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CNN Live At Daybreak

International News Desk

Aired August 27, 2003 - 05:37   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: Let's talk more nukes now. For more now on Iran's possible nukes, as well as the billions needed for neighboring Iraq, we're joined by our senior international editor David Clinch -- good morning, David.
DAVID CLINCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Good morning, Carol.

A busy day for us again today on the international desk here. You know, I think a couple of days ago I told you that L. Paul Bremer, the top U.S. administrator in Iraq, was going to get a holiday and come back to Washington. Well, he's back in Washington, but it's not much of a holiday, as we're hearing today and we see in his interview in the "Washington Post" today.

He's here apparently for what are being described as somewhat urgent talks on funding for a lot of the stuff he's trying to do in Iraq, not necessarily paying for the U.S. soldiers there are there, but paying for the Iraqi soldiers, paying for the Iraqi civil servants, paying for the Iraqi government that they're trying to set up.

Apparently the funding that had been put aside from that from basically Iraqi funds that belonged to the previous government that had been set aside has almost run out. Well, they need urgent funding to keep it going. And then potentially, he says, over the next few years, tens of billions of dollars to pay for this on an ongoing basis.

COSTELLO: What about the money from Iraqi oil?

CLINCH: Well, that's a very good question. Iraqi oil was and still is seen as a potential source of revenue to pay for exactly this kind of thing. But it's not really flowing yet. It's flowing on to a certain degree, but it's not coming out in anything like the volume they want it to come out. And it's also not clear exactly how much money they can make out of that, how quickly.

First of all, the oil industry was in a mess when they found it. Even though it wasn't destroyed by Saddam Hussein, it certainly was in a mess. So it doesn't work very well. Then they've got to get it out there. Then they've got to sell it and then they've got to bring the money back into Iraq.

All of that takes a long time. And in the meantime, these civil servants, policemen, soldiers, whoever they're trying to get going in Iraq, that costs money. And they've almost run out. So Bremer in Washington today and for the next few days, probably, hopefully getting to see his family, as well. But not a particularly pleasant trip for him.

COSTELLO: Yes, let's talk a little bit about Iran before you have to go.

CLINCH: Yes, absolutely. A fascinating story. It's in the background. We've got Iraq, North Korea and all of these things. In the meantime, Iran, the IAEA was allowed to do some inspections at a particular site in Iran and says they found signs of enriched uranium. That's normally a mark of people using enriched uranium possibly for weapons programs.

Iran denies a weapons program and says, in fact, told the IAEA that if there were any enriched uranium here, that it probably was on the equipment when they bought it from somebody else.

COSTELLO: Well, who'd they buy it from then?

CLINCH: Well, that's also a good question. I mean we would assume they get this kind of stuff from the Russians. Well, the Russians are telling us today, well, at that particular site, we're not involved with them. Yes, we've sold them stuff elsewhere, but we haven't sold them anything to that particular site. So maybe you should ask some other countries.

Well, you know...

COSTELLO: Well, wouldn't it be a big concern if you got equipment with enriched uranium on it?

CLINCH: Well, I suppose. It's, scientifically speaking, it's not impossible, I suppose, that if it's been used before that maybe it would have signs on it. But it certainly, what it points out, more than anything else, is that the Iranians are basically making excuses for not signing a protocol that will allow inspections any time, anywhere. That way the questions would be answered. And that's what they're holding out for.

They have their own list of things they want in return. The United States saying to the IAEA call a spade a spade, they've got enriched uranium, they've got a nuclear program, they need to sign this protocol now.

COSTELLO: Got you.

And you'll get back to us in the next hour?

CLINCH: Absolutely. And I'm going to go and watch Mars live from Tahiti right now. I'll talk more about that later on.

COSTELLO: You're not just going to step outside here in Atlanta?

CLINCH: No. No. Via television I'll watch it from Tahiti. That's apparently the best place in the world to go and see it right now is Tahiti. But we're getting some live pictures from there and from Australia coming up soon. It'll be the closest point ever in just a few minutes. So we'll be watching out for that. COSTELLO: 5:51 Eastern time.

CLINCH: Certainly.

COSTELLO: Thank you, David.

CLINCH: OK.

COSTELLO: Appreciate it.

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 August 27, 2003 - 05:37   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Let's talk more nukes now. For more now on Iran's possible nukes, as well as the billions needed for neighboring Iraq, we're joined by our senior international editor David Clinch -- good morning, David.
DAVID CLINCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Good morning, Carol.

A busy day for us again today on the international desk here. You know, I think a couple of days ago I told you that L. Paul Bremer, the top U.S. administrator in Iraq, was going to get a holiday and come back to Washington. Well, he's back in Washington, but it's not much of a holiday, as we're hearing today and we see in his interview in the "Washington Post" today.

He's here apparently for what are being described as somewhat urgent talks on funding for a lot of the stuff he's trying to do in Iraq, not necessarily paying for the U.S. soldiers there are there, but paying for the Iraqi soldiers, paying for the Iraqi civil servants, paying for the Iraqi government that they're trying to set up.

Apparently the funding that had been put aside from that from basically Iraqi funds that belonged to the previous government that had been set aside has almost run out. Well, they need urgent funding to keep it going. And then potentially, he says, over the next few years, tens of billions of dollars to pay for this on an ongoing basis.

COSTELLO: What about the money from Iraqi oil?

CLINCH: Well, that's a very good question. Iraqi oil was and still is seen as a potential source of revenue to pay for exactly this kind of thing. But it's not really flowing yet. It's flowing on to a certain degree, but it's not coming out in anything like the volume they want it to come out. And it's also not clear exactly how much money they can make out of that, how quickly.

First of all, the oil industry was in a mess when they found it. Even though it wasn't destroyed by Saddam Hussein, it certainly was in a mess. So it doesn't work very well. Then they've got to get it out there. Then they've got to sell it and then they've got to bring the money back into Iraq.

All of that takes a long time. And in the meantime, these civil servants, policemen, soldiers, whoever they're trying to get going in Iraq, that costs money. And they've almost run out. So Bremer in Washington today and for the next few days, probably, hopefully getting to see his family, as well. But not a particularly pleasant trip for him.

COSTELLO: Yes, let's talk a little bit about Iran before you have to go.

CLINCH: Yes, absolutely. A fascinating story. It's in the background. We've got Iraq, North Korea and all of these things. In the meantime, Iran, the IAEA was allowed to do some inspections at a particular site in Iran and says they found signs of enriched uranium. That's normally a mark of people using enriched uranium possibly for weapons programs.

Iran denies a weapons program and says, in fact, told the IAEA that if there were any enriched uranium here, that it probably was on the equipment when they bought it from somebody else.

COSTELLO: Well, who'd they buy it from then?

CLINCH: Well, that's also a good question. I mean we would assume they get this kind of stuff from the Russians. Well, the Russians are telling us today, well, at that particular site, we're not involved with them. Yes, we've sold them stuff elsewhere, but we haven't sold them anything to that particular site. So maybe you should ask some other countries.

Well, you know...

COSTELLO: Well, wouldn't it be a big concern if you got equipment with enriched uranium on it?

CLINCH: Well, I suppose. It's, scientifically speaking, it's not impossible, I suppose, that if it's been used before that maybe it would have signs on it. But it certainly, what it points out, more than anything else, is that the Iranians are basically making excuses for not signing a protocol that will allow inspections any time, anywhere. That way the questions would be answered. And that's what they're holding out for.

They have their own list of things they want in return. The United States saying to the IAEA call a spade a spade, they've got enriched uranium, they've got a nuclear program, they need to sign this protocol now.

COSTELLO: Got you.

And you'll get back to us in the next hour?

CLINCH: Absolutely. And I'm going to go and watch Mars live from Tahiti right now. I'll talk more about that later on.

COSTELLO: You're not just going to step outside here in Atlanta?

CLINCH: No. No. Via television I'll watch it from Tahiti. That's apparently the best place in the world to go and see it right now is Tahiti. But we're getting some live pictures from there and from Australia coming up soon. It'll be the closest point ever in just a few minutes. So we'll be watching out for that. COSTELLO: 5:51 Eastern time.

CLINCH: Certainly.

COSTELLO: Thank you, David.

CLINCH: OK.

COSTELLO: Appreciate it.

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