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CNN Live At Daybreak
Day One of Inspections
Aired November 27, 2002 - 06:33 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: We're going to take you now back to Baghdad for a live report on the hunt for weapons of mass destruction. This is day one of the searches in Iraq.
Nic Robertson has been our point man on this. He's been with the weapons inspectors today.
Nic -- what's the latest from there?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, day one, inspection No. 1 already out of the way for the nuclear team. They spent three hours at one site.
We couldn't go in with them, but we could see them going from building to building in this site, perhaps a dozen warehouse structures and perhaps a mile square compound area. It had a high wall, razor wire on the top of the wall and armed guards at the gate. Tahadi (ph) is the name of that particular site.
Now, after the inspectors left, we were able to get in, talk with the director general. He denied that there were any weapons of mass destruction being made there. He said the inspectors had seen everything that they wanted to see, that they went away happy, that they hadn't taken anything away, that they had taken photographs. But he also said that this was a site that had been previously visited by inspectors back in the 1990s -- Catherine.
CALLAWAY: Do you know exactly what kind of work they did in this facility -- the inspectors did in the facility? I know you said they didn't take anything away. Just photographs?
ROBERTSON: From what we could see, just photographs, but then we do know some of this high-tech equipment they have, this isotope detecting equipment, that's something you hold in your hand. It sniffs the air electronically. It takes a reading. So, in that way, they don't have to take anything away with them.
But it's not clear. We don't know exactly which building they went to. When we went in, we were only taken to one of the buildings, and there were about a dozen. The one we went to was making heavy industrial motors, but we don't know where -- what was their specific area of interest.
We do know there was a new building being built on the site; we could see that. One person at the industry complex there did say that the inspectors were very interested in that building, but still, we don't know exactly what drew the inspectors to that site today.
CALLAWAY: Nic, I know you said there were two teams. You went with one team. Do you know where the other team went?
ROBERTSON: We know at this time that they went to a site on the west of Baghdad. We had suspected that they probably would stay close to Baghdad, and that appears to have been the case.
Now, the other team was made up of the missile, chemical and biological scientists, so likely they were looking at a site that would have been of interest to them in their sphere of expertise. But still, we don't have anymore details about how they've progressed so far today.
CALLAWAY: And, Nic, we're running out of time, but quickly, I know that the air sirens went off -- air raid sirens went off as you guys were leaving. Were the inspectors aware of the raid -- the air raid sirens?
ROBERTSON: The site we were at, the inspectors had been in there for about 10 minutes when the aircraft went overhead. Now, the sirens went off in downtown Baghdad, but out where we were right about 25 kilometers, 18 miles or so I guess to the edge of the city, we couldn't hear the sirens. But we could hear the aircraft and could see the contrails. Maybe the inspectors were able to see that.
CALLAWAY: All right, thank you, Nic. That's Nic Robertson who was with the inspectors actually when they went on their inspections this morning -- Nic Robertson in Baghdad.
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 27, 2002 - 06:33 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to take you now back to Baghdad for a live report on the hunt for weapons of mass destruction. This is day one of the searches in Iraq.
Nic Robertson has been our point man on this. He's been with the weapons inspectors today.
Nic -- what's the latest from there?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, day one, inspection No. 1 already out of the way for the nuclear team. They spent three hours at one site.
We couldn't go in with them, but we could see them going from building to building in this site, perhaps a dozen warehouse structures and perhaps a mile square compound area. It had a high wall, razor wire on the top of the wall and armed guards at the gate. Tahadi (ph) is the name of that particular site.
Now, after the inspectors left, we were able to get in, talk with the director general. He denied that there were any weapons of mass destruction being made there. He said the inspectors had seen everything that they wanted to see, that they went away happy, that they hadn't taken anything away, that they had taken photographs. But he also said that this was a site that had been previously visited by inspectors back in the 1990s -- Catherine.
CALLAWAY: Do you know exactly what kind of work they did in this facility -- the inspectors did in the facility? I know you said they didn't take anything away. Just photographs?
ROBERTSON: From what we could see, just photographs, but then we do know some of this high-tech equipment they have, this isotope detecting equipment, that's something you hold in your hand. It sniffs the air electronically. It takes a reading. So, in that way, they don't have to take anything away with them.
But it's not clear. We don't know exactly which building they went to. When we went in, we were only taken to one of the buildings, and there were about a dozen. The one we went to was making heavy industrial motors, but we don't know where -- what was their specific area of interest.
We do know there was a new building being built on the site; we could see that. One person at the industry complex there did say that the inspectors were very interested in that building, but still, we don't know exactly what drew the inspectors to that site today.
CALLAWAY: Nic, I know you said there were two teams. You went with one team. Do you know where the other team went?
ROBERTSON: We know at this time that they went to a site on the west of Baghdad. We had suspected that they probably would stay close to Baghdad, and that appears to have been the case.
Now, the other team was made up of the missile, chemical and biological scientists, so likely they were looking at a site that would have been of interest to them in their sphere of expertise. But still, we don't have anymore details about how they've progressed so far today.
CALLAWAY: And, Nic, we're running out of time, but quickly, I know that the air sirens went off -- air raid sirens went off as you guys were leaving. Were the inspectors aware of the raid -- the air raid sirens?
ROBERTSON: The site we were at, the inspectors had been in there for about 10 minutes when the aircraft went overhead. Now, the sirens went off in downtown Baghdad, but out where we were right about 25 kilometers, 18 miles or so I guess to the edge of the city, we couldn't hear the sirens. But we could hear the aircraft and could see the contrails. Maybe the inspectors were able to see that.
CALLAWAY: All right, thank you, Nic. That's Nic Robertson who was with the inspectors actually when they went on their inspections this morning -- Nic Robertson in Baghdad.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
