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CNN Live At Daybreak
Look at Some Cutting Edge Technology For Weapons Inspections
Aired November 14, 2002 - 05:02 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: We begin this morning with our top story, the hunt for weapons in Iraq. First, a closer look at the timetable for inspections. The first group of inspectors arrives on Monday. The first potential showdown comes December 8. That's when Iraq must provide an accurate, full and complete declaration of all aspects of its biological, chemical and nuclear weapons programs. And the inspectors must begin no later than December 23. The inspectors must report back to the U.N. Security Council by February 21.
An advanced weapons inspection team is due in Baghdad on Monday and the first inspectors scheduled to begin their work the week after that.
CNN's senior U.N. correspondent Richard Roth looks now at the cutting edge technology that they will use.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): U.N. weapons inspectors will themselves be armed with new high tech gear to ferret out any trace of weapons of mass destruction.
HANS BLIX, CHIEF U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTOR: That is true that there's a good development in the technical devices for inspection. We'll make use of that.
ROTH: Devices such as this handheld germ analyzer called The Hannah developed by the Lawrence Livermore Lab in California. Bioweapons detection must faster than when inspectors were last inside Iraq.
PAGE STOUTLAND, LAWRENCE LIVERMORE LABORATORY: It's the difference between doing an analysis in an hour or even a day, compared to sending samples back to the United States or somewhere else, where it might take a day or two or three or a week to return the samples.
ROTH: The inspectors' only way of surveying Iraq while being kept out of the country has been by air through commercial satellites. Here, a peek at some of Saddam Hussein's palaces. Inspection by air may get a big boost with the potential use of the unmanned Predator drone vehicle used by the U.S. in after.
JONATHAN TUCKER, FORMER U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTOR: Those systems can hover for many hours, up to 24 hours, over a location, and, for example, if there is an inspection underway at a site, they could monitor what is going on. ROTH: With Iraq saying it has nothing to hide, Arab nations say it will be like trying to prove a negative.
AHMED ABDUL GHETI, EGYPTIAN AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: The burden on proof comes from the accuser or from that who claims that there is weapons of mass destruction.
ROTH: The inspectors are armed with tougher orders than before. The Security Council resolution says go anywhere, anytime, including the increasing number of presidential palaces.
(on camera): Once they get there, the question remains what constitutes interference serious enough to trigger a military response.
Richard Roth, CNN, the United Nations.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CALLAWAY: And we'll get a live update from Richard Roth at the United Nations coming up in the next hour right here on DAYBREAK.
Well, President Bush wouldn't comment on Iraq's response to the U.N., but he again said that he had zero tolerance for any attempts to hide weapons of mass destruction.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have told the United Nations we'll be glad to consult with them. But the resolution does not prevent us from doing what needs to be done, which is to hold Saddam Hussein into account. We hope that he disarms. We hope that he will listen to the world. The world has spoken.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CALLAWAY: Now, Iraq's letter to the U.N. says that it does not have any weapons of mass destruction but that claim is disputed by a former chief weapons inspector.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD BUTLER, FORMER U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTOR: There have been disturbing reports in the period without inspection that Saddam has got his nuclear team back to work. Some people who have defected who worked in that team have said that actually he was very close to making an atomic bomb. So that will be a very important thing to try to run to ground. And in that context, I wish them well, because this Iraqi statement that says we have no weapons at all is simply not true. It never was true.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CALLAWAY: So let's go right to CNN's Rym Brahimi. She's joining us in Iraq in Baghdad -- Rym, with weapons inspectors there on the way on Monday, what's the mood in Iraq? RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Iraqis are pretty resigned by now, Catherine. You know, they were, they welcomed the acceptance. I think they did breathe a sigh of relief when they found out that the Iraqi government had accepted that resolution. But by no means do they think that this is the end of their problems. Actually, they probably think it's quite the opposite. If this is the end of one episode, I think they believe it's opened the door to another one. They think this new episode is going to be full of pitfalls and it's going to be very, very hard because they believe intrinsically that the U.S. is out to get them and that maybe this will have delayed a U.S. attack, but it will not have thwarted it for good -- Catherine.
CALLAWAY: A rather long letter that Iraq sent back, or details of that being given to the public there.
BRAHIMI: Oh, yes, absolutely. All the major newspapers actually published the letter in its entirety in all the official state run newspapers. Interesting, also, that they all sort of headlined the fact that Iraq was dealing with Resolution 1441. I even have the headline of the English language newspaper here, saying "Iraq Accepts Resolution 1441" and, again, published here is the entirety of the letter that Foreign Minister Naji Sabri sent to Secretary General Kofi Annan.
So people have had time to look at it, to absorb, to understand and to see what's going to happen -- Catherine.
CALLAWAY: All right, thank you.
That's Rym Brahimi in Baghdad with weapons inspectors on the way there on Monday.
So don't miss "Showdown Iraq" with Wolf Blitzer coming up later today at noon Eastern time, 9:00 a.m. Pacific. Wolf will talk one on one with Mohammed El Baradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Inspections>
Aired November 14, 2002 - 05:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: We begin this morning with our top story, the hunt for weapons in Iraq. First, a closer look at the timetable for inspections. The first group of inspectors arrives on Monday. The first potential showdown comes December 8. That's when Iraq must provide an accurate, full and complete declaration of all aspects of its biological, chemical and nuclear weapons programs. And the inspectors must begin no later than December 23. The inspectors must report back to the U.N. Security Council by February 21.
An advanced weapons inspection team is due in Baghdad on Monday and the first inspectors scheduled to begin their work the week after that.
CNN's senior U.N. correspondent Richard Roth looks now at the cutting edge technology that they will use.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): U.N. weapons inspectors will themselves be armed with new high tech gear to ferret out any trace of weapons of mass destruction.
HANS BLIX, CHIEF U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTOR: That is true that there's a good development in the technical devices for inspection. We'll make use of that.
ROTH: Devices such as this handheld germ analyzer called The Hannah developed by the Lawrence Livermore Lab in California. Bioweapons detection must faster than when inspectors were last inside Iraq.
PAGE STOUTLAND, LAWRENCE LIVERMORE LABORATORY: It's the difference between doing an analysis in an hour or even a day, compared to sending samples back to the United States or somewhere else, where it might take a day or two or three or a week to return the samples.
ROTH: The inspectors' only way of surveying Iraq while being kept out of the country has been by air through commercial satellites. Here, a peek at some of Saddam Hussein's palaces. Inspection by air may get a big boost with the potential use of the unmanned Predator drone vehicle used by the U.S. in after.
JONATHAN TUCKER, FORMER U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTOR: Those systems can hover for many hours, up to 24 hours, over a location, and, for example, if there is an inspection underway at a site, they could monitor what is going on. ROTH: With Iraq saying it has nothing to hide, Arab nations say it will be like trying to prove a negative.
AHMED ABDUL GHETI, EGYPTIAN AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: The burden on proof comes from the accuser or from that who claims that there is weapons of mass destruction.
ROTH: The inspectors are armed with tougher orders than before. The Security Council resolution says go anywhere, anytime, including the increasing number of presidential palaces.
(on camera): Once they get there, the question remains what constitutes interference serious enough to trigger a military response.
Richard Roth, CNN, the United Nations.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CALLAWAY: And we'll get a live update from Richard Roth at the United Nations coming up in the next hour right here on DAYBREAK.
Well, President Bush wouldn't comment on Iraq's response to the U.N., but he again said that he had zero tolerance for any attempts to hide weapons of mass destruction.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have told the United Nations we'll be glad to consult with them. But the resolution does not prevent us from doing what needs to be done, which is to hold Saddam Hussein into account. We hope that he disarms. We hope that he will listen to the world. The world has spoken.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CALLAWAY: Now, Iraq's letter to the U.N. says that it does not have any weapons of mass destruction but that claim is disputed by a former chief weapons inspector.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD BUTLER, FORMER U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTOR: There have been disturbing reports in the period without inspection that Saddam has got his nuclear team back to work. Some people who have defected who worked in that team have said that actually he was very close to making an atomic bomb. So that will be a very important thing to try to run to ground. And in that context, I wish them well, because this Iraqi statement that says we have no weapons at all is simply not true. It never was true.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CALLAWAY: So let's go right to CNN's Rym Brahimi. She's joining us in Iraq in Baghdad -- Rym, with weapons inspectors there on the way on Monday, what's the mood in Iraq? RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Iraqis are pretty resigned by now, Catherine. You know, they were, they welcomed the acceptance. I think they did breathe a sigh of relief when they found out that the Iraqi government had accepted that resolution. But by no means do they think that this is the end of their problems. Actually, they probably think it's quite the opposite. If this is the end of one episode, I think they believe it's opened the door to another one. They think this new episode is going to be full of pitfalls and it's going to be very, very hard because they believe intrinsically that the U.S. is out to get them and that maybe this will have delayed a U.S. attack, but it will not have thwarted it for good -- Catherine.
CALLAWAY: A rather long letter that Iraq sent back, or details of that being given to the public there.
BRAHIMI: Oh, yes, absolutely. All the major newspapers actually published the letter in its entirety in all the official state run newspapers. Interesting, also, that they all sort of headlined the fact that Iraq was dealing with Resolution 1441. I even have the headline of the English language newspaper here, saying "Iraq Accepts Resolution 1441" and, again, published here is the entirety of the letter that Foreign Minister Naji Sabri sent to Secretary General Kofi Annan.
So people have had time to look at it, to absorb, to understand and to see what's going to happen -- Catherine.
CALLAWAY: All right, thank you.
That's Rym Brahimi in Baghdad with weapons inspectors on the way there on Monday.
So don't miss "Showdown Iraq" with Wolf Blitzer coming up later today at noon Eastern time, 9:00 a.m. Pacific. Wolf will talk one on one with Mohammed El Baradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Inspections>
