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Council Members Look Forward to Powell Presentation
Aired February 03, 2003 - 14:45 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.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Of course there continue to be developments on the Iraq front. Anticipation is building at U.N. headquarters ahead of Colin Powell's appearance on Wednesday. The secretary of state will be armed, we are led to expect, with declassified information that the White House considers evidence of Iraqi deception.
Iraq, for its part, says that whatever Powell presents will be bogus. CNN Senior U.N. Correspondent Richard Roth joins us now with the latest -- Richard.
RICHARD ROTH, CNN SENIOR U.N. CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Anderson. Before Powell's briefing, though, what is new also is that Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei, the leading international weapons inspectors have made the decision to return to Baghdad for the third time in three months. Blix and ElBaradei would leave here after Powell's briefing to the Security Council on Wednesday.
Now, before the decision was made to go, the inspectors were putting out the world that they wanted assurances from Iraq that there would be agreements on some of the contentious issues still out there regarding the weapons inspectors, things like private interviews with Iraqi scientists and U-2 reconnaissance flights, but it appears now that the weapons inspectors will depart for Baghdad with no guarantees in hand.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HANS BLIX, CHIEF U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTOR: There are no guarantees, and we have simply indicated the issues which we think should be easy. I think that the issue of private interviews should be an easy one. I think that the issue of the U-2 should be an easy one. I think that the issue of adopting legislation prohibiting Iraqi citizens to deal with weapons of mass destruction should be an easy one. I can imagine that is a hard work to dig up all the evidence.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROTH: And Iraq's U.N. ambassador, echoing that, said to CNN there is no deal yet. There is no guarantee that Baghdad and the United Nations will hammer out an agreement.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MOHAMMED ALDOURI, IRAQI AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: All these issues will be subject of negotiation, serious negotiation, and hopefully they can overcome all these technical problems, and also other presented by Blix in his report before the Security Council last meeting.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROTH: You may see more of Mohammed Aldouri on Wednesday. Iraq may very well speak inside the Security Council chamber sometime after Colin Powell addresses the U.N. body and it appears that it may be the ambassador instead of any visiting Iraqi dignitary. Aldouri telling CNN he would be the one to speak. Security Council tomorrow still may have some problems with this. They want to settle the issue. The U.S. says it has no problem with Iraq addressing the council, though it will not be at the same length as Powell, who may speak for about an hour -- Anderson.
COOPER: Richard, I notice the Iraqi ambassador using the word "negotiation." I did not hear Hans Blix use the word "negotiation." Does Hans Blix view his trip to Iraq as an effort to negotiate?
ROTH: You picked that out. There is no negotiations on the part of the inspectors. They say they have a resolution from the Security Council, go anywhere anytime, get the interviews in or out of Iraq with scientists. That is a non-starter for the inspectors.
COOPER: Do we know how long Colin Powell is going to be speaking for, and is that going to be -- I assume if it's public, CNN would carry it live, but is it going to be public?
ROTH: It will be public. It is all public, maybe up to an hour, with photographs and perhaps transcripts of conversations -- eavesdropping conversations due to U.S. surveillance. I have talked to several Security Council ambassadors today. They are eager to hear what Powell has to say.
COOPER: All right. Richard Roth. No one covers the U.N. better. Appreciate it.
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 February 3, 2003 - 14:45 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Of course there continue to be developments on the Iraq front. Anticipation is building at U.N. headquarters ahead of Colin Powell's appearance on Wednesday. The secretary of state will be armed, we are led to expect, with declassified information that the White House considers evidence of Iraqi deception.
Iraq, for its part, says that whatever Powell presents will be bogus. CNN Senior U.N. Correspondent Richard Roth joins us now with the latest -- Richard.
RICHARD ROTH, CNN SENIOR U.N. CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Anderson. Before Powell's briefing, though, what is new also is that Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei, the leading international weapons inspectors have made the decision to return to Baghdad for the third time in three months. Blix and ElBaradei would leave here after Powell's briefing to the Security Council on Wednesday.
Now, before the decision was made to go, the inspectors were putting out the world that they wanted assurances from Iraq that there would be agreements on some of the contentious issues still out there regarding the weapons inspectors, things like private interviews with Iraqi scientists and U-2 reconnaissance flights, but it appears now that the weapons inspectors will depart for Baghdad with no guarantees in hand.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HANS BLIX, CHIEF U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTOR: There are no guarantees, and we have simply indicated the issues which we think should be easy. I think that the issue of private interviews should be an easy one. I think that the issue of the U-2 should be an easy one. I think that the issue of adopting legislation prohibiting Iraqi citizens to deal with weapons of mass destruction should be an easy one. I can imagine that is a hard work to dig up all the evidence.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROTH: And Iraq's U.N. ambassador, echoing that, said to CNN there is no deal yet. There is no guarantee that Baghdad and the United Nations will hammer out an agreement.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MOHAMMED ALDOURI, IRAQI AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: All these issues will be subject of negotiation, serious negotiation, and hopefully they can overcome all these technical problems, and also other presented by Blix in his report before the Security Council last meeting.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROTH: You may see more of Mohammed Aldouri on Wednesday. Iraq may very well speak inside the Security Council chamber sometime after Colin Powell addresses the U.N. body and it appears that it may be the ambassador instead of any visiting Iraqi dignitary. Aldouri telling CNN he would be the one to speak. Security Council tomorrow still may have some problems with this. They want to settle the issue. The U.S. says it has no problem with Iraq addressing the council, though it will not be at the same length as Powell, who may speak for about an hour -- Anderson.
COOPER: Richard, I notice the Iraqi ambassador using the word "negotiation." I did not hear Hans Blix use the word "negotiation." Does Hans Blix view his trip to Iraq as an effort to negotiate?
ROTH: You picked that out. There is no negotiations on the part of the inspectors. They say they have a resolution from the Security Council, go anywhere anytime, get the interviews in or out of Iraq with scientists. That is a non-starter for the inspectors.
COOPER: Do we know how long Colin Powell is going to be speaking for, and is that going to be -- I assume if it's public, CNN would carry it live, but is it going to be public?
ROTH: It will be public. It is all public, maybe up to an hour, with photographs and perhaps transcripts of conversations -- eavesdropping conversations due to U.S. surveillance. I have talked to several Security Council ambassadors today. They are eager to hear what Powell has to say.
COOPER: All right. Richard Roth. No one covers the U.N. better. Appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
