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CNN Live At Daybreak
Searches Go On in Iraq
Aired December 19, 2002 - 06:03 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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: The weapons inspections go on in Iraq today, even as the state-run media put its spin in the documents.
CNN's Rym Brahimi is standing by in Baghdad.
Good to see you again -- Rym.
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka. Well, a lot of things happening around here today.
First of all, the inspections continue, as you know, as usual. And the inspectors actually used the helicopter they have for the first time. I'm told by Iraqi officials that it was mainly a test run. We'll have to find out more about that later.
About the declaration, I spoke to Iraqi officials just a few moments ago, and what they say is, if the U.S. administration is saying now that the declaration falls short, well, they say that the U.S. should just come up with any evidence it has and present it to the United Nations Security Council.
The Iraqi officials I spoke to also said that when Hans Blix and Mohamed el-Baradei, the two chief weapons inspectors, were in Baghdad last month, they asked them what this declaration should include. And they say that their understanding of the declaration is what they presented to the UN Security Council, although they say they didn't have satisfactory requests (ph) they say about this declaration. They say that they weren't clear on what they had to submit.
Now, the newspapers here are being also very vocal about it. You can see here, the main newspaper that's run by the ruling Baath Party called "Al Thawra," or revolution. Now, an editorial in this newspaper actually accuses the U.S. administration of having stolen the report, and then having deleted three-quarters of that report, to then give only one-quarter of it to the other members of the United Nations Security Council, saying that, of course, what was deleted by the U.S. were all of the elements that could have maybe given Iraq a clean bill of health, all of these elements that Iraq -- would have enabled Iraq to prove to the world that it was not lying, that it doesn't weapons of mass destruction -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right, Rym, thank you very 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 19, 2002 - 06:03 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: The weapons inspections go on in Iraq today, even as the state-run media put its spin in the documents.
CNN's Rym Brahimi is standing by in Baghdad.
Good to see you again -- Rym.
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka. Well, a lot of things happening around here today.
First of all, the inspections continue, as you know, as usual. And the inspectors actually used the helicopter they have for the first time. I'm told by Iraqi officials that it was mainly a test run. We'll have to find out more about that later.
About the declaration, I spoke to Iraqi officials just a few moments ago, and what they say is, if the U.S. administration is saying now that the declaration falls short, well, they say that the U.S. should just come up with any evidence it has and present it to the United Nations Security Council.
The Iraqi officials I spoke to also said that when Hans Blix and Mohamed el-Baradei, the two chief weapons inspectors, were in Baghdad last month, they asked them what this declaration should include. And they say that their understanding of the declaration is what they presented to the UN Security Council, although they say they didn't have satisfactory requests (ph) they say about this declaration. They say that they weren't clear on what they had to submit.
Now, the newspapers here are being also very vocal about it. You can see here, the main newspaper that's run by the ruling Baath Party called "Al Thawra," or revolution. Now, an editorial in this newspaper actually accuses the U.S. administration of having stolen the report, and then having deleted three-quarters of that report, to then give only one-quarter of it to the other members of the United Nations Security Council, saying that, of course, what was deleted by the U.S. were all of the elements that could have maybe given Iraq a clean bill of health, all of these elements that Iraq -- would have enabled Iraq to prove to the world that it was not lying, that it doesn't weapons of mass destruction -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right, Rym, thank you very 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.
