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Hans Blix Tells Iraq It's Time to Get Real

Aired January 14, 2003 - 13:20   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: Hans Blix tells Iraq it's time to get real. The chief U.N. weapons inspector says the Iraqis need to look around at the U.S. military buildup on their borders and realize they must be more forthcoming about their weapons program.
CNN's Richard Roth live from the United Nations now.

Hi, Richard.

RICHARD ROTH, CNN SR. U.N. CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Kyra.

Well, Hans Blix's words do carry some weight. He is trying to tell the Iraqi government it would be better to cooperate when he returns there later this month, because he has a lot of questions based upon what he has told the Security Council are gaps in Iraq's declaration.

Another man inside U.N. headquarters who plays an important role is Secretary-General Kofi Annan, back from a lengthy holiday break, making his first public appearance at a news conference, and Secretary Annan believes that United Nations weapons inspectors currently fanning out in Iraq should be given more time to do their work.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KOFI ANNAN, U.N. SECY. GEN.: When the inspectors report back, either at the critical stages in their work or either unforeseen developments that they bring back to the council, that makes the council determine that there has been a breach and therefore, there should be serious consequences, and I don't think we are there yet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROTH: Secretary-General Annan repeatedly said everyone has to wait for Blix to return to the Security Council with an update on the level of cooperation from the Baghdad side. There are more than 100 inspectors inside right now, and Hans Blix and IAEA counterpart Mohammad Elbaradei will soon be touring European capitals, and Elbaradei is in Moscow today, and they're just trying to shore up support for their efforts. They have said over and over, they need more time, they could go six months to a year, and even then, no one knows if they will find any weapons of mass destruction -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Meanwhile, January 27th, is this a significant day or a deadline? Lots of talk about this date.

ROTH: It's really not a deadline. A few months ago, people looked at it as a deadline as there seemingly was a rush to war in good fighting weather that seemed to time out on that day. Colin Powell said it is not a D-Day. As the British ambassador put it the other day, everyone should calm down about January 27th.

PHILLIPS: All right, also, North Korea, another hot topic there at the U.N. What's the latest from there?

ROTH: Well, Secretary-General Annan says he is more optimistic about North Korea. He has a humanitarian adviser, Maury Strong (ph), who is currently in North Korea talking. Annan called the situation grave, but not hopeless, and he seemed a little more optimistic that things could work out sooner on North Korea than Iraq. He began his remarks by saying that there is a high level of anxiety about all these crises, but he will always be an optimist.

PHILLIPS: Richard Roth from the U.N., 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 14, 2003 - 13:20   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Hans Blix tells Iraq it's time to get real. The chief U.N. weapons inspector says the Iraqis need to look around at the U.S. military buildup on their borders and realize they must be more forthcoming about their weapons program.
CNN's Richard Roth live from the United Nations now.

Hi, Richard.

RICHARD ROTH, CNN SR. U.N. CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Kyra.

Well, Hans Blix's words do carry some weight. He is trying to tell the Iraqi government it would be better to cooperate when he returns there later this month, because he has a lot of questions based upon what he has told the Security Council are gaps in Iraq's declaration.

Another man inside U.N. headquarters who plays an important role is Secretary-General Kofi Annan, back from a lengthy holiday break, making his first public appearance at a news conference, and Secretary Annan believes that United Nations weapons inspectors currently fanning out in Iraq should be given more time to do their work.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KOFI ANNAN, U.N. SECY. GEN.: When the inspectors report back, either at the critical stages in their work or either unforeseen developments that they bring back to the council, that makes the council determine that there has been a breach and therefore, there should be serious consequences, and I don't think we are there yet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROTH: Secretary-General Annan repeatedly said everyone has to wait for Blix to return to the Security Council with an update on the level of cooperation from the Baghdad side. There are more than 100 inspectors inside right now, and Hans Blix and IAEA counterpart Mohammad Elbaradei will soon be touring European capitals, and Elbaradei is in Moscow today, and they're just trying to shore up support for their efforts. They have said over and over, they need more time, they could go six months to a year, and even then, no one knows if they will find any weapons of mass destruction -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Meanwhile, January 27th, is this a significant day or a deadline? Lots of talk about this date.

ROTH: It's really not a deadline. A few months ago, people looked at it as a deadline as there seemingly was a rush to war in good fighting weather that seemed to time out on that day. Colin Powell said it is not a D-Day. As the British ambassador put it the other day, everyone should calm down about January 27th.

PHILLIPS: All right, also, North Korea, another hot topic there at the U.N. What's the latest from there?

ROTH: Well, Secretary-General Annan says he is more optimistic about North Korea. He has a humanitarian adviser, Maury Strong (ph), who is currently in North Korea talking. Annan called the situation grave, but not hopeless, and he seemed a little more optimistic that things could work out sooner on North Korea than Iraq. He began his remarks by saying that there is a high level of anxiety about all these crises, but he will always be an optimist.

PHILLIPS: Richard Roth from the U.N., 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