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CNN Live At Daybreak

'International News Desk'

Aired October 14, 2003 - 05:32   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 about Iraq now. A source of concern, a report that suicide bombers and other attackers in Iraq are getting arms and bombs from old munitions dumps. The "New York Times" reports that was the case in Sunday's car bombing in Baghdad and nearly all the other attacks on American troops in Iraq. According to the report, Saddam's weapons sites are much larger than previously estimated and remain, for the most part, unguarded.
We want to get more insight on the situation in Iraq.

For that, we turn to our senior international editor, David Clinch.

DAVID CLINCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Hey, Carol, good morning.

COSTELLO: Good morning.

CLINCH: That's a very disturbing report, the idea that these attacks that are carrying -- being carried out in Iraq, which are deadly in many cases, are being carried out using arms that are basically lying around unguarded all over Iraq.

We've actually looked at this story within the last week or so. Huge dumps of weapons lying, in many cases, not even in proper arms dumps, but not even in guarded areas, but in neighborhoods and areas all over Iraq. The U.S. military simply does not have the manpower to guard them all or to clear them all or to destroy them all and even if they did now, many of them have already been looted and taken away. And obviously the people who are carrying out these attacks are getting their hands on these arms. Many of them, of course, are suspected to be former Iraqi military types. They already know how to use them. And we know that they're using small amounts of arms in these improvised explosive devices.

Well, when you multiply that by a hundred or a thousand, a very large improvised explosive device is exactly what causes the kind of destruction that we saw in Baghdad and over the weekend.

COSTELLO: Not that we would ever know this, but did you ever wonder how many weapons there are in Iraq? There seems to be an endless supply.

CLINCH: Absolutely. Well, you know, amongst others, the United States was supplying Iraq with weapons for years, for decades before the -- before and during the Iraqi-Iran War. But, you know, they could buy weapons wherever they wanted. Saddam Hussein, apart from many other things he did that were evil, didn't think anything of spending millions and billions of his own country's oil money, of which there was a lot, on weapons. And he continued to buy these kinds of weapons, all right up until the most recent years, until he was prevented from doing so.

And, of course, the price that we and everybody else pays for that is that they're lying around unguarded and can now be used to attack the very forces that went in to get rid of him.

COSTELLO: So, of course, that brings up the question what do you do about that.

CLINCH: Well, right now the U.S. is acknowledging there's not much they can do about it. Again, the idea is that even those weapons that are lying unguarded now, it's hard enough, but the ones that have already been taken, it's too late. The only thing they can do is continue to do what they're doing, try to track down the people who are doing the attacks and shut them down.

The actual weapons, it's too late, probably.

COSTELLO: Well, it's interesting, in the latest suicide bombing, the Iraqi police are spearheading the investigation and have there been arrests? Do we know?

CLINCH: Not so far. I mean they're -- it's interesting to talk about the Iraqi police. We actually did the story yesterday. The Iraqi police, whether they're the official Iraqi police or, as was the case in the Baghdad hotel attack, unofficial basically hired by American companies to guard these hotels, those Iraqi police are the ones who are on the front line now. And many of them are thinking twice about the job. I mean the sick joke that's going around that is how much does an Iraqi security guard get paid?

COSTELLO: Not enough.

CLINCH: The answer is not enough.

COSTELLO: Yes.

CLINCH: I mean it's the worst job in the world right now. They, of course, are protecting the targets that the bombers really want to get, which is the Americans. The Iraqis are the ones who are dying, in many cases. So it's very sad. And no, no suspects have been picked up so far.

COSTELLO: All right, David Clinch, many thanks.

CLINCH: OK.

COSTELLO: We appreciate it, as always.

CLINCH: All right.

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 14, 2003 - 05:32   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 about Iraq now. A source of concern, a report that suicide bombers and other attackers in Iraq are getting arms and bombs from old munitions dumps. The "New York Times" reports that was the case in Sunday's car bombing in Baghdad and nearly all the other attacks on American troops in Iraq. According to the report, Saddam's weapons sites are much larger than previously estimated and remain, for the most part, unguarded.
We want to get more insight on the situation in Iraq.

For that, we turn to our senior international editor, David Clinch.

DAVID CLINCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Hey, Carol, good morning.

COSTELLO: Good morning.

CLINCH: That's a very disturbing report, the idea that these attacks that are carrying -- being carried out in Iraq, which are deadly in many cases, are being carried out using arms that are basically lying around unguarded all over Iraq.

We've actually looked at this story within the last week or so. Huge dumps of weapons lying, in many cases, not even in proper arms dumps, but not even in guarded areas, but in neighborhoods and areas all over Iraq. The U.S. military simply does not have the manpower to guard them all or to clear them all or to destroy them all and even if they did now, many of them have already been looted and taken away. And obviously the people who are carrying out these attacks are getting their hands on these arms. Many of them, of course, are suspected to be former Iraqi military types. They already know how to use them. And we know that they're using small amounts of arms in these improvised explosive devices.

Well, when you multiply that by a hundred or a thousand, a very large improvised explosive device is exactly what causes the kind of destruction that we saw in Baghdad and over the weekend.

COSTELLO: Not that we would ever know this, but did you ever wonder how many weapons there are in Iraq? There seems to be an endless supply.

CLINCH: Absolutely. Well, you know, amongst others, the United States was supplying Iraq with weapons for years, for decades before the -- before and during the Iraqi-Iran War. But, you know, they could buy weapons wherever they wanted. Saddam Hussein, apart from many other things he did that were evil, didn't think anything of spending millions and billions of his own country's oil money, of which there was a lot, on weapons. And he continued to buy these kinds of weapons, all right up until the most recent years, until he was prevented from doing so.

And, of course, the price that we and everybody else pays for that is that they're lying around unguarded and can now be used to attack the very forces that went in to get rid of him.

COSTELLO: So, of course, that brings up the question what do you do about that.

CLINCH: Well, right now the U.S. is acknowledging there's not much they can do about it. Again, the idea is that even those weapons that are lying unguarded now, it's hard enough, but the ones that have already been taken, it's too late. The only thing they can do is continue to do what they're doing, try to track down the people who are doing the attacks and shut them down.

The actual weapons, it's too late, probably.

COSTELLO: Well, it's interesting, in the latest suicide bombing, the Iraqi police are spearheading the investigation and have there been arrests? Do we know?

CLINCH: Not so far. I mean they're -- it's interesting to talk about the Iraqi police. We actually did the story yesterday. The Iraqi police, whether they're the official Iraqi police or, as was the case in the Baghdad hotel attack, unofficial basically hired by American companies to guard these hotels, those Iraqi police are the ones who are on the front line now. And many of them are thinking twice about the job. I mean the sick joke that's going around that is how much does an Iraqi security guard get paid?

COSTELLO: Not enough.

CLINCH: The answer is not enough.

COSTELLO: Yes.

CLINCH: I mean it's the worst job in the world right now. They, of course, are protecting the targets that the bombers really want to get, which is the Americans. The Iraqis are the ones who are dying, in many cases. So it's very sad. And no, no suspects have been picked up so far.

COSTELLO: All right, David Clinch, many thanks.

CLINCH: OK.

COSTELLO: We appreciate it, as always.

CLINCH: All right.

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