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American Morning
Daunting Task
Aired November 19, 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 White House says strikes in the no- fly zone amount to a -- quote -- "material breach" of the U.N. resolution. And on the ground, the U.N. inspection team begins day two of getting ready for their daunting task to hunt for deadly weapons.
Nic Robertson joins us now live from Baghdad with more.
Good morning -- Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
Well, the hope of the head of the inspection mission here that he will be able to meet with Iraq's foreign minister, Naji Sabri. So far, it's not clear that that meeting has happened. They don't even have a time for it yet.
However, they did have a meeting last night with President Saddam Hussein's top scientific advisor, General Amir al-Saadi. Now, a U.N. spokesman characterized that as being a good meeting. It was useful, they said. They discussed the timelines for their inspections and the timeline that Iraq must conform with.
Of primary concern, they said, to Iraq was complying with that 8th of December deadline when Iraq must submit a full declaration, not only of its weapons of mass destruction, but also of its civilian uses in the nuclear field, in the biological field and in the chemical field as well.
However, the spokesman did say that it was really too soon to draw any conclusions about Iraqi compliance at this stage.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK GWOZDECKY, ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY: The Iraqis made it clear that they are going to fully cooperate with us. Notwithstanding the fact that they're not ecstatic about living under this new, tougher resolution, they still made it clear that they will cooperate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTSON: Now, it was very interesting, we talked with a spokesman, and he described going back into those offices that the U.N. hasn't used here for four years, described it as being eerie, like a time capsule. He said there was dust everywhere, bits of pigeon's feathers, insects crawling on the floor. So, quite a lot of clearing up for them to do as well -- Paula.
ZAHN: Nic Robertson, appreciate the update -- 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 November 19, 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 White House says strikes in the no- fly zone amount to a -- quote -- "material breach" of the U.N. resolution. And on the ground, the U.N. inspection team begins day two of getting ready for their daunting task to hunt for deadly weapons.
Nic Robertson joins us now live from Baghdad with more.
Good morning -- Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
Well, the hope of the head of the inspection mission here that he will be able to meet with Iraq's foreign minister, Naji Sabri. So far, it's not clear that that meeting has happened. They don't even have a time for it yet.
However, they did have a meeting last night with President Saddam Hussein's top scientific advisor, General Amir al-Saadi. Now, a U.N. spokesman characterized that as being a good meeting. It was useful, they said. They discussed the timelines for their inspections and the timeline that Iraq must conform with.
Of primary concern, they said, to Iraq was complying with that 8th of December deadline when Iraq must submit a full declaration, not only of its weapons of mass destruction, but also of its civilian uses in the nuclear field, in the biological field and in the chemical field as well.
However, the spokesman did say that it was really too soon to draw any conclusions about Iraqi compliance at this stage.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK GWOZDECKY, ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY: The Iraqis made it clear that they are going to fully cooperate with us. Notwithstanding the fact that they're not ecstatic about living under this new, tougher resolution, they still made it clear that they will cooperate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTSON: Now, it was very interesting, we talked with a spokesman, and he described going back into those offices that the U.N. hasn't used here for four years, described it as being eerie, like a time capsule. He said there was dust everywhere, bits of pigeon's feathers, insects crawling on the floor. So, quite a lot of clearing up for them to do as well -- Paula.
ZAHN: Nic Robertson, appreciate the update -- 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.
