IRAQ: IRAQI SCIENTISTS HAVE SAID THEY WILL AGREE TO INTERVIEWS WITH U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTORS ONLY IF THE MEETINGS ARE TAPE RECORDED

Record ID: 648115

  • Title: IRAQ: IRAQI SCIENTISTS HAVE SAID THEY WILL AGREE TO INTERVIEWS WITH U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTORS ONLY IF THE MEETINGS ARE TAPE RECORDED
  • Date: 18th February 2003
  • Summary: (W5) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (FEBRUARY 18, 2003)(REUTERS- ACCESS ALL) 1. SLV EXTERIOR OF THE AL-HAYAT TOWER HOTEL 0.04 2. CU SIGN READING: AL-HAYAT TOWER HOTEL 0.07 3. LV SCIENTIST LEAVING THE HOTEL AFTER BEING INTERVIEWED INSPECTORS / THE SCIENTIST GETS INTO HIS CAR (PLEASE NOTE: NO NAME HAS YET BEEN RELEASED FOR THE IRAQI SCIENTIST) 0.38 (W5) AL-MUTHANNA, 140 KM NORTH-WEST OF BAGHDAD (FEBRUARY 18, 2003) (REUTERS-ACCESS ALL) 4. SLV CONVOY OF INSPECTORS DRIVING TO AL-MUTHANNA SITE 0.44 5. LV U.N HELICOPTER FLYING OVERHEAD 0.49 6. LV U.N. HELICOPTER LANDING 0.54 7. LV BUILDINGS AROUND THE SITE 1.00 (W4) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (FEBRUARY 18, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 8. INTERVIEW SET-UP 1.04 (W5) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (FEBRUARY 18, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 9. MCU (English) U.N. SPOKESMAN HIRO UEKI, SAYING: "We started destroying those artillery shells filled with mustard (gas), they are also four additional containers also filled with mustard gas. So we are in the process of destroying the mustard - we are about halfway through. Today our team returned to Al-Muthanna to continue the destruction process." 1.31 (W4) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (FEBRUARY 18, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 10. CU REPORTER'S NOTE PAD 1.35 11. MCU (English) UEKI, SAYING: "They are far more forthcoming than they were in January. So that is why Dr. Blix (U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix) and Dr ElBaradei (Head of IAEA Mohamed ElBaradei) saw encouraging signs this time and we hope that the Iraqi authorities will further cooperate with us." 1.54 (U3) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (FEBRUARY 18, 2003) (REUTERS- ACCESS ALL) 12. SLV MEETING BETWEEN RUSSIAN AND IRAQI DELEGATIONS 1.59 13. MCU OF SPEAKER OF IRAQI NATIONAL ASSEMBLY SA'DOUN HAMMADI ADDRESSING MEETING 2.04 14. SV OF MEETING 2.09 15. MCU OF RUSSIAN OFFICIAL GENNADIJ ZYUGANOV 2.11 16. CU POSTER OF IRAQI PRESIDENT SADDAM HUSSEIN 2.14 17. MCU (Russian translated roughly into Arabic) GENNADIJ ZYUGANOV, SAYING: "The U.S wants to spread its hegemony, and through the new war they want to control the whole world, and this is an attempt to impinge on the international security." 2.39 18. CU POSTER OF SADDAM 2.42 19. MCU (Arabic) SPEAKER OF THE IRAQI NATIONAL ASSEMBLY (PARLIAMENT) SA'DOUN HAMMADI SAYING: "Iraq does not want war, but if it is imposed on it, the Iraqi people will fight as one block behind Mr. president (Iraqi President Saddam Hussein) and behind the Command." 2.57 (W5) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (FEBRUARY 18, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS- ALL) 20. SLV/LAS OF DEMONSTRATORS MARCHING CARRYING ANTI-WAR BANNERS/BANNERS READING " NO BLOOD FOR OIL " (2 SHOTS) 3.07 21. SV U.N. FLAG OUTSIDE THE UNDP OFFICES 3.10 22. LV DEMONSTRATORS CHANTING "ANTI-WAR" AND "ANTI USA" 3.15 23. PAN OF DEMONSTRATION OUTSIDE THE UNDP OFFICES 3.24 24. MCU (English) RALPH PANCASTELA, SAYING: "I came here to express my solidarity with the Iraqi people, we've come to see how bad the embargo is." 3.37 25. MCU PROTESTER WEARING HEAD BAND, READING: "HUMAN SHIELD" 3.41 26. PAN MORE OF PROTEST 3.47 UNKNOWN LOCATION AND SOURCE 27. CONVOY OF U.N. VEHICLES DRIVING INTO IRAQI INSTITUTION AND CHECKING SITE (3 SHOTS) 4.15 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 5th March 2003 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BAGHDAD AND AL-MUTHANNA, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVA3APZ3YXFOSRX92NVNBJC7FD04
  • Story Text: Iraqi scientists have said they will agree to
    interviews with U.N. weapons inspectors only if the meetings
    are tape recorded.

    As the United States and Britain were looking at ways to
    get the Security Council to support a new resolution on Iraq a
    Russian delegation held talks with the speaker of the Iraqi
    National Assembly to discuss the threat of a possible U.S.-led
    attack against Baghdad.



    The inspectors searching for suspected weapons of mass
    destruction since last November said tape recorded meetings
    with Iraqi scientists was unacceptable. They believe
    Iraqi scientists could give them important information but are
    inhibited by the presence of government minders and tape
    recorders.

    Last week the government agreed under United Nations
    pressure to let scientists be interviewed in private.

    Spokesman Hero Ueki said on Tuesday (February 18) that
    U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission
    (UNMOVIC) experts had so far interviewed only three scientists
    privately without tape recordings on February 6 and February 7
    -- a week before a report by chief inspector Hans Blix to the
    Security Council.

    According to Ueki subsequent Iraqi individuals who have
    been sought for private
    interviews had insisted on the interview being recorded on
    tape.

    The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has held
    five interviews with Iraqi personnel, he said, adding that the
    IAEA allowed the interviews to be taped.

    On Tuesday a scientist who had yet to be identified was
    seen leaving the Al-Hayat Tower Hotel after being interviewed
    by the inspectors.

    Blix, reporting to the U.N. Security Council last
    Friday on his team's work in Iraq, said he hoped for a change
    in the Iraqi attitude to such interviews.

    The United States has warned Iraq that time is running
    out for it to cooperate fully with the inspectors, as required
    by U.N. Security Council resolution 1441, and has threatened
    war if it does not do so.

    Ueki confirmed that a U-2 surveillance plane had flown
    its first U.N. mission over Iraq on Monday, as announced by
    the Iraqi Foreign Ministry, and said there would be more
    flights soon.

    He said the inspectors gave Iraq a 48-hour advance
    notification in line with agreed arrangements to ensure the
    safety of the aircraft.

    Ueki said on Tuesday that a team of inspectors will
    continue their process of destroying Mustard Gas at the
    Al-Muthanna Chemical company, north-west of Baghdad.

    Iraqi officials said U.N. inspectors visited at least eight
    military and industrial sites outside Baghdad on Tuesday,
    heading for three military compounds, a chemical factory and
    Al Muthanna military complex, where they have been destroying
    artillery shells and mustard gas found in the 1990s.

    Meanwhile, hundreds of Iraqi and Arab foreign youth
    delegations took to the streets of downtown Baghdad on
    Tuesday, chanting anti-Bush and anti-war slogans.

    The demonstrators demanded an immediate end to threats
    of a possible war by the United States and its allies.
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