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American Morning
U.N. Inspection Teams Taking to the Air
Aired January 07, 2003 - 08:08 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: We want to get to Iraq quickly now. The U.N. inspection teams right now taking to the air by helicopter in their search for weapons of mass destruction.
Live to the Iraqi capital and Rym Brahimi for the latest from there -- Rym, hello.
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Bill.
Well, there's quite a lot going on here again today.
First of all, an announcement has just been made that the man that's been at the helm of the very important oil ministry here in Iraq, General Amer Rashid, has just been relieved of his duties. Now, the announcement was just made on the television that belongs to the president's son. It said that Mr., that General Rashid was going to be moved to the reserve service of the presidency's office and the reason that was cited there was retirement age. He'd apparently reached retirement age.
And that's quite a surprise for us because only yesterday he was seen at a ceremony on Army's Day at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. That announcement has also just been made officially by the state run Iraqi news agency, Bill.
Now, another couple of things. There was a parade, as well, today in one of the provinces outside of Baghdad, about an hour's drive northeast of Baghdad, a parade of what's known here as Jeshalputz (ph), or the Jerusalem Army. Now, that's a group of volunteers. It was formed by President Saddam Hussein mainly or officially, rather, to liberate Jerusalem. Of course, it also keeps young men off the street.
Now, inspections, you mentioned that today for the first time they've used their helicopters. Absolutely. At least two helicopters took off from the Al-Rashid military air base here in Baghdad. They headed west to a site, a facility that's actually a phosphate mine. It used to be for a long time where Iraq used to provide its natural uranium. But that's been shut, apparently, from what Iraqi officials tell us, a long time ago. It's no longer the case. The site has been sealed.
The inspectors on the ground, meanwhile, went to two or three other locations inside and outside of Baghdad -- Bill.
HEMMER: Rym, thanks.
Rym Brahimi in Baghdad for us.
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 January 7, 2003 - 08:08 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 Iraq quickly now. The U.N. inspection teams right now taking to the air by helicopter in their search for weapons of mass destruction.
Live to the Iraqi capital and Rym Brahimi for the latest from there -- Rym, hello.
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Bill.
Well, there's quite a lot going on here again today.
First of all, an announcement has just been made that the man that's been at the helm of the very important oil ministry here in Iraq, General Amer Rashid, has just been relieved of his duties. Now, the announcement was just made on the television that belongs to the president's son. It said that Mr., that General Rashid was going to be moved to the reserve service of the presidency's office and the reason that was cited there was retirement age. He'd apparently reached retirement age.
And that's quite a surprise for us because only yesterday he was seen at a ceremony on Army's Day at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. That announcement has also just been made officially by the state run Iraqi news agency, Bill.
Now, another couple of things. There was a parade, as well, today in one of the provinces outside of Baghdad, about an hour's drive northeast of Baghdad, a parade of what's known here as Jeshalputz (ph), or the Jerusalem Army. Now, that's a group of volunteers. It was formed by President Saddam Hussein mainly or officially, rather, to liberate Jerusalem. Of course, it also keeps young men off the street.
Now, inspections, you mentioned that today for the first time they've used their helicopters. Absolutely. At least two helicopters took off from the Al-Rashid military air base here in Baghdad. They headed west to a site, a facility that's actually a phosphate mine. It used to be for a long time where Iraq used to provide its natural uranium. But that's been shut, apparently, from what Iraqi officials tell us, a long time ago. It's no longer the case. The site has been sealed.
The inspectors on the ground, meanwhile, went to two or three other locations inside and outside of Baghdad -- Bill.
HEMMER: Rym, thanks.
Rym Brahimi in Baghdad for us.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
