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Busy Travel Weekend for Iraq Weapons Inspectors

Aired November 15, 2002 - 14:02   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: A busy weekend lies ahead now for members of the U.N. advance team of weapons inspectors as they gather are gathering in Cyprus now, their last stop before they enter into Iraq,
CNN senior international correspondent Nic Robertson is there. He's monitoring the comings and goings for us.

Hello -- Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Marty, hello.

There has been some coming and going here, a little slow as the few logistics and communications experts who are waiting here in the hotel behind me for Hans Blix to arrive Sunday. They have had some business to deal with, some meetings to have, but also we've seen them working on their aircraft, a large military transport aircraft, a U.N. aircraft, it has big U.N. decals on the side.

We've seen large cardboard boxes loaded on to that aircraft. We don't know what are inside, but we know when this team, this advance team goes to Baghdad, they'll be putting in a secure communications network so that they can send out their data to be analyzed by experts outside of Iraq. They'll be installing new computers, getting their laboratories up and running again so that they can also analyze in country, in Iraq, that data they're collecting from around Iraq -- Marty.

SAVIDGE: Nic, do we know when these weapons inspectors arrive in Baghdad, will they be meeting with top Iraqi officials?

ROBERTSON: That's what we're expecting. Hans Blix, the head of the team, and the head of the nuclear inspection team, Mohammed ElBaradei are expected to meet with senior Iraqi officials. They'll just stay two days on the ground in Baghdad. The other logistics and communications people, they will stay at the U.N. base and continue what is now - what will become an ongoing process of getting the offices there up and running. That is before the inspection, actual inspection team members begin to arrive. There will be an overlap. And once the teams are up and running properly, perhaps as many as 80 to 100 inspectors at one time, but Hans Blix and Mohammed ElBaradei expected to come back to Cyprus on Wednesday, once they've complete their part of this mission, those meetings and the start-up of the U.N.'s inspection teams again in Baghdad.

SAVIDGE: Nic Robertson, live from Larnaca, Cyprus, thanks very much. It's obviously going to be a way point for weapons inspectors.

On Monday, that advance team will travel to Baghdad. Once there, the team members will be setting up communications systems and laboratories for their inspection work. How long they stay depends on Iraq. CNN's Rym Brahimi joins us from Baghdad. And what's the reaction they're likely to get, Rym?

RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Marty, so far, people are not thrilled at the idea of having inspectors roaming around the country again, as they did before. That said, they're kind of relieved, because for them, as long as the inspectors are here, it means they won't be bombed. Now, that's key, because even the talk that the media, the official media have been telling them that it was the best thing to accept this resolution, because it will protect the Iraqi people on the long term, that there won't be any bombings right now. This is very key.

People don't like the idea the inspectors are going to be here, they find it humiliating, in fact, but they're prepared to do what it takes as long as they're not going to be attacked. Now, the state-run media has also been saying, insisting on the fact that, a, the inspectors have to be professional and act professionally, unlike, they say, the previous team which with which there were many problems, as you know.

And, secondly, they're also saying that they expect the sanctions to be lifted after the inspectors have checked and verified that there are no weapons of mass destruction, as Iraq says. Now a lot of people don't even wonder about the sanctions here, because their priority is not to be bombed. Marty?

SAVIDGE: Rym, you mentioned last hour that some are fearful these weapons inspectors could come knocking in the night wanting to look in their kitchen or someplace else. Who is telling them that?

BRAHIMI: Well, they're just imagining. I think they have not very good memories of when the previous team of inspectors were here. There had been odd cases of people coming in to maybe not private homes in the middle of the night, but people barging into houses or maybe personal stores or warehouses, private warehouses, even, on a Friday, which is a day off here, and breaking door locks if there was nobody attending them. So people aren't really, you know, thrilled at this idea.

There were also a lot of cases that these people tell us here that in the seven years that the previous team of inspectors were here, where they'd walk into a university -- into universities where students were, for instance, presenting their thesis and they'd walk into the presentation and start looking at books and stuff.

So people are very, nervous, I mean, they're not really comfortable with that idea. That said, again, they are very, much aware of the odds here, of the stakes, they really don't want to be attacked again. And they have been told, I understand, that school teachers, university professors have been given instructions by the government to cooperate as much as possible. Marty? SAVIDGE: Rym Brahimi, live from Baghdad, where it's going to be a nervous weekend. Thank you very much.

At the White House today, the president's top security aide took pains to be publicly tie Iraq to the war against terror. CNN's Frank Buckley brings us that, and he updates us on more. Frank, what's going on?

FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Marty, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice was answering Bush administration critics who have suggested that the administration has been too focused on Iraq, not focused enough in the war on terror. Dr. Rice began by saying that the central focus of this administration is any threat to the U.S. But she said that the worst case nightmare scenario would be a regime that had weapons of mass destruction, that was anti-U.S., and that had a history of supporting terrorists. She said in that sense, Iraq is a part of the war on terror.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: Nobody has said that he has operational control of al Qaeda or that he caused September 11. That's not the point. But the point is that if you look at a regime like Iraq, with growing capabilities in terms of weapons of mass destruction and with an extreme animus toward the United States, and you look at the potential for that to link up with terrorist organizations, including with al Qaeda, you have to be concerned about that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BUCKLEY: Now, Iraq is expected to be on the agenda next week, when the president travels to Prague for the NATO summit, but administration officials tell us that that will not be the topic of his major address. That will be on the future of Europe. Marty?

SAVIDGE: Frank Buckley live at the White House, thanks 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 - 14:02   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: A busy weekend lies ahead now for members of the U.N. advance team of weapons inspectors as they gather are gathering in Cyprus now, their last stop before they enter into Iraq,
CNN senior international correspondent Nic Robertson is there. He's monitoring the comings and goings for us.

Hello -- Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Marty, hello.

There has been some coming and going here, a little slow as the few logistics and communications experts who are waiting here in the hotel behind me for Hans Blix to arrive Sunday. They have had some business to deal with, some meetings to have, but also we've seen them working on their aircraft, a large military transport aircraft, a U.N. aircraft, it has big U.N. decals on the side.

We've seen large cardboard boxes loaded on to that aircraft. We don't know what are inside, but we know when this team, this advance team goes to Baghdad, they'll be putting in a secure communications network so that they can send out their data to be analyzed by experts outside of Iraq. They'll be installing new computers, getting their laboratories up and running again so that they can also analyze in country, in Iraq, that data they're collecting from around Iraq -- Marty.

SAVIDGE: Nic, do we know when these weapons inspectors arrive in Baghdad, will they be meeting with top Iraqi officials?

ROBERTSON: That's what we're expecting. Hans Blix, the head of the team, and the head of the nuclear inspection team, Mohammed ElBaradei are expected to meet with senior Iraqi officials. They'll just stay two days on the ground in Baghdad. The other logistics and communications people, they will stay at the U.N. base and continue what is now - what will become an ongoing process of getting the offices there up and running. That is before the inspection, actual inspection team members begin to arrive. There will be an overlap. And once the teams are up and running properly, perhaps as many as 80 to 100 inspectors at one time, but Hans Blix and Mohammed ElBaradei expected to come back to Cyprus on Wednesday, once they've complete their part of this mission, those meetings and the start-up of the U.N.'s inspection teams again in Baghdad.

SAVIDGE: Nic Robertson, live from Larnaca, Cyprus, thanks very much. It's obviously going to be a way point for weapons inspectors.

On Monday, that advance team will travel to Baghdad. Once there, the team members will be setting up communications systems and laboratories for their inspection work. How long they stay depends on Iraq. CNN's Rym Brahimi joins us from Baghdad. And what's the reaction they're likely to get, Rym?

RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Marty, so far, people are not thrilled at the idea of having inspectors roaming around the country again, as they did before. That said, they're kind of relieved, because for them, as long as the inspectors are here, it means they won't be bombed. Now, that's key, because even the talk that the media, the official media have been telling them that it was the best thing to accept this resolution, because it will protect the Iraqi people on the long term, that there won't be any bombings right now. This is very key.

People don't like the idea the inspectors are going to be here, they find it humiliating, in fact, but they're prepared to do what it takes as long as they're not going to be attacked. Now, the state-run media has also been saying, insisting on the fact that, a, the inspectors have to be professional and act professionally, unlike, they say, the previous team which with which there were many problems, as you know.

And, secondly, they're also saying that they expect the sanctions to be lifted after the inspectors have checked and verified that there are no weapons of mass destruction, as Iraq says. Now a lot of people don't even wonder about the sanctions here, because their priority is not to be bombed. Marty?

SAVIDGE: Rym, you mentioned last hour that some are fearful these weapons inspectors could come knocking in the night wanting to look in their kitchen or someplace else. Who is telling them that?

BRAHIMI: Well, they're just imagining. I think they have not very good memories of when the previous team of inspectors were here. There had been odd cases of people coming in to maybe not private homes in the middle of the night, but people barging into houses or maybe personal stores or warehouses, private warehouses, even, on a Friday, which is a day off here, and breaking door locks if there was nobody attending them. So people aren't really, you know, thrilled at this idea.

There were also a lot of cases that these people tell us here that in the seven years that the previous team of inspectors were here, where they'd walk into a university -- into universities where students were, for instance, presenting their thesis and they'd walk into the presentation and start looking at books and stuff.

So people are very, nervous, I mean, they're not really comfortable with that idea. That said, again, they are very, much aware of the odds here, of the stakes, they really don't want to be attacked again. And they have been told, I understand, that school teachers, university professors have been given instructions by the government to cooperate as much as possible. Marty? SAVIDGE: Rym Brahimi, live from Baghdad, where it's going to be a nervous weekend. Thank you very much.

At the White House today, the president's top security aide took pains to be publicly tie Iraq to the war against terror. CNN's Frank Buckley brings us that, and he updates us on more. Frank, what's going on?

FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Marty, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice was answering Bush administration critics who have suggested that the administration has been too focused on Iraq, not focused enough in the war on terror. Dr. Rice began by saying that the central focus of this administration is any threat to the U.S. But she said that the worst case nightmare scenario would be a regime that had weapons of mass destruction, that was anti-U.S., and that had a history of supporting terrorists. She said in that sense, Iraq is a part of the war on terror.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: Nobody has said that he has operational control of al Qaeda or that he caused September 11. That's not the point. But the point is that if you look at a regime like Iraq, with growing capabilities in terms of weapons of mass destruction and with an extreme animus toward the United States, and you look at the potential for that to link up with terrorist organizations, including with al Qaeda, you have to be concerned about that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BUCKLEY: Now, Iraq is expected to be on the agenda next week, when the president travels to Prague for the NATO summit, but administration officials tell us that that will not be the topic of his major address. That will be on the future of Europe. Marty?

SAVIDGE: Frank Buckley live at the White House, thanks 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