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American Morning
Blair Speaks to Parliament Regarding Iraq
Aired September 24, 2002 - 07:31 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: As you've heard, British Prime Minister Tony Blair addressed a special session of parliament this morning on what Ten Downing Street calls the mounting challenge of Iraq. Backed by a 50 page document that was released right before the speech, Mr. Blair outlined new evidence about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TONY BLAIR, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: And again, I defy anyone to say that this cruel and sadistic dictator should be allowed any possibility of getting his hands on chemical, biological and nuclear weapons of mass destruction.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZAHN: The prime minister just finished his speech a moment ago. We've had reports from London, Baghdad and the White House.
Let's get back to Sheila MacVicar live from London.
Sheila, we should explain that the prime minister is still inside taking some very tough questions from members of his own party, in some cases. But can you gauge any reaction to the first part of his performance today, the speech?
SHEILA MACVICAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the prime minister knew going into the House that he was going to have to do a pretty tough sales job. He knew that not only were there members of the opposition parties who did not agree with Britain's position on this, that Iraq must be disarmed, but that there were members of his own party and at least up until last night in a two hour cabinet meeting there were some members of his own cabinet who had serious reservations that they had publicly expressed about the wisdom of going to war against Iraq.
Now, the prime minister laid out the case, making his case for what he said was, in fact, an 11 year history of defiance of U.N. resolutions, 40 of them, he said. And he argued that there could be no hesitation now, no stepping back from demands that Saddam Hussein and Iraq be disarmed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BLAIR: To conclude that we should trust not to the good faith of the U.N. weapons inspectors but to the good faith of the current Iraqi regime, I do not believe that would be a responsible course to follow.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACVICAR: Now, the prime minister also said that he had no evidence that would suggest that Saddam Hussein would, in fact, use these weapons of mass destruction next week or next year. But he also said that that possibility could not be ruled out.
It was clear, he said, that Iraq had not just continued to stockpile weapons that it had before 1991 in the Gulf War, but that, in fact, since 1998, when U.N. weapons inspectors were last in Iraq, that they have made serious efforts, he says, to reconstitute those programs of weapons of mass destruction, that there was evidence that he had restarted or refurbished chemical plants that could be used to produce chemical weapons, that they had made serious efforts to reconstitute their biological weapons program, including the development of mobile biowarfare labs.
And he said there was credible evidence that Iraq was continuing its attempts to obtain a nuclear weapon. He said if Iraq was successful in obtaining fissile material, already enriched uranium suitable for a nuclear weapon, that Iraq could have a bomb within, perhaps, one or two years. Only, though, if he could obtain such material from a foreign source.
He called him a cruel and sadistic dictator and argued that there could be no stepping back from the challenge of the demand of disarming Iraq. He said if diplomacy is not backed by force, that Saddam Hussein will take the choice, the path of all dictators and assume then that the international community is not serious about this and that, in fact, it all amounts to all talk and no action.
That's the case that he's trying to make now in the House of Commons and it will not be an easy job for the prime minister -- Paula.
ZAHN: Thanks for that update. Appreciate it, Sheila.
And we're going to go back to that picture a moment to give you an idea of what the prime minister is up against. Law maker Jeremy Corbin saying the reality that this is a war about George Bush, arms and oil, and we will be questioning Blair very closely about why Britain cannot have a foreign policy independent of the U.S. administration.
Now, this give and take between Tony Blair and members of parliament could go on some time and we will be dipping in and out of it throughout the morning.
Let's go, though, straight to Baghdad. Iraq, of course, adamantly denying having weapons of mass destruction.
Rula Amin joins us from Baghdad right now to let us know how these latest charges are playing -- good morning, Rula.
RULA AMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
The Iraqis are dismissing this British report completely. They say it's baseless and a bunch of lies and they say the British have not proved anything. There is no concrete evidence that Iraq does have weapons of mass destruction.
The initial reaction we got was from Iraq's minister of culture, Hammed Yousef Hammadi.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HAMMED YOUSEF HAMMADI, IRAQI CULTURE MINISTER: Mr. Blair is acting as a part of the Zionist campaign against Iraq. So all his claims are baseless and his today will be -- his claims will be challenged by his own Labor Party in the House of Commons.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AMIN: Now, the Iraqi government completely insists and is determined that it doesn't have any weapons of mass destruction. Iraqi officials say whatever weapons they had before have been destroyed, either by Iraq or by the weapons inspectors. And they say they are willing to allow the inspectors to come to Baghdad to verify that statement
On a different level, on the people's level, you know, they hear statements saying that there will be maybe an attack against Iraq because of Iraq's and the Iraqi government's human rights record. And they wondered, this is something very confusing to them, because they tell us they know that the civilians are going to be paying the highest price in this conflict and they say there are many Arab countries, neighboring countries in the region that also have, don't have very good records in terms of human rights, members of the Security Council, countries on the Security Council that don't have very good records on human rights levels and still they are not being attacked.
So on the level of the ordinary people, there's a lot of skepticism -- Paula.
ZAHN: And, of course, the only way to get rid of that skepticism in this country, Rula, is to get inspectors back in there. And we've seen no major movement on the issue of inspections, have we, over the last 24 hours?
AMIN: Well, the inspectors say they are willing to and they can come here to Baghdad within days. But they will need some time before they start real inspections. The weapons inspections chief, Hans Blix, said that his team may be ready to come here on October 15. But this is not a definite date and this is just still there has to be some negotiations done between Iraq and the U.N. on where will the inspectors stay, how will they stay here, who will translate for them, who will escort them, will they have airports where their aircraft will land?
All this will be negotiated in Vienna by the end of the month -- Paula.
ZAHN: Rula Amin, thanks so much for that update. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired September 24, 2002 - 07:31 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: As you've heard, British Prime Minister Tony Blair addressed a special session of parliament this morning on what Ten Downing Street calls the mounting challenge of Iraq. Backed by a 50 page document that was released right before the speech, Mr. Blair outlined new evidence about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TONY BLAIR, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: And again, I defy anyone to say that this cruel and sadistic dictator should be allowed any possibility of getting his hands on chemical, biological and nuclear weapons of mass destruction.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZAHN: The prime minister just finished his speech a moment ago. We've had reports from London, Baghdad and the White House.
Let's get back to Sheila MacVicar live from London.
Sheila, we should explain that the prime minister is still inside taking some very tough questions from members of his own party, in some cases. But can you gauge any reaction to the first part of his performance today, the speech?
SHEILA MACVICAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the prime minister knew going into the House that he was going to have to do a pretty tough sales job. He knew that not only were there members of the opposition parties who did not agree with Britain's position on this, that Iraq must be disarmed, but that there were members of his own party and at least up until last night in a two hour cabinet meeting there were some members of his own cabinet who had serious reservations that they had publicly expressed about the wisdom of going to war against Iraq.
Now, the prime minister laid out the case, making his case for what he said was, in fact, an 11 year history of defiance of U.N. resolutions, 40 of them, he said. And he argued that there could be no hesitation now, no stepping back from demands that Saddam Hussein and Iraq be disarmed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BLAIR: To conclude that we should trust not to the good faith of the U.N. weapons inspectors but to the good faith of the current Iraqi regime, I do not believe that would be a responsible course to follow.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACVICAR: Now, the prime minister also said that he had no evidence that would suggest that Saddam Hussein would, in fact, use these weapons of mass destruction next week or next year. But he also said that that possibility could not be ruled out.
It was clear, he said, that Iraq had not just continued to stockpile weapons that it had before 1991 in the Gulf War, but that, in fact, since 1998, when U.N. weapons inspectors were last in Iraq, that they have made serious efforts, he says, to reconstitute those programs of weapons of mass destruction, that there was evidence that he had restarted or refurbished chemical plants that could be used to produce chemical weapons, that they had made serious efforts to reconstitute their biological weapons program, including the development of mobile biowarfare labs.
And he said there was credible evidence that Iraq was continuing its attempts to obtain a nuclear weapon. He said if Iraq was successful in obtaining fissile material, already enriched uranium suitable for a nuclear weapon, that Iraq could have a bomb within, perhaps, one or two years. Only, though, if he could obtain such material from a foreign source.
He called him a cruel and sadistic dictator and argued that there could be no stepping back from the challenge of the demand of disarming Iraq. He said if diplomacy is not backed by force, that Saddam Hussein will take the choice, the path of all dictators and assume then that the international community is not serious about this and that, in fact, it all amounts to all talk and no action.
That's the case that he's trying to make now in the House of Commons and it will not be an easy job for the prime minister -- Paula.
ZAHN: Thanks for that update. Appreciate it, Sheila.
And we're going to go back to that picture a moment to give you an idea of what the prime minister is up against. Law maker Jeremy Corbin saying the reality that this is a war about George Bush, arms and oil, and we will be questioning Blair very closely about why Britain cannot have a foreign policy independent of the U.S. administration.
Now, this give and take between Tony Blair and members of parliament could go on some time and we will be dipping in and out of it throughout the morning.
Let's go, though, straight to Baghdad. Iraq, of course, adamantly denying having weapons of mass destruction.
Rula Amin joins us from Baghdad right now to let us know how these latest charges are playing -- good morning, Rula.
RULA AMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
The Iraqis are dismissing this British report completely. They say it's baseless and a bunch of lies and they say the British have not proved anything. There is no concrete evidence that Iraq does have weapons of mass destruction.
The initial reaction we got was from Iraq's minister of culture, Hammed Yousef Hammadi.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HAMMED YOUSEF HAMMADI, IRAQI CULTURE MINISTER: Mr. Blair is acting as a part of the Zionist campaign against Iraq. So all his claims are baseless and his today will be -- his claims will be challenged by his own Labor Party in the House of Commons.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AMIN: Now, the Iraqi government completely insists and is determined that it doesn't have any weapons of mass destruction. Iraqi officials say whatever weapons they had before have been destroyed, either by Iraq or by the weapons inspectors. And they say they are willing to allow the inspectors to come to Baghdad to verify that statement
On a different level, on the people's level, you know, they hear statements saying that there will be maybe an attack against Iraq because of Iraq's and the Iraqi government's human rights record. And they wondered, this is something very confusing to them, because they tell us they know that the civilians are going to be paying the highest price in this conflict and they say there are many Arab countries, neighboring countries in the region that also have, don't have very good records in terms of human rights, members of the Security Council, countries on the Security Council that don't have very good records on human rights levels and still they are not being attacked.
So on the level of the ordinary people, there's a lot of skepticism -- Paula.
ZAHN: And, of course, the only way to get rid of that skepticism in this country, Rula, is to get inspectors back in there. And we've seen no major movement on the issue of inspections, have we, over the last 24 hours?
AMIN: Well, the inspectors say they are willing to and they can come here to Baghdad within days. But they will need some time before they start real inspections. The weapons inspections chief, Hans Blix, said that his team may be ready to come here on October 15. But this is not a definite date and this is just still there has to be some negotiations done between Iraq and the U.N. on where will the inspectors stay, how will they stay here, who will translate for them, who will escort them, will they have airports where their aircraft will land?
All this will be negotiated in Vienna by the end of the month -- Paula.
ZAHN: Rula Amin, thanks so much for that update. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
