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American Morning

Interview With Terence Taylor

Aired December 10, 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.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Oftentimes the devil is in the details, and Iraq's nearly 12,000 page weapons declaration now being analyzed in Washington and elsewhere to determine what is in it and what is true and not true.
To talk more about the documents and the contents therein, former U.N. weapons inspector, Terence Taylor, is now our guest back in D.C.

Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING -- good to have you, Mr. Taylor.

TERENCE TAYLOR, FMR. U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTOR: It's nice to be back. Thank you.

HEMMER: Some of these diplomats are already saying there's nothing new in this declaration; there's nothing there. If that's the case, are we moving the ball in any way?

TAYLOR: Well, I don't know that there's nothing new. We don't know until we see the full contents, or at least we hear about them. I mean, there could well be new things. If there aren't any new things in it, then I think we're heading for trouble. But the contents list indicates that all of the right areas are covered, but we don't know what is under the headings...

(CROSSTALK)

HEMMER: And just so you know, David Albright, a former inspector, you might know him quite well as well...

TAYLOR: Yes.

HEMMER: ... he says the nuclear section is recycled prior to 1998. I guess I come back to my original question, all for naught or not?

TAYLOR: Well, I don't know. I mean, has he seen the full contents? And if he has, then I would respect his view. But I suspect we'll see some new things in this document, because the Iraqis are under pressure this time. They know they have to deliver something here.

HEMMER: And you mentioned in your first answer it could be headed for trouble. What's the timeframe you see on that?

TAYLOR: Well, I think there's a little while to go. As we heard in your earlier report, the U.S., and other countries too, have to examine the document and come to a view over it, and they'll be comparing it with their intelligence resources and so on. And we'll obviously have to make the case to the other members of the Security Council and to the public in general.

HEMMER: I don't know if you saw this report in the "L.A. Times." We can put up part of that report on our screen for our viewers here. This has to do with Russia essentially -- well, I'll read it for you. "Russia provided intelligence that helped Baghdad not only anticipate where the U.N. inspection teams would search, but ensure that they found nothing. Moreover, during negotiations over the Security Council resolution this fall, a Russian diplomat was spotted handing a copy of a draft text of the resolution on Iraq meant for Council deliberations only, to an Iraqi diplomat."


Aired December 10, 2002 - 07:16   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Oftentimes the devil is in the details, and Iraq's nearly 12,000 page weapons declaration now being analyzed in Washington and elsewhere to determine what is in it and what is true and not true.
To talk more about the documents and the contents therein, former U.N. weapons inspector, Terence Taylor, is now our guest back in D.C.

Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING -- good to have you, Mr. Taylor.

TERENCE TAYLOR, FMR. U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTOR: It's nice to be back. Thank you.

HEMMER: Some of these diplomats are already saying there's nothing new in this declaration; there's nothing there. If that's the case, are we moving the ball in any way?

TAYLOR: Well, I don't know that there's nothing new. We don't know until we see the full contents, or at least we hear about them. I mean, there could well be new things. If there aren't any new things in it, then I think we're heading for trouble. But the contents list indicates that all of the right areas are covered, but we don't know what is under the headings...

(CROSSTALK)

HEMMER: And just so you know, David Albright, a former inspector, you might know him quite well as well...

TAYLOR: Yes.

HEMMER: ... he says the nuclear section is recycled prior to 1998. I guess I come back to my original question, all for naught or not?

TAYLOR: Well, I don't know. I mean, has he seen the full contents? And if he has, then I would respect his view. But I suspect we'll see some new things in this document, because the Iraqis are under pressure this time. They know they have to deliver something here.

HEMMER: And you mentioned in your first answer it could be headed for trouble. What's the timeframe you see on that?

TAYLOR: Well, I think there's a little while to go. As we heard in your earlier report, the U.S., and other countries too, have to examine the document and come to a view over it, and they'll be comparing it with their intelligence resources and so on. And we'll obviously have to make the case to the other members of the Security Council and to the public in general.

HEMMER: I don't know if you saw this report in the "L.A. Times." We can put up part of that report on our screen for our viewers here. This has to do with Russia essentially -- well, I'll read it for you. "Russia provided intelligence that helped Baghdad not only anticipate where the U.N. inspection teams would search, but ensure that they found nothing. Moreover, during negotiations over the Security Council resolution this fall, a Russian diplomat was spotted handing a copy of a draft text of the resolution on Iraq meant for Council deliberations only, to an Iraqi diplomat."