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CNN Live At Daybreak

Officials to Tell Congress No Smoking Gun Found

Aired July 31, 2003 - 06:05   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: On to the subject of weapons of mass destruction now. The CIA's top man in Iraq is expected to say, we have no smoking gun, but there is progress. He will say that before members of Congress today. You won't hear it, because it will be said behind closed doors.
To the Pentagon now and our correspondent, Barbara Starr.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: The hearing will be behind closed doors. David Kay, the CIA's top man hunting in Iraq for weapons of mass destruction, will tell senators, no smoking gun yet, but there is some progress.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He was telling me the process that they were going through to analyze all of the documentation, and that's not only to analyze the documentation on the weapons programs that Saddam Hussein had, but also the documentation as to terrorist links. And it's just going to take a while, and I'm confident the truth will come out.

STARR: But as a result of interrogations and documents that have been analyzed, the U.S. does believe now that Iraq had an active WMD program. Sources tell CNN this is based on several documents that have been looked at. They show, sources say, Iraq had plans to quickly destroy weapons stockpiles, that Iraq had plans to shift commercial dual-use production facilities quickly to weapons production, and that Iraq also had plans to rebuild its weapons production facilities if there was a war.

But still, no clear idea what happened to Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.

Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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 July 31, 2003 - 06:05   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: On to the subject of weapons of mass destruction now. The CIA's top man in Iraq is expected to say, we have no smoking gun, but there is progress. He will say that before members of Congress today. You won't hear it, because it will be said behind closed doors.
To the Pentagon now and our correspondent, Barbara Starr.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: The hearing will be behind closed doors. David Kay, the CIA's top man hunting in Iraq for weapons of mass destruction, will tell senators, no smoking gun yet, but there is some progress.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He was telling me the process that they were going through to analyze all of the documentation, and that's not only to analyze the documentation on the weapons programs that Saddam Hussein had, but also the documentation as to terrorist links. And it's just going to take a while, and I'm confident the truth will come out.

STARR: But as a result of interrogations and documents that have been analyzed, the U.S. does believe now that Iraq had an active WMD program. Sources tell CNN this is based on several documents that have been looked at. They show, sources say, Iraq had plans to quickly destroy weapons stockpiles, that Iraq had plans to shift commercial dual-use production facilities quickly to weapons production, and that Iraq also had plans to rebuild its weapons production facilities if there was a war.

But still, no clear idea what happened to Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.

Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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