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American Morning

Interview with Melissa Fleming

Aired September 17, 2002 - 09:02   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: The Bush administration remains very skeptical of Iraq's invitation to allow weapons inspectors to come back.
John King is standing by on the north lawn of the White House with that part of the story -- good morning, John.

JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Paula. Openly dismissive, you might say, here at the White House, to this new offer from Iraq. The question now is, can President Bush sway the U.N. Security Council to maintain his resolve and his skepticism, dismissal of this new overture.

You just saw Mr. Bush in the Rose Garden just moments ago focussing on teaching history and civics. The White House saying that was not the appropriate forum for the president to respond publicly to this new overture.

Do not be surprised, when the president travels to Tennessee for a political event later today, if we do hear him talking in public about Iraq.

As to the question of whether he will specifically address this new offer from Iraq to let weapons inspectors back in, senior aides tell us that decision has not yet been made. But here, in voicing their skepticism, they point to the very letter from Iraq to the United Nations. On the one hand, that letter says Iraq will let the inspectors in without conditions, and then it goes on to say Iraq wants to begin conversations with the U.N. as to how to bring that about.

The United States says that is a non-starter from the White House position, that if and when inspectors go back in, they will go in at the demand of the United Nations. They don't need a invitation, the United States says, but the key question now is can President Bush keep that resolve in the Security Council, and can he get a resolution out of the Security Council that deals not just with the issue of weapons inspectors and disarmament, but all of the other broken promises this administration says Saddam Hussein has made to the United Nations. That is the challenge for the president now.

White House officials say they are confident they will succeed, but we will find out much more in the next several days at the United Nations in New York -- Paula.

ZAHN: Thanks so much, John. Appreciate it. Weapon inspectors who are trained to look for nuclear weapons and biological and chemical weapons say they are ready to go into Iraq as soon as they get the go-ahead from the U.N. Security Council.

The inspectors will come from the U.N.'s Austrian-based International Atomic Energy Agency.

The agency's spokesperson, Melissa Fleming, joins us now live on the phone from Vienna -- Melissa, good morning. Are your teams ready to go?

MELISSA FLEMING, INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY: They have been ready to go for four years. We've been working on planning and deployment, as well as deciding where we are going to go and what what we're going do. We have welcomed the decision of the Iraqi government to allow the return of our inspectors without conditions, and look forward to their cooperation. Of course, we're awaiting a decision from the United Nations Security Council.

ZAHN: You say you are looking forward to going back in. What do you think the Iraqis really mean when they say you can get back in without conditions?

FLEMING: "Without conditions" is a key phrase that we've been looking for. "Without conditions" means that our inspectors can operate under terms where we can immediately have access, unconditionally, and unrestricted access to sites that he want to visit. Of course, the decision right now is a political one. The letter from the Iraqis was addressed to the U.N. Security Council and the U.N. Secretary-General, and it lies with them to determine whether we are going to get the green light to go back.

ZAHN: If you do get the green light, the "L.A. Times" is reporting today that the U.S. has scrapped the idea of coercive inspections, and instead is pushing for this think called "one-strike" policy which would mean that you would end inspections after a single Iraqi refusal to cooperate, and then that would, perhaps, allow a military operation. What is your understanding of this report?

FLEMING: I have not heard anything about that type of arrangement. It is true that we can only carry out our mandate with the absolute cooperation of the government of Iraq. We need their logistic assistance, we need their assistance in security, and most of all, they have to open up every door that we ask to have opened.

ZAHN: How many of the inspectors, who you say have been waiting for four years now, were in Iraq during the most recent inspections?

FLEMING: Well, certainly, a good number of our inspectors were there. They know the country very well. They range from, you know, nuclear physicists to nuclear engineers. They know how to look for a secret nuclear program, if indeed there is one. What we go there to do is to rule out a nuclear program. We have all kinds of methodology, radiation detection equipment that is highly sophisticated that we would be using. So, we are ready to deploy, we're equipped, and we have a plan in place. ZAHN: Melissa, if inspectors are allowed back in, give us an idea of how long those inspections could take.

FLEMING: You know, it absolutely depends both on the cooperation of the Iraqi government or on how -- what we find if anything, what we uncover, if anything, and when. We can't really predict at all at this point how long it would take.

ZAHN: But just as a marker here, without asking for a specific, are you talking weeks or months?

FLEMING: It certainly would be much longer than weeks, and many months at a minimum.

ZAHN: Well, Melissa Fleming of the IAEA, we appreciate your time this morning in helping us get a better understanding of your level of preparation. Thank you.

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 September 17, 2002 - 09:02   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: The Bush administration remains very skeptical of Iraq's invitation to allow weapons inspectors to come back.
John King is standing by on the north lawn of the White House with that part of the story -- good morning, John.

JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Paula. Openly dismissive, you might say, here at the White House, to this new offer from Iraq. The question now is, can President Bush sway the U.N. Security Council to maintain his resolve and his skepticism, dismissal of this new overture.

You just saw Mr. Bush in the Rose Garden just moments ago focussing on teaching history and civics. The White House saying that was not the appropriate forum for the president to respond publicly to this new overture.

Do not be surprised, when the president travels to Tennessee for a political event later today, if we do hear him talking in public about Iraq.

As to the question of whether he will specifically address this new offer from Iraq to let weapons inspectors back in, senior aides tell us that decision has not yet been made. But here, in voicing their skepticism, they point to the very letter from Iraq to the United Nations. On the one hand, that letter says Iraq will let the inspectors in without conditions, and then it goes on to say Iraq wants to begin conversations with the U.N. as to how to bring that about.

The United States says that is a non-starter from the White House position, that if and when inspectors go back in, they will go in at the demand of the United Nations. They don't need a invitation, the United States says, but the key question now is can President Bush keep that resolve in the Security Council, and can he get a resolution out of the Security Council that deals not just with the issue of weapons inspectors and disarmament, but all of the other broken promises this administration says Saddam Hussein has made to the United Nations. That is the challenge for the president now.

White House officials say they are confident they will succeed, but we will find out much more in the next several days at the United Nations in New York -- Paula.

ZAHN: Thanks so much, John. Appreciate it. Weapon inspectors who are trained to look for nuclear weapons and biological and chemical weapons say they are ready to go into Iraq as soon as they get the go-ahead from the U.N. Security Council.

The inspectors will come from the U.N.'s Austrian-based International Atomic Energy Agency.

The agency's spokesperson, Melissa Fleming, joins us now live on the phone from Vienna -- Melissa, good morning. Are your teams ready to go?

MELISSA FLEMING, INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY: They have been ready to go for four years. We've been working on planning and deployment, as well as deciding where we are going to go and what what we're going do. We have welcomed the decision of the Iraqi government to allow the return of our inspectors without conditions, and look forward to their cooperation. Of course, we're awaiting a decision from the United Nations Security Council.

ZAHN: You say you are looking forward to going back in. What do you think the Iraqis really mean when they say you can get back in without conditions?

FLEMING: "Without conditions" is a key phrase that we've been looking for. "Without conditions" means that our inspectors can operate under terms where we can immediately have access, unconditionally, and unrestricted access to sites that he want to visit. Of course, the decision right now is a political one. The letter from the Iraqis was addressed to the U.N. Security Council and the U.N. Secretary-General, and it lies with them to determine whether we are going to get the green light to go back.

ZAHN: If you do get the green light, the "L.A. Times" is reporting today that the U.S. has scrapped the idea of coercive inspections, and instead is pushing for this think called "one-strike" policy which would mean that you would end inspections after a single Iraqi refusal to cooperate, and then that would, perhaps, allow a military operation. What is your understanding of this report?

FLEMING: I have not heard anything about that type of arrangement. It is true that we can only carry out our mandate with the absolute cooperation of the government of Iraq. We need their logistic assistance, we need their assistance in security, and most of all, they have to open up every door that we ask to have opened.

ZAHN: How many of the inspectors, who you say have been waiting for four years now, were in Iraq during the most recent inspections?

FLEMING: Well, certainly, a good number of our inspectors were there. They know the country very well. They range from, you know, nuclear physicists to nuclear engineers. They know how to look for a secret nuclear program, if indeed there is one. What we go there to do is to rule out a nuclear program. We have all kinds of methodology, radiation detection equipment that is highly sophisticated that we would be using. So, we are ready to deploy, we're equipped, and we have a plan in place. ZAHN: Melissa, if inspectors are allowed back in, give us an idea of how long those inspections could take.

FLEMING: You know, it absolutely depends both on the cooperation of the Iraqi government or on how -- what we find if anything, what we uncover, if anything, and when. We can't really predict at all at this point how long it would take.

ZAHN: But just as a marker here, without asking for a specific, are you talking weeks or months?

FLEMING: It certainly would be much longer than weeks, and many months at a minimum.

ZAHN: Well, Melissa Fleming of the IAEA, we appreciate your time this morning in helping us get a better understanding of your level of preparation. Thank you.

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