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CNN Live At Daybreak
'International Wrap'
Aired January 27, 2004 - 05:33 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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: The U.N. is sending a team back into Iraq. That's the focus of our international wrap.
Our senior international editor, David Clinch, joins us now.
DAVID CLINCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Yes, Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right, so Kofi Annan gives it a thumbs up.
CLINCH: Well, he did, although it was interesting the way he phrased it in what so far is only a paper statement released. Kofi Annan is in Paris today and there'll be a press conference around 8:00 a.m. or so which we'll watch, because the statement he released this morning actually mirrored what he'd said a week or so ago, that he would send a team into Iraq to assess whether elections could be held rather than, or at least in advance of this hand over system that the U.S. has developed, but only if, and it is a big if, the security of the U.N. team that he would send in could be assured by the U.S. coalition.
Now, it's interesting...
WHITFIELD: And how will that be done?
CLINCH: It's interesting that he is still saying if the security can be assessed, because we know the U.S. has been working with the U.N. for quite some time now to work out whether security can be assured. So it'll be interesting to see what the U.S. coalition in Baghdad today has to say about whether and when and how they can assure security for the U.N.
Obviously, violence continuing on a daily basis there. It's hard to know how you could exactly assure security. But obviously adequate measures is what Kofi Annan is talking about.
Obviously, interesting also listening to John King there talking about Vice President Cheney and referencing the fact that this is all happening within a political environment here in the U.S. All of our Iraq coverage at the moment happening within that context. All of the stories -- weapons of mass destruction, what David Kay has been saying within the last couple of days about the fact that so far no weapons of mass destruction have turned up, the Democratic candidates obviously seizing on that and our coverage in Iraq is going to reflect that. Those questions of weapons of mass destruction and the justification for war are being looked at again, even though we have been looking at them again and again over the past few months. They are being focused again because of the U.S. election. WHITFIELD: And the most recent connections being drawn between al Qaeda and terrorists or insurgents involved in recent attacks there.
CLINCH: Oh, yes. If you look at it, the justifications for war by the Bush administration were more or less threefold -- weapons of mass destruction. That's a very serious question mark over that at the moment.
The fallback, if you want to put it that way, justifications, were links to al Qaeda. Those were never very strongly outlined by the Bush administration and were never really established for sure. Now, though, the Bush administration pointing out that al Qaeda leaders are being caught in Iraq. Obviously, critics saying well, they weren't there before, but they are now.
And then finally human rights. We had an interesting human rights report yesterday in London from Human Rights Watch, a report saying that human rights, if that had been the justification, should have been the justification years before, not last year or the year before.
So interesting. Still, as I said, all of this happening in the political environment here in the United States.
WHITFIELD: All right, David Clinch, thanks very much.
CLINCH: OK.
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 27, 2004 - 05:33 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: The U.N. is sending a team back into Iraq. That's the focus of our international wrap.
Our senior international editor, David Clinch, joins us now.
DAVID CLINCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Yes, Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right, so Kofi Annan gives it a thumbs up.
CLINCH: Well, he did, although it was interesting the way he phrased it in what so far is only a paper statement released. Kofi Annan is in Paris today and there'll be a press conference around 8:00 a.m. or so which we'll watch, because the statement he released this morning actually mirrored what he'd said a week or so ago, that he would send a team into Iraq to assess whether elections could be held rather than, or at least in advance of this hand over system that the U.S. has developed, but only if, and it is a big if, the security of the U.N. team that he would send in could be assured by the U.S. coalition.
Now, it's interesting...
WHITFIELD: And how will that be done?
CLINCH: It's interesting that he is still saying if the security can be assessed, because we know the U.S. has been working with the U.N. for quite some time now to work out whether security can be assured. So it'll be interesting to see what the U.S. coalition in Baghdad today has to say about whether and when and how they can assure security for the U.N.
Obviously, violence continuing on a daily basis there. It's hard to know how you could exactly assure security. But obviously adequate measures is what Kofi Annan is talking about.
Obviously, interesting also listening to John King there talking about Vice President Cheney and referencing the fact that this is all happening within a political environment here in the U.S. All of our Iraq coverage at the moment happening within that context. All of the stories -- weapons of mass destruction, what David Kay has been saying within the last couple of days about the fact that so far no weapons of mass destruction have turned up, the Democratic candidates obviously seizing on that and our coverage in Iraq is going to reflect that. Those questions of weapons of mass destruction and the justification for war are being looked at again, even though we have been looking at them again and again over the past few months. They are being focused again because of the U.S. election. WHITFIELD: And the most recent connections being drawn between al Qaeda and terrorists or insurgents involved in recent attacks there.
CLINCH: Oh, yes. If you look at it, the justifications for war by the Bush administration were more or less threefold -- weapons of mass destruction. That's a very serious question mark over that at the moment.
The fallback, if you want to put it that way, justifications, were links to al Qaeda. Those were never very strongly outlined by the Bush administration and were never really established for sure. Now, though, the Bush administration pointing out that al Qaeda leaders are being caught in Iraq. Obviously, critics saying well, they weren't there before, but they are now.
And then finally human rights. We had an interesting human rights report yesterday in London from Human Rights Watch, a report saying that human rights, if that had been the justification, should have been the justification years before, not last year or the year before.
So interesting. Still, as I said, all of this happening in the political environment here in the United States.
WHITFIELD: All right, David Clinch, thanks very much.
CLINCH: OK.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
