Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live At Daybreak

Inspectors Head to Iraq

Aired November 15, 2002 - 06:04   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: An advance team of U.N. weapons inspectors leaving for Iraq today. They will stop in Cyprus this weekend before arriving in Baghdad on Monday.
And CNN's senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson, has been tracking this story for us all the way, and he has more now from Cyprus.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): The first members of the U.N. inspection mission are gathering here ready in Cyprus. This is the advance team -- logistics and communications. They'll be going to Baghdad to restore and restart the U.N. facilities that were last used by the U.N. inspection teams in December, 1998.

They will, we understand, be putting in computers, be restarting, re-equipping the laboratory there for testing data collected from different sites around Iraq. They will be installing secure communications. They will be organizing vehicles for the inspections teams when they begin to arrive, and also preparing helicopter landing areas. Helicopters will be assisting the U.N. inspectors in their mission.

Now, on Sunday, the U.N. chief weapons inspector, Hans Blix, is expected to arrive here in Larnaca in Cyprus. He will join the teams, the members who are gathering here now. Then, they will fly to Baghdad on Monday.

Already at Larnaca Airport behind me, there is a large U.N. military transport aircraft, the large C-130 Hercules aircraft. It is painted white as is normal. The U.N. aircraft has a large U.N. decal logo painted on the side of it, and it will be transporting these men and their equipment into Baghdad.

We understand they will be -- inspectors will be using new types of equipment in the coming inspection mission, such as cameras that can detect gamma radiation from nuclear facilities.

The team now already holding meetings, discussing exactly how they will perform those first tasks when they get to Baghdad on Monday.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Larnaca, Cyprus.

(END VIDEOTAPE) 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 15, 2002 - 06:04   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: An advance team of U.N. weapons inspectors leaving for Iraq today. They will stop in Cyprus this weekend before arriving in Baghdad on Monday.
And CNN's senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson, has been tracking this story for us all the way, and he has more now from Cyprus.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): The first members of the U.N. inspection mission are gathering here ready in Cyprus. This is the advance team -- logistics and communications. They'll be going to Baghdad to restore and restart the U.N. facilities that were last used by the U.N. inspection teams in December, 1998.

They will, we understand, be putting in computers, be restarting, re-equipping the laboratory there for testing data collected from different sites around Iraq. They will be installing secure communications. They will be organizing vehicles for the inspections teams when they begin to arrive, and also preparing helicopter landing areas. Helicopters will be assisting the U.N. inspectors in their mission.

Now, on Sunday, the U.N. chief weapons inspector, Hans Blix, is expected to arrive here in Larnaca in Cyprus. He will join the teams, the members who are gathering here now. Then, they will fly to Baghdad on Monday.

Already at Larnaca Airport behind me, there is a large U.N. military transport aircraft, the large C-130 Hercules aircraft. It is painted white as is normal. The U.N. aircraft has a large U.N. decal logo painted on the side of it, and it will be transporting these men and their equipment into Baghdad.

We understand they will be -- inspectors will be using new types of equipment in the coming inspection mission, such as cameras that can detect gamma radiation from nuclear facilities.

The team now already holding meetings, discussing exactly how they will perform those first tasks when they get to Baghdad on Monday.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Larnaca, Cyprus.

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