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CNN Live At Daybreak
U.N. Experts to Inspect Iraqi Nuclear Plant
Aired June 06, 2003 - 06:35 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. That's 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.
But the other development this morning, they are back. United Nations nuclear experts are going back into Iraq.
Live to Baghdad now and Jane Arraf to tell us why.
Good morning -- Jane.
JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Good morning, Carol.
Well, they're back in a very limited sense. They're on their way from Kuwait, a small team of experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency, the IAEA.
Now, these are the people who are safeguarding what was left of Iraq's secret nuclear weapons program. A lot of this is at the site that they are going to be concentrating on. It's called al-Tuwaitha, and it's about 30 miles from Baghdad. It's where there was a nuclear reactor bomb destroyed. That nuclear program finished, but the remnants of it -- low-enriched uranium and other radioactive materials -- were sealed in barrels by the IAEA. They've been checked every year.
But after this war, the nearby villages, people in the villages looted that site and took home the barrels, dumping out the uranium and using them for things like storing water, obviously a potentially horrendous safety problem, and the potential as well for being able -- running the risk of somebody being able to make a crude bomb from the remnants of this.
Now, this team is coming in under very strict rules. The United States has made clear they're not inspecting, they're not going to be looking at other nuclear sites, they are simply here to assess the damage and see what can be done at this particular site -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Jane Arraf reporting live 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.
Aired June 6, 2003 - 06:35 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. That's 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.
But the other development this morning, they are back. United Nations nuclear experts are going back into Iraq.
Live to Baghdad now and Jane Arraf to tell us why.
Good morning -- Jane.
JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Good morning, Carol.
Well, they're back in a very limited sense. They're on their way from Kuwait, a small team of experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency, the IAEA.
Now, these are the people who are safeguarding what was left of Iraq's secret nuclear weapons program. A lot of this is at the site that they are going to be concentrating on. It's called al-Tuwaitha, and it's about 30 miles from Baghdad. It's where there was a nuclear reactor bomb destroyed. That nuclear program finished, but the remnants of it -- low-enriched uranium and other radioactive materials -- were sealed in barrels by the IAEA. They've been checked every year.
But after this war, the nearby villages, people in the villages looted that site and took home the barrels, dumping out the uranium and using them for things like storing water, obviously a potentially horrendous safety problem, and the potential as well for being able -- running the risk of somebody being able to make a crude bomb from the remnants of this.
Now, this team is coming in under very strict rules. The United States has made clear they're not inspecting, they're not going to be looking at other nuclear sites, they are simply here to assess the damage and see what can be done at this particular site -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Jane Arraf reporting live 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.
