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CNN Live At Daybreak
Bound for Baghdad
Aired November 25, 2002 - 06:02 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: The island of Cyprus is the staging area for the inspectors' trip to Iraq, and they are about to leave for Baghdad.
Let's go to CNN's Sheila MacVicar, who is joining us live from Larnaca, Cyprus -- Sheila.
SHEILA MACVICAR, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Catherine, that plane is due to take off for Baghdad about 15 minutes from now. On board: 12 inspectors from the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission and 6 from the International Atomic Energy Agency. They are the people who are charged with examining Iraq's nuclear weapons program.
Now, this is the first group of real inspectors, people who will be actually carrying out inspections on the ground. We expect that to begin on Wednesday.
There's obviously been a number of people, more than 30 now, in Baghdad. They're primarily logisticians, communications experts, laboratory technicians, doing all of the advance work that's been so necessary to get those offices up and running again after that four- year absence.
So, the inspectors are going into Baghdad today. They have a plan of action. They have, after a four-year absence, a list of more than 700 sites that they say that they'd like to visit.
Their first stop, Catherine, will be sites that are familiar to weapons inspectors from the past. They want to recreate what they call a "baseline of data," go back to those sites previously associated with Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, take a look at what's gone on in those facilities and see if their monitoring equipment that they left behind there could still function -- Catherine.
COSTELLO: And we should tell everyone that we're looking at live picture now of the plane that will be taking the first inspectors into Baghdad on the tarmac there preparing to take off.
And, Sheila, you were telling me last hour about the importance of Cyprus in this work that the inspectors will be doing, although of course, the most important work will be done inside Iraq, but there will be sort of a staging area set up there in Cyprus. Who will be taking part of participating in activities there?
MACVICAR: This is going to be a logistics space for the inspectors, a place for them to gather as they head off into Baghdad, a place where they can get accreditation, briefings -- that sort of thing.
The importance of -- Cyprus will become more important as we move forward here. All of these people who are going into Baghdad today are either on the permanent staff of the U.N. based in New York or on the permanent staff of the IAEA based in Vienna.
But as the inspection team in Baghdad grows -- and we're expecting to have perhaps as many as 100 or so on the ground within a matter of weeks. People will be drawn from their own home country, leaving behind other jobs and coming to join the inspectors.
So, that is one of the reasons why Cyprus will remain important in terms of the work that the inspectors do, obviously the important work being done in Iraq of carrying out those inspections. And then, a lot of the analysis being done either in Vienna or in the United Nations headquarters in New York where the weapons inspectors' headquarters are -- Catherine.
CALLAWAY: All right, Sheila, thank you -- that's Sheila MacVicar in Cyprus.
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 25, 2002 - 06:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: The island of Cyprus is the staging area for the inspectors' trip to Iraq, and they are about to leave for Baghdad.
Let's go to CNN's Sheila MacVicar, who is joining us live from Larnaca, Cyprus -- Sheila.
SHEILA MACVICAR, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Catherine, that plane is due to take off for Baghdad about 15 minutes from now. On board: 12 inspectors from the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission and 6 from the International Atomic Energy Agency. They are the people who are charged with examining Iraq's nuclear weapons program.
Now, this is the first group of real inspectors, people who will be actually carrying out inspections on the ground. We expect that to begin on Wednesday.
There's obviously been a number of people, more than 30 now, in Baghdad. They're primarily logisticians, communications experts, laboratory technicians, doing all of the advance work that's been so necessary to get those offices up and running again after that four- year absence.
So, the inspectors are going into Baghdad today. They have a plan of action. They have, after a four-year absence, a list of more than 700 sites that they say that they'd like to visit.
Their first stop, Catherine, will be sites that are familiar to weapons inspectors from the past. They want to recreate what they call a "baseline of data," go back to those sites previously associated with Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, take a look at what's gone on in those facilities and see if their monitoring equipment that they left behind there could still function -- Catherine.
COSTELLO: And we should tell everyone that we're looking at live picture now of the plane that will be taking the first inspectors into Baghdad on the tarmac there preparing to take off.
And, Sheila, you were telling me last hour about the importance of Cyprus in this work that the inspectors will be doing, although of course, the most important work will be done inside Iraq, but there will be sort of a staging area set up there in Cyprus. Who will be taking part of participating in activities there?
MACVICAR: This is going to be a logistics space for the inspectors, a place for them to gather as they head off into Baghdad, a place where they can get accreditation, briefings -- that sort of thing.
The importance of -- Cyprus will become more important as we move forward here. All of these people who are going into Baghdad today are either on the permanent staff of the U.N. based in New York or on the permanent staff of the IAEA based in Vienna.
But as the inspection team in Baghdad grows -- and we're expecting to have perhaps as many as 100 or so on the ground within a matter of weeks. People will be drawn from their own home country, leaving behind other jobs and coming to join the inspectors.
So, that is one of the reasons why Cyprus will remain important in terms of the work that the inspectors do, obviously the important work being done in Iraq of carrying out those inspections. And then, a lot of the analysis being done either in Vienna or in the United Nations headquarters in New York where the weapons inspectors' headquarters are -- Catherine.
CALLAWAY: All right, Sheila, thank you -- that's Sheila MacVicar in Cyprus.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
