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Baghdad Accepts Inspections

Aired November 13, 2002 - 14:39   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.


MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, as we've been reporting today, Iraq says that it accepts the resolution on the return of U.N. weapons inspectors, and Iraqi officials say the inspectors impending return is eagerly awaited by the Baghdad government. Iraq will have 30 days to account for weapons of mass destruction, which it insists it doesn't have, by the way. Or face the consequences.
Joining us now from Washington, CNN security analyst J. Kelly McCann.

Thank you for being with us. You've been in this region. You know the security issues, right?

J. KELLY MCCANN, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: Yes, Marty, I sure do.

SAVIDGE: Well, let me ask you this. It seems that there are too few inspectors and too much territory to cover to realistically believe they're going to find everything that Saddam may have to hide.

MCCANN: Well, that's the point, isn't it. I mean if you think about it, you've got 30 days to show complete compliance with, you know, a number of personnel over there who would be qualified to actually seek the weapons out based on intelligence, and have direct and immediate access. That's a task all in itself. If there are any roadblocks at all or if there are any delays or if there are any miscommunications, either legitimate or illegitimate, it puts us off the 30-day mark. So clearly, it has to be a well-defined menu of items they need to see. They have to establish the schedule when they need to see them, and no tom foolery. We'll see.

SAVIDGE: When you go in there, much has been made about the potential of a nuclear capability for Saddam Hussein, which obviously no one wants. Is that really the high priority here, do you think, for inspectors, looking for nukes? Or should it be something else?

MCCANN: Well, I think regionally of course, you know, it's important. However, more transportable and easily smuggled, and of threat to the rest of the world is the b.c. part of it, the biological and chemical warfare part of it. If you think about the average size containers and even the threat that improperly storing them while they're smuggled, and improper handling could present to the whole world, I would say that all of the threats are similar. So we can't focus just on the nuclear problem. There's also the other two, that are ever-present.

SAVIDGE: J. Kelly McCann, time waits for no one, unfortunately not for us. Thank you for joining us. We appreciate it. 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 13, 2002 - 14:39   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, as we've been reporting today, Iraq says that it accepts the resolution on the return of U.N. weapons inspectors, and Iraqi officials say the inspectors impending return is eagerly awaited by the Baghdad government. Iraq will have 30 days to account for weapons of mass destruction, which it insists it doesn't have, by the way. Or face the consequences.
Joining us now from Washington, CNN security analyst J. Kelly McCann.

Thank you for being with us. You've been in this region. You know the security issues, right?

J. KELLY MCCANN, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: Yes, Marty, I sure do.

SAVIDGE: Well, let me ask you this. It seems that there are too few inspectors and too much territory to cover to realistically believe they're going to find everything that Saddam may have to hide.

MCCANN: Well, that's the point, isn't it. I mean if you think about it, you've got 30 days to show complete compliance with, you know, a number of personnel over there who would be qualified to actually seek the weapons out based on intelligence, and have direct and immediate access. That's a task all in itself. If there are any roadblocks at all or if there are any delays or if there are any miscommunications, either legitimate or illegitimate, it puts us off the 30-day mark. So clearly, it has to be a well-defined menu of items they need to see. They have to establish the schedule when they need to see them, and no tom foolery. We'll see.

SAVIDGE: When you go in there, much has been made about the potential of a nuclear capability for Saddam Hussein, which obviously no one wants. Is that really the high priority here, do you think, for inspectors, looking for nukes? Or should it be something else?

MCCANN: Well, I think regionally of course, you know, it's important. However, more transportable and easily smuggled, and of threat to the rest of the world is the b.c. part of it, the biological and chemical warfare part of it. If you think about the average size containers and even the threat that improperly storing them while they're smuggled, and improper handling could present to the whole world, I would say that all of the threats are similar. So we can't focus just on the nuclear problem. There's also the other two, that are ever-present.

SAVIDGE: J. Kelly McCann, time waits for no one, unfortunately not for us. Thank you for joining us. We appreciate it. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com