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CNN Live At Daybreak

Goin' Global

Aired January 28, 2003 - 06:38   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 COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Let's turn our attention now to Iraq. The Security Council meets in a closed-door session tomorrow, but the group remains divided over the inspectors' findings and how long U.N. weapons inspections should continue. Chief inspector Hans Blix says one things is certain: Iraq is not cooperating.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HANS BLIX, CHIEF U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTOR: Iraq appears not to have come to a genuine acceptance, not even today, of the disarmament, which was demanded of it, and which it needs to carry out to win the confidence of the world and to live in peace.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: And we're going global now for reaction to the report by U.N. weapons chief Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei. CNN's Walter Rodgers has reaction from London, our Jim Bittermann is in Paris with the French take on all of this, and CNN Beijing bureau chief Jaime FlorCruz joins us with what the Chinese are saying -- Walter.

WALTER RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

In Britain, there's a growing sense of inevitability, a feeling of a slide toward war. Overnight, the official British government position hardened. Jack Straw, the foreign secretary, told the BBC this morning that Iraq is in material breach of U.N. demands that it disarm. Translation: All you have to do is look at the headlines in the British papers this morning. Virtually all of them suggest war is inevitable now.

Now, Jack Straw, the foreign secretary, said it is not inevitable yet. Much will indeed hinge on Prime Minister Tony Blair's meeting with President Bush at Camp David in the United States this Friday. But again, in Britain, the feeling is that we are on a long slide, or perhaps a short slide, just a matter of a few weeks, toward war.

For the look and the feeling and the sense of things across the channel in Paris, here's my colleague, Jim Bittermann.

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, President Chirac just came out of a meeting a few minutes ago with the foreign minister of Saudi Arabia, Saud Al Faisal. And Prince Saud said after that, that everything must be done to avoid calamity in Iraq. He said everything must be done to avoid the possibility of the dismemberment of Iraq. Now, a few hours before that, the French foreign minister was on television this morning, saying that they say -- the French still believe that the inspections should continue in Iraq. He says that there's no reason to change tactics while the inspections are providing useful information. And he said that the United States should not go any further than it already has in terms of stationing troops around Iraq. He said if the United States goes into Iraq unilaterally, the French could not support that. He said going into war is a very serious business, and we cannot take it lightly.

Now over to Jaime FlorCruz in Beijing.

JAIME FLORCRUZ, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: Jim, China wants to avert another Gulf War and prefers to give the U.N. inspectors more chance and more time to finish their job. Chinese officials say there is no need to rush to conclusions on the inspections, even though there are still matters that need to be cleared. China hopes that this issues can be resolved diplomatically, and as long as there is still a ray of hope to do that, they hope that all sides will resolve this within the U.N. framework.

Now, China wants Iraq to comply with the U.N. resolutions and to fully cooperate with the U.N. inspectors. At the same time, Beijing wants Washington to resolve this conflict within the U.N. framework and not go it alone. China does not want to see a unilateral military action from the United States.

As to how long these U.N. inspectors should be given, whether weeks or months, the Chinese spokesman said that we should respect the opinions of the U.N. inspectors -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Jaime FlorCruz, Walter, Jim, many thanks to all of 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






Aired January 28, 2003 - 06:38   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Let's turn our attention now to Iraq. The Security Council meets in a closed-door session tomorrow, but the group remains divided over the inspectors' findings and how long U.N. weapons inspections should continue. Chief inspector Hans Blix says one things is certain: Iraq is not cooperating.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HANS BLIX, CHIEF U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTOR: Iraq appears not to have come to a genuine acceptance, not even today, of the disarmament, which was demanded of it, and which it needs to carry out to win the confidence of the world and to live in peace.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: And we're going global now for reaction to the report by U.N. weapons chief Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei. CNN's Walter Rodgers has reaction from London, our Jim Bittermann is in Paris with the French take on all of this, and CNN Beijing bureau chief Jaime FlorCruz joins us with what the Chinese are saying -- Walter.

WALTER RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

In Britain, there's a growing sense of inevitability, a feeling of a slide toward war. Overnight, the official British government position hardened. Jack Straw, the foreign secretary, told the BBC this morning that Iraq is in material breach of U.N. demands that it disarm. Translation: All you have to do is look at the headlines in the British papers this morning. Virtually all of them suggest war is inevitable now.

Now, Jack Straw, the foreign secretary, said it is not inevitable yet. Much will indeed hinge on Prime Minister Tony Blair's meeting with President Bush at Camp David in the United States this Friday. But again, in Britain, the feeling is that we are on a long slide, or perhaps a short slide, just a matter of a few weeks, toward war.

For the look and the feeling and the sense of things across the channel in Paris, here's my colleague, Jim Bittermann.

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, President Chirac just came out of a meeting a few minutes ago with the foreign minister of Saudi Arabia, Saud Al Faisal. And Prince Saud said after that, that everything must be done to avoid calamity in Iraq. He said everything must be done to avoid the possibility of the dismemberment of Iraq. Now, a few hours before that, the French foreign minister was on television this morning, saying that they say -- the French still believe that the inspections should continue in Iraq. He says that there's no reason to change tactics while the inspections are providing useful information. And he said that the United States should not go any further than it already has in terms of stationing troops around Iraq. He said if the United States goes into Iraq unilaterally, the French could not support that. He said going into war is a very serious business, and we cannot take it lightly.

Now over to Jaime FlorCruz in Beijing.

JAIME FLORCRUZ, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: Jim, China wants to avert another Gulf War and prefers to give the U.N. inspectors more chance and more time to finish their job. Chinese officials say there is no need to rush to conclusions on the inspections, even though there are still matters that need to be cleared. China hopes that this issues can be resolved diplomatically, and as long as there is still a ray of hope to do that, they hope that all sides will resolve this within the U.N. framework.

Now, China wants Iraq to comply with the U.N. resolutions and to fully cooperate with the U.N. inspectors. At the same time, Beijing wants Washington to resolve this conflict within the U.N. framework and not go it alone. China does not want to see a unilateral military action from the United States.

As to how long these U.N. inspectors should be given, whether weeks or months, the Chinese spokesman said that we should respect the opinions of the U.N. inspectors -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Jaime FlorCruz, Walter, Jim, many thanks to all of 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