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American Morning
Iraq's Declaration Due
Aired December 06, 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: We want to get to Baghdad straight away right now, more on that weapons declaration to be handed into the U.N. by Sunday. We are told it will happen tomorrow, as the White House now considers how to respond once the document is received.
Nic Robertson again up in Baghdad with new information about the actual declaration of how and when it will arrive.
Nic -- what have you learned? Good afternoon to you.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, good afternoon, Bill -- good morning it is for you.
Here in Baghdad, officials are giving us an early indication that we may -- may get access -- and this is only preliminary information. We may get access to seeing that document actually handed over from an Iraqi official, General Hasam Amin, who is in charge of Iraq's National Monitoring Directorate, handing it over to a member of the United Nations.
Now, that is a piece of information that is still yet to be 100 percent confirmed by Iraqi officials, but what we have been told, Bill, is that that document will contain -- or that declaration will have 4,000 pages, plus there will be 7,000 to 8,000 pages of supporting documentation. We're also told it's going to be in Arabic and in English.
Now, once it has been handed over here in Baghdad to a U.N. courier, a diplomat we understand for the United Nations in New York, it will be hand-carried back from here to New York, where it will be distributed not only to the U.N. weapons chief, Hans Blix, but also to the U.N. Security Council. The U.N. Security Council then able to distribute it to the member nations, those 15 governments will be able to get their analysts looking at it.
But the U.N., however, we're told, they want to compare Iraq's declaration with one million pages of data that they have compiled from previous years of weapons inspections here before they'll be able to gain any insight. They say that this will probably be a long and drawn-out process -- Bill.
HEMMER: And, Nic, one is assuming here, when the U.N. gets that list and others get a chance to look at it, do they go back to Iraq and ask for further clarification? Is that a possibly under the resolution?
ROBERTSON: They may need to ask clarification on some issues. Hans Blix, when he briefed the Security Council a few weeks ago, did say that some of the dual-use items -- these are the things that Iraq has that are used in civilian industry that the inspectors believe could be put to use in weapons of mass destruction. Hans Blix has said that those factories and such could be so numerous that Iraq may just want to put down on the declaration that some of them -- or just put down the names and locations, rather than going into all of the details.
So, yes, the U.N. may go back and say, OK, this site, we need more details. But the intent has been very clear from the beginning, Iraq absolutely has to put down everything about its weapons of mass destruction, everything about those dual-use industries -- Bill.
HEMMER: And the plot will no doubt thicken over the weekend. Thank you, Nic -- Nic Robertson in Baghdad.
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 December 6, 2002 - 07:03 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: We want to get to Baghdad straight away right now, more on that weapons declaration to be handed into the U.N. by Sunday. We are told it will happen tomorrow, as the White House now considers how to respond once the document is received.
Nic Robertson again up in Baghdad with new information about the actual declaration of how and when it will arrive.
Nic -- what have you learned? Good afternoon to you.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, good afternoon, Bill -- good morning it is for you.
Here in Baghdad, officials are giving us an early indication that we may -- may get access -- and this is only preliminary information. We may get access to seeing that document actually handed over from an Iraqi official, General Hasam Amin, who is in charge of Iraq's National Monitoring Directorate, handing it over to a member of the United Nations.
Now, that is a piece of information that is still yet to be 100 percent confirmed by Iraqi officials, but what we have been told, Bill, is that that document will contain -- or that declaration will have 4,000 pages, plus there will be 7,000 to 8,000 pages of supporting documentation. We're also told it's going to be in Arabic and in English.
Now, once it has been handed over here in Baghdad to a U.N. courier, a diplomat we understand for the United Nations in New York, it will be hand-carried back from here to New York, where it will be distributed not only to the U.N. weapons chief, Hans Blix, but also to the U.N. Security Council. The U.N. Security Council then able to distribute it to the member nations, those 15 governments will be able to get their analysts looking at it.
But the U.N., however, we're told, they want to compare Iraq's declaration with one million pages of data that they have compiled from previous years of weapons inspections here before they'll be able to gain any insight. They say that this will probably be a long and drawn-out process -- Bill.
HEMMER: And, Nic, one is assuming here, when the U.N. gets that list and others get a chance to look at it, do they go back to Iraq and ask for further clarification? Is that a possibly under the resolution?
ROBERTSON: They may need to ask clarification on some issues. Hans Blix, when he briefed the Security Council a few weeks ago, did say that some of the dual-use items -- these are the things that Iraq has that are used in civilian industry that the inspectors believe could be put to use in weapons of mass destruction. Hans Blix has said that those factories and such could be so numerous that Iraq may just want to put down on the declaration that some of them -- or just put down the names and locations, rather than going into all of the details.
So, yes, the U.N. may go back and say, OK, this site, we need more details. But the intent has been very clear from the beginning, Iraq absolutely has to put down everything about its weapons of mass destruction, everything about those dual-use industries -- Bill.
HEMMER: And the plot will no doubt thicken over the weekend. Thank you, Nic -- Nic Robertson in Baghdad.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
