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CNN Live At Daybreak
U.N. Experts to Check Iraqi Nuclear Plant
Aired June 06, 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: Hit and run in Iraq, it has happened again; this time in Khaldiya, which is 45 miles west of Baghdad. Unidentified men fired rocket-propelled grenades at an American tank. No U.S. soldiers were hurt or killed in the attack.
The other development this morning, they are back. United Nations nuclear experts are going back into Iraq.
Let's take you live to Baghdad now.
Jane Arraf -- tell us why they're there.
JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Carol, these are safety experts who are arriving, a small team of them, under a very tight leash. Now, they're arriving to find out exactly how bad the damage is at one of Iraq's major nuclear sites. It's called Tuwaitha, and it's quite close to Baghdad, about 30 miles away. It's the site of a former secret weapons program. It was destroyed.
But what was left were remnants of radioactive materials, depleted uranium, low-enriched uranium and other things, which were in sealed barrels by the IAEA, the groups that's arriving today, the International Atomic Energy Agency based in Vienna.
Now, with the war, villagers from nearby villages ran amok in that facility and looted this. They took back those barrels not knowing what they were used for and started using them for things like water, which obviously poses significant potential health hazards.
This team is coming to try to figure out what's been lost, what it can do about it, and how it can restore some sort of safety to that particular site. The U.S., though, makes clear that that is the scope of the mission. It's not going to let them inspect other sites. It's not going to let them inspect at all, in fact. It's made clear that it believes that that, starting from now on, is a U.S. and British job -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Yes, but you have to wonder, Jane, I mean, the U.N. inspectors have been itching to get back into Iraq. Is this just, you know, a tiny first step, or is this it?
ARRAF: This really seems to be a very limited mission, given the constraints that the U.S. is putting on it. Now, the International Atomic Energy Agency had actually warned the United States that it really needed to secure with its troops that nuclear facility. The U.S. for whatever reason couldn't do that. And right now, they're basically doing damage control. But in that bigger picture that you're asking about, it seems very clear that there is not a role under a U.S.-led administration here for U.N. weapons inspectors. They have been totally sidelined. And the U.S. and Britain, obviously under considerable pressure to come up with some sort of weapons of mass destruction, believe that they can do the job better than the U.N. weapons inspectors, who are still saying there is no evidence that they existed -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, Jane Arraf live 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 June 6, 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: Hit and run in Iraq, it has happened again; this time in Khaldiya, which is 45 miles west of Baghdad. Unidentified men fired rocket-propelled grenades at an American tank. No U.S. soldiers were hurt or killed in the attack.
The other development this morning, they are back. United Nations nuclear experts are going back into Iraq.
Let's take you live to Baghdad now.
Jane Arraf -- tell us why they're there.
JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Carol, these are safety experts who are arriving, a small team of them, under a very tight leash. Now, they're arriving to find out exactly how bad the damage is at one of Iraq's major nuclear sites. It's called Tuwaitha, and it's quite close to Baghdad, about 30 miles away. It's the site of a former secret weapons program. It was destroyed.
But what was left were remnants of radioactive materials, depleted uranium, low-enriched uranium and other things, which were in sealed barrels by the IAEA, the groups that's arriving today, the International Atomic Energy Agency based in Vienna.
Now, with the war, villagers from nearby villages ran amok in that facility and looted this. They took back those barrels not knowing what they were used for and started using them for things like water, which obviously poses significant potential health hazards.
This team is coming to try to figure out what's been lost, what it can do about it, and how it can restore some sort of safety to that particular site. The U.S., though, makes clear that that is the scope of the mission. It's not going to let them inspect other sites. It's not going to let them inspect at all, in fact. It's made clear that it believes that that, starting from now on, is a U.S. and British job -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Yes, but you have to wonder, Jane, I mean, the U.N. inspectors have been itching to get back into Iraq. Is this just, you know, a tiny first step, or is this it?
ARRAF: This really seems to be a very limited mission, given the constraints that the U.S. is putting on it. Now, the International Atomic Energy Agency had actually warned the United States that it really needed to secure with its troops that nuclear facility. The U.S. for whatever reason couldn't do that. And right now, they're basically doing damage control. But in that bigger picture that you're asking about, it seems very clear that there is not a role under a U.S.-led administration here for U.N. weapons inspectors. They have been totally sidelined. And the U.S. and Britain, obviously under considerable pressure to come up with some sort of weapons of mass destruction, believe that they can do the job better than the U.N. weapons inspectors, who are still saying there is no evidence that they existed -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, Jane Arraf live 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.
