Return to Transcripts main page

Live From...

Interview With Terrence Taylor

Aired April 07, 2003 - 15:10   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.


JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: With us now again is Terry Taylor, who's a former U.N. Chief weapons inspector, someone who is expert in chemical and biological testing. He's with us on the telephone.
Mr. Taylor, based on what you've been hearing, and I know you've listened to Ryan's report, you listened to General Freakly just a moment ago, what do you believe the odds are that this could turn out to be chemical or -- a chemical agent that is banned?

TERRY TAYLOR, FMR. CHIEF U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTOR: Well, I think we're still in the suspicious mode here. I don't think we can come up with anything definite.

Certainly, there needs to be a higher level of testing in laboratories and so on before we can get to that kind of conclusion. Unfortunately, the pesticides that Ryan Chilcote referred to there are probably based on the same family of chemicals that are used for nerve agent. That's a warfare agent, organo phosphorous compounds, and so there has to be a lot of careful study of this material. The sort of devices you're seeing on your screen there, the papers and sniffing devices and so on that you can see on the screen, these are a kind of low level of detection to give troops warning that they need to mask up, they need to protect themselves, perhaps equipment or ground or material needs to be decontaminated. There's a rough and ready detection means and operational detection means. So I'm sure samples will be being taken away in order to be properly examined in better laboratory circumstance.

WOODRUFF: We're talking with Terry Taylor, former chief U.N. weapons inspector.

Mr. Taylor, is it logical to you that this quantity of pesticide or insecticide, if that's what it turned out to be, would be kept at this sort of facility underground?

TAYLOR: Well, there are certainly oddities, and I'm only going, like you, from what I've seen and heard from the television and radio reports and so on. And I think it's so hard to tell now.

Certainly, the Iraqis and other situations make use of what we inspectors called dual use facilities. In other words, facilities that have a normal, legitimate use, like pesticides. But they also used similar production and storage facilities, perhaps, for chemical warfare and biological agents as well. But here we're talking about chemical agents. I think we're in a situation here where we can't really be definite from what we've heard.

WOODRUFF: We also did hear, in the Pentagon briefing just before this, a report from Karbala. We heard Secretary Rumsfeld say there have been so many of these initial tests that came back positive, but that later turned out not to be a chemical agent.

Let me just finally ask you right now, Terry Taylor, when we heard the general say it's either some sort of pesticide or a chemical agent, not weaponized, what's the significance of that to you? Does that in any way reduce the threat from whatever it is? That it's not weaponized.

TAYLOR: Well, not necessarily.

Until we know whether it's the chemical warfare agent or a pesticide, which is not concerned -- not so about. But what the Iraqis would do would be to store bulk agents in large drums, which they would hide away, of course, would pull out in order to fill the munitions at the appropriate time and place to put into artillery rounds or rockets or missiles. Whether this is some -- a store like that, it's too hard to tell from the information available to us. So I would expect to find some places, bulk agent, in other words, in drums of that kind, which it's, you know, usable for weapons. And I'd also expect to find weapons already filled. There will be those two things that the military will be looking for.

WOODRUFF: So if it were a chemical agent, you're saying it would be entirely logical that some of it -- some quantity of it might not be weaponized in so many words?

TAYLOR: Yes, not poured into a weapon. It would be normal. They would normally have some weapons filled, rockets, artillery rounds and so on, missile warheads and they'd also store some bulk agent in drums, such as those we've described.

But of course, we can't tell from the information available at the moment, whether that's so or not, in this particular case.

WOODRUFF: All right. Terry Taylor is a former chief U.N. weapons inspector, an expert in chemical and biological testing.

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 April 7, 2003 - 15:10   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: With us now again is Terry Taylor, who's a former U.N. Chief weapons inspector, someone who is expert in chemical and biological testing. He's with us on the telephone.
Mr. Taylor, based on what you've been hearing, and I know you've listened to Ryan's report, you listened to General Freakly just a moment ago, what do you believe the odds are that this could turn out to be chemical or -- a chemical agent that is banned?

TERRY TAYLOR, FMR. CHIEF U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTOR: Well, I think we're still in the suspicious mode here. I don't think we can come up with anything definite.

Certainly, there needs to be a higher level of testing in laboratories and so on before we can get to that kind of conclusion. Unfortunately, the pesticides that Ryan Chilcote referred to there are probably based on the same family of chemicals that are used for nerve agent. That's a warfare agent, organo phosphorous compounds, and so there has to be a lot of careful study of this material. The sort of devices you're seeing on your screen there, the papers and sniffing devices and so on that you can see on the screen, these are a kind of low level of detection to give troops warning that they need to mask up, they need to protect themselves, perhaps equipment or ground or material needs to be decontaminated. There's a rough and ready detection means and operational detection means. So I'm sure samples will be being taken away in order to be properly examined in better laboratory circumstance.

WOODRUFF: We're talking with Terry Taylor, former chief U.N. weapons inspector.

Mr. Taylor, is it logical to you that this quantity of pesticide or insecticide, if that's what it turned out to be, would be kept at this sort of facility underground?

TAYLOR: Well, there are certainly oddities, and I'm only going, like you, from what I've seen and heard from the television and radio reports and so on. And I think it's so hard to tell now.

Certainly, the Iraqis and other situations make use of what we inspectors called dual use facilities. In other words, facilities that have a normal, legitimate use, like pesticides. But they also used similar production and storage facilities, perhaps, for chemical warfare and biological agents as well. But here we're talking about chemical agents. I think we're in a situation here where we can't really be definite from what we've heard.

WOODRUFF: We also did hear, in the Pentagon briefing just before this, a report from Karbala. We heard Secretary Rumsfeld say there have been so many of these initial tests that came back positive, but that later turned out not to be a chemical agent.

Let me just finally ask you right now, Terry Taylor, when we heard the general say it's either some sort of pesticide or a chemical agent, not weaponized, what's the significance of that to you? Does that in any way reduce the threat from whatever it is? That it's not weaponized.

TAYLOR: Well, not necessarily.

Until we know whether it's the chemical warfare agent or a pesticide, which is not concerned -- not so about. But what the Iraqis would do would be to store bulk agents in large drums, which they would hide away, of course, would pull out in order to fill the munitions at the appropriate time and place to put into artillery rounds or rockets or missiles. Whether this is some -- a store like that, it's too hard to tell from the information available to us. So I would expect to find some places, bulk agent, in other words, in drums of that kind, which it's, you know, usable for weapons. And I'd also expect to find weapons already filled. There will be those two things that the military will be looking for.

WOODRUFF: So if it were a chemical agent, you're saying it would be entirely logical that some of it -- some quantity of it might not be weaponized in so many words?

TAYLOR: Yes, not poured into a weapon. It would be normal. They would normally have some weapons filled, rockets, artillery rounds and so on, missile warheads and they'd also store some bulk agent in drums, such as those we've described.

But of course, we can't tell from the information available at the moment, whether that's so or not, in this particular case.

WOODRUFF: All right. Terry Taylor is a former chief U.N. weapons inspector, an expert in chemical and biological testing.

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