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CNN Live At Daybreak
Blair Mentions Benchmarks Hussein Would Have to Meet to Avoid War
Aired March 12, 2003 - 08:34 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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: The U.S. complained loudly that evidence of an Iraqi drone that could deliver chemical weapons was buried in the last report to the U.N. by the chief weapons inspector. And this morning, British Prime Minister Tony Blair mentioned some benchmarks that Saddam Hussein would have to meet to avoid war and, among them, would be having Iraq to account for that aerial drone discovered by inspectors.
CNN has actually toured a facility where the drones were made. Let's go to Baghdad now, where Nic Robertson is standing by to bring us up to date all of that.
Good morning, Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
While Iraqi engineers at the site where this drone is located just north of Baghdad said they had put the drone together for the visit by journalists. Now, what Iraqi officials appear to be trying to do here is to put on display this aircraft, they call it a remotely piloted vehicle, that is at the center of all the questions right now. It has a wingspan of 7.45 meters. What the U.N. says, they're still investigating this particular aircraft. They need to determine whether or not Iraq designed it to deliver chemical or biological weapons, and whether or not it's designed to go behind 150 kilometers, about 93 miles, that's the U.N. limit for these particular aircraft.
Now this aircraft that Iraq had on display today, it had bits of duct tape holding some parts of it together. It appeared to be very much a prototype. What Iraqi officials are saying is is that this aircraft is not designed to carry weapons of mass destruction. They say it is for video surveillance. They say it can carry a payload of about 20 kilograms, and they say the distance that it can go is only about 18 miles or so, and they say it is only designed to go that distance when flying at a very small circle. So Iraqi officials trying very hard to knock down those allegations that this particular drone is breaking U.N. resolutions -- Paula.
ZAHN: Speaking of resolutions. I don't know how much of the prime minister's speech you heard this morning where Tony Blair laid out some very specific disarmament conditions that Iraq would have to meet. Among them, Iraq allowing 30 key weapons inspectors to travel to Cyprus to be interviewed. Now this is not a part yet of the official second resolution, but very well maybe at the end of the debate. Any initial reaction there to any of these benchmarks? ROBERTSON: No initial reaction so far. Now, if we look over the last three months, the U.N. inspectors here have interviewed less than a dozen, less than 12 Iraqi scientists so far. And these interviews have all taken place in Iraq. So this gives you an indication of how high that benchmark of 30 interviews outside the country would be. The U.S. says they will ask for these interviews outside, but whenever the government officials here have been asked about that, they say, yes, we encourage the scientists, but they say, no, we wouldn't go outside the country for interviews. It seems to be a very, very big hurdle, at this stage at least.
One of the other things that Prime Minister Tony Blair has called for is for President Saddam Hussein to appear on television and denounce weapons of mass destruction. Well, President Saddam Hussein has been on television here a number of times, and he does talk about weapons of mass destruction as being something that, a, Iraq doesn't have, and Iraq doesn't believe in. So the wording of any such on- camera statement from President Saddam Hussein would clearly be scrutinized very, very careful for containing the type of language the British government and presumably the rest of the U.N. would be looking for -- Paula.
ZAHN: All right, Nic. We're going to have to leave it there. Nic Robertson reporting from Baghdad this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
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Aired March 12, 2003 - 08:34 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: The U.S. complained loudly that evidence of an Iraqi drone that could deliver chemical weapons was buried in the last report to the U.N. by the chief weapons inspector. And this morning, British Prime Minister Tony Blair mentioned some benchmarks that Saddam Hussein would have to meet to avoid war and, among them, would be having Iraq to account for that aerial drone discovered by inspectors.
CNN has actually toured a facility where the drones were made. Let's go to Baghdad now, where Nic Robertson is standing by to bring us up to date all of that.
Good morning, Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
While Iraqi engineers at the site where this drone is located just north of Baghdad said they had put the drone together for the visit by journalists. Now, what Iraqi officials appear to be trying to do here is to put on display this aircraft, they call it a remotely piloted vehicle, that is at the center of all the questions right now. It has a wingspan of 7.45 meters. What the U.N. says, they're still investigating this particular aircraft. They need to determine whether or not Iraq designed it to deliver chemical or biological weapons, and whether or not it's designed to go behind 150 kilometers, about 93 miles, that's the U.N. limit for these particular aircraft.
Now this aircraft that Iraq had on display today, it had bits of duct tape holding some parts of it together. It appeared to be very much a prototype. What Iraqi officials are saying is is that this aircraft is not designed to carry weapons of mass destruction. They say it is for video surveillance. They say it can carry a payload of about 20 kilograms, and they say the distance that it can go is only about 18 miles or so, and they say it is only designed to go that distance when flying at a very small circle. So Iraqi officials trying very hard to knock down those allegations that this particular drone is breaking U.N. resolutions -- Paula.
ZAHN: Speaking of resolutions. I don't know how much of the prime minister's speech you heard this morning where Tony Blair laid out some very specific disarmament conditions that Iraq would have to meet. Among them, Iraq allowing 30 key weapons inspectors to travel to Cyprus to be interviewed. Now this is not a part yet of the official second resolution, but very well maybe at the end of the debate. Any initial reaction there to any of these benchmarks? ROBERTSON: No initial reaction so far. Now, if we look over the last three months, the U.N. inspectors here have interviewed less than a dozen, less than 12 Iraqi scientists so far. And these interviews have all taken place in Iraq. So this gives you an indication of how high that benchmark of 30 interviews outside the country would be. The U.S. says they will ask for these interviews outside, but whenever the government officials here have been asked about that, they say, yes, we encourage the scientists, but they say, no, we wouldn't go outside the country for interviews. It seems to be a very, very big hurdle, at this stage at least.
One of the other things that Prime Minister Tony Blair has called for is for President Saddam Hussein to appear on television and denounce weapons of mass destruction. Well, President Saddam Hussein has been on television here a number of times, and he does talk about weapons of mass destruction as being something that, a, Iraq doesn't have, and Iraq doesn't believe in. So the wording of any such on- camera statement from President Saddam Hussein would clearly be scrutinized very, very careful for containing the type of language the British government and presumably the rest of the U.N. would be looking for -- Paula.
ZAHN: All right, Nic. We're going to have to leave it there. Nic Robertson reporting from Baghdad this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
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