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CNN Sunday Morning

U.N. Inspectors Continue Looking for Weapons in Iraq

Aired December 01, 2002 - 09:09   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.


CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: Let's turn our attention now to Iraq, where U.N. weapons inspectors hit the streets for a fourth day. They visited a number of sites north of Baghdad. CNN's Nic Robertson is in the Iraqi capital. Nic, where did they visit today?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, they went to an agricultural air base about 35 kilometers north of the city. Khan Badi Saad (ph) is the name of that base. That base, Iraqis admitted in the past, in 1988, they had, in fact, tested dispersal systems for aerially releasing biological warfare agents. At that site today, the inspectors, some of them putting on protective suits. There certainly were broken up old helicopters lying around that facility.

Now, one of the points of interest for U.N. inspectors there was following up on work done by inspectors in the 1990s. In the 1990s, one of the things the inspectors had been looking for there was the device called the Zubadi (ph) device. This is part of that biological warfare dispersal system. The director general, after the inspectors left, told journalists that there wasn't such a thing there. There were no weapons of mass destruction being used at that site.

The other site visited by the inspection team today, a former testing place for nuclear facilities, a gas centrifuge, a uranium enrichment device was what was believed to have been at that facility at one time. Both teams of inspectors, however, getting the access to the sites they needed today. Both teams now back at their base in Baghdad.

It's been interesting as well to watch the way the Iraqi papers have been covering the issue now. If you look at this cartoon in one of the papers here, Resolution 1441, at the front, President Bush, and at the back, British Prime Minister Tony Blair carrying rifles. The editorials in the newspapers here very critical of reports, the contents of reports by the British and the United States government. Put out recently, the editorials here saying that the inspectors are discovering that what was put in those reports is, in fact, untrue. They're saying it was lies. They're saying that these reports are just an effort by the British government and the United States government to essentially undermine the work of the weapons inspectors and try and perpetrate some act of aggression against Iraq -- Catherine.

CALLAWAY: Thank you, Nic Robertson in Baghdad. Thanks.

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 December 1, 2002 - 09:09   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: Let's turn our attention now to Iraq, where U.N. weapons inspectors hit the streets for a fourth day. They visited a number of sites north of Baghdad. CNN's Nic Robertson is in the Iraqi capital. Nic, where did they visit today?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, they went to an agricultural air base about 35 kilometers north of the city. Khan Badi Saad (ph) is the name of that base. That base, Iraqis admitted in the past, in 1988, they had, in fact, tested dispersal systems for aerially releasing biological warfare agents. At that site today, the inspectors, some of them putting on protective suits. There certainly were broken up old helicopters lying around that facility.

Now, one of the points of interest for U.N. inspectors there was following up on work done by inspectors in the 1990s. In the 1990s, one of the things the inspectors had been looking for there was the device called the Zubadi (ph) device. This is part of that biological warfare dispersal system. The director general, after the inspectors left, told journalists that there wasn't such a thing there. There were no weapons of mass destruction being used at that site.

The other site visited by the inspection team today, a former testing place for nuclear facilities, a gas centrifuge, a uranium enrichment device was what was believed to have been at that facility at one time. Both teams of inspectors, however, getting the access to the sites they needed today. Both teams now back at their base in Baghdad.

It's been interesting as well to watch the way the Iraqi papers have been covering the issue now. If you look at this cartoon in one of the papers here, Resolution 1441, at the front, President Bush, and at the back, British Prime Minister Tony Blair carrying rifles. The editorials in the newspapers here very critical of reports, the contents of reports by the British and the United States government. Put out recently, the editorials here saying that the inspectors are discovering that what was put in those reports is, in fact, untrue. They're saying it was lies. They're saying that these reports are just an effort by the British government and the United States government to essentially undermine the work of the weapons inspectors and try and perpetrate some act of aggression against Iraq -- Catherine.

CALLAWAY: Thank you, Nic Robertson in Baghdad. Thanks.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com