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CNN Saturday Morning News

Blix, ElBaradei Meet With Iraqi Officials

Aired February 08, 2003 - 08:03   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.


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Switching to Iraq for the latest on high level talks on weapons inspections. Let's check in with CNN's Nic Robertson in Baghdad. Hello, Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Miles. The talks by the two U.N. weapons chiefs, Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei, beginning to get under way just now. We understand their first meeting will be with General Amir al-Saadi, the chief scientific advisor to president Saddam Hussein. Now, in the last two trips to Baghdad, General al-Saadi has been at the first meetings. Usually these meetings are comprised of perhaps a dozen officials on both sides of the table. Certainly, the issues on the table at this time are three primary issues that the weapons chiefs have asked for Iraq to resolve before they get here. Those are the use of U2 surveillance aircraft, private interviews with Iraqi scientists, and the passage of legislation outlawing weapons of mass destruction.

In the last two days, there does appear to have been some progress on one of those issues; four Iraqi scientists have taken part in those private interviews. The reason one of them gave was because of international pressure, particularly from the United States, he said, threatening aggression against Iraq, and that's why he decided to go ahead and take part in that private interview. Perhaps Hans Blix and Mohamed el-Baradei, sitting down to the table right about now, will be entering into a period of discussion on a slightly more positive footing than they might have realized a few days ago -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Nic, you sort of get the sense that el-Baradei and Blix are kind of almost going through the motions at this point; that they sort of are compelled to travel there, but underneath it all, there isn't a lot of optimism that this will lead to any sort of breakthrough. Am I being too pessimistic about it all?

ROBERTSON: You know, if you talk to the weapons inspectors here, they still intent on carrying on with their work. They're still doing, as they say, what the UN Security Council has mandated for them to do, and told them to do. And as a separate entity, if you will, to what we hear from the political capitals around the world, they're still carrying through with that.

When Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei told Iraqi officials they would come to Baghdad, it was on the explicit expectation that Iraq would resolve those issues. So, by the very nature of coming here, it implies they are expecting that to happen. Of course, they are looking for much more, dealing with many of the outstanding issues, VX, biological growth agents, chemical warheads, all these issues. So, there is an expectation that progress can be made at this time, Miles.


Aired February 8, 2003 - 08:03   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Switching to Iraq for the latest on high level talks on weapons inspections. Let's check in with CNN's Nic Robertson in Baghdad. Hello, Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Miles. The talks by the two U.N. weapons chiefs, Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei, beginning to get under way just now. We understand their first meeting will be with General Amir al-Saadi, the chief scientific advisor to president Saddam Hussein. Now, in the last two trips to Baghdad, General al-Saadi has been at the first meetings. Usually these meetings are comprised of perhaps a dozen officials on both sides of the table. Certainly, the issues on the table at this time are three primary issues that the weapons chiefs have asked for Iraq to resolve before they get here. Those are the use of U2 surveillance aircraft, private interviews with Iraqi scientists, and the passage of legislation outlawing weapons of mass destruction.

In the last two days, there does appear to have been some progress on one of those issues; four Iraqi scientists have taken part in those private interviews. The reason one of them gave was because of international pressure, particularly from the United States, he said, threatening aggression against Iraq, and that's why he decided to go ahead and take part in that private interview. Perhaps Hans Blix and Mohamed el-Baradei, sitting down to the table right about now, will be entering into a period of discussion on a slightly more positive footing than they might have realized a few days ago -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Nic, you sort of get the sense that el-Baradei and Blix are kind of almost going through the motions at this point; that they sort of are compelled to travel there, but underneath it all, there isn't a lot of optimism that this will lead to any sort of breakthrough. Am I being too pessimistic about it all?

ROBERTSON: You know, if you talk to the weapons inspectors here, they still intent on carrying on with their work. They're still doing, as they say, what the UN Security Council has mandated for them to do, and told them to do. And as a separate entity, if you will, to what we hear from the political capitals around the world, they're still carrying through with that.

When Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei told Iraqi officials they would come to Baghdad, it was on the explicit expectation that Iraq would resolve those issues. So, by the very nature of coming here, it implies they are expecting that to happen. Of course, they are looking for much more, dealing with many of the outstanding issues, VX, biological growth agents, chemical warheads, all these issues. So, there is an expectation that progress can be made at this time, Miles.