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Waiting Mode
Aired November 21, 2002 - 06:35 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: NATO leaders meeting in Prague today prepared to discuss a uniformed stand on Iraq, depending on whether Baghdad fully complies with weapons inspections.
CNN's Rym Brahimi is live in Baghdad with the latest from there.
Good morning.
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, indeed.
Well, there are a lot of signs, Carol, that Iraq is willing to comply. This we see not only through the daily newspapers, with the main newspaper of the Baath ruling party, "Al Thawra," saying today that no one was more enthusiastic to see the inspectors accomplish their mission than Iraq itself. That was one very significant wording, I think, in that newspaper.
Another indication: Iraq's Vice President Taha Yasin Ramadan. He's actually usually one of the most hard-line cabinet members. Well, he came out and said that there should be a positive approach within Iraq towards the inspections, saying that even scientists and Iraqi researchers should be freely questioned and talk freely to the inspectors.
So, that's quite significant of what Iraq intends to do in terms of compliance.
Now, when Hans Blix, the U.N. chief weapons inspector, was here, he also spoke about indications he had from his conversations with Iraqi officials that they were prepared to comply.
We also understand from sources close to those negotiations that there were a lot of questions on the Iraqi side (UNINTELLIGIBLE) people like Hans Blix and Mohamed el-Baradei, the head of the IAEA, what exactly will it take? How exactly shall we comply? No beating around the bush, none of the usual diatribes that they usually used to go to.
Just after 30 seconds of sitting down, they went straight to the point, and the Iraqis then asked the U.N. inspectors to go point-by- point in the resolution, taking every single item, every single line apart to make sure that they were on the same level, on the same wavelength in terms of what compliance meant in this case -- Carol.
COSTELLO: And I asked you in the last hour about the newspaper owned by Saddam Hussein's son. It seems to have disappeared for a couple of days. Did you find out anything more about that? BRAHIMI: Well, we found something. Well, we have found out from someone who worked there but who didn't to tell us anything more, that he has confirmed to us that the paper seems to have been banned for one month. So, he says that we're not going to see it for something like another 25 days or so.
Other people I spoke to seemed confident that actually, well, it might be a little less. We might actually see that a little earlier than we thought.
It's important, Carol -- or it's significant rather, because not only because it's the newspaper of the president's son, which obviously is very important -- I mean, the eldest son of the president has this newspaper, "Babin" (ph). He also has this TV channel called Chavac TV (ph), or U (ph) TV. And it shows a lot of series -- American series, films that maybe the other channels don't show.
And his newspaper is quite interesting, because it also is the only newspaper here in Iraq that uses other sources for its material. For instance, it will have a lot of stories coming from foreign newspapers or foreign news agencies, which a lot of the other newspapers don't have.
So, we'll follow it up for you and let you know what happens with that saga -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Very interesting. Rym Brahimi, thanks -- we appreciate it.
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 - 06:35 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: NATO leaders meeting in Prague today prepared to discuss a uniformed stand on Iraq, depending on whether Baghdad fully complies with weapons inspections.
CNN's Rym Brahimi is live in Baghdad with the latest from there.
Good morning.
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, indeed.
Well, there are a lot of signs, Carol, that Iraq is willing to comply. This we see not only through the daily newspapers, with the main newspaper of the Baath ruling party, "Al Thawra," saying today that no one was more enthusiastic to see the inspectors accomplish their mission than Iraq itself. That was one very significant wording, I think, in that newspaper.
Another indication: Iraq's Vice President Taha Yasin Ramadan. He's actually usually one of the most hard-line cabinet members. Well, he came out and said that there should be a positive approach within Iraq towards the inspections, saying that even scientists and Iraqi researchers should be freely questioned and talk freely to the inspectors.
So, that's quite significant of what Iraq intends to do in terms of compliance.
Now, when Hans Blix, the U.N. chief weapons inspector, was here, he also spoke about indications he had from his conversations with Iraqi officials that they were prepared to comply.
We also understand from sources close to those negotiations that there were a lot of questions on the Iraqi side (UNINTELLIGIBLE) people like Hans Blix and Mohamed el-Baradei, the head of the IAEA, what exactly will it take? How exactly shall we comply? No beating around the bush, none of the usual diatribes that they usually used to go to.
Just after 30 seconds of sitting down, they went straight to the point, and the Iraqis then asked the U.N. inspectors to go point-by- point in the resolution, taking every single item, every single line apart to make sure that they were on the same level, on the same wavelength in terms of what compliance meant in this case -- Carol.
COSTELLO: And I asked you in the last hour about the newspaper owned by Saddam Hussein's son. It seems to have disappeared for a couple of days. Did you find out anything more about that? BRAHIMI: Well, we found something. Well, we have found out from someone who worked there but who didn't to tell us anything more, that he has confirmed to us that the paper seems to have been banned for one month. So, he says that we're not going to see it for something like another 25 days or so.
Other people I spoke to seemed confident that actually, well, it might be a little less. We might actually see that a little earlier than we thought.
It's important, Carol -- or it's significant rather, because not only because it's the newspaper of the president's son, which obviously is very important -- I mean, the eldest son of the president has this newspaper, "Babin" (ph). He also has this TV channel called Chavac TV (ph), or U (ph) TV. And it shows a lot of series -- American series, films that maybe the other channels don't show.
And his newspaper is quite interesting, because it also is the only newspaper here in Iraq that uses other sources for its material. For instance, it will have a lot of stories coming from foreign newspapers or foreign news agencies, which a lot of the other newspapers don't have.
So, we'll follow it up for you and let you know what happens with that saga -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Very interesting. Rym Brahimi, thanks -- we appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
