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CNN Sunday Morning
U.N. Inspectors Continue Searching for Weapons in Iraq
Aired February 16, 2003 - 10:05 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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: In Iraq, U.N. weapons inspectors are back on the job today. Their backdrop, Iraqis marking the anniversary of a deadly bombing near Baghdad during the 1991 Persian Gulf War. Our senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson is with us from the Iraqi capital. And yesterday it was antiwar protests in Baghdad, today, gatherings of another kind -- Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, the gatherings of the Anmaria (ph) Bomb Shelter. Now, this was a bomb shelter that was hit during the Gulf War. Allied intelligence at the time said they thought high-level Iraqi officials were there. Iraqi officials after said that 407 women, children and old people were killed.
Now, Iraq's vice president, Taha Yassin Ramadan, led the commemoration there today. It's 12 years since that incident happened. Also he opened a museum of remembrance to honor the people who died there. His message, a very straightforward one, however, for the United States today. He said, "The United States is leading the world towards a catastrophe." He also said that the marches around the world show that the United States was essentially being alienated, that there was no support from what he called the United States aggression against Iraq. And I talked privately with one very senior Iraqi official who told me he didn't think he'd seen anything on the scale of these demonstrations since the Vietnam War. And he thought the United States should be paying attention to this right now. He also said that from what they hear, they believe that British Prime Minister Tony Blair is moving away from supporting President Bush.
The message for the world today, however, from the vice president that Iraq is showing the world that the United States is lying. The reason he said that is because Iraq has no weapons of mass destruction and he said because Iraq is proving that, that shows, therefore the United States is lying at this time -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Well, Nic. Let's talk a little bit more about how encouraged the Iraqis must be feeling, especially a day after the world had so many gatherings of anti-war messages.
ROBERTSON: Clearly, it makes people here feel that the United States, its message, is not the dominant message at this time. That's what officials here say. Naji Sabri, the foreign minister who's in Cairo at the moment for a meeting of Arab foreign ministers under the auspices of the Arab League, said that the United States should be listening, not only to its own people, but to all of the people around the world. So very much officials here see this global peace movement as something that can perhaps help stop the potential for war at this time.
People here a little bit buoyed to hear Hans Blix's speech at the U.N. two days ago. The economy here improving ever so slightly, a two percent rise on the Iraqi dinar, the local currency, against the U.S. dollar. Just the merest indication there that hopes are up a little bit. But Frederick, the bottom line here is that people here do not for one minute think that the possibility of war has gone away completely.
WHITFIELD: All right, Nic Robertson from Baghdad, thank you very much.
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 February 16, 2003 - 10:05 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: In Iraq, U.N. weapons inspectors are back on the job today. Their backdrop, Iraqis marking the anniversary of a deadly bombing near Baghdad during the 1991 Persian Gulf War. Our senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson is with us from the Iraqi capital. And yesterday it was antiwar protests in Baghdad, today, gatherings of another kind -- Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, the gatherings of the Anmaria (ph) Bomb Shelter. Now, this was a bomb shelter that was hit during the Gulf War. Allied intelligence at the time said they thought high-level Iraqi officials were there. Iraqi officials after said that 407 women, children and old people were killed.
Now, Iraq's vice president, Taha Yassin Ramadan, led the commemoration there today. It's 12 years since that incident happened. Also he opened a museum of remembrance to honor the people who died there. His message, a very straightforward one, however, for the United States today. He said, "The United States is leading the world towards a catastrophe." He also said that the marches around the world show that the United States was essentially being alienated, that there was no support from what he called the United States aggression against Iraq. And I talked privately with one very senior Iraqi official who told me he didn't think he'd seen anything on the scale of these demonstrations since the Vietnam War. And he thought the United States should be paying attention to this right now. He also said that from what they hear, they believe that British Prime Minister Tony Blair is moving away from supporting President Bush.
The message for the world today, however, from the vice president that Iraq is showing the world that the United States is lying. The reason he said that is because Iraq has no weapons of mass destruction and he said because Iraq is proving that, that shows, therefore the United States is lying at this time -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Well, Nic. Let's talk a little bit more about how encouraged the Iraqis must be feeling, especially a day after the world had so many gatherings of anti-war messages.
ROBERTSON: Clearly, it makes people here feel that the United States, its message, is not the dominant message at this time. That's what officials here say. Naji Sabri, the foreign minister who's in Cairo at the moment for a meeting of Arab foreign ministers under the auspices of the Arab League, said that the United States should be listening, not only to its own people, but to all of the people around the world. So very much officials here see this global peace movement as something that can perhaps help stop the potential for war at this time.
People here a little bit buoyed to hear Hans Blix's speech at the U.N. two days ago. The economy here improving ever so slightly, a two percent rise on the Iraqi dinar, the local currency, against the U.S. dollar. Just the merest indication there that hopes are up a little bit. But Frederick, the bottom line here is that people here do not for one minute think that the possibility of war has gone away completely.
WHITFIELD: All right, Nic Robertson from Baghdad, thank you very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
