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American Morning
Interview With Terence Taylor, Former U.N. Weapons Inspector
Aired January 09, 2003 - 07:05 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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: No smoking gun, but plenty of unanswered questions for the inspectors in Iraq.
Terry (ph) Taylor is a former U.N. weapons inspector, now with the International Institute for Strategic Studies. He joins us from Washington this morning.
Welcome back, sir.
TERENCE TAYLOR, FMR. U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTOR: Good morning.
ZAHN: Let's talk about the issue of the United States now officially confirming it is providing -- quote -- "significant intelligence with the inspection teams."
But there's an interesting quote by Colin Powell in "The Washington Post" this morning that I wanted you to examine, where he made it clear the Bush administration will still hold back some intelligence, because -- quote -- "he wants to make sure inspectors are able to handle it and exploit it." And the quote goes on to say, "It is not a matter of opening up every door that we have."
What does that mean?
TAYLOR: Well, I think one of the most important things in relation to that is it's only just very recently that the inspection teams have begun to get together their important equipment. It was only two or three days ago, for example, that they were able to use their helicopters to deploy very quickly to sites in order to increase the possibility of surprise. So, there's a very strong technical reason for that.
And I think the United States is right, and maybe other countries who are passing information over too, not to give out too much information, because all international organizations -- this is not peculiar to this particular U.N. inspection group -- can be leaky if they're holding information for any length of time.
So, I do think they have to be careful to protect the information and see what happens when they deploy some nuggets of information, which is probably happening right now, to see how they can exploit it successfully.
ZAHN: There is also an interesting development to talk about this morning that's being reported in time.com, which is basically saying that the U.N. inspection teams are ready to invite Iraqi scientists to leave the country, and apparently Cyprus has allowed them the ability to interview them there. What are your concerns about a resolution not specifically laying out the framework to do just that? Is the inspection team going to have a tough time getting them out of the country?
TAYLOR: Well, it very much depends, of course, on the scientists themselves, whether they're prepared to participate in what amounts to really a very public defection. So, I think this is a very difficult situation, and whether it will produce results or not are another matter. There are always problems with interviews inside Iraq. However, they can be successful, and certainly in my own experience from time to time, we did have some remarkable successes with interviews, as indeed others did.
So, I think it's a thing that's fraught with difficulty, and I think Dr. Blix himself has pointed to some of the obvious difficulties with people doing this kind of thing. The right people may not come forward. That's one of the main problems.
ZAHN: And I guess the other point he's made, he's not in the business of abducting people.
TAYLOR: That's right.
ZAHN: So, someone would have to volunteer to leave the country.
TAYLOR: Finally this morning, give us your preview of what you think Hans Blix will tell the U.N. Security Council today?
TAYLOR: Well, I think it's pretty clear that the disappointing -- and that's the word that Dr. Hans Blix used himself -- that the disappointing so-called full and final complete declaration was nothing of the kind, and no really significant new information was in it. And at the meeting today, that's what he's going to report on, and there may be some little, rather less significant piece of information in it. So, I think that's the disappointing thing.
And one has to remember that the onus is on Iraq to show and tell, not on the inspectors from the IAEA or from the U.N. to turn over every stone in Iraq to try to find it. It's not a cat-and-mouse game, or at least it shouldn't be that, but that's what it's looking like.
ZAHN: Sir, we've got 10 seconds left. What do you make of this report coming out of Britain that there is some discord in that government, and there are people telling Tony Blair that if there's going to be a war, let's wait until next fall?
TAYLOR: Well, I think that's -- I think Iraq has to be dealt with decisively over the next few months. Of course, there are differences in the U.K., as there are in other European countries, as indeed there is in the United States. So, in democratic countries, one has a debate about these important issues of peace and war.
ZAHN: Terry (ph) Taylor always glad to have you with us here on AMERICAN MORNING. Thanks so much for your perspective.
TAYLOR: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Inspector>
Aired January 9, 2003 - 07:05 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: No smoking gun, but plenty of unanswered questions for the inspectors in Iraq.
Terry (ph) Taylor is a former U.N. weapons inspector, now with the International Institute for Strategic Studies. He joins us from Washington this morning.
Welcome back, sir.
TERENCE TAYLOR, FMR. U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTOR: Good morning.
ZAHN: Let's talk about the issue of the United States now officially confirming it is providing -- quote -- "significant intelligence with the inspection teams."
But there's an interesting quote by Colin Powell in "The Washington Post" this morning that I wanted you to examine, where he made it clear the Bush administration will still hold back some intelligence, because -- quote -- "he wants to make sure inspectors are able to handle it and exploit it." And the quote goes on to say, "It is not a matter of opening up every door that we have."
What does that mean?
TAYLOR: Well, I think one of the most important things in relation to that is it's only just very recently that the inspection teams have begun to get together their important equipment. It was only two or three days ago, for example, that they were able to use their helicopters to deploy very quickly to sites in order to increase the possibility of surprise. So, there's a very strong technical reason for that.
And I think the United States is right, and maybe other countries who are passing information over too, not to give out too much information, because all international organizations -- this is not peculiar to this particular U.N. inspection group -- can be leaky if they're holding information for any length of time.
So, I do think they have to be careful to protect the information and see what happens when they deploy some nuggets of information, which is probably happening right now, to see how they can exploit it successfully.
ZAHN: There is also an interesting development to talk about this morning that's being reported in time.com, which is basically saying that the U.N. inspection teams are ready to invite Iraqi scientists to leave the country, and apparently Cyprus has allowed them the ability to interview them there. What are your concerns about a resolution not specifically laying out the framework to do just that? Is the inspection team going to have a tough time getting them out of the country?
TAYLOR: Well, it very much depends, of course, on the scientists themselves, whether they're prepared to participate in what amounts to really a very public defection. So, I think this is a very difficult situation, and whether it will produce results or not are another matter. There are always problems with interviews inside Iraq. However, they can be successful, and certainly in my own experience from time to time, we did have some remarkable successes with interviews, as indeed others did.
So, I think it's a thing that's fraught with difficulty, and I think Dr. Blix himself has pointed to some of the obvious difficulties with people doing this kind of thing. The right people may not come forward. That's one of the main problems.
ZAHN: And I guess the other point he's made, he's not in the business of abducting people.
TAYLOR: That's right.
ZAHN: So, someone would have to volunteer to leave the country.
TAYLOR: Finally this morning, give us your preview of what you think Hans Blix will tell the U.N. Security Council today?
TAYLOR: Well, I think it's pretty clear that the disappointing -- and that's the word that Dr. Hans Blix used himself -- that the disappointing so-called full and final complete declaration was nothing of the kind, and no really significant new information was in it. And at the meeting today, that's what he's going to report on, and there may be some little, rather less significant piece of information in it. So, I think that's the disappointing thing.
And one has to remember that the onus is on Iraq to show and tell, not on the inspectors from the IAEA or from the U.N. to turn over every stone in Iraq to try to find it. It's not a cat-and-mouse game, or at least it shouldn't be that, but that's what it's looking like.
ZAHN: Sir, we've got 10 seconds left. What do you make of this report coming out of Britain that there is some discord in that government, and there are people telling Tony Blair that if there's going to be a war, let's wait until next fall?
TAYLOR: Well, I think that's -- I think Iraq has to be dealt with decisively over the next few months. Of course, there are differences in the U.K., as there are in other European countries, as indeed there is in the United States. So, in democratic countries, one has a debate about these important issues of peace and war.
ZAHN: Terry (ph) Taylor always glad to have you with us here on AMERICAN MORNING. Thanks so much for your perspective.
TAYLOR: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Inspector>
