right, thank you very much, Kathleen.

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