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American Morning

Saddam Speaks

Aired January 17, 2003 - 09:04   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: Regardless of whether chemical warheads found in Iraq turn out to be a smoking gun for inspectors, President Bush has said time is running out for Saddam Hussein to disarm. This morning in a speech, Saddam vowed to defend his country and to defeat his enemies. Joining us now from London to talk about developments in Iraq, Con Coughlin, the executive editor of "The London Sunday Telegraph," and the author of "Saddam: King of Terror."
Good to see you again, Con. Welcome back.

CON COUGHLIN, AUTHOR, "SADDAM: KING OF TERROR": Good morning, Paula.

ZAHN: Let's talk a little bit about the significance of what the inspectors came across yesterday. Do you believe that these warheads indicate that there is something new going on in Iraq, or that these are remnants of an old program?

COUGHLIN: No, I think this is very much what we've been looking for. These are basically new missile systems, and of course, they are missing the key component, the chemical weapon warheads. Of course, Hans Blix and the other inspectors will now want to know what happened to them.

I'm also led to believe that they've removed one missile, a 12th missile has been taken away for further examination, and there are very deep suspicions about what kind of a missile this is.

ZAHN: What do you think?

COUGHLIN: Well, I mean, you know, I don't think we should speculate until we find out what these guys have found. But what I'm told is that the inspectors believe there is something very significant about this. I'm also told that some of the material that was found in the homes of the two Iraqi scientists that were search yesterday has unearthed some very significant material. We basically to have give the inspectors time to go away and analyze it properly. But basically, the inspectors are now on the right track.

ZAHN: Are you able to tell us anything more about what you learned was found in the Iraqi Scientists' homes?

COUGHLIN: All I can say at the moment -- and this is all I've been told, I'm afraid, Paula -- all I know at the moment is that the -- I mean, basically Washington and London have been trying to get the inspectors to ramp up the inspections. To start with, they were just going around checking hands with the Iraqis, and they've under pressure to start delivering. And both Washington and London have been putting pressure on the teams to do something significant. And we are now starting to see significant finds, and I think that there will be more significant finds in the coming days and weeks.

ZAHN: You probably, more than anybody else out there, understands what Saddam Hussein is trying to do in his most recently crafted speeches. Most people found today's speech highly predictable. But was there anything you found particularly interesting about what he had to say?

COUGHLIN: Well, I must say, as somebody who has written a book about Saddam, I must say I take it sort of as a private interest in just how Saddam performs and, as you said, Paula, it is predictable. And it reminds me of the rhetoric we had before the Gulf War, when he predicted there will be the mother of all battles. Of course, he suffered the mother of all defeats. But Saddam is there. Saddam is belligerent. Saddam is a tough guy. Even though he is facing formidable military onslaught unless he complies with the U.N. requirements, he's up there, he's fighting fits, as we say over here, and he's ready for action.

ZAHN: But you got to believe -- you wonder his audience, percentage of the them actually believe they can win this war if it's ever launched.

COUGHLIN: I think Saddam believes at this moment that he can win a war. And I think if you look at the events the last few months from Saddam's point of view, he has won every around. He's forced the Bush administration to go to the U.N. He's persuaded a lot of people in Europe and the Middle East that this is a very illogical move by the Bush administration to try and take him on. And of course, in the back of his mind, Saddam believes that if he can inflict significant casualties against the United States in a forthcoming military offensive, then the Americans will go away, and that was very much that was part of the rhetoric we heard from Saddam this morning.

ZAHN: I guess we all heard it loud and clear.

Con Coughlin, as always, thank you for spending time with us this morning. Always good to see you.

COUGHLIN: My pleasure, Paula.

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 17, 2003 - 09:04   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Regardless of whether chemical warheads found in Iraq turn out to be a smoking gun for inspectors, President Bush has said time is running out for Saddam Hussein to disarm. This morning in a speech, Saddam vowed to defend his country and to defeat his enemies. Joining us now from London to talk about developments in Iraq, Con Coughlin, the executive editor of "The London Sunday Telegraph," and the author of "Saddam: King of Terror."
Good to see you again, Con. Welcome back.

CON COUGHLIN, AUTHOR, "SADDAM: KING OF TERROR": Good morning, Paula.

ZAHN: Let's talk a little bit about the significance of what the inspectors came across yesterday. Do you believe that these warheads indicate that there is something new going on in Iraq, or that these are remnants of an old program?

COUGHLIN: No, I think this is very much what we've been looking for. These are basically new missile systems, and of course, they are missing the key component, the chemical weapon warheads. Of course, Hans Blix and the other inspectors will now want to know what happened to them.

I'm also led to believe that they've removed one missile, a 12th missile has been taken away for further examination, and there are very deep suspicions about what kind of a missile this is.

ZAHN: What do you think?

COUGHLIN: Well, I mean, you know, I don't think we should speculate until we find out what these guys have found. But what I'm told is that the inspectors believe there is something very significant about this. I'm also told that some of the material that was found in the homes of the two Iraqi scientists that were search yesterday has unearthed some very significant material. We basically to have give the inspectors time to go away and analyze it properly. But basically, the inspectors are now on the right track.

ZAHN: Are you able to tell us anything more about what you learned was found in the Iraqi Scientists' homes?

COUGHLIN: All I can say at the moment -- and this is all I've been told, I'm afraid, Paula -- all I know at the moment is that the -- I mean, basically Washington and London have been trying to get the inspectors to ramp up the inspections. To start with, they were just going around checking hands with the Iraqis, and they've under pressure to start delivering. And both Washington and London have been putting pressure on the teams to do something significant. And we are now starting to see significant finds, and I think that there will be more significant finds in the coming days and weeks.

ZAHN: You probably, more than anybody else out there, understands what Saddam Hussein is trying to do in his most recently crafted speeches. Most people found today's speech highly predictable. But was there anything you found particularly interesting about what he had to say?

COUGHLIN: Well, I must say, as somebody who has written a book about Saddam, I must say I take it sort of as a private interest in just how Saddam performs and, as you said, Paula, it is predictable. And it reminds me of the rhetoric we had before the Gulf War, when he predicted there will be the mother of all battles. Of course, he suffered the mother of all defeats. But Saddam is there. Saddam is belligerent. Saddam is a tough guy. Even though he is facing formidable military onslaught unless he complies with the U.N. requirements, he's up there, he's fighting fits, as we say over here, and he's ready for action.

ZAHN: But you got to believe -- you wonder his audience, percentage of the them actually believe they can win this war if it's ever launched.

COUGHLIN: I think Saddam believes at this moment that he can win a war. And I think if you look at the events the last few months from Saddam's point of view, he has won every around. He's forced the Bush administration to go to the U.N. He's persuaded a lot of people in Europe and the Middle East that this is a very illogical move by the Bush administration to try and take him on. And of course, in the back of his mind, Saddam believes that if he can inflict significant casualties against the United States in a forthcoming military offensive, then the Americans will go away, and that was very much that was part of the rhetoric we heard from Saddam this morning.

ZAHN: I guess we all heard it loud and clear.

Con Coughlin, as always, thank you for spending time with us this morning. Always good to see you.

COUGHLIN: My pleasure, Paula.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com