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American Morning
U.N. Weapons Inspectors on the Ground
Aired November 18, 2002 - 09:03 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: Back to the moment of truth for Iraq, it is here. U.N. weapons inspectors are on the ground in Baghdad. The team landed in the Iraqi capital earlier this morning and were greeted by Iraqi military officials. We'll get the very latest now from Nic Robertson, who is standing by in Baghdad.
Good morning, Nic?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
Well, already arrived, already checked in at their hotel and already headed off to their office. Now we saw coming off the aircraft there at Saddam International Airport equipment, what appeared to be some kind of antenna for communications headed off to be installed at the offices that used to be occupied by the old U.N. mission.
But Hans Blix very, very clear as he came out at the airport on what his mission was. He said he has one question to answer, and that question is, does Iraq have weapons of mass destruction?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HANS BLIX, CHIEF U.N. WEAPONS. INSP.: 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 inspection which is credible. Inspection that is credible is the only thing in the interest of Iraq and the interests of the world, and we'll try to do so.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTSON: And that's exactly what the editorials have been calling for in Iraqi newspapers today, for the inspectors to be independent, for them to be neutral, and for them to be honest.
Now the same editorial is reminding Iraqi readers that there was, according to the Iraqi government, some spies among the last U.N. team here -- Paula.
ZAHN: And you also mentioned a little bit earlier on this morning, the inspectors have some work to do just to get vehicles working for their inspections.
ROBERTSON: Absolutely. The vehicles have been sitting in a parking lot outside their old offices. And as can you tell, the environment around here gets pretty hot much of the time. So a lot of restoration to be done on the vehicles. We were joking before that a lot of the equipment is cleaning equipment, Hoover-ing (ph), vacuuming equipment. The offices they're preparing will be used in detail analysis of highly sensitive and accurate data that all these inspection teams will be gathering and bringing in. So of course, they have a lot of very serious cleaning to do in those offices, as well as the installation of computers, not least of which, as we say, getting those vehicles ready again -- Paula.
ZAHN: We hear the sound behind you of obviously evening prayers. How often do you hear that from where you are standing?
ROBERTSON: Well, we have the mosque behind us, and most significant for Iraq this is the month of Ramadan, this call of prayer right now at Istar (ph). This is the signal, with dusk settling, that people can settle down, and after having had their last bite of food before the sun raised this morning, they can now eat again. This month of Ramadan, obviously, a very holy, special time for Iraqis.
ZAHN: Nic Robertson, appreciate the update. Thanks.
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 - 09:03 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Back to the moment of truth for Iraq, it is here. U.N. weapons inspectors are on the ground in Baghdad. The team landed in the Iraqi capital earlier this morning and were greeted by Iraqi military officials. We'll get the very latest now from Nic Robertson, who is standing by in Baghdad.
Good morning, Nic?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
Well, already arrived, already checked in at their hotel and already headed off to their office. Now we saw coming off the aircraft there at Saddam International Airport equipment, what appeared to be some kind of antenna for communications headed off to be installed at the offices that used to be occupied by the old U.N. mission.
But Hans Blix very, very clear as he came out at the airport on what his mission was. He said he has one question to answer, and that question is, does Iraq have weapons of mass destruction?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HANS BLIX, CHIEF U.N. WEAPONS. INSP.: 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 inspection which is credible. Inspection that is credible is the only thing in the interest of Iraq and the interests of the world, and we'll try to do so.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTSON: And that's exactly what the editorials have been calling for in Iraqi newspapers today, for the inspectors to be independent, for them to be neutral, and for them to be honest.
Now the same editorial is reminding Iraqi readers that there was, according to the Iraqi government, some spies among the last U.N. team here -- Paula.
ZAHN: And you also mentioned a little bit earlier on this morning, the inspectors have some work to do just to get vehicles working for their inspections.
ROBERTSON: Absolutely. The vehicles have been sitting in a parking lot outside their old offices. And as can you tell, the environment around here gets pretty hot much of the time. So a lot of restoration to be done on the vehicles. We were joking before that a lot of the equipment is cleaning equipment, Hoover-ing (ph), vacuuming equipment. The offices they're preparing will be used in detail analysis of highly sensitive and accurate data that all these inspection teams will be gathering and bringing in. So of course, they have a lot of very serious cleaning to do in those offices, as well as the installation of computers, not least of which, as we say, getting those vehicles ready again -- Paula.
ZAHN: We hear the sound behind you of obviously evening prayers. How often do you hear that from where you are standing?
ROBERTSON: Well, we have the mosque behind us, and most significant for Iraq this is the month of Ramadan, this call of prayer right now at Istar (ph). This is the signal, with dusk settling, that people can settle down, and after having had their last bite of food before the sun raised this morning, they can now eat again. This month of Ramadan, obviously, a very holy, special time for Iraqis.
ZAHN: Nic Robertson, appreciate the update. Thanks.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
