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American Morning
Newly Declassified Information Says Iraq has Unmanned Aircraft That Could Deliver WMDs
Aired March 10, 2003 - 08:02 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: We told you a little bit earlier about newly declassified information that says Iraq has an unmanned aircraft that could deliver weapons of mass destruction.
For more on this story, we are joined now from the White House by Suzanne Malveaux -- good morning, Suzanne.
What's the latest from there?
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
Well, I spoke with a senior administration official who confirms that the U.S. is going to be introducing new evidence to show that Saddam Hussein has failed to disarm. It is the discovery of an unmanned aerial vehicle or a drone in Iraqis' possession that was not declared. This is something that came to the attention of the administration Friday. There was a document that was released and it went to the U.N. Security Council members. This was after U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix delivered his report.
Now, one senior administration official says this is very significant but did not characterize it as necessarily a smoking gun. Secretary Powell yesterday did allude to this in several talk shows. I'm reading from one that says that, "there is a drone, as they call it, or a UAV program that they came upon, that they discovered that they're not supposed to have. It looks like it's a prohibited item."
He goes on to say, "And that's the kind of thing we're going to be making some news about in the course of the week and point this out and that there are other things that have been found that I think more can be made of."
Now, the administration's point in all of this is that this is just more information that they would like to present to U.N. Security Council members that are wavering on that second resolution. They say this makes it a much stronger case. This is not like those Al Samoud 2 missiles that were actually declared as legal weapons. They say this is clearly an illegal weapon that they failed to declare -- Paula.
ZAHN: Suzanne Malveaux, thanks so much.
The Bush administration needs at least five of the undecided votes at the U.N. Security Council to win approval of a second resolution. Secretary of State Colin Powell has been trying to line up the votes. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: I think most of the elected 10 members are making up their judged -- their minds over this weekend and I've been in close contact with them. So I think we have a chance to get, a strong chance, and I'm encouraged that we might get the nine or 10 votes needed for passage of the resolution.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZAHN: So can the administration pull that off?
Bill Richardson, governor of New Mexico, was a U.S. ambassador to the U.N.
He joins us from a very early morning from Sante Fe, New Mexico this morning.
Welcome back.
Good to see you, sir.
GOV. BILL RICHARDSON (D-NM), FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: Thank you, Paula.
ZAHN: Let's look at the score card this morning of the votes the U.S. knows it can count on, the votes of, of course, Great Britain, Bulgaria, Spain. The measure clearly opposed by these countries -- France, China, Russia, Syria, Germany. What do you think is going to happen?
RICHARDSON: Well, I believe it's just too close to call. I think the odds are probably against the U.S. getting the nine votes or France not vetoing. So what I would do, Paula, is go for Plan B, call France's bluff, get more time to lobby those undecided members and basically say we will give the resolution another week or two.
I think the cost is too high for the United States for us either to lose a resolution, not get nine votes or for a French veto, even though France seems to be disregarding the NATO alliance, disregarding the United Nations and basically trying to pine itself as a new superpower that is right now enjoying the limelight.
But I would call France's bluff and not proceed with a vote until we have the votes.
ZAHN: When you say call France's, their bluff, implicit in what you're saying -- are you saying that there's not going to be a veto in France? That they're just playing this thing and at the end they'll abstain and not veto?
RICHARDSON: France has still not used the veto word. But just from some of your reports that the president of France is thinking of a trip to the United Nations, the fact that the French foreign minister is lobbying African countries right at this moment suggests to me that France most likely is going to veto. Now, France has been asking for more inspectors. France has been asking for basically more diplomacy. Now, let's give it to them. Let's give them another week or two. Iraq is not an immediate threat to the United States. I just worry, Paula, what the effect will be on the stability of the United Nations if the U.N. does not support the U.S., what will happen to our efforts post-Iraq, what will happen to the prestige of the United States if we don't proceed with some kind of U.N. backing.
So I say why the vote Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday? If it's going to be another week or two, let's do it. Let's be sure of nine votes. Let's make every effort to get France to abstain. Put it to them. Call their bluff.
ZAHN: Let me ask you this, how many votes do you think would be swayed by this new information about the discovery of a drone that the Iraqis apparently have and this "New York Times" piece suggesting that they have discovered, the inspectors, a rocket that is capable of being configured to carry biological and chemical weapons? Are these smoking guns?
RICHARDSON: Well, it helps our case, Paula. But, look, right at this moment it's face to face diplomacy. You're saying, we're saying to Mexico, all right, what do you want for your vote? We're saying to Chile the same thing, to Cameron, to Angola. This is good old- fashioned horse trading right now. Yes, this helps, but, you know, what else is new? Saddam Hussein is cheating. Everybody knows that. Everybody knows that he is not living up to the 1441 resolution.
So, again, it becomes more a political bilateral question in terms of where are these countries going to be with the United States in probably the most important vote for the U.S. in decades? So it's more bilateral. Yes, it helps, but it's not the kind of smoking gun that will sway a vote.
ZAHN: Regardless of what you see happening at the U.N., is there any doubt in your mind that there will be a war?
RICHARDSON: I'm pretty certain there will be a war. But I think it's up to the United States to make this case strong at the U.N., to get nine votes, to keep France from vetoing. If it means putting the vote off for another week or so, let's do it. What's another week? Iraq is not rushing down to invade us. Let's be smart about how we win this vote and try to get the necessary nine votes. If we can't get them by Tuesday or Wednesday, what's another week?
ZAHN: Governor Bill Richardson, always good of you to join us.
Appreciate your getting up so early to be with us.
RICHARDSON: Thank you, Paula.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aircraft That Could Deliver WMDs>
Aired March 10, 2003 - 08:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: We told you a little bit earlier about newly declassified information that says Iraq has an unmanned aircraft that could deliver weapons of mass destruction.
For more on this story, we are joined now from the White House by Suzanne Malveaux -- good morning, Suzanne.
What's the latest from there?
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
Well, I spoke with a senior administration official who confirms that the U.S. is going to be introducing new evidence to show that Saddam Hussein has failed to disarm. It is the discovery of an unmanned aerial vehicle or a drone in Iraqis' possession that was not declared. This is something that came to the attention of the administration Friday. There was a document that was released and it went to the U.N. Security Council members. This was after U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix delivered his report.
Now, one senior administration official says this is very significant but did not characterize it as necessarily a smoking gun. Secretary Powell yesterday did allude to this in several talk shows. I'm reading from one that says that, "there is a drone, as they call it, or a UAV program that they came upon, that they discovered that they're not supposed to have. It looks like it's a prohibited item."
He goes on to say, "And that's the kind of thing we're going to be making some news about in the course of the week and point this out and that there are other things that have been found that I think more can be made of."
Now, the administration's point in all of this is that this is just more information that they would like to present to U.N. Security Council members that are wavering on that second resolution. They say this makes it a much stronger case. This is not like those Al Samoud 2 missiles that were actually declared as legal weapons. They say this is clearly an illegal weapon that they failed to declare -- Paula.
ZAHN: Suzanne Malveaux, thanks so much.
The Bush administration needs at least five of the undecided votes at the U.N. Security Council to win approval of a second resolution. Secretary of State Colin Powell has been trying to line up the votes. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: I think most of the elected 10 members are making up their judged -- their minds over this weekend and I've been in close contact with them. So I think we have a chance to get, a strong chance, and I'm encouraged that we might get the nine or 10 votes needed for passage of the resolution.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZAHN: So can the administration pull that off?
Bill Richardson, governor of New Mexico, was a U.S. ambassador to the U.N.
He joins us from a very early morning from Sante Fe, New Mexico this morning.
Welcome back.
Good to see you, sir.
GOV. BILL RICHARDSON (D-NM), FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: Thank you, Paula.
ZAHN: Let's look at the score card this morning of the votes the U.S. knows it can count on, the votes of, of course, Great Britain, Bulgaria, Spain. The measure clearly opposed by these countries -- France, China, Russia, Syria, Germany. What do you think is going to happen?
RICHARDSON: Well, I believe it's just too close to call. I think the odds are probably against the U.S. getting the nine votes or France not vetoing. So what I would do, Paula, is go for Plan B, call France's bluff, get more time to lobby those undecided members and basically say we will give the resolution another week or two.
I think the cost is too high for the United States for us either to lose a resolution, not get nine votes or for a French veto, even though France seems to be disregarding the NATO alliance, disregarding the United Nations and basically trying to pine itself as a new superpower that is right now enjoying the limelight.
But I would call France's bluff and not proceed with a vote until we have the votes.
ZAHN: When you say call France's, their bluff, implicit in what you're saying -- are you saying that there's not going to be a veto in France? That they're just playing this thing and at the end they'll abstain and not veto?
RICHARDSON: France has still not used the veto word. But just from some of your reports that the president of France is thinking of a trip to the United Nations, the fact that the French foreign minister is lobbying African countries right at this moment suggests to me that France most likely is going to veto. Now, France has been asking for more inspectors. France has been asking for basically more diplomacy. Now, let's give it to them. Let's give them another week or two. Iraq is not an immediate threat to the United States. I just worry, Paula, what the effect will be on the stability of the United Nations if the U.N. does not support the U.S., what will happen to our efforts post-Iraq, what will happen to the prestige of the United States if we don't proceed with some kind of U.N. backing.
So I say why the vote Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday? If it's going to be another week or two, let's do it. Let's be sure of nine votes. Let's make every effort to get France to abstain. Put it to them. Call their bluff.
ZAHN: Let me ask you this, how many votes do you think would be swayed by this new information about the discovery of a drone that the Iraqis apparently have and this "New York Times" piece suggesting that they have discovered, the inspectors, a rocket that is capable of being configured to carry biological and chemical weapons? Are these smoking guns?
RICHARDSON: Well, it helps our case, Paula. But, look, right at this moment it's face to face diplomacy. You're saying, we're saying to Mexico, all right, what do you want for your vote? We're saying to Chile the same thing, to Cameron, to Angola. This is good old- fashioned horse trading right now. Yes, this helps, but, you know, what else is new? Saddam Hussein is cheating. Everybody knows that. Everybody knows that he is not living up to the 1441 resolution.
So, again, it becomes more a political bilateral question in terms of where are these countries going to be with the United States in probably the most important vote for the U.S. in decades? So it's more bilateral. Yes, it helps, but it's not the kind of smoking gun that will sway a vote.
ZAHN: Regardless of what you see happening at the U.N., is there any doubt in your mind that there will be a war?
RICHARDSON: I'm pretty certain there will be a war. But I think it's up to the United States to make this case strong at the U.N., to get nine votes, to keep France from vetoing. If it means putting the vote off for another week or so, let's do it. What's another week? Iraq is not rushing down to invade us. Let's be smart about how we win this vote and try to get the necessary nine votes. If we can't get them by Tuesday or Wednesday, what's another week?
ZAHN: Governor Bill Richardson, always good of you to join us.
Appreciate your getting up so early to be with us.
RICHARDSON: Thank you, Paula.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aircraft That Could Deliver WMDs>
