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Inspectors Have Not Yet Set Out to Hunt for Chemical, Biological, Nuclear Weapons
Aired November 29, 2002 - 05:12 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: And now to the hunt for weapons in Iraq. U.N. inspectors have not yet set out to hunt for chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. So what's going on?
We're going to go to Baghdad now with Nic Robertson for some answers on that -- Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Catherine.
The inspectors are taking a day of rest today. It is Friday, the holy Muslim day of rest, as well. Now, we know that they have been out. They have been to five different sites so far. They have taken samples at those sites. They won't be able to do any detailed analysis on those results that they've taken back to their headquarters here. They still don't yet have the laboratory equipment necessary in their headquarters to make those, make the kind of analysis that they need to take on those samples. They took soil samples and they took samples of liquids at an animal vaccine site yesterday.
Now, we also know that the inspectors this weekend are expecting a team of experts in bug detection, if you will, to come and sweep their headquarters here. So far, the inspectors believe it is possible while they're away that somebody got into their headquarters, planted listening devices and they hope when these experts come in this weekend that they can clear up anything like that that may be in their buildings. They don't know for sure that it's there, but we do know up to now they have been very careful about what they've been saying inside that building -- Catherine.
CALLAWAY: Nic, do we know if they will resume their inspections tomorrow?
ROBERTSON: Yes. They're expected to do that. They have said they have a huge amount of work that they want to do here and it is their intention to get on with it as quickly as possible. We suspect, really, that what they're doing today is going over and analyzing how they've worked, how things have worked so far, have they met up with their official, the Iraqi officials smoothly, is that working. You know, we saw them on the first day get lost a little bit en route. So they're probably trying to work out, you know, have they got the best mechanisms in place to get to the sites they want to get to -- Catherine.
CALLAWAY: Right. All right, great.
Thank you, Nic.
That's Nic Robertson for us live in Baghdad.
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Biological, Nuclear Weapons>
Aired November 29, 2002 - 05:12 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: And now to the hunt for weapons in Iraq. U.N. inspectors have not yet set out to hunt for chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. So what's going on?
We're going to go to Baghdad now with Nic Robertson for some answers on that -- Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Catherine.
The inspectors are taking a day of rest today. It is Friday, the holy Muslim day of rest, as well. Now, we know that they have been out. They have been to five different sites so far. They have taken samples at those sites. They won't be able to do any detailed analysis on those results that they've taken back to their headquarters here. They still don't yet have the laboratory equipment necessary in their headquarters to make those, make the kind of analysis that they need to take on those samples. They took soil samples and they took samples of liquids at an animal vaccine site yesterday.
Now, we also know that the inspectors this weekend are expecting a team of experts in bug detection, if you will, to come and sweep their headquarters here. So far, the inspectors believe it is possible while they're away that somebody got into their headquarters, planted listening devices and they hope when these experts come in this weekend that they can clear up anything like that that may be in their buildings. They don't know for sure that it's there, but we do know up to now they have been very careful about what they've been saying inside that building -- Catherine.
CALLAWAY: Nic, do we know if they will resume their inspections tomorrow?
ROBERTSON: Yes. They're expected to do that. They have said they have a huge amount of work that they want to do here and it is their intention to get on with it as quickly as possible. We suspect, really, that what they're doing today is going over and analyzing how they've worked, how things have worked so far, have they met up with their official, the Iraqi officials smoothly, is that working. You know, we saw them on the first day get lost a little bit en route. So they're probably trying to work out, you know, have they got the best mechanisms in place to get to the sites they want to get to -- Catherine.
CALLAWAY: Right. All right, great.
Thank you, Nic.
That's Nic Robertson for us live 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
Biological, Nuclear Weapons>
