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CNN SHOWDOWN: IRAQ
World Reaction to War in Iraq Marked With Demonstrations, Violence
Aired March 26, 2003 - 12:35 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Meanwhile, global demonstrations against the war in Iraq are still going on. In some places becoming more violent. Spanish police clashed with thousands of students in Barcelona and Sara Doza (ph) Thousands of people disrupted traffic in Madrid. Several people were injured there.
In South Korea, demonstrators tried to break into the heavily guarded U.S. embassy. They scaled the walls and chained themselves to a fence before police knocked them down. In Sydney, protesters threw bottles, chairs and tables at police. Hundreds of college and high school students marched downtown and close to the U.S. consulate protesters burned the American flag, definitely an unusual scene for Australia.
For more international reaction now, let's turn to our correspondents who are standing by live. Rym Brahimi is joining us from Amman, Jordan, Jill Dougherty is in the Russian capital of Moscow, and Robin Oakley, he's in London.
Let me start with you, Jill, first of all. The Russians: We know where the Russian government stands. But as far as you can tell, where do the Russian people, by and large, the rank and file, stand?
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN MOSCOW BUREAU CHIEF: If you look at polls, Wolf, you've got almost 90 percent of the Russian people opposed to this war. However, there are other polls that show indications that some Russians feel there should be some type of action against Saddam Hussein. But you have to say overwhelming people are against this war.
However, it has not translated into actual demonstrations. There have been a few. They've been pretty small. At the most about 1,000 people. And pretty far between. There's really not a lot of vocal statement coming from people, at least, regular people about this war.
BLITZER: I want to pick up that in a moment, but I want to bring in Rym Brahimi in Amman, Jordan. King Abdullah is in an awkward position right now, because I take it on the streets of Jordan there's widespread opposition to what the United States and Britain are doing?
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Wolf.
The Jordanian government is walking a tightrope. There is wide opposition here. Demonstrators went out into the streets yesterday; maybe not in as many significant numbers as in Cairo or in Syria, for instance. But still very significant, because the weather conditions were appalling. Demonstrators went out in the middle of a snowstorm, marching, chanting slogans against the United States .
Jordanian government has been monitoring the public reaction to the war in Iraq. And maybe even preempting it. For instance, when the Iraqi vice president came out yesterday accusing Jordan of not providing food supplies to Iraq, well, the Jordanian foreign minister came out, spoke to the press saying this is not what's happening. Saying Jordanian people are also important. But we're very concerned about the Iraqi people.
Also the local press agency, news agency, Petra, is reporting the minister of education cautioned all school principals against that kind of disturbance, saying they must make sure classes are attended at all times, cautioning them against groups that might want to exploit that situation. And also warning that he would not tolerate any disruption of law and order. Saying that no demonstration will actually be able to help brothers in need.
Now, in Syria, if I just may go to what happened in Damascus, that was a huge demonstration. Hundreds of thousands of people marching in the streets of Syria. That was a government authorized demonstration, as well. But the government actually authorized civil servants to go out in the streets, stop work for a day to go and protest. They went out chanting anti-American slogans, saying Americans out, down with Bush, the regular slogans.
But also slogans against Arab leaders from Egypt, Jordan, Qatar and Kuwait; so that was also quite significant, especially as Syria was in 1991 an ally of the coalition in the war against Iraq. Now Syria is totally opposed to this current war.
Wolf?
BLITZER: All right, Rym. Stand by. I want to get back to you as well.
Robin, in London, I know you cover European affairs. Those demonstrations in Spain today, very interesting, because the prime minister, Prime Minister Aznar has been a close ally of Tony Blair and President Bush in this whole war, the buildup toward the war. How significant are these demonstrations in Spain, and does it represent a threat to the government of Prime Minister Aznar?
ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN SR. EUROPEAN POLITICAL CORRES.: I don't think it's too big a threat to the government, but certainly there have been big demonstrations over the last week or so in London, here again in London, 500,000 or more taking to the streets.
Perhaps only half the numbers there were a month ago. Things have changed since British troops have been committed to war. We've had big demonstrations here. We've seen big demonstrations in Italy. And those significant demonstrations in Spain. Three of the countries where there has been the biggest political support for military action.
In Britain in general, I think the mood has changed since troops have gone into action. Latest opinion poll here, one poll, ICM, which a week ago had 38 percent in favor of the war. That's now leapt to 54 percent. Polls in general are putting support for Tony Blair's handling of the crisis, 55 percent in favor to 37 percent against.
In the House of Commons, where we had 200 of Britain's lawmakers, a week ago, voting against a war. The mood has now changed. When Tony Blair was in front of them this morning, it's all questions rather than criticism.
But there's still a fragility I think about British public opinion because if you look at the losses the British forces have already taken, 14 in two helicopter crashes, four people died in friendly fire incidents and two in combat. That's a total of 20. That's nearly half the total numbers who fell during the Gulf War 10 years ago, Wolf. Public opinion, I think, is worried that the so- called "Shock and Awe" tactics may have shocked Baghdad initially, but don't seem to have produced the awe in the Iraqi population that the British people had been led to expect by Tony Blair and others.
Wolf.
BLITZER: Certainly, the public opinion polls in Britain not as favorable for Tony Blair as the public opinion polls are in the United States for President Bush.
Let me bring back Jill Dougherty in Moscow.
Jill, you know that area of the world, spending many years there. Why is it that so many of the democracies now, the former Warsaw Pact countries, former republics, so many of them of the former Soviet Union, like Lithuania and Estonia, these countries -- Poland, the Czech Republic, all seem to be supporting President Bush, the governments are in this war with Iraq, but Russia, which is of course a democracy now, is so strongly opposed?
DOUGHERTY: Well, you know, Wolf, really Russia considers itself a separate entity. There's always been friction between the Eastern Europeans and Mother Russia. Eastern Europeans are trying to prove their devotion to the United States , after all, especially the Baltics and places like that, they've felt during the Cold War the U.S. stuck by them, supported their right to succeed from the old Soviet Union. So they owe something to the United States .
Russia has a completely different opinion. They used to be a superpower. There's a lot of the regret that they are no longer a superpower. They also look at the game as no longer where they have some cards, which is the United Nations. They know the U.S. can do pretty much what it wants to do. And that is galling to some people, especially in the military here, who wish they could do what they wanted to do. They're very jealous of that.
And then, another factor, Wolf, is that basically lot of Russians don't feel that this is their war. They will be affected in some way, but this isn't their fight.
BLITZER: Let me bring back Rym Brahimi.
Rym, we don't have a lot of time, but I'm anxious to ask you this question. As you know, there was a tragic incident on the road out of Iraq the other day. A Syrian bus, a bus with Syrian civilians was accidentally hit by a U.S. missile and several people were killed and many others injured.
In that part of the world, Syria where there's widespread distrust of the United States , have they accepted the Pentagon's formal apology, the assertion by the U.S. military that this was in fact an accident? Or is there a suspicion there that perhaps it wasn't an accident?
BRAHIMI: Wolf, that's very interesting. These apologies are never quite accepted as such in this region. It's quite safe to say that. Of course, they may be taken and looked at, but if you ask many people, there's such a feeling of resentment with regard to the United States. Especially, a feeling that the United States being a strong ally of Israel, cannot be an ally or friendly in any way to any Arab people. There's another suspicion and no matter what the U.S. might say about that, there will be probably lot of suspicion as to what happened there.
At the very least there will still be the accusation, what were you doing in Iraq anyway, bombing a country that is a brother country? There is that feeling very much. There is also the feeling that now that a new crisis when the first one, the one between the Israelis and Palestinians, hasn't been solved. And so a lot of mounting frustration, which is what worries a lot of the leaders in the region, which is why sometimes they allow those demonstrations, just to allow people to vent their anger, while still keeping some sort of lid on monitoring those demonstrations as well.
Wolf?
BLITZER: CNN's Rym Brahimi joining us from Amman, Jordan, Jill Dougherty in Moscow, Robin Oakley in London. Thank you very much to all of you.
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