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American Morning
U.N. Advance Team Arrives in Iraq
Aired November 18, 2002 - 07:03 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 newly-approved U.N. inspection team is backed by the threat of force. The 25-member advance team landed in Baghdad just a couple of hours ago. They were greeted by Iraqi military officials.
Let's get the very latest now from Nic Robertson, who is standing by in Baghdad.
Good morning -- Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
Well, senior Iraqi officials have said that the U.N. will have immediate access, but in some ways, it was sort of situation no change at the airport today. The man greeting Hans Blix and Mohamed el- Baradei, heading the U.N. mission, was the same man who was the interlocutor with the last U.N. inspection teams here in the 1990s, Major General Hasam Amin. He is the head of the Iraqi National Monitoring Directorate. He will be Hans Blix's main man in Iraq to deal with in the coming months.
But Hans Blix said very quickly after he arrived to journalists that that his main job here, he has one question to answer, and that question is: Does Iraq have any weapons of mass destruction.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HANS BLIX, CHIEF U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTOR: We have come here for one single reason, and that is because the world wants to have assurances that there are no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The situation is tense at the moment, but there is a new opportunity, and we are here to provide an inspection, which is credible. An inspection that is credible is the only thing that is in the interest of Iraq and in the interest of the world, and we'll try to do so.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTSON: And, indeed, that is exactly what the editorials in Iraqi newspapers are calling for, for the inspectors to be independent, to be neutral, and to be honest. Those same editorials pointing out that Iraq government claims that there were some U.S. spies amongst the last U.N. teams who were here -- Paula.
ZAHN: Nic Robertson, what else have you been told might happen later today? ROBERTSON: Well, we are expecting probably some high-level meetings between the U.N. lead members here, Hans Blix and Mohamed el- Baradei, with some senior Iraqi officials. As of late last night, the U.N. did not know when those might take place. What they were hoping was that once they all landed here, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) talk on the ground with Iraqi officials that would become clear.
But certainly, the logistics element to that team will be heading off to their old U.N. headquarters to be cleaning it out and putting in the new equipment.
ZAHN: Nic, thanks for that update -- appreciate it very much.
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 November 18, 2002 - 07:03 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: The newly-approved U.N. inspection team is backed by the threat of force. The 25-member advance team landed in Baghdad just a couple of hours ago. They were greeted by Iraqi military officials.
Let's get the very latest now from Nic Robertson, who is standing by in Baghdad.
Good morning -- Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
Well, senior Iraqi officials have said that the U.N. will have immediate access, but in some ways, it was sort of situation no change at the airport today. The man greeting Hans Blix and Mohamed el- Baradei, heading the U.N. mission, was the same man who was the interlocutor with the last U.N. inspection teams here in the 1990s, Major General Hasam Amin. He is the head of the Iraqi National Monitoring Directorate. He will be Hans Blix's main man in Iraq to deal with in the coming months.
But Hans Blix said very quickly after he arrived to journalists that that his main job here, he has one question to answer, and that question is: Does Iraq have any weapons of mass destruction.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HANS BLIX, CHIEF U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTOR: We have come here for one single reason, and that is because the world wants to have assurances that there are no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The situation is tense at the moment, but there is a new opportunity, and we are here to provide an inspection, which is credible. An inspection that is credible is the only thing that is in the interest of Iraq and in the interest of the world, and we'll try to do so.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTSON: And, indeed, that is exactly what the editorials in Iraqi newspapers are calling for, for the inspectors to be independent, to be neutral, and to be honest. Those same editorials pointing out that Iraq government claims that there were some U.S. spies amongst the last U.N. teams who were here -- Paula.
ZAHN: Nic Robertson, what else have you been told might happen later today? ROBERTSON: Well, we are expecting probably some high-level meetings between the U.N. lead members here, Hans Blix and Mohamed el- Baradei, with some senior Iraqi officials. As of late last night, the U.N. did not know when those might take place. What they were hoping was that once they all landed here, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) talk on the ground with Iraqi officials that would become clear.
But certainly, the logistics element to that team will be heading off to their old U.N. headquarters to be cleaning it out and putting in the new equipment.
ZAHN: Nic, thanks for that update -- appreciate it very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
