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Inspections Could Take Up to a Year Longer
Aired January 13, 2003 - 13:15 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: How long will the warriors have to wait? We've been talking about troops being deployed. A spokesperson for the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog agency says the weapons inspections in Iraq could take about a year. Meanwhile, inspectors are busy today. At least six teams are on the move.
CNN's Rym Brahimi is live in Baghdad -- Rym.
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kyra. Before we get to the inspections, just a couple of things here that have been reported just in the past hour or so.
The Iraqi news agency, which is run by the Iraqi state, has reported that six civilians were injured in the south of Iraq after bombings by U.S. and British airplanes coming from Kuwait.
The state run news agency says that the planes were countered by Iraq's air defenses and returned to Kuwait.
Now, meanwhile, President Saddam Hussein has been busy meeting with very high level officials from the ruling Baath Party, and also with his son, who is the supervisor of the Iraqi Republican Guard. Now, the inspections, indeed, as you mentioned, they have been fanning out across the country, north and south, in and out of Baghdad.
A couple of teams went to the University of Baghdad again, interviewing people, talking to students and professors, and then a team came back from the southern city of Basra, where they were checking on missiles -- a missile known as the El Fatah (ph), which has the capability, if modified, of exceeding the authorized range of 150 kilometers that Iraq can produce. They were tagging those missiles and, of course, there's a lot of ground to cover. There's a lot of ground to cover especially as now they have this sort of deadline for a progress report on the 27th of January.
Meanwhile, Kyra, there have been quite a lot of peace groups coming into the country here in the past couple of months.
The latest group from the United States, a group of American academics. They arrived last night, Kyra. This morning, they went to visit a hospital. The Saddam's Children's Hospital. They spoke to doctors and spoke to a couple of families who had children in hospital. One of the people that was in that delegation, along with other professors from various universities, was Bianca Jagger, a prominent human rights advocate. Here is what she had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BIANCA JAGGER, HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST: I'm here as well to tell to the Iraqi government, you must comply. You must protect your people and prevent a war. But I'm here, especially for Americans to understand that this war will not be a sanitized war. That there will be thousands of innocent civilians, children and women, who will die.
And is that the answer? Is there no other answer? Is there no other alternative? Why is there an alternative for North Korea? Why is not there an alternative, which is a negotiated settlement, with Iraq?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRAHIMI: Now, the peace activists plan tomorrow to talk to other university professors, Iraqi academics at the University of Baghdad. A way they say to try and bridge some solutions, try and find a solution to try and avert a conflict here in Iraq -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. Rym Brahimi from Baghdad, thank you.
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 January 13, 2003 - 13:15 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: How long will the warriors have to wait? We've been talking about troops being deployed. A spokesperson for the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog agency says the weapons inspections in Iraq could take about a year. Meanwhile, inspectors are busy today. At least six teams are on the move.
CNN's Rym Brahimi is live in Baghdad -- Rym.
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kyra. Before we get to the inspections, just a couple of things here that have been reported just in the past hour or so.
The Iraqi news agency, which is run by the Iraqi state, has reported that six civilians were injured in the south of Iraq after bombings by U.S. and British airplanes coming from Kuwait.
The state run news agency says that the planes were countered by Iraq's air defenses and returned to Kuwait.
Now, meanwhile, President Saddam Hussein has been busy meeting with very high level officials from the ruling Baath Party, and also with his son, who is the supervisor of the Iraqi Republican Guard. Now, the inspections, indeed, as you mentioned, they have been fanning out across the country, north and south, in and out of Baghdad.
A couple of teams went to the University of Baghdad again, interviewing people, talking to students and professors, and then a team came back from the southern city of Basra, where they were checking on missiles -- a missile known as the El Fatah (ph), which has the capability, if modified, of exceeding the authorized range of 150 kilometers that Iraq can produce. They were tagging those missiles and, of course, there's a lot of ground to cover. There's a lot of ground to cover especially as now they have this sort of deadline for a progress report on the 27th of January.
Meanwhile, Kyra, there have been quite a lot of peace groups coming into the country here in the past couple of months.
The latest group from the United States, a group of American academics. They arrived last night, Kyra. This morning, they went to visit a hospital. The Saddam's Children's Hospital. They spoke to doctors and spoke to a couple of families who had children in hospital. One of the people that was in that delegation, along with other professors from various universities, was Bianca Jagger, a prominent human rights advocate. Here is what she had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BIANCA JAGGER, HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST: I'm here as well to tell to the Iraqi government, you must comply. You must protect your people and prevent a war. But I'm here, especially for Americans to understand that this war will not be a sanitized war. That there will be thousands of innocent civilians, children and women, who will die.
And is that the answer? Is there no other answer? Is there no other alternative? Why is there an alternative for North Korea? Why is not there an alternative, which is a negotiated settlement, with Iraq?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRAHIMI: Now, the peace activists plan tomorrow to talk to other university professors, Iraqi academics at the University of Baghdad. A way they say to try and bridge some solutions, try and find a solution to try and avert a conflict here in Iraq -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. Rym Brahimi from Baghdad, thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
