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CNN Live Today
NATO Members Gather in Emergency Session
Aired February 10, 2003 - 10:01 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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Now, the U.S. envoy to NATO says a growing division within the military alliance is creating a crisis of credibility. NATO members gathered today in emergency session after France, Germany, and Belgium blocked a Washington initiative to help defend Turkey in the event of an Iraqi war.
With the latest on this, let's go now to CNN's senior European political correspondent, Robin Oakley, who checks in now live -- hello, Robin.
ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN SR. EUROPEAN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Leon -- hello, Leon, and there's not much good news for the United States as it tries to pull together a coalition of the willing against Saddam Hussein coming out of Europe today. France's president, Jacques Chirac and Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, are about to meet here in Paris, and both have been signaling in advance of that meeting that they see no need for war against Iraq.
Vladimir Putin says the case for force has not been made. Jacques Chirac says that war is not inevitable, and that means that two members of the U.N. Security Council, ahead of that big meeting on Friday, two members who both hold a veto are signaling their unwillingness, at this stage, to be involved in any coalition of the willing against Iraq.
But the worst news for the United States was that its efforts over the last three weeks to persuade NATO to go in for advanced planning for measures to help Turkey in the event of a war against Iraq, the U.S. was asking for AWACS surveillance planes, for Patriot anti-missile batteries, for special units to counter chemical and biological warfare, those efforts by the United States have been spurned.
Three countries, France, Germany, and Belgium saying that they are not prepared for NATO to do advance planning at this stage, and they have used their -- effectively, their vetoes in the NATO council, and the NATO council is now in emergency session with Turkey as a result of that decision having appealed to NATO saying that it feels its security is threatened, and it is now making a direct appeal to the NATO members -- Leon.
HARRIS: All right, Robin, having said all that, just how serious is this latest development, and this rift that we're now seeing there amongst the members of NATO? The speculation coming into all of this was that, in the end at least, we knew that Paris would actually somehow, some way come on board with the U.S. Doesn't seem that that's happening right now. OAKLEY: It doesn't seem to be happening right now, although there's not any very dangerous, clear talk of France actually using its veto in the U.N. Security Council. The question of France actually acquiescing in any military action still remains very much an open one.
As far as the NATO decision is concerned, well, NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson is saying this is all an argument about timing, not about principle. He is confident that the countries who are currently opposing the NATO planning to help Turkey would all come aboard, and would help Turkey if it came to a real conflict, and Michele Alliot-Marie, the French defense minister, has said that if Turkey were genuinely threatened, France would be the first country at its side.
But there is a clear split in the alliance. As the crucial decision approaches, the division between the U.S. and its European partners seems to be widening rather than closing. So much so that Kostis Simitis, who is currently in the chair of the European Union, the Greek prime minister, has called a crisis meeting of all the 15 EU members next Monday to see if they can agree a common line on Iraq, because obviously, they are badly split at the moment -- Leon.
HARRIS: All right. Thank you very much, Robin. Robin Oakley reporting live for us from Paris.
Now, the United Nations chief weapons inspectors have left Baghdad after a weekend that they say offers a glimpse of optimism. Mohamed ElBaradei and Hans Blix say that the two days of talks they held, as well as Baghdad's release of some new information suggest there is a change of attitude by the Iraqi leadership.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HANS BLIX, CHIEF U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTOR: For the first time, I think there was more serious engagement of Iraq, active engagement in the solution of central issues. They handed us some papers which focused upon Anthrax and VX and such things, and I think that is welcome. Those are suggestive of positive methods of the verification.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: The White House, meanwhile, is dismissing Baghdad's promise to cooperate more fully, saying -- quote -- "It's not good enough."
Let's now get the perspective from the ground there in Iraq. We go now to Baghdad, where our senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson is standing by. He joins us now live -- hello, Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Leon. Well, certainly Iraqi officials here will be listening very closely to what Hans Blix says when he gets back to New York.
Not only are they making their minds up at the moment how they will respond to the use of U-2 surveillance aircraft, they promised on that issue, a key issue, to get back to Hans Blix before he gives his all-important report to the U.N. Security Council at the end of the week, but last time Hans Blix was here, they, Iraqi officials, were very critical. They say while he was positive in Baghdad, he left and he was negative.
The newspapers saying that the atmosphere of the talks this weekend was positive, that when Hans Blix makes his address to the U.N., that he should be fair and that he should be professional.
Now, Hans Blix has said already that the documents handed over were not breakthrough documents. Iraq put many other issues forward, such as new testing techniques to find old missiles, old weapons of mass destruction, ideas on -- put forward a new commission to find documents in the country, but the real concern of people here is that when Hans Blix gets back to New York, he may not feel that what he got while he was here in Baghdad would be enough or sufficient to be sufficiently positive at the U.N. Security Council.
So a lot of people here, Leon, very anxious, very cautiously waiting to see what Hans Blix will tell the U.N. Security Council on Friday. People here really recognize that this is potentially the difference at this time between war and peace -- Leon.
HARRIS: Well, Nic, we also know that Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei were also trying to accomplish something else, a couple of other things as well. They wanted to get some sort of a statement coming out of Iraq saying that it is against weapons of mass destruction, and they wanted a statement to that effect. And they also were saying that they wanted to get some resolution on an issue of the overflights by the U-2 planes. Any resolution or any agreement forthcoming on those two matters?
ROBERTSON: Where it stands right now on the address from the leadership, they didn't say that it had to be the very top leadership, President Saddam Hussein.
But what they want the right to know (ph), and what they said they did in the talks here, they met with the Vice President, Taha Yassin Ramadan. They met with the foreign minister, Naji Sabri. They say they impressed on both of them how critical timing is, and they say what they want to happen in the next few days -- and this will be one of the measures of how they will judge just the level of cooperation they're getting.
They want to see somebody in the Iraqi leadership get up publicly and say Iraq must cooperate with the weapons inspections. Weapons of mass destruction are part of Iraq's history, not part of its future.
So that was one issue. The other issue, of course, that they will be looking very closely on is how Iraq responds to the use of surveillance aircraft.
Now, there are U-2 surveillance flights at a very high altitude. There is also now a suggestion to use French Mirage planes to do surveillance at a lower altitude. Below that, Russian Antinov (ph) planes would provide another level of surveillance, below that, German provided drone, unmanned aircraft, would provide another level of surveillance.
Now, according to Iraqi officials, they're having to work out with their defense chiefs, with their ground missile staff if that can be done safely. That's the issue, Leon. Those are the issues the weapons chiefs will be looking to hear positively on in the next few days.
HARRIS: Yes, no point -- good point there. No doubt at all, Nic. Thank you very much, Nic Robertson reporting live for us from Baghdad.
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 February 10, 2003 - 10:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Now, the U.S. envoy to NATO says a growing division within the military alliance is creating a crisis of credibility. NATO members gathered today in emergency session after France, Germany, and Belgium blocked a Washington initiative to help defend Turkey in the event of an Iraqi war.
With the latest on this, let's go now to CNN's senior European political correspondent, Robin Oakley, who checks in now live -- hello, Robin.
ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN SR. EUROPEAN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Leon -- hello, Leon, and there's not much good news for the United States as it tries to pull together a coalition of the willing against Saddam Hussein coming out of Europe today. France's president, Jacques Chirac and Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, are about to meet here in Paris, and both have been signaling in advance of that meeting that they see no need for war against Iraq.
Vladimir Putin says the case for force has not been made. Jacques Chirac says that war is not inevitable, and that means that two members of the U.N. Security Council, ahead of that big meeting on Friday, two members who both hold a veto are signaling their unwillingness, at this stage, to be involved in any coalition of the willing against Iraq.
But the worst news for the United States was that its efforts over the last three weeks to persuade NATO to go in for advanced planning for measures to help Turkey in the event of a war against Iraq, the U.S. was asking for AWACS surveillance planes, for Patriot anti-missile batteries, for special units to counter chemical and biological warfare, those efforts by the United States have been spurned.
Three countries, France, Germany, and Belgium saying that they are not prepared for NATO to do advance planning at this stage, and they have used their -- effectively, their vetoes in the NATO council, and the NATO council is now in emergency session with Turkey as a result of that decision having appealed to NATO saying that it feels its security is threatened, and it is now making a direct appeal to the NATO members -- Leon.
HARRIS: All right, Robin, having said all that, just how serious is this latest development, and this rift that we're now seeing there amongst the members of NATO? The speculation coming into all of this was that, in the end at least, we knew that Paris would actually somehow, some way come on board with the U.S. Doesn't seem that that's happening right now. OAKLEY: It doesn't seem to be happening right now, although there's not any very dangerous, clear talk of France actually using its veto in the U.N. Security Council. The question of France actually acquiescing in any military action still remains very much an open one.
As far as the NATO decision is concerned, well, NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson is saying this is all an argument about timing, not about principle. He is confident that the countries who are currently opposing the NATO planning to help Turkey would all come aboard, and would help Turkey if it came to a real conflict, and Michele Alliot-Marie, the French defense minister, has said that if Turkey were genuinely threatened, France would be the first country at its side.
But there is a clear split in the alliance. As the crucial decision approaches, the division between the U.S. and its European partners seems to be widening rather than closing. So much so that Kostis Simitis, who is currently in the chair of the European Union, the Greek prime minister, has called a crisis meeting of all the 15 EU members next Monday to see if they can agree a common line on Iraq, because obviously, they are badly split at the moment -- Leon.
HARRIS: All right. Thank you very much, Robin. Robin Oakley reporting live for us from Paris.
Now, the United Nations chief weapons inspectors have left Baghdad after a weekend that they say offers a glimpse of optimism. Mohamed ElBaradei and Hans Blix say that the two days of talks they held, as well as Baghdad's release of some new information suggest there is a change of attitude by the Iraqi leadership.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HANS BLIX, CHIEF U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTOR: For the first time, I think there was more serious engagement of Iraq, active engagement in the solution of central issues. They handed us some papers which focused upon Anthrax and VX and such things, and I think that is welcome. Those are suggestive of positive methods of the verification.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: The White House, meanwhile, is dismissing Baghdad's promise to cooperate more fully, saying -- quote -- "It's not good enough."
Let's now get the perspective from the ground there in Iraq. We go now to Baghdad, where our senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson is standing by. He joins us now live -- hello, Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Leon. Well, certainly Iraqi officials here will be listening very closely to what Hans Blix says when he gets back to New York.
Not only are they making their minds up at the moment how they will respond to the use of U-2 surveillance aircraft, they promised on that issue, a key issue, to get back to Hans Blix before he gives his all-important report to the U.N. Security Council at the end of the week, but last time Hans Blix was here, they, Iraqi officials, were very critical. They say while he was positive in Baghdad, he left and he was negative.
The newspapers saying that the atmosphere of the talks this weekend was positive, that when Hans Blix makes his address to the U.N., that he should be fair and that he should be professional.
Now, Hans Blix has said already that the documents handed over were not breakthrough documents. Iraq put many other issues forward, such as new testing techniques to find old missiles, old weapons of mass destruction, ideas on -- put forward a new commission to find documents in the country, but the real concern of people here is that when Hans Blix gets back to New York, he may not feel that what he got while he was here in Baghdad would be enough or sufficient to be sufficiently positive at the U.N. Security Council.
So a lot of people here, Leon, very anxious, very cautiously waiting to see what Hans Blix will tell the U.N. Security Council on Friday. People here really recognize that this is potentially the difference at this time between war and peace -- Leon.
HARRIS: Well, Nic, we also know that Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei were also trying to accomplish something else, a couple of other things as well. They wanted to get some sort of a statement coming out of Iraq saying that it is against weapons of mass destruction, and they wanted a statement to that effect. And they also were saying that they wanted to get some resolution on an issue of the overflights by the U-2 planes. Any resolution or any agreement forthcoming on those two matters?
ROBERTSON: Where it stands right now on the address from the leadership, they didn't say that it had to be the very top leadership, President Saddam Hussein.
But what they want the right to know (ph), and what they said they did in the talks here, they met with the Vice President, Taha Yassin Ramadan. They met with the foreign minister, Naji Sabri. They say they impressed on both of them how critical timing is, and they say what they want to happen in the next few days -- and this will be one of the measures of how they will judge just the level of cooperation they're getting.
They want to see somebody in the Iraqi leadership get up publicly and say Iraq must cooperate with the weapons inspections. Weapons of mass destruction are part of Iraq's history, not part of its future.
So that was one issue. The other issue, of course, that they will be looking very closely on is how Iraq responds to the use of surveillance aircraft.
Now, there are U-2 surveillance flights at a very high altitude. There is also now a suggestion to use French Mirage planes to do surveillance at a lower altitude. Below that, Russian Antinov (ph) planes would provide another level of surveillance, below that, German provided drone, unmanned aircraft, would provide another level of surveillance.
Now, according to Iraqi officials, they're having to work out with their defense chiefs, with their ground missile staff if that can be done safely. That's the issue, Leon. Those are the issues the weapons chiefs will be looking to hear positively on in the next few days.
HARRIS: Yes, no point -- good point there. No doubt at all, Nic. Thank you very much, Nic Robertson reporting live for us from Baghdad.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
