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CNN Live At Daybreak
Tony Blair Says NATO Unanimous That Iraq Must Disarm
Aired November 21, 2002 - 05:11 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: And now to Iraq. As the world waits for the weapons inspections to begin, British Prime Minister Tony Blair says NATO is unanimous that Iraq must disarm.
CNN's Rym Brahimi is live in Baghdad -- Rym, what's going on there today?
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, there's a lot of awareness here that that's what not only the United Nations, but all the international community is asking of Iraq. Now, very, very significant, last night Iraq's vice president, Taha Yassin Ramadan, spoke about having a positive approach toward the inspectors' mission and saying that, also, Iraqi scientists would, should actually be free to talk to the inspectors and say what they wanted.
Now, that's quite significant because Taha Yassin Ramadan has been one of the most hard line members of the cabinet here until recently. And he was the one who, many, many months ago, even had said at one point that the inspectors would never come back. So for him to come and say that this is very important, that he has a positive approach to the inspections, is, I think, a sign that Iraq is very much aware of what it needs to do -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Rym, I understand that the newspaper owned by Saddam Hussein's son hasn't been on the newsstand for two days. So what's up with that?
BRAHIMI: Well, it's a big, big question. A lot of people are wondering about that. We're hearing very, very different rumors, so this is not firsthand information. One rumor saying that the printing press had taken fire, another one saying that there was an order from the Ministry of Information to shut it down.
But at this point we cannot report anything safely because we do not know for sure what's happening. We will find out and we will make sure to keep you posted, Carol, as soon as we know -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Well, we'll be interested to know.
Rym Brahimi, thank you.
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 21, 2002 - 05:11 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And now to Iraq. As the world waits for the weapons inspections to begin, British Prime Minister Tony Blair says NATO is unanimous that Iraq must disarm.
CNN's Rym Brahimi is live in Baghdad -- Rym, what's going on there today?
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, there's a lot of awareness here that that's what not only the United Nations, but all the international community is asking of Iraq. Now, very, very significant, last night Iraq's vice president, Taha Yassin Ramadan, spoke about having a positive approach toward the inspectors' mission and saying that, also, Iraqi scientists would, should actually be free to talk to the inspectors and say what they wanted.
Now, that's quite significant because Taha Yassin Ramadan has been one of the most hard line members of the cabinet here until recently. And he was the one who, many, many months ago, even had said at one point that the inspectors would never come back. So for him to come and say that this is very important, that he has a positive approach to the inspections, is, I think, a sign that Iraq is very much aware of what it needs to do -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Rym, I understand that the newspaper owned by Saddam Hussein's son hasn't been on the newsstand for two days. So what's up with that?
BRAHIMI: Well, it's a big, big question. A lot of people are wondering about that. We're hearing very, very different rumors, so this is not firsthand information. One rumor saying that the printing press had taken fire, another one saying that there was an order from the Ministry of Information to shut it down.
But at this point we cannot report anything safely because we do not know for sure what's happening. We will find out and we will make sure to keep you posted, Carol, as soon as we know -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Well, we'll be interested to know.
Rym Brahimi, thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
