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CNN Live Saturday
Iraq Destroys 4 Al Samoud Missiles
Aired March 01, 2003 - 16:23 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: Iraq has met a critical deadline set by Hans Blix, the U.N. chief weapons inspector, to start actually destroying some prohibited missiles. They are called the Al Samoud 2 missiles. What does this mean when the U.N. Security Council meets again in New York on Tuesday? CNN senior international correspondent Nic Robertson is following that story in Baghdad.
Nic, obviously, those people who are for increased inspections and against starting a war with Iraq are going to see this as a dramatic improvement on Iraq's part, that they're, in fact, cooperating.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's very likely to be read that way, Carol. Four missiles destroyed today, but U.N. inspectors here say that they hope that the process will continue. They say there's a lot of emphasis on Iraq at this time for Iraq to get on. There are over 100 missiles to be destroyed here.
But there are many other things that are going on, many other points of cooperation. The U.N. says that in the last 24, 48 hours it's been able to restart a process of private interviews with Iraqi scientists. It has interviewed a biologist and an engineer. This is something that has been pushing Iraqi officials very hard to do. The U.N. says that is positive. They're also going to be holding talks on Sunday, about finding out about Iraq's VX and anthrax, these are the so-called outstanding issues that have been left unresolved since the last U.N. weapons inspectors were here.
So for those who are opposed to war with Iraq, this renewed cooperation with the U.N. officials here is going to be something that they have been looking for. However, the U.N. officials here on the ground say that it's very, very important that with all of these measures, and, in particular, with the destruction of the Al Samoud missiles, that Iraq gets on with the process quickly.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DIMITRI PERRICOS, DEP. EXEC. CHAIRMAN, UNMOVIC: We cannot oblige the Iraqi side to take the samples (ph) that we would like. It is up to them, knowing very well what are the current perspectives, out of their actions. That they have to -- to accelerate the activities that they are doing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTSON: But even though this renewed cooperation may make the divisions between those countries that are opposed to giving the U.N. inspectors more time and those that want to see the inspectors continue with their work, the feeling in Iraq and among Iraqi officials is whatever they do at this time -- and the word that we hear from many Iraqi officials is that they want to do everything they can now to meet the demands of U.N. Resolution 1441. The general feeling is, though, that whatever they do, it isn't enough to head off the possibility of war, Carol.
LIN: So why can't the U.N. inspectors on the ground there, then, say, all right -- at least be more clear in their instructions to the Iraqis, you must destroy the Al Samoud 2 missiles by this particular date, because they didn't even set a deadline for the Iraqis. So this could go on for weeks.
ROBERTSON: Well, the bottom line is Iraq has been very slow to meet all of these deadlines. Whatever deadline the U.N. has set, Iraq leaves it until very much the last minute before it complies. And it complies in a very small and marginal way. And with the issue of the private interviews of Iraqi scientists, this process was started three weeks ago and then stopped. So it goes very slowly. It's not within the U.N. inspectors' control here.
However, having said that, what Hans Blix is going to be doing in the next week or so is setting out a timeline and a list, we understand, of about 30 issues that Iraq must comply with. So that will set out more of those deadlines, if you will, that Iraq will know these are the things it has to do by this date. Otherwise, everyone's going to read that as non-compliance. But the U.N. officials here say often it's not within their realm of control to even set a deadline on many of these issues.
LIN: All right, thank you very much, Nic Robertson reporting live in Baghdad.
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 March 1, 2003 - 16:23 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Iraq has met a critical deadline set by Hans Blix, the U.N. chief weapons inspector, to start actually destroying some prohibited missiles. They are called the Al Samoud 2 missiles. What does this mean when the U.N. Security Council meets again in New York on Tuesday? CNN senior international correspondent Nic Robertson is following that story in Baghdad.
Nic, obviously, those people who are for increased inspections and against starting a war with Iraq are going to see this as a dramatic improvement on Iraq's part, that they're, in fact, cooperating.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's very likely to be read that way, Carol. Four missiles destroyed today, but U.N. inspectors here say that they hope that the process will continue. They say there's a lot of emphasis on Iraq at this time for Iraq to get on. There are over 100 missiles to be destroyed here.
But there are many other things that are going on, many other points of cooperation. The U.N. says that in the last 24, 48 hours it's been able to restart a process of private interviews with Iraqi scientists. It has interviewed a biologist and an engineer. This is something that has been pushing Iraqi officials very hard to do. The U.N. says that is positive. They're also going to be holding talks on Sunday, about finding out about Iraq's VX and anthrax, these are the so-called outstanding issues that have been left unresolved since the last U.N. weapons inspectors were here.
So for those who are opposed to war with Iraq, this renewed cooperation with the U.N. officials here is going to be something that they have been looking for. However, the U.N. officials here on the ground say that it's very, very important that with all of these measures, and, in particular, with the destruction of the Al Samoud missiles, that Iraq gets on with the process quickly.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DIMITRI PERRICOS, DEP. EXEC. CHAIRMAN, UNMOVIC: We cannot oblige the Iraqi side to take the samples (ph) that we would like. It is up to them, knowing very well what are the current perspectives, out of their actions. That they have to -- to accelerate the activities that they are doing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTSON: But even though this renewed cooperation may make the divisions between those countries that are opposed to giving the U.N. inspectors more time and those that want to see the inspectors continue with their work, the feeling in Iraq and among Iraqi officials is whatever they do at this time -- and the word that we hear from many Iraqi officials is that they want to do everything they can now to meet the demands of U.N. Resolution 1441. The general feeling is, though, that whatever they do, it isn't enough to head off the possibility of war, Carol.
LIN: So why can't the U.N. inspectors on the ground there, then, say, all right -- at least be more clear in their instructions to the Iraqis, you must destroy the Al Samoud 2 missiles by this particular date, because they didn't even set a deadline for the Iraqis. So this could go on for weeks.
ROBERTSON: Well, the bottom line is Iraq has been very slow to meet all of these deadlines. Whatever deadline the U.N. has set, Iraq leaves it until very much the last minute before it complies. And it complies in a very small and marginal way. And with the issue of the private interviews of Iraqi scientists, this process was started three weeks ago and then stopped. So it goes very slowly. It's not within the U.N. inspectors' control here.
However, having said that, what Hans Blix is going to be doing in the next week or so is setting out a timeline and a list, we understand, of about 30 issues that Iraq must comply with. So that will set out more of those deadlines, if you will, that Iraq will know these are the things it has to do by this date. Otherwise, everyone's going to read that as non-compliance. But the U.N. officials here say often it's not within their realm of control to even set a deadline on many of these issues.
LIN: All right, thank you very much, Nic Robertson reporting live in Baghdad.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
