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American Morning
Hans Blix Traveling to Iraq
Aired January 16, 2003 - 07:29 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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: We've got some breaking news out of Brussels, Belgium, where Hans Blix is traveling right now on his way to Iraq. He has confirmed that Iraq has illegally imported arms related materials to the country. He went on to say that the situation is very tense, very dangerous for everybody and he wants verifiable, credible disarmament. He said the question of whether these, this arms related material is related to the weapons of mass destruction is something that requires further technical evaluation.
Meanwhile, inspectors made some surprise visits to the homes of some Iraqi scientists today.
Let's turn to Rym Brahimi, who's standing by. She happens to be along with the inspectors. She joins us now by phone from Baghdad -- good morning, Rym.
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
Well, yes, we've been here now with the inspectors at these homes of these two scientists. We're standing in front of those homes. The inspectors have been here for something like five hours now, Paula. They've actually been in the house already. We understand that they've actually searched the entire house of one of the Iraqi scientists, including the bedroom. The Iraqi scientist then stepped out with the inspectors. There's been some discussion that's been going on for a while now over it appears to be some documents that the UNMOVIC and IAEA teams would like to take. The scientist saying they can make photocopies and also give copies to the Iraqi National Monitoring Directorate.
It's the first time, again, that inspectors actually go into the private home of an Iraqi citizen -- Paula, back to you.
ZAHN: What do we know about what they saw inside, what they found?
BRAHIMI: So far we're not really sure. We've been just basically overhearing their conversation from a distance. We know that the inspectors, quite a team has been in and out and that's all, there's been at least three of them just searching the house.
A group of them have been, there's been a lot of back and forth, basically, and this is all we know for the moment. But I mean it'll come apparent soon and we're hoping to hear more from the Iraqi side. A lot of discontent there. Yesterday at the palace they said that the visit to the presidential compound was a provocation. This visit is sure to also not be very welcomed by the Iraqis -- Paula. ZAHN: But it is also clear that there is a change in approach by these inspectors. Is there the expectation there will be more surprise inspections like this?
BRAHIMI: There seems to be. We were briefed yesterday by the head of -- the director of planning of the team of experts in chemical, biological and missile fields. And he said that now they're uncovering some new sites. They have been given a lot of more information and he said not just by the United States, by a lot of other countries. There are a lot of sites now that they're going to go into that are not either in Iraq's weapons declaration or sites that Iraq wouldn't expect, as they're not your typical ammunition depots or your typical industries here -- Paula.
ZAHN: Rym Brahimi, thank you for that live update. We'll be checking in with you a little bit later on this morning.
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 16, 2003 - 07:29 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: We've got some breaking news out of Brussels, Belgium, where Hans Blix is traveling right now on his way to Iraq. He has confirmed that Iraq has illegally imported arms related materials to the country. He went on to say that the situation is very tense, very dangerous for everybody and he wants verifiable, credible disarmament. He said the question of whether these, this arms related material is related to the weapons of mass destruction is something that requires further technical evaluation.
Meanwhile, inspectors made some surprise visits to the homes of some Iraqi scientists today.
Let's turn to Rym Brahimi, who's standing by. She happens to be along with the inspectors. She joins us now by phone from Baghdad -- good morning, Rym.
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
Well, yes, we've been here now with the inspectors at these homes of these two scientists. We're standing in front of those homes. The inspectors have been here for something like five hours now, Paula. They've actually been in the house already. We understand that they've actually searched the entire house of one of the Iraqi scientists, including the bedroom. The Iraqi scientist then stepped out with the inspectors. There's been some discussion that's been going on for a while now over it appears to be some documents that the UNMOVIC and IAEA teams would like to take. The scientist saying they can make photocopies and also give copies to the Iraqi National Monitoring Directorate.
It's the first time, again, that inspectors actually go into the private home of an Iraqi citizen -- Paula, back to you.
ZAHN: What do we know about what they saw inside, what they found?
BRAHIMI: So far we're not really sure. We've been just basically overhearing their conversation from a distance. We know that the inspectors, quite a team has been in and out and that's all, there's been at least three of them just searching the house.
A group of them have been, there's been a lot of back and forth, basically, and this is all we know for the moment. But I mean it'll come apparent soon and we're hoping to hear more from the Iraqi side. A lot of discontent there. Yesterday at the palace they said that the visit to the presidential compound was a provocation. This visit is sure to also not be very welcomed by the Iraqis -- Paula. ZAHN: But it is also clear that there is a change in approach by these inspectors. Is there the expectation there will be more surprise inspections like this?
BRAHIMI: There seems to be. We were briefed yesterday by the head of -- the director of planning of the team of experts in chemical, biological and missile fields. And he said that now they're uncovering some new sites. They have been given a lot of more information and he said not just by the United States, by a lot of other countries. There are a lot of sites now that they're going to go into that are not either in Iraq's weapons declaration or sites that Iraq wouldn't expect, as they're not your typical ammunition depots or your typical industries here -- Paula.
ZAHN: Rym Brahimi, thank you for that live update. We'll be checking in with you a little bit later on this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
