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CNN Sunday Morning

U.N. Inspectors Will Meet With Iraqis to Discuss VX, Anthrax

Aired March 02, 2003 - 07:34   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: Turning now to Iraq, Iraq is destroying more of those banned missiles, which the U.N. says can fly too far. And inspectors are to meet with Iraqi officials on VX and anthrax stocks, which Iraq says it has destroyed.
CNN's Rym Brahimi joins us now from Baghdad with the very latest.

Good morning, Rym.

RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Heidi. Well in about three and a half hours from now, technical talks due to be held here in Baghdad between U.N. and Iraqi officials. They're going to be discussed methods suggested by Iraq to prove their claims that in 1991, they disposed of tons of anthrax and VX, quantities that the U.N. says Iraq must still account for.

Now the technical talks will be led on the United Nations weapons expert side by Demetrius Perricos. He's a deputy of Hans Blix, the chief U.N. weapons inspector. Demetrius Perricos spoke to reporters saying that Iraq has been in recent weeks or days coming forward with a little more documents. There is still a lot of work to be done, he said, but the inspection process does seem to be working. Here's how he put it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEMETRIUS PERRICOS, DEPUTY TO INSPECTOR BLIX: We have not found the things that -- smoking gun. No, this has not been found. But we believe that the presence in the country is definitely preventing any activities to come, you know, and to be regenerated at the moment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRAHIMI: Now the al Samoud missile is being destroyed again. More of those missiles being destroyed today. Iraqi officials saying they want to destroy more than the four that they did yesterday. So they're going about it by crushing the missiles. We also understand the casting chamber is also being destroyed today as a separate site.

Another development, Heidi, yesterday another interview took place with an Iraqi scientist, a biological expert was interviewed in private by U.N. experts yesterday evening. Another three interviews were requested by UNMOVIC, but those didn't take place for various reasons. One of them insisted he had a tape recorder with him. That was rejected. Another one wanted the presence of a witness. That was also rejected. And another one, according to the foreign ministry, is out of the country -- Heidi.

COLLINS: All right, CNN's Rym Brahimi talking to us live from Baghdad this morning. 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




Anthrax>


Aired March 2, 2003 - 07:34   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Turning now to Iraq, Iraq is destroying more of those banned missiles, which the U.N. says can fly too far. And inspectors are to meet with Iraqi officials on VX and anthrax stocks, which Iraq says it has destroyed.
CNN's Rym Brahimi joins us now from Baghdad with the very latest.

Good morning, Rym.

RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Heidi. Well in about three and a half hours from now, technical talks due to be held here in Baghdad between U.N. and Iraqi officials. They're going to be discussed methods suggested by Iraq to prove their claims that in 1991, they disposed of tons of anthrax and VX, quantities that the U.N. says Iraq must still account for.

Now the technical talks will be led on the United Nations weapons expert side by Demetrius Perricos. He's a deputy of Hans Blix, the chief U.N. weapons inspector. Demetrius Perricos spoke to reporters saying that Iraq has been in recent weeks or days coming forward with a little more documents. There is still a lot of work to be done, he said, but the inspection process does seem to be working. Here's how he put it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEMETRIUS PERRICOS, DEPUTY TO INSPECTOR BLIX: We have not found the things that -- smoking gun. No, this has not been found. But we believe that the presence in the country is definitely preventing any activities to come, you know, and to be regenerated at the moment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRAHIMI: Now the al Samoud missile is being destroyed again. More of those missiles being destroyed today. Iraqi officials saying they want to destroy more than the four that they did yesterday. So they're going about it by crushing the missiles. We also understand the casting chamber is also being destroyed today as a separate site.

Another development, Heidi, yesterday another interview took place with an Iraqi scientist, a biological expert was interviewed in private by U.N. experts yesterday evening. Another three interviews were requested by UNMOVIC, but those didn't take place for various reasons. One of them insisted he had a tape recorder with him. That was rejected. Another one wanted the presence of a witness. That was also rejected. And another one, according to the foreign ministry, is out of the country -- Heidi.

COLLINS: All right, CNN's Rym Brahimi talking to us live from Baghdad this morning. 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




Anthrax>