| ||
| ||
| ||
 |
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
U.S. commander dismisses tape's impact on Iraqis
FALLUJAH, Iraq (CNN) -- The Arabic-language TV network Al-Jazeera on Friday broadcast an audiotape purportedly from ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein calling on Iraqis to support resistance against U.S. forces. CNN Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson discussed the tape and the security situation with U.S. Army Lt. Col. Kenneth Gantt, a commander outside Fallujah. Seven people were killed Monday in a blast near a mosque in the central Iraqi town. Some Iraqis have blamed the United States, but U.S. military officials said an accident in a bomb-making class was responsible for the explosion. ROBERTSON: Well, there's certainly a concern [among] the U.S. troops here. It's certainly been a concern of theirs that the fact that Saddam Hussein is around has an impact on people. It has an impact in that they perhaps won't come forward and give information about Baathist elements, people who were associated with Saddam Hussein and his former regime. It has an impact because it doesn't allow people to sort of close off, if you will, on the past regime. And that's one of the things U.S. troops here find that they all [are] fighting against, that perception that Saddam Hussein could still be around. And particularly in Fallujah, where there has been high tension at times between the townspeople and the U.S. troops. We watched officers [Thursday] talking with senior religious leaders, talking with senior tribal leaders, talking with the mayor of the town to explain some of the recent developments ... how they haven't been responsible for the explosion at a mosque. So getting the message out to the local population has been a very important part of what the troops do here. ... There [has] been a mortar attack on the base at Balad. Sixteen U.S. soldiers [were] injured there. [On Thursday night] in Baghdad, a soldier [was] shot by apparently, possibly by a sniper ... while he was standing guard in his Bradley fighting vehicle. [The soldier] was in the gun turret, and he was killed in that incident. So what we've seen ... over recent days is attacks coming in the form of lone gunmen, rocket-propelled grenade attacks, mortar attacks, the attacks becoming more sophisticated and more frequent. But joining me now is Lt. Col. Kenneth Gantt, who's been stationed here with the 3rd Infantry Division outside of Fallujah. Commander, maybe you can talk us through what your soldiers face here on a day- to-day basis with the townspeople in Fallujah and the possibility of attacks. GANTT: Yes, sir. We are on the outskirts of Fallujah. We control basically about, approximately 30 kilometers to the east between Baghdad and Fallujah. And on a daily basis, we conduct meetings with town councils and two communities. And during those council meetings, we're doing the same things that our sister units are doing inside Fallujah proper, and that is we're working to rebuild infrastructure. We're providing humanitarian assistance and meals. We deliver water daily. We are trying to help the city council and the communities take control of their particular destiny with this new freedom and liberation. ROBERTSON: Saddam Hussein has released an audiotape, or apparently released an audiotape. How do you think that his statements on that tape -- saying that he is still around in Iraq, that he is responsible for some of the recent attacks on U.S. troops ... how is that going to affect your work? GANTT: I don't believe it's going to have any effect at all. The people are continuing to rejoice in the fact they have this liberation, No. 1. And No. 2, they're taking hold of this independence with our assistance and that of the international community. So the only thing that I would believe that this tape has done is probably just another futile attempt to prolong the fact that these people are going to take care of themselves without him.
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
