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Hussein Grants Interview With Rather

Aired February 26, 2003 - 10:09   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.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: More than 200,000 U.S. and British troops are amassed in the Persian Gulf region, along with war ships and aircraft.
Well, Saddam Hussein is scoffing at that idea of exile. He gave an interview to CBS News and he said -- quote -- "we will die here."

It is said to be the first interview with an American journalist in a decade. We go now to the Iraqi capital, where CNN Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson is standing by -- Nic, hello.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Daryn. Well, he said for whoever would forsake their country, for whoever asks, they'd be denying their principles and their duty to that country. He said therefore that he would die. This is something that we've heard from many Iraqi officials that President Saddam Hussein would not leave, and that people here very frequently say that they would die for their country. The first time here hearing that President Saddam Hussein himself would choose to stay here and die, first time to hear from him.

Dan Rather of CBS, who asked him a number of questions, asked him about the Al-Samoud 2 missile, the deadline this Saturday to begin destroying it. The Iraqi leader replied that Iraq was doing everything to comply and cooperated with the U.N. that they had done in the past and they would in the future.

But when Mr. Rather pushed him on that issue of would they destroy the Al-Samoud 2 missiles, President Saddam Hussein said that Iraq didn't have any -- didn't have any long-range missiles that were proscribed by the United Nations, that any that they had had before had been destroyed. Not clear here if he is referring to the Scud missiles that were destroyed by Iraqi officials and U.N. inspector back in the 1990s, or is he actually referring to the Al-Samoud 2 missiles. The feeling here among many of the diplomats in this city at this moment is that Iraq seems more likely to begin this process than not at this time -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Well, Nic, you bring up those U.N. inspectors. It is kind of easy to forget that as all this diplomatic stuff is going on, that those inspectors are still doing their work in Iraq. What do they have planned or what did they get done today?

ROBERTSON: Indeed, every day chipping away at that huge task, many, many hundreds of sites that they have to visit. One of the principal items of interest I think today, a team of weapons inspectors, biological experts, following up on some new documents that Iraqi officials have given to the U.N. here what Iraq says is that it has discovered where it disposed of and destroyed some biological munitions, unilaterally destroyed them, back in 1991.

A few days ago, Iraqi officials began digging up that site, and they have invited U.N. inspectors. Inspectors went down to that site again for the third day. Now, they say that they have been shown fragments of bombs where Iraq says it explosively destroyed of some aerial bombs containing biological agents.

However, the inspectors have not given a clear read yet on how much of this biological agent may have been destroyed, or how many bombs were involved. It is known that there were many hundreds of this type of bombs that the U.N. wants to find out about -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Nic Robertson in Baghdad. Nic, thank you 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 February 26, 2003 - 10:09   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: More than 200,000 U.S. and British troops are amassed in the Persian Gulf region, along with war ships and aircraft.
Well, Saddam Hussein is scoffing at that idea of exile. He gave an interview to CBS News and he said -- quote -- "we will die here."

It is said to be the first interview with an American journalist in a decade. We go now to the Iraqi capital, where CNN Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson is standing by -- Nic, hello.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Daryn. Well, he said for whoever would forsake their country, for whoever asks, they'd be denying their principles and their duty to that country. He said therefore that he would die. This is something that we've heard from many Iraqi officials that President Saddam Hussein would not leave, and that people here very frequently say that they would die for their country. The first time here hearing that President Saddam Hussein himself would choose to stay here and die, first time to hear from him.

Dan Rather of CBS, who asked him a number of questions, asked him about the Al-Samoud 2 missile, the deadline this Saturday to begin destroying it. The Iraqi leader replied that Iraq was doing everything to comply and cooperated with the U.N. that they had done in the past and they would in the future.

But when Mr. Rather pushed him on that issue of would they destroy the Al-Samoud 2 missiles, President Saddam Hussein said that Iraq didn't have any -- didn't have any long-range missiles that were proscribed by the United Nations, that any that they had had before had been destroyed. Not clear here if he is referring to the Scud missiles that were destroyed by Iraqi officials and U.N. inspector back in the 1990s, or is he actually referring to the Al-Samoud 2 missiles. The feeling here among many of the diplomats in this city at this moment is that Iraq seems more likely to begin this process than not at this time -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Well, Nic, you bring up those U.N. inspectors. It is kind of easy to forget that as all this diplomatic stuff is going on, that those inspectors are still doing their work in Iraq. What do they have planned or what did they get done today?

ROBERTSON: Indeed, every day chipping away at that huge task, many, many hundreds of sites that they have to visit. One of the principal items of interest I think today, a team of weapons inspectors, biological experts, following up on some new documents that Iraqi officials have given to the U.N. here what Iraq says is that it has discovered where it disposed of and destroyed some biological munitions, unilaterally destroyed them, back in 1991.

A few days ago, Iraqi officials began digging up that site, and they have invited U.N. inspectors. Inspectors went down to that site again for the third day. Now, they say that they have been shown fragments of bombs where Iraq says it explosively destroyed of some aerial bombs containing biological agents.

However, the inspectors have not given a clear read yet on how much of this biological agent may have been destroyed, or how many bombs were involved. It is known that there were many hundreds of this type of bombs that the U.N. wants to find out about -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Nic Robertson in Baghdad. Nic, thank you 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