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United States Coming Closer to Military Action Against Iraq
Aired March 10, 2003 - 06:02 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: It does seem the United States is coming ever closer to military action against Iraq.
We want to take you to the center of the controversy, and we've got some new developments to tell you about. Rym Brahimi is in Baghdad standing by with that.
What's up there -- Rym?
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, well, the Iraqi foreign minister has written to the U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to complain about holes that were pierced in a fence between -- in a demilitarized zone between Iraq and Kuwait on the Kuwaiti side. Now, those holes were discovered yesterday by the U.N. force that monitors that demilitarized zone.
The foreign minister also complained to the secretary-general of the United Nations that the United States was dropping leaflets in the south of Iraq, urging Iraqi soldiers not to defend the southern Iraqi port of Umm Qasr (ph) if it were attacked and to surrender to U.S. forces. The Iraqi foreign ministry saying this is a violation of the United Nations charter.
Now, so far here on the ground, Carol, the destruction of the Al Samoud missiles continues, six Al Samoud missiles to be destroyed today. Now, that would bring to 52 the total number of missiles that Iraq will have destroyed. That's less than half of what they're believed to have.
And in response to a newspaper article in a British newspaper saying that U.N. weapons inspectors had found an unmanned drone, well, a spokesman from UNMOVIC here says the chief U.N. weapons inspector, Hans Blix, had suggested a question or had questioned that issue in a report delivered to members of the United Nations Security Council. But also the UNMOVIC spokesman saying that Iraq did declare the presence, the development in the past two years of two types of drones, not necessarily the ones in the British newspaper report, but the U.N. weapons inspectors are still investigating at this state -- at this stage -- Carol.
COSTELLO: A lot more to come about the new discoveries in Iraq. Rym Brahimi reporting live from Baghdad.
And just 60 miles southeast of Baghdad, from where Rym was just reporting form, coalition aircraft attacked five unmanned underground military communication sites. U.S. officials say the strikes followed the launch earlier in the day of a surface-to-air missile at allied aircraft patrolling the southern no-fly zone.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Iraq>
Aired March 10, 2003 - 06:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: It does seem the United States is coming ever closer to military action against Iraq.
We want to take you to the center of the controversy, and we've got some new developments to tell you about. Rym Brahimi is in Baghdad standing by with that.
What's up there -- Rym?
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, well, the Iraqi foreign minister has written to the U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to complain about holes that were pierced in a fence between -- in a demilitarized zone between Iraq and Kuwait on the Kuwaiti side. Now, those holes were discovered yesterday by the U.N. force that monitors that demilitarized zone.
The foreign minister also complained to the secretary-general of the United Nations that the United States was dropping leaflets in the south of Iraq, urging Iraqi soldiers not to defend the southern Iraqi port of Umm Qasr (ph) if it were attacked and to surrender to U.S. forces. The Iraqi foreign ministry saying this is a violation of the United Nations charter.
Now, so far here on the ground, Carol, the destruction of the Al Samoud missiles continues, six Al Samoud missiles to be destroyed today. Now, that would bring to 52 the total number of missiles that Iraq will have destroyed. That's less than half of what they're believed to have.
And in response to a newspaper article in a British newspaper saying that U.N. weapons inspectors had found an unmanned drone, well, a spokesman from UNMOVIC here says the chief U.N. weapons inspector, Hans Blix, had suggested a question or had questioned that issue in a report delivered to members of the United Nations Security Council. But also the UNMOVIC spokesman saying that Iraq did declare the presence, the development in the past two years of two types of drones, not necessarily the ones in the British newspaper report, but the U.N. weapons inspectors are still investigating at this state -- at this stage -- Carol.
COSTELLO: A lot more to come about the new discoveries in Iraq. Rym Brahimi reporting live from Baghdad.
And just 60 miles southeast of Baghdad, from where Rym was just reporting form, coalition aircraft attacked five unmanned underground military communication sites. U.S. officials say the strikes followed the launch earlier in the day of a surface-to-air missile at allied aircraft patrolling the southern no-fly zone.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Iraq>
