Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live Sunday
Interview With David Albright
Aired September 28, 2003 - 10:05 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.
SOPHIA CHOI, CNN ANCHOR: The hunt for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq has so far come up empty. And that's according to a report put together by the U.S. team in charge of the search. Its preliminary findings do not seem to support President Bush's contentions at the United Nations prior to the war.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: U.N. inspectors believe Iraq has produced two to four times the amount of biological agents it declared and has failed to account for more than three metric tons of material that could be used to produce biological weapons. Right now, Iraq is expanding and improving facilities that were used for the production of biological weapons.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHOI: And we turn now to David Albright to assess where the weapons search stands right now. He is a former inspector for the IAEA, the U.N.'s atomic energy watchdog, and he's in Washington.
Thanks for joining us.
DAVID ALBRIGHT, FMR. IAEA INSPECTOR: Good to be here.
CHOI: So is it unusual that WMDs haven't been found so far?
ALBRIGHT: No, I don't think so. I mean, I think by the time of the war, many were skeptical of the administration's claims. I just -- they've launched after the war. What you have to look at is a very frustrating search to try to prove their case. And they're just unable to do it.
I think in that clip you showed of President Bush, there were several statements in there that were known to be inaccurate at the time. Particularly that the U.N. inspectors believe Iraq has large amounts of chemical and biological weapons. They asked questions whether Iraq had those weapons, they asked questions whether Iraq had fully accounted for its declaration that it destroyed those weapons. So I think that what we're facing now is the inevitable reality that the Bush administration exaggerated the WMD that Iraq possessed.
CHOI: So what does this mean in terms of the ongoing search at this point?
ALBRIGHT: Well, the search is very important. Because someone exaggerated doesn't mean that Iraq wasn't up to something. I mean, we already know on the nuclear side that Iraq did hide documents from inspectors. It did have plans to reconstitute a nuclear weapons program if given the opportunity.
They hadn't done anything, and once the did decide to reconstitute they would be years from fruition. But, nonetheless, we know Iraq did hide things from inspectors. And we know that they probably had plans to reconstitute across the board. And we need to find those things not so much to settle old scores, but we need to find these things to make sure they don't end up in the hands of terrorists or others who want to do us harm. And so I think it's very important that the U.S. government do a thorough search of exactly what Iraq accomplished on WMD and where all those WMD assets are.
CHOI: But that search has certainly proven to be very difficult. How difficult is it to track down weapons in a country like Iraq?
ALBRIGHT: It's very difficult. I mean -- and the United States got off to a very bad start. It went in thinking it was going to find all the large stocks of chemical weapons that had been ready to deploy and use. And it's just not true.
So, in a sense, they went in looking for a Cadillac when they should have been looking for a Volkswagen Beetle. And they've lost a lot of time. And in the process, they've alienated a lot of the scientists and officials in Iraq who were basically accused of lying when they said to him, look, we didn't have what you think we had.
CHOI: All right. You mention documents that inspectors have found. What about any evidence that Iraq actually destroyed weapons before any one could find them?
ALBRIGHT: Well, there's always been plenty of evidence for that, that they destroyed evidence -- I'm sorry, destroyed, well, both evidence and the weapons before inspectors could find them. And that was a lot of the controversy that plagued this debate, was Iraq said it destroyed things and then it couldn't provide the proof that it had actually done it or destroyed everything they said they destroyed. And so that's been part of this process all along.
I think what is still at issue is, did Iraq have some stocks of, let's say, chemical weapons before the inspections started or during the inspection process and they decided to destroy those? And have not admitted to that?
CHOI: David Albright, former IAEA inspector, thank you so much for your insight on this topic.
ALBRIGHT: Thank you.
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 September 28, 2003 - 10:05 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOPHIA CHOI, CNN ANCHOR: The hunt for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq has so far come up empty. And that's according to a report put together by the U.S. team in charge of the search. Its preliminary findings do not seem to support President Bush's contentions at the United Nations prior to the war.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: U.N. inspectors believe Iraq has produced two to four times the amount of biological agents it declared and has failed to account for more than three metric tons of material that could be used to produce biological weapons. Right now, Iraq is expanding and improving facilities that were used for the production of biological weapons.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHOI: And we turn now to David Albright to assess where the weapons search stands right now. He is a former inspector for the IAEA, the U.N.'s atomic energy watchdog, and he's in Washington.
Thanks for joining us.
DAVID ALBRIGHT, FMR. IAEA INSPECTOR: Good to be here.
CHOI: So is it unusual that WMDs haven't been found so far?
ALBRIGHT: No, I don't think so. I mean, I think by the time of the war, many were skeptical of the administration's claims. I just -- they've launched after the war. What you have to look at is a very frustrating search to try to prove their case. And they're just unable to do it.
I think in that clip you showed of President Bush, there were several statements in there that were known to be inaccurate at the time. Particularly that the U.N. inspectors believe Iraq has large amounts of chemical and biological weapons. They asked questions whether Iraq had those weapons, they asked questions whether Iraq had fully accounted for its declaration that it destroyed those weapons. So I think that what we're facing now is the inevitable reality that the Bush administration exaggerated the WMD that Iraq possessed.
CHOI: So what does this mean in terms of the ongoing search at this point?
ALBRIGHT: Well, the search is very important. Because someone exaggerated doesn't mean that Iraq wasn't up to something. I mean, we already know on the nuclear side that Iraq did hide documents from inspectors. It did have plans to reconstitute a nuclear weapons program if given the opportunity.
They hadn't done anything, and once the did decide to reconstitute they would be years from fruition. But, nonetheless, we know Iraq did hide things from inspectors. And we know that they probably had plans to reconstitute across the board. And we need to find those things not so much to settle old scores, but we need to find these things to make sure they don't end up in the hands of terrorists or others who want to do us harm. And so I think it's very important that the U.S. government do a thorough search of exactly what Iraq accomplished on WMD and where all those WMD assets are.
CHOI: But that search has certainly proven to be very difficult. How difficult is it to track down weapons in a country like Iraq?
ALBRIGHT: It's very difficult. I mean -- and the United States got off to a very bad start. It went in thinking it was going to find all the large stocks of chemical weapons that had been ready to deploy and use. And it's just not true.
So, in a sense, they went in looking for a Cadillac when they should have been looking for a Volkswagen Beetle. And they've lost a lot of time. And in the process, they've alienated a lot of the scientists and officials in Iraq who were basically accused of lying when they said to him, look, we didn't have what you think we had.
CHOI: All right. You mention documents that inspectors have found. What about any evidence that Iraq actually destroyed weapons before any one could find them?
ALBRIGHT: Well, there's always been plenty of evidence for that, that they destroyed evidence -- I'm sorry, destroyed, well, both evidence and the weapons before inspectors could find them. And that was a lot of the controversy that plagued this debate, was Iraq said it destroyed things and then it couldn't provide the proof that it had actually done it or destroyed everything they said they destroyed. And so that's been part of this process all along.
I think what is still at issue is, did Iraq have some stocks of, let's say, chemical weapons before the inspections started or during the inspection process and they decided to destroy those? And have not admitted to that?
CHOI: David Albright, former IAEA inspector, thank you so much for your insight on this topic.
ALBRIGHT: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
