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CNN Live At Daybreak

Another Attack on Americans in Iraq

Aired June 26, 2003 - 05:02   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: Another attack on Americans in Iraq. CNN Baghdad bureau chief Jane Arraf joins us live with details on this latest attack -- Jane, tell us what happened.
JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, reports are still coming in. But reports are still coming in, but the reports are that a soldier has been killed on what appears to have been an ambush on the main highway in Baghdad leading to the airport. Now, the airport has been turned into one of the main military bases and that road is the one that's most often used by U.S. convoys.

Unclear whether it was an attack in terms of firing or a grenade thrown at the convoy or an explosive device laid on the ground. The U.S. military here is not confirming the death. They're saying they're aware of an incident. We're still getting details in.

We are at the scene, but there are bloodstains on that road and clearly something terrible happened this morning on that road to the airport.

In addition, Central Command, the U.S. Central Command is saying that one Marine died and two others were hurt when their armored vehicle rolled over as they were going to the aid of colleagues who were ambushed on the road near another site. It's Hillah, about 60 miles south of here. Now, that is an area traditionally thought to be safe. But this incident apparently occurred yesterday, an ambush of U.S. Marines.

Again, one soldier killed and two others hurt in that when they were rushing to their aid and their vehicle rolled over -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, we'll let you gather more information and we'll get back to you in our next half hour.

Jane Arraf live from Baghdad this morning.

Also coming out of Iraq, critical pieces of nuclear technology now in the hands of the CIA. The components had been buried in a backyard in Baghdad underneath a rose bush for 12 years.

CNN was given an exclusive look at the parts.

We get more details from David Ensor.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID ENSOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): CNN has learned that the Central Intelligence Agency has in its hands the critical parts of a key piece of Iraqi nuclear technology, parts needed to develop a bomb program that were hidden in a backyard in Baghdad.

The parts were dug up by this man, Iraqi scientist Mahdi Obeidi, who had hidden them under a rose bush 12 years ago under orders from Qusay Hussein and Saddam Hussein's then son-in-law, Hussein Kamal.

They are the key parts and documents for reconstructing a sophisticated gas centrifuge system for enriching uranium for bombs, shown exclusively to CNN at CIA headquarters in Virginia.

Former U.N. arms inspector David Kay, now in charge of the CIA effort, started work earlier this week in Baghdad.

We spoke to him about the case over a secure teleconferencing line from CIA headquarters.

DAVID KAY, SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO CIA DIRECTOR: It begins to tell us how huge our job is. Remember, his material was buried in a barrel behind his house in a rose garden. There's no way that that would have been discovered by normal international inspections. I couldn't have done it, my successors couldn't have done it.

ENSOR: The gas centrifuge equipment dates back to Iraq's pre- 1991 efforts to build nuclear weapons. Experts say the documents and pieces Obeidi gave the U.S. were the critical information and parts to restart a nuclear weapons program and would have saved Saddam's regime several years and as much a hundreds of millions for research.

(on camera): What did you think about seeing all this stuff on a table in the CIA?

KAY: It was a realization I hadn't gotten all the parts. I certainly hadn't gotten all the documentation. So there was a moment, a pang of regret. But there was also a, almost an exhilaration that now maybe we have a chance to take this to the very bottom.

ENSOR: U.S. officials emphasize this is not a smoking gun. This is not evidence Iraq had a nuclear weapon, but it is evidence the Iraqis concealed plans to reconstitute their nuclear program as soon as the world was no longer looking.

(on camera): CNN had this story last week but made a decision to withhold it from broadcast after a request from the U.S. government, citing safety and national security concerns. The U.S. government has now told us the security and safety issues have been dealt with and there's no risk now in telling the story fully.

David Ensor, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And the Iraqi scientist who dug up those nuclear parts and documents from his rose garden spoke exclusively with CNN's Mike Boettcher.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE BOETTCHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is why Mahdi Obeidi, the Iraqi nuclear scientist, says he came forward.

MAHDI OBEIDI, IRAQI NUCLEAR SCIENTIST: A complete system that can reconstitute a nuclear program would be something that, if it could fall in the hands of dictators or terrorists or any other group, it might really do and play havoc on the destiny of humanity. And therefore I felt it is an obligation, an urge that I should take these things, I mean, which involved designs, documents and a critical centrifuge materials, to take it into safe hands.

BOETTCHER: We can't tell you where we interviewed Obeidi, only that he and his family are now safely out of Iraq. He says he has turned over parts and plans required to make a gas centrifuge, a key tool for enriching uranium to make nuclear bomb material. But he says he wasn't the only scientist ordered to hide this kind of equipment.

OBEIDI: I heard maybe more than three other copies and I think it's quite important to look at this so that they would not fall in the hands of the wrong people.

BOETTCHER: He says if the Iraqi government had retrieved the documents and parts, it would have shortened the time needed for Iraq to make a nuclear weapon by three years.

OBEIDI: There was that intention and there was that concealment mechanism and it was awaiting the right time.

BOETTCHER (on camera): But mysteriously, even after U.N. weapons inspectors left Iraq in 1998, Obeidi says he was not ordered to dig up the documents. Still, he believes as long as Saddam Hussein was in power, some day that order was going to come.

Mike Boettcher, CNN, reporting from the Middle East.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: The scientist Obeidi also tells CNN he believes other Iraqi scientists will come forward. He says they're watching to see if he'll be safe after cooperating with the United States.

And that's something former U.N. weapons inspector David Albright agrees with.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID ALBRIGHT, FORMER WEAPONS INSPECTOR: He wanted to work to set an example where Iraqi scientists could come forward and cooperate with the United States and they would get some kind of reward, or at least their safety would be guaranteed. And so his example says look, you can't just try to detain or arrest Iraqis and expect them to cooperate. You have to have a program where you may need to take key Iraqis and their families out of Iraq, help them reestablish a life, perhaps in the United States or Europe, and then you may find a lot more. (END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Albright says Iraq's nuclear program was in hibernation and that scientists were the key to restart the program.

Tonight on LIVE FROM THE HEADLINES WITH PAULA ZAHN, exclusive reports on Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction, scientists and the CIA. That comes your way at 8:00 Eastern, 5:00 Pacific Time.

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 26, 2003 - 05:02   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Another attack on Americans in Iraq. CNN Baghdad bureau chief Jane Arraf joins us live with details on this latest attack -- Jane, tell us what happened.
JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, reports are still coming in. But reports are still coming in, but the reports are that a soldier has been killed on what appears to have been an ambush on the main highway in Baghdad leading to the airport. Now, the airport has been turned into one of the main military bases and that road is the one that's most often used by U.S. convoys.

Unclear whether it was an attack in terms of firing or a grenade thrown at the convoy or an explosive device laid on the ground. The U.S. military here is not confirming the death. They're saying they're aware of an incident. We're still getting details in.

We are at the scene, but there are bloodstains on that road and clearly something terrible happened this morning on that road to the airport.

In addition, Central Command, the U.S. Central Command is saying that one Marine died and two others were hurt when their armored vehicle rolled over as they were going to the aid of colleagues who were ambushed on the road near another site. It's Hillah, about 60 miles south of here. Now, that is an area traditionally thought to be safe. But this incident apparently occurred yesterday, an ambush of U.S. Marines.

Again, one soldier killed and two others hurt in that when they were rushing to their aid and their vehicle rolled over -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, we'll let you gather more information and we'll get back to you in our next half hour.

Jane Arraf live from Baghdad this morning.

Also coming out of Iraq, critical pieces of nuclear technology now in the hands of the CIA. The components had been buried in a backyard in Baghdad underneath a rose bush for 12 years.

CNN was given an exclusive look at the parts.

We get more details from David Ensor.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID ENSOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): CNN has learned that the Central Intelligence Agency has in its hands the critical parts of a key piece of Iraqi nuclear technology, parts needed to develop a bomb program that were hidden in a backyard in Baghdad.

The parts were dug up by this man, Iraqi scientist Mahdi Obeidi, who had hidden them under a rose bush 12 years ago under orders from Qusay Hussein and Saddam Hussein's then son-in-law, Hussein Kamal.

They are the key parts and documents for reconstructing a sophisticated gas centrifuge system for enriching uranium for bombs, shown exclusively to CNN at CIA headquarters in Virginia.

Former U.N. arms inspector David Kay, now in charge of the CIA effort, started work earlier this week in Baghdad.

We spoke to him about the case over a secure teleconferencing line from CIA headquarters.

DAVID KAY, SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO CIA DIRECTOR: It begins to tell us how huge our job is. Remember, his material was buried in a barrel behind his house in a rose garden. There's no way that that would have been discovered by normal international inspections. I couldn't have done it, my successors couldn't have done it.

ENSOR: The gas centrifuge equipment dates back to Iraq's pre- 1991 efforts to build nuclear weapons. Experts say the documents and pieces Obeidi gave the U.S. were the critical information and parts to restart a nuclear weapons program and would have saved Saddam's regime several years and as much a hundreds of millions for research.

(on camera): What did you think about seeing all this stuff on a table in the CIA?

KAY: It was a realization I hadn't gotten all the parts. I certainly hadn't gotten all the documentation. So there was a moment, a pang of regret. But there was also a, almost an exhilaration that now maybe we have a chance to take this to the very bottom.

ENSOR: U.S. officials emphasize this is not a smoking gun. This is not evidence Iraq had a nuclear weapon, but it is evidence the Iraqis concealed plans to reconstitute their nuclear program as soon as the world was no longer looking.

(on camera): CNN had this story last week but made a decision to withhold it from broadcast after a request from the U.S. government, citing safety and national security concerns. The U.S. government has now told us the security and safety issues have been dealt with and there's no risk now in telling the story fully.

David Ensor, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And the Iraqi scientist who dug up those nuclear parts and documents from his rose garden spoke exclusively with CNN's Mike Boettcher.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE BOETTCHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is why Mahdi Obeidi, the Iraqi nuclear scientist, says he came forward.

MAHDI OBEIDI, IRAQI NUCLEAR SCIENTIST: A complete system that can reconstitute a nuclear program would be something that, if it could fall in the hands of dictators or terrorists or any other group, it might really do and play havoc on the destiny of humanity. And therefore I felt it is an obligation, an urge that I should take these things, I mean, which involved designs, documents and a critical centrifuge materials, to take it into safe hands.

BOETTCHER: We can't tell you where we interviewed Obeidi, only that he and his family are now safely out of Iraq. He says he has turned over parts and plans required to make a gas centrifuge, a key tool for enriching uranium to make nuclear bomb material. But he says he wasn't the only scientist ordered to hide this kind of equipment.

OBEIDI: I heard maybe more than three other copies and I think it's quite important to look at this so that they would not fall in the hands of the wrong people.

BOETTCHER: He says if the Iraqi government had retrieved the documents and parts, it would have shortened the time needed for Iraq to make a nuclear weapon by three years.

OBEIDI: There was that intention and there was that concealment mechanism and it was awaiting the right time.

BOETTCHER (on camera): But mysteriously, even after U.N. weapons inspectors left Iraq in 1998, Obeidi says he was not ordered to dig up the documents. Still, he believes as long as Saddam Hussein was in power, some day that order was going to come.

Mike Boettcher, CNN, reporting from the Middle East.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: The scientist Obeidi also tells CNN he believes other Iraqi scientists will come forward. He says they're watching to see if he'll be safe after cooperating with the United States.

And that's something former U.N. weapons inspector David Albright agrees with.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID ALBRIGHT, FORMER WEAPONS INSPECTOR: He wanted to work to set an example where Iraqi scientists could come forward and cooperate with the United States and they would get some kind of reward, or at least their safety would be guaranteed. And so his example says look, you can't just try to detain or arrest Iraqis and expect them to cooperate. You have to have a program where you may need to take key Iraqis and their families out of Iraq, help them reestablish a life, perhaps in the United States or Europe, and then you may find a lot more. (END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Albright says Iraq's nuclear program was in hibernation and that scientists were the key to restart the program.

Tonight on LIVE FROM THE HEADLINES WITH PAULA ZAHN, exclusive reports on Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction, scientists and the CIA. That comes your way at 8:00 Eastern, 5:00 Pacific Time.

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