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Military Finds Suspicious Labs in Iraq

Aired April 14, 2003 - 14:04   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: The 101st Airborne digs up a deeply held secret of the former Iraqi regime.
I'm Judy Woodruff at the CNN bureau in Washington.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Judy. I'm Wolf Blitzer reporting tonight live from Doha Catar. That's the home of the U.S. military central command during this war in Iraq.

It's just after 10 p.m. in Iraq, where U.S. Marines have now run directly into Saddam Hussein's home town. U.S. Army troops -- at the same time, as you point out -- have uncovered what they suspect to be mobile, chemical, biological laboratories. That was near the central Iraqi town of Karbala, some 50 fifty miles south of the capital. And while it's not clear what the labs were for, the fact that they were buried does indeed raise huge suspicions.

Just north of Baghdad today in Tikrit, U.S. Marines are said to face only isolated resistance -- mostly from the so-called "volunteers" from Syria, Jordan, and other Arab countries.

Reports indicate Iraqi fighters, by and large, have fled the city, and they fled well before the Marines pushed in.

In Baghdad itself, pillaging and plundering -- looting, that is -- have largely given way to policing and patrolling. Iraqi police are now working jointly with coalition forces, both in Baghdad and in the second largest city of Iraq -- the southern city of Basra.

And the U.S. aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk -- for at least the Kitty Hawk, the war in Iraq is over. Pentagon officials say the Kitty Hawk is being replaced by the aircraft carrier Nimitz, which could soon be the only U.S. aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf region.

For this hour, we'd begin with a discovery just south of Baghdad. An American general was telling CNN that his troops have found a number -- 11 to be specific -- mobile laboratories buried in and around Karbala. All the vehicles are being described. They sound a lot like the units Washington had warned about so often in advance of the war as it built its case for going to war.

CNN's Ryan Chilcote is embedded with the 101st Airborne Division. He's there. He's on the scene, broke the story -- about an hour and a half or so ago. He's joining us now live -- Ryan.

RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, the 101st has been inspecting several sites where they suspect that the Iraqis may have hidden elements of a chemical and biological weapons program.

This new site they found about a week ago, and they now believe is very suspect. Like you said, about three hours ago today, I spoke with Brigadier General Benjamin Freakly. He is from the 101st Airborne, and he gave me a bit of an update about where they are in that sensitive sight exploitation.

Let's listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGADIER GENERAL BENJAMIN FREAKLY: In Karbala, when we were fighting there with the 2nd Brigade, the 2nd Brigade found about 11 buried conixes, large metal 20 by -- probably -- 20 foot vans buried in the ground.

They are dual-use chemical labs -- biological and chemical. About a thousand pounds of documentation were found in that, and they were close to a artillery ammunition plant. So this is consistent with the Iraqi denial -- former Iraqi leadership denial -- of any wrongdoing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHILCOTE: He went on to say that the equipment that they found -- what he is describing as dual-use, like you just heard, dual-use chemical and biological laboratories -- appears to have been purchased since the year 2000. He said that they estimate that that equipment is worth about $1 million dollars.

Now, the general is really suggesting here that the Iraqis did not declare, or were not at least forthcoming about, these laboratories -- if they are indeed, like he is suggesting, laboratories. And the problem, irrespective of what this site turns out to be, he is saying "Look, this is obviously suspect because they never mentioned this, for example, in the Iraqi declaration to the United Nations about their chemical and biological weapons programs.

One word of caution, however. We don't want to sensationalize these new findings. There have been false alarms. This is not the first site that the 101st has inspected.

Just about a week ago, Wolf, you'll remember that we reported extensively on another site, where the 101st believed that they had found either nerve agent or a high-grade pesticide. It turned out to be a high-grade pesticide.

The inspection work that they're doing is slow and tedious and very sophisticated work. And it really requires a lot of patience on everyone's behalf, really, because really what they have to do is piece together a number of clues.

It is not appropriate to jump to conclusions, but the 101st believes obviously that they have at least enough interesting information, enough interesting things -- like, for example, that these vans, as he's describing them, were buried under the ground, like the fact that according to the general they were clearly marked so that someone could find them if they needed to find them, and like the fact that he is saying that they were buried in close proximity to an artillery plant.

Clearly, the 101st believes that they have enough information to continue with their investigation -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Ryan Chilcote with the 101st reporting. Thanks, Ryan, very much for that good work.

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 14, 2003 - 14:04   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: The 101st Airborne digs up a deeply held secret of the former Iraqi regime.
I'm Judy Woodruff at the CNN bureau in Washington.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Judy. I'm Wolf Blitzer reporting tonight live from Doha Catar. That's the home of the U.S. military central command during this war in Iraq.

It's just after 10 p.m. in Iraq, where U.S. Marines have now run directly into Saddam Hussein's home town. U.S. Army troops -- at the same time, as you point out -- have uncovered what they suspect to be mobile, chemical, biological laboratories. That was near the central Iraqi town of Karbala, some 50 fifty miles south of the capital. And while it's not clear what the labs were for, the fact that they were buried does indeed raise huge suspicions.

Just north of Baghdad today in Tikrit, U.S. Marines are said to face only isolated resistance -- mostly from the so-called "volunteers" from Syria, Jordan, and other Arab countries.

Reports indicate Iraqi fighters, by and large, have fled the city, and they fled well before the Marines pushed in.

In Baghdad itself, pillaging and plundering -- looting, that is -- have largely given way to policing and patrolling. Iraqi police are now working jointly with coalition forces, both in Baghdad and in the second largest city of Iraq -- the southern city of Basra.

And the U.S. aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk -- for at least the Kitty Hawk, the war in Iraq is over. Pentagon officials say the Kitty Hawk is being replaced by the aircraft carrier Nimitz, which could soon be the only U.S. aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf region.

For this hour, we'd begin with a discovery just south of Baghdad. An American general was telling CNN that his troops have found a number -- 11 to be specific -- mobile laboratories buried in and around Karbala. All the vehicles are being described. They sound a lot like the units Washington had warned about so often in advance of the war as it built its case for going to war.

CNN's Ryan Chilcote is embedded with the 101st Airborne Division. He's there. He's on the scene, broke the story -- about an hour and a half or so ago. He's joining us now live -- Ryan.

RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, the 101st has been inspecting several sites where they suspect that the Iraqis may have hidden elements of a chemical and biological weapons program.

This new site they found about a week ago, and they now believe is very suspect. Like you said, about three hours ago today, I spoke with Brigadier General Benjamin Freakly. He is from the 101st Airborne, and he gave me a bit of an update about where they are in that sensitive sight exploitation.

Let's listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGADIER GENERAL BENJAMIN FREAKLY: In Karbala, when we were fighting there with the 2nd Brigade, the 2nd Brigade found about 11 buried conixes, large metal 20 by -- probably -- 20 foot vans buried in the ground.

They are dual-use chemical labs -- biological and chemical. About a thousand pounds of documentation were found in that, and they were close to a artillery ammunition plant. So this is consistent with the Iraqi denial -- former Iraqi leadership denial -- of any wrongdoing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHILCOTE: He went on to say that the equipment that they found -- what he is describing as dual-use, like you just heard, dual-use chemical and biological laboratories -- appears to have been purchased since the year 2000. He said that they estimate that that equipment is worth about $1 million dollars.

Now, the general is really suggesting here that the Iraqis did not declare, or were not at least forthcoming about, these laboratories -- if they are indeed, like he is suggesting, laboratories. And the problem, irrespective of what this site turns out to be, he is saying "Look, this is obviously suspect because they never mentioned this, for example, in the Iraqi declaration to the United Nations about their chemical and biological weapons programs.

One word of caution, however. We don't want to sensationalize these new findings. There have been false alarms. This is not the first site that the 101st has inspected.

Just about a week ago, Wolf, you'll remember that we reported extensively on another site, where the 101st believed that they had found either nerve agent or a high-grade pesticide. It turned out to be a high-grade pesticide.

The inspection work that they're doing is slow and tedious and very sophisticated work. And it really requires a lot of patience on everyone's behalf, really, because really what they have to do is piece together a number of clues.

It is not appropriate to jump to conclusions, but the 101st believes obviously that they have at least enough interesting information, enough interesting things -- like, for example, that these vans, as he's describing them, were buried under the ground, like the fact that according to the general they were clearly marked so that someone could find them if they needed to find them, and like the fact that he is saying that they were buried in close proximity to an artillery plant.

Clearly, the 101st believes that they have enough information to continue with their investigation -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Ryan Chilcote with the 101st reporting. Thanks, Ryan, very much for that good work.

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