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American Morning
Building Troop Strength in Kuwait
Aired January 28, 2003 - 07:36 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: Time to go back to Bill, who is standing by in Kuwait City to talk more about the building of troop strength there -- good morning, Bill.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, hey, Paula, good morning once again.
About 30 minutes ago we talked about this new threat from Iraq facing Kuwait. Iraq's deputy prime minister gave an interview and in that interview he says that Baghdad is not ruling out the possibility of making Kuwait a target given the U.S. presence here.
To Baghdad, more on this and Nic Robertson, who's tracking that story from the Iraqi capital -- Nic, hello.
Good afternoon.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bill, certainly a lot of displeasure in Baghdad about the buildup of U.S. forces. Foreign Minister Naji Sabri sent another letter to Kofi Annan, the secretary general at the U.N., just in the last few days, complaining about that buildup, telling the U.N. to do something about it.
Deputy Prime Minister Aziz saying that if the United States attacks from Kuwait, then obviously Iraq would consider that it would, you know, attack Kuwait at the same time.
However, Aziz, on the other matter of the report to the U.N. Security Council about the weapons inspectors, Aziz hinting Iraq may give better cooperation. The report so far, as Iraq sees it, hasn't gone done particularly well. Commentators here saying that Blix was biased, he was unprofessional and that he was unfair in his treatment of Iraq -- Bill.
HEMMER: Nic, what about the thought of a preemptive strike on behalf of the Iraqis? Is that talked about at all there in Baghdad against the forces here in Kuwait?
ROBERTSON: That isn't something that's getting any public debate here. What we've seen on television, President Saddam Hussein many occasions recently, and particularly last night, a very long broadcast of one hour 20 minutes, President Saddam Hussein with his top military commanders getting rounds of applause, poetry read by some of the commanders. He was giving them a real boosting speech, telling them to be prepared, to be ready for American aggression, he said.
But he wasn't talking there openly about attacking Kuwait. There's not publicly any plan for that, Bill. Of course, we don't know what goes on behind-the-scenes. But that's what we see.
HEMMER: Nic, thank you.
Nic Robertson again reporting live in Baghdad.
In addition to those comments from Tariq Aziz, when the interviewer asked him about the possibility of exile for Saddam Hussein or the top Iraqi leadership, he said exile would be the equivalent of surrender. Don't count on it. And they're the words of Tariq Aziz.
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 28, 2003 - 07:36 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Time to go back to Bill, who is standing by in Kuwait City to talk more about the building of troop strength there -- good morning, Bill.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, hey, Paula, good morning once again.
About 30 minutes ago we talked about this new threat from Iraq facing Kuwait. Iraq's deputy prime minister gave an interview and in that interview he says that Baghdad is not ruling out the possibility of making Kuwait a target given the U.S. presence here.
To Baghdad, more on this and Nic Robertson, who's tracking that story from the Iraqi capital -- Nic, hello.
Good afternoon.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bill, certainly a lot of displeasure in Baghdad about the buildup of U.S. forces. Foreign Minister Naji Sabri sent another letter to Kofi Annan, the secretary general at the U.N., just in the last few days, complaining about that buildup, telling the U.N. to do something about it.
Deputy Prime Minister Aziz saying that if the United States attacks from Kuwait, then obviously Iraq would consider that it would, you know, attack Kuwait at the same time.
However, Aziz, on the other matter of the report to the U.N. Security Council about the weapons inspectors, Aziz hinting Iraq may give better cooperation. The report so far, as Iraq sees it, hasn't gone done particularly well. Commentators here saying that Blix was biased, he was unprofessional and that he was unfair in his treatment of Iraq -- Bill.
HEMMER: Nic, what about the thought of a preemptive strike on behalf of the Iraqis? Is that talked about at all there in Baghdad against the forces here in Kuwait?
ROBERTSON: That isn't something that's getting any public debate here. What we've seen on television, President Saddam Hussein many occasions recently, and particularly last night, a very long broadcast of one hour 20 minutes, President Saddam Hussein with his top military commanders getting rounds of applause, poetry read by some of the commanders. He was giving them a real boosting speech, telling them to be prepared, to be ready for American aggression, he said.
But he wasn't talking there openly about attacking Kuwait. There's not publicly any plan for that, Bill. Of course, we don't know what goes on behind-the-scenes. But that's what we see.
HEMMER: Nic, thank you.
Nic Robertson again reporting live in Baghdad.
In addition to those comments from Tariq Aziz, when the interviewer asked him about the possibility of exile for Saddam Hussein or the top Iraqi leadership, he said exile would be the equivalent of surrender. Don't count on it. And they're the words of Tariq Aziz.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
