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CNN Saturday Morning News
Weapons Inspectors Visit Industrial Complex in Iraq
Aired November 30, 2002 - 08:02 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.
KRIS OSBORN, CNN ANCHOR: In Iraq today, international arms inspectors went to a large industrial complex. It was south of Baghdad. CNN's Nic Robertson joins us now live from Baghdad with the latest. Hello, Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Kris. That was Um Al Marick (ph) -- a large, light industry complex there. They make large water tanks. They took us around the site after the inspectors had left and showed us some precision engineering equipment.
Now the director of the plant there told us that during the inspector's three-hour inspection there -- it was a team of nuclear inspectors -- they have looked at some of that precision equipment. Some of it, he says, was tagged.
Now, we noted early on in the phase of that first inspection that after an hour, one team of inspectors and one vehicle full of inspectors, at least, left that site and headed off somewhere else. Possibly going to look for other equipment that didn't -- that they didn't find at this particular site. We don't know that for sure right now. That is what's happened at previous sites in the last few days.
After completing their work at Um Al Marik the nuclear team of inspectors moved on to Al Farat (ph), just a few kilometers away on the south side of Baghdad. They spent about two hours there looking around that facility. Now that facility was until the very early 1990s a research facility -- a nuclear research facility for the Iraqi government where they investigated work with the gas centrifuge method of enriching uranium. The enriched uranium, the key ingredient for making a nuclear weapon.
Now the inspectors left there -- we talked again with a brigadier from the Iraqi Army who'd been authorized to talk with the media. He said that they had no weapons of mass destruction under development there now. He said neither had there been in the past. He was very clear on that issue. He said the inspectors had seen all they wanted to see.
Now the second team of inspectors, the missile, chemical and biological team of inspectors went to a site -- Bilat (ph) -- about 17 kilometers north of Baghdad. They spent about three and a half hours at that site. Among the things they were looking through there, we understand, were some storages of munitions -- Kris.
OSBORN: Nic Robertson, live in Baghdad, who has been along on the inspections thus far, thank you for that report.
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 November 30, 2002 - 08:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KRIS OSBORN, CNN ANCHOR: In Iraq today, international arms inspectors went to a large industrial complex. It was south of Baghdad. CNN's Nic Robertson joins us now live from Baghdad with the latest. Hello, Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Kris. That was Um Al Marick (ph) -- a large, light industry complex there. They make large water tanks. They took us around the site after the inspectors had left and showed us some precision engineering equipment.
Now the director of the plant there told us that during the inspector's three-hour inspection there -- it was a team of nuclear inspectors -- they have looked at some of that precision equipment. Some of it, he says, was tagged.
Now, we noted early on in the phase of that first inspection that after an hour, one team of inspectors and one vehicle full of inspectors, at least, left that site and headed off somewhere else. Possibly going to look for other equipment that didn't -- that they didn't find at this particular site. We don't know that for sure right now. That is what's happened at previous sites in the last few days.
After completing their work at Um Al Marik the nuclear team of inspectors moved on to Al Farat (ph), just a few kilometers away on the south side of Baghdad. They spent about two hours there looking around that facility. Now that facility was until the very early 1990s a research facility -- a nuclear research facility for the Iraqi government where they investigated work with the gas centrifuge method of enriching uranium. The enriched uranium, the key ingredient for making a nuclear weapon.
Now the inspectors left there -- we talked again with a brigadier from the Iraqi Army who'd been authorized to talk with the media. He said that they had no weapons of mass destruction under development there now. He said neither had there been in the past. He was very clear on that issue. He said the inspectors had seen all they wanted to see.
Now the second team of inspectors, the missile, chemical and biological team of inspectors went to a site -- Bilat (ph) -- about 17 kilometers north of Baghdad. They spent about three and a half hours at that site. Among the things they were looking through there, we understand, were some storages of munitions -- Kris.
OSBORN: Nic Robertson, live in Baghdad, who has been along on the inspections thus far, thank you for that report.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
