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CNN Live At Daybreak

U.N. Advance Team Goes on With Its Work

Aired November 20, 2002 - 05:05   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: Now for the latest from Iraq. The U.N. advance team goes on with its work, but the chief weapons inspector have left the country.
CNN's Rym Brahimi is in Baghdad with that story -- hello, Rym.

RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Carol.

Indeed, the weapons inspectors, the chief weapons inspector, I should say, have left the country. They left a few hours ago, have already arrived in Cyprus and already spoken to reporters, saying pretty much what they told us in a news conference last night after meeting with Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri and with Saddam Hussein's, President Saddam Hussein's top scientific adviser, General Amer Saadi.

Now, what they said was that they were pretty satisfied with the level of commitment they've received for their future work in this country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HANS BLIX, CHIEF U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTOR: We had good discussions with the representatives of the Iraqi government and assured that they will fully implement the resolution and cooperate with us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRAHIMI: Now, what we understand also from sources close to U.N. and Iraqi officials was that one of the main concerns that conveyed through those meetings, through the, by the Iraqi officials, Carol, was how to respect that December the 8th deadline. The Iraqi officials have said they will respect the December 8th deadline to give out their full, final and complete declaration of what they have in terms of weapons of mass destruction.

Of course, they say they have no weapons of mass destruction, but it means they have to declare even what was left of their past programs and they also have to declare items that are so-called dual use items. Now, those are items that could be potentially used for military purposes, but that are currently used in the civilian industry. But they were very, very concerned about that, Carol, because they said well, does that mean we have to account for every sponge mattress factory, every paint factory with have in the country? And they needed to make clear what was needed from them from that resolution, and that's what they discussed, basically, with the top U.N. chief weapons inspector -- Carol. COSTELLO: You know, Rym, it'll be really interesting to see if that list that is supposed to be released on December 8th will be made public. Do you think it will?

BRAHIMI: It's very possible it would. I think in the past, well, they have been made public through the United Nations in terms of the United Nations actually giving public accounts of what's been said. Of course, there will probably be areas that we are not privy to as journalists or as general public. But I would imagine that if this is going to be evidence for one part or the other, Mr. Blix has specified that if Iraq is to say that it has no weapons of mass destruction, if it is to repeat that, it has to come up with convincing evidence.

Well, I would imagine there may be chances that it may actually come out -- Carol.

COSTELLO: I know a lot of Americans would like to see that list.

Rym Brahimi, thanks.

Don't forget the special report on our Web site, "Showdown Iraq." It answers key questions about the inspections and checks out surveillance photos and potential targets. That's 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 20, 2002 - 05:05   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Now for the latest from Iraq. The U.N. advance team goes on with its work, but the chief weapons inspector have left the country.
CNN's Rym Brahimi is in Baghdad with that story -- hello, Rym.

RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Carol.

Indeed, the weapons inspectors, the chief weapons inspector, I should say, have left the country. They left a few hours ago, have already arrived in Cyprus and already spoken to reporters, saying pretty much what they told us in a news conference last night after meeting with Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri and with Saddam Hussein's, President Saddam Hussein's top scientific adviser, General Amer Saadi.

Now, what they said was that they were pretty satisfied with the level of commitment they've received for their future work in this country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HANS BLIX, CHIEF U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTOR: We had good discussions with the representatives of the Iraqi government and assured that they will fully implement the resolution and cooperate with us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRAHIMI: Now, what we understand also from sources close to U.N. and Iraqi officials was that one of the main concerns that conveyed through those meetings, through the, by the Iraqi officials, Carol, was how to respect that December the 8th deadline. The Iraqi officials have said they will respect the December 8th deadline to give out their full, final and complete declaration of what they have in terms of weapons of mass destruction.

Of course, they say they have no weapons of mass destruction, but it means they have to declare even what was left of their past programs and they also have to declare items that are so-called dual use items. Now, those are items that could be potentially used for military purposes, but that are currently used in the civilian industry. But they were very, very concerned about that, Carol, because they said well, does that mean we have to account for every sponge mattress factory, every paint factory with have in the country? And they needed to make clear what was needed from them from that resolution, and that's what they discussed, basically, with the top U.N. chief weapons inspector -- Carol. COSTELLO: You know, Rym, it'll be really interesting to see if that list that is supposed to be released on December 8th will be made public. Do you think it will?

BRAHIMI: It's very possible it would. I think in the past, well, they have been made public through the United Nations in terms of the United Nations actually giving public accounts of what's been said. Of course, there will probably be areas that we are not privy to as journalists or as general public. But I would imagine that if this is going to be evidence for one part or the other, Mr. Blix has specified that if Iraq is to say that it has no weapons of mass destruction, if it is to repeat that, it has to come up with convincing evidence.

Well, I would imagine there may be chances that it may actually come out -- Carol.

COSTELLO: I know a lot of Americans would like to see that list.

Rym Brahimi, thanks.

Don't forget the special report on our Web site, "Showdown Iraq." It answers key questions about the inspections and checks out surveillance photos and potential targets. That's 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