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CNN Live Today

Interview with Garth Whitty

Aired December 11, 2002 - 10:37   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.


LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, as weapons inspectors are fanning out across Iraq, we're learning more about what they're up against.
Joining us now from London is Garth Whitty, he is a former chemical weapons inspector who also served in the British army, and he joins us once again for another discussion about the process underway in Baghdad as well as what is underway at the U.N. -- good to see you again, Garth.

Thanks for taking time again to talk to us today. Now, as you've seen, I am sure the headline this morning has been that one of the sites that the weapons inspectors in Iraq have actually gone to now, or are going to today, is a site that was mentioned in the documentation that was delivered to the U.N. What do you make of that?

(AUDIO GAP)

GARTH WHITTY, FORMER CHEMICAL WEAPONS INSPECTOR: ... development...

HARRIS: I'm sorry, Garth, can you -- I hate to interrupt you, but we had a problem with your microphone at the beginning of that, so if you don't mind, would you start again with your answer? Want to make sure we get everything.

WHITTY: OK, no problem. It's a very interesting development. Until such time as they've been there, we're not going to know just how meaningful it is. No doubt as the documentation is scrutinized, we are going to see more and more of these visits.

HARRIS: What do you think we'll learn with these visits? There are some who think that if this facility was actually listed or mentioned at all in the documentation that was delivered, that's an actual guarantee that there is nothing there.

WHITTY: It would certainly seem highly probable that that's the case. I can't imagine the circumstances under which the Iraqi government would wish to implicate themselves.

HARRIS: Would you think, then, to play it safe for them, they might offer something up as a sacrifice, as an insurance policy for themselves, that they might actually have something there that might be minuscule, something minor that might be found there?

WHITTY: I thought all along that the one area that they could, perhaps, get themselves slightly off the hook was declaring the discovery of some abandoned chemical weapons. For example, weapons that were from the original Gulf War period, and that had been overlooked or argued to have been overlooked during the course of previous inspections.

HARRIS: Well, if there is nothing like that to be found in any of the facilities that are mentioned in this documentation, and Hans Blix's teams are now actually going to these sites, there are some who look at that as confirmation that the inspectors don't intend to find anything. Would you agree with that or disagree with that?

WHITTY: I think that's a perfectly reasonable assessment. They were discussed before, the difficulties that the inspectors face combined with the determination on the part of the Iraqi government that nothing should be found.

HARRIS: Well, we've had a couple of days now to talk and to see what's happening with the inspection of these documents that right now are being assessed by the five members of the -- five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, and we have not heard much in way of any leaks at all about what may be held inside those documents. What do you read in that, or have you heard anything that we haven't heard?

WHITTY: Oh, I've heard nothing at all, which suggests that there certainly isn't anything alarming. One of the interesting aspects of several groups of people looking at these documents, is that there will be several interpretations of the content, and that may lead to some confusion further downstream. But no doubt they will want to meet and achieve some degree of consensus before publishing anything.

HARRIS: When you say interpretation, I'm assuming you are not just limiting that to the language issue here, because some of the documents are in Arabic, and some are in English here. What do you mean by interpretation differences here?

WHITTY: Well, interpreting the nuances of the language, and what it means to different people. I mean, this is always the difficulty when a number of groups are looking at the same documents. It also can be a reinforcing aspect, of course. If more than one source as a particular slant on it, then that adds greater confirmation than just one individual, perhaps.

HARRIS: Let me ask you something, Garth. Not coming to you as a former weapons inspector, but just coming to you as a citizen of the world, as a citizen of the U.K. We've been listening all of the discussions that's happened amongst the media here, we don't get a chance to hear what people there think about what's being discussed in the media there.

What are people saying there about this issue, now -- at this point where the documents have been delivered, and where the inspectors are now going out and fanning out across the country, and now are going to sites that are listed in the documents. Anything at all to gauge in the public opinion there?

WHITTY: I think public opinion generally is fairly skeptical as to Iraq still having a WMD capability. And we had the dossier that was produced by the U.K. government some months ago, and the majority of people that I've spoken to certainly weren't convinced by the content of that dossier.

HARRIS: Have you heard this morning the news as well that we've been reporting on our top story here about these 15 Scud missiles that were picked up off of a North Korean freighter that was heading toward Yemen, we believe, and now there's the question that was raised in our last interview a little while ago, about whether or not Yemen actually needed 15 Scud missiles and the possibility that there may be something else inside those Scuds and maybe they were heading some place else. Would you look at that as something that may be tied to what's happening in -- Iraq, rather?

WHITTY: It's certainly a very worrying development. And of course, we can speculate about all sorts of scenarios. It may be tied to Iraq, equally it could be tied to al Qaeda. As we well know, Yemen is considered a stronghold of the al Qaeda organization.

I think one of the other aspects, perhaps, is the fact that we have linked the Iraqi regime to al Qaeda, may mean that even if there wasn't previously any linkage, they will be forced down that route.

HARRIS: Very interesting. Garth Whitty, as always, thank you for the insight. We appreciate it, and of course, we'll be talking with you, no doubt, very soon down the road. Take care, we'll talk to you then.

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 December 11, 2002 - 10:37   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, as weapons inspectors are fanning out across Iraq, we're learning more about what they're up against.
Joining us now from London is Garth Whitty, he is a former chemical weapons inspector who also served in the British army, and he joins us once again for another discussion about the process underway in Baghdad as well as what is underway at the U.N. -- good to see you again, Garth.

Thanks for taking time again to talk to us today. Now, as you've seen, I am sure the headline this morning has been that one of the sites that the weapons inspectors in Iraq have actually gone to now, or are going to today, is a site that was mentioned in the documentation that was delivered to the U.N. What do you make of that?

(AUDIO GAP)

GARTH WHITTY, FORMER CHEMICAL WEAPONS INSPECTOR: ... development...

HARRIS: I'm sorry, Garth, can you -- I hate to interrupt you, but we had a problem with your microphone at the beginning of that, so if you don't mind, would you start again with your answer? Want to make sure we get everything.

WHITTY: OK, no problem. It's a very interesting development. Until such time as they've been there, we're not going to know just how meaningful it is. No doubt as the documentation is scrutinized, we are going to see more and more of these visits.

HARRIS: What do you think we'll learn with these visits? There are some who think that if this facility was actually listed or mentioned at all in the documentation that was delivered, that's an actual guarantee that there is nothing there.

WHITTY: It would certainly seem highly probable that that's the case. I can't imagine the circumstances under which the Iraqi government would wish to implicate themselves.

HARRIS: Would you think, then, to play it safe for them, they might offer something up as a sacrifice, as an insurance policy for themselves, that they might actually have something there that might be minuscule, something minor that might be found there?

WHITTY: I thought all along that the one area that they could, perhaps, get themselves slightly off the hook was declaring the discovery of some abandoned chemical weapons. For example, weapons that were from the original Gulf War period, and that had been overlooked or argued to have been overlooked during the course of previous inspections.

HARRIS: Well, if there is nothing like that to be found in any of the facilities that are mentioned in this documentation, and Hans Blix's teams are now actually going to these sites, there are some who look at that as confirmation that the inspectors don't intend to find anything. Would you agree with that or disagree with that?

WHITTY: I think that's a perfectly reasonable assessment. They were discussed before, the difficulties that the inspectors face combined with the determination on the part of the Iraqi government that nothing should be found.

HARRIS: Well, we've had a couple of days now to talk and to see what's happening with the inspection of these documents that right now are being assessed by the five members of the -- five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, and we have not heard much in way of any leaks at all about what may be held inside those documents. What do you read in that, or have you heard anything that we haven't heard?

WHITTY: Oh, I've heard nothing at all, which suggests that there certainly isn't anything alarming. One of the interesting aspects of several groups of people looking at these documents, is that there will be several interpretations of the content, and that may lead to some confusion further downstream. But no doubt they will want to meet and achieve some degree of consensus before publishing anything.

HARRIS: When you say interpretation, I'm assuming you are not just limiting that to the language issue here, because some of the documents are in Arabic, and some are in English here. What do you mean by interpretation differences here?

WHITTY: Well, interpreting the nuances of the language, and what it means to different people. I mean, this is always the difficulty when a number of groups are looking at the same documents. It also can be a reinforcing aspect, of course. If more than one source as a particular slant on it, then that adds greater confirmation than just one individual, perhaps.

HARRIS: Let me ask you something, Garth. Not coming to you as a former weapons inspector, but just coming to you as a citizen of the world, as a citizen of the U.K. We've been listening all of the discussions that's happened amongst the media here, we don't get a chance to hear what people there think about what's being discussed in the media there.

What are people saying there about this issue, now -- at this point where the documents have been delivered, and where the inspectors are now going out and fanning out across the country, and now are going to sites that are listed in the documents. Anything at all to gauge in the public opinion there?

WHITTY: I think public opinion generally is fairly skeptical as to Iraq still having a WMD capability. And we had the dossier that was produced by the U.K. government some months ago, and the majority of people that I've spoken to certainly weren't convinced by the content of that dossier.

HARRIS: Have you heard this morning the news as well that we've been reporting on our top story here about these 15 Scud missiles that were picked up off of a North Korean freighter that was heading toward Yemen, we believe, and now there's the question that was raised in our last interview a little while ago, about whether or not Yemen actually needed 15 Scud missiles and the possibility that there may be something else inside those Scuds and maybe they were heading some place else. Would you look at that as something that may be tied to what's happening in -- Iraq, rather?

WHITTY: It's certainly a very worrying development. And of course, we can speculate about all sorts of scenarios. It may be tied to Iraq, equally it could be tied to al Qaeda. As we well know, Yemen is considered a stronghold of the al Qaeda organization.

I think one of the other aspects, perhaps, is the fact that we have linked the Iraqi regime to al Qaeda, may mean that even if there wasn't previously any linkage, they will be forced down that route.

HARRIS: Very interesting. Garth Whitty, as always, thank you for the insight. We appreciate it, and of course, we'll be talking with you, no doubt, very soon down the road. Take care, we'll talk to you then.

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