Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
Weapons Inspection Snag
Aired December 13, 2002 - 07:09 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: We want to change to the hunt for Iraqi weapons. We're going to go to Baghdad now for reaction to the Bush administration's preliminary reading of Iraq's declaration, and find out why inspectors were locked out of some rooms today.
Our Nic Robertson is in Baghdad, and he joins us live.
Nic -- hello.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Daryn.
Well, it is Friday here, the holy day for Muslims, a day of rest, a day when many aren't at work, but the U.N. weapons inspectors were at work. It's the first Friday they have chosen to work, and that may be why they ran into a problem today.
They went to a health facility in downtown Baghdad today. When they got there, they were working apparently without any problems for a couple of hours. We were standing outside, and then a senior Iraqi official arrived -- he is General Hasam Amin, the main interlocutor with the U.N. inspectors -- and the U.N.'s most senior official in Baghdad as well, senior inspection official. Both arrived at the site. They spent about 15 minutes there, and then they left.
Now, they both said very much the same thing: That this was a new site, that it had been on Iraq's new declaration, and there had been some issues with tagging equipment. Now, tagging equipment is the way that the U.N. monitors what it considers dual-use equipment, things that can be used in civilian industry, but that can also be put to a military application.
So, they both said that there was some issue with this tag -- with tagging equipment. Now, they both said the issue had been resolved without problems.
We spoke with a janitor at this site, and he said what had happened was the inspectors had gone in, they had gone around the building as they do, looking in the different rooms. They had got to some rooms and hadn't been able to get in. He said the reason they weren't able to get in is because people weren't at work, the people whose rooms they were -- they had the keys, they were at home, the keys weren't in the building. That's why they couldn't get in.
Now, according to the U.N., according to the Iraqi officials here, this has all been resolved, and there are no outstanding problems. This is the first time today, as I say, that the U.N. worked on a Friday, but it is the first time that the U.N. has used their hotline to Iraqi officials to call an Iraqi official to come out on the ground to resolve a problem -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Nic Robertson with the latest from Baghdad -- Nic, thanks so much.
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 13, 2002 - 07:09 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We want to change to the hunt for Iraqi weapons. We're going to go to Baghdad now for reaction to the Bush administration's preliminary reading of Iraq's declaration, and find out why inspectors were locked out of some rooms today.
Our Nic Robertson is in Baghdad, and he joins us live.
Nic -- hello.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Daryn.
Well, it is Friday here, the holy day for Muslims, a day of rest, a day when many aren't at work, but the U.N. weapons inspectors were at work. It's the first Friday they have chosen to work, and that may be why they ran into a problem today.
They went to a health facility in downtown Baghdad today. When they got there, they were working apparently without any problems for a couple of hours. We were standing outside, and then a senior Iraqi official arrived -- he is General Hasam Amin, the main interlocutor with the U.N. inspectors -- and the U.N.'s most senior official in Baghdad as well, senior inspection official. Both arrived at the site. They spent about 15 minutes there, and then they left.
Now, they both said very much the same thing: That this was a new site, that it had been on Iraq's new declaration, and there had been some issues with tagging equipment. Now, tagging equipment is the way that the U.N. monitors what it considers dual-use equipment, things that can be used in civilian industry, but that can also be put to a military application.
So, they both said that there was some issue with this tag -- with tagging equipment. Now, they both said the issue had been resolved without problems.
We spoke with a janitor at this site, and he said what had happened was the inspectors had gone in, they had gone around the building as they do, looking in the different rooms. They had got to some rooms and hadn't been able to get in. He said the reason they weren't able to get in is because people weren't at work, the people whose rooms they were -- they had the keys, they were at home, the keys weren't in the building. That's why they couldn't get in.
Now, according to the U.N., according to the Iraqi officials here, this has all been resolved, and there are no outstanding problems. This is the first time today, as I say, that the U.N. worked on a Friday, but it is the first time that the U.N. has used their hotline to Iraqi officials to call an Iraqi official to come out on the ground to resolve a problem -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Nic Robertson with the latest from Baghdad -- Nic, thanks so much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
