Monday, March 19, 2007
Phillips reports from Baghdad on Iraq Now versus Iraq Four Years Ago
CNN Anchor Kyra Phillips reflects on how Iraq looks now that she has returned to Baghdad to Baghdad four years ago when she arrived on the USS Abraham Lincoln:
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Four years of war and more fighting ahead. Four years ago U.S. forces shook Baghdad with colossal explosions.
Today the Iraqi capital is still shaking, but insurgents are doing the blasting. Four years ago CNN's Kyra Phillips was on an aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf, and today she's on the ground in Baghdad .
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Brianna.
And when I heard the president's speech from four years ago today, for the first time in four years, it gave me chills because I remembered that moment. I remember when he said that the U.S. was at war with Iraq . I remember the attempted decapitation strike on Saddam. That didn't work.
So the next thing you knew, shock and awe was in motion, and jets were launching off the USS Abraham Lincoln and the U.S. was at war with Iraq .
I remember the U.S. military, all members of it, very patriotic. Now I'm here on the ground. It's anything but. It's purely chaotic. Just take a look at this piece. You'll get a little bit of perspective.
And I warn you, there are some graphic images.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mission objectives, we heard that. Hit the target. Kill mates (ph).
PHILLIPS: Well, welcome to shock and awe from the USS Abraham Lincoln.
(voice-over) It was four years ago this week I watched fighter pilots suit up and fill the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln. I knew at this moment that within 90 minutes, Baghdad would light up with blinding fire power. The mission would be called "shock and awe."
Operation Iraqi Freedom was now under way. Iraq was about to change forever, attempting to forge freedom but creating years of chaos.
The smoke has cleared, and this is Baghdad today. It looks peaceful from here, but on the streets it's anything but.
(on camera) Just to give you an idea of how dangerous it still is here in Baghdad four years after the war started, right now we're in a Shiite neighborhood. And you can see we have an Iraqi police escort in front of us with armed police officers.
And also behind us we've got two trucks behind us. And you can see there's members of the military and also the police that are constantly talking to us.
We have check points every 600 yards. And the curfew's in place from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. You can see how difficult it is just to travel less than a mile.
(voice-over) Even Iraqis move quickly through the streets, with very little expression. There are no gatherings at cafes or catching a movie. They may have political freedom but not freedom from terror.
"Of course I'm scared," this street vendor tells me, "because I feel I'm not secure. I'm standing here, but I expect danger to happen to me at any moment."
Danger this wedding shop owner fears every day.
"I'm afraid of everything," she says. "From car bombs, from people, from anything. I feel scared even inside my store or inside my home."
JIM CLANCY, CNN ANCHOR: We haven't been able to confirm it yet.
PHILLIPS: I remember the stories we reported as the war began. Our Baghdad correspondents, based at the landmark Palestine Hotel, searched for weapons of mass destruction. We wrote about democracy, justice, and a better life for the people of Iraq .
(on camera) This was actually our CNN NEWSROOM. There were computers, edit equipment, satellites. They filled up this room. As a matter of fact, this entire hotel was wall-to-wall journalists. Now there's only a few reporters left, and they all stay here at their own risk.
(voice-over) Muhammad Fouzi (ph) still works here. He never loses hope, but life just isn't the same.
"After the fall of Saddam Hussein," he explains, "the Iraqi people were happy and had smiles on their faces. They were comfortable in terms of the future. The hope and smiles have disappeared. God willing, things will get back to normal, and our children will have a better future."
No one knows for sure how many Iraqis have died since this war began.
Figures range widely from 50,000 to 600,000. More than 3,200 U.S.
troops have lost their lives.
Now the sounds of morning prayers, combined with gun fire, is just a reality. Faith and firefights, good battling evil, Iraqis and military troops enduring yet another war anniversary, with very little celebration.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: And we see those pictures there, Kyra, in your package, funerals, Iraqis wailing, at mourns (ph). Four years ago, you were on the Abraham Lincoln looking into the future. Is this at all what you would have expected?
PHILLIPS: As a matter of fact, when I walked through the streets and even went to some of those exact locations where those bombs dropped, Brianna, I was expecting to see a lot of rebuilding, a lot of those neighborhoods possibly to have been improved. But still, there is a lot of rubble. There is a lot of areas that have not been rebuilt.
And it wasn't just the destruction from those bombs but just what happened afterwards. I mean, members of the military have been telling me for years, "We never expected what the insurgency was going to do. We never expected the sectarian violence. We didn't think it was going to be like this."
And a lot of them told me off the record, "We didn't plan for this."
This was not how it was supposed to happen, they tell me.
KEILAR: And you've been through a number of security checkpoints. Do you get a sense at all that the new security plan is working when you're there on the ground?
PHILLIPS: Oh, it's interesting. Yes, when you look at the numbers, it is working in some areas, and it works at times.
But take a look at some of this video that I took with my handy-cam, just working through one of the checkpoints. We were heading out to a story, and I was amazed that practically every 600 yards we came across one of these checkpoints. There are blast walls everywhere. You've got to weave yourself through. You've got the blast walls, not only in front but also on the left with all the barbed wire. You've got the armed guards.
And a lot of times, Brianna, you don't know if these checkpoints have good guys or bad guys manning them. Every time you roll up, you get nervous. And all I know and all that I am told is that you can't stay in one location for a very long time. If things don't seem right, you have to try and move your way right through it and hope for the best.
So, it's really hard to work a story. It's really hard to get out on the streets and talk with Iraqis. We do it, and we take that risk at times. But we have to be very, very careful and choose our stories wisely.
KEILAR: All right, Kyra, thanks for that. Stay safe out there. Our very own Kyra Phillips live from Baghdad . We're going to check back in with you in a bit.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Four years of war and more fighting ahead. Four years ago U.S. forces shook Baghdad with colossal explosions.Today the Iraqi capital is still shaking, but insurgents are doing the blasting. Four years ago CNN's Kyra Phillips was on an aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf, and today she's on the ground in Baghdad .
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Brianna.
And when I heard the president's speech from four years ago today, for the first time in four years, it gave me chills because I remembered that moment. I remember when he said that the U.S. was at war with Iraq . I remember the attempted decapitation strike on Saddam. That didn't work.
So the next thing you knew, shock and awe was in motion, and jets were launching off the USS Abraham Lincoln and the U.S. was at war with Iraq .
I remember the U.S. military, all members of it, very patriotic. Now I'm here on the ground. It's anything but. It's purely chaotic. Just take a look at this piece. You'll get a little bit of perspective.
And I warn you, there are some graphic images.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mission objectives, we heard that. Hit the target. Kill mates (ph).
PHILLIPS: Well, welcome to shock and awe from the USS Abraham Lincoln.
(voice-over) It was four years ago this week I watched fighter pilots suit up and fill the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln. I knew at this moment that within 90 minutes, Baghdad would light up with blinding fire power. The mission would be called "shock and awe."
Operation Iraqi Freedom was now under way. Iraq was about to change forever, attempting to forge freedom but creating years of chaos.
The smoke has cleared, and this is Baghdad today. It looks peaceful from here, but on the streets it's anything but.
(on camera) Just to give you an idea of how dangerous it still is here in Baghdad four years after the war started, right now we're in a Shiite neighborhood. And you can see we have an Iraqi police escort in front of us with armed police officers.
And also behind us we've got two trucks behind us. And you can see there's members of the military and also the police that are constantly talking to us.
We have check points every 600 yards. And the curfew's in place from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. You can see how difficult it is just to travel less than a mile.(voice-over) Even Iraqis move quickly through the streets, with very little expression. There are no gatherings at cafes or catching a movie. They may have political freedom but not freedom from terror.
"Of course I'm scared," this street vendor tells me, "because I feel I'm not secure. I'm standing here, but I expect danger to happen to me at any moment."
Danger this wedding shop owner fears every day.
"I'm afraid of everything," she says. "From car bombs, from people, from anything. I feel scared even inside my store or inside my home."
JIM CLANCY, CNN ANCHOR: We haven't been able to confirm it yet.
PHILLIPS: I remember the stories we reported as the war began. Our Baghdad correspondents, based at the landmark Palestine Hotel, searched for weapons of mass destruction. We wrote about democracy, justice, and a better life for the people of Iraq .
(on camera) This was actually our CNN NEWSROOM. There were computers, edit equipment, satellites. They filled up this room. As a matter of fact, this entire hotel was wall-to-wall journalists. Now there's only a few reporters left, and they all stay here at their own risk.
(voice-over) Muhammad Fouzi (ph) still works here. He never loses hope, but life just isn't the same.
"After the fall of Saddam Hussein," he explains, "the Iraqi people were happy and had smiles on their faces. They were comfortable in terms of the future. The hope and smiles have disappeared. God willing, things will get back to normal, and our children will have a better future."
No one knows for sure how many Iraqis have died since this war began.
Figures range widely from 50,000 to 600,000. More than 3,200 U.S.
troops have lost their lives.
Now the sounds of morning prayers, combined with gun fire, is just a reality. Faith and firefights, good battling evil, Iraqis and military troops enduring yet another war anniversary, with very little celebration.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: And we see those pictures there, Kyra, in your package, funerals, Iraqis wailing, at mourns (ph). Four years ago, you were on the Abraham Lincoln looking into the future. Is this at all what you would have expected?
PHILLIPS: As a matter of fact, when I walked through the streets and even went to some of those exact locations where those bombs dropped, Brianna, I was expecting to see a lot of rebuilding, a lot of those neighborhoods possibly to have been improved. But still, there is a lot of rubble. There is a lot of areas that have not been rebuilt.
And it wasn't just the destruction from those bombs but just what happened afterwards. I mean, members of the military have been telling me for years, "We never expected what the insurgency was going to do. We never expected the sectarian violence. We didn't think it was going to be like this."
And a lot of them told me off the record, "We didn't plan for this."
This was not how it was supposed to happen, they tell me.
KEILAR: And you've been through a number of security checkpoints. Do you get a sense at all that the new security plan is working when you're there on the ground?
PHILLIPS: Oh, it's interesting. Yes, when you look at the numbers, it is working in some areas, and it works at times.
But take a look at some of this video that I took with my handy-cam, just working through one of the checkpoints. We were heading out to a story, and I was amazed that practically every 600 yards we came across one of these checkpoints. There are blast walls everywhere. You've got to weave yourself through. You've got the blast walls, not only in front but also on the left with all the barbed wire. You've got the armed guards.
And a lot of times, Brianna, you don't know if these checkpoints have good guys or bad guys manning them. Every time you roll up, you get nervous. And all I know and all that I am told is that you can't stay in one location for a very long time. If things don't seem right, you have to try and move your way right through it and hope for the best.
So, it's really hard to work a story. It's really hard to get out on the streets and talk with Iraqis. We do it, and we take that risk at times. But we have to be very, very careful and choose our stories wisely.
KEILAR: All right, Kyra, thanks for that. Stay safe out there. Our very own Kyra Phillips live from Baghdad . We're going to check back in with you in a bit.
# posted by ATN @ 3:34 PM 
