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CNN Live Today
Vote on Resolution Possibly Tomorrow
Aired March 10, 2003 - 10:01 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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell says the time for indecision is rapidly fleeting, and the United States is now within -- quote -- "striking distance" of winning U.N. support for war.
Here is how the time frame is unfolding in the critical days ahead. The White House has told Security Council members to expect a vote by tomorrow on a new U.S.-British resolution on Iraq. The U.N. says Iraq has indicated it will submit a more detailed report, possibly this week, on the -- nerve gas and anthrax it claims to have destroyed in the 1990s, and the Washington-backed resolution would set a deadline of next Monday demanding Iraq's full, unconditional, and immediate cooperation in disarmament and disclosure.
Let's begin with the diplomatic deadline at the United Nations. CNN Senior U.N. Correspondent Richard Roth is at his post with the latest maneuvers on both sides -- Richard.
RICHARD ROTH, CNN SENIOR U.N. CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Fredricka. But first, that deadline only holds if the resolution is approved, and the United States, Britain, and Spain are working towards that goal. The U.S. said a vote could come as early as Tuesday, but diplomats here expect that to slip a day or two at least.
Many countries are pushing the United States to give Iraq more time, days, weeks to comply with the weapons inspectors and their pursuit. The politics still goes on though, the hunt for votes. The French foreign minister Dominique de Villepin in Africa on a three- country swing of those undecided members who sit on the Security Council.
Here he is arriving in Angola. Angola an oil-rich country, but wracked by decades of civil war. It gets a lot of assistance from France and the U.S., and it is going to need a lot more to get on its feet. But so, Angola being undecided. Its ambassador here on Friday telling us he didn't like the draft resolution because it didn't give Iraq more time to comply. Britain and the U.S. will keep the pressure on. There are consultations that are supposed to start here at 4:00 Eastern time, but no vote is expected. We may get some indications, though, on the timing of a vote -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right, Richard. Thanks very much. See you soon.
Now, let's get the view from inside Iraq. CNN Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson is in the capital city of Baghdad -- Nic. NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, another six Al Samoud 2 missiles destroyed this day. U.N. officials also saying three of the warheads for the missiles were destroyed as well. This has been a day not of high political activity, but certainly political rumblings here.
President Saddam Hussein has met a Russian envoy, the speaker of the Russian Duma, Gennady Seleznyov, expecting their mutual cooperation between the two countries. Also, we've heard from Iraq's foreign minister today. He sent a letter to Kofi Annan, the U.N. secretary-general, criticizing the holes that have been appearing in the fence in the demilitarized zone between Iraq and Kuwait, saying that the buildup of troops inside Kuwait was a violation of the U.N. charter, and the very fact that Kuwait was hosting these international troops who appear to be waiting to invade Iraq, said that Kuwait should be criticized on that issue, again for violating the charter of the U.N.
So, many smaller things happening here, also Iraq's foreign ministry complaining and criticizing about the United States' call to a number of countries around the world to expel Iraqi diplomats who the United States say have been essentially not involved in diplomatic missions, but have been involved in activities outside of that, possibly spying.
Now, Iraq's foreign ministry confirming that one of their diplomats in Australia has been expelled, but also saying that they understand from their embassies not only in Austria, Belgium and Romania that their embassies there have diplomats whose role has been called into question, but so far those diplomats have not been expelled from those countries. Iraq's foreign ministry has characterized these moves as a hysterical effort by the CIA to get some of Iraq's diplomats to defect from Iraq. And Iraq has warned a number of countries against following United States pressure on this issue -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Well, Nic, let me ask you about one of the White House's latest accusations that there is this buried evidence that Iraq has this banned drone. What are Iraqi officials saying about that?
ROBERTSON: Well, we've had nothing official at the moment from Iraqi politicians on that. What we do know is that in the past, Iraq declared that in its past weapons program, it was in 1988, developing drones that it hoped could deliver chemical and biological agents.
Now, they say they gave up that program because they didn't think it was effective. We also know that Iraq declared in its recent weapons declaration back in December two drones that it said were capable of only going 100 kilometers. Now, that is inside the U.N. range of 150 kilometers that drones are allowed to fly.
However, the U.N. says it has now discovered a drone with a wing span of 7.45 meters. This is a drone the U.N. says that Iraq didn't declare. Because Iraq hasn't declared it, the U.N. says, they don't know how far it is capable of flying. What they say they need to do, the U.N. says they need to investigate this specific drone, see what its aerial capabilities are, and if it is capable of going further than 150 kilometers, then it would be in violation of U.N. restrictions and regulations -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right, Nic, thank you very much, from Baghdad.
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 10, 2003 - 10:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell says the time for indecision is rapidly fleeting, and the United States is now within -- quote -- "striking distance" of winning U.N. support for war.
Here is how the time frame is unfolding in the critical days ahead. The White House has told Security Council members to expect a vote by tomorrow on a new U.S.-British resolution on Iraq. The U.N. says Iraq has indicated it will submit a more detailed report, possibly this week, on the -- nerve gas and anthrax it claims to have destroyed in the 1990s, and the Washington-backed resolution would set a deadline of next Monday demanding Iraq's full, unconditional, and immediate cooperation in disarmament and disclosure.
Let's begin with the diplomatic deadline at the United Nations. CNN Senior U.N. Correspondent Richard Roth is at his post with the latest maneuvers on both sides -- Richard.
RICHARD ROTH, CNN SENIOR U.N. CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Fredricka. But first, that deadline only holds if the resolution is approved, and the United States, Britain, and Spain are working towards that goal. The U.S. said a vote could come as early as Tuesday, but diplomats here expect that to slip a day or two at least.
Many countries are pushing the United States to give Iraq more time, days, weeks to comply with the weapons inspectors and their pursuit. The politics still goes on though, the hunt for votes. The French foreign minister Dominique de Villepin in Africa on a three- country swing of those undecided members who sit on the Security Council.
Here he is arriving in Angola. Angola an oil-rich country, but wracked by decades of civil war. It gets a lot of assistance from France and the U.S., and it is going to need a lot more to get on its feet. But so, Angola being undecided. Its ambassador here on Friday telling us he didn't like the draft resolution because it didn't give Iraq more time to comply. Britain and the U.S. will keep the pressure on. There are consultations that are supposed to start here at 4:00 Eastern time, but no vote is expected. We may get some indications, though, on the timing of a vote -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right, Richard. Thanks very much. See you soon.
Now, let's get the view from inside Iraq. CNN Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson is in the capital city of Baghdad -- Nic. NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, another six Al Samoud 2 missiles destroyed this day. U.N. officials also saying three of the warheads for the missiles were destroyed as well. This has been a day not of high political activity, but certainly political rumblings here.
President Saddam Hussein has met a Russian envoy, the speaker of the Russian Duma, Gennady Seleznyov, expecting their mutual cooperation between the two countries. Also, we've heard from Iraq's foreign minister today. He sent a letter to Kofi Annan, the U.N. secretary-general, criticizing the holes that have been appearing in the fence in the demilitarized zone between Iraq and Kuwait, saying that the buildup of troops inside Kuwait was a violation of the U.N. charter, and the very fact that Kuwait was hosting these international troops who appear to be waiting to invade Iraq, said that Kuwait should be criticized on that issue, again for violating the charter of the U.N.
So, many smaller things happening here, also Iraq's foreign ministry complaining and criticizing about the United States' call to a number of countries around the world to expel Iraqi diplomats who the United States say have been essentially not involved in diplomatic missions, but have been involved in activities outside of that, possibly spying.
Now, Iraq's foreign ministry confirming that one of their diplomats in Australia has been expelled, but also saying that they understand from their embassies not only in Austria, Belgium and Romania that their embassies there have diplomats whose role has been called into question, but so far those diplomats have not been expelled from those countries. Iraq's foreign ministry has characterized these moves as a hysterical effort by the CIA to get some of Iraq's diplomats to defect from Iraq. And Iraq has warned a number of countries against following United States pressure on this issue -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Well, Nic, let me ask you about one of the White House's latest accusations that there is this buried evidence that Iraq has this banned drone. What are Iraqi officials saying about that?
ROBERTSON: Well, we've had nothing official at the moment from Iraqi politicians on that. What we do know is that in the past, Iraq declared that in its past weapons program, it was in 1988, developing drones that it hoped could deliver chemical and biological agents.
Now, they say they gave up that program because they didn't think it was effective. We also know that Iraq declared in its recent weapons declaration back in December two drones that it said were capable of only going 100 kilometers. Now, that is inside the U.N. range of 150 kilometers that drones are allowed to fly.
However, the U.N. says it has now discovered a drone with a wing span of 7.45 meters. This is a drone the U.N. says that Iraq didn't declare. Because Iraq hasn't declared it, the U.N. says, they don't know how far it is capable of flying. What they say they need to do, the U.N. says they need to investigate this specific drone, see what its aerial capabilities are, and if it is capable of going further than 150 kilometers, then it would be in violation of U.N. restrictions and regulations -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right, Nic, thank you very much, from Baghdad.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
