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U.N. Weapons Inspectors Meet With Iraqi Officials

Aired September 30, 2002 - 06:00   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.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: U.N. weapons inspectors are getting down to the nuts and bolts with Iraq today. Chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix opened talks with Iraqi officials in Vienna, Austria just a short time ago.
And CNN's Christiane Amanpour is following developments from Vienna -- Christiane.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Carol, good morning from the headquarters of the IAEA, the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Today, with the U.N. and the Iraqi delegation sitting down, it will be an important first test of whether the Iraqis will, in fact, cooperate with the U.N., and whether, in fact, the Iraqi government and Saddam Hussein will change the way that it has been dealing with U.N. weapons inspections.

More than an hour ago, Hans Blix, the head of the U.N. weapons agency, sat down with the Iraqi delegation, including General Amir Al- Saadi, who is President Saddam Hussein's scientific and technical advisor. He heads the Iraqi delegation.

There are two main items on Hans Blix's agenda today. One of those is the nuts and bolts, the modalities, of getting a work plan back on schedule for any possible U.N. weapons inspections to start in Iraq. He said that he's going to be asking them to talk about such basic things as visas, accommodations and the kind of logistical and practical details that these weapons inspectors need in order to do their job.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HANS BLIX, CHIEF U.N. INSPECTOR: There are many such which we would like to go through that are known and can be deduced from resolutions and agreements of the past. It has to do with access to Iraq, entry into Iraq and the accommodation of inspectors, the headquarters that we have in Baghdad, movement inside Iraq, security of inspectors, taking of samples and taking samples out of Iraq, et cetera.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AMANPOUR: Now, they may just seem like practical details that don't need a lot of talking about, but in fact, the weapons inspectors are saying that unless they can get those details hammered out in advance, Hans Blix saying that he probably wouldn't even want to send inspectors there. Because in the past, they have had their operations disrupted over various issues that he mentioned, as you just heard.

Now, second on the agenda, the Iraqis are due to present to Blix and the U.N. team -- they are due to present what amounts to a backlog of information about what's called "dual-use facilities" -- facilities, factories, other such areas -- in Iraq that are used for civilian purposes, but that also could be used for military and weapons purposes.

Under the existing agreement, the Iraqis should have been providing this information every six months, but since 1998 when the inspectors were sent out of Iraq, there has been none of this information forthcoming. The Iraqis have said they will present that here today at these talks with Hans Blix. And again, that could be a first sign of cooperation from the Iraqis.

Now, all of this occurs in a backdrop of, as you know, a U.S. and U.K. resolution -- attempted resolution for tough, new rules to govern any kinds of weapons inspections. The U.K. and the U.S. wanting to frontload any kind of weapons inspection regime, if you like, getting all of the tough stuff up front to make sure and to see whether or not Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi government are going to cooperate.

The Iraqis, of course, are trying to, and have traditionally tried to, get those things more towards the backload, if you like, of any weapons inspection regime. Of course, there is no new resolution on the table right now. There is an attempt by the U.S. The French, the Russians and the Chinese oppose that.

There may be a compromise in the end, and so far, the Iraqis are saying that they are prepared to work from existing resolutions. They have reiterated several times that they will give unfettered access to the inspectors, and it remains to be seen just how this plays out.

There will be two days of talks here in Vienna, and after that, we should have a better idea of what may be on the table for the future -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Christiane Amanpour reporting live from Vienna, Austria this morning.

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 30, 2002 - 06:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: U.N. weapons inspectors are getting down to the nuts and bolts with Iraq today. Chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix opened talks with Iraqi officials in Vienna, Austria just a short time ago.
And CNN's Christiane Amanpour is following developments from Vienna -- Christiane.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Carol, good morning from the headquarters of the IAEA, the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Today, with the U.N. and the Iraqi delegation sitting down, it will be an important first test of whether the Iraqis will, in fact, cooperate with the U.N., and whether, in fact, the Iraqi government and Saddam Hussein will change the way that it has been dealing with U.N. weapons inspections.

More than an hour ago, Hans Blix, the head of the U.N. weapons agency, sat down with the Iraqi delegation, including General Amir Al- Saadi, who is President Saddam Hussein's scientific and technical advisor. He heads the Iraqi delegation.

There are two main items on Hans Blix's agenda today. One of those is the nuts and bolts, the modalities, of getting a work plan back on schedule for any possible U.N. weapons inspections to start in Iraq. He said that he's going to be asking them to talk about such basic things as visas, accommodations and the kind of logistical and practical details that these weapons inspectors need in order to do their job.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HANS BLIX, CHIEF U.N. INSPECTOR: There are many such which we would like to go through that are known and can be deduced from resolutions and agreements of the past. It has to do with access to Iraq, entry into Iraq and the accommodation of inspectors, the headquarters that we have in Baghdad, movement inside Iraq, security of inspectors, taking of samples and taking samples out of Iraq, et cetera.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AMANPOUR: Now, they may just seem like practical details that don't need a lot of talking about, but in fact, the weapons inspectors are saying that unless they can get those details hammered out in advance, Hans Blix saying that he probably wouldn't even want to send inspectors there. Because in the past, they have had their operations disrupted over various issues that he mentioned, as you just heard.

Now, second on the agenda, the Iraqis are due to present to Blix and the U.N. team -- they are due to present what amounts to a backlog of information about what's called "dual-use facilities" -- facilities, factories, other such areas -- in Iraq that are used for civilian purposes, but that also could be used for military and weapons purposes.

Under the existing agreement, the Iraqis should have been providing this information every six months, but since 1998 when the inspectors were sent out of Iraq, there has been none of this information forthcoming. The Iraqis have said they will present that here today at these talks with Hans Blix. And again, that could be a first sign of cooperation from the Iraqis.

Now, all of this occurs in a backdrop of, as you know, a U.S. and U.K. resolution -- attempted resolution for tough, new rules to govern any kinds of weapons inspections. The U.K. and the U.S. wanting to frontload any kind of weapons inspection regime, if you like, getting all of the tough stuff up front to make sure and to see whether or not Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi government are going to cooperate.

The Iraqis, of course, are trying to, and have traditionally tried to, get those things more towards the backload, if you like, of any weapons inspection regime. Of course, there is no new resolution on the table right now. There is an attempt by the U.S. The French, the Russians and the Chinese oppose that.

There may be a compromise in the end, and so far, the Iraqis are saying that they are prepared to work from existing resolutions. They have reiterated several times that they will give unfettered access to the inspectors, and it remains to be seen just how this plays out.

There will be two days of talks here in Vienna, and after that, we should have a better idea of what may be on the table for the future -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Christiane Amanpour reporting live from Vienna, Austria this morning.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.