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CNN Saturday Morning News
Saddam tells Iraqi People Acceptance of U.N. Resolution Was for Their Safety
Aired November 16, 2002 - 09:05 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.
ARTHEL NEVILLE, CNN ANCHOR: And now to Iraq, where the people just heard a message from Saddam Hussein. Iraqi television read a statement from Saddam Hussein explaining why he's allowing U.N. weapons inspectors back in.
And CNN's Rym Brahimi is following the story from Baghdad now. Rym, what's the latest?
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Arthel, just a little point here, what you're hearing behind me, maybe, is the call to prayer. This marks the end of the day's fast. This is Ramadan, as you know, in Baghdad, so we're just coming up to people are going -- rushing to their meals.
And this just comes an hour -- less than an hour after this address that was broadcast on Iraqi TV, the address by Saddam Hussein. It was read by a television commentator addressing the people of Iraq, but more specifically members of the national assembly, or members of the Iraqi parliament, who a few days ago had recommended rejecting that resolution.
At the same time, they had also called on their president, or allowed their president, as they put it, to make that decision himself, whether or not to accept the resolution.
Now, in his address, President Saddam Hussein explained why it had been important, saying that in so doing, he had put the Iraqi people out of harm's way and he had basically managed in accepting the resolution to ward off a threat of a U.S. attack.
Now, what he said was also that he hoped that the members of the Security Council, or those members in the Security Council that are truly interested in seeing whether or not Iraq has weapons of mass destruction, will be satisfied, because when the inspectors come in, they will be able to verify that Iraq is clean of such weapons.
He did say, though, however, that for the members of the Security Council, like the U.S. and Britain, whose real intentions had not been to seek disarmament but just to attack Iraq, this was another issue, but as far as Iraq was concerned, this was a matter of security and of protecting its people, Arthel -- Sorry.
NEVILLE: It's OK, Rym, I did it to you earlier, so turnabout is fair play. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Was for Their Safety>
Aired November 16, 2002 - 09:05 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ARTHEL NEVILLE, CNN ANCHOR: And now to Iraq, where the people just heard a message from Saddam Hussein. Iraqi television read a statement from Saddam Hussein explaining why he's allowing U.N. weapons inspectors back in.
And CNN's Rym Brahimi is following the story from Baghdad now. Rym, what's the latest?
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Arthel, just a little point here, what you're hearing behind me, maybe, is the call to prayer. This marks the end of the day's fast. This is Ramadan, as you know, in Baghdad, so we're just coming up to people are going -- rushing to their meals.
And this just comes an hour -- less than an hour after this address that was broadcast on Iraqi TV, the address by Saddam Hussein. It was read by a television commentator addressing the people of Iraq, but more specifically members of the national assembly, or members of the Iraqi parliament, who a few days ago had recommended rejecting that resolution.
At the same time, they had also called on their president, or allowed their president, as they put it, to make that decision himself, whether or not to accept the resolution.
Now, in his address, President Saddam Hussein explained why it had been important, saying that in so doing, he had put the Iraqi people out of harm's way and he had basically managed in accepting the resolution to ward off a threat of a U.S. attack.
Now, what he said was also that he hoped that the members of the Security Council, or those members in the Security Council that are truly interested in seeing whether or not Iraq has weapons of mass destruction, will be satisfied, because when the inspectors come in, they will be able to verify that Iraq is clean of such weapons.
He did say, though, however, that for the members of the Security Council, like the U.S. and Britain, whose real intentions had not been to seek disarmament but just to attack Iraq, this was another issue, but as far as Iraq was concerned, this was a matter of security and of protecting its people, Arthel -- Sorry.
NEVILLE: It's OK, Rym, I did it to you earlier, so turnabout is fair play. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Was for Their Safety>
