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CNN Live At Daybreak

China, France, Germany, Russia Say No

Aired March 06, 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: Let's get right to the showdown with Iraq and some significant developments. China, France, Germany and Russia say no. The foreign ministers of those nations say their governments will not allow a new U.N. resolution authorizing force against Iraq. Washington orders two Iraqi diplomats at the U.N. expelled for, and I'm quoting here, "activities outside the scope of their official functions." And there are reports this morning that the
British government is working on a compromise amendment to that U.S.-backed resolution on Iraq. Those reports say the compromise would set a deadline, giving Iraq a little more time to disarm. We'll keep you posted.

The position of those foreign nations against the U.N. resolution, the possibility compromise, the U.S. military buildup, we have a lot to talk about this morning.

Let's go to the center of all this turmoil.

Our Nic Robertson joining us now live from Baghdad -- what's going on there today, Nic?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, number one, it's a pretty windy day. But outside of that, the U.N. weapons inspectors are continuing with their work. According to Iraqi officials, another six Al Samoud missiles destined to be destroyed today. In fact, Iraqi officials say right about now that should be completed. That brings to a total 34 of the Al Samoud missiles that the Iraqi officials have destroyed. That is about a quarter of the number that they have declared.

Also, in a morale boosting speech and for the first time referring to the Al Samoud missiles, President Saddam Hussein met with his top military commanders. He told them that the morale of the country could not be hurt by the destruction of the Al Samoud missiles. It was very much a rally call for the troops. He said I've heard about the U.S. warships or -- this appeared to refer at least to the U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf. He said I've heard that they have nine decks, that they serve 20,000 meals a day. But he said where are their wheels? How are they going to come to Baghdad?

He said that the battle for Baghdad will be won by troops fighting on the ground. And, indeed, one of Iraq's newspapers today in its banner headline warned that Iraq will turn its desert into a graveyard for the invaders -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Can you talk a little more about the Iraqi diplomats that were expelled from the U.N.?

ROBERTSON: At this time there's been no official reaction, Carol, on that whatsoever from Iraqi authorities. However, what appears, what they have appeared to do in the past is to follow a tit for tat procedure, if you will. We remember a few weeks ago when an Iraqi journalist from Iraq's news agency was expelled from Washington. That was followed fairly swiftly by Iraqi officials here expelling a number of journalists from Baghdad.

So not clear yet what move Iraqi officials will take, but likely a tit for tat response.

COSTELLO: Nic Robertson reporting live from Baghdad this morning.

We want to get details now on those reports out of Britain that a compromise is being worked on by Prime Minister Tony Blair's government.

Robin Oakley is following that.

He joins us live from London -- Robin.

Oh, we just lost Robin Oakley. We'll get more from Robin and that compromise amendment on the resolution a little later when we get Robin back live from London.

We'll see what the word is around the State Department and all of this when we give a wake up call in the next hour of DAYBREAK to our State Department producer Elise Labott.

The voices of dissent are getting louder. College and high school students across the United States and overseas held anti-war rallies. UCLA students heading to a campus plaza to listen to speeches and a concert. Students at Santa Monica City College shut down five blocks around their school as they marched on down to city hall. And in Denver, high school students held signs asking motorists to honk for peace. Students from at least 15 Colorado schools took part in anti-war walkouts. University of Colorado students staged a brief sit-in at an aerospace engineering building.

And high school students in the Chicago area didn't let the cold and snow stop their demonstrations. Students at some schools didn't walk out of class, but were still involved by handing out leaflets and wearing t-shirts with anti-war messages. And about 200 students got together on the Houston campus of Rice University. They listened to Hannah Hawk (ph) from the Muslim Public Affairs Council. Hawk told them the anti-war movement crosses demographics and is gaining momentum. And Boston high school students held hands and carried signs as they walked out of school for their protest. Middle schoolers joined high school and college students to listen to speeches in Amherst.

National organizers of the Books Not Bombs rally say students in more than 360 schools participated. Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING just about two hours from now, the questions of war. If there is conflict, what happens after the war? AMERICAN MORNING WITH PAULA ZAHN begins at 7:00 a.m. Eastern time.

OK, I believe we have Robin Oakley back from London and he's going to talk to us more about that compromise amendment that may be attached to that U.S.-backed U.N. resolution -- Robin, tell us about it.

ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, there was some surprise here in London yesterday when Tony Blair said that he was still confident in getting that crucial second U.N. Security Council resolution. He was saying that, after all, on a day when the French and Russian and German foreign ministers got together to say that in no way were they going to allow any resolution to go through the U.N. which authorized the use of force at this stage. But the reports, some of the reports in the British media this morning may explain why Tony Blair still has some confidence in getting that second resolution.

There are these suggestions that Britain is now pushing a compromise which would set a specific deadline for Saddam Hussein but would allow a little more time for him to make full disclosure of his weapons program. This obviously would be an attempt to get over some of those six swing votes, the undecided votes, countries like Chile and Mexico and Angola, who have not yet declared themselves.

But British officials that I've been able to reach are still saying that there's only one resolution on the table at this stage. But they acknowledge there's an awful lot of diplomatic activity going on and they say the whole U.N. process is that somebody comes forward with a draft resolution then others can comment on it and try and change it as they wish.

And, of course, we've had Kofi Annan, the U.N. secretary general, calling for a bit more flexibility, countries like Chile, too, saying that the big countries are being too inflexible.

So that's the direction we're going in at the moment. Nothing firm, but the British are appreciating there is an appetite for a compromise -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Well, we'll see more next week.

Robin Oakley, thanks very much, and I'm glad we got you live from London finally.

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 6, 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: Let's get right to the showdown with Iraq and some significant developments. China, France, Germany and Russia say no. The foreign ministers of those nations say their governments will not allow a new U.N. resolution authorizing force against Iraq. Washington orders two Iraqi diplomats at the U.N. expelled for, and I'm quoting here, "activities outside the scope of their official functions." And there are reports this morning that the
British government is working on a compromise amendment to that U.S.-backed resolution on Iraq. Those reports say the compromise would set a deadline, giving Iraq a little more time to disarm. We'll keep you posted.

The position of those foreign nations against the U.N. resolution, the possibility compromise, the U.S. military buildup, we have a lot to talk about this morning.

Let's go to the center of all this turmoil.

Our Nic Robertson joining us now live from Baghdad -- what's going on there today, Nic?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, number one, it's a pretty windy day. But outside of that, the U.N. weapons inspectors are continuing with their work. According to Iraqi officials, another six Al Samoud missiles destined to be destroyed today. In fact, Iraqi officials say right about now that should be completed. That brings to a total 34 of the Al Samoud missiles that the Iraqi officials have destroyed. That is about a quarter of the number that they have declared.

Also, in a morale boosting speech and for the first time referring to the Al Samoud missiles, President Saddam Hussein met with his top military commanders. He told them that the morale of the country could not be hurt by the destruction of the Al Samoud missiles. It was very much a rally call for the troops. He said I've heard about the U.S. warships or -- this appeared to refer at least to the U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf. He said I've heard that they have nine decks, that they serve 20,000 meals a day. But he said where are their wheels? How are they going to come to Baghdad?

He said that the battle for Baghdad will be won by troops fighting on the ground. And, indeed, one of Iraq's newspapers today in its banner headline warned that Iraq will turn its desert into a graveyard for the invaders -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Can you talk a little more about the Iraqi diplomats that were expelled from the U.N.?

ROBERTSON: At this time there's been no official reaction, Carol, on that whatsoever from Iraqi authorities. However, what appears, what they have appeared to do in the past is to follow a tit for tat procedure, if you will. We remember a few weeks ago when an Iraqi journalist from Iraq's news agency was expelled from Washington. That was followed fairly swiftly by Iraqi officials here expelling a number of journalists from Baghdad.

So not clear yet what move Iraqi officials will take, but likely a tit for tat response.

COSTELLO: Nic Robertson reporting live from Baghdad this morning.

We want to get details now on those reports out of Britain that a compromise is being worked on by Prime Minister Tony Blair's government.

Robin Oakley is following that.

He joins us live from London -- Robin.

Oh, we just lost Robin Oakley. We'll get more from Robin and that compromise amendment on the resolution a little later when we get Robin back live from London.

We'll see what the word is around the State Department and all of this when we give a wake up call in the next hour of DAYBREAK to our State Department producer Elise Labott.

The voices of dissent are getting louder. College and high school students across the United States and overseas held anti-war rallies. UCLA students heading to a campus plaza to listen to speeches and a concert. Students at Santa Monica City College shut down five blocks around their school as they marched on down to city hall. And in Denver, high school students held signs asking motorists to honk for peace. Students from at least 15 Colorado schools took part in anti-war walkouts. University of Colorado students staged a brief sit-in at an aerospace engineering building.

And high school students in the Chicago area didn't let the cold and snow stop their demonstrations. Students at some schools didn't walk out of class, but were still involved by handing out leaflets and wearing t-shirts with anti-war messages. And about 200 students got together on the Houston campus of Rice University. They listened to Hannah Hawk (ph) from the Muslim Public Affairs Council. Hawk told them the anti-war movement crosses demographics and is gaining momentum. And Boston high school students held hands and carried signs as they walked out of school for their protest. Middle schoolers joined high school and college students to listen to speeches in Amherst.

National organizers of the Books Not Bombs rally say students in more than 360 schools participated. Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING just about two hours from now, the questions of war. If there is conflict, what happens after the war? AMERICAN MORNING WITH PAULA ZAHN begins at 7:00 a.m. Eastern time.

OK, I believe we have Robin Oakley back from London and he's going to talk to us more about that compromise amendment that may be attached to that U.S.-backed U.N. resolution -- Robin, tell us about it.

ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, there was some surprise here in London yesterday when Tony Blair said that he was still confident in getting that crucial second U.N. Security Council resolution. He was saying that, after all, on a day when the French and Russian and German foreign ministers got together to say that in no way were they going to allow any resolution to go through the U.N. which authorized the use of force at this stage. But the reports, some of the reports in the British media this morning may explain why Tony Blair still has some confidence in getting that second resolution.

There are these suggestions that Britain is now pushing a compromise which would set a specific deadline for Saddam Hussein but would allow a little more time for him to make full disclosure of his weapons program. This obviously would be an attempt to get over some of those six swing votes, the undecided votes, countries like Chile and Mexico and Angola, who have not yet declared themselves.

But British officials that I've been able to reach are still saying that there's only one resolution on the table at this stage. But they acknowledge there's an awful lot of diplomatic activity going on and they say the whole U.N. process is that somebody comes forward with a draft resolution then others can comment on it and try and change it as they wish.

And, of course, we've had Kofi Annan, the U.N. secretary general, calling for a bit more flexibility, countries like Chile, too, saying that the big countries are being too inflexible.

So that's the direction we're going in at the moment. Nothing firm, but the British are appreciating there is an appetite for a compromise -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Well, we'll see more next week.

Robin Oakley, thanks very much, and I'm glad we got you live from London finally.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com