Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Iraq in U.N. Talks Over Weapons Inspectors

Aired March 07, 2002 - 09:14   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: On to issue of Iraq. Iraq goes to the U.N. today. A senior Iraqi delegation is scheduled today to meet with Secretary General Kofi Annan and the new chief of the U.N. weapons inspection team. Iraq is appealing for an end to international sanctions, and there is hope that the meeting will be a first step towards an agreement that might get international weapons inspectors back inside Iraq.

Here's Richard Roth.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is where the talking stopped. Iraq and the United Nations, a year ago, in New York. Even before the new dialog, the two sides staked out positions which seem to indicate different definitions of success.

KOFI ANNAN, SECRETARY GENERAL, UNITED NATIONS: I think I am going to discuss with the Iraq delegation the implementation of security council resolution, and the return of the inspectors.

NAJI SABRI, FOREIGN MINISTER, IRAQ: We shall discuss all topics related to the legal implementation of security council resolutions with a view to getting the legal rights of the Iraqi people.

ROTH: Withdrawn in December 1998, prior to U.S. bombing, U.N. weapons inspectors have never been able to return to Iraq. No access to verify destruction or location of all weapons of mass destruction. Two years in office as new chief inspector, Hans Blix will, for the first time, at least meet a senior Iraqi government official when sits alongside Annan at the talks.

HANS BLIX, CHIEF U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTOR: It would be naive to assume that they have not done something. We must go in with eyes open, see whether that has happened or not.

ROTH: Getting Blix and his team inside Iraq is the only issue for the U.S.

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: It should be a very short discussion.

ROTH: And, at least from the start, it will be. The Iraqi foreign minister will leave town immediately for an unrelated Arab League session.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

One senior security council ambassador said what is going on now is a bit of a dance around some serious propositions, but with Iraq hinting that there will be follow-up talks in April, plus the 11 years of disagreement so far, it is too soon to say whether this is the last waltz -- Paula.

ZAHN: Well, let's talk about the first waltz here, Richard. Does anybody expect the Iraqis to agree today to open up their country for inspections once again?

ROTH: Well, U.N. Secretary-General Annan last night said, we have to test what they have to say. He is willing to give it one more chance, and many of the major powers on the security council are certainly willing to do that, especially those who do not favor any U.S. attack on Baghdad.

It is possible that President Saddam Hussein of Iraq will buy some time and maybe float an offer of some inspections of some type, perhaps, to divide politically those who have been united on Iraq inside the security council. Of course, that opens the door to, how much of a delay, what kind of inspectors. Hanz Blix, the chief inspector, says there is no discount on inspections. It has got to be full, unfettered access.

ZAHN: It's interesting that you should talk about buying themselves some time here, because Ambassador Richard Butler, who was the very man who conducted these same weapon inspections four, five years ago, has said that he sees this move as nothing more than doing just that, buying time, trying to stave off a U.S. attack on Iraq. How widely held of a feeling is that?

ROTH: Well, Butler's former deputy, Charles Duelfer, says -- quote -- "the Iraqis would not be coming to New York if they did not take what the U.S. has been saying very seriously," and that's what has really changed the dynamic here.

British Ambassador Sir Jeremy Greenstock says the determination shown by Washington has totally changed the game. He thinks that's why they're coming. U.N. officials who have been inside Iraq recently say there's a lot of fear in Baghdad, and we'll see later today, perhaps, the first hint of that fear has produced any change of course.

ZAHN: Is there any barometer out there that is able to determine whether Kofi Annan is at all optimistic about what might come out of these talks today?

ROTH: Well, he is a perpetual optimist, but he doesn't want to get too close to this Iraq game. He has been burned before. In 1998, he was in Iraq, working out a deal with President Saddam Hussein to get inspectors back in permanently. That eventually collapsed.

And Paula, one late note, I mean, yesterday the U.S. presented through a team of State Department officials slides and video purporting to show how Iraq has diverted humanitarian goods -- trucks, used now, they say, for military purposes. Trucks that they've seen now in military parades, loading with Howitzers, things like that.

Some Security Council -- Iraq sanctions ambassadors are a little worried about it. They would still like more proof, such as Syria, that these trucks didn't get in before the U.N. started donating vehicles like this under a humanitarian program. It is a classic battle of public relations on the eve of these talks. The U.S. says, Hey, don't look at our presentation, look at how Baghdad has bought time here for years.

ZAHN: All right. Richard Roth. We're going to leave it there. Thanks for the update. I know the rest of the team will be coming back throughout the day for updates from the U.N.

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