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CNN Live At Daybreak
Fourth Week of U.N. Arms Inspections
Aired December 18, 2002 - 06:02 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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: The impending U.S. reaction to the weapons document comes as weapons inspectors begin their fourth week of work in Iraq.
CNN's Rym Brahimi joins us from Baghdad with an update -- Rym.
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Fredricka, well, we're not sure what the reaction will be here in Baghdad once President Bush says what he has to say about the declaration. But so far, Iraqis have pointed out a few things.
First of all, Fredricka, they have strongly condemned the United States for what they call an act of piracy in grabbing, as they say, the declaration that Iraq submitted to the UN Security Council earlier this month.
Now, the other thing is, they've pointed out from the beginning and they pointed out again recently -- it was in today's newspapers headlines in the state-run media today -- saying that Iraq has fulfilled with all its obligations and there should be no reason, no pretext, for anymore threats to attack Iraq.
Certainly, they have pointed out also, Fredricka, from the very beginning that this was a resolution that from the beginning was impossible to implement. It was full of minefields.
Now, after they gave the declaration, the general in charge of that program, of that declaration, told reporters that everything was in there, and that as far as the so-called missing chemical or biological items that the previous UN teams have said were not accounted for, he said they searched and searched and they did not find anything.
Now, that declaration, at least for the record, seems at least to have served some purpose, because inspectors are now actually using what's in the declaration to visit new sites. As you know, so far, they were visiting sites that had been visited previously by the other inspections teams until '98. Well, now, they're going into other places that were pointed out to them in the declaration. That was the case with Baghdad University that they visited yesterday.
They've also been -- I understand, nine teams went out again today, at least nine teams if not more. Two of them are at a place that's four hours north of Baghdad, visiting -- the nuclear experts visiting a dam, the biological experts visiting a university up there as well.
So, there's a lot of activity, and the pace has been stepped up -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right, thanks very much, Rym.
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 18, 2002 - 06:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: The impending U.S. reaction to the weapons document comes as weapons inspectors begin their fourth week of work in Iraq.
CNN's Rym Brahimi joins us from Baghdad with an update -- Rym.
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Fredricka, well, we're not sure what the reaction will be here in Baghdad once President Bush says what he has to say about the declaration. But so far, Iraqis have pointed out a few things.
First of all, Fredricka, they have strongly condemned the United States for what they call an act of piracy in grabbing, as they say, the declaration that Iraq submitted to the UN Security Council earlier this month.
Now, the other thing is, they've pointed out from the beginning and they pointed out again recently -- it was in today's newspapers headlines in the state-run media today -- saying that Iraq has fulfilled with all its obligations and there should be no reason, no pretext, for anymore threats to attack Iraq.
Certainly, they have pointed out also, Fredricka, from the very beginning that this was a resolution that from the beginning was impossible to implement. It was full of minefields.
Now, after they gave the declaration, the general in charge of that program, of that declaration, told reporters that everything was in there, and that as far as the so-called missing chemical or biological items that the previous UN teams have said were not accounted for, he said they searched and searched and they did not find anything.
Now, that declaration, at least for the record, seems at least to have served some purpose, because inspectors are now actually using what's in the declaration to visit new sites. As you know, so far, they were visiting sites that had been visited previously by the other inspections teams until '98. Well, now, they're going into other places that were pointed out to them in the declaration. That was the case with Baghdad University that they visited yesterday.
They've also been -- I understand, nine teams went out again today, at least nine teams if not more. Two of them are at a place that's four hours north of Baghdad, visiting -- the nuclear experts visiting a dam, the biological experts visiting a university up there as well.
So, there's a lot of activity, and the pace has been stepped up -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right, thanks very much, Rym.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
