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CNN Sunday Morning
U.S. Military Buildup in Persian Gulf Continues
Aired January 12, 2003 - 11:07 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: Four more Virginia-based ships are heading out to sea, likely bound for the Persian Gulf.
The navy won't say exactly where the ships are going, but the deployment was ordered shortly after the announcement last week that 62,000 more U.S. troops would be heading to the Persian Gulf region.
Iraqi officials again are accusing international weapons inspectors of spying on Iraq as they hunt for banned weapons. The charge came as teams fanned out across Iraq.
An update now from CNN's Rym Brahimi in Baghdad.
Rym?
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Fredricka, indeed. Well, one Iraqi official, Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan, has reiterated again those allegations, saying that Iraq was very much aware that, in his view, the inspectors were not just searching for weapons but also gathering intelligence.
That said, the vice president also said that Iraq was keen to continue its cooperation in order, in his words, to expose the lies of the U.S. and British administration, prove to the world it has no weapons of mass destruction and avert a war.
Now, meanwhile, as you were mentioning, as well, the teams of weapons inspectors have continued.
It's pretty much business as usual for them, here, Fredricka. A team to the north, one to the south. A few in and around Baghdad. One of them went to visit the department of pharmacology at Baghdad's university.
And then a team, a joint team of multidisciplinary experts, they went to a site 60 kilometers south of Baghdad. And they conducted there, or they witnessed there, an experiment that was carried out at that site.
It's a site that's known to have tested -- done some static testing of missiles in the past couple of months in the presence of weapons inspectors. Missiles, of course, one of the issues they're monitoring closely, because Iraq is only authorized to make missiles not going beyond 150 kilometer range.
Now, in the middle of this whole military buildup in the region, Fredricka, Iraq has been reaching out to certain of its neighbors, one of them Turkey. A Turkey delegation was here; the head of that delegation met with Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, carrying a message from Turkish Prime Minister Abdullah Gul to the president.
Turkish officials say that the message was meant to reassure President Saddam Hussein that Turkey does not want to see a war there, but also calling on Iraq to do its bit to avoid a war.
The Turkish head of delegation was in Baghdad accompanied by some 300 Turkish businessmen.
And then another interesting visit, an envoy from the state of Qatar met with president Saddam Hussein, as well. This was shown on Iraqi TV. Interesting, of course, Fredricka, in light of the U.S. troop buildup; many troops are actually gathering in Qatar -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right, Rym, 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 12, 2003 - 11:07 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Four more Virginia-based ships are heading out to sea, likely bound for the Persian Gulf.
The navy won't say exactly where the ships are going, but the deployment was ordered shortly after the announcement last week that 62,000 more U.S. troops would be heading to the Persian Gulf region.
Iraqi officials again are accusing international weapons inspectors of spying on Iraq as they hunt for banned weapons. The charge came as teams fanned out across Iraq.
An update now from CNN's Rym Brahimi in Baghdad.
Rym?
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Fredricka, indeed. Well, one Iraqi official, Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan, has reiterated again those allegations, saying that Iraq was very much aware that, in his view, the inspectors were not just searching for weapons but also gathering intelligence.
That said, the vice president also said that Iraq was keen to continue its cooperation in order, in his words, to expose the lies of the U.S. and British administration, prove to the world it has no weapons of mass destruction and avert a war.
Now, meanwhile, as you were mentioning, as well, the teams of weapons inspectors have continued.
It's pretty much business as usual for them, here, Fredricka. A team to the north, one to the south. A few in and around Baghdad. One of them went to visit the department of pharmacology at Baghdad's university.
And then a team, a joint team of multidisciplinary experts, they went to a site 60 kilometers south of Baghdad. And they conducted there, or they witnessed there, an experiment that was carried out at that site.
It's a site that's known to have tested -- done some static testing of missiles in the past couple of months in the presence of weapons inspectors. Missiles, of course, one of the issues they're monitoring closely, because Iraq is only authorized to make missiles not going beyond 150 kilometer range.
Now, in the middle of this whole military buildup in the region, Fredricka, Iraq has been reaching out to certain of its neighbors, one of them Turkey. A Turkey delegation was here; the head of that delegation met with Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, carrying a message from Turkish Prime Minister Abdullah Gul to the president.
Turkish officials say that the message was meant to reassure President Saddam Hussein that Turkey does not want to see a war there, but also calling on Iraq to do its bit to avoid a war.
The Turkish head of delegation was in Baghdad accompanied by some 300 Turkish businessmen.
And then another interesting visit, an envoy from the state of Qatar met with president Saddam Hussein, as well. This was shown on Iraqi TV. Interesting, of course, Fredricka, in light of the U.S. troop buildup; many troops are actually gathering in Qatar -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right, Rym, 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
