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CNN Sunday Morning

U.S. Takes Wait-and-See Approach to Iraq's Declaration

Aired December 08, 2002 - 07:05   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.


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: U.S. officials are taking a wait and see approach to Iraq's arms declaration. The White House issued a brief statement in response to the document's release. From the White House, we turn to CNN's Frank Buckley.
Good morning, Frank.

FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.

The White House, as you say, issuing a statement that was pretty short and to the point. The tone of the statement, however, giving a sense of the skepticism of this White House. Ari Fleischer saying in the statement that Iraq had issued what it claims to be a declaration.

Here's what the rest of the declaration said, "The U.S. government will analyze this declaration with respect to its credibility and compliance with U.N. Security Council Resolution 14- 41. We will continue to work with other countries to achieve the ultimate goal of protecting the peace by ending Saddam Hussein's pursuit and accumulation of weapons of mass destruction."

President Bush, left the White House yesterday for Camp David and so far he has not issue a statement. White House and intelligence officials, however, are skeptical about the declaration. They don't think it will truthfully outline the extent of the Iraqi weapons program.

U.S. officials say that they have evidence that Iraq has taken steps recently to conceal the chemical and biological facilities. Now, if the declaration is false from the view of the U.S., that will be considered, by the U.S., to be a material breach. But officials are telling us that that will not be an immediate trigger for war. Rather they are going to look for a body of obstructionism.

It could be sometime, Miles, before we get an official reaction from the White House, since they have 11,000 pages to go through -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Frank, there are reports out that the administration is particularly concerned about the possibility that Iraq might have been trying to develop centrifuges, which would be part of the process of creating nuclear bombs. Was there any talk about that yesterday? Are they going to be looking for that specifically in that 12,000-page pile? BUCKLEY: That is certainly one of the things that they're going to be looking at. The U.S. believes that Iraq is developing a nuclear program. So far they haven't said that they have evidence that Iraq has nuclear weapons, but they believe that Iraq is trying to develop a nuclear program. So that is certainly one of the things that they'll be looking for.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Frank Buckley, from a chilly White House front lawn. Thank you very much. Check in with you later.

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 8, 2002 - 07:05   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: U.S. officials are taking a wait and see approach to Iraq's arms declaration. The White House issued a brief statement in response to the document's release. From the White House, we turn to CNN's Frank Buckley.
Good morning, Frank.

FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.

The White House, as you say, issuing a statement that was pretty short and to the point. The tone of the statement, however, giving a sense of the skepticism of this White House. Ari Fleischer saying in the statement that Iraq had issued what it claims to be a declaration.

Here's what the rest of the declaration said, "The U.S. government will analyze this declaration with respect to its credibility and compliance with U.N. Security Council Resolution 14- 41. We will continue to work with other countries to achieve the ultimate goal of protecting the peace by ending Saddam Hussein's pursuit and accumulation of weapons of mass destruction."

President Bush, left the White House yesterday for Camp David and so far he has not issue a statement. White House and intelligence officials, however, are skeptical about the declaration. They don't think it will truthfully outline the extent of the Iraqi weapons program.

U.S. officials say that they have evidence that Iraq has taken steps recently to conceal the chemical and biological facilities. Now, if the declaration is false from the view of the U.S., that will be considered, by the U.S., to be a material breach. But officials are telling us that that will not be an immediate trigger for war. Rather they are going to look for a body of obstructionism.

It could be sometime, Miles, before we get an official reaction from the White House, since they have 11,000 pages to go through -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Frank, there are reports out that the administration is particularly concerned about the possibility that Iraq might have been trying to develop centrifuges, which would be part of the process of creating nuclear bombs. Was there any talk about that yesterday? Are they going to be looking for that specifically in that 12,000-page pile? BUCKLEY: That is certainly one of the things that they're going to be looking at. The U.S. believes that Iraq is developing a nuclear program. So far they haven't said that they have evidence that Iraq has nuclear weapons, but they believe that Iraq is trying to develop a nuclear program. So that is certainly one of the things that they'll be looking for.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Frank Buckley, from a chilly White House front lawn. Thank you very much. Check in with you later.

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