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CNN Live At Daybreak
U.N. Confirms Baghdad Has Destroyed 10 Missiles
Aired March 03, 2003 - 05:02 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: A lot happened over the weekend. A lot is happening this morning. So let's get right to the latest developments on the global hot spot of Iraq. The U.N. does confirm Baghdad has destroyed 10 of the banned al-Samoud 2 missiles. Iraq has more than 100 0f the missiles, though. With Turkey's rejection of Washington's request to base thousands of troops there, the Pentagon says it's moving on to Plan B. And a proposal from one of President Saddam Hussein's neighbors that he go into exile, we'll have more on that in a minute.
Right now, though, we want to see what's being said in Baghdad at this hour. It's just after lunchtime there.
Our Nic Robertson is in the Iraqi capital and he joins us live -- hello, Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Carol.
Well, the very latest from here, U.N. officials say they are monitoring and watching more of the al-Samoud 2 being destroyed today. They also say that following technical talks yesterday, Iraq will be submitting another, more detailed proposal about how to determine how much of their V.X. and anthrax nerve and biological agents they disposed of in the past.
However, the U.N. says it also asked for another interview with an Iraqi engineer last night. That engineer was unavailable. The U.N. says of nine interviews it's asked for in the last three days, only three of those interviews have they been able to carry out, those private interviews that the U.N. very much wants to conduct with Iraqi scientists.
Also, President Saddam Hussein appearing on Iraqi television, meeting with top military commanders last night. Some of those commanders talked to him about their preparations for urban warfare. One of the commanders, however, asked President Saddam Hussein what about all the leaflets United States aircraft are dropping telling the soldiers not to fire on U.S. and allied aircraft. President Saddam Hussein indicated that this would not be a problem.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRES. SADDAM HUSSEIN, IRAQ: Americans are intentionally dropping leaflets on our division to shake it. How dare they? Do they think they can shake the 11th Division with leaflets? Bombs couldn't shake this division before.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTSON: And the commanders telling President Saddam Hussein they have ammunition in store, ready to go, for two months -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Nic, can you talk more about this al-Samoud 2 missile destruction because we have word that Saddam Hussein might stop it because it seems like America wants to go to war anyway.
ROBERTSON: His top scientific adviser, General Amir al-Sadi, said that if the United States appears to go outside of the legal process -- and what he means here is outside of the U.N., i.e., move towards a conflict with Iraq, then if Iraq gets an indication of that in the month ahead, then they would stop, definitely stop destroying those al-Samoud 2 missiles -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Nic Robertson reporting live from Baghdad this morning.
We want to talk more now about a proposal that Saddam Hussein go into exile. The United Arab Emirates proposed the plan at a meeting of the six nation Gulf Cooperation Council in Qatar. The exile proposal is backed by Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. The foreign ministers of Oman and Qatar are consulting with their governments about the plan.
What does the State Department think about exile? Coming up in our next hour, we'll get a wake up call to our State Department producer Elise Labott and we'll ask her all about that.
Now to Turkey and a vote that surprised a lot of people in Washington, the rejection of a U.S. plan to base up to 62,000 troops in Turkey. The Turkish leadership is rethinking that weekend vote, though.
Our Jane Arraf is watching developments in Turkey and she joins us now from Ankara, the capital.
So it's not dead yet, is it?
JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's not, Carol. And, in fact, that vote surprised a lot of people here, too. As you know, it was incredibly close. It was just three votes in parliament that determined whether the U.S. could go ahead with the plans that it wants for the war and launch a northern front from here.
Now, we're in downtown Ankara and the street here surrounded by shops and exchange shops. And people here, after the initial euphoria by a lot of people that they had defeated this -- and this is a very anti-war population -- are now coming to the realization that it may have economic repercussions. Now, the lira was down slightly, the Turkish currency. It stabilized somewhat after the government said it would intervene. But the stock market fell sharply on the news that parliament had defeated this vote and the government now is trying to decide in meetings today whether it will ask parliament again to approve these troops. The prime minister just a short while ago said that that decision hasn't been made yet, that they were consulting with the cabinet and essentially consulting with the United States, as well, as to whether to give it another shot -- Carol.
COSTELLO: You said the economy was suffering because of this decision. Do you mean that since Turkey won't allow U.S. troops to use -- to use its land for ground troops that -- I'm sorry, I'm talking about the $26 billion that the United States had promised to give Turkey if Turkey allowed U.S. troops in.
ARRAF: One of the really interesting things about this vote was that it was portrayed particularly in the United States, according to Turkish officials, as being all about money. Now, part of the reason that a lot of people were quite happy that parliament defeated the vote was that they said it proved that it wasn't about money, that Turkey could not be bought.
But the sad fact is this country is in very bad economic shape. It's one of the major recipients of the $32 -- sorry, it's the recipient of a $32 billion International Monetary Fund program and it's been trying to get its economy together.
Now, the fact that a war might happen and it might happen without Turkey's participation and without that U.S. aid to cushion the blow, really is affecting the markets and it's causing a lot of uncertainty here in the streets, as well, as to what might happen next, with interest rates, with oil prices, with the currency, with every aspect of the economy. That's something that the government here today is keeping an eye on and trying to address by saying people shouldn't worry, that it will be OK with or without the United States -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Understand.
Thank you for making it clear for us.
Jane Arraf reporting live from Turkey.
You can get the history, the geography, the makeup of Iraq and the Persian Gulf from our Web site. Be informed. Just click onto cnn.com, AOL keyword: CNN.
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 March 3, 2003 - 05:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: A lot happened over the weekend. A lot is happening this morning. So let's get right to the latest developments on the global hot spot of Iraq. The U.N. does confirm Baghdad has destroyed 10 of the banned al-Samoud 2 missiles. Iraq has more than 100 0f the missiles, though. With Turkey's rejection of Washington's request to base thousands of troops there, the Pentagon says it's moving on to Plan B. And a proposal from one of President Saddam Hussein's neighbors that he go into exile, we'll have more on that in a minute.
Right now, though, we want to see what's being said in Baghdad at this hour. It's just after lunchtime there.
Our Nic Robertson is in the Iraqi capital and he joins us live -- hello, Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Carol.
Well, the very latest from here, U.N. officials say they are monitoring and watching more of the al-Samoud 2 being destroyed today. They also say that following technical talks yesterday, Iraq will be submitting another, more detailed proposal about how to determine how much of their V.X. and anthrax nerve and biological agents they disposed of in the past.
However, the U.N. says it also asked for another interview with an Iraqi engineer last night. That engineer was unavailable. The U.N. says of nine interviews it's asked for in the last three days, only three of those interviews have they been able to carry out, those private interviews that the U.N. very much wants to conduct with Iraqi scientists.
Also, President Saddam Hussein appearing on Iraqi television, meeting with top military commanders last night. Some of those commanders talked to him about their preparations for urban warfare. One of the commanders, however, asked President Saddam Hussein what about all the leaflets United States aircraft are dropping telling the soldiers not to fire on U.S. and allied aircraft. President Saddam Hussein indicated that this would not be a problem.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRES. SADDAM HUSSEIN, IRAQ: Americans are intentionally dropping leaflets on our division to shake it. How dare they? Do they think they can shake the 11th Division with leaflets? Bombs couldn't shake this division before.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTSON: And the commanders telling President Saddam Hussein they have ammunition in store, ready to go, for two months -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Nic, can you talk more about this al-Samoud 2 missile destruction because we have word that Saddam Hussein might stop it because it seems like America wants to go to war anyway.
ROBERTSON: His top scientific adviser, General Amir al-Sadi, said that if the United States appears to go outside of the legal process -- and what he means here is outside of the U.N., i.e., move towards a conflict with Iraq, then if Iraq gets an indication of that in the month ahead, then they would stop, definitely stop destroying those al-Samoud 2 missiles -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Nic Robertson reporting live from Baghdad this morning.
We want to talk more now about a proposal that Saddam Hussein go into exile. The United Arab Emirates proposed the plan at a meeting of the six nation Gulf Cooperation Council in Qatar. The exile proposal is backed by Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. The foreign ministers of Oman and Qatar are consulting with their governments about the plan.
What does the State Department think about exile? Coming up in our next hour, we'll get a wake up call to our State Department producer Elise Labott and we'll ask her all about that.
Now to Turkey and a vote that surprised a lot of people in Washington, the rejection of a U.S. plan to base up to 62,000 troops in Turkey. The Turkish leadership is rethinking that weekend vote, though.
Our Jane Arraf is watching developments in Turkey and she joins us now from Ankara, the capital.
So it's not dead yet, is it?
JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's not, Carol. And, in fact, that vote surprised a lot of people here, too. As you know, it was incredibly close. It was just three votes in parliament that determined whether the U.S. could go ahead with the plans that it wants for the war and launch a northern front from here.
Now, we're in downtown Ankara and the street here surrounded by shops and exchange shops. And people here, after the initial euphoria by a lot of people that they had defeated this -- and this is a very anti-war population -- are now coming to the realization that it may have economic repercussions. Now, the lira was down slightly, the Turkish currency. It stabilized somewhat after the government said it would intervene. But the stock market fell sharply on the news that parliament had defeated this vote and the government now is trying to decide in meetings today whether it will ask parliament again to approve these troops. The prime minister just a short while ago said that that decision hasn't been made yet, that they were consulting with the cabinet and essentially consulting with the United States, as well, as to whether to give it another shot -- Carol.
COSTELLO: You said the economy was suffering because of this decision. Do you mean that since Turkey won't allow U.S. troops to use -- to use its land for ground troops that -- I'm sorry, I'm talking about the $26 billion that the United States had promised to give Turkey if Turkey allowed U.S. troops in.
ARRAF: One of the really interesting things about this vote was that it was portrayed particularly in the United States, according to Turkish officials, as being all about money. Now, part of the reason that a lot of people were quite happy that parliament defeated the vote was that they said it proved that it wasn't about money, that Turkey could not be bought.
But the sad fact is this country is in very bad economic shape. It's one of the major recipients of the $32 -- sorry, it's the recipient of a $32 billion International Monetary Fund program and it's been trying to get its economy together.
Now, the fact that a war might happen and it might happen without Turkey's participation and without that U.S. aid to cushion the blow, really is affecting the markets and it's causing a lot of uncertainty here in the streets, as well, as to what might happen next, with interest rates, with oil prices, with the currency, with every aspect of the economy. That's something that the government here today is keeping an eye on and trying to address by saying people shouldn't worry, that it will be OK with or without the United States -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Understand.
Thank you for making it clear for us.
Jane Arraf reporting live from Turkey.
You can get the history, the geography, the makeup of Iraq and the Persian Gulf from our Web site. Be informed. Just click onto cnn.com, AOL keyword: CNN.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
