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Officials in Custody

Aired May 12, 2003 - 13:01   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: Iraq's Dr. Germ is now in U.S. custody. And here's something else for you, U.S. officials say they also believe they have the former chief of staff of Iraq's armed forces in custody. If that's true, he'd be the second-highest official in coalition custody.
CNN's Mike Boettcher is working the story for us.

Mike, I guess bring us up to date on that first. We heard about Dr. Germ. If this latter individual is in U.S. custody, that's a big catch, isn't it?

MIKE BOETTCHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Also a big catch. He's the former chief of staff.

But most people are looking for what happened to the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq right now -- where are they? How far were they developed? And Dr. Taha is the key person in that, Miles, and she has been involved in that program across two decades, is considered very knowledgeable in the weaponization of botulinum toxin and also anthrax. We have her personal notes written in 1990 in which she was testing the explosive qualities of missiles using botulinum toxin. She was measuring the kill rates on animals, such as guinea pigs, and according to U.S. experts in this field, she is one bad person, and she's a person they want to talk to -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Mike, I do know that she's been in negotiations, or so it has been reported, prior to her surrendering to U.S. authorities. Is it likely that part of that whole negotiation is her promise to offer up some information?

BOETTCHER: Well, it could be. It could also be her location. While I was in Iraq with U.S. special forces, there was talk at the time, what happened to some of these scientists? And there were unconfirmed reports that the scientists went to neighboring countries, and that negotiations had been under way for quite sometime after Baghdad fell for these people to surrender from those countries.

Now, Dr. Taha is married as well to the former head of the Iraq missile program and the former oil minister in Iraq. That is Dr. Ahmer Rashi (ph), and so, according to Hans Blix, the U.N. weapons inspector, he said you get those two people together, they have a lot of information to give, and he surrendered about two weeks ago, two to three weeks ago.

So I think negotiations were under way. And it included her husband, included her, what information she would give and what country she was in. And I think these were all very, very complex negotiations -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: And, quickly, Mike, everything I've read about her, she's a rather difficult person, a difficult personality, not likely to be too forthcoming. What are your thoughts on that?

BOETTCHER: Well, in the mid '90s, when UNSCOM the U.S. weapons inspections team, talked to her about these chicken farm documents that were recovered, and those were the treasure trove of documents that showed weapons testing program she was part of, she denied, denied, denied, was very dour, very cold, and then when they confronted her with it, she started crying. I mean, she was very good at theatrics, according to former weapons inspectors I've spoken to, and none of them liked her. They didn't see any redeeming qualities in Dr. Germ.

O'BRIEN: All right. Mike Boettcher, thank you for shedding some light on all of that.

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 May 12, 2003 - 13:01   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Iraq's Dr. Germ is now in U.S. custody. And here's something else for you, U.S. officials say they also believe they have the former chief of staff of Iraq's armed forces in custody. If that's true, he'd be the second-highest official in coalition custody.
CNN's Mike Boettcher is working the story for us.

Mike, I guess bring us up to date on that first. We heard about Dr. Germ. If this latter individual is in U.S. custody, that's a big catch, isn't it?

MIKE BOETTCHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Also a big catch. He's the former chief of staff.

But most people are looking for what happened to the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq right now -- where are they? How far were they developed? And Dr. Taha is the key person in that, Miles, and she has been involved in that program across two decades, is considered very knowledgeable in the weaponization of botulinum toxin and also anthrax. We have her personal notes written in 1990 in which she was testing the explosive qualities of missiles using botulinum toxin. She was measuring the kill rates on animals, such as guinea pigs, and according to U.S. experts in this field, she is one bad person, and she's a person they want to talk to -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Mike, I do know that she's been in negotiations, or so it has been reported, prior to her surrendering to U.S. authorities. Is it likely that part of that whole negotiation is her promise to offer up some information?

BOETTCHER: Well, it could be. It could also be her location. While I was in Iraq with U.S. special forces, there was talk at the time, what happened to some of these scientists? And there were unconfirmed reports that the scientists went to neighboring countries, and that negotiations had been under way for quite sometime after Baghdad fell for these people to surrender from those countries.

Now, Dr. Taha is married as well to the former head of the Iraq missile program and the former oil minister in Iraq. That is Dr. Ahmer Rashi (ph), and so, according to Hans Blix, the U.N. weapons inspector, he said you get those two people together, they have a lot of information to give, and he surrendered about two weeks ago, two to three weeks ago.

So I think negotiations were under way. And it included her husband, included her, what information she would give and what country she was in. And I think these were all very, very complex negotiations -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: And, quickly, Mike, everything I've read about her, she's a rather difficult person, a difficult personality, not likely to be too forthcoming. What are your thoughts on that?

BOETTCHER: Well, in the mid '90s, when UNSCOM the U.S. weapons inspections team, talked to her about these chicken farm documents that were recovered, and those were the treasure trove of documents that showed weapons testing program she was part of, she denied, denied, denied, was very dour, very cold, and then when they confronted her with it, she started crying. I mean, she was very good at theatrics, according to former weapons inspectors I've spoken to, and none of them liked her. They didn't see any redeeming qualities in Dr. Germ.

O'BRIEN: All right. Mike Boettcher, thank you for shedding some light on all of that.

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