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American Morning
Colin Powell Making U.S. Case Against Iraq
Aired February 05, 2003 - 07:04 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: All eyes will be on the United Nations a little bit later on this morning, as U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell details Iraq's alleged weapons deceptions for the Security Council.
Richard Roth joins us live from the U.N. with a preview.
I understand the secretary of state will have audiotapes to share and some video and some pictures. What else might we see and hear?
RICHARD ROTH, SENIOR UNITED NATIONS CORRESPONDENT: A full presentation, Paula, by the secretary of state, as you mentioned. He will probably be wearing a microphone that maybe will enable him to move around the council chamber. We haven't seen this before. Quite a change from Adlai Stevenson more than 40 years ago during the Cuban missile crisis.
Secretary of State Powell will be showing slides and playing audiotapes of intercepts of Iraqi officials believed to be talking about hiding weapons of mass destruction.
Powell, who met yesterday with China's foreign minister, will be joined by 11 other foreign ministers at the council table. Also Iraq's ambassador will speak, but only after all 15 members of the Security Council have spoken. Not clear yet whether there will be any back and forth between the Iraqi ambassador and Powell.
The secretary of state seemed very confident when he left the United States Mission to the U.N. Could have been clutching a text of his speech. A reporter shouted whether Powell -- what Powell felt about Iraq's insistence that it does not possess weapons of mass destruction, Powell said, "Prove it."
Chief inspector Hans Blix will be surprised if he learns of any new special locations from Colin Powell.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
HANS BLIX, CHIEF U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTOR: I assume that he is not going to indicate any sites which we should visit, because I would assume that he would -- the U.S. would have given the sites to us rather than telling the Iraqis that here is where we think the inspectors should go.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROTH: Colin Powell is arguably the most respected Bush administration official around the world, and the U.S. needs him to make the best case to convince those on the council who are quite skeptical about a lack of proof that Iraq does indeed possess weapons of mass destruction.
Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei, the other leading inspector, go back to bat again this weekend -- Paula.
ZAHN: Well, despite the skepticism, let's say for a second Secretary Powell does build a convincing case today, how might that undermine the credibility of the current U.N. inspections?
ROTH: Well, it may not undermine it. The inspectors have been begging and asking and pleading for any intelligence information, but the U.S. has been reluctant, because it didn't want to compromise any sources. It's possible the inspectors though haven't acted on as much as the United States has presented to them. There will be compromise. Blix will be grateful, but those in the U.S. will still say the inspectors have to be more aggressive, and they still haven't been able to get private interviews with scientists. That's one of the big issues when Blix returns to Baghdad.
ZAHN: Thanks so much, Richard Roth, we'll see you throughout the morning.
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 February 5, 2003 - 07:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: All eyes will be on the United Nations a little bit later on this morning, as U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell details Iraq's alleged weapons deceptions for the Security Council.
Richard Roth joins us live from the U.N. with a preview.
I understand the secretary of state will have audiotapes to share and some video and some pictures. What else might we see and hear?
RICHARD ROTH, SENIOR UNITED NATIONS CORRESPONDENT: A full presentation, Paula, by the secretary of state, as you mentioned. He will probably be wearing a microphone that maybe will enable him to move around the council chamber. We haven't seen this before. Quite a change from Adlai Stevenson more than 40 years ago during the Cuban missile crisis.
Secretary of State Powell will be showing slides and playing audiotapes of intercepts of Iraqi officials believed to be talking about hiding weapons of mass destruction.
Powell, who met yesterday with China's foreign minister, will be joined by 11 other foreign ministers at the council table. Also Iraq's ambassador will speak, but only after all 15 members of the Security Council have spoken. Not clear yet whether there will be any back and forth between the Iraqi ambassador and Powell.
The secretary of state seemed very confident when he left the United States Mission to the U.N. Could have been clutching a text of his speech. A reporter shouted whether Powell -- what Powell felt about Iraq's insistence that it does not possess weapons of mass destruction, Powell said, "Prove it."
Chief inspector Hans Blix will be surprised if he learns of any new special locations from Colin Powell.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
HANS BLIX, CHIEF U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTOR: I assume that he is not going to indicate any sites which we should visit, because I would assume that he would -- the U.S. would have given the sites to us rather than telling the Iraqis that here is where we think the inspectors should go.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROTH: Colin Powell is arguably the most respected Bush administration official around the world, and the U.S. needs him to make the best case to convince those on the council who are quite skeptical about a lack of proof that Iraq does indeed possess weapons of mass destruction.
Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei, the other leading inspector, go back to bat again this weekend -- Paula.
ZAHN: Well, despite the skepticism, let's say for a second Secretary Powell does build a convincing case today, how might that undermine the credibility of the current U.N. inspections?
ROTH: Well, it may not undermine it. The inspectors have been begging and asking and pleading for any intelligence information, but the U.S. has been reluctant, because it didn't want to compromise any sources. It's possible the inspectors though haven't acted on as much as the United States has presented to them. There will be compromise. Blix will be grateful, but those in the U.S. will still say the inspectors have to be more aggressive, and they still haven't been able to get private interviews with scientists. That's one of the big issues when Blix returns to Baghdad.
ZAHN: Thanks so much, Richard Roth, we'll see you throughout the morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
