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U.N. Evacuating Weapons Inspectors from Iraq Today

Aired March 18, 2003 - 06:01   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.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We take you now live to Baghdad, where our Rym Brahimi is standing by live.
You've got some breaking information for us in the last hour. Is that Arab League official coming to Iraq or not?

RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, we've just received some measure of clarification from Iraqi officials on the expected visit of the secretary general of the Arab League, Amr Moussa. Now, he's still expected, we understand, Iraqi officials are still waiting for him at the airport, although he's not expected as early as they thought it would be, maybe an hour-and-a-half, a couple of hours, according, again to Iraqi officials who earlier told us that he was about to land anytime soon.

Now, the secretary general of the Arab League, Amr Moussa, has been to Baghdad before. He was here in January of 2002 last year and met with President Saddam Hussein. He was also expected to arrive on Friday with a delegation of foreign ministers from several Arab countries and that didn't happen. Iraqi officials say that they don't know exactly what message he'll be carrying.

Now, the international airport here in Baghdad a busy place today, a busy scene, as it's also the place where the U.N. international staff workers are leaving from. Some of them are already in Cyprus from what we understand. Of course, they include the inspection teams that were here since November fulfilling that Resolution 1441.

Let's listen to Hiro Ueki, the spokesman of the U.N. weapons inspectors, before he left from Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HIRO UEKI, UNSCOM SPOKESMAN: It's unfortunate that we have to leave now. I think we have done our part. Our job is not finished, but I think all of the inspectors and the support staff have done our best.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRAHIMI: Now, Hiro Ueki expressing some measure of frustration. Some inspectors we've spoke to actually said that they were disappointed, because they felt they were doing some -- making progress here in Baghdad.

Of course, that departure not a good sign for ordinary Iraqis, who've been here before, they're been down that road before, and they know that it's a sign of impending attacks probably.

Back to you -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Rym, a question for you. This Arab League official, if he does arrive in Iraq, is there any way that he can convince Saddam Hussein to go into exile?

BRAHIMI: That's a tricky issue, Carol. There is the possibility that he might actually be carrying that sort of message with the idea that maybe coming from him, it wouldn’t be perceived by the Iraqi leadership as offensive as coming from President Bush.

That said, there seems to be -- if that were the case, then he would -- and again, we're only speculating here, he would maybe only be trying to especially make a public show of efforts to avert a war, because, of course, as you know, many Arab countries are concerned that the public opinion in the Arab world will react very strongly to any attack against Iraq.

So, it may be more a sign that the Arab world is trying to do something rather than just sit by and watch. That said, a lot of Arab countries do have U.S. troops on their soil, a source of major concern for Iraq, that Iraqi officials have recently blasted those Arab countries for that same reason -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Understand. Rym Brahimi reporting live from Baghdad -- we appreciate your report.

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 18, 2003 - 06:01   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We take you now live to Baghdad, where our Rym Brahimi is standing by live.
You've got some breaking information for us in the last hour. Is that Arab League official coming to Iraq or not?

RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, we've just received some measure of clarification from Iraqi officials on the expected visit of the secretary general of the Arab League, Amr Moussa. Now, he's still expected, we understand, Iraqi officials are still waiting for him at the airport, although he's not expected as early as they thought it would be, maybe an hour-and-a-half, a couple of hours, according, again to Iraqi officials who earlier told us that he was about to land anytime soon.

Now, the secretary general of the Arab League, Amr Moussa, has been to Baghdad before. He was here in January of 2002 last year and met with President Saddam Hussein. He was also expected to arrive on Friday with a delegation of foreign ministers from several Arab countries and that didn't happen. Iraqi officials say that they don't know exactly what message he'll be carrying.

Now, the international airport here in Baghdad a busy place today, a busy scene, as it's also the place where the U.N. international staff workers are leaving from. Some of them are already in Cyprus from what we understand. Of course, they include the inspection teams that were here since November fulfilling that Resolution 1441.

Let's listen to Hiro Ueki, the spokesman of the U.N. weapons inspectors, before he left from Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HIRO UEKI, UNSCOM SPOKESMAN: It's unfortunate that we have to leave now. I think we have done our part. Our job is not finished, but I think all of the inspectors and the support staff have done our best.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRAHIMI: Now, Hiro Ueki expressing some measure of frustration. Some inspectors we've spoke to actually said that they were disappointed, because they felt they were doing some -- making progress here in Baghdad.

Of course, that departure not a good sign for ordinary Iraqis, who've been here before, they're been down that road before, and they know that it's a sign of impending attacks probably.

Back to you -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Rym, a question for you. This Arab League official, if he does arrive in Iraq, is there any way that he can convince Saddam Hussein to go into exile?

BRAHIMI: That's a tricky issue, Carol. There is the possibility that he might actually be carrying that sort of message with the idea that maybe coming from him, it wouldn’t be perceived by the Iraqi leadership as offensive as coming from President Bush.

That said, there seems to be -- if that were the case, then he would -- and again, we're only speculating here, he would maybe only be trying to especially make a public show of efforts to avert a war, because, of course, as you know, many Arab countries are concerned that the public opinion in the Arab world will react very strongly to any attack against Iraq.

So, it may be more a sign that the Arab world is trying to do something rather than just sit by and watch. That said, a lot of Arab countries do have U.S. troops on their soil, a source of major concern for Iraq, that Iraqi officials have recently blasted those Arab countries for that same reason -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Understand. Rym Brahimi reporting live from Baghdad -- we appreciate your report.

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