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American Morning
Aziz Says Iraq Has No Weapons of Mass Destruction
Aired September 02, 2002 - 08:06 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Barbara Starr is here and the reason she's here is the situation with Iraq and the Pentagon. In fact, Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz has told CNN Iraq does not have weapons of mass destruction and now the secretary of state, Colin Powell, seems to be contradicting other members of the Bush administration.
He's saying the U.N. should send in weapons inspectors before the U.S. takes any military action against Baghdad. In a new five-part series that runs all this week, in fact, starting today, it's called The Pentagon Goes To War, and Barbara Starr, that's the reason why she is here, to look at the events and the people that have driven the Pentagon since going back to last September 11.
Great to see you in person and in New York City.
Good morning.
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.
Thank you.
Well, you know, for the last year the Pentagon's been driven by 9/11. And as the war on terrorism enters its second year, they seem to now be very consumed by Iraq, by Saddam Hussein's chemical and biological weapons. So we're going to start by taking a look at that this morning, whether those weapons could fall into the hands of the al Qaeda, what the U.S. might do about targeting them.
And while the debate in Washington goes on, at the Pentagon they're already very consumed by this, preparing target lists, taking a look at exactly what Saddam Hussein has in hand.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STARR (voice-over): Nearly four years after U.N. weapons inspectors left Iraq, there is mounting evidence that Saddam Hussein is back in business with massive stocks of chemical and biological weapons that he is hiding from a possible U.S. military attack. Washington's concerned will Iraq supply those deadly weapons to terrorists, a potentially catastrophic expansion of the threat posed by groups like al Qaeda.
SEN. JOSEPH BIDEN (D-DE), FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE: If we wait for the danger to become clear and present, it could become too late.
STARR: Iraq's inventory is significant. In the chemical arena...
JON WOLFSTHAL, CARNEGIE NON-PROLIFERATION PROJECT: Iraq continues to possess several tons of chemical weapons, enough to kill thousands upon thousands of civilians, or soldiers on the battlefield.
STARR: Iraq may still have more than 600 metric tons of chemical agents, including mustard gas, VX and sarin. Twenty-five rockets and 15,000 artillery shells with chemical agents are also unaccounted for.
Equally worrisome, biological weapons. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld recently confirmed Iraq has mobile biological weapons laboratories, almost impossible for the U.S. to target.
WOLFSTHAL: The concern is that Iraq may already have or could very quickly recreate the capability to produce vast amounts of anthrax, tons of material. Compared with the several grams of material which literally shut down the U.S. postal system last year, this is something that could kill thousands upon thousands of people.
STARR: Iraq told the United Nations in 1995 it had produced 30,000 liters of biological agents, including anthrax and other toxins it could put on missiles. The United Nations says the real amount may be three or four times greater.
Saddam Hussein is not idly waiting for George W. Bush to decide whether to attack. The Iraqis are doing everything they can to deceive U.S. intelligence from assembling a list of targets to strike.
WOLFSTHAL: We know that Iraq has already begun moving troops around. We know that they've begun to hide valuable assets underground. They can read the writing on the wall. They know that President Bush and this administration is "out to get him" and he's trying to protect as much as he can as quickly as he can.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STARR: So this is the bill of particulars regarding Iraq. But in Washington, the president says he still hasn't made a decision about whether or not to attack.
HEMMER: Go back to this whole point about al Qaeda and evidence that may or may not link itself to Baghdad. We know for almost a year now U.S. investigators have been scouring Afghanistan trying to find the fingerprints, trying to find the smoking gun. Publicly it does not appear that they have made that link. Are those, at the Pentagon, are there people that you talk to who believe there will never be a connection made between these two, Baghdad and al Qaeda?
STARR: At the moment, there does not appear to be a connection. You're absolutely right, everyone is scouring, looking for any evidence, any links. Nobody has found anything yet. There's one wrinkle in this. There are al Qaeda in northern Iraq under the protection of those militant Kurdish minority groups. Whether Saddam knows personally that the al Qaeda are up there in northern Iraq or not remains to be seen.
But so far, nobody can make the link between Osama bin Laden, 9/11 and Saddam Hussein.
HEMMER: And if that's the case, Barbara, going forward, how does that change or alter the argument that is right now on the table about Baghdad and a potential military attack?
STARR: Well, the argument's really quite simple on both sides. Dick Cheney says the threat of these chemical and biological weapons is so dire that the United States must consider a preemptive strike. We saw the secretary of state, Colin Powell, this week, on the other hand, say he wants to give inspectors a chance. He wants U.N. inspectors back in. He wants to go down the route of the international procedure that has been laid out.
The question for the U.S. military, the question at the Pentagon right now is if you go into Iraq, do you divert resources from the war on terrorism?
HEMMER: Tomorrow part two.
STARR: Indeed.
HEMMER: Good deal.
It's good to see you. Thank you, Barbara.
STARR: Thank you.
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