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CNN Live Today
Iraqi Officials: Missile Destruction Under Review
Aired February 25, 2003 - 11:00 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: These critical events will be covered by our senior CNN White House correspondent John King and senior international correspondent Nic Robertson in Baghdad.
We're going to go ahead and check in with John King -- John.
JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Daryn, the president's task now is to round up the votes for that new resolution before that vote. U.S. officials say they hope for a vote on March 10th, as you just noted there, perhaps March 11th. March 11th is two weeks from today, so we should have a good sense in just two weeks whether there will be a war and whether the United Nations Security Council will back President Bush in such a war.
The president just finished a meeting with the prime minister of Bulgaria. Bulgaria sits on the council. And that is one of the votes the U.S. is counting on. White House officials say the president will be personally involved in lobbying key security council members, the vice president, National Security Adviser Rice, Secretary of State Powell, a full-court diplomatic press.
Ari Fleischer telling reporters this morning, yes, the White House does not have the votes today, but he said the White House did not have the votes heading into the final hours of the debate over resolution 1441 either. That's the resolution that sent the inspectors back into Iraq. Ari Fleischer says in the end, the president is confident he will get those votes. That is a tough task, but the president will lead the lobbying effort in the days ahead -- Daryn.
KAGAN: John, what about this offer from Saddam Hussein to debate President Bush on international television? Is that getting any reaction from the White House?
KING: Not any serious reaction. Here at the White House, they say they don't pay much attention to what Saddam Hussein says. They want to see what he does on the ground. They say there's nothing to debate, that Saddam Hussein must comply with the world's demands.
Some officials joking that the last time Saddam Hussein issued a challenge to President Bush, it was for a duel, so maybe we could call this progress.
KAGAN: Put it in the same file there. John King at the White House, thank you.
KING: The U.N. is ordering Iraq to begin destroying its Al Samoud missiles starting on Saturday, as we mentioned, but whether Iraq will follow through, still a bit hazy.
Let's go ahead and bring in Nic Robertson on duty in Baghdad.
Nic, hello.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Daryn.
Well, the word from Iraqi officials here is still they're studying Hans Blix's letter demanding that they begin that destruction. The concerns they've laid out, they think that they can deal with this within a technical context, within the ongoing cooperation with the U.N. weapons inspectors here. The U.N. says that's not an option. That appears to be the way Iraq is looking at it at the moment. However, they have said that they will come up with an answer soon.
There does seem to be perhaps one small element of progress here on another weapons-related issue. Iraqi officials have begun digging up an old biological weapons disposal site, a site that is full of bomb fragments where, according to U.N. officials, Iraq explosively destroyed some biological warfare agents. And the last two days, U.N. weapons inspectors have been visiting that site.
But Hans Blix did say a couple of weeks ago that the methodology Iraq had put forward to discover what and how much had been destroyed at that sit, he said, that methodology appeared to be flawed and appeared not to hold any chance of progress.
However, a team of U.N. experts are coming here this weekend, and they will be looking at that site apparently -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Nic Robertson in Baghdad, thank 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 February 25, 2003 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: These critical events will be covered by our senior CNN White House correspondent John King and senior international correspondent Nic Robertson in Baghdad.
We're going to go ahead and check in with John King -- John.
JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Daryn, the president's task now is to round up the votes for that new resolution before that vote. U.S. officials say they hope for a vote on March 10th, as you just noted there, perhaps March 11th. March 11th is two weeks from today, so we should have a good sense in just two weeks whether there will be a war and whether the United Nations Security Council will back President Bush in such a war.
The president just finished a meeting with the prime minister of Bulgaria. Bulgaria sits on the council. And that is one of the votes the U.S. is counting on. White House officials say the president will be personally involved in lobbying key security council members, the vice president, National Security Adviser Rice, Secretary of State Powell, a full-court diplomatic press.
Ari Fleischer telling reporters this morning, yes, the White House does not have the votes today, but he said the White House did not have the votes heading into the final hours of the debate over resolution 1441 either. That's the resolution that sent the inspectors back into Iraq. Ari Fleischer says in the end, the president is confident he will get those votes. That is a tough task, but the president will lead the lobbying effort in the days ahead -- Daryn.
KAGAN: John, what about this offer from Saddam Hussein to debate President Bush on international television? Is that getting any reaction from the White House?
KING: Not any serious reaction. Here at the White House, they say they don't pay much attention to what Saddam Hussein says. They want to see what he does on the ground. They say there's nothing to debate, that Saddam Hussein must comply with the world's demands.
Some officials joking that the last time Saddam Hussein issued a challenge to President Bush, it was for a duel, so maybe we could call this progress.
KAGAN: Put it in the same file there. John King at the White House, thank you.
KING: The U.N. is ordering Iraq to begin destroying its Al Samoud missiles starting on Saturday, as we mentioned, but whether Iraq will follow through, still a bit hazy.
Let's go ahead and bring in Nic Robertson on duty in Baghdad.
Nic, hello.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Daryn.
Well, the word from Iraqi officials here is still they're studying Hans Blix's letter demanding that they begin that destruction. The concerns they've laid out, they think that they can deal with this within a technical context, within the ongoing cooperation with the U.N. weapons inspectors here. The U.N. says that's not an option. That appears to be the way Iraq is looking at it at the moment. However, they have said that they will come up with an answer soon.
There does seem to be perhaps one small element of progress here on another weapons-related issue. Iraqi officials have begun digging up an old biological weapons disposal site, a site that is full of bomb fragments where, according to U.N. officials, Iraq explosively destroyed some biological warfare agents. And the last two days, U.N. weapons inspectors have been visiting that site.
But Hans Blix did say a couple of weeks ago that the methodology Iraq had put forward to discover what and how much had been destroyed at that sit, he said, that methodology appeared to be flawed and appeared not to hold any chance of progress.
However, a team of U.N. experts are coming here this weekend, and they will be looking at that site apparently -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Nic Robertson in Baghdad, thank 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
