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American Morning
Interview With Bill Richardson
Aired October 04, 2002 - 07:06 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: So far, the U.S. and British campaign -- as Kelly just laid out -- for a tough, new U.N. resolution is meeting some resistance from a number of Security Council members. As Kelly just mentioned, I'm repeating this again, Russia and France.
We're joined now by former U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Bill Richardson, who joins us from Santa Fe, New Mexico. Richardson is running for governor in that state against Republican John Sanchez.
Welcome back -- good to see you again, sir.
BILL RICHARDSON, FORMER U.S. AMB. TO U.N.: Thank you, Paula.
ZAHN: So, as the U.S. and the U.N. debate what these inspections might ultimately be like, what do you think Saddam Hussein is up to?
RICHARDSON: Well, I think Saddam Hussein has two objectives right now when he's negotiating with the U.N. weapons inspectors and the Security Council. He doesn't want the inspectors to have access to the eight presidential palaces, or an area of about 12 square miles, where potentially, in the past, a lot of these chemical and biological weapons were stored that were probably illegal. So, that's his objective.
A second objective is within the U.N. Security Council, to keep dividing the Security Council. And it now looks like Russia is playing the role of Saddam's main ally by delaying -- by basically saying, we don't need any new instructions on the inspections; that the old five-year inspection and layout of the past is the best route to go, which is clearly unacceptable.
ZAHN: So, how are you seeing this being resolved? If the U.N. (sic) and Britain are adamant about two resolutions, and France and Russia seem not willing to OK that military component right now if Saddam Hussein doesn't comply, how does this end up?
RICHARDSON: Well, I think in the end, the United States will get a broad resolution, not something clear in terms of the use of force. I don't think they should strive for that absolute clarity.
I think it may take longer. This is taking longer than I thought. The fact that Russia and France -- and China will follow Russia and France -- but it seems that France, that could play a pivotal role in moving into a compromise, still has not headed in that direction.
I think what is really pending now, Paula, is the role of the inspectors and whether Blix is actually going to accede to our demands, which I think -- and Britain's demands that he not go in unless he has total, unfettered access. If he goes in with the old instructions, with the old resolutions, he's not going to have any access.
And so, I think what is very important is that Blix be strong. You know, what is happening here is, Richard Butler, the old U.N. inspector, was a real tiger when it came to some of these inspections. Blix strikes me as somebody that wants to please the entire Security Council, more bureaucratic. He's a good man, but I wish he'd be a little more aggressive.
ZAHN: Well, based on Kelly Wallace's reporting, it appears as though he is willing to wait for some Security resolution -- Council resolution. If he does, what kind of timetable are we talking about here?
RICHARDSON: Well, I'd say that we're talking about the middle of October. I think it makes sense for Blix to send an advance team -- Butler used to do that -- to prepare for the ultimate visit of Blix. But I'd say we're talking about a good part of October.
So, at the same time, I do think that we've got to move forward simultaneously in the U.N. Security Council, getting a resolution there that is acceptable, and getting new instructions for the inspectors; and at the same time, getting in the Congress a resolution that gives the president authority. I think the administration is going on three tracks right now, and they all need to converge at about the same time.
ZAHN: And, Ambassador Richardson, you were describing one of the tracks you think Saddam Hussein is on at the moment, which is trying to protect those presidential sites that take up a large chunk of land in that country. You say in the past, he has probably hidden biological weapons. What else do you think he's hiding there?
RICHARDSON: Well, he's probably hiding a lot of documents, biological weapons. He's probably got some manufacturing facilities there. The Iraqis would, under no circumstances in the past, provide access to those sites. They did in a limited fashion, but I think there has to be full access without any issues.
Another issue, Paula, is that Saddam also wants his security people to travel with the inspectors. The inspectors, especially on air flights, should say, we go anywhere we want without security personnel, because those security personnel of Saddam always in the past disrupted and kept the inspectors from doing their job.
So, there is still a lot of issues hanging out there.
ZAHN: And we will be following that very close today, as Hans Blix, the chief U.N. weapons inspector, has meetings with Secretary of State Colin Powell.
Ambassador Bill Richardson, thanks for your time this morning -- appreciate it. RICHARDSON: Thank you, Paula.
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 October 4, 2002 - 07:06 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: So far, the U.S. and British campaign -- as Kelly just laid out -- for a tough, new U.N. resolution is meeting some resistance from a number of Security Council members. As Kelly just mentioned, I'm repeating this again, Russia and France.
We're joined now by former U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Bill Richardson, who joins us from Santa Fe, New Mexico. Richardson is running for governor in that state against Republican John Sanchez.
Welcome back -- good to see you again, sir.
BILL RICHARDSON, FORMER U.S. AMB. TO U.N.: Thank you, Paula.
ZAHN: So, as the U.S. and the U.N. debate what these inspections might ultimately be like, what do you think Saddam Hussein is up to?
RICHARDSON: Well, I think Saddam Hussein has two objectives right now when he's negotiating with the U.N. weapons inspectors and the Security Council. He doesn't want the inspectors to have access to the eight presidential palaces, or an area of about 12 square miles, where potentially, in the past, a lot of these chemical and biological weapons were stored that were probably illegal. So, that's his objective.
A second objective is within the U.N. Security Council, to keep dividing the Security Council. And it now looks like Russia is playing the role of Saddam's main ally by delaying -- by basically saying, we don't need any new instructions on the inspections; that the old five-year inspection and layout of the past is the best route to go, which is clearly unacceptable.
ZAHN: So, how are you seeing this being resolved? If the U.N. (sic) and Britain are adamant about two resolutions, and France and Russia seem not willing to OK that military component right now if Saddam Hussein doesn't comply, how does this end up?
RICHARDSON: Well, I think in the end, the United States will get a broad resolution, not something clear in terms of the use of force. I don't think they should strive for that absolute clarity.
I think it may take longer. This is taking longer than I thought. The fact that Russia and France -- and China will follow Russia and France -- but it seems that France, that could play a pivotal role in moving into a compromise, still has not headed in that direction.
I think what is really pending now, Paula, is the role of the inspectors and whether Blix is actually going to accede to our demands, which I think -- and Britain's demands that he not go in unless he has total, unfettered access. If he goes in with the old instructions, with the old resolutions, he's not going to have any access.
And so, I think what is very important is that Blix be strong. You know, what is happening here is, Richard Butler, the old U.N. inspector, was a real tiger when it came to some of these inspections. Blix strikes me as somebody that wants to please the entire Security Council, more bureaucratic. He's a good man, but I wish he'd be a little more aggressive.
ZAHN: Well, based on Kelly Wallace's reporting, it appears as though he is willing to wait for some Security resolution -- Council resolution. If he does, what kind of timetable are we talking about here?
RICHARDSON: Well, I'd say that we're talking about the middle of October. I think it makes sense for Blix to send an advance team -- Butler used to do that -- to prepare for the ultimate visit of Blix. But I'd say we're talking about a good part of October.
So, at the same time, I do think that we've got to move forward simultaneously in the U.N. Security Council, getting a resolution there that is acceptable, and getting new instructions for the inspectors; and at the same time, getting in the Congress a resolution that gives the president authority. I think the administration is going on three tracks right now, and they all need to converge at about the same time.
ZAHN: And, Ambassador Richardson, you were describing one of the tracks you think Saddam Hussein is on at the moment, which is trying to protect those presidential sites that take up a large chunk of land in that country. You say in the past, he has probably hidden biological weapons. What else do you think he's hiding there?
RICHARDSON: Well, he's probably hiding a lot of documents, biological weapons. He's probably got some manufacturing facilities there. The Iraqis would, under no circumstances in the past, provide access to those sites. They did in a limited fashion, but I think there has to be full access without any issues.
Another issue, Paula, is that Saddam also wants his security people to travel with the inspectors. The inspectors, especially on air flights, should say, we go anywhere we want without security personnel, because those security personnel of Saddam always in the past disrupted and kept the inspectors from doing their job.
So, there is still a lot of issues hanging out there.
ZAHN: And we will be following that very close today, as Hans Blix, the chief U.N. weapons inspector, has meetings with Secretary of State Colin Powell.
Ambassador Bill Richardson, thanks for your time this morning -- appreciate it. RICHARDSON: Thank you, Paula.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
