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American Morning
U.N. Weapons Inspectors Return to Baghdad University
Aired December 26, 2002 - 08:32 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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: In Iraq, U.N. weapons inspectors returned to Baghdad University today to conduct interviews with scientists. They also managed to tour at least two suspected sites.
Our Rym Brahimi has the very latest from Baghdad.
Rym, hello.
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello again, Daryn.
Well, indeed, the inspectors went back to this University of Technology that they went to a couple of days ago when they conducted then their first formal interview with an Iraqi scientist. It was a nuclear researcher. They went back again today, Daryn, and they spoke with the president of the university, they spoke with whole group of staff members from the university, asked them for a list of names of the top scientists at that university.
Altogether, though, the question in process, according to the president of the university, seemed to go smoothly. He said that they were very professional. He said that it was conducted in a very, very smooth manner and there were no problems there, that Iraq -- that the Iraqis cooperated.
From what we understand, Daryn, they went to check the chemical engineering department, in particular, and that's an area where the previous U.N. inspectors that were here until 1998 had left a lot of its equipment that was tagged and sealed, so that even if the university students were using it, it still had those tag, and they went in today to check on the equipment. There has been a lot of coming and going to that university, and the president of the university sayings he expects them to go back there again and again.
Now the other teams went to a variety of different sites, again, in and outside Baghdad, to a petrochemical facility, for one of them, and another, to a place that makes plastic tubes.
So they've been really stretching out this fight, despite being a Christmas holiday, they've been work hard, Daryn.
KAGAN: Rym, it seems from the size of their numbers, just around 100, the inspectors have spent so much time in Baghdad. What about efforts to fan out more across the country? Will we be seeing more of that in the days and weeks to come?
BRAHIMI: Yes, we should be, Daryn. They have been making effort to go out to further places than Baghdad. They're actually trying to set up an office in Mossel (ph), which is a town at about a found and a half hour drive north of Baghdad, and they have occasioned even out to places quite far out. The problem is, so far, they only have one helicopter, so they've been driving to these places, and that takes a long time. They have to drive for six hours to get there, and then conduct an inspection that lasts for three hours. That means they usually have to spend the night there and then come back on that six-hour drive. So it's a lot of work.
Until they get more helicopters in, there will probably not be that much, but they do plan to keep up the pace and even intensify it in the coming days and weeks -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Rym Brahimi in Baghdad. Rym, thank you.
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 26, 2002 - 08:32 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: In Iraq, U.N. weapons inspectors returned to Baghdad University today to conduct interviews with scientists. They also managed to tour at least two suspected sites.
Our Rym Brahimi has the very latest from Baghdad.
Rym, hello.
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello again, Daryn.
Well, indeed, the inspectors went back to this University of Technology that they went to a couple of days ago when they conducted then their first formal interview with an Iraqi scientist. It was a nuclear researcher. They went back again today, Daryn, and they spoke with the president of the university, they spoke with whole group of staff members from the university, asked them for a list of names of the top scientists at that university.
Altogether, though, the question in process, according to the president of the university, seemed to go smoothly. He said that they were very professional. He said that it was conducted in a very, very smooth manner and there were no problems there, that Iraq -- that the Iraqis cooperated.
From what we understand, Daryn, they went to check the chemical engineering department, in particular, and that's an area where the previous U.N. inspectors that were here until 1998 had left a lot of its equipment that was tagged and sealed, so that even if the university students were using it, it still had those tag, and they went in today to check on the equipment. There has been a lot of coming and going to that university, and the president of the university sayings he expects them to go back there again and again.
Now the other teams went to a variety of different sites, again, in and outside Baghdad, to a petrochemical facility, for one of them, and another, to a place that makes plastic tubes.
So they've been really stretching out this fight, despite being a Christmas holiday, they've been work hard, Daryn.
KAGAN: Rym, it seems from the size of their numbers, just around 100, the inspectors have spent so much time in Baghdad. What about efforts to fan out more across the country? Will we be seeing more of that in the days and weeks to come?
BRAHIMI: Yes, we should be, Daryn. They have been making effort to go out to further places than Baghdad. They're actually trying to set up an office in Mossel (ph), which is a town at about a found and a half hour drive north of Baghdad, and they have occasioned even out to places quite far out. The problem is, so far, they only have one helicopter, so they've been driving to these places, and that takes a long time. They have to drive for six hours to get there, and then conduct an inspection that lasts for three hours. That means they usually have to spend the night there and then come back on that six-hour drive. So it's a lot of work.
Until they get more helicopters in, there will probably not be that much, but they do plan to keep up the pace and even intensify it in the coming days and weeks -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Rym Brahimi in Baghdad. Rym, thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
