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American Morning

Annan Asks Security Council to Give Inspectors More Time

Aired January 27, 2003 - 09:33   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: U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has just come out and asked the Security Council to give weapons inspectors in Iraq more time. Hans Blix and Elbaradei are now at the United Nations, and we're just about an hour away from when they'll deliver their report on Iraq to the U.N. Security Council.
Richard Roth is there.

Richard, I wanted to bounce a couple things off you. Mr. Annan said that I thought were kind of surprising leading into this meeting, when he implored the reporters not to give up on peace. He said, I haven't given up on peace, and basically, you shouldn't either.

RICHARD ROTH, CNN SR. U.N. CORRESPONDENT: That's consistent with Anna's view as the world's top diplomat. He'll do everything possible to avoid any type of war. Some in the U.S. have criticized him for not being aggressive enough in certain situations, but that's his policy. That's Kofi Annan, the man who won the Nobel Peace Prize.

This morning, Hans Blix, the chief U.N. weapons inspector, entered U.N. headquarters and did not make any comment, which is kind of rare, and he also came in the building through the back way, through the revolving door, and there was also no comment there.

He did note how cold it was out, and he said it's sort of typical Nordic weather, then his spokesman steered him way from reporters waiting downstairs.

As for Kofi Annan, he also mentioned that they should given, Blix's team, time, a reasonable a time, he said. The U.S., of course, didn't think inspectors should be granted that much time. They are pushing for a quicker, more definitive decision on Iraq's level of cooperation. Mr. Blix and Mohamed Elbaradei, the International Atomic International Atomic Agency, will probably say they want more time. Blix will delineate several years where Iraq is not cooperating, addressing VX and chemical weapons that Iraq has not accounted for, U- 2 reconnaissance overflights, and also Iraqi scientists interviews -- how come they haven't been granted in private. And Baghdad says it's trying to encourage the scientist to do so, still hasn't happened yet -- Paula.

ZAHN: Richard, I know that what Mr. Annan said was pretty consistent with what he said in the past, but were you surprised to hear him saying this going into this meeting today, talking about the unity of the U.N. almost in a -- struck some people as in a defensive way. ROTH: Well, he was asked that by reporters, but he knows, everyone is staking out their position. There is a lot of time left, as some would say, in this high stakes Iraq game, and Annan, who has been away in Paris for a few days, with political talks involving Africa and had been away on a vacation, everybody is going to use an opportunity to drop hints and sent messages through the media, but he's also delivering this on the phone to Colin Powell. He doesn't want to have a war at this point. He hasn't seen a smoking gun so far. Everyone is just staking out their turf.

ZAHN: Richard Roth, we'll be a spending a lot of time with you this morning. We look forward to you having you be part of our special, which gets under way at 10:00 Eastern Time. Thanks so 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 27, 2003 - 09:33   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has just come out and asked the Security Council to give weapons inspectors in Iraq more time. Hans Blix and Elbaradei are now at the United Nations, and we're just about an hour away from when they'll deliver their report on Iraq to the U.N. Security Council.
Richard Roth is there.

Richard, I wanted to bounce a couple things off you. Mr. Annan said that I thought were kind of surprising leading into this meeting, when he implored the reporters not to give up on peace. He said, I haven't given up on peace, and basically, you shouldn't either.

RICHARD ROTH, CNN SR. U.N. CORRESPONDENT: That's consistent with Anna's view as the world's top diplomat. He'll do everything possible to avoid any type of war. Some in the U.S. have criticized him for not being aggressive enough in certain situations, but that's his policy. That's Kofi Annan, the man who won the Nobel Peace Prize.

This morning, Hans Blix, the chief U.N. weapons inspector, entered U.N. headquarters and did not make any comment, which is kind of rare, and he also came in the building through the back way, through the revolving door, and there was also no comment there.

He did note how cold it was out, and he said it's sort of typical Nordic weather, then his spokesman steered him way from reporters waiting downstairs.

As for Kofi Annan, he also mentioned that they should given, Blix's team, time, a reasonable a time, he said. The U.S., of course, didn't think inspectors should be granted that much time. They are pushing for a quicker, more definitive decision on Iraq's level of cooperation. Mr. Blix and Mohamed Elbaradei, the International Atomic International Atomic Agency, will probably say they want more time. Blix will delineate several years where Iraq is not cooperating, addressing VX and chemical weapons that Iraq has not accounted for, U- 2 reconnaissance overflights, and also Iraqi scientists interviews -- how come they haven't been granted in private. And Baghdad says it's trying to encourage the scientist to do so, still hasn't happened yet -- Paula.

ZAHN: Richard, I know that what Mr. Annan said was pretty consistent with what he said in the past, but were you surprised to hear him saying this going into this meeting today, talking about the unity of the U.N. almost in a -- struck some people as in a defensive way. ROTH: Well, he was asked that by reporters, but he knows, everyone is staking out their position. There is a lot of time left, as some would say, in this high stakes Iraq game, and Annan, who has been away in Paris for a few days, with political talks involving Africa and had been away on a vacation, everybody is going to use an opportunity to drop hints and sent messages through the media, but he's also delivering this on the phone to Colin Powell. He doesn't want to have a war at this point. He hasn't seen a smoking gun so far. Everyone is just staking out their turf.

ZAHN: Richard Roth, we'll be a spending a lot of time with you this morning. We look forward to you having you be part of our special, which gets under way at 10:00 Eastern Time. Thanks so 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