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American Morning

U.N. Inspectors Finish at Site; Interview with Cindy Laquidara

Aired December 04, 2002 - 07:32   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.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: U.N. inspectors now have finished searching a former biological and chemical weapons site.
Rym Brahimi on the ground right now watching developments there for more now -- good afternoon to you, Rym.

Hello.

RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Bill.

Well, indeed, they've been there for more than four hours now. They headed off early in the morning, a long road through the desert, about two hours. That's 120 kilometers north of Baghdad. The site is known as the Almuthana (ph) site and it's known, it was known to previous U.N. inspectors. They arrived. It doesn't seem as if they had any problem with access. The people who did have a problem, however, Bill, were the journalists. They were actually told not to film with their military soldiers actually putting themselves in front of the camera. So that was a bit of a problem for our journalists there.

But they could still see out in the distance what was, what seemed to be some concrete structures, maybe what could be bunkers, a very, very big site, Bill, five kilometers by five kilometers.

Now, it was known to be in the 1980s and in the early 1990s, before the Gulf War, the place where Iraq developed, researched and produced its biological and chemical warfare agents. Now, it was then bombed in 1991 during the Gulf War and then the inspectors were here, the previous team, between '92 and '94, and they say that they destroyed a lot of things in there, although it's not clear what was still left when they left, when the inspectors left in 1998 -- Bill.

HEMMER: Rym, a quick question here and a basic one at that, too. If this trip is so circuitous and it takes so long for the inspectors to get there, do they always return to Baghdad at night or do they spend time, to stay overnight in some of these locations?

BRAHIMI: Well, so far the trend has been, Bill, this is the seventh day and so far they've come back to Baghdad every time. But this is the farthest site they've been so far. Usually they don't go that far out. And even when they spend a lot of time on a site, I think the longest they must have spent so far was six hours in a place. Well, they still come back to their headquarters and then they go to their hotel, which is here in Baghdad -- Bill.

HEMMER: Bottom line, the drive time takes time. Rym, thanks.

Rym Brahimi in Baghdad.

Another topic now surrounding Iraq. His plane was shot down over the Persian Gulf at the outset of the war about 11 years ago. The status of Navy pilot Scott Speicher has been a mystery ever since. Originally given up for dead, his status was changed from missing and just recently to missing captured.

Speicher's family believes he may still be alive and they're making an all out personal appeal to Iraq's ambassador at the U.N.

An attorney for the family, Cindy Laquidara, represents the Speicher family. She is our guest this morning in Jacksonville, Florida.

Good morning to you and welcome to AMERICAN MORNING.

CINDY LAQUIDARA, SPEICHER FAMILY ATTORNEY: Good morning.

HEMMER: Let's talk about the evidence, the facts. What do you believe right now? What does the family believe points or indicates that their son might still be alive?

LAQUIDARA: The greater weight of the evidence is that Scott is alive. And that's consistent evidence. It's been gathered since the intelligence community really got involved in this, in the late '90s, and since that time. And each piece of information has been a little better, a little more detailed and a little higher quality. It's not unequivocal.

HEMMER: What's the evidence, though, Cindy?

LAQUIDARA: There's a -- well, I can't tell you most of it. It's classified so I can't go there.

HEMMER: But have people seen him? Did they see a parachute? Have there been defectors who have come out and said yes, there's an American being held in this location in Iraq?

LAQUIDARA: I can tell you there wasn't a parachute seen, but he did eject. That's undisputed, that he ejected from the aircraft. And it's undisputed and not classified that he was very highly likely to have been captured by the Iraqis. There are Iraqi defectors who say that, yes. And some of that has been leaked and so I can repeat it here.

HEMMER: OK. OK. Listen, Miss. Laquidara...

LAQUIDARA: Yes?

HEMMER: Can you describe to us the conversations and the contact you've had with Iraq's ambassador?

LAQUIDARA: Well, certainly. Let me tell you that it was at my impetus. I contacted them. I had some help establishing that contact. And they graciously agreed to see me at a time when they're under great stress and strain. So I traveled to New York and I met with Ambassador Aldori (ph) for approximately an hour or so. And he's a lawyer. He's, he was a professor of law for approximately 30 years or so, and I'm a trial lawyer, so we did a little of the lawyer thing, each of us holding our cards.

But the long and short of it is is that he is putting my request for a humanitarian appeal up the chain of command. He was compassionate. He understands this is a humanitarian issue and there are numerous Iraqis in similar positions. They know what it feels like to have a missing loved one.

HEMMER: Let me stop you there. Two questions. Why did he listen to you? Why did he take up your cause?

LAQUIDARA: Because I believe that Ambassador Aldori is compassionate and I did ask him, and I somewhat badgered him, I'm sure, to get him to the table. But he was willing as a compassionate individual to listen to a personal plea, not a government issue, and to allow me to explain who the family is, what they're coming from and what our perspective is.

HEMMER: And so he was not dismissing your case then? Is that the impression you got?

LAQUIDARA: No, he wasn't.

HEMMER: And why do you believe right now that he would take your cause to a higher level in Baghdad?

LAQUIDARA: Because I, first of all, let me tell you, this is the first time a personal plea has been made. To my knowledge, I'm the only one who's talked to the ambassador, asking him for this information. And a lot can be done conversationally. You know, in the law practice, the young attorneys will send these letters back and forth. They're horrific letters. You tell them to stop and pick up the phone, go meet the opposing council, and it makes a big difference, and that made a big difference here.

HEMMER: Listen, you heard the president at the U.N. back in September, right, September 12, that speech he made?

LAQUIDARA: No, we asked that he do that.

HEMMER: Yes, OK. You approached him on that, on the White House?

LAQUIDARA: Yes, we did.

HEMMER: OK, listen to a part of that speech quickly, then I've got a question to follow it.

Here's President Bush in September.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Last year, the secretary general's high level coordinator for this issue reported that Kuwaiti, Saudi, Indian, Syrian, Lebanese, Iranian, Egyptian, Bahraini and Omani nationals remain unaccounted for. More than 600 people. One American pilot is among them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: Ms. Laquidara, do you believe the White House is firmly in your corner or do you believe they still have questions that have yet to be answered on their own?

LAQUIDARA: Well, we all have questions that have yet to be answered. Do they want an accounting for Scott, either Scott or, god forbid he's passed, his remains? Yes. And certainly I have asked the administration before I contacted Iraq whether they objected to it, and they did not.

I believe they want the same thing we do. We want this issue resolved. I just have more flexibility to obtain the results.

HEMMER: Thanks for talking with us.

That videotape, by the way, was the last videotape that Scott Speicher sent home to his family while he was overseas. He would be 45 years old if, indeed, he is alive and held captive for the past 11 years of his life.

Cindy Laquidara, an attorney for the Speicher family, in Jacksonville, Florida.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com





Laquidara>


Aired December 4, 2002 - 07:32   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: U.N. inspectors now have finished searching a former biological and chemical weapons site.
Rym Brahimi on the ground right now watching developments there for more now -- good afternoon to you, Rym.

Hello.

RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Bill.

Well, indeed, they've been there for more than four hours now. They headed off early in the morning, a long road through the desert, about two hours. That's 120 kilometers north of Baghdad. The site is known as the Almuthana (ph) site and it's known, it was known to previous U.N. inspectors. They arrived. It doesn't seem as if they had any problem with access. The people who did have a problem, however, Bill, were the journalists. They were actually told not to film with their military soldiers actually putting themselves in front of the camera. So that was a bit of a problem for our journalists there.

But they could still see out in the distance what was, what seemed to be some concrete structures, maybe what could be bunkers, a very, very big site, Bill, five kilometers by five kilometers.

Now, it was known to be in the 1980s and in the early 1990s, before the Gulf War, the place where Iraq developed, researched and produced its biological and chemical warfare agents. Now, it was then bombed in 1991 during the Gulf War and then the inspectors were here, the previous team, between '92 and '94, and they say that they destroyed a lot of things in there, although it's not clear what was still left when they left, when the inspectors left in 1998 -- Bill.

HEMMER: Rym, a quick question here and a basic one at that, too. If this trip is so circuitous and it takes so long for the inspectors to get there, do they always return to Baghdad at night or do they spend time, to stay overnight in some of these locations?

BRAHIMI: Well, so far the trend has been, Bill, this is the seventh day and so far they've come back to Baghdad every time. But this is the farthest site they've been so far. Usually they don't go that far out. And even when they spend a lot of time on a site, I think the longest they must have spent so far was six hours in a place. Well, they still come back to their headquarters and then they go to their hotel, which is here in Baghdad -- Bill.

HEMMER: Bottom line, the drive time takes time. Rym, thanks.

Rym Brahimi in Baghdad.

Another topic now surrounding Iraq. His plane was shot down over the Persian Gulf at the outset of the war about 11 years ago. The status of Navy pilot Scott Speicher has been a mystery ever since. Originally given up for dead, his status was changed from missing and just recently to missing captured.

Speicher's family believes he may still be alive and they're making an all out personal appeal to Iraq's ambassador at the U.N.

An attorney for the family, Cindy Laquidara, represents the Speicher family. She is our guest this morning in Jacksonville, Florida.

Good morning to you and welcome to AMERICAN MORNING.

CINDY LAQUIDARA, SPEICHER FAMILY ATTORNEY: Good morning.

HEMMER: Let's talk about the evidence, the facts. What do you believe right now? What does the family believe points or indicates that their son might still be alive?

LAQUIDARA: The greater weight of the evidence is that Scott is alive. And that's consistent evidence. It's been gathered since the intelligence community really got involved in this, in the late '90s, and since that time. And each piece of information has been a little better, a little more detailed and a little higher quality. It's not unequivocal.

HEMMER: What's the evidence, though, Cindy?

LAQUIDARA: There's a -- well, I can't tell you most of it. It's classified so I can't go there.

HEMMER: But have people seen him? Did they see a parachute? Have there been defectors who have come out and said yes, there's an American being held in this location in Iraq?

LAQUIDARA: I can tell you there wasn't a parachute seen, but he did eject. That's undisputed, that he ejected from the aircraft. And it's undisputed and not classified that he was very highly likely to have been captured by the Iraqis. There are Iraqi defectors who say that, yes. And some of that has been leaked and so I can repeat it here.

HEMMER: OK. OK. Listen, Miss. Laquidara...

LAQUIDARA: Yes?

HEMMER: Can you describe to us the conversations and the contact you've had with Iraq's ambassador?

LAQUIDARA: Well, certainly. Let me tell you that it was at my impetus. I contacted them. I had some help establishing that contact. And they graciously agreed to see me at a time when they're under great stress and strain. So I traveled to New York and I met with Ambassador Aldori (ph) for approximately an hour or so. And he's a lawyer. He's, he was a professor of law for approximately 30 years or so, and I'm a trial lawyer, so we did a little of the lawyer thing, each of us holding our cards.

But the long and short of it is is that he is putting my request for a humanitarian appeal up the chain of command. He was compassionate. He understands this is a humanitarian issue and there are numerous Iraqis in similar positions. They know what it feels like to have a missing loved one.

HEMMER: Let me stop you there. Two questions. Why did he listen to you? Why did he take up your cause?

LAQUIDARA: Because I believe that Ambassador Aldori is compassionate and I did ask him, and I somewhat badgered him, I'm sure, to get him to the table. But he was willing as a compassionate individual to listen to a personal plea, not a government issue, and to allow me to explain who the family is, what they're coming from and what our perspective is.

HEMMER: And so he was not dismissing your case then? Is that the impression you got?

LAQUIDARA: No, he wasn't.

HEMMER: And why do you believe right now that he would take your cause to a higher level in Baghdad?

LAQUIDARA: Because I, first of all, let me tell you, this is the first time a personal plea has been made. To my knowledge, I'm the only one who's talked to the ambassador, asking him for this information. And a lot can be done conversationally. You know, in the law practice, the young attorneys will send these letters back and forth. They're horrific letters. You tell them to stop and pick up the phone, go meet the opposing council, and it makes a big difference, and that made a big difference here.

HEMMER: Listen, you heard the president at the U.N. back in September, right, September 12, that speech he made?

LAQUIDARA: No, we asked that he do that.

HEMMER: Yes, OK. You approached him on that, on the White House?

LAQUIDARA: Yes, we did.

HEMMER: OK, listen to a part of that speech quickly, then I've got a question to follow it.

Here's President Bush in September.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Last year, the secretary general's high level coordinator for this issue reported that Kuwaiti, Saudi, Indian, Syrian, Lebanese, Iranian, Egyptian, Bahraini and Omani nationals remain unaccounted for. More than 600 people. One American pilot is among them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: Ms. Laquidara, do you believe the White House is firmly in your corner or do you believe they still have questions that have yet to be answered on their own?

LAQUIDARA: Well, we all have questions that have yet to be answered. Do they want an accounting for Scott, either Scott or, god forbid he's passed, his remains? Yes. And certainly I have asked the administration before I contacted Iraq whether they objected to it, and they did not.

I believe they want the same thing we do. We want this issue resolved. I just have more flexibility to obtain the results.

HEMMER: Thanks for talking with us.

That videotape, by the way, was the last videotape that Scott Speicher sent home to his family while he was overseas. He would be 45 years old if, indeed, he is alive and held captive for the past 11 years of his life.

Cindy Laquidara, an attorney for the Speicher family, in Jacksonville, Florida.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com





Laquidara>