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 
Iraq War: The Fifth Year Begins; Phillips Takes a Look at the Lives of Refugees
As reported Friday, CNN NewsRoom anchor Kyra Phillips is in Iraq for a few weeks. Today for CNN NewsRoom she took a look at one family dealing with selling everything they own just so they can survive:HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Iraqi refugees trying to get out of harms way. CNN's Kyra Phillips is in Iraq . She took a tour of one of the refugee camps that's now home to hundreds of people.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR, (voice over): When you enter the Alba Tool (ph) refugee camp, you see the filth, smell the sewage and imagine the dangers. It's depressing. And then you meet the children.
I think what amazes me the most about all these children is that they're still happy and positive. They have bicycles. They play soccer. And that's all they need right now.
I ask them if they understand why they are here. They say eventually they hope to have a better life. They understand democracy. They understand freedom. This is all they know that the point. And they're just making the best of it.
This unexpected spirit surrounds us. We followed it. And then we met Shaqrea (ph). Her name means thankful in Arabic. Ironic for a woman who has had everything taken from her.
"Look at this miserable situation," she tells me. "Look at this room.
What can I say? We're still saying thanks, God."
Shaqrea welcomes us into her home. Even with so little, she and her husband Muhammad (ph) smile, laugh, and never once hint for any sympathy. Dignity dominates this humble home. Today, they're not forgotten.
"I'm very proud," she tells me. "I'm very happy you're here. Seeing you compensates for the bad days. This visit gets me through the day."
Their story is just like the estimated 200 Iraqi families that have taken refuge here. Insurgents threatened to kill them if they didn't leave their home.
Shaqrea explains, "we can't find good clothes for our children. We can't offer them good food or send them to school. I sold everything, even my gas canisters and my furniture, just to survive."
Now Muhammad supports his family as a street cleaner earning $4.00 a day. They have five children to feed. I ask Muhammad if his children ever question their circumstances.He tells me, "my daughter Hanna (ph) asks me, when we grow up, what is going to happen to our destiny, to our future? Why do we have to live under these circumstances?"
The truth is, this family doesn't know, so they pray, they work, and they wait.
What is your message to the Iraqi government now?
Muhammad tells me, "our message is to get rid of the terrorists, get our home back, and have security. Nothing more, nothing less.
COLLINS: Kyra Phillips joining us now from Baghdad .
Kyra, is there any way to know how many displaced Iraqi there are since the war began?
PHILLIPS: Well, give and take, obviously, but the number right now that comes from human rights organizations, 600,000 people. Just like the family I introduced you to, just like the Jabber (ph) family, 600,000 displaced Iraqis. And also another figure to tell you about, 50,000 families forced out of their homes every month. That's the situation right now.
What happens is they get a threatening letter. It's a part of the Shia-Sunni separation. And they get these letters. They're forced out of their neighborhoods. They're threatened with their lives and told if they don't leave that they're be killed. So that is just one of hundreds and hundreds of stories that I've been hearing since I've been able to travel through the streets and specifically this refugee camp.
COLLINS: Interesting, too, the family that you met said that they want the terrorists to go away, not the United States troops.
PHILLIPS: That's a very interesting point, Heidi. Even talking to a family like the Jabber family who have absolutely nothing, and they're struggling.
I asked them, are you glad Saddam Hussein is out of power? And they say, yes, because we keep believing in democracy. We keep believing that our life will get better. Life was not good under Saddam Hussein's rule. Even though we had electricity, we had a home, it wasn't good for the future of our kids.
So they're struggling. They're not happy with what's happening. They know that there's way too much violence is taking place and that it's affecting their lives, but they want the freedom. They want the democracy. And, once again, they just keep talking about how they pray every single day that somehow it will work out.
But can you believe that? He's make $4.00 a day and he's got five children. And those kids, you just can't forget their faces. You're effected by them.
As soon as you walked to the camp, just writing their name in English on a piece of paper, they all wanted that and they wanted to put it into their pocket. It was just a special moment for them because every day is so much the same. You come to visit and you do something little like that, it makes an impact on them.
COLLINS: And on you, I'm sure, as well. All right, Kyra Phillips coming to us live today out of Baghdad .
# posted by ATN @ 3:18 PM
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Beck on Being on Combining News and Comment Together
On Sunday's edition of CNN's "Reliable Sources," Howard Kurtz spoke to CNN Headline News host Glenn Beck about his role at the network and about combining news and commentary. Below is a portion of the discussion:KURTZ: All right. Well, let me read you some comments from MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann. We’re going to play part of your on-air response and we’ll talk about it on the other side. Olbermann told "Rolling Stone" this month, he called you a wolf in sheep’s clothing, a very dangerously bigoted guy who’s selling himself as a pragmatic philosopher. I don’t think he sees his own bigotry. There’s something about him that suggests one night he will say something that costs him his career in television.
And you addressed this question of making a career ending move on your show. Let’s watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BECK: If I’m going to be shut down for that, well, it will likely be because of an intolerant ideologue like Keith Olbermann. The very idea smacks of the same McCarthyism Murrow fought so valiantly against.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KURTZ: Now he wasn’t calling for you to be shut down. He said you might shut yourself down by saying something.
BECK: There’s a difference. There’s a difference here and I think this is what it is. We are in a very politically correct world and you can – if you’re honest about it, you can see that there is a different standard. I mean here I am. I’m in the hot seat almost constantly because I’m doing an opinion show but I am telling you I’m doing an
opinion show. I am in the hot seat because I’m conservative, but I’m telling you that I’m a conservative. It’s people like Keith Olbermann doing news shows never will ever admit that he’s a liberal. He is a liberal and he’s also blending news and comment together. That is a great danger.
# posted by ATN @ 7:59 PM
