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CNN Live Saturday
Weapons Team Back on the Job in Baghdad
Aired January 25, 2003 - 16:02 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: We begin with the mounting tension in Iraq, where the world is awaiting the findings of the U.N. weapons inspectors. The weapons teams were back on the job today in Baghdad. CNN's Nic Robertson reports on a dramatic day.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Well, three Iraqi scientists had been invited to have private interviews with U.N. weapons inspection officials today. However, there was a meeting at the hotel designated for those talks to take place. What we understand from Iraqi officials, however, now is that the three scientists have turned down the opportunity to have those private meetings, private interviews with the U.N. weapons inspectors.
One Iraqi scientist did actually meet with the U.N. weapons inspectors. However, he insisted on doing it in the presence of other Iraqi officials. So absolutely no private interviews with Iraqi scientists have taken place so far.
Somewhat earlier in the day, just as U.N. weapons inspectors were preparing to leave their headquarters, there were two incidents. The first incident, a man approached the security gates at the U.N. headquarters. He had, we're told, a metal implement in his hand. He was wrestled to the ground by U.N. and Iraqi guards.
Now, the U.N. tells us that the man had three knives on him. Those knives were taken away, and the man was later seen being led away by Iraqi officials.
The second incident happened just 40 minutes after that. A man got into the driving seat of one of the U.N. vehicles. He was wrestling with Iraqi officials who were trying to pull him out of the vehicle. He was shouting, "save me, save me." After several minutes of doing this in front of the cameras that were there, he was also led away by Iraqi officials. No word on what's happened to those two men at this time.
Nic Robertson, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Well, nowhere are the results of the U.N. report more anxiously anticipated than at the White House. CNN's Dana Bash is there with the latest. Dana, what is the latest? DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, well, that's right. Monday is a very key date. It's the day that the administration says begins the final diplomatic phase of dealing with Saddam Hussein, and in advance of that, Colin Powell, the secretary of state, is in Davos, Switzerland. He's there to talk about economics. It's an economic summit, but the talk is also about war, he is trying to rally the world to say that if military action is necessary, then they should go ahead and work on that with the U.S.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: Let us not forget, let's not ignore the seriousness of this matter. We are missing biological agents. We are missing chemical agents. We are missing weapons of delivery. We are missing chemical shells that Iraqis had. We are missing nuclear programs. We are missing documents that they are hiding. We have a false declaration that needs explanation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Secretary Powell is attempting to step up pressure today, saying there are at least a dozen countries who would support the United States in military action, even if the U.N. doesn't. He did not say, though, who those countries were, or what kind of support they're offering, but he did say that there is still a desire to do -- to go through the U.N., to use the U.N. to deal with this process.
Now, in response to pressure from key allies like France and Germany, the U.S. is saying that they -- senior administration officials are saying that they are going to leave the door open at this time for the inspectors to continue their work beyond Monday, and even beyond that. They're not giving a timetable. They're intentionally using their words very carefully, saying that they've never set a deadline for the inspections at all.
But the president, for his part, has a very important speech, Anderson, that's Tuesday, the day after this deadline. His State of the Union speech. And a senior administration official says he will not use that speech to declare war, but he will use the speech to prepare Americans for the very real possibility of war, and discuss with America the kind of threat that he says Saddam Hussein poses -- Anderson.
COOPER: Obviously, that will be a speech a lot of us will want to be watching. What are we hearing right now from the White House about these Iraqi scientists refusing to talk to inspectors today?
BASH: Well, the scientists refusing to talk to inspectors is something that the White House has been pointing to for a while now. Just on Friday, Ari Fleischer made a really big deal out of the fact that scientists wouldn't talk then, saying that it was laughable. Senior administration official said that this is just the latest example of Iraq's attempt to frustrate the inspections process. They say that Iraq is required by the resolution that put the inspectors there to give up the scientists and sort of force the scientists to talk to the inspectors. So this is yet another signal that the U.S. is going to point to that Iraq is not going along with the inspections process, Anderson.
COOPER: All right, Dana Bash, thanks very much, at the White House.
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 January 25, 2003 - 16:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: We begin with the mounting tension in Iraq, where the world is awaiting the findings of the U.N. weapons inspectors. The weapons teams were back on the job today in Baghdad. CNN's Nic Robertson reports on a dramatic day.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Well, three Iraqi scientists had been invited to have private interviews with U.N. weapons inspection officials today. However, there was a meeting at the hotel designated for those talks to take place. What we understand from Iraqi officials, however, now is that the three scientists have turned down the opportunity to have those private meetings, private interviews with the U.N. weapons inspectors.
One Iraqi scientist did actually meet with the U.N. weapons inspectors. However, he insisted on doing it in the presence of other Iraqi officials. So absolutely no private interviews with Iraqi scientists have taken place so far.
Somewhat earlier in the day, just as U.N. weapons inspectors were preparing to leave their headquarters, there were two incidents. The first incident, a man approached the security gates at the U.N. headquarters. He had, we're told, a metal implement in his hand. He was wrestled to the ground by U.N. and Iraqi guards.
Now, the U.N. tells us that the man had three knives on him. Those knives were taken away, and the man was later seen being led away by Iraqi officials.
The second incident happened just 40 minutes after that. A man got into the driving seat of one of the U.N. vehicles. He was wrestling with Iraqi officials who were trying to pull him out of the vehicle. He was shouting, "save me, save me." After several minutes of doing this in front of the cameras that were there, he was also led away by Iraqi officials. No word on what's happened to those two men at this time.
Nic Robertson, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Well, nowhere are the results of the U.N. report more anxiously anticipated than at the White House. CNN's Dana Bash is there with the latest. Dana, what is the latest? DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, well, that's right. Monday is a very key date. It's the day that the administration says begins the final diplomatic phase of dealing with Saddam Hussein, and in advance of that, Colin Powell, the secretary of state, is in Davos, Switzerland. He's there to talk about economics. It's an economic summit, but the talk is also about war, he is trying to rally the world to say that if military action is necessary, then they should go ahead and work on that with the U.S.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: Let us not forget, let's not ignore the seriousness of this matter. We are missing biological agents. We are missing chemical agents. We are missing weapons of delivery. We are missing chemical shells that Iraqis had. We are missing nuclear programs. We are missing documents that they are hiding. We have a false declaration that needs explanation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Secretary Powell is attempting to step up pressure today, saying there are at least a dozen countries who would support the United States in military action, even if the U.N. doesn't. He did not say, though, who those countries were, or what kind of support they're offering, but he did say that there is still a desire to do -- to go through the U.N., to use the U.N. to deal with this process.
Now, in response to pressure from key allies like France and Germany, the U.S. is saying that they -- senior administration officials are saying that they are going to leave the door open at this time for the inspectors to continue their work beyond Monday, and even beyond that. They're not giving a timetable. They're intentionally using their words very carefully, saying that they've never set a deadline for the inspections at all.
But the president, for his part, has a very important speech, Anderson, that's Tuesday, the day after this deadline. His State of the Union speech. And a senior administration official says he will not use that speech to declare war, but he will use the speech to prepare Americans for the very real possibility of war, and discuss with America the kind of threat that he says Saddam Hussein poses -- Anderson.
COOPER: Obviously, that will be a speech a lot of us will want to be watching. What are we hearing right now from the White House about these Iraqi scientists refusing to talk to inspectors today?
BASH: Well, the scientists refusing to talk to inspectors is something that the White House has been pointing to for a while now. Just on Friday, Ari Fleischer made a really big deal out of the fact that scientists wouldn't talk then, saying that it was laughable. Senior administration official said that this is just the latest example of Iraq's attempt to frustrate the inspections process. They say that Iraq is required by the resolution that put the inspectors there to give up the scientists and sort of force the scientists to talk to the inspectors. So this is yet another signal that the U.S. is going to point to that Iraq is not going along with the inspections process, Anderson.
COOPER: All right, Dana Bash, thanks very much, at the White House.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
