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CNN Live Today
U.N. Experts Examine Iraqi Report
Aired December 09, 2002 - 10:09 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: And now for the latest on Iraq. Well, as we saw at the top of the hour, the United Nations has that document now from Iraq and that's where the weapons issue is going to be a real page turner there. Experts are now poring over nearly 12,000 pages of documents with this question remaining on the table, are Baghdad's denials a work of fact or fiction?
CNN's Michael Okwu is at the U.N. this morning. He's got the very latest on that for us this morning.
Good morning -- Michael.
MICHAEL OKWU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Leon, good morning to you.
Just moments ago, of course you saw, Secretary-General Kofi Annan address reporters here at the United Nations. This, of course, being the first time that we at the United Nations have seen the Secretary- General since the Iraqi declaration made its way here to the headquarters and since, of course, those documents apparently have been handed out to the five permanent members of the Security Council.
Kofi Annan saying earlier, just moments ago, that it's going to take a while to review the documents. And also saying that the council is the master of its own deliberations and that he will not at all quibble with the decisions that they have made -- Leon.
HARRIS: Well, speaking of the decisions that the council has made, Michael, one of the decisions that came as something of a surprise was the decision to give the permanent members of the Security Council the full, unedited copies of this document dump. And there was a lot of talk about, coming into this, that only edited versions of those would be handed out. What do you make of that decision?
OKWU: Well, it's interesting. What I make of it is this, that the United States has been applying a great deal of pressure on the president of the Security Council, the Colombian ambassador, Alfonso Valdivieso. In fact, we understand that the United States is in possession of an unsanitized version of this declaration and that, in fact, it may be, if not already, on its way to Washington, D.C.
We also know that the United States was in the position as early as last night, we understand, and perhaps the wee hours of the morning, to get its hands on this document. We also know that the Security Council, Leon, is going to be meeting this morning ostensibly to discuss other issues. But you can bet on the fact that the nonpermanent members of the Security Council, those members who do not have veto power on the council, will probably, probably bring up this issue, why is it that they can't get access -- Leon.
HARRIS: Good question. All right. Thanks, Michael, we'll check back with you later on. Michael Okwu standing by at the United Nations this morning.
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 9, 2002 - 10:09 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And now for the latest on Iraq. Well, as we saw at the top of the hour, the United Nations has that document now from Iraq and that's where the weapons issue is going to be a real page turner there. Experts are now poring over nearly 12,000 pages of documents with this question remaining on the table, are Baghdad's denials a work of fact or fiction?
CNN's Michael Okwu is at the U.N. this morning. He's got the very latest on that for us this morning.
Good morning -- Michael.
MICHAEL OKWU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Leon, good morning to you.
Just moments ago, of course you saw, Secretary-General Kofi Annan address reporters here at the United Nations. This, of course, being the first time that we at the United Nations have seen the Secretary- General since the Iraqi declaration made its way here to the headquarters and since, of course, those documents apparently have been handed out to the five permanent members of the Security Council.
Kofi Annan saying earlier, just moments ago, that it's going to take a while to review the documents. And also saying that the council is the master of its own deliberations and that he will not at all quibble with the decisions that they have made -- Leon.
HARRIS: Well, speaking of the decisions that the council has made, Michael, one of the decisions that came as something of a surprise was the decision to give the permanent members of the Security Council the full, unedited copies of this document dump. And there was a lot of talk about, coming into this, that only edited versions of those would be handed out. What do you make of that decision?
OKWU: Well, it's interesting. What I make of it is this, that the United States has been applying a great deal of pressure on the president of the Security Council, the Colombian ambassador, Alfonso Valdivieso. In fact, we understand that the United States is in possession of an unsanitized version of this declaration and that, in fact, it may be, if not already, on its way to Washington, D.C.
We also know that the United States was in the position as early as last night, we understand, and perhaps the wee hours of the morning, to get its hands on this document. We also know that the Security Council, Leon, is going to be meeting this morning ostensibly to discuss other issues. But you can bet on the fact that the nonpermanent members of the Security Council, those members who do not have veto power on the council, will probably, probably bring up this issue, why is it that they can't get access -- Leon.
HARRIS: Good question. All right. Thanks, Michael, we'll check back with you later on. Michael Okwu standing by at the United Nations this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
