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CNN Live At Daybreak
British Compromise on Iraq Creating Buzz
Aired March 13, 2003 - 05:08 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: OK, more now on that British compromise on Iraq that's creating a lot of buzz at the United Nations. Britain says it will consider dropping the March 17th ultimatum for Iraq to disarm if Baghdad completes a must do list.
Our Richard Roth has details for you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was a last ditch diplomatic appeal by the British to win votes from undecided Security Council nations. Britain introduced six so-called benchmarks or conditions that Iraq must obey or face military force. To demonstrate cooperation, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein would have to make a statement in Arabic on state radio and television announcing Iraq has concealed weapons of mass destruction and now renounces their use.
Benchmark two, at least 30 Iraqi scientists would be made available for interviews outside of Iraq. Baghdad would also have to surrender and explain all anthrax it possesses. Ten thousand liters is one U.N. estimate. Iraq would also have to destroy all remaining Al Samoud missiles and components.
Condition five says Iraq would have to give evidence on all unmanned aerial vehicles and it would have to surrender all mobile chemical and biological production facilities.
JEREMY GREENSTOCK, BRITISH AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: This is a trial balloon for an alternative approach to see if we can keep the Council together and adopt a resolution that will work.
ROTH: Britain badly needs a second resolution back home and assigning tests for Iraq to cooperate is one way of garnering support from uncommitted delegates. But Britain was all alone on this move. The co-sponsors of the existing resolution on the table, the U.S. and Spain, were conspicuously absent from the benchmarks idea. The deadline of March 17th for the resolution still holds, though a veto from Russia or France is a very live possibility. The British benchmarks are not even an official document, but may be the last maneuvering before a climactic vote, possibly on Friday.
JOHN NEGROPONTE, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: If there's some traction and if the Council starts to coalesce around that approach, then an option available to us is a modest extension, a very, very, very brief extension, indeed, of that deadline.
ROTH: A confident Russia could afford to have some fun with the benchmarks.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Those benches on which you are sitting, are they leaving marks?
ROTH (on camera): Germany said who's going to judge whether Iraq has, indeed, accomplished the benchmarks? One other diplomat said the U.S. and Britain were trying to play sneaky games. However, if this trial balloon gets off the ground, it may be Baghdad's last hope of avoiding military force.
Richard Roth, CNN, United Nations.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Word out of Paris in the last few minutes, this just in to CNN, that France will not support this British proposal. France's foreign minister says the British plan is not a realistic deadline. He says the world wants a peaceful solution to the situation with Iraq, not a plan to merely push back the war a few more days.
Again, France is not going to support that new British-sponsored resolution.
We'll talk more about these British benchmarks and that resolution in the next hour of DAYBREAK when we give a wake up call to our State Department producer Elise Labott.
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 13, 2003 - 05:08 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: OK, more now on that British compromise on Iraq that's creating a lot of buzz at the United Nations. Britain says it will consider dropping the March 17th ultimatum for Iraq to disarm if Baghdad completes a must do list.
Our Richard Roth has details for you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was a last ditch diplomatic appeal by the British to win votes from undecided Security Council nations. Britain introduced six so-called benchmarks or conditions that Iraq must obey or face military force. To demonstrate cooperation, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein would have to make a statement in Arabic on state radio and television announcing Iraq has concealed weapons of mass destruction and now renounces their use.
Benchmark two, at least 30 Iraqi scientists would be made available for interviews outside of Iraq. Baghdad would also have to surrender and explain all anthrax it possesses. Ten thousand liters is one U.N. estimate. Iraq would also have to destroy all remaining Al Samoud missiles and components.
Condition five says Iraq would have to give evidence on all unmanned aerial vehicles and it would have to surrender all mobile chemical and biological production facilities.
JEREMY GREENSTOCK, BRITISH AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: This is a trial balloon for an alternative approach to see if we can keep the Council together and adopt a resolution that will work.
ROTH: Britain badly needs a second resolution back home and assigning tests for Iraq to cooperate is one way of garnering support from uncommitted delegates. But Britain was all alone on this move. The co-sponsors of the existing resolution on the table, the U.S. and Spain, were conspicuously absent from the benchmarks idea. The deadline of March 17th for the resolution still holds, though a veto from Russia or France is a very live possibility. The British benchmarks are not even an official document, but may be the last maneuvering before a climactic vote, possibly on Friday.
JOHN NEGROPONTE, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: If there's some traction and if the Council starts to coalesce around that approach, then an option available to us is a modest extension, a very, very, very brief extension, indeed, of that deadline.
ROTH: A confident Russia could afford to have some fun with the benchmarks.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Those benches on which you are sitting, are they leaving marks?
ROTH (on camera): Germany said who's going to judge whether Iraq has, indeed, accomplished the benchmarks? One other diplomat said the U.S. and Britain were trying to play sneaky games. However, if this trial balloon gets off the ground, it may be Baghdad's last hope of avoiding military force.
Richard Roth, CNN, United Nations.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Word out of Paris in the last few minutes, this just in to CNN, that France will not support this British proposal. France's foreign minister says the British plan is not a realistic deadline. He says the world wants a peaceful solution to the situation with Iraq, not a plan to merely push back the war a few more days.
Again, France is not going to support that new British-sponsored resolution.
We'll talk more about these British benchmarks and that resolution in the next hour of DAYBREAK when we give a wake up call to our State Department producer Elise Labott.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
