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CNN Live At Daybreak
Iraq Promises Report December 7
Aired December 03, 2002 - 06:36 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: We want to get an update now on today's inspection of an Iraqi presidential palace site by U.N. weapons experts.
Let's go back to CNN's Nic Robertson in Baghdad.
And, Nic, before you start, we've just got word from Reuters this morning that Iraq says it will hand a weapons declaration to inspectors on December 7. Of course, the deadline is December 8. Does this surprise you at all?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: No, it's pretty in keeping with the way Iraq has been dealing with the Resolution 1441 up until now -- for example, the apparent good cooperation with the inspectors.
It seems that they really don't want to leave anything to chance here, that they want to make sure that they appear to be doing and complying by Resolution 1441, and that means getting this document declaration in just before December the 8th, rather than let's say trying to present it on the 8th and something go wrong and that doesn't happen.
Really, the impression created here is that the government wants to comply, that they don't want to see anything go wrong -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Gotcha. And tell us about the search of the palace today.
ROBERTSON: Well, of course, significant, because the team -- the U.S. team was able to go in without prior notice and without international diplomats present. And those were the conditions that the previous U.N. weapons inspectors had to work under at the presidential sites.
What they found -- what the journalists going in after them found is the same. This presidential palace is a very ornate building, huge wooden doors, big, brass door knockers with President Saddam Hussein's initials engraved on those door knockers. What they would have found inside was pretty much an empty hall, a pretty chandelier, a small TV and a hi-fi system in a corner, a table in a corner, but not a lot else going on in that building.
Of course, we don't know what the inspectors found. We don't even know what they were looking for, because the journalists were kept outside. But that's what the journalists found, and Iraqi officials saying that the U.N. inspectors had full access. COSTELLO: Gotcha. Nic Robertson, thanks -- reporting live from Baghdad.
Again, if you missed it, Reuters is reporting that Iraq will hand over a weapons declaration document to inspectors on December 7, and of course, the deadline for that was December 8.
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 3, 2002 - 06:36 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We want to get an update now on today's inspection of an Iraqi presidential palace site by U.N. weapons experts.
Let's go back to CNN's Nic Robertson in Baghdad.
And, Nic, before you start, we've just got word from Reuters this morning that Iraq says it will hand a weapons declaration to inspectors on December 7. Of course, the deadline is December 8. Does this surprise you at all?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: No, it's pretty in keeping with the way Iraq has been dealing with the Resolution 1441 up until now -- for example, the apparent good cooperation with the inspectors.
It seems that they really don't want to leave anything to chance here, that they want to make sure that they appear to be doing and complying by Resolution 1441, and that means getting this document declaration in just before December the 8th, rather than let's say trying to present it on the 8th and something go wrong and that doesn't happen.
Really, the impression created here is that the government wants to comply, that they don't want to see anything go wrong -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Gotcha. And tell us about the search of the palace today.
ROBERTSON: Well, of course, significant, because the team -- the U.S. team was able to go in without prior notice and without international diplomats present. And those were the conditions that the previous U.N. weapons inspectors had to work under at the presidential sites.
What they found -- what the journalists going in after them found is the same. This presidential palace is a very ornate building, huge wooden doors, big, brass door knockers with President Saddam Hussein's initials engraved on those door knockers. What they would have found inside was pretty much an empty hall, a pretty chandelier, a small TV and a hi-fi system in a corner, a table in a corner, but not a lot else going on in that building.
Of course, we don't know what the inspectors found. We don't even know what they were looking for, because the journalists were kept outside. But that's what the journalists found, and Iraqi officials saying that the U.N. inspectors had full access. COSTELLO: Gotcha. Nic Robertson, thanks -- reporting live from Baghdad.
Again, if you missed it, Reuters is reporting that Iraq will hand over a weapons declaration document to inspectors on December 7, and of course, the deadline for that was December 8.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
