Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE= 10/28/2003

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=IRAQ / AFTERMATH (L-ONLY)

NUMBER=2-309127

BYLINE=GREG LAMOTTE

DATELINE=BAGHDAD

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: At three police stations in Baghdad and a Red Cross building in the capital, city workers sifted through rubble following Monday's suicide attacks that left dozens of people dead and hundreds wounded. V-O-A's Greg LaMotte went to the scene of the Red Cross bombing and spoke with victims and police one day after the worst day of violence in Baghdad since major combat operations ended May 1st.

TEXT: /// NATURAL SOUND WATER PUMP ///

In the center of the street directly in front of the Red Cross building where Monday's car bomb detonated, repair crews were busy trying to fix a broken water pipe. The blast left a huge hole in the pavement and ruptured the pipe that is gushing water into the street.

The building was heavily damaged, its facade collapsed. Bits and pieces of the car that exploded were strewn throughout the neighborhood.

Some young Iraqi boys, a block-and-a-half from the blast site, somberly pointed to pieces of human bodies lying in thick, dry grass.

In front of the Red Cross building a dozen security personnel stood guard to prevent anyone from entering the damaged building.

One Red Cross worker, in tears, came to see the devastation for herself. She did not want to talk to anyone. She only looked and cried.

/// NATURAL SOUND GLASS ///

Nearby, 26-year-old Ali Rasheed and a friend were cleaning glass from the front of the sidewalk. Mr. Rasheed says he saw the explosives-filled ambulance race down the street and explode. He and his wife were standing outside. Both were knocked to the ground by the force of the blast and sustained cuts to their faces and bodies.

After Monday's attack, Red Cross officials in Baghdad began discussing the idea of evacuating their foreign staff members, something Mr. Rasheed says he does not want to see happen.

/// RASHEED ACT IN ARABIC FADE UNDER ///

Mr. Rasheed says the Red Cross is a humanitarian organization that is helping the Iraqi people in whatever way it can. He says Monday's blast was a terrorist act against the Iraqi people and he does not want the Red Cross to reduce its personnel in Iraq.

Across the street from the blast site, Iraqi police sergeant Mohammed Hadi is helping three men determine if human remains found in the street belonged to their missing brother.

Three police stations were hit by suicide bomb blasts Monday in what was the worst day of carnage in Baghdad since the end of major combat operations May 1st.

Coalition officials say the attacks on police stations, the terrorists favorite target, are intended to send a message to Iraqi law enforcement not to side with coalition forces.

But police Sgt. Hadi says the attacks will not cause him to leave the Iraqi police department.

/// HADI ACT IN ARABIC FADE UNDER ///

Sgt. Hadi says he is not afraid of anything. He says it is his duty to serve his country and his people, who need him. He says his friends often tell him to quit the police department for his own safety, but he says he tells them it is his duty to help rebuild a new and free Iraq.

Sgt. Hadi blames loyalists to Saddam Hussein for Monday's attacks. He says if he decided to quit the police department and the Red Cross decides to evacuate employees then, he says, the enemy will win. (SIGNED)

NEB/GL/MAR/RAE