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CNN Sunday Morning
U.N. Weapons Inspectors Search Monitoring Directorate
Aired January 05, 2003 - 10:08 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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Now the latest on the weapons hunt in Iraq. A U.N. team spent several hours searching for banned weapons inside the Iraqi agency that oversees the inspectors. We get the latest now from CNN's Rym Brahimi in Baghdad. Hi, Rym.
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka. Well, actually, the inspectors were indeed, as you mentioned, in that compound that also hosts the Iraqi National Monitoring Directorate. That's the body that was created in '93 to be an interlocutor to the U.N. weapons programs -- to the U.N. weapons inspectors, sorry.
Now, the inspectors actually went in there, but weren't interested in the National Monitoring Directorate. What they were interested in was in one of the other buildings that's in that huge compound that deals with research of petrochemicals. They went in, Fredricka, and then they froze the site, and then they split up into different teams. One of them, one of the teams, maybe two or three people, they were just wearing some protective clothing as they circled one of the buildings, and at the same time, the other members of that team were sort of checking people going in and out, preventing most people from leaving or entering the building, and it's only after several hours that they eventually allowed some of the employees to leave the building.
Now, there was a lot of unhappiness there, a lot of employees going out were complaining saying they had kids to pick up at the nursery, they were delayed for something like five or six hours. Some people weren't employees; they just had an appointment there in the morning but nonetheless couldn't leave the site for a few hours and were seriously delayed in all the things they had to do.
When they finished their search, after about six hours, we were allowed in, and we spoke to the director of the Monitoring Directorate who was there, he spoke to reporters and he says that while they weren't happy with the way this happened, they thought that it wasn't necessary to go about freezing the site if they were just interested in that research center that does the research on chemicals.
Well, at the same time, he didn't think it was a good thing to complain to the inspectors themselves, because he said he was very keen to be seen as continuing this cooperation. He didn't want anyone to find a pretext to say that Iraq was not cooperating -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Now, Rym, do the inspectors feel like they're kind of running out of time since Hans Blix wants to get his final review by the 27th of this month? BRAHIMI: Well, definitely they still have a lot of ground to cover. You know, when they started the inspections, Hans Blix actually said they would look at something like more than 700 or 800 sites, and so far it seems that they've conducted something like 250 inspections in the past month and week or so that they've been at it.
At the same time, of course, this is a vast, vast country. There are a lot of sites. Each site comprises a great number of buildings, so that's probably going to last for a while. They definitely do have this deadline coming up very quickly, and I think they're probably, as you say, very keen to have something to report to the U.N. Security Council to be able to really have a good glimpse of their activities and what will have been by then the past two months of inspections -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: And are there standout discussion points during Blix's visit?
BRAHIMI: Well, Fredricka, Blix -- Hans Blix is supposed to arrive we believe around the 18th, and from what we understand, there are going to be at least a couple of points on the agenda. One of them will probably be this issue of interviewing scientists, that's something that the U.N. weapons inspectors have been under quite a bit of pressure about. At the same time they sort of started the process, at least the nuclear experts did, Hans Blix's team haven't actually started that formal process yet, but it's still something that hasn't been taken forward since they started the inspections. So that seems to be an issue.
Another issue that is definitely going to be discussed we know from Iraqi officials is the weapons declaration that Iraq submitted earlier on. Now, Hans Blix had said a few weeks ago when he discussed it with the U.N. Security Council that there were things that weren't clear, he needed to ask questions about, and the Iraqis have said they're more than welcome to ask any questions. The Iraqis say they would be very happy to answer any questions that Hans Blix would have on that weapons declaration -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right, Rym Brahimi, thank you very much from Baghdad.
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 January 5, 2003 - 10:08 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Now the latest on the weapons hunt in Iraq. A U.N. team spent several hours searching for banned weapons inside the Iraqi agency that oversees the inspectors. We get the latest now from CNN's Rym Brahimi in Baghdad. Hi, Rym.
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka. Well, actually, the inspectors were indeed, as you mentioned, in that compound that also hosts the Iraqi National Monitoring Directorate. That's the body that was created in '93 to be an interlocutor to the U.N. weapons programs -- to the U.N. weapons inspectors, sorry.
Now, the inspectors actually went in there, but weren't interested in the National Monitoring Directorate. What they were interested in was in one of the other buildings that's in that huge compound that deals with research of petrochemicals. They went in, Fredricka, and then they froze the site, and then they split up into different teams. One of them, one of the teams, maybe two or three people, they were just wearing some protective clothing as they circled one of the buildings, and at the same time, the other members of that team were sort of checking people going in and out, preventing most people from leaving or entering the building, and it's only after several hours that they eventually allowed some of the employees to leave the building.
Now, there was a lot of unhappiness there, a lot of employees going out were complaining saying they had kids to pick up at the nursery, they were delayed for something like five or six hours. Some people weren't employees; they just had an appointment there in the morning but nonetheless couldn't leave the site for a few hours and were seriously delayed in all the things they had to do.
When they finished their search, after about six hours, we were allowed in, and we spoke to the director of the Monitoring Directorate who was there, he spoke to reporters and he says that while they weren't happy with the way this happened, they thought that it wasn't necessary to go about freezing the site if they were just interested in that research center that does the research on chemicals.
Well, at the same time, he didn't think it was a good thing to complain to the inspectors themselves, because he said he was very keen to be seen as continuing this cooperation. He didn't want anyone to find a pretext to say that Iraq was not cooperating -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Now, Rym, do the inspectors feel like they're kind of running out of time since Hans Blix wants to get his final review by the 27th of this month? BRAHIMI: Well, definitely they still have a lot of ground to cover. You know, when they started the inspections, Hans Blix actually said they would look at something like more than 700 or 800 sites, and so far it seems that they've conducted something like 250 inspections in the past month and week or so that they've been at it.
At the same time, of course, this is a vast, vast country. There are a lot of sites. Each site comprises a great number of buildings, so that's probably going to last for a while. They definitely do have this deadline coming up very quickly, and I think they're probably, as you say, very keen to have something to report to the U.N. Security Council to be able to really have a good glimpse of their activities and what will have been by then the past two months of inspections -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: And are there standout discussion points during Blix's visit?
BRAHIMI: Well, Fredricka, Blix -- Hans Blix is supposed to arrive we believe around the 18th, and from what we understand, there are going to be at least a couple of points on the agenda. One of them will probably be this issue of interviewing scientists, that's something that the U.N. weapons inspectors have been under quite a bit of pressure about. At the same time they sort of started the process, at least the nuclear experts did, Hans Blix's team haven't actually started that formal process yet, but it's still something that hasn't been taken forward since they started the inspections. So that seems to be an issue.
Another issue that is definitely going to be discussed we know from Iraqi officials is the weapons declaration that Iraq submitted earlier on. Now, Hans Blix had said a few weeks ago when he discussed it with the U.N. Security Council that there were things that weren't clear, he needed to ask questions about, and the Iraqis have said they're more than welcome to ask any questions. The Iraqis say they would be very happy to answer any questions that Hans Blix would have on that weapons declaration -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right, Rym Brahimi, thank you very much from Baghdad.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
