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CNN Sunday Morning
Blix, El-Baradei Come to Baghdad
Aired January 19, 2003 - 10:02 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.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Now to our top story this morning, the hunt for weapons in Iraq. Attention is focused on Baghdad today with the visit of the U.N.'s two men in charge of inspections. Hans Blix and Mohamed El-Baradei arrived there today and they say they have a stern message for Iraqi officials. CNN's Rym Brahimi joins us now from the Iraqi capital with the very latest -- Rym.
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Heidi. Well, U.N. chief weapons inspectors Hans Blix and Mohamed El-Baradei were just meeting at the Foreign Ministry of Iraq with President Saddam Hussein's top scientific adviser and a lot of Iraqi officials from the Iraqi National Monitoring Directorate and from the Iraqi Foreign Ministry. Now, as you mentioned, they have a very clear message. Hans Blix said that he wanted to see Iraq show that it was cooperating even more and being more active in its cooperation in order to avert a war. Here's how he put it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HANS BLIX, U.N. CHIEF WEAPONS INSPECTOR: We have had access everywhere so far, and we hope there will be access everywhere so far. And there has been prompt access and that has been good. But there needs to also be a (UNINTELLIGIBLE) corporation. We will discuss that with them. And inspection is not a prelude to war. It is an alternative to war and that is what we want to achieve.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRAHIMI: Now Mohamed El-Baradei also saying that the recent finding that the U.N. weapons inspectors have made in Iraq, well, he says that they seem to contribute to lack of confidence and Iraq has to come up with something more concrete. Here's what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MOHAMED EL-BARADEI, CHIEF, IAEA (through translator): The timing of our visit is very important. We would like to see an inspection to work. For the inspection to work we need a lot of additional information and we are going to impress on our Iraqi counterparts the importance of providing as much information, as much documents, as much physical evidence as possible. This will help us submit our report next week to the Security Council.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRAHIMI: Now, the U.N. chief weapons inspectors akin to add that Iraq has to make very clear signal that it is willing to follow up with that pro-active cooperation before the 27th of January. That said the two men are here on the invitation of Iraq who also has a lot of issues to discuss. So there'll be a lot of back and forth between Iraqi officials and the two chief U.N. weapons inspectors on specific issues like the empty chemical warheads they found, the documents that they found at the scientist's house and the whole other issues that they need to talk about -- Heidi.
COLLINS: That's right, Rym. It doesn't seem like they have very much time. How likely is it the stepped up pressure, if you will, from Hans Blix and Mohamed El-Baradei will work?
BRAHIMI: Well, it seems that they are getting some measure of a message here. They are getting the message to some extent. And I think they were keen of Blix and El-Baradei to come to Baghdad if only to really understand what else they need to do. And I think Mr. Blix and Mr. El-Baradei are being extremely clear on that. They're really pointing to very, very specific issues that they want to bring up, not only those documents and those empty chemical warheads but also there are issues of using helicopters in the no no-fly zone, a lot of specific issues and of course, that crucial issue in terms of -- in the view of the U.N. weapons inspectors, the interviews with scientists.
So I think they're going to be getting their message. But they have said that they are keen to have this discussion. We'll know more of course after Mr. Blix and Mr. El-Baradei leave town tomorrow. But so far it seems that the fact that they are discussing means there is still something that they can do right now -- Heidi.
COLLINS: All right, Rym. And we will be watching. Thank you, Rym Brahimi, live in 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 19, 2003 - 10:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Now to our top story this morning, the hunt for weapons in Iraq. Attention is focused on Baghdad today with the visit of the U.N.'s two men in charge of inspections. Hans Blix and Mohamed El-Baradei arrived there today and they say they have a stern message for Iraqi officials. CNN's Rym Brahimi joins us now from the Iraqi capital with the very latest -- Rym.
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Heidi. Well, U.N. chief weapons inspectors Hans Blix and Mohamed El-Baradei were just meeting at the Foreign Ministry of Iraq with President Saddam Hussein's top scientific adviser and a lot of Iraqi officials from the Iraqi National Monitoring Directorate and from the Iraqi Foreign Ministry. Now, as you mentioned, they have a very clear message. Hans Blix said that he wanted to see Iraq show that it was cooperating even more and being more active in its cooperation in order to avert a war. Here's how he put it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HANS BLIX, U.N. CHIEF WEAPONS INSPECTOR: We have had access everywhere so far, and we hope there will be access everywhere so far. And there has been prompt access and that has been good. But there needs to also be a (UNINTELLIGIBLE) corporation. We will discuss that with them. And inspection is not a prelude to war. It is an alternative to war and that is what we want to achieve.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRAHIMI: Now Mohamed El-Baradei also saying that the recent finding that the U.N. weapons inspectors have made in Iraq, well, he says that they seem to contribute to lack of confidence and Iraq has to come up with something more concrete. Here's what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MOHAMED EL-BARADEI, CHIEF, IAEA (through translator): The timing of our visit is very important. We would like to see an inspection to work. For the inspection to work we need a lot of additional information and we are going to impress on our Iraqi counterparts the importance of providing as much information, as much documents, as much physical evidence as possible. This will help us submit our report next week to the Security Council.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRAHIMI: Now, the U.N. chief weapons inspectors akin to add that Iraq has to make very clear signal that it is willing to follow up with that pro-active cooperation before the 27th of January. That said the two men are here on the invitation of Iraq who also has a lot of issues to discuss. So there'll be a lot of back and forth between Iraqi officials and the two chief U.N. weapons inspectors on specific issues like the empty chemical warheads they found, the documents that they found at the scientist's house and the whole other issues that they need to talk about -- Heidi.
COLLINS: That's right, Rym. It doesn't seem like they have very much time. How likely is it the stepped up pressure, if you will, from Hans Blix and Mohamed El-Baradei will work?
BRAHIMI: Well, it seems that they are getting some measure of a message here. They are getting the message to some extent. And I think they were keen of Blix and El-Baradei to come to Baghdad if only to really understand what else they need to do. And I think Mr. Blix and Mr. El-Baradei are being extremely clear on that. They're really pointing to very, very specific issues that they want to bring up, not only those documents and those empty chemical warheads but also there are issues of using helicopters in the no no-fly zone, a lot of specific issues and of course, that crucial issue in terms of -- in the view of the U.N. weapons inspectors, the interviews with scientists.
So I think they're going to be getting their message. But they have said that they are keen to have this discussion. We'll know more of course after Mr. Blix and Mr. El-Baradei leave town tomorrow. But so far it seems that the fact that they are discussing means there is still something that they can do right now -- Heidi.
COLLINS: All right, Rym. And we will be watching. Thank you, Rym Brahimi, live in 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
