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American Morning
Talk With Former Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter
Aired January 17, 2003 - 08:03 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: Meanwhile, the Bush administration is taking a wait and see approach to the chemical weapons find in Baghdad.
For more on that and reaction to the defiant speech by Saddam Hussein, let's turn to John King, who's standing by on a very cold day on the White House lawn -- good morning, John.
JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A beautiful morning, Paula, and good morning to you.
Let's start with Saddam Hussein's speech. White House officials say they don't put much stock in what Saddam Hussein said, especially his threat of a fierce battle if there is a military confrontation. White House officials reminding us here this morning that in the last Persian Gulf War, Iraq had a much bigger army and did not put up much of a fight then, at least certainly that is the view of the Bush White House. So they don't put much stock in those remarks.
They think Saddam Hussein's main goal in that speech and his many other defiant speeches in recent months is to stoke up anti-American sentiment across the Arab world. That could be a concern as we get closer to a decision by the president as to whether to move to military confrontation.
As for yesterday's discovery, 11 or 12 warheads capable of carrying chemical weapons, White House officials say there is no question it shows that Iraq is in violation of its promise to the United Nations not to have weapons of mass destruction. Certainly not enough warheads or enough evidence for the White House to claim this is a giant discovery, but White House officials say they do believe that in time it will be part of a cumulative case that the president will make to the Security Council and to the world that Saddam Hussein is not cooperating.
Here at the White House, on the one hand they are quite encouraged that the chief weapons inspector, Hans Blix, is now publicly saying that Iraq must do more, that Iraq is not being forthcoming in sharing information. At the same time, the White House dismayed that Dr. Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei, who heads up the nuclear part of the inspections team, are saying again today as they traveled in France that the inspectors will need considerably more time to compete their work.
One other quick development. The White House disappointed a bit by word from Turkey today that it could accept only a limited role in a U.S. deployment, if there is a potential war with Iraq. White House officials say they are satisfied so far. They understand the political concerns within Turkey. They'll keep at those very delicate negotiations -- Paula.
ZAHN: Thanks, John.
Appreciate it.
So far there has been no rush to judgment of Iraq since inspectors found empty chemical warheads there yesterday. Baghdad, of course, is downplaying the find, as you might expect.
Scott Ritter knows what it's like to search Iraq for banned weapons. He is a former U.N. weapons inspector.
And he joins us this morning from Albany, New York.
Good morning, Scott.
Welcome back.
SCOTT RITTER, FORMER U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTOR: Good morning.
Thank you.
ZAHN: Scott, I know that you feel that this discovery represents nothing more than a "accounting problem." Meanwhile, Baghdad is saying that the empty chemical warheads were forgotten materials. Do you really believe the Iraqis forgot to put this into the declaration?
RITTER: Well, first of all, Paula, they didn't forget to put it in the declaration. It is in the declaration. The Iraqis acknowledged in writing that they procured these 122 millimeter unfilled munitions back in 1986. The issue isn't that they, you know, they're denying ever having them as it is, as I said, an accounting problem.
Iraq, you know, the ammunition depot these were found at, Ukhaydir, was bombed severely during Desert Storm. I visited this facility over five times in the seven years that I was there. There's tens of thousands of munitions scattered everywhere and, you know, simply Iraq has not been able to account for the final disposition of every last one of the tens of thousands of unfilled munitions they acquired.
I'm not trying to give them a clean bill of health or let them off the hook. The bottom line is Iraq is obligated to, you know, declare these weapons and turn them over and demonstrate how they've been disposed of. But is this a cause for war? Absolutely not. These are unfilled munitions, conventional munitions that could be used for chemical weapons but were built, actually, for white phosphorus, for smoke rounds. These are not, you know, dangerous items per se.
ZAHN: I'm fascinated that you are so convinced that the Iraqis, indeed, declared this, because the "Washington Post" is reporting this morning that is not the case. And even an UNMOVIC spokesperson said they were checking to see if this stuff was listed.
Now, if UNMOVIC's not even sure this was listed in the declaration, why are you so sure?
RITTER: Well, because I've seen it, Paula. Remember, 10,000 of the pages of the 12,500 pages that were turned over are previous declarations. I'm certain that 122 millimeter rockets were declared by Iraq.
I think the problem here is that UNMOVIC's definition of declared will be that the Iraqis declared that these rockets were in that bunker and that's not the case. As I said, Iraq admitted buying these rockets, but they have not been able to demonstrate the final disposition of these rockets.
And, again, I'm not trying to let Iraq off the hook. It's incumbent upon Iraq to turn these over to the weapons inspectors. The fact that we had inspectors yesterday finding these, while it may not be, you know, a smoking gun, it is indicative that the Iraqis need to do a whole lot more before the international community will feel comfortable that they have, in fact, you know, terminated their weapons of mass destruction programs.
ZAHN: All right, from your perspective, what should they be doing that they haven't? What do you know about that hasn't been listed in this declaration?
RITTER: It's not that it hasn't been listed. Again, I believe that the Iraqi declaration has acknowledged the totality of what they procured. It's the final disposition. I've always said this is an accounting problem and, you know, if I were advising the president of Iraq -- and I'm not and I never will -- but if I were, I'd say it's incumbent upon you to get your officers to scour every military ammunition depot in Iraq and open all these boxes and determine what's in them. And if you find something of this nature, turn it over voluntarily to the inspectors. Don't make them go out and search for it. You should be turning it over.
ZAHN: We've got 10 seconds left here, Scott. Everybody beating up on Hans Blix. The "Wall Street Journal" in an editorial basically saying that he's trying to rewrite Security Council and trying to avoid, essentially, war. Just a quick thought on him then we've got to move on.
RITTER: Absurd. Hans Blix proved yesterday that inspections do work, contrary to what Donald Rumsfeld said. The world should give Hans Blix all the time he needs to do his job in Iraq. His team is fully capable of doing this job.
ZAHN: Scott Ritter, thanks for your time.
RITTER: Thank you.
ZAHN: Always appreciate your dropping by AMERICAN MORNING.
RITTER: My pleasure. 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 - 08:03 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Meanwhile, the Bush administration is taking a wait and see approach to the chemical weapons find in Baghdad.
For more on that and reaction to the defiant speech by Saddam Hussein, let's turn to John King, who's standing by on a very cold day on the White House lawn -- good morning, John.
JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A beautiful morning, Paula, and good morning to you.
Let's start with Saddam Hussein's speech. White House officials say they don't put much stock in what Saddam Hussein said, especially his threat of a fierce battle if there is a military confrontation. White House officials reminding us here this morning that in the last Persian Gulf War, Iraq had a much bigger army and did not put up much of a fight then, at least certainly that is the view of the Bush White House. So they don't put much stock in those remarks.
They think Saddam Hussein's main goal in that speech and his many other defiant speeches in recent months is to stoke up anti-American sentiment across the Arab world. That could be a concern as we get closer to a decision by the president as to whether to move to military confrontation.
As for yesterday's discovery, 11 or 12 warheads capable of carrying chemical weapons, White House officials say there is no question it shows that Iraq is in violation of its promise to the United Nations not to have weapons of mass destruction. Certainly not enough warheads or enough evidence for the White House to claim this is a giant discovery, but White House officials say they do believe that in time it will be part of a cumulative case that the president will make to the Security Council and to the world that Saddam Hussein is not cooperating.
Here at the White House, on the one hand they are quite encouraged that the chief weapons inspector, Hans Blix, is now publicly saying that Iraq must do more, that Iraq is not being forthcoming in sharing information. At the same time, the White House dismayed that Dr. Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei, who heads up the nuclear part of the inspections team, are saying again today as they traveled in France that the inspectors will need considerably more time to compete their work.
One other quick development. The White House disappointed a bit by word from Turkey today that it could accept only a limited role in a U.S. deployment, if there is a potential war with Iraq. White House officials say they are satisfied so far. They understand the political concerns within Turkey. They'll keep at those very delicate negotiations -- Paula.
ZAHN: Thanks, John.
Appreciate it.
So far there has been no rush to judgment of Iraq since inspectors found empty chemical warheads there yesterday. Baghdad, of course, is downplaying the find, as you might expect.
Scott Ritter knows what it's like to search Iraq for banned weapons. He is a former U.N. weapons inspector.
And he joins us this morning from Albany, New York.
Good morning, Scott.
Welcome back.
SCOTT RITTER, FORMER U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTOR: Good morning.
Thank you.
ZAHN: Scott, I know that you feel that this discovery represents nothing more than a "accounting problem." Meanwhile, Baghdad is saying that the empty chemical warheads were forgotten materials. Do you really believe the Iraqis forgot to put this into the declaration?
RITTER: Well, first of all, Paula, they didn't forget to put it in the declaration. It is in the declaration. The Iraqis acknowledged in writing that they procured these 122 millimeter unfilled munitions back in 1986. The issue isn't that they, you know, they're denying ever having them as it is, as I said, an accounting problem.
Iraq, you know, the ammunition depot these were found at, Ukhaydir, was bombed severely during Desert Storm. I visited this facility over five times in the seven years that I was there. There's tens of thousands of munitions scattered everywhere and, you know, simply Iraq has not been able to account for the final disposition of every last one of the tens of thousands of unfilled munitions they acquired.
I'm not trying to give them a clean bill of health or let them off the hook. The bottom line is Iraq is obligated to, you know, declare these weapons and turn them over and demonstrate how they've been disposed of. But is this a cause for war? Absolutely not. These are unfilled munitions, conventional munitions that could be used for chemical weapons but were built, actually, for white phosphorus, for smoke rounds. These are not, you know, dangerous items per se.
ZAHN: I'm fascinated that you are so convinced that the Iraqis, indeed, declared this, because the "Washington Post" is reporting this morning that is not the case. And even an UNMOVIC spokesperson said they were checking to see if this stuff was listed.
Now, if UNMOVIC's not even sure this was listed in the declaration, why are you so sure?
RITTER: Well, because I've seen it, Paula. Remember, 10,000 of the pages of the 12,500 pages that were turned over are previous declarations. I'm certain that 122 millimeter rockets were declared by Iraq.
I think the problem here is that UNMOVIC's definition of declared will be that the Iraqis declared that these rockets were in that bunker and that's not the case. As I said, Iraq admitted buying these rockets, but they have not been able to demonstrate the final disposition of these rockets.
And, again, I'm not trying to let Iraq off the hook. It's incumbent upon Iraq to turn these over to the weapons inspectors. The fact that we had inspectors yesterday finding these, while it may not be, you know, a smoking gun, it is indicative that the Iraqis need to do a whole lot more before the international community will feel comfortable that they have, in fact, you know, terminated their weapons of mass destruction programs.
ZAHN: All right, from your perspective, what should they be doing that they haven't? What do you know about that hasn't been listed in this declaration?
RITTER: It's not that it hasn't been listed. Again, I believe that the Iraqi declaration has acknowledged the totality of what they procured. It's the final disposition. I've always said this is an accounting problem and, you know, if I were advising the president of Iraq -- and I'm not and I never will -- but if I were, I'd say it's incumbent upon you to get your officers to scour every military ammunition depot in Iraq and open all these boxes and determine what's in them. And if you find something of this nature, turn it over voluntarily to the inspectors. Don't make them go out and search for it. You should be turning it over.
ZAHN: We've got 10 seconds left here, Scott. Everybody beating up on Hans Blix. The "Wall Street Journal" in an editorial basically saying that he's trying to rewrite Security Council and trying to avoid, essentially, war. Just a quick thought on him then we've got to move on.
RITTER: Absurd. Hans Blix proved yesterday that inspections do work, contrary to what Donald Rumsfeld said. The world should give Hans Blix all the time he needs to do his job in Iraq. His team is fully capable of doing this job.
ZAHN: Scott Ritter, thanks for your time.
RITTER: Thank you.
ZAHN: Always appreciate your dropping by AMERICAN MORNING.
RITTER: My pleasure. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
