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Tenet Telling Congress Hussein Might Use Weapons of Mass Destruction

Aired October 09, 2002 - 06:29   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: We want to turn our attention to the issue of Iraq. CIA Director George Tenet is telling Congress that Saddam Hussein might use weapons of mass destruction if he's backed into a corner. Quoting here, Tenet says, "Should Saddam conclude that a U.S. led attack could no longer be deterred, he probably would become much less constrained in adopting terrorist actions. Such terrorism might involve conventional means, as with Iraq's unsuccessful attempt at a terrorist offensive in 1991 or CBW, chemical biological weapons."
And we have been getting reaction to the Tenet comments from Baghdad this morning.

Let's turn, let's return to the Iraqi capital of Baghdad to get more insight.

Rula Amin is there -- does George Tenet have something there, Rula?

RULA AMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, no official reaction to that Tenet statement. However, Arab analysts and observers seem to agree with that kind of analysis. They say that just like what Tenet says, is that it's a very low probability that Saddam Hussein would initiate any kind of attack against the U.S. But if he is cornered and he feels that he has nothing to lose, he may try to do that. That is according to George Tenet.

Now, the Iraqis are saying that they don't have any weapons of mass destruction and that they don't have any links to any terrorist groups. And so they, in a way, dismiss this report or this assessment just by previous statements. But there is no official comment reacting specifically to this statement.

However, in the last few days, we did see Saddam Hussein meeting with his top military commanders, urging them to develop Iraq's capabilities, Iraq's air defenses in order to defend the country. And yesterday we heard him tell his commanders that the U.S. is actually threatening them in order to twist their arms because Iraq and Iraqis desire development. They try to grow as a country and that's why the U.S. is targeting them.

On a different level, the Iraqis are saying they don't want to have a war with the United States, that they are trying to avert it in every way. They're sending their different envoys to different Arab, neighboring Arab countries, trying to send that message. Tariq Aziz, he is the deputy prime minister, is, was in Damascus yesterday. He is due to be in Beirut today. He is, the message that he's carrying from the Iraqis is that the threat that the U.S. poses is not only to Iraq, it's a threat to the whole region.

The new line from Baghdad is that if you are not with Iraq, you are with the Americans and the Zionist entity, a reference to Israel. This is something that the Iraqis know would hit very strongly with the Arab capitals -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Understood.

Rula Amin, thank you very much.

Reporting live from Baghdad 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




Destruction>


Aired October 9, 2002 - 06:29   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We want to turn our attention to the issue of Iraq. CIA Director George Tenet is telling Congress that Saddam Hussein might use weapons of mass destruction if he's backed into a corner. Quoting here, Tenet says, "Should Saddam conclude that a U.S. led attack could no longer be deterred, he probably would become much less constrained in adopting terrorist actions. Such terrorism might involve conventional means, as with Iraq's unsuccessful attempt at a terrorist offensive in 1991 or CBW, chemical biological weapons."
And we have been getting reaction to the Tenet comments from Baghdad this morning.

Let's turn, let's return to the Iraqi capital of Baghdad to get more insight.

Rula Amin is there -- does George Tenet have something there, Rula?

RULA AMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, no official reaction to that Tenet statement. However, Arab analysts and observers seem to agree with that kind of analysis. They say that just like what Tenet says, is that it's a very low probability that Saddam Hussein would initiate any kind of attack against the U.S. But if he is cornered and he feels that he has nothing to lose, he may try to do that. That is according to George Tenet.

Now, the Iraqis are saying that they don't have any weapons of mass destruction and that they don't have any links to any terrorist groups. And so they, in a way, dismiss this report or this assessment just by previous statements. But there is no official comment reacting specifically to this statement.

However, in the last few days, we did see Saddam Hussein meeting with his top military commanders, urging them to develop Iraq's capabilities, Iraq's air defenses in order to defend the country. And yesterday we heard him tell his commanders that the U.S. is actually threatening them in order to twist their arms because Iraq and Iraqis desire development. They try to grow as a country and that's why the U.S. is targeting them.

On a different level, the Iraqis are saying they don't want to have a war with the United States, that they are trying to avert it in every way. They're sending their different envoys to different Arab, neighboring Arab countries, trying to send that message. Tariq Aziz, he is the deputy prime minister, is, was in Damascus yesterday. He is due to be in Beirut today. He is, the message that he's carrying from the Iraqis is that the threat that the U.S. poses is not only to Iraq, it's a threat to the whole region.

The new line from Baghdad is that if you are not with Iraq, you are with the Americans and the Zionist entity, a reference to Israel. This is something that the Iraqis know would hit very strongly with the Arab capitals -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Understood.

Rula Amin, thank you very much.

Reporting live from Baghdad 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




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