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American Morning
Declaration Report
Aired December 19, 2002 - 09:32 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: Major developments expected that the U.N. this morning. Chief weapons inspector Hans Blix giving the Security Council his formal assessment, an initial one at that, of Baghdad's weapons declaration.
Richard Roth standing by at the United Nations. Have you learned anything more about what Hans Blix has to say?
RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We expect Dr. Blix and Mohammad El-Baradei, His inspector counterpart, of sorts, of the International Atomic Energy Agency, to say that there are omissions and basically unanswered questions in this voluminous nearly 12,000-page Iraq weapons of mass destruction declaration of the other day. Blix is now inside the U.N. refusing to comment to reporters. This video taken Tuesday evening, but the U.S. and U.K. will probably appreciate what Mr. Blix is going to say regarding gaps from Iraq.
However, there are differences that remain inside the Security Council concerning what to do next. Many of the security counsel members say let's keep the inspections going. Syria, one of the 15 Security Council members, is not going to be present, boycotting this morning's session, set to begin in an hour. They will not hear Dr. Blix.
There is the deputy Syrian ambassador Tuesday evening after Syria took possession of the Iraqi declaration, but then yesterday, they returned it, saying they want the complete version.
Syria and the other non-permanent members on the council received only 3,000 pages, not nearly 12,000 pages.
So today, Damascus, the capital of Syria, announced, they don't want to take part until they get the full version.
The last time Syria boycotted, in March, I believe, Syria walked of an important Mideast meeting. As the lone real Arab country in the Security Council, that may not play well with the other countries for the Arab nation, not really getting a chance to hear from Hans Blix directly, along with the other countries -- Paula.
ZAHN: Is it your understanding that Hans Blix will make mention of this ongoing debate about how much intelligence the U.S. should provide to inspectors on the ground and in Iraq?
ROTH: Well, he's certainly going to be asked that when he meets with the press after the briefing. The United Kingdom, diplomats saying, they have starting providing a channel of intelligence, but the U.S. has really not so far concerned about security leaks, concerned maybe holding on to perhaps a smoking gun.
Yesterday in Washington, though, officials saying they would like to see the United Nations inspectors play out this kind of process. Washington would really like to Baghdad not cooperate with the inspectors, which is really what the resolution, Paula, calls for. If there is going to be a material breach, it has to be omissions, plus noncooperation with the inspectors.
ZAHN: That's what I wanted to ask about, because we just had a guest on the air, who basically said the December 8th declaration would not be seen alone as a pretext of war, that he anticipated the next flashpoint would come if Saddam Hussein refused to allow inspectors access to Iraqi scientists. Is that the general feeling there?
ROTH: That is the feeling. One diplomat really said avoid looking at these documents, because what's really important is what is going to happen in the future, especially on the ground with inspectors.
ZAHN: Richard Roth, as always, good to have you on the air. I know you're going to be working pretty hard today.
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 - 09:32 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Major developments expected that the U.N. this morning. Chief weapons inspector Hans Blix giving the Security Council his formal assessment, an initial one at that, of Baghdad's weapons declaration.
Richard Roth standing by at the United Nations. Have you learned anything more about what Hans Blix has to say?
RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We expect Dr. Blix and Mohammad El-Baradei, His inspector counterpart, of sorts, of the International Atomic Energy Agency, to say that there are omissions and basically unanswered questions in this voluminous nearly 12,000-page Iraq weapons of mass destruction declaration of the other day. Blix is now inside the U.N. refusing to comment to reporters. This video taken Tuesday evening, but the U.S. and U.K. will probably appreciate what Mr. Blix is going to say regarding gaps from Iraq.
However, there are differences that remain inside the Security Council concerning what to do next. Many of the security counsel members say let's keep the inspections going. Syria, one of the 15 Security Council members, is not going to be present, boycotting this morning's session, set to begin in an hour. They will not hear Dr. Blix.
There is the deputy Syrian ambassador Tuesday evening after Syria took possession of the Iraqi declaration, but then yesterday, they returned it, saying they want the complete version.
Syria and the other non-permanent members on the council received only 3,000 pages, not nearly 12,000 pages.
So today, Damascus, the capital of Syria, announced, they don't want to take part until they get the full version.
The last time Syria boycotted, in March, I believe, Syria walked of an important Mideast meeting. As the lone real Arab country in the Security Council, that may not play well with the other countries for the Arab nation, not really getting a chance to hear from Hans Blix directly, along with the other countries -- Paula.
ZAHN: Is it your understanding that Hans Blix will make mention of this ongoing debate about how much intelligence the U.S. should provide to inspectors on the ground and in Iraq?
ROTH: Well, he's certainly going to be asked that when he meets with the press after the briefing. The United Kingdom, diplomats saying, they have starting providing a channel of intelligence, but the U.S. has really not so far concerned about security leaks, concerned maybe holding on to perhaps a smoking gun.
Yesterday in Washington, though, officials saying they would like to see the United Nations inspectors play out this kind of process. Washington would really like to Baghdad not cooperate with the inspectors, which is really what the resolution, Paula, calls for. If there is going to be a material breach, it has to be omissions, plus noncooperation with the inspectors.
ZAHN: That's what I wanted to ask about, because we just had a guest on the air, who basically said the December 8th declaration would not be seen alone as a pretext of war, that he anticipated the next flashpoint would come if Saddam Hussein refused to allow inspectors access to Iraqi scientists. Is that the general feeling there?
ROTH: That is the feeling. One diplomat really said avoid looking at these documents, because what's really important is what is going to happen in the future, especially on the ground with inspectors.
ZAHN: Richard Roth, as always, good to have you on the air. I know you're going to be working pretty hard today.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
