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CNN Live At Daybreak
U.N. Inspection Teams Visit Five Sites Today
Aired January 02, 2003 - 06:05 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: Now turning to the Iraqi weapons hunt. U.N. inspectors are back at work today.
CNN's Rym Brahimi is in Baghdad with an update.
Good morning -- Rym.
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Fredricka.
Indeed, inspectors are out again today. They were out on New Year's Day. We know of at least five sites that they've been visiting. At least five teams are out there, a chemical team it seems, a missile team of experts and two or three groups of multi- disciplinary teams. One of them seemed to be headed up north to the village where -- to the city, sorry, where President Saddam Hussein was born.
Now, there's a lot of frustration here in Iraq, Fredricka, over this U.S. military buildup in the region. Iraq's Vice Prime Minister Tariq Aziz saying there is no reason for such a buildup, because Iraq has been cooperating with the inspections. He said that the United States only wanted to invade and occupy Iraq in order to drain (ph) the entire region from its oil resources. Let's listen to how he put it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TARIQ AZIZ, IRAQI DEP. PRIME MINISTER: So everybody -- most other countries in the world need their oil. Now, they can't take it by business means from Iraq, from Iran, from other countries who produce oil. But when it is in the hands of the American capitalists, it will be different. And every nation is going to pay the price, a price from its sovereignty, from its economic interest.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRAHIMI: That was Tariq Aziz addressing a peace Spanish delegation.
Now, he was asked what would happen if the U.S. did attack, and Aziz just replied, "We will defend ourselves with conventional weapons."
Now, Fredricka, there are about three headlines -- three main headlines in Iraq in the newspapers today. The first one, you can see here in English, a new crime -- "A New Year, a New Crime," a reference to the attacks that took place yesterday in the southern no-fly zone that Iraq says killed one man.
The second main headline, all newspapers are hailing the U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's statement, saying that he didn't see any need so far to launch a military action against Iraq.
And then the other said -- the third headline, the main thing that is of concern today in the newspapers, Fredricka, well, the issue of the expansion by the United Nations Security Council of the list of items that Iraq cannot import into the country. Now, that list -- that decision was made a couple of days ago at the United Nations Security Council, insistence on the part of the U.S. to ban a certain number of vehicles and drugs and chemicals. Some countries were not happy. The Iraqis certainly are not happy about that and denouncing that, saying it was a despicable decision. One newspaper even referring to the U.N. Security Council as the "American security council" -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right, Rym Brahimi from Baghdad -- 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 January 2, 2003 - 06:05 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Now turning to the Iraqi weapons hunt. U.N. inspectors are back at work today.
CNN's Rym Brahimi is in Baghdad with an update.
Good morning -- Rym.
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Fredricka.
Indeed, inspectors are out again today. They were out on New Year's Day. We know of at least five sites that they've been visiting. At least five teams are out there, a chemical team it seems, a missile team of experts and two or three groups of multi- disciplinary teams. One of them seemed to be headed up north to the village where -- to the city, sorry, where President Saddam Hussein was born.
Now, there's a lot of frustration here in Iraq, Fredricka, over this U.S. military buildup in the region. Iraq's Vice Prime Minister Tariq Aziz saying there is no reason for such a buildup, because Iraq has been cooperating with the inspections. He said that the United States only wanted to invade and occupy Iraq in order to drain (ph) the entire region from its oil resources. Let's listen to how he put it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TARIQ AZIZ, IRAQI DEP. PRIME MINISTER: So everybody -- most other countries in the world need their oil. Now, they can't take it by business means from Iraq, from Iran, from other countries who produce oil. But when it is in the hands of the American capitalists, it will be different. And every nation is going to pay the price, a price from its sovereignty, from its economic interest.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRAHIMI: That was Tariq Aziz addressing a peace Spanish delegation.
Now, he was asked what would happen if the U.S. did attack, and Aziz just replied, "We will defend ourselves with conventional weapons."
Now, Fredricka, there are about three headlines -- three main headlines in Iraq in the newspapers today. The first one, you can see here in English, a new crime -- "A New Year, a New Crime," a reference to the attacks that took place yesterday in the southern no-fly zone that Iraq says killed one man.
The second main headline, all newspapers are hailing the U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's statement, saying that he didn't see any need so far to launch a military action against Iraq.
And then the other said -- the third headline, the main thing that is of concern today in the newspapers, Fredricka, well, the issue of the expansion by the United Nations Security Council of the list of items that Iraq cannot import into the country. Now, that list -- that decision was made a couple of days ago at the United Nations Security Council, insistence on the part of the U.S. to ban a certain number of vehicles and drugs and chemicals. Some countries were not happy. The Iraqis certainly are not happy about that and denouncing that, saying it was a despicable decision. One newspaper even referring to the U.N. Security Council as the "American security council" -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right, Rym Brahimi from Baghdad -- 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.
