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Iraq Expected To File Weapons Declaration This Weekend

Aired December 06, 2002 - 14:35   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.


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush met today at the White House with the top national security advisers and it's believed they discussed a possible U.S. response to the Iraqi declaration of weapons of mass destruction. The Iraqi report, of course, has not yet been made public but there's a lot of speculation about it.
State Department correspondent Andrea Koppel has more.

Hi, Andrea.

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra.

Well, CNN has learned that President Bush and his national security team have decided that unless Iraq's President Saddam Hussein surprises everyone and comes clean with details about his program of weapons of mass destruction, that the U.S. will declare Iraq is in material breach of U.N. Resolution 1441.

But -- and this is a big but -- they will not -- the president will not cite this as a cause to go to war. Why? Well, the explanation I've been given, Kyra, is that the sense within the administration is it wouldn't sell within the international community.

It would just be too soon to use this as a pretext to go to war. Remember that in Resolution 1441 there's a clause that says, "False statements or omissions in the declaration submitted by Iraq pursuant to this resolution shall constitute a further material breach of Iraq's obligations and will be reported to the Security Council for assessment."

Now, right now the Bush administration is figuring that it needs to build a body of obstructionism that Iraq will not comply rather than citing one or two examples to be able to kind of lump it all together.

Again, the administration will also at the same time be pressing the chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix to step up the intensity of his inspections and also to begin those interviews with Iraqi scientists.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is important for the inspectors to exercise the full range of their capabilities as defined in Resolution 1441, and that includes immediate, unrestricted and private access to all officials and other persons that the teams choose to interview. The resolution states specifically, in paragraph five, that they can conduct interviews inside or outside Iraq.

They can facilitate the travel of those interviewed and family members outside of Iraq.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOPPEL: The U.S., Kyra, believes that the interviews with those Iraqi scientists could be the key to unlocking the doors behind Iraq's secret program right now of weapons of mass destruction -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: So Andrea, what's your sense? We've been talking so much about these documents tomorrow and we're doing a lot of special coverage. Do you think journalists will actually get their hands on these documents tomorrow? Will you be able to look at them? Will I be able to look at them? Will I be able to look at them? Or is that just not going to happen?

KOPPEL: Well, remember the documents, whether or not it's going to be pages, thousands of pages or on a CD-Rom, are actually going directly to UNMOVIC, to the IAEA, but not to journalists and, in fact, not to Security Council members until they're flown all the way back here to New York and then they'll be distributed.

Right now one of the debates, if you will, is over who gets it. Is it just the five permanent members of the Security Council or is it all 15 members? And the U.S. is arguing right now to keep it restricted, Kyra, let alone pass it out to journalists.

PHILLIPS: Understandable. State department correspondent Andrea Koppel.

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 December 6, 2002 - 14:35   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush met today at the White House with the top national security advisers and it's believed they discussed a possible U.S. response to the Iraqi declaration of weapons of mass destruction. The Iraqi report, of course, has not yet been made public but there's a lot of speculation about it.
State Department correspondent Andrea Koppel has more.

Hi, Andrea.

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra.

Well, CNN has learned that President Bush and his national security team have decided that unless Iraq's President Saddam Hussein surprises everyone and comes clean with details about his program of weapons of mass destruction, that the U.S. will declare Iraq is in material breach of U.N. Resolution 1441.

But -- and this is a big but -- they will not -- the president will not cite this as a cause to go to war. Why? Well, the explanation I've been given, Kyra, is that the sense within the administration is it wouldn't sell within the international community.

It would just be too soon to use this as a pretext to go to war. Remember that in Resolution 1441 there's a clause that says, "False statements or omissions in the declaration submitted by Iraq pursuant to this resolution shall constitute a further material breach of Iraq's obligations and will be reported to the Security Council for assessment."

Now, right now the Bush administration is figuring that it needs to build a body of obstructionism that Iraq will not comply rather than citing one or two examples to be able to kind of lump it all together.

Again, the administration will also at the same time be pressing the chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix to step up the intensity of his inspections and also to begin those interviews with Iraqi scientists.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is important for the inspectors to exercise the full range of their capabilities as defined in Resolution 1441, and that includes immediate, unrestricted and private access to all officials and other persons that the teams choose to interview. The resolution states specifically, in paragraph five, that they can conduct interviews inside or outside Iraq.

They can facilitate the travel of those interviewed and family members outside of Iraq.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOPPEL: The U.S., Kyra, believes that the interviews with those Iraqi scientists could be the key to unlocking the doors behind Iraq's secret program right now of weapons of mass destruction -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: So Andrea, what's your sense? We've been talking so much about these documents tomorrow and we're doing a lot of special coverage. Do you think journalists will actually get their hands on these documents tomorrow? Will you be able to look at them? Will I be able to look at them? Will I be able to look at them? Or is that just not going to happen?

KOPPEL: Well, remember the documents, whether or not it's going to be pages, thousands of pages or on a CD-Rom, are actually going directly to UNMOVIC, to the IAEA, but not to journalists and, in fact, not to Security Council members until they're flown all the way back here to New York and then they'll be distributed.

Right now one of the debates, if you will, is over who gets it. Is it just the five permanent members of the Security Council or is it all 15 members? And the U.S. is arguing right now to keep it restricted, Kyra, let alone pass it out to journalists.

PHILLIPS: Understandable. State department correspondent Andrea Koppel.

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