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CNN Sunday Morning
Search for WMDs in Iraq Intensifies
Aired December 21, 2003 - 08:04 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.
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN ANCHOR: Now that the hunt for Saddam Hussein is over, the hunt for his weapons is intensifying. And as our David Ensor reports, the search is seeing little success.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Looking for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq's vast deserts is like looking for a needle in a haystack. And knowledgeable officials privately concede it has not gone well.
David Kay, the CIA man leading the search, is home for the holidays. His team in Iraq has been cut back to beef up on U.S. efforts against insurgents. Partly for personal reasons, sources say Kay has not even decided whether he wants to go back to finish the job in the new year.
Saddam Hussein, the prisoner, has offered nothing on the weapons except denials thus far, officials say. There is disagreement over whether his capture will convince Iraqi scientists to reveal more.
REP. PORTER GOSS (R), CHAIRMAN, INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: I think that the incentive to cooperate is probably greater now.
JOSEPH CIRINCIONE, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT: The security situation in Iraq is so unstable that even with Saddam captive, it's unlikely that anyone's going to feel more secure until the insurgency itself disappears.
ENSOR: President Bush and his advisers counsel patience. "The weapons have not been found yet," says the President. Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld says the little hole where Saddam hid shows how hard the search for weapons is.
DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: Think of the quantity of biological weapons that could fit in that hole alone could kill tens of thousands of human beings.
ENSOR: After all, it wasn't until the wind blew sand off some buried Iraqi warplanes that even they were found. But all Kay has found is evidence of weapons programs in cold storage: blueprints, components, dual-use labs, as well as a missile program that cheated on U.N. rules. But no actual weapons.
GOSS: If there are not weapons of mass destruction, what happened to the ones we know he had the last time we had a U.N. inspection team in there? Where did they go?
ENSOR: The Iraqis said they had destroyed everything, but they failed to prove it. Administration critics say it looks like Saddam was bluffing.
CIRINCIONE: He thought he could cooperate enough and give two messages, one to the world, I have nothing to hide, and two to his neighbors, I've got a lot to hide, don't mess with me. It turns out it was a major miscalculation.
ENSOR (on camera): If it does turn out that there are no weapons, then it would appear that Saddam Hussein is not the only one who miscalculated.
David Ensor, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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 December 21, 2003 - 08:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN ANCHOR: Now that the hunt for Saddam Hussein is over, the hunt for his weapons is intensifying. And as our David Ensor reports, the search is seeing little success.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Looking for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq's vast deserts is like looking for a needle in a haystack. And knowledgeable officials privately concede it has not gone well.
David Kay, the CIA man leading the search, is home for the holidays. His team in Iraq has been cut back to beef up on U.S. efforts against insurgents. Partly for personal reasons, sources say Kay has not even decided whether he wants to go back to finish the job in the new year.
Saddam Hussein, the prisoner, has offered nothing on the weapons except denials thus far, officials say. There is disagreement over whether his capture will convince Iraqi scientists to reveal more.
REP. PORTER GOSS (R), CHAIRMAN, INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: I think that the incentive to cooperate is probably greater now.
JOSEPH CIRINCIONE, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT: The security situation in Iraq is so unstable that even with Saddam captive, it's unlikely that anyone's going to feel more secure until the insurgency itself disappears.
ENSOR: President Bush and his advisers counsel patience. "The weapons have not been found yet," says the President. Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld says the little hole where Saddam hid shows how hard the search for weapons is.
DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: Think of the quantity of biological weapons that could fit in that hole alone could kill tens of thousands of human beings.
ENSOR: After all, it wasn't until the wind blew sand off some buried Iraqi warplanes that even they were found. But all Kay has found is evidence of weapons programs in cold storage: blueprints, components, dual-use labs, as well as a missile program that cheated on U.N. rules. But no actual weapons.
GOSS: If there are not weapons of mass destruction, what happened to the ones we know he had the last time we had a U.N. inspection team in there? Where did they go?
ENSOR: The Iraqis said they had destroyed everything, but they failed to prove it. Administration critics say it looks like Saddam was bluffing.
CIRINCIONE: He thought he could cooperate enough and give two messages, one to the world, I have nothing to hide, and two to his neighbors, I've got a lot to hide, don't mess with me. It turns out it was a major miscalculation.
ENSOR (on camera): If it does turn out that there are no weapons, then it would appear that Saddam Hussein is not the only one who miscalculated.
David Ensor, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
