Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live Saturday
U.N. Advance Team Sets Up Gear in Baghdad
Aired November 23, 2002 - 17:19 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 LIN, CNN ANCHOR: With war and peace at stake in Iraq, you might actually scratch your head at how U.N. staffers are actually spending their time in Baghdad. The focus right now is office space. The advance team is installing computers, setting up labs, and getting gear in place for U.N. inspectors to start inspections on Wednesday. CNN's Nic Robertson in Baghdad says inspectors will have one crucial item though on their agenda when they do begin work.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Five more members of the advance team arrived into Baghdad today. They will be joining the 33 other communications and logistics specialists at the U.N. headquarters here installing computer equipment, cleaning out the laboratories, and getting the area and offices ready for the inspection team to arrive Monday.
They flew in via Hercules C-130, again like the previous mission here, flying in from Cyprus. They flew in on a large transport aircraft and from that aircraft they unloaded several tons of equipment, a lot of cardboard boxes coming off. We are not told exactly what is in those boxes, but it is all materiel. We are told that it will help the inspectors in their work in the coming weeks and have their offices ready for when they arrive.
Now, the first team of inspectors arrives here on Monday. There will be 18 of them. Six will work in the nuclear field. The other 12 inspectors will work in the missile, biological, and chemical areas. They will begin their first inspections on Wednesday. Now, they're expected to go out to the sites that the last U.N. mission here went to back in 1998, go to the sites where those teams had installed monitoring equipment.
What they hope to do is see if that monitoring equipment is working. If it isn't, replace it. But what they hope to do in the coming weeks is to redraw their baseline, if you will, get a handle on what Iraq has been doing at the sites that they used to monitor over the last four years. Once they have done that, they will say they will be in a position to consider the declaration that Iraq will make on December 8, declaring all its weapons of mass destruction.
Possibly in this immediate timeframe as well, they say they could visit a presidential site. That is not being ruled out; however, they are saying that it's more important to reestablish their baseline.
Nic Robertson CNN, Baghdad. (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 November 23, 2002 - 17:19 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: With war and peace at stake in Iraq, you might actually scratch your head at how U.N. staffers are actually spending their time in Baghdad. The focus right now is office space. The advance team is installing computers, setting up labs, and getting gear in place for U.N. inspectors to start inspections on Wednesday. CNN's Nic Robertson in Baghdad says inspectors will have one crucial item though on their agenda when they do begin work.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Five more members of the advance team arrived into Baghdad today. They will be joining the 33 other communications and logistics specialists at the U.N. headquarters here installing computer equipment, cleaning out the laboratories, and getting the area and offices ready for the inspection team to arrive Monday.
They flew in via Hercules C-130, again like the previous mission here, flying in from Cyprus. They flew in on a large transport aircraft and from that aircraft they unloaded several tons of equipment, a lot of cardboard boxes coming off. We are not told exactly what is in those boxes, but it is all materiel. We are told that it will help the inspectors in their work in the coming weeks and have their offices ready for when they arrive.
Now, the first team of inspectors arrives here on Monday. There will be 18 of them. Six will work in the nuclear field. The other 12 inspectors will work in the missile, biological, and chemical areas. They will begin their first inspections on Wednesday. Now, they're expected to go out to the sites that the last U.N. mission here went to back in 1998, go to the sites where those teams had installed monitoring equipment.
What they hope to do is see if that monitoring equipment is working. If it isn't, replace it. But what they hope to do in the coming weeks is to redraw their baseline, if you will, get a handle on what Iraq has been doing at the sites that they used to monitor over the last four years. Once they have done that, they will say they will be in a position to consider the declaration that Iraq will make on December 8, declaring all its weapons of mass destruction.
Possibly in this immediate timeframe as well, they say they could visit a presidential site. That is not being ruled out; however, they are saying that it's more important to reestablish their baseline.
Nic Robertson CNN, Baghdad. (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
