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American Morning
Discussion with Terrence Taylor
Aired April 28, 2003 - 09:17 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Upon further review, no chemical weapons found in Iraq to date. A military official says additional testing on a 55-gallon drum found in northern Iraq shows no evidence of a nerve agent or mustard gas.
Now initial testing suggested the presence of psyclosarin (ph) and an unspecified blister agent, perhaps mustard gas, we don't know.
Terrence Taylor, Interntional Institute for Strategic Studies was a chief of weapons inspections in Iraq. He's live in D.C., and back with us here on AMERICAN MORNING.
Good to you have back. Good morning to you.
What are we to make of the positive test that come in? We hang in the balance for 24-48 hours and they come back and say forget it, wasn't true. What are we to make right now of this testing?
TERRENCE TAYLOR, FMR. CHIEF UNSCOM INSPECTOR: I think what you're seeing are military groups out on the field, following up, perhaps on information, perhaps also working off a list of sites, things that might've been seen, like those tanks, those containers out in the desert somewhere, and following up pretty basic equipment, which gives you just some basic indication that there are certain chemicals present. Now a lot of the chemicals used in the making of chemical warfare agents have a dual use, so might be insecticide or something like that. So it's a real challenge.
And we have yet to see full survey teams on the ground from coalition forces. So these monitoring equipment the troops have give a lot of false positives, which have to be followed up, and that can take up to 24 hours.
HEMMER: What do you, do you need more people on the ground, boots on the ground, as military likes to say? Do you need better equipment?
TAYLOR: Well, I think what we really need is more people coming in with the information. That's a hard one. Because not all of the Iraqis, of course, know all of the plans only a very few number of them do. And only did they have an elaborate plan to hide it from inspectors, but of course they were even hiding it from their own people, to keep these weapons of mass destruction programs secure.
So we have very difficult challenge ahead. I think people are the key to this. But we need the full survey teams to be out on the ground, and that is only just beginning to happen. HEMMER: Is there also a possibility, I don't know the answer on this, is there a possibility that the United States is too anxious to find and locate these weapons?
TAYLOR: Clearly, there is a lot of pressure. Understandably, expectations are high with the regime now collapsed, that these programs will be brought to light fairly quickly, and it's a very important political point, because it's one of the reasons for going war. So one can understand the pressure. But it has to be done very, very carefully. And I think the key, as I said just now, are the people coming in, the right people coming in, not necessarily top scientists, but also others further down the chain, technicians and so on. I think eventually we'll find out some of the truth, perhaps not all of it.
HEMMER: And that could be the solution, when you get more people on the ground and a more defined mission. There are some reports out yet again today that suggest there is infighting among these different U.S. military teams, trying to locate these. Does that make sense to you?
TAYLOR: Well, I don't know the full details of that. Clearly, we're going through a phase where we have military groups leading, don't want to waste time, important thing was to make certain initially that these weapons were not used. We're now passing out of that phase to an investigation to discover where they are. We can't cover every inch of Iraq, a country the size of California. So it must be base on information coming in. And when we get the scientists and proper laboratory equipment deployed into Iraq, I'm sure we'll see progress. But I think we're going to have to be patient.
HEMMER: I don't have much time on this, but General Hossam Amin is now in U.S. custody. He was the liaison between the U.N. inspectors and the Iraqi government. You knew this man well, correct? He was your point person in Baghdad?
TAYLOR: Well, when I did go do my missions as a chief inspector, I certainly met him across the table on a number of occasions. He'll be an important person coming in. How much real hard information he has, I don't know, but he'll certainly know the key people who've been involved. So if he's prepared to tell the truth, it could be quite helpful.
HEMMER: You've described him as difficult and deceitful, how so?
TAYLOR: You know, I find him across the table, maybe straightforward, but he was a bureaucrat, a senior bureaucrat doing a job he had to do.
HEMMER: Terrence Taylor, former chief U.N. inspector on the ground in Iraq.
Thanks for coming back. We'll talk again in the future.
TAYLOR: Thank you.
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 April 28, 2003 - 09:17 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Upon further review, no chemical weapons found in Iraq to date. A military official says additional testing on a 55-gallon drum found in northern Iraq shows no evidence of a nerve agent or mustard gas.
Now initial testing suggested the presence of psyclosarin (ph) and an unspecified blister agent, perhaps mustard gas, we don't know.
Terrence Taylor, Interntional Institute for Strategic Studies was a chief of weapons inspections in Iraq. He's live in D.C., and back with us here on AMERICAN MORNING.
Good to you have back. Good morning to you.
What are we to make of the positive test that come in? We hang in the balance for 24-48 hours and they come back and say forget it, wasn't true. What are we to make right now of this testing?
TERRENCE TAYLOR, FMR. CHIEF UNSCOM INSPECTOR: I think what you're seeing are military groups out on the field, following up, perhaps on information, perhaps also working off a list of sites, things that might've been seen, like those tanks, those containers out in the desert somewhere, and following up pretty basic equipment, which gives you just some basic indication that there are certain chemicals present. Now a lot of the chemicals used in the making of chemical warfare agents have a dual use, so might be insecticide or something like that. So it's a real challenge.
And we have yet to see full survey teams on the ground from coalition forces. So these monitoring equipment the troops have give a lot of false positives, which have to be followed up, and that can take up to 24 hours.
HEMMER: What do you, do you need more people on the ground, boots on the ground, as military likes to say? Do you need better equipment?
TAYLOR: Well, I think what we really need is more people coming in with the information. That's a hard one. Because not all of the Iraqis, of course, know all of the plans only a very few number of them do. And only did they have an elaborate plan to hide it from inspectors, but of course they were even hiding it from their own people, to keep these weapons of mass destruction programs secure.
So we have very difficult challenge ahead. I think people are the key to this. But we need the full survey teams to be out on the ground, and that is only just beginning to happen. HEMMER: Is there also a possibility, I don't know the answer on this, is there a possibility that the United States is too anxious to find and locate these weapons?
TAYLOR: Clearly, there is a lot of pressure. Understandably, expectations are high with the regime now collapsed, that these programs will be brought to light fairly quickly, and it's a very important political point, because it's one of the reasons for going war. So one can understand the pressure. But it has to be done very, very carefully. And I think the key, as I said just now, are the people coming in, the right people coming in, not necessarily top scientists, but also others further down the chain, technicians and so on. I think eventually we'll find out some of the truth, perhaps not all of it.
HEMMER: And that could be the solution, when you get more people on the ground and a more defined mission. There are some reports out yet again today that suggest there is infighting among these different U.S. military teams, trying to locate these. Does that make sense to you?
TAYLOR: Well, I don't know the full details of that. Clearly, we're going through a phase where we have military groups leading, don't want to waste time, important thing was to make certain initially that these weapons were not used. We're now passing out of that phase to an investigation to discover where they are. We can't cover every inch of Iraq, a country the size of California. So it must be base on information coming in. And when we get the scientists and proper laboratory equipment deployed into Iraq, I'm sure we'll see progress. But I think we're going to have to be patient.
HEMMER: I don't have much time on this, but General Hossam Amin is now in U.S. custody. He was the liaison between the U.N. inspectors and the Iraqi government. You knew this man well, correct? He was your point person in Baghdad?
TAYLOR: Well, when I did go do my missions as a chief inspector, I certainly met him across the table on a number of occasions. He'll be an important person coming in. How much real hard information he has, I don't know, but he'll certainly know the key people who've been involved. So if he's prepared to tell the truth, it could be quite helpful.
HEMMER: You've described him as difficult and deceitful, how so?
TAYLOR: You know, I find him across the table, maybe straightforward, but he was a bureaucrat, a senior bureaucrat doing a job he had to do.
HEMMER: Terrence Taylor, former chief U.N. inspector on the ground in Iraq.
Thanks for coming back. We'll talk again in the future.
TAYLOR: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
