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CNN Live At Daybreak
Clock Ticking on Saddam Hussein
Aired November 13, 2002 - 05:06 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.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: The clock is ticking on Saddam Hussein. He has until Friday to announce if he will accept the return of U.N. weapons inspectors. President Bush says that the Iraqi leader has no wiggle room.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If Saddam Hussein does not comply with the, to the detail of the resolution, we will lead a coalition to disarm him.
QUESTION: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
BUSH: It's over. We're through negotiations. There's no more time. It is -- the man must disarm. He said he would disarm, he now must disarm.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CALLAWAY: And we want to take you now to Baghdad to get an idea of what the Iraqi people are saying about all of this.
Joining us from the Iraqi capital with more on the Friday deadline for Saddam Hussein is Rym Brahimi -- Rym, what is the latest?
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Catherine, this morning no news of the rejection as such in the newspaper headlines in the state run media, if you will. But what there was, what made the headlines about yesterday's very heated debate in parliament here is the fact that the national assembly here in Baghdad has actually authorized, is the wording, their president to make what decision he deems is most appropriate under the circumstances.
Now, as you pointed out, the clock is ticking and people are hoping that the president will, indeed, accept the resolution. They don't think it's going to avert war totally. They just think it's going to delay it. And I think they feel that he is going to do that. There have been indications, Catherine, in the past few days that the president is leaning toward making that decision, toward accepting the resolution.
There's a lot of pragmatism here in the leadership, as you may know, and there have been indications the foreign ministers meeting, the Arab foreign ministers meeting in Cairo a few days ago, Iraq's foreign minister seemed to point out that that was the direction they would take.
So we still have a couple of days ahead of us and we'll keep you posted on what happens then -- Catherine.
CALLAWAY: And, quickly, Rym, is the Command Council going to meet today?
BRAHIMI: We're not sure when that's going to happen. The Revolution Command Council, which is the highest authority in the country, is chaired by President Saddam Hussein. And what tends to happen here more often than not is that we find out about those meetings just when they're being aired on television, they're being broadcast on Iraqi TV after the meeting has taken place.
So we're sort of waiting for that to happen. It might also be in just the form of a letter. So we'll keep you posted on that -- Catherine.
CALLAWAY: All right, thank you.
That's Rym Brahimi. She's joining us from Iraq.
Thank you.
Well, has Iraq obtained enough nervous gas antidote to protect its troops if it launches a nerve gas attack? Well a senior Bush administration official tells CNN that Iraq has ordered more than a million doses of the drug Atripine. Officials in Turkey say that Iraq has ordered the antidote but none of the orders have been filled.
U.S. troops who might be attacked by nerve gas already have Atripine and know how to use it.
And CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen tells us how they would respond to the nerve gas attack.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: U.S. troops who are being sent to areas where there could be a nerve gas attack carry with them the nerve gas antidote Atripine. Let's take a look at how they would use it in an actual attack situation.
If there were an attack of nerve gas, nerve gas is odorless and colorless and tasteless. That's one of the things that makes is such a good weapon, because initially the soldier wouldn't know about it. But after a few minutes, the soldier might get blurry vision, runny nose, tightness in the chest, and that would be his or her signal to give an injection.
They give themselves an injection. It's given in the thigh. It's actually two injections, one Atripine and one in the Army they use a drug called Tupan.
Let's take a look at what those drugs actually do. The Atripine prevents choking. When people have a nerve gas exposure, they get a lot of fluids in their body and they can choke on those fluids. The second shot prevents paralysis but the Army and other experts say a gas mask is really the best defense. If it fits well and if you have the right filter, it may mean that you don't even need to take these drugs.
Now, let's talk a little bit about Atripine and its side effects. It's a serious drug. It's given in hospitals to heart patients. And some of the side effects include dryness of mouth, blurred vision, sensitivity to light, increased heart rate and body temperature regulation.
Now, none of that sounds good and it's not. However, Atripine is considered very safe. In fact, some people have injected themselves by accident with Atripine and they were fine. For example, in the Gulf War, some Israelis thought they were being attacked with nerve gas, gave themselves an injection and went to the hospital. But in the end, they were fine.
Elizabeth Cohen, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CALLAWAY: You can get some special reports and all the information you could ever want on this showdown with Iraq. You just click onto our Web site at cnn.com, AOL keyword: CNN.
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 November 13, 2002 - 05:06 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: The clock is ticking on Saddam Hussein. He has until Friday to announce if he will accept the return of U.N. weapons inspectors. President Bush says that the Iraqi leader has no wiggle room.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If Saddam Hussein does not comply with the, to the detail of the resolution, we will lead a coalition to disarm him.
QUESTION: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
BUSH: It's over. We're through negotiations. There's no more time. It is -- the man must disarm. He said he would disarm, he now must disarm.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CALLAWAY: And we want to take you now to Baghdad to get an idea of what the Iraqi people are saying about all of this.
Joining us from the Iraqi capital with more on the Friday deadline for Saddam Hussein is Rym Brahimi -- Rym, what is the latest?
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Catherine, this morning no news of the rejection as such in the newspaper headlines in the state run media, if you will. But what there was, what made the headlines about yesterday's very heated debate in parliament here is the fact that the national assembly here in Baghdad has actually authorized, is the wording, their president to make what decision he deems is most appropriate under the circumstances.
Now, as you pointed out, the clock is ticking and people are hoping that the president will, indeed, accept the resolution. They don't think it's going to avert war totally. They just think it's going to delay it. And I think they feel that he is going to do that. There have been indications, Catherine, in the past few days that the president is leaning toward making that decision, toward accepting the resolution.
There's a lot of pragmatism here in the leadership, as you may know, and there have been indications the foreign ministers meeting, the Arab foreign ministers meeting in Cairo a few days ago, Iraq's foreign minister seemed to point out that that was the direction they would take.
So we still have a couple of days ahead of us and we'll keep you posted on what happens then -- Catherine.
CALLAWAY: And, quickly, Rym, is the Command Council going to meet today?
BRAHIMI: We're not sure when that's going to happen. The Revolution Command Council, which is the highest authority in the country, is chaired by President Saddam Hussein. And what tends to happen here more often than not is that we find out about those meetings just when they're being aired on television, they're being broadcast on Iraqi TV after the meeting has taken place.
So we're sort of waiting for that to happen. It might also be in just the form of a letter. So we'll keep you posted on that -- Catherine.
CALLAWAY: All right, thank you.
That's Rym Brahimi. She's joining us from Iraq.
Thank you.
Well, has Iraq obtained enough nervous gas antidote to protect its troops if it launches a nerve gas attack? Well a senior Bush administration official tells CNN that Iraq has ordered more than a million doses of the drug Atripine. Officials in Turkey say that Iraq has ordered the antidote but none of the orders have been filled.
U.S. troops who might be attacked by nerve gas already have Atripine and know how to use it.
And CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen tells us how they would respond to the nerve gas attack.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: U.S. troops who are being sent to areas where there could be a nerve gas attack carry with them the nerve gas antidote Atripine. Let's take a look at how they would use it in an actual attack situation.
If there were an attack of nerve gas, nerve gas is odorless and colorless and tasteless. That's one of the things that makes is such a good weapon, because initially the soldier wouldn't know about it. But after a few minutes, the soldier might get blurry vision, runny nose, tightness in the chest, and that would be his or her signal to give an injection.
They give themselves an injection. It's given in the thigh. It's actually two injections, one Atripine and one in the Army they use a drug called Tupan.
Let's take a look at what those drugs actually do. The Atripine prevents choking. When people have a nerve gas exposure, they get a lot of fluids in their body and they can choke on those fluids. The second shot prevents paralysis but the Army and other experts say a gas mask is really the best defense. If it fits well and if you have the right filter, it may mean that you don't even need to take these drugs.
Now, let's talk a little bit about Atripine and its side effects. It's a serious drug. It's given in hospitals to heart patients. And some of the side effects include dryness of mouth, blurred vision, sensitivity to light, increased heart rate and body temperature regulation.
Now, none of that sounds good and it's not. However, Atripine is considered very safe. In fact, some people have injected themselves by accident with Atripine and they were fine. For example, in the Gulf War, some Israelis thought they were being attacked with nerve gas, gave themselves an injection and went to the hospital. But in the end, they were fine.
Elizabeth Cohen, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CALLAWAY: You can get some special reports and all the information you could ever want on this showdown with Iraq. You just click onto our Web site at cnn.com, AOL keyword: CNN.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
