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Blix Headed for France, Cyprus, Iraq
Aired November 15, 2002 - 13:18 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: As we reported, Chief U.N. arms inspector Hans Blix will lead an advance inspection team to Iraq on Monday looking, of course, for weapons. Blix will leave New York today, heading first for France and then the team staging area, which is on Cyprus.
Our Senior U.N. Correspondent Richard Roth will be following Blix to Paris and Larnaca.
Richard, as a journalist, what do you expect to find on this journey?
RICHARD ROTH, CNN SENIOR U.N. CORRESPONDENT: Well, other than losing sleep, I think we're going to find Hans Blix getting closer to the aim he's been waiting for for several years, Baghdad, Iraq. But first, as a protocol, a courtesy, most U.N. officials on big missions, when they are passing through Europe, Paris is a mandatory stop, not for the shopping, but the French government wants to still show that it is a key player on the world stage, that it had a big influence on the Security Council resolution.
So Blix meets with the foreign minister there. France wants Iraq to accept the inspectors. France doesn't want the U.S. to use this resolution that was passed authorizing the Blix trip for a military attack -- Martin.
SAVIDGE: Then he gets to Cyprus, you'll get to Cyprus there too. What happens then? Does he talk to -- sort of a pep talk with the troops before he goes in, or is it just changing planes?
ROTH: These inspectors and the technicians who are paving the way on this trip for the inspectors are based all over the world. They're not in one room here in U.N. headquarters in uniforms waiting for the green light to go. They'd be rather weary after two years of going nowhere. Actually, more than four years in total for the agency.
It's there that he's going to meet up with the team that goes into Baghdad. It's their last only chance, perhaps, to talk without any potential eavesdropping in Baghdad. The office for the U.N. weapons inspectors outside of Iraq will be based in Cyprus. That is where they'll go for quick recuperation. Maybe it will be used for the interviews with the scientists that the U.S. wants Blix to take out of the country. He is still a little reluctant.
Then he goes from Cyprus on Monday into Baghdad, along with the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency. SAVIDGE: And you know Blix personally, so what does this moment mean for him as far as what he's waited for, and is really going to happen?
ROTH: Well, he had to be -- not convinced, but he needed a little persuasion by Kofi Annan to take this job after Richard Butler stepped down amidst some controversy, a lot of countries objected to his performance.
For Blix, he has nothing to lose. As he said at the press conference -- quote -- "My career is over," when he was asked to take stock of where this fits in. So, he has got a chance to call it as he sees it. He does have a chance to perhaps -- quote -- "make up" for what some say was his failure to observe Iraq building up its nuclear program into the late '80s, when he was the head of the U.N. International Nuclear Agency.
SAVIDGE: Richard Roth, live from the U.N. We wish you safe travels. We'll talk to you on the road. Thank you very much.
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 - 13:18 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: As we reported, Chief U.N. arms inspector Hans Blix will lead an advance inspection team to Iraq on Monday looking, of course, for weapons. Blix will leave New York today, heading first for France and then the team staging area, which is on Cyprus.
Our Senior U.N. Correspondent Richard Roth will be following Blix to Paris and Larnaca.
Richard, as a journalist, what do you expect to find on this journey?
RICHARD ROTH, CNN SENIOR U.N. CORRESPONDENT: Well, other than losing sleep, I think we're going to find Hans Blix getting closer to the aim he's been waiting for for several years, Baghdad, Iraq. But first, as a protocol, a courtesy, most U.N. officials on big missions, when they are passing through Europe, Paris is a mandatory stop, not for the shopping, but the French government wants to still show that it is a key player on the world stage, that it had a big influence on the Security Council resolution.
So Blix meets with the foreign minister there. France wants Iraq to accept the inspectors. France doesn't want the U.S. to use this resolution that was passed authorizing the Blix trip for a military attack -- Martin.
SAVIDGE: Then he gets to Cyprus, you'll get to Cyprus there too. What happens then? Does he talk to -- sort of a pep talk with the troops before he goes in, or is it just changing planes?
ROTH: These inspectors and the technicians who are paving the way on this trip for the inspectors are based all over the world. They're not in one room here in U.N. headquarters in uniforms waiting for the green light to go. They'd be rather weary after two years of going nowhere. Actually, more than four years in total for the agency.
It's there that he's going to meet up with the team that goes into Baghdad. It's their last only chance, perhaps, to talk without any potential eavesdropping in Baghdad. The office for the U.N. weapons inspectors outside of Iraq will be based in Cyprus. That is where they'll go for quick recuperation. Maybe it will be used for the interviews with the scientists that the U.S. wants Blix to take out of the country. He is still a little reluctant.
Then he goes from Cyprus on Monday into Baghdad, along with the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency. SAVIDGE: And you know Blix personally, so what does this moment mean for him as far as what he's waited for, and is really going to happen?
ROTH: Well, he had to be -- not convinced, but he needed a little persuasion by Kofi Annan to take this job after Richard Butler stepped down amidst some controversy, a lot of countries objected to his performance.
For Blix, he has nothing to lose. As he said at the press conference -- quote -- "My career is over," when he was asked to take stock of where this fits in. So, he has got a chance to call it as he sees it. He does have a chance to perhaps -- quote -- "make up" for what some say was his failure to observe Iraq building up its nuclear program into the late '80s, when he was the head of the U.N. International Nuclear Agency.
SAVIDGE: Richard Roth, live from the U.N. We wish you safe travels. We'll talk to you on the road. Thank you very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
