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American Morning
Interview With Terence Taylor, Former U.N. Weapons Inspector
Aired February 06, 2003 - 07:18 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 that Colin Powell has revealed the U.S. case against Baghdad, what could it mean for U.N. weapons inspectors in Iraq?
Joining us from Washington to talk more about that, former weapons inspector Terry Taylor, who was a part of our special events coverage yesterday and watched the speech with all of us here.
Welcome back, Terry.
First of all, in your judgment, what is the most damaging thing you heard the secretary of state say yesterday that relates to the inspection process?
TERENCE TAYLOR, FMR. WEAPONS INSPECTOR: Well, I think it was the really confirmation of some of the major points that Dr. Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei made during their presentations to the Security Council on the 27th of January. He reinforced in particular the U.S. view of Iraqi attempts to hide their chemical weapons capabilities and their biological weapons capabilities. And very strikingly, he did give more information on the delivery means for those weapons capabilities, in particular the unmanned aerial vehicle, the pilotless aircraft, which could reach out to 600 kilometers.
So, not only did he point and give more evidence of continuing to hide these capabilities, but also make clear that the Americans thought that they could be delivered effectively over a longish range.
ZAHN: I know you also were struck yesterday by what the secretary of state had to say about the mobile weapons labs. Let's review a small part of the speech now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: We have firsthand descriptions of biological weapons factories on wheels and on rails. The trucks and train cars are easily moved and are designed to evade detection by inspectors. It took the inspectors four years to find out that Iraq was making biological agents. How long do you think it will take the inspectors to find even one of these 18 trucks without Iraq coming forward, as they are supposed to, with the information about these kinds of capabilities?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZAHN: Terry, when you were an inspector, did you ever see one of these trucks? TAYLOR: We did not, but during our time, we knew very well and caught the Iraqis doing it. They did hide equipment in container trucks, such as those that Mr. Powell described, so I'm not surprised to hear this. I think it was very important to hear laid out in detail and very graphic description of these capabilities. And for someone close to the issue, it's not surprising at all to me.
There will always be skeptics on the issue of human intelligence, and that's a particularly difficult thing to put over. But his other information, including photographs and of course electronic intercepts, I think were very compelling.
ZAHN: Obviously, inspections are based on the whole idea or the premise of Iraqi cooperation, and I know you said yesterday everything that Secretary of State Powell said sort of undercut the legitimacy of the ongoing inspections. What do you think is going to happen in the weeks to come?
TAYLOR: Well, I think what this presentation will do, it will give more strength to Dr. Blix's and Mohamed ElBaradei's demands on the Iraqis to deliver more substantive information. They both complain that the Iraqis were not coming forward with new information. They've commended them for some of the procedural aspects. I suspect they'll probably get permission from the Iraqis for aerial surveillance overflights, the U-2 aircraft supplied by the United States for the U.N., and also perhaps some movement on interviews.
But again, this is just procedure. What they really want is the Iraqis to cooperate actively on delivering new information, and even the foreign ministers of China, for example, and France and so on also said the Iraqis must deliver more information. More explanation is needed. So, I think that's where the two chief inspectors will concentrate on their visit to Baghdad in the coming days.
ZAHN: Terry Taylor, as always, good of you to join us.
TAYLOR: Thank you.
ZAHN: Thanks for spending two days in a row with us.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Inspector>
Aired February 6, 2003 - 07:18 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Now that Colin Powell has revealed the U.S. case against Baghdad, what could it mean for U.N. weapons inspectors in Iraq?
Joining us from Washington to talk more about that, former weapons inspector Terry Taylor, who was a part of our special events coverage yesterday and watched the speech with all of us here.
Welcome back, Terry.
First of all, in your judgment, what is the most damaging thing you heard the secretary of state say yesterday that relates to the inspection process?
TERENCE TAYLOR, FMR. WEAPONS INSPECTOR: Well, I think it was the really confirmation of some of the major points that Dr. Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei made during their presentations to the Security Council on the 27th of January. He reinforced in particular the U.S. view of Iraqi attempts to hide their chemical weapons capabilities and their biological weapons capabilities. And very strikingly, he did give more information on the delivery means for those weapons capabilities, in particular the unmanned aerial vehicle, the pilotless aircraft, which could reach out to 600 kilometers.
So, not only did he point and give more evidence of continuing to hide these capabilities, but also make clear that the Americans thought that they could be delivered effectively over a longish range.
ZAHN: I know you also were struck yesterday by what the secretary of state had to say about the mobile weapons labs. Let's review a small part of the speech now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: We have firsthand descriptions of biological weapons factories on wheels and on rails. The trucks and train cars are easily moved and are designed to evade detection by inspectors. It took the inspectors four years to find out that Iraq was making biological agents. How long do you think it will take the inspectors to find even one of these 18 trucks without Iraq coming forward, as they are supposed to, with the information about these kinds of capabilities?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZAHN: Terry, when you were an inspector, did you ever see one of these trucks? TAYLOR: We did not, but during our time, we knew very well and caught the Iraqis doing it. They did hide equipment in container trucks, such as those that Mr. Powell described, so I'm not surprised to hear this. I think it was very important to hear laid out in detail and very graphic description of these capabilities. And for someone close to the issue, it's not surprising at all to me.
There will always be skeptics on the issue of human intelligence, and that's a particularly difficult thing to put over. But his other information, including photographs and of course electronic intercepts, I think were very compelling.
ZAHN: Obviously, inspections are based on the whole idea or the premise of Iraqi cooperation, and I know you said yesterday everything that Secretary of State Powell said sort of undercut the legitimacy of the ongoing inspections. What do you think is going to happen in the weeks to come?
TAYLOR: Well, I think what this presentation will do, it will give more strength to Dr. Blix's and Mohamed ElBaradei's demands on the Iraqis to deliver more substantive information. They both complain that the Iraqis were not coming forward with new information. They've commended them for some of the procedural aspects. I suspect they'll probably get permission from the Iraqis for aerial surveillance overflights, the U-2 aircraft supplied by the United States for the U.N., and also perhaps some movement on interviews.
But again, this is just procedure. What they really want is the Iraqis to cooperate actively on delivering new information, and even the foreign ministers of China, for example, and France and so on also said the Iraqis must deliver more information. More explanation is needed. So, I think that's where the two chief inspectors will concentrate on their visit to Baghdad in the coming days.
ZAHN: Terry Taylor, as always, good of you to join us.
TAYLOR: Thank you.
ZAHN: Thanks for spending two days in a row with us.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Inspector>
