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Blix Bound for Paris

Aired November 15, 2002 - 13:07   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 ANCHOR: Blix is bound for Paris, where he'll meet with the French government and officials there on Sunday. He's due in Larnaca, Cyprus to join other members of the advance team and meet with the chief of International Atomic Energy Agency. Then, Monday, Blix will lead the other members of the team to Iraq, where they'll begin preparing for the inspections.
Nic Robertson is live at the staging area in Larnaca, Cyprus. Nic, is there an indication that the U.N.'s getting ready to move in?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. They have a large transport air craft on the tarmac at the runway about half a mail away. The logistics and communications specialists who are staying in the hotel behind me were down there earlier on today moving equipment on and off the aircraft. We can see -- from down on the tarmac, there, we can see some large cardboard boxes of equipment stacked up on the aircraft already. Now, they're not saying what it is they're taking to Baghdad, but we understand this mission, of course, to get the secure communications set up there, to install new computers in the offices that were vacated by the last U.N. inspection team that left in December, 1998. So they're going in to prepare the ground. So it appears as if what they're loading the aircraft on now will be the equipment needed to get the place up and running for when the real inspectors actually arrive in Baghdad. Marty?

SAVIDGE: Nic Robertson, live in Larnaca, Cyprus, as the U.N. gets ready to move. Thank you very much.

Indications are the weapons inspectors will be accepted but hardly welcomed when they arrive Monday in Baghdad. CNN's Rym Brahimi is live now in Baghdad. She's been sampling reaction. What are people talking about there regarding the U.N.?

RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Marty, there are a lot of questions, mainly. A lot of people wonder what this is going to mean on the ground. Basically, from a practical perspective, they're just worried. I mean, they wonder, does it mean that they have to open their doors to these strangers coming in at any time of the day or night?

Of course, they know that the consequences would be really, really severe if they didn't. So they are prepared, reluctantly, to do what it takes because the last thing they do want to see here is another war. On the other hand, they do find this quite humiliating, a little bit insulting. But I think the message has been sent across, people do understand what the stakes are. Now, what they've been told by the government through the state- run media here, is that it's very important to cooperate, of course, but also that this resolution, although it's a very bad and unfair one, say the newspapers, had to be accepted by the leadership for the greater good of the Iraqi people, to protect them from harm and to make sure that they weren't attacked. Now, people don't have many illusions about that. This same message was also repeated in the Friday mosque prayers today, the sermon at the mosque today was a lot focused on that, the official one that was broadcast on Iraqi TV mentioned the fact that this resolution was adopted although it was a bad resolution, but that it was important that people cooperate no matter what.

There was also -- there are also instructions that have been given to people, government employees, university professors, school teachers, so I think they know what they have to do. They're just not clear as to how it's going to happen on the ground exactly. And they're just worried, because they don't know what could be considered a serious glitch, really. Marty?

SAVIDGE: There are a lot of questions, Rym, and the answers hopefully will start coming on Monday.

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 15, 2002 - 13:07   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Blix is bound for Paris, where he'll meet with the French government and officials there on Sunday. He's due in Larnaca, Cyprus to join other members of the advance team and meet with the chief of International Atomic Energy Agency. Then, Monday, Blix will lead the other members of the team to Iraq, where they'll begin preparing for the inspections.
Nic Robertson is live at the staging area in Larnaca, Cyprus. Nic, is there an indication that the U.N.'s getting ready to move in?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. They have a large transport air craft on the tarmac at the runway about half a mail away. The logistics and communications specialists who are staying in the hotel behind me were down there earlier on today moving equipment on and off the aircraft. We can see -- from down on the tarmac, there, we can see some large cardboard boxes of equipment stacked up on the aircraft already. Now, they're not saying what it is they're taking to Baghdad, but we understand this mission, of course, to get the secure communications set up there, to install new computers in the offices that were vacated by the last U.N. inspection team that left in December, 1998. So they're going in to prepare the ground. So it appears as if what they're loading the aircraft on now will be the equipment needed to get the place up and running for when the real inspectors actually arrive in Baghdad. Marty?

SAVIDGE: Nic Robertson, live in Larnaca, Cyprus, as the U.N. gets ready to move. Thank you very much.

Indications are the weapons inspectors will be accepted but hardly welcomed when they arrive Monday in Baghdad. CNN's Rym Brahimi is live now in Baghdad. She's been sampling reaction. What are people talking about there regarding the U.N.?

RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Marty, there are a lot of questions, mainly. A lot of people wonder what this is going to mean on the ground. Basically, from a practical perspective, they're just worried. I mean, they wonder, does it mean that they have to open their doors to these strangers coming in at any time of the day or night?

Of course, they know that the consequences would be really, really severe if they didn't. So they are prepared, reluctantly, to do what it takes because the last thing they do want to see here is another war. On the other hand, they do find this quite humiliating, a little bit insulting. But I think the message has been sent across, people do understand what the stakes are. Now, what they've been told by the government through the state- run media here, is that it's very important to cooperate, of course, but also that this resolution, although it's a very bad and unfair one, say the newspapers, had to be accepted by the leadership for the greater good of the Iraqi people, to protect them from harm and to make sure that they weren't attacked. Now, people don't have many illusions about that. This same message was also repeated in the Friday mosque prayers today, the sermon at the mosque today was a lot focused on that, the official one that was broadcast on Iraqi TV mentioned the fact that this resolution was adopted although it was a bad resolution, but that it was important that people cooperate no matter what.

There was also -- there are also instructions that have been given to people, government employees, university professors, school teachers, so I think they know what they have to do. They're just not clear as to how it's going to happen on the ground exactly. And they're just worried, because they don't know what could be considered a serious glitch, really. Marty?

SAVIDGE: There are a lot of questions, Rym, and the answers hopefully will start coming on Monday.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com