Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Event/Special

David Kay Holds Media Availability

Aired October 05, 2003 - 08:22   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.


DAVID KAY, CIA CHIEF WEAPONS INSPECTOR: ... capability that, if they decided to use it, it would have reduced weapons. And we're out there trying to find out exactly how large it was, when it was -- weapons were last produced, and where they might be. I think that...
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: This is David Kay. He is talking about looking for weapons of mass destruction and speaking after he's been on Fox television.

KAY: ... continuing the search. Look, no one doubts that he had weapons before 1991 and that the U.N. could not find any evidence because they had all been destroyed. If there's even the remotest possibility that those weapons still exist, we have an obligation to the American troops who are still there, to the Iraqi people whose security we're responsible to, and to everyone in the world to find out where those weapons are right now. Even if we're only talking about pre-1991 weapons, and I think we're probably talking about other things, as well.

QUESTION: Why not leave the search to the U.N.?

KAY: The U.N., after two explosions at its headquarters, pulled essentially all of its staff there. I've had four attacks on teams just in the last month. We all operate -- every inspector there is weapons qualified and routinely carries weapons. Last week -- excuse me, two weeks ago, I had a team of two women agents operating in Baghdad, their car was cut off, four men jumped out with guns, and they fired 14 shots through their own windshield to escape.

That's not the environment that the U.N. operates on. I just don't understand, having worked for the U.N., anyone that thinks -- U.N. inspectors do a very valuable role, but they operate in a permissive environment. Baghdad is not a permissive environment. You have to excuse me. We've got to go.

SAVIDGE: And you've been listening to David Kay. He has been heading up the search to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and postwar Iraq. So far, they have not found any significant evidence of those weapons, but his search is continuing, as you hear, and it's not without its problems.

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 October 5, 2003 - 08:22   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DAVID KAY, CIA CHIEF WEAPONS INSPECTOR: ... capability that, if they decided to use it, it would have reduced weapons. And we're out there trying to find out exactly how large it was, when it was -- weapons were last produced, and where they might be. I think that...
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: This is David Kay. He is talking about looking for weapons of mass destruction and speaking after he's been on Fox television.

KAY: ... continuing the search. Look, no one doubts that he had weapons before 1991 and that the U.N. could not find any evidence because they had all been destroyed. If there's even the remotest possibility that those weapons still exist, we have an obligation to the American troops who are still there, to the Iraqi people whose security we're responsible to, and to everyone in the world to find out where those weapons are right now. Even if we're only talking about pre-1991 weapons, and I think we're probably talking about other things, as well.

QUESTION: Why not leave the search to the U.N.?

KAY: The U.N., after two explosions at its headquarters, pulled essentially all of its staff there. I've had four attacks on teams just in the last month. We all operate -- every inspector there is weapons qualified and routinely carries weapons. Last week -- excuse me, two weeks ago, I had a team of two women agents operating in Baghdad, their car was cut off, four men jumped out with guns, and they fired 14 shots through their own windshield to escape.

That's not the environment that the U.N. operates on. I just don't understand, having worked for the U.N., anyone that thinks -- U.N. inspectors do a very valuable role, but they operate in a permissive environment. Baghdad is not a permissive environment. You have to excuse me. We've got to go.

SAVIDGE: And you've been listening to David Kay. He has been heading up the search to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and postwar Iraq. So far, they have not found any significant evidence of those weapons, but his search is continuing, as you hear, and it's not without its problems.

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