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CNN Live At Daybreak
Iraqi Parliament Meets
Aired February 14, 2003 - 06:05 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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: You can bet Saddam Hussein and his government will be watching Hans Blix via satellite TV. What will they be looking for, and how will they react?
We take you live to the center of this, Baghdad, where our Rym Brahimi is standing by live.
Good morning -- Rym.
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
Well, as you mentioned, definitely everybody here, especially among the leadership, will be looking to see what happens when Hans Blix goes to the U.N. Security Council.
Meanwhile, however, Carol, a session of the National Assembly is going to be held in just a couple of hours from now. I'm going to join the parliamentarians there. They're due to discuss a sudden number of things, including the U.S. threats, of course, the current situation.
And there's a general assumption, although nobody is really saying that clearly, a general assumption that they will also be discussing new legislation to ban weapons of mass destruction. Now, that would be meeting one of the key requests of the U.N. chief weapons inspectors that has been asking for some law to be passed that declares it's a criminal offense to have anything to do with weapons of mass destruction.
Beyond that, U.N. sources say the value of passing such legislation would be that Iraq would signal to the world its determination that it wants to be rid of anything to do with weapons of mass destruction.
Earlier this week, it also met another key request, accepting the overflights of U-2, Mirage and Antonov surveillance planes over Iraq; this ahead, of course, of Hans Blix's meeting. Their timing is very crucial.
Finally, Carol, just something I'd like to show you here, this newspaper, "Al-Thawra," Revolution, is the main newspaper for the ruling Baath Party, says in an editorial that Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei should be impartial and objective, because they bear a historical responsibility, and the consequences of what they say could be serious -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Understood. Rym Brahimi reporting live from Baghdad this morning.
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 14, 2003 - 06:05 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: You can bet Saddam Hussein and his government will be watching Hans Blix via satellite TV. What will they be looking for, and how will they react?
We take you live to the center of this, Baghdad, where our Rym Brahimi is standing by live.
Good morning -- Rym.
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
Well, as you mentioned, definitely everybody here, especially among the leadership, will be looking to see what happens when Hans Blix goes to the U.N. Security Council.
Meanwhile, however, Carol, a session of the National Assembly is going to be held in just a couple of hours from now. I'm going to join the parliamentarians there. They're due to discuss a sudden number of things, including the U.S. threats, of course, the current situation.
And there's a general assumption, although nobody is really saying that clearly, a general assumption that they will also be discussing new legislation to ban weapons of mass destruction. Now, that would be meeting one of the key requests of the U.N. chief weapons inspectors that has been asking for some law to be passed that declares it's a criminal offense to have anything to do with weapons of mass destruction.
Beyond that, U.N. sources say the value of passing such legislation would be that Iraq would signal to the world its determination that it wants to be rid of anything to do with weapons of mass destruction.
Earlier this week, it also met another key request, accepting the overflights of U-2, Mirage and Antonov surveillance planes over Iraq; this ahead, of course, of Hans Blix's meeting. Their timing is very crucial.
Finally, Carol, just something I'd like to show you here, this newspaper, "Al-Thawra," Revolution, is the main newspaper for the ruling Baath Party, says in an editorial that Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei should be impartial and objective, because they bear a historical responsibility, and the consequences of what they say could be serious -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Understood. Rym Brahimi reporting live from Baghdad this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
