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Iraq Continuing to Crush Missiles
Aired March 03, 2003 - 13:32 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.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: One by one, Iraq is destroying more outlawed missiles. The process began over the weekend. How long will it continue, and is it enough to stop a war?
Our senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson, joining us live from Baghdad with the latest -- Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Miles, I guess we're beginning to get some clues as to how long it could take. Iraq has about 100 to 120 of these missiles. They destroyed another six today along with two warheads.
So, perhaps, the process could take three to four weeks. U.N. officials said they believe the process could be done within two weeks, but it is, they say, the timeframe for this destruction process is something Iraqi officials control, and one very senior Iraqi official, President Saddam Hussein's top scientific adviser warned that if the United States acted outside of the law illegally, he said, implying outside of the framework of U.N. Resolution 1441, Iraq would be compelled to stop the destruction of the missiles, but so far 16 destroyed. Also, the U.N. reports that today, more work was carried out on the destruction of a casting chamber. This casting chamber produces a solid fuel propellant for a different type of rocket system.
The U.N. also saying that following talks with Iraqi officials, Iraqi officials will give the U.N. another document outlining how they believe the U.N. can analyze and determine how much VX and how much anthrax Iraqi -- Iraq destroyed in 1991.
However, the U.N. has so far said that they believe Iraq's proposal that calls for DNA sampling of the soil perhaps will not lead to results that will be accurate enough to fully determine just exactly the quantities of those chemical and biological agents that Iraq says it disposed of -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Nic, you can't help but get the sense the Iraqis are dragging their feet as they engage in this process of destroying those Al Samoud missiles. What is their explanation as to why it is taking so much longer than the U.N. would suggest it could take?
ROBERTSON: Well, the U.N. said that perhaps they would set about destroying the missile by, perhaps, blowing them up. They said that that would be a quick process. However, the methodology that Iraq has chosen is to crush them with large bulldozers. So, possibly, that's one degree that the mechanism is slowed. It is not -- the U.N. here is so far not saying that Iraq is going about the process in a slow way. It's clear that Iraq -- to Iraq, these missiles are important. They are part of its military infrastructure. The U.N. believes that many of them have already been deployed to sites around the country. But so far, the U.N. not saying that the process is slow -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Nic Robertson in Baghdad. Thank you 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 March 3, 2003 - 13:32 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: One by one, Iraq is destroying more outlawed missiles. The process began over the weekend. How long will it continue, and is it enough to stop a war?
Our senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson, joining us live from Baghdad with the latest -- Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Miles, I guess we're beginning to get some clues as to how long it could take. Iraq has about 100 to 120 of these missiles. They destroyed another six today along with two warheads.
So, perhaps, the process could take three to four weeks. U.N. officials said they believe the process could be done within two weeks, but it is, they say, the timeframe for this destruction process is something Iraqi officials control, and one very senior Iraqi official, President Saddam Hussein's top scientific adviser warned that if the United States acted outside of the law illegally, he said, implying outside of the framework of U.N. Resolution 1441, Iraq would be compelled to stop the destruction of the missiles, but so far 16 destroyed. Also, the U.N. reports that today, more work was carried out on the destruction of a casting chamber. This casting chamber produces a solid fuel propellant for a different type of rocket system.
The U.N. also saying that following talks with Iraqi officials, Iraqi officials will give the U.N. another document outlining how they believe the U.N. can analyze and determine how much VX and how much anthrax Iraqi -- Iraq destroyed in 1991.
However, the U.N. has so far said that they believe Iraq's proposal that calls for DNA sampling of the soil perhaps will not lead to results that will be accurate enough to fully determine just exactly the quantities of those chemical and biological agents that Iraq says it disposed of -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Nic, you can't help but get the sense the Iraqis are dragging their feet as they engage in this process of destroying those Al Samoud missiles. What is their explanation as to why it is taking so much longer than the U.N. would suggest it could take?
ROBERTSON: Well, the U.N. said that perhaps they would set about destroying the missile by, perhaps, blowing them up. They said that that would be a quick process. However, the methodology that Iraq has chosen is to crush them with large bulldozers. So, possibly, that's one degree that the mechanism is slowed. It is not -- the U.N. here is so far not saying that Iraq is going about the process in a slow way. It's clear that Iraq -- to Iraq, these missiles are important. They are part of its military infrastructure. The U.N. believes that many of them have already been deployed to sites around the country. But so far, the U.N. not saying that the process is slow -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Nic Robertson in Baghdad. Thank you 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
