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CNN Live At Daybreak
Inspectors Look at Compound Two Hours from Baghdad
Aired December 04, 2002 - 05:04 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: U.S. officials have expressed concern there aren't enough weapons inspectors in Iraq and their searches lack variety. Despite Iraq's apparent cooperation with inspectors, President Bush says Saddam Hussein is lying when he says he doesn't have banned weapons.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The issue is whether or not Mr. Saddam Hussein will disarm like he said he would. We're not interested in hide and seek inside Iraq. The fundamental question is in the name of peace, in the name of security, not only for America and the American people, in the name of security for our friends in the neighborhood, in the name of freedom, will this man disarm?
The choice is his.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: And due to its expected length and need for translation, White House officials say it could take five days for the United States to react to Baghdad's upcoming weapons declaration. That's expected to happen on December 7. Iraq has voluntarily moved up the release of that weapons document, as I just said.
With that development and the latest on the inspections, we turn to CNN's Rym Brahimi in Baghdad -- Rym, inspectors are now at some remote site in the desert?
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, Carol. They're actually at the farthest site that they've been so far. It's a site that's about two hours north of Baghdad, a huge compound, a huge site maybe five kilometers by five kilometers. But that, what's interesting is that site, called the Alamouthana (ph) site, was actually the center for the research and production of biological and chemical warfare agents in the 1980s and the early 1990s, until the 1991 Gulf War.
Now, that site was visited by the previous team of U.N. inspectors. They say that they destroyed quite a lot of the equipment there and quite a lot of the agents there. But they still said when they left in 1998 that a lot of it was still unaccounted for.
Now, the other team of inspectors went to another facility south of Baghdad. Those were the nuclear experts. And they're also going to be working -- you see, what they've been doing so far, Carol, are visiting sites that have been seen previously by UNSCOM, maybe more obvious sites. And all of that will probably be the case until that famous final declaration that you mentioned that they're supposed to, that the Iraqis are expected to hand out on the seventh, a day earlier than the eighth of December deadline.
Now, another deadline today, Carol. Well, that's the Oil for Food resolution, the resolution that allows Iraq to sell as much oil as it wants to buy humanitarian products like food and medicine for its population. Now, that's a problem right now at the U.N. Security Council because there is disagreement between the United States and the rest of the members of the United Nations Security Council over how to extend that agreement. The United States is saying it only wants to extend it for two weeks instead of the usual six months, because it still wants to review what items Iraq can and cannot import, and actually make the list of items it can't import larger.
A lot of the countries don't agree with that, in particular Russia, who actually thinks that they should reduce the list of items that Iraq is banned of obtaining. So there's going to be an interesting debate here at the U.N. Security Council and obviously Iraqi officials are watching this very, very closely. They consider any change to the Oil for Food resolution silly, from what I understand -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Understand.
Rym Brahimi, thanks.
We'll get some insight into the inspectors' work two hours from now when former U.N. chief weapons inspector Richard Butler joins the AMERICAN MORNING crew.
And don't forget our Web site gives you the latest on the inspections plus background, such as an interactive look inside one of Saddam Hussein's many places. The address, our address, not Saddam's, is cnn.com, AOL keyword: CNN.
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 4, 2002 - 05:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: U.S. officials have expressed concern there aren't enough weapons inspectors in Iraq and their searches lack variety. Despite Iraq's apparent cooperation with inspectors, President Bush says Saddam Hussein is lying when he says he doesn't have banned weapons.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The issue is whether or not Mr. Saddam Hussein will disarm like he said he would. We're not interested in hide and seek inside Iraq. The fundamental question is in the name of peace, in the name of security, not only for America and the American people, in the name of security for our friends in the neighborhood, in the name of freedom, will this man disarm?
The choice is his.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: And due to its expected length and need for translation, White House officials say it could take five days for the United States to react to Baghdad's upcoming weapons declaration. That's expected to happen on December 7. Iraq has voluntarily moved up the release of that weapons document, as I just said.
With that development and the latest on the inspections, we turn to CNN's Rym Brahimi in Baghdad -- Rym, inspectors are now at some remote site in the desert?
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, Carol. They're actually at the farthest site that they've been so far. It's a site that's about two hours north of Baghdad, a huge compound, a huge site maybe five kilometers by five kilometers. But that, what's interesting is that site, called the Alamouthana (ph) site, was actually the center for the research and production of biological and chemical warfare agents in the 1980s and the early 1990s, until the 1991 Gulf War.
Now, that site was visited by the previous team of U.N. inspectors. They say that they destroyed quite a lot of the equipment there and quite a lot of the agents there. But they still said when they left in 1998 that a lot of it was still unaccounted for.
Now, the other team of inspectors went to another facility south of Baghdad. Those were the nuclear experts. And they're also going to be working -- you see, what they've been doing so far, Carol, are visiting sites that have been seen previously by UNSCOM, maybe more obvious sites. And all of that will probably be the case until that famous final declaration that you mentioned that they're supposed to, that the Iraqis are expected to hand out on the seventh, a day earlier than the eighth of December deadline.
Now, another deadline today, Carol. Well, that's the Oil for Food resolution, the resolution that allows Iraq to sell as much oil as it wants to buy humanitarian products like food and medicine for its population. Now, that's a problem right now at the U.N. Security Council because there is disagreement between the United States and the rest of the members of the United Nations Security Council over how to extend that agreement. The United States is saying it only wants to extend it for two weeks instead of the usual six months, because it still wants to review what items Iraq can and cannot import, and actually make the list of items it can't import larger.
A lot of the countries don't agree with that, in particular Russia, who actually thinks that they should reduce the list of items that Iraq is banned of obtaining. So there's going to be an interesting debate here at the U.N. Security Council and obviously Iraqi officials are watching this very, very closely. They consider any change to the Oil for Food resolution silly, from what I understand -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Understand.
Rym Brahimi, thanks.
We'll get some insight into the inspectors' work two hours from now when former U.N. chief weapons inspector Richard Butler joins the AMERICAN MORNING crew.
And don't forget our Web site gives you the latest on the inspections plus background, such as an interactive look inside one of Saddam Hussein's many places. The address, our address, not Saddam's, is cnn.com, AOL keyword: CNN.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
