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American Morning

Interview With Former Weapons Inspector

Aired January 16, 2003 - 09:32   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.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Let's get back to, right now, the issue regarding Iraq and the chief inspector, Hans Blix. Earlier today -- in fact, three hours ago, confirming that illegally imported materials have been found inside Iraq. All this coming now as inspectors conduct their first searches in the homes of Iraqi scientists.
Rym Brahimi now live in Baghdad to take us through what was taken through there today in Baghdad -- Rym, hello.

RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, Bill. Well, indeed, the inspectors may have been looking for something specific, they spent almost six hours in those homes, the two homes -- neighboring homes in the same area, residential area, and then at the end of all this time that we spent waiting in front of the homes to see what the inspectors would come up with, well, we saw one of the scientists walk out of that door with a huge box carrying documents, or what seemed to be documents -- at any rate, a lot of paperwork, and then going into one of the United Nations cars with the U.N. weapons inspectors, and they were off.

The other scientist and nuclear scientist stayed in his home, his house had also been searched. He was not happy about it. He said they had even prevented his son from attending his exams because nobody was able to leave the house during the time when the inspectors were searching their home -- back to you, Bill.

HEMMER: Thank you, Rym Brahimi in Baghdad -- Paula.

PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Bill. To find out more about what U.N. weapons inspectors may have found in Iraq, let's turn to former nuclear weapons inspector David Albright. Welcome back, Mr. Albright.

DAVID ALBRIGHT, FORMER WEAPONS INSPECTOR: Good to be here.

ZAHN: You just saw the same pictures we did of this Iraqi scientist coming out of his home with what appeared to be lots of documents. What do you think are in those documents?

ALBRIGHT: It's very hard to know, but it is hopefully something that will shed some light on what Iraq has been up to, both in terms of procurement and what it plans to do with its weapons.

I wouldn't have a lot of expectation for that, but the inspectors may get lucky. But I will say this is right direction for the inspectors to go in, and I applaud what they're doing in trying to get to the places that have been well known to be hiding places for documents.

I mean starting in 1991, Iraq took a policy that it would hide things in people's homes. Their own scientists' homes, and rented cottages. And so I think it's a very good development.

ZAHN: Kadir Hamza (ph), who is the former head of Iraq's nuclear weapons program was just a guest on our show about a half hour ago and he said, Yes, inspectors got it right this time, they got the right scientist, and he did say even when he ran the nuclear weapons program, it was common procedure to spread these documents among dozens of scientists.

ALBRIGHT: Well, after 1991, that's correct. That was the policy, and the Iraqis admitted to that policy. In 1996, they described many of the methods they used to hide the nuclear documents. And so, I think it's important that the inspectors go in there and try to find these things.

It's going to be difficult to count on this method. I think, finally, one of the things the inspectors are going to have to do is really start acting on their right to interview Iraqis both within Iraq without minders and the right to take Iraqis out of Iraq with their immediate families.

I think to get to the bottom of this, that is going to be very important at this stage. Also, it is very important that the United States provide, and it appears it's starting to happen, intelligence information to the inspectors. Perhaps this search today was based on intelligence information. I don't know. But it's going to be very important that the United States and other governments provide the inspectors with actionable, quality intelligence information that they can then use to create investigations to try to find out if Iraq does have weapons of mass destruction.

ZAHN: I wanted you to give us your reading of some of what you heard Hans Blix saying earlier today, some folks saying it's the harshest language they've ever heard him using against Iraq, basically come clean or you are going to end up at war, and he confirmed again for reporters that they had found arms-related materials in Iraq that should have been declared that wasn't. Is this, in your judgment, a glacial -- a big movement?

ALBRIGHT: I don't think so. I mean, it's very important that Hans Blix lay out the case as it is, and the case is Iraq has not complied, its declaration is deeply flawed, it's been known for years they've been doing illegal smuggling, and it was only a matter of time before inspectors would uncover that evidence.

And some of this evidence was uncovered in December, and Hans Blix is now reporting on some of these investigations they did. So, I think that it's not surprising that Iraq has been caught, in a sense, doing illicit procurement. And so, in that sense, I think Hans Blix is doing what he has to do, which is report the truth.

On the other hand, I think there is a controversy again with Hans Blix because he's interpreting the old 1999 resolution as guiding his activity, and he's now saying I want to have a report at the end of March.

Now Hans Blix is a lawyer, so is Mohamed ElBaradei, they're not technical people, so it makes sense that they are going to look for their legal guidance, but in fact this is a very serious issue, because the current resolution, the new resolution, is very different in scope and in intent than the 1999 resolution.

And so I think it's going to be very important that the security council weigh in and try to decide what is the proper role for the inspectors in the next couple of months. It should not be Hans Blix making that decision. I mean, finally he's an employee of the United Nations.

ZAHN: Sure.

ALBRIGHT: And it should be the Security Council who provides the guidance.

ZAHN: Bet you would love to be a fly on the wall during those debates at the U.N.

ALBRIGHT: Sure.

ZAHN: Thanks so much, David Albright, as always.

ALBRIGHT: OK. 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 January 16, 2003 - 09:32   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Let's get back to, right now, the issue regarding Iraq and the chief inspector, Hans Blix. Earlier today -- in fact, three hours ago, confirming that illegally imported materials have been found inside Iraq. All this coming now as inspectors conduct their first searches in the homes of Iraqi scientists.
Rym Brahimi now live in Baghdad to take us through what was taken through there today in Baghdad -- Rym, hello.

RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, Bill. Well, indeed, the inspectors may have been looking for something specific, they spent almost six hours in those homes, the two homes -- neighboring homes in the same area, residential area, and then at the end of all this time that we spent waiting in front of the homes to see what the inspectors would come up with, well, we saw one of the scientists walk out of that door with a huge box carrying documents, or what seemed to be documents -- at any rate, a lot of paperwork, and then going into one of the United Nations cars with the U.N. weapons inspectors, and they were off.

The other scientist and nuclear scientist stayed in his home, his house had also been searched. He was not happy about it. He said they had even prevented his son from attending his exams because nobody was able to leave the house during the time when the inspectors were searching their home -- back to you, Bill.

HEMMER: Thank you, Rym Brahimi in Baghdad -- Paula.

PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Bill. To find out more about what U.N. weapons inspectors may have found in Iraq, let's turn to former nuclear weapons inspector David Albright. Welcome back, Mr. Albright.

DAVID ALBRIGHT, FORMER WEAPONS INSPECTOR: Good to be here.

ZAHN: You just saw the same pictures we did of this Iraqi scientist coming out of his home with what appeared to be lots of documents. What do you think are in those documents?

ALBRIGHT: It's very hard to know, but it is hopefully something that will shed some light on what Iraq has been up to, both in terms of procurement and what it plans to do with its weapons.

I wouldn't have a lot of expectation for that, but the inspectors may get lucky. But I will say this is right direction for the inspectors to go in, and I applaud what they're doing in trying to get to the places that have been well known to be hiding places for documents.

I mean starting in 1991, Iraq took a policy that it would hide things in people's homes. Their own scientists' homes, and rented cottages. And so I think it's a very good development.

ZAHN: Kadir Hamza (ph), who is the former head of Iraq's nuclear weapons program was just a guest on our show about a half hour ago and he said, Yes, inspectors got it right this time, they got the right scientist, and he did say even when he ran the nuclear weapons program, it was common procedure to spread these documents among dozens of scientists.

ALBRIGHT: Well, after 1991, that's correct. That was the policy, and the Iraqis admitted to that policy. In 1996, they described many of the methods they used to hide the nuclear documents. And so, I think it's important that the inspectors go in there and try to find these things.

It's going to be difficult to count on this method. I think, finally, one of the things the inspectors are going to have to do is really start acting on their right to interview Iraqis both within Iraq without minders and the right to take Iraqis out of Iraq with their immediate families.

I think to get to the bottom of this, that is going to be very important at this stage. Also, it is very important that the United States provide, and it appears it's starting to happen, intelligence information to the inspectors. Perhaps this search today was based on intelligence information. I don't know. But it's going to be very important that the United States and other governments provide the inspectors with actionable, quality intelligence information that they can then use to create investigations to try to find out if Iraq does have weapons of mass destruction.

ZAHN: I wanted you to give us your reading of some of what you heard Hans Blix saying earlier today, some folks saying it's the harshest language they've ever heard him using against Iraq, basically come clean or you are going to end up at war, and he confirmed again for reporters that they had found arms-related materials in Iraq that should have been declared that wasn't. Is this, in your judgment, a glacial -- a big movement?

ALBRIGHT: I don't think so. I mean, it's very important that Hans Blix lay out the case as it is, and the case is Iraq has not complied, its declaration is deeply flawed, it's been known for years they've been doing illegal smuggling, and it was only a matter of time before inspectors would uncover that evidence.

And some of this evidence was uncovered in December, and Hans Blix is now reporting on some of these investigations they did. So, I think that it's not surprising that Iraq has been caught, in a sense, doing illicit procurement. And so, in that sense, I think Hans Blix is doing what he has to do, which is report the truth.

On the other hand, I think there is a controversy again with Hans Blix because he's interpreting the old 1999 resolution as guiding his activity, and he's now saying I want to have a report at the end of March.

Now Hans Blix is a lawyer, so is Mohamed ElBaradei, they're not technical people, so it makes sense that they are going to look for their legal guidance, but in fact this is a very serious issue, because the current resolution, the new resolution, is very different in scope and in intent than the 1999 resolution.

And so I think it's going to be very important that the security council weigh in and try to decide what is the proper role for the inspectors in the next couple of months. It should not be Hans Blix making that decision. I mean, finally he's an employee of the United Nations.

ZAHN: Sure.

ALBRIGHT: And it should be the Security Council who provides the guidance.

ZAHN: Bet you would love to be a fly on the wall during those debates at the U.N.

ALBRIGHT: Sure.

ZAHN: Thanks so much, David Albright, as always.

ALBRIGHT: OK. 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