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CNN Live At Daybreak
Military-Industrial Complex Searched in Iraq
Aired December 02, 2002 - 06:32 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: This is day five of U.N. inspections, and today, experts descended on a military-industrial complex in Baghdad.
Our Nic Robertson joins us by phone from the Iraqi capital.
And, Nic, I understand you are actually with the weapons inspectors.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm actually sitting right outside the al-Karamah military-industrial complex. The inspectors are inside it at the moment.
And very interestingly, Carol, this has been the longest inspection at one site so far. They've been inside now for almost six hours. It's impossible to tell from where we stand exactly what they're doing. We've seen them going from between the different buildings.
Now, inside this site -- and it is not, I must say, one of the largest sites they've visited so far, probably medium-sized, maybe half-a-mile by half-a-mile square. It appears not to have a lot of industrial facilities, but many more offices. Possibly -- and this is only possibly at this time -- the inspectors appear to be going in and out of these office buildings, possibly searching for documents.
We do know that one of the key things for the inspectors that will give them real, hard information about exactly what Iraq has been doing in terms of weapons of mass destruction could be contained within documentation that they believe Iraq has retained for those programs.
Now, this particular site is actually believed at one time -- not this time, we're told, but believed in the past -- to have been part of Iraq's missile program, helping develop the guidance and control systems for those missiles. Of course, Iraq is now limited to missiles that cannot go further than 90 miles -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Understand. I understand that the weapons inspectors' team got lost in Iraq earlier today. Can you tell us about that?
ROBERTSON: Carol, I've got to tell you, as you go out -- as we go out with the weapons inspectors in the morning, they head right out into rush-hour traffic in Baghdad. The highways -- three, four-lane highways -- are heavily clogged with traffic. They have a big problem weaving in and out of the traffic, trying to get to the sites they're going to. It's a huge convoy, possibly five U.N. vehicles followed by more Jeeps containing the Iraqi National Monitoring director. Those are the Iraqi officials who follow the inspectors wherever they go.
And this morning, they came to a stop on a road. They took a left-hand turn off the main road, went 100 yards down it and just stopped. They had to get out of their vehicles and ask directions from the Iraqi officials who were trailing them.
The Iraqis then told them the place they were looking for was only 100 yards away and just to follow them to the site. That's what they did. It was one more right-hand turn, and then they were in the site -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Well, I guess all in the spirit of supposed cooperation. Nic Robertson, thanks for that.
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 December 2, 2002 - 06:32 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: This is day five of U.N. inspections, and today, experts descended on a military-industrial complex in Baghdad.
Our Nic Robertson joins us by phone from the Iraqi capital.
And, Nic, I understand you are actually with the weapons inspectors.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm actually sitting right outside the al-Karamah military-industrial complex. The inspectors are inside it at the moment.
And very interestingly, Carol, this has been the longest inspection at one site so far. They've been inside now for almost six hours. It's impossible to tell from where we stand exactly what they're doing. We've seen them going from between the different buildings.
Now, inside this site -- and it is not, I must say, one of the largest sites they've visited so far, probably medium-sized, maybe half-a-mile by half-a-mile square. It appears not to have a lot of industrial facilities, but many more offices. Possibly -- and this is only possibly at this time -- the inspectors appear to be going in and out of these office buildings, possibly searching for documents.
We do know that one of the key things for the inspectors that will give them real, hard information about exactly what Iraq has been doing in terms of weapons of mass destruction could be contained within documentation that they believe Iraq has retained for those programs.
Now, this particular site is actually believed at one time -- not this time, we're told, but believed in the past -- to have been part of Iraq's missile program, helping develop the guidance and control systems for those missiles. Of course, Iraq is now limited to missiles that cannot go further than 90 miles -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Understand. I understand that the weapons inspectors' team got lost in Iraq earlier today. Can you tell us about that?
ROBERTSON: Carol, I've got to tell you, as you go out -- as we go out with the weapons inspectors in the morning, they head right out into rush-hour traffic in Baghdad. The highways -- three, four-lane highways -- are heavily clogged with traffic. They have a big problem weaving in and out of the traffic, trying to get to the sites they're going to. It's a huge convoy, possibly five U.N. vehicles followed by more Jeeps containing the Iraqi National Monitoring director. Those are the Iraqi officials who follow the inspectors wherever they go.
And this morning, they came to a stop on a road. They took a left-hand turn off the main road, went 100 yards down it and just stopped. They had to get out of their vehicles and ask directions from the Iraqi officials who were trailing them.
The Iraqis then told them the place they were looking for was only 100 yards away and just to follow them to the site. That's what they did. It was one more right-hand turn, and then they were in the site -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Well, I guess all in the spirit of supposed cooperation. Nic Robertson, thanks for that.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
