WRAP US troop movements in tense towns, security arrests

(12 Jul 2003)

Road between Baghdad and Ramadi/Fallujah
1. US soldiers at checkpoint as military vehicles pass

Ramadi
2. US troops driving in Ramadi
3. Wide shot Ramadi town hall
4. Close up of town hall
5. Various soldiers and vehicles at US base
6. SOUNDBITE: (English) Sergeant First Class Keith O'Donnell, US Army:
"To my knowledge there hasn't been any request for additional troops. We have more than sufficient force to accomplish our mission here and as far as I know there has been no additional troops requested."

Outskirts of Ramadi
7. Military vehicle on road
8. Various US soldiers checking people at checkpoint

Fallujah
9. Wide of intact Fallujah police station - the town's prison
10. Police outside station
11. Gate of station - car leaves
12. Iraqi flag
13. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Ryad Abbas, Chief of Fallujah Police:
"The security situation is fine and our cars will be touring the city in two days time, we will patrol 24 hours a day. This will begin once we get our communication equipment."
14. Policemen inside station
15. Various prisoners in cells
16. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Prisoner "They treat us no better than Saddam did."
17. Officers outside station

Baghdad
18. Wide shot Bernard Kerrick, walks into news conference
19. Cutaway journalists
21. SOUNDBITE: (English) Bernard Kerrick, Interior Ministry security adviser:
"It is alleged that four of the men that were arrested and picked up within the last twelve four hours were cousins of Saddam."
22. Two shots of photos showing group of men outdoors
23. Kerrick leaving news conference

STORYLINE:

US forces in the volatile town of Ramadi to the west of Baghdad have scotched rumours that their numbers are being reinforced.

Ramadi and the neigbouring town of Fallujah have been the focus of discontent among Iraqis unhappy at the US presence in the towns.

Earlier this week, Iraqi police officers in Fallujah threatened to leave their jobs by Sunday if coalition forces remained in the town.

On Friday, an APTN cameraman filmed a large American convoy headed in the direction of Ramadi and Fallujah.

But speaking at the US Army headquarters near Ramadi, Sergeant First Class Keith O'Donnell denied that any request for back up had been made.

Meanwhile, a local Iraqi police chief in Fallujah denied the town's prison had been destroyed.

The police station in Fallujah is the closest thing the settlement has to a prison, with holding cells for prisoners who are usually quickly transferred to larger facilities.

Prisoners remained in their cells at the jail, complaining that the treatment they received was what they would have expected under the regime of Saddam Hussein.

Earlier on Saturday the notorious prison at Abu Ghraib, near the Iraqi capital Baghdad, was attacked and damaged by unknown assailants.

Also in Baghdad, a senior policy advisor to the Iraqi Interior Ministry told a news conference on Saturday that security forces had arrested five former members of Saddam Hussein's personal security force.

Former New York police commissioner Bernard Kerrick said four of those arrested on a confidential tip-off were alleged to be cousins of Saddam's and the men were believed to have been involved in human rights abuses.

Kerrick, who is in charge of security of efforts to train a new Iraqi police force, showed reporters photographs seized during raids which he said depicted the men torturing another man.

Kerrick also warned people to be prepared over the coming weeks for continuing threats to security in the country.


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