Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live At Daybreak
Iraq Has Three Days to Reveal Weapons
Aired December 05, 2002 - 05:38 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: And now let's get back to the looming deadline in Iraq. Saddam Hussein's government has just three days to reveal whatever weapons of mass destruction it may posses.
Our Rym Brahimi joins us live now from Baghdad -- good morning.
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
Well, Iraqis here are also celebrating the Eid al-Fitr, and with that, President Saddam Hussein greeted his entire leadership. A lot of cabinet ministers went to wish him best for this Muslim holiday, Carol. While at the same time he told his people, his message on the occasion of this Muslim feast, Carol, to his people was that they have to be patient in the face of what he said was unjust U.S. arrogance and despotism. He said that Iraq was facing a test and he said that it was a chance right now for the inspectors to do their work and to disprove the U.S. and British claims that Iraq still has weapons of mass destruction.
Now, the president's comments were actually a little more moderate, Carol, than his vice president, who spoke with a few Egyptian parliamentarians yesterday and told them he thought the inspectors were spies in the pay of the CIA and the Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service, and that they were laying the groundwork for a U.S. invasion.
Now, the Iraqis are telling the inspectors they're too tough. Probably that was triggered by the visit by the inspectors to a presidential palace on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the U.S. is saying that the inspectors are not tough enough. The inspectors, well, they feel caught in the middle.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DMITRI PERRICOS, UNMOVIC TEAM LEADER: We are not serving the U.S. We are not serving the U.K. We are not serving an individual nation. We are here for the implementation of a resolution which came out of the Security Council, which represents the international community. This is what we are serving. Now, how each state is going to be treating the, all the prospect of inspections and how much information it's going to deliver to the inspection organizations, it's up to its member state and it's not up to us as inspectorate or as United Nations.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRAHIMI: As you can see, Carol, a lot of pressure on the inspectors. A lot of pressure, also, on the Iraqis, as they have put the final touches to that full, final and complete declaration that they say they're going to hand over to the U.N. Security Council in a couple of days -- Carol.
COSTELLO: And, Rym, this declaration is going to be lengthy. I understand it's a thousand pages or more.
BRAHIMI: Yes, Carol. We've been told, we spoke with the director of the Iraqi National Monitoring Directorate. He says its thousands and thousands of pages. They're hoping to be able to hand it over in hard copy and it's going to have a lot of new elements in it, he said.
He said, however, that it would not include anything about weapons of mass destruction that would have been produced between '98 and 2002 because, he says, they haven't produced any weapons of mass destruction since the previous team of inspectors left in 1998 -- Carol.
COSTELLO: I understand.
Rym Brahimi.
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 5, 2002 - 05:38 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And now let's get back to the looming deadline in Iraq. Saddam Hussein's government has just three days to reveal whatever weapons of mass destruction it may posses.
Our Rym Brahimi joins us live now from Baghdad -- good morning.
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
Well, Iraqis here are also celebrating the Eid al-Fitr, and with that, President Saddam Hussein greeted his entire leadership. A lot of cabinet ministers went to wish him best for this Muslim holiday, Carol. While at the same time he told his people, his message on the occasion of this Muslim feast, Carol, to his people was that they have to be patient in the face of what he said was unjust U.S. arrogance and despotism. He said that Iraq was facing a test and he said that it was a chance right now for the inspectors to do their work and to disprove the U.S. and British claims that Iraq still has weapons of mass destruction.
Now, the president's comments were actually a little more moderate, Carol, than his vice president, who spoke with a few Egyptian parliamentarians yesterday and told them he thought the inspectors were spies in the pay of the CIA and the Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service, and that they were laying the groundwork for a U.S. invasion.
Now, the Iraqis are telling the inspectors they're too tough. Probably that was triggered by the visit by the inspectors to a presidential palace on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the U.S. is saying that the inspectors are not tough enough. The inspectors, well, they feel caught in the middle.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DMITRI PERRICOS, UNMOVIC TEAM LEADER: We are not serving the U.S. We are not serving the U.K. We are not serving an individual nation. We are here for the implementation of a resolution which came out of the Security Council, which represents the international community. This is what we are serving. Now, how each state is going to be treating the, all the prospect of inspections and how much information it's going to deliver to the inspection organizations, it's up to its member state and it's not up to us as inspectorate or as United Nations.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRAHIMI: As you can see, Carol, a lot of pressure on the inspectors. A lot of pressure, also, on the Iraqis, as they have put the final touches to that full, final and complete declaration that they say they're going to hand over to the U.N. Security Council in a couple of days -- Carol.
COSTELLO: And, Rym, this declaration is going to be lengthy. I understand it's a thousand pages or more.
BRAHIMI: Yes, Carol. We've been told, we spoke with the director of the Iraqi National Monitoring Directorate. He says its thousands and thousands of pages. They're hoping to be able to hand it over in hard copy and it's going to have a lot of new elements in it, he said.
He said, however, that it would not include anything about weapons of mass destruction that would have been produced between '98 and 2002 because, he says, they haven't produced any weapons of mass destruction since the previous team of inspectors left in 1998 -- Carol.
COSTELLO: I understand.
Rym Brahimi.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
