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CNN Live Today
Testing the Promise
Aired January 21, 2003 - 11:04 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.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: United Nations weapons inspectors are testing Iraq's new pledge of cooperation today. They have fanned out to more than half a dozen sites while U.N. inspection chiefs head to New York to report in on Monday.
Senior international correspondent Nic Robertson is in Baghdad right now. What is the latest on the inspections and how they're going?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTL. CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, we understand they're going to nine different sites today. They're no reports of an problems. They've gun to Al Kaka (ph). This is a very large facility. We've seen the inspectors go back to it many times in the recent days. There is a facility that produces propellants for Iraq's missile systems, and it is chemical teams that have been doing a lot of analysis there.
Interestingly, as well, a team has gone to Bazra (ph) in the South. Part of the agreement yesterday, reached yesterday was that a new U.N. inspection office would be opened in the south, in Bazra (ph). It's over about 450 kilometers, 300 or so miles, south of here so having an office will help the inspectors get their work done more quickly.
In the newspapers here, playing the meeting between Hans Blix, the U.N. weapons chief, and Iraqi officials quite positively, saying that it was friendly and constructive. On another positive note, apparently both sides agreed to ratchet down the rhetoric. Iraqis sites saying they would stop calling the inspectors spies if the inspectors stopped asking provocative questions.
However, the war of words does seem to still be on. Taha Yasser Ramadan (ph), the vice president here, when talking with a teacher's union, was very specific, criticizing the United States saying it was time that the international community asked the United States why it was building a force in the region when Iraq was cooperating with the inspectors -- Carol.
LIN: All right, thank you very much.
Nic Robertson, with the very latest live out of Baghdad on the inspections, and of course that deadline coming up for the latest and the final report from the U.N. weapons inspectors January 27th, next Monday.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: A week from yesterday. Speaking of that, the Bush team is running into some friction at the Security Council over its timing. France is warning the U.S. against a rush to war, and in an extraordinary split with Washington, it's hinting at a veto.
CNN White House correspondent Dana Bash checks in now this morning.
Good morning, Dana.
How is the administration dealing with this posturing by France we saw yesterday?
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Leon.
Well, we actually just heard from the president himself. He was echoing what we've been hearing from a lot of his aides and what we will hear all week, which is that Saddam Hussein must disarm, that cooperation doesn't necessarily mean allowing the inspectors to interview scientists or to have carte blanch going around the country. Cooperation, as far as the president is concerned, is disarming, and he said time is running out for Saddam Hussein.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He's not disarming. As a matter of fact, it appears to be a rerun of a bad movie. He is delaying. He's deceiving. He's asking for time. He's playing hide and seek with inspectors.
One thing is for certain, he's not disarming.
And so the United States of America, in the name of peace, will continue to insist he does disarm, and we will keep the pressure on Saddam Hussein.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Now, Leon in response to some of that will discord from some of the U.S. allies, including France, and Germany and Russia, those countries yesterday at the Security Council making it very clear that they believe that the inspections need more time. The president said that, he said "Surely our friends have learned lessons from the past. Surely they have learned that this man deceives and delays," and the president pushed back himself saying that -- and he reminded reporters before the last resolution was passed at the U.N., back in November, a lot of pundits and a lot of others believed that the U.N. Security Council would not be on board, and at that time, they would, and he said, don't rule that out again.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: Many of the punditry, of course -- not you, but others -- were quick to say no one is going to follow the United States of America, and we got a unanimous resolution out of the United Nations.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Now, Leon, the White House is pointing to a speech that will we'll hear at the top of the hour from the deputy secretary of state, Richard Armitage. He will lay out what is the White House is calling an apparatus of lies from Saddam Hussein. He is going to say that Saddam Hussein is not telling the world the truth, that he does have weapons of mass destruction, and that he's dangerous to the world, and this is all part of the PR push, so to speak, leading up to next week's deadline for the U.N. inspectors to give a report to the U.N. That is a time that the U.S. is trying to make very clear they want a decision made at the U.N. of what to do next with Saddam Hussein.
HARRIS: Those words are like the snowflakes around you, small but piling up.
What is the reaction you're getting from the White House on the story about the American killed in Kuwait this morning?
BASH: Leon, they say they're still trying to gather the facts on who was behind this. They don't yet know that. The president was briefed about it, and White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said the president's heart goes out to the families of those involved, and also said that this is yet another example of the danger that the U.S. officials put themselves in when they go to areas like this.
HARRIS: Dana Bash from the White House, thank you very much. Go inside and get warm now.
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 21, 2003 - 11:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: United Nations weapons inspectors are testing Iraq's new pledge of cooperation today. They have fanned out to more than half a dozen sites while U.N. inspection chiefs head to New York to report in on Monday.
Senior international correspondent Nic Robertson is in Baghdad right now. What is the latest on the inspections and how they're going?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTL. CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, we understand they're going to nine different sites today. They're no reports of an problems. They've gun to Al Kaka (ph). This is a very large facility. We've seen the inspectors go back to it many times in the recent days. There is a facility that produces propellants for Iraq's missile systems, and it is chemical teams that have been doing a lot of analysis there.
Interestingly, as well, a team has gone to Bazra (ph) in the South. Part of the agreement yesterday, reached yesterday was that a new U.N. inspection office would be opened in the south, in Bazra (ph). It's over about 450 kilometers, 300 or so miles, south of here so having an office will help the inspectors get their work done more quickly.
In the newspapers here, playing the meeting between Hans Blix, the U.N. weapons chief, and Iraqi officials quite positively, saying that it was friendly and constructive. On another positive note, apparently both sides agreed to ratchet down the rhetoric. Iraqis sites saying they would stop calling the inspectors spies if the inspectors stopped asking provocative questions.
However, the war of words does seem to still be on. Taha Yasser Ramadan (ph), the vice president here, when talking with a teacher's union, was very specific, criticizing the United States saying it was time that the international community asked the United States why it was building a force in the region when Iraq was cooperating with the inspectors -- Carol.
LIN: All right, thank you very much.
Nic Robertson, with the very latest live out of Baghdad on the inspections, and of course that deadline coming up for the latest and the final report from the U.N. weapons inspectors January 27th, next Monday.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: A week from yesterday. Speaking of that, the Bush team is running into some friction at the Security Council over its timing. France is warning the U.S. against a rush to war, and in an extraordinary split with Washington, it's hinting at a veto.
CNN White House correspondent Dana Bash checks in now this morning.
Good morning, Dana.
How is the administration dealing with this posturing by France we saw yesterday?
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Leon.
Well, we actually just heard from the president himself. He was echoing what we've been hearing from a lot of his aides and what we will hear all week, which is that Saddam Hussein must disarm, that cooperation doesn't necessarily mean allowing the inspectors to interview scientists or to have carte blanch going around the country. Cooperation, as far as the president is concerned, is disarming, and he said time is running out for Saddam Hussein.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He's not disarming. As a matter of fact, it appears to be a rerun of a bad movie. He is delaying. He's deceiving. He's asking for time. He's playing hide and seek with inspectors.
One thing is for certain, he's not disarming.
And so the United States of America, in the name of peace, will continue to insist he does disarm, and we will keep the pressure on Saddam Hussein.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Now, Leon in response to some of that will discord from some of the U.S. allies, including France, and Germany and Russia, those countries yesterday at the Security Council making it very clear that they believe that the inspections need more time. The president said that, he said "Surely our friends have learned lessons from the past. Surely they have learned that this man deceives and delays," and the president pushed back himself saying that -- and he reminded reporters before the last resolution was passed at the U.N., back in November, a lot of pundits and a lot of others believed that the U.N. Security Council would not be on board, and at that time, they would, and he said, don't rule that out again.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: Many of the punditry, of course -- not you, but others -- were quick to say no one is going to follow the United States of America, and we got a unanimous resolution out of the United Nations.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Now, Leon, the White House is pointing to a speech that will we'll hear at the top of the hour from the deputy secretary of state, Richard Armitage. He will lay out what is the White House is calling an apparatus of lies from Saddam Hussein. He is going to say that Saddam Hussein is not telling the world the truth, that he does have weapons of mass destruction, and that he's dangerous to the world, and this is all part of the PR push, so to speak, leading up to next week's deadline for the U.N. inspectors to give a report to the U.N. That is a time that the U.S. is trying to make very clear they want a decision made at the U.N. of what to do next with Saddam Hussein.
HARRIS: Those words are like the snowflakes around you, small but piling up.
What is the reaction you're getting from the White House on the story about the American killed in Kuwait this morning?
BASH: Leon, they say they're still trying to gather the facts on who was behind this. They don't yet know that. The president was briefed about it, and White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said the president's heart goes out to the families of those involved, and also said that this is yet another example of the danger that the U.S. officials put themselves in when they go to areas like this.
HARRIS: Dana Bash from the White House, thank you very much. Go inside and get warm now.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
