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CNN Sunday Morning
Chief Weapons Inspectors Visit Baghdad
Aired January 19, 2003 - 11:06 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, ANCHOR: And now to our other international hot spot, Iraq.
The U.N.'s two men in charge of weapons inspections are in Baghdad to review the process and the progress. Hans Blix and Mohamed El Baradei also plan to meet with top Iraqi officials.
CNN's senior international correspondent Nic Robertson is covering the visit in the Iraqi capital. He joins us now live.
Hello, Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Heidi.
Well, the first meeting with Iraqi officials has just concluded. It lasted about 2 1/2 hours. They met with General Amir Al-Saadi, President Saddam Hussein's top scientific adviser.
Now, Mohamed El Baradei, when leaving that meeting, didn't have a lot to say. He did say, however, that there had been some progress and we do understand there will be another meeting tomorrow.
But these two U.N. weapons chiefs, when they arrived in Baghdad, came here with a large number of very serious issues that they wanted to put to the Iraqi officials.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Back in Baghdad for the first time in two months, chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix and top nuclear weapons official, Mohamed El Baradei, had strong words for Iraqi officials.
HANX BLIX, U.N. CHIEF WEAPONS INSPECTOR: But there needs to also to be further cooperation and 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.
ROBERTSON: Both Blix and El Baradei, keen to stress how tense the situation is, and how important the timing of their mission.
MOHAMED EL BARADEI, INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY: The timing of our visit is very important. We would like to see an inspection to work, and for the inspection to work we still need a lot of additional information. ROBERTSON: The first meeting, during their brief day and a half of talks in the Iraqi capital, at the foreign ministry with general Amir Al-Saadi, President Saddam Hussein's top scientific adviser.
On the agenda for the talks, several specific issues, Blix and El Baradei want addressed. Also likely to be discussed, the discovery this week of documents at the house of a leading Iraqi scientist and a dozen chemical warheads at an ammunition dump south of Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTSON: Now, what Blix and El Baradei are hoping to achieve here is to be able to convince Iraqi officials that they need to be more proactive, give more support, offer more information, lead inspectors to certain places where, perhaps, more warheads may be stored.
And what they're hoping Iraqis will do is realize the importance of that and make some progress in that direction, show some visible sign of that new cooperation, before the inspectors have to make their announcement and their report to the U.N. Security Council on January the 27.
So the time frame is very short. They've got a lot of work on their hands, trying to convince Iraqi authorities of the need to do this right now -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Not much time at all. All right. CNN's Nic Robertson in Baghdad, thank you.
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 - 11:06 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, ANCHOR: And now to our other international hot spot, Iraq.
The U.N.'s two men in charge of weapons inspections are in Baghdad to review the process and the progress. Hans Blix and Mohamed El Baradei also plan to meet with top Iraqi officials.
CNN's senior international correspondent Nic Robertson is covering the visit in the Iraqi capital. He joins us now live.
Hello, Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Heidi.
Well, the first meeting with Iraqi officials has just concluded. It lasted about 2 1/2 hours. They met with General Amir Al-Saadi, President Saddam Hussein's top scientific adviser.
Now, Mohamed El Baradei, when leaving that meeting, didn't have a lot to say. He did say, however, that there had been some progress and we do understand there will be another meeting tomorrow.
But these two U.N. weapons chiefs, when they arrived in Baghdad, came here with a large number of very serious issues that they wanted to put to the Iraqi officials.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Back in Baghdad for the first time in two months, chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix and top nuclear weapons official, Mohamed El Baradei, had strong words for Iraqi officials.
HANX BLIX, U.N. CHIEF WEAPONS INSPECTOR: But there needs to also to be further cooperation and 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.
ROBERTSON: Both Blix and El Baradei, keen to stress how tense the situation is, and how important the timing of their mission.
MOHAMED EL BARADEI, INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY: The timing of our visit is very important. We would like to see an inspection to work, and for the inspection to work we still need a lot of additional information. ROBERTSON: The first meeting, during their brief day and a half of talks in the Iraqi capital, at the foreign ministry with general Amir Al-Saadi, President Saddam Hussein's top scientific adviser.
On the agenda for the talks, several specific issues, Blix and El Baradei want addressed. Also likely to be discussed, the discovery this week of documents at the house of a leading Iraqi scientist and a dozen chemical warheads at an ammunition dump south of Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTSON: Now, what Blix and El Baradei are hoping to achieve here is to be able to convince Iraqi officials that they need to be more proactive, give more support, offer more information, lead inspectors to certain places where, perhaps, more warheads may be stored.
And what they're hoping Iraqis will do is realize the importance of that and make some progress in that direction, show some visible sign of that new cooperation, before the inspectors have to make their announcement and their report to the U.N. Security Council on January the 27.
So the time frame is very short. They've got a lot of work on their hands, trying to convince Iraqi authorities of the need to do this right now -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Not much time at all. All right. CNN's Nic Robertson in Baghdad, thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
