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American Morning
Hunting for Truth in Iraq
Aired November 29, 2002 - 07:16 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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Now to the hunt for weapons in Iraq. While U.N. inspectors are taking today off, an official Iraqi newspaper is warning that the U.S. will try to obstruct the inspections to provide an opening for war.
For the latest on that, let's go to senior international correspondent Nic Robertson, who is joining us live from Baghdad.
What is that about -- Nic?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, it's probably worth noting that most of the Iraqi papers here, in fact all of them, tend to reflect the government view.
This particular newspaper, the "Al-Thawra" -- that is the Baath Party newspaper, the paper of the ruling party here -- saying that in the recent dossiers put forward by both the British and the United States government over the last few months saying that, for example, the al-Daura plant and the Al-Nasir plant -- these plants on the north and south side of Baghdad that were visited by inspectors yesterday -- those dossiers saying that there was evidence, reason to believe that perhaps work on weapons of mass destruction is being reconstituted there.
Now, the newspaper pointing out today that, of course, the inspectors went there, and that's not what they found. So, the paper is being very critical of the U.S. and the British governments for putting forward what they see is such hard-hitting reports, inferring that Iraq is still making weapons of mass destruction.
Iraq, of course, says it isn't making weapons of mass destruction.
We know another thing about the inspectors. They may be resting today, or at least taking a day off. They're still fine-tuning their operations.
And they hope very soon to get the first of their fleet of eight helicopters into the country that will be based at an airstrip just to the south side of Baghdad. They hope that once they have these helicopters here, Carol, they can get around the country quickly, get some of these more surprise inspections done.
COSTELLO: Gotcha. And, Nic, just to clarify. The U.N. weapons inspectors are taking the day off because it's a holy day tomorrow, right? ROBERTSON: This is the Muslim holy day today. It's a day of rest, very few cars out on the road here, and inspectors observing that and fine-tuning their operations coming up.
COSTELLO: And one more question, going back to the newspaper article. I thought there was such a sense of optimism as to how the weapons inspections were going.
ROBERTSON: Well, this article is -- this article was put in an editorial inside the paper. There is very, very little being put on the news here, on the television news. Really, all we're seeing on the front pages of the papers and in the television news is just a very simple report -- the inspectors came, they went to this site, they went to that site.
So, the real what their viewers and what the readers are seeing first is perhaps being played very, very down here. It's only if they dig in deeper into the paper, read these critical articles, it is a defensive position, if you like, by the government putting forward its view, but at the same time trying to keep out of the headlines a lot of talk about the inspectors.
COSTELLO: All right, thanks for reading between the lines for us, Nic Robertson.
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 29, 2002 - 07:16 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Now to the hunt for weapons in Iraq. While U.N. inspectors are taking today off, an official Iraqi newspaper is warning that the U.S. will try to obstruct the inspections to provide an opening for war.
For the latest on that, let's go to senior international correspondent Nic Robertson, who is joining us live from Baghdad.
What is that about -- Nic?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, it's probably worth noting that most of the Iraqi papers here, in fact all of them, tend to reflect the government view.
This particular newspaper, the "Al-Thawra" -- that is the Baath Party newspaper, the paper of the ruling party here -- saying that in the recent dossiers put forward by both the British and the United States government over the last few months saying that, for example, the al-Daura plant and the Al-Nasir plant -- these plants on the north and south side of Baghdad that were visited by inspectors yesterday -- those dossiers saying that there was evidence, reason to believe that perhaps work on weapons of mass destruction is being reconstituted there.
Now, the newspaper pointing out today that, of course, the inspectors went there, and that's not what they found. So, the paper is being very critical of the U.S. and the British governments for putting forward what they see is such hard-hitting reports, inferring that Iraq is still making weapons of mass destruction.
Iraq, of course, says it isn't making weapons of mass destruction.
We know another thing about the inspectors. They may be resting today, or at least taking a day off. They're still fine-tuning their operations.
And they hope very soon to get the first of their fleet of eight helicopters into the country that will be based at an airstrip just to the south side of Baghdad. They hope that once they have these helicopters here, Carol, they can get around the country quickly, get some of these more surprise inspections done.
COSTELLO: Gotcha. And, Nic, just to clarify. The U.N. weapons inspectors are taking the day off because it's a holy day tomorrow, right? ROBERTSON: This is the Muslim holy day today. It's a day of rest, very few cars out on the road here, and inspectors observing that and fine-tuning their operations coming up.
COSTELLO: And one more question, going back to the newspaper article. I thought there was such a sense of optimism as to how the weapons inspections were going.
ROBERTSON: Well, this article is -- this article was put in an editorial inside the paper. There is very, very little being put on the news here, on the television news. Really, all we're seeing on the front pages of the papers and in the television news is just a very simple report -- the inspectors came, they went to this site, they went to that site.
So, the real what their viewers and what the readers are seeing first is perhaps being played very, very down here. It's only if they dig in deeper into the paper, read these critical articles, it is a defensive position, if you like, by the government putting forward its view, but at the same time trying to keep out of the headlines a lot of talk about the inspectors.
COSTELLO: All right, thanks for reading between the lines for us, Nic Robertson.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
