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CNN Live Today
Iraqi Document Will Take Time to Process
Aired December 06, 2002 - 11:21 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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Iraq is finalizing thousands of pages of documents that it is supposed to hand over to the United Nations this weekend.
CNN's Nic Robertson is in Baghdad as the deadline draws near for Iraq to declare its weapons programs.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Appearing calm and in control, Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was seen in his most recent TV appearance conferring with his top officials. How they direct Iraq's accounting of its weapons of mass destruction this weekend will determine global reaction.
U.N. Resolution 1441 calls for Iraq to give accurate, full, and complete declaration of all aspects of its programs to develop chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, as well as all other chemical, biological, and nuclear programs, including those which it claims are for purposes not related to weapons production or materiel. So far, Iraqi officials, apart from denying possession of weapons of mass destruction, have given a few clues to what it may contain.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) with regard to the new sites, new activities which have been conducted during absence of the inspectors.
ROBERTSON (on camera): The hand over, however, will likely have maximum media exposure. Iraqi officials have so far been keen to show they are complying with Resolution 1441.
From here, the document will be hand carried to the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, and to U.N. headquarters in New York where analysts will compare it to a million-page database compiled from previous inspections.
(voice-over): For now, though, even the simplest of questions have yet to be answered.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: First of all, we don't know what the document would look like, how much of it would require translation. We don't know how many pages it will be.
ROBERTSON: Inspectors here suspect it will be some time before they can follow up on any point in the declaration. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But it's out of the question to speculate now about its content, and to speculate about -- even after we've gone through it. We need sometime to go into all details. That's for sure, that's a fact.
ROBERTSON: Regardless of content, as Iraq's declaration reaches New York, more inspectors will be arriving here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As of next week, we are going to create a very large increase of the number of people. Every second day, there will be another 20 or 30 people joining here.
ROBERTSON: Already, among the skeletal ruins of one chemical warfare site, inspectors have accounted for some of Iraq's old mustard gas munitions. What else may be lurking in other closets could be revealed this weekend.
Nic Robertson, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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 6, 2002 - 11:21 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Iraq is finalizing thousands of pages of documents that it is supposed to hand over to the United Nations this weekend.
CNN's Nic Robertson is in Baghdad as the deadline draws near for Iraq to declare its weapons programs.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Appearing calm and in control, Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was seen in his most recent TV appearance conferring with his top officials. How they direct Iraq's accounting of its weapons of mass destruction this weekend will determine global reaction.
U.N. Resolution 1441 calls for Iraq to give accurate, full, and complete declaration of all aspects of its programs to develop chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, as well as all other chemical, biological, and nuclear programs, including those which it claims are for purposes not related to weapons production or materiel. So far, Iraqi officials, apart from denying possession of weapons of mass destruction, have given a few clues to what it may contain.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) with regard to the new sites, new activities which have been conducted during absence of the inspectors.
ROBERTSON (on camera): The hand over, however, will likely have maximum media exposure. Iraqi officials have so far been keen to show they are complying with Resolution 1441.
From here, the document will be hand carried to the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, and to U.N. headquarters in New York where analysts will compare it to a million-page database compiled from previous inspections.
(voice-over): For now, though, even the simplest of questions have yet to be answered.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: First of all, we don't know what the document would look like, how much of it would require translation. We don't know how many pages it will be.
ROBERTSON: Inspectors here suspect it will be some time before they can follow up on any point in the declaration. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But it's out of the question to speculate now about its content, and to speculate about -- even after we've gone through it. We need sometime to go into all details. That's for sure, that's a fact.
ROBERTSON: Regardless of content, as Iraq's declaration reaches New York, more inspectors will be arriving here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As of next week, we are going to create a very large increase of the number of people. Every second day, there will be another 20 or 30 people joining here.
ROBERTSON: Already, among the skeletal ruins of one chemical warfare site, inspectors have accounted for some of Iraq's old mustard gas munitions. What else may be lurking in other closets could be revealed this weekend.
Nic Robertson, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
