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American Morning
Chief Weapons Inspectors to Brief United Nations Today
Aired January 27, 2003 - 07:05 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: Now we're going to get straight to more on Hans Blix's weapons inspections report. Our coverage begins with Richard Roth from the United Nations, Dana Bash from the White House and Nic Robertson in Baghdad this morning. We're going to get started with senior U.N. correspondent, Richard Roth this morning.
Good morning -- Richard.
RICHARD ROTH, CNN SENIOR UNITED NATIONS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
U.N. weapons inspectors will first brave howling winds and arctic temperatures right behind me, and then get into the Security Council to brief the 15 nations on the status of inspections in Iraq. But that's not likely going to cool the tensions that are boiling among council members. There are deep divides between the council members over progress reported by Blix.
The chief inspector likely to say that there is not full cooperation despite that resolution which put the inspectors back in Iraq. Iraq is not complying on issues such as U-2 reconnaissance flights, accounting for anthrax and VX chemical and biological agents, and private interviews with scientists. Blix will likely say that Iraq is opening doors, though, to his inspectors. ElBaradei likely to ask for more time for the inspections to continue -- Paula.
ZAHN: Richard, very quickly here, our Andrea Koppel reporting from the State Department this morning that the State Department is starting to draft a potential second resolution, calling for military action if necessary. What can you tell us about that?
ROTH: Well, it sounds good from Washington's point of view, but first they have to get approval here, and France and others are not interested in going to war. That's a second resolution to get authorization, and right now, there's a lot of opposition. They want to see the U.S. intelligence information, they want to see U.S. proof that Iraq indeed has weapons of mass destruction.
ZAHN: Richard Roth, thanks so much. We'll be checking in with you throughout the morning.
Let's go back to Dana Bash, who is standing by on the White House lawn.
Dana -- what's up?
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Paula, today marks a very crucial week for the president. The White House calls this the last diplomatic phase in dealing with Iraq, and senior administration officials are making clear that they don't expect the report before the U.N. today to possess anything new, they don't expect it to show that Iraq is complying, and by complying, the White House says that is disarming.
Now, the president for his part is going to practice his State of the Union speech again today. He is going to face an increasingly wary nation, Paula, a nation that wants to see international support for any kind of military action, and a nation that wants to see more evidence.
Now, the president is not expected to give much new evidence in his speech, but Secretary of State Colin Powell told an Italian newspaper that that evidence will be coming soon, as soon as they can do so safely -- Paula.
ZAHN: Dana Bash, thanks for the live update.
Let's go back to Baghdad, where Nic Robertson is standing by.
Nic, over the weekend, I know you talked about this to other reporters, that the chief science advisor to Saddam Hussein basically is saying no matter what happens, war is inevitable. Is that the prevailing view going into Hans Blix's report?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Not quite, Paula. Foreign Minister Naji Sabri briefing journalists here just a little while ago said that he thought there was still the opportunity for diplomacy. He said Iraq had been giving the U.N. inspectors here super-cooperation. He said it was time the sanctions should be lifted. He said the diplomacy, however, should (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the United States and Great Britain. He said that they were trying to dominate the region. They are only after the oil, only after securing Israel's security in the region. He said the United States and Great Britain were evil.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NAJI SABRI, IRAQI FOREIGN MINISTER : This evil administration and its ally, Mr. Blair and Britain, have continued in their threats of aggression against Iraq.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTSON: Also criticized Secretary of State Colin Powell, who commented over the weekend Iraq had ties with al Qaeda. He said absolutely untrue. Iraq has no ties to terrorism, he said -- Paula.
ZAHN: Nic Robertson, we will see you a little bit later on as well this morning. Thanks so much.
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 27, 2003 - 07:05 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Now we're going to get straight to more on Hans Blix's weapons inspections report. Our coverage begins with Richard Roth from the United Nations, Dana Bash from the White House and Nic Robertson in Baghdad this morning. We're going to get started with senior U.N. correspondent, Richard Roth this morning.
Good morning -- Richard.
RICHARD ROTH, CNN SENIOR UNITED NATIONS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
U.N. weapons inspectors will first brave howling winds and arctic temperatures right behind me, and then get into the Security Council to brief the 15 nations on the status of inspections in Iraq. But that's not likely going to cool the tensions that are boiling among council members. There are deep divides between the council members over progress reported by Blix.
The chief inspector likely to say that there is not full cooperation despite that resolution which put the inspectors back in Iraq. Iraq is not complying on issues such as U-2 reconnaissance flights, accounting for anthrax and VX chemical and biological agents, and private interviews with scientists. Blix will likely say that Iraq is opening doors, though, to his inspectors. ElBaradei likely to ask for more time for the inspections to continue -- Paula.
ZAHN: Richard, very quickly here, our Andrea Koppel reporting from the State Department this morning that the State Department is starting to draft a potential second resolution, calling for military action if necessary. What can you tell us about that?
ROTH: Well, it sounds good from Washington's point of view, but first they have to get approval here, and France and others are not interested in going to war. That's a second resolution to get authorization, and right now, there's a lot of opposition. They want to see the U.S. intelligence information, they want to see U.S. proof that Iraq indeed has weapons of mass destruction.
ZAHN: Richard Roth, thanks so much. We'll be checking in with you throughout the morning.
Let's go back to Dana Bash, who is standing by on the White House lawn.
Dana -- what's up?
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Paula, today marks a very crucial week for the president. The White House calls this the last diplomatic phase in dealing with Iraq, and senior administration officials are making clear that they don't expect the report before the U.N. today to possess anything new, they don't expect it to show that Iraq is complying, and by complying, the White House says that is disarming.
Now, the president for his part is going to practice his State of the Union speech again today. He is going to face an increasingly wary nation, Paula, a nation that wants to see international support for any kind of military action, and a nation that wants to see more evidence.
Now, the president is not expected to give much new evidence in his speech, but Secretary of State Colin Powell told an Italian newspaper that that evidence will be coming soon, as soon as they can do so safely -- Paula.
ZAHN: Dana Bash, thanks for the live update.
Let's go back to Baghdad, where Nic Robertson is standing by.
Nic, over the weekend, I know you talked about this to other reporters, that the chief science advisor to Saddam Hussein basically is saying no matter what happens, war is inevitable. Is that the prevailing view going into Hans Blix's report?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Not quite, Paula. Foreign Minister Naji Sabri briefing journalists here just a little while ago said that he thought there was still the opportunity for diplomacy. He said Iraq had been giving the U.N. inspectors here super-cooperation. He said it was time the sanctions should be lifted. He said the diplomacy, however, should (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the United States and Great Britain. He said that they were trying to dominate the region. They are only after the oil, only after securing Israel's security in the region. He said the United States and Great Britain were evil.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NAJI SABRI, IRAQI FOREIGN MINISTER : This evil administration and its ally, Mr. Blair and Britain, have continued in their threats of aggression against Iraq.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTSON: Also criticized Secretary of State Colin Powell, who commented over the weekend Iraq had ties with al Qaeda. He said absolutely untrue. Iraq has no ties to terrorism, he said -- Paula.
ZAHN: Nic Robertson, we will see you a little bit later on as well this morning. Thanks so much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
