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American Morning
Inspectors Tour Former Chemical Facility
Aired December 09, 2002 - 09:03 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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Now back to Baghdad where U.N. weapons inspectors continue the hunt for weapons. Today, they visited a chemical complex about 40 miles northwest of Baghdad.
Nic Robertson was out there with the inspection team. He now joins us from Baghdad -- Nic, good morning.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula. Well, it was a day out for the first time for some of the new inspectors who arrived in over the weekend. Fifteen inspectors went on to that site northwest of Baghdad, a former chemical facility. U.N. teams had been there many, many times in the past. The site had been bombed in '91 and '98. The director of the plant there telling us that each time they had rebuilt it.
Now, something very interesting about the inspection process there today, inspectors spent four hours at that site, but one half of the team spent three and a half hours talking with the two directors, one from the chlorine plant, one from the phenol plant there, asking them questions.
Apparently asking them the same questions again and again, the questions they had heard in the past: what were they producing, where was it going, how many people work there? Questions like that. I asked this gentleman, if you were asked to go outside of the country to be interviewed, would you do it? He said, No, we are Iraqis, we can be interviewed here. We don't want to leave.
That's one of the issues on the table for the inspectors here at the moment -- Paula.
ZAHN: So how much of an expectation is there that the inspectors ultimately will get people to leave the country so they can further interrogate them?
ROBERTSON: The expectation with the inspectors here really doesn't seem to be high. The uptake to the idea from Iraqi officials seems to be incredibly low. This coming right from the top, as President Saddam Hussein's top scientific adviser, late last night saying that he didn't think it was a good idea, and talking today to a plant manager also ruling it out as an idea. So from right here in Iraq, it's an idea that doesn't seem to be flying at all at the moment.
ZAHN: Nic, finally, in closing this morning, any Iraqi reaction to what an Iraqi adviser had to say very recently about how close his country came to having a nuclear weapon? ROBERTSON: Well, his response was very interesting, Paula. He said that, If I comment on this, then perhaps I might be seen as boasting. He said, I couldn't really be objective -- rather subjective. He really said that it would be down to International Atomic Energy Agency officials to come up with an accurate assessment. I think he was speaking partly in jest, but really indicating that they had the people, they had the know-how, and that they could do it if they wanted to.
ZAHN: Nic Robertson, appreciate the update. Thanks so much.
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 - 09:03 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Now back to Baghdad where U.N. weapons inspectors continue the hunt for weapons. Today, they visited a chemical complex about 40 miles northwest of Baghdad.
Nic Robertson was out there with the inspection team. He now joins us from Baghdad -- Nic, good morning.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula. Well, it was a day out for the first time for some of the new inspectors who arrived in over the weekend. Fifteen inspectors went on to that site northwest of Baghdad, a former chemical facility. U.N. teams had been there many, many times in the past. The site had been bombed in '91 and '98. The director of the plant there telling us that each time they had rebuilt it.
Now, something very interesting about the inspection process there today, inspectors spent four hours at that site, but one half of the team spent three and a half hours talking with the two directors, one from the chlorine plant, one from the phenol plant there, asking them questions.
Apparently asking them the same questions again and again, the questions they had heard in the past: what were they producing, where was it going, how many people work there? Questions like that. I asked this gentleman, if you were asked to go outside of the country to be interviewed, would you do it? He said, No, we are Iraqis, we can be interviewed here. We don't want to leave.
That's one of the issues on the table for the inspectors here at the moment -- Paula.
ZAHN: So how much of an expectation is there that the inspectors ultimately will get people to leave the country so they can further interrogate them?
ROBERTSON: The expectation with the inspectors here really doesn't seem to be high. The uptake to the idea from Iraqi officials seems to be incredibly low. This coming right from the top, as President Saddam Hussein's top scientific adviser, late last night saying that he didn't think it was a good idea, and talking today to a plant manager also ruling it out as an idea. So from right here in Iraq, it's an idea that doesn't seem to be flying at all at the moment.
ZAHN: Nic, finally, in closing this morning, any Iraqi reaction to what an Iraqi adviser had to say very recently about how close his country came to having a nuclear weapon? ROBERTSON: Well, his response was very interesting, Paula. He said that, If I comment on this, then perhaps I might be seen as boasting. He said, I couldn't really be objective -- rather subjective. He really said that it would be down to International Atomic Energy Agency officials to come up with an accurate assessment. I think he was speaking partly in jest, but really indicating that they had the people, they had the know-how, and that they could do it if they wanted to.
ZAHN: Nic Robertson, appreciate the update. Thanks so much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
