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American Morning
Interview with Roger Hill
Aired December 11, 2002 - 07:08 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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hans Blix says that his U.N. weapons team hopes to finish analyzing some of Iraq's weapons documents by the week's end. There are nearly 12,000 pages. But some former inspectors are concerned that Saddam Hussein is trying to bury the current U.N. inspection teams under a mountain of old information.
Roger Hill served in Iraq from 1993 to '98. He comes to us now from Melbourne, Australia.
Roger, hello -- greetings. Thanks for joining us.
ROGER HILL, FMR. U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTOR: Good morning, Daryn.
KAGAN: Before we get to Iraq, I want to get to the news of the day and this ship that was intercepted, carrying Scud missiles, looking like it's heading towards Yemen. What do you make of that information?
HILL: Look, I think at this stage, it's too early to jump to conclusions, but I think the most important point is that the Iraqis are very clever people. And I would find it highly unlikely that they have got any involvement in this particular operation.
KAGAN: Just because they're clever people, is there anything more that you can read into that?
HILL: Yes, look, I think you've really got to be starting out asking questions of the government of Yemen. There is absolutely no way that Iraq is going to jeopardize its current program of trying to basically avoid conflict with the U.S. at this particular point in time. It's just not going to happen.
KAGAN: All right, we're going to get more on that story in a little bit. I want to now call on your expertise on what is taking place in Iraq with the weapons inspectors. Twenty-five more inspectors on the ground now, a total of 60, a huge amount of ground to cover. Are you any more hopeful that they're going to be able to get the job done, now that more equipment and more people are on the way?
HILL: Look, unfortunately not. It doesn't really matter how many people that you actually put on the ground at this particular point in time. The Iraqis have had four years to hide all of their programs well and truly out of sight. Even when we were involved on the ground and present in Iraq for long periods of time, we faced great obstacles and difficulties in actually doing our work, and you can't do it without clear intelligence information. And I just don't think that the U.S. or the U.K. or some of the other countries are going to provide that high-level intelligence support to the U.N. teams that are currently there, because of the chance that information will be compromised.
KAGAN: Well, and there is that criticism that the U.S. should be offering up more of this information. Do you think they should in order to help the inspectors get the job done?
HILL: Look, I think they need to. But in order to do that, they're probably going to have to set up a team within a team. It will have to be a special trusted group within UNMOVIC that would have access to that information that can go out and basically be a flying squad, and then they might achieve some sort of tactical surprise for the Iraqis.
KAGAN: All right, with the remaining time we have left on the satellite, I want to get this in. U.N. (sic) joint chiefs of staff meeting today with U.N. officials, offering up some equipment. I just want to go down this list and ask you if you think any of it would be helpful.
Satellite imagery from the U.S., would that help?
HILL: Well, look, all of the imagery -- everything will help in the end. Certainly, satellite imagery is a bonus, but it's not going to pinpoint anything at the moment. It's well and truly hidden.
KAGAN: Predator aircraft.
HILL: Again, it's a tool that they can utilize to actually fly over a facility. It can stay airborne for long periods of time. It's got good resolution, but again, you have to know where to look. And the satellites and the Predators and all of the other pieces of technology are not going to be of a huge amount of assistance at this time.
KAGAN: And finally, Roger, I want to ask you on a personal note. I know you said that you still suffer from the effects of being exposed to chemical weapons during your time as weapons inspector. Can you tell us how you're doing now?
HILL: Look, I'm doing just great. I've had an operation, and basically, I'm well on the road to recovery, thank you.
KAGAN: And that is good news indeed, but given what you went through and your concerns for the inspectors who are on the ground now, do you think they face even more danger than what you faced and your fellow inspectors back in the '90s?
HILL: No, look, fortunately not. I mean, the majority of their weapons of mass destruction programs have been destroyed. We're only looking for the last remaining, about 5 percent at the moment, and the majority of the danger is chemicals, a lot of the biological agents which we didn't get our hands on. They're basically out of sight.
So, for the most part, the inspectors are pretty safe.
KAGAN: Former U.N. weapons inspector Roger Hill joining us from Melbourne, Australia -- Roger, thank you very much for your time.
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 11, 2002 - 07:08 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hans Blix says that his U.N. weapons team hopes to finish analyzing some of Iraq's weapons documents by the week's end. There are nearly 12,000 pages. But some former inspectors are concerned that Saddam Hussein is trying to bury the current U.N. inspection teams under a mountain of old information.
Roger Hill served in Iraq from 1993 to '98. He comes to us now from Melbourne, Australia.
Roger, hello -- greetings. Thanks for joining us.
ROGER HILL, FMR. U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTOR: Good morning, Daryn.
KAGAN: Before we get to Iraq, I want to get to the news of the day and this ship that was intercepted, carrying Scud missiles, looking like it's heading towards Yemen. What do you make of that information?
HILL: Look, I think at this stage, it's too early to jump to conclusions, but I think the most important point is that the Iraqis are very clever people. And I would find it highly unlikely that they have got any involvement in this particular operation.
KAGAN: Just because they're clever people, is there anything more that you can read into that?
HILL: Yes, look, I think you've really got to be starting out asking questions of the government of Yemen. There is absolutely no way that Iraq is going to jeopardize its current program of trying to basically avoid conflict with the U.S. at this particular point in time. It's just not going to happen.
KAGAN: All right, we're going to get more on that story in a little bit. I want to now call on your expertise on what is taking place in Iraq with the weapons inspectors. Twenty-five more inspectors on the ground now, a total of 60, a huge amount of ground to cover. Are you any more hopeful that they're going to be able to get the job done, now that more equipment and more people are on the way?
HILL: Look, unfortunately not. It doesn't really matter how many people that you actually put on the ground at this particular point in time. The Iraqis have had four years to hide all of their programs well and truly out of sight. Even when we were involved on the ground and present in Iraq for long periods of time, we faced great obstacles and difficulties in actually doing our work, and you can't do it without clear intelligence information. And I just don't think that the U.S. or the U.K. or some of the other countries are going to provide that high-level intelligence support to the U.N. teams that are currently there, because of the chance that information will be compromised.
KAGAN: Well, and there is that criticism that the U.S. should be offering up more of this information. Do you think they should in order to help the inspectors get the job done?
HILL: Look, I think they need to. But in order to do that, they're probably going to have to set up a team within a team. It will have to be a special trusted group within UNMOVIC that would have access to that information that can go out and basically be a flying squad, and then they might achieve some sort of tactical surprise for the Iraqis.
KAGAN: All right, with the remaining time we have left on the satellite, I want to get this in. U.N. (sic) joint chiefs of staff meeting today with U.N. officials, offering up some equipment. I just want to go down this list and ask you if you think any of it would be helpful.
Satellite imagery from the U.S., would that help?
HILL: Well, look, all of the imagery -- everything will help in the end. Certainly, satellite imagery is a bonus, but it's not going to pinpoint anything at the moment. It's well and truly hidden.
KAGAN: Predator aircraft.
HILL: Again, it's a tool that they can utilize to actually fly over a facility. It can stay airborne for long periods of time. It's got good resolution, but again, you have to know where to look. And the satellites and the Predators and all of the other pieces of technology are not going to be of a huge amount of assistance at this time.
KAGAN: And finally, Roger, I want to ask you on a personal note. I know you said that you still suffer from the effects of being exposed to chemical weapons during your time as weapons inspector. Can you tell us how you're doing now?
HILL: Look, I'm doing just great. I've had an operation, and basically, I'm well on the road to recovery, thank you.
KAGAN: And that is good news indeed, but given what you went through and your concerns for the inspectors who are on the ground now, do you think they face even more danger than what you faced and your fellow inspectors back in the '90s?
HILL: No, look, fortunately not. I mean, the majority of their weapons of mass destruction programs have been destroyed. We're only looking for the last remaining, about 5 percent at the moment, and the majority of the danger is chemicals, a lot of the biological agents which we didn't get our hands on. They're basically out of sight.
So, for the most part, the inspectors are pretty safe.
KAGAN: Former U.N. weapons inspector Roger Hill joining us from Melbourne, Australia -- Roger, thank you very much for your time.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
