Iraq gives list of scientists to inspectors
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| PERSPECTIVE |
CNN Correspondent Rym Brahimi in Baghdad was asked about the outlook for taking scientists and their families out of Iraq to be questioned:
"This scientist we spoke to today specified that when he was asked to be interviewed by the United Nations inspectors, he was asked initially to go to the U.N. headquarters here in Baghdad. And even that he refused. He said he compared the U.N. headquarters here to Guantanamo Bay. He said, 'I'm a free man, I don't want to go to this place that, to me, is like Guantanamo Bay. I want to be interviewed in a neutral place.' And they ended up by choosing the Al-Rasheed Hotel, which is a state run hotel in which a lot of the international media and a lot of international businessmen stay.
"He was asked by reporters, 'Would you leave the country if you were asked to do so?' And he, a little bit annoyed, maybe, at the question, said, 'No, what Iraqi would want to leave his country? I wouldn't leave my country.'"
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VIDEO
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CNN's David Ensor examines the likelihood that Iraqi scientists could be interviewed about weapons of mass destruction outside Iraq.
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(CNN) -- With events moving closer to a possible war on Iraq, here is a look at some of the latest developments around the world:
ROAD TO WAR?
• LIST OF SCIENTISTS HANDED OVER: The Iraqi government has given United Nations weapons inspectors a list of more than 500 scientists associated with its weapons programs, a spokesman for the inspectors said Saturday. (Full story)
• NAVY PREPARES CARRIERS: The U.S. Navy has been told to prepare two aircraft carriers for deployment to the Persian Gulf after New Year's Day, naval officials tell CNN. As expected, a "prepare to deploy" order has been issued for a carrier to move from both the East Coast and the West Coast. (Full story)
• UNMOVIC ON THE MOVE: A team of United Nations missile experts headed to Al-Qa'qa Saturday, a site listed by British intelligence officials as a chemical complex that may be producing phosgene, which can be used as a chemical agent. The facility -- located in al-Latifiya near Baghdad -- was severely damaged in the 1991 Persian Gulf War, but it has been repaired and is operational, according to a British white paper released on Iraq in September. (Full story)
• TURKEY HOLDS OFF: NATO member Turkey will delay any decision on whether to support possible military action against Iraq until weapons inspectors have announced their initial findings. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's de facto leader, confirmed the country's position Friday as senior U.S. State Department and Treasury officials arrived in Turkey to discuss economic assistance for the country in the event of war. (Full story)
• U.S. DISPUTES REPORT: The United States disputed Friday claims by Iraq that coalition aircraft struck a mosque in southern Iraq. On Thursday, Iraq said a coalition strike hit multiple targets, including a mosque, and that three people were killed. Coalition warplanes struck Iraqi military command and control facilities, the U.S. Central Command said, in response to Iraqi aircraft violating the southern no-fly zone. Central Command said a bomb damage assessment carried out following the attack showed that no mosque was hit. (Full story)
WAR OF WORDS
• "Today we have received from the Iraqi national monitoring director a list of names of those associated with chemical, biological and nuclear and ballistic weapons," said Hiro Ueki, a spokesman for the U.N. weapons inspectors at a news briefing in Baghdad. "The list contains over 500 names."
• "We don't have a nuclear program -- by the way, now it's a past program -- but really I don't know what kind of materials could be used in the nuclear program," said metallurgist Qadhem Mojbil, who was questioned by U.N. inspectors. Mojbil is a metallurgist from al-Raya, a well-known state company that's part of Iraq's Military Industrialization Commission, according to the Iraqi foreign ministry. Mojbil specializes in the use of aluminum pipes used to make missiles with a range of 10 kilometers (6 miles), according to the ministry. Great Britain, however, has accused Iraq of using the pipes in the process of producing depleted uranium. Mojbil said he did not know the nuclear uses for the aluminum pipes. "I'm a scientist and I don't respond to questions about intelligence, I can only talk about scientific issues," he said.
• Speaking on Turkish television, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's de facto leader, says: "You would appreciate that the U.N. decision is binding for us due to the signatures we have put on international conventions. Both we and the government say that Turkey will not finalize its position until the U.N. Security Council's decision." Erdogan adds: "The report by the U.N. inspectors about weapons of mass destruction has not been submitted yet. Until (then) I believe what is said now is no more than gossip and mere prediction."
IMPACT
• Senior State Department and Treasury officials have traveled to Turkey, a key ally in a possible war against Iraq, to discuss U.S. economic assistance to Ankara, senior State Department and Turkish officials said. The trip follows a visit to Washington by the Turkish economic minister earlier this month about a U.S. economic package for Turkey "in the context of a possible military campaign against Iraq," a senior Turkish official told CNN. The delegation arrives as the Turkish government begins a series of high-level meetings, including a meeting Friday of the country's National Security Council, to discuss U.S. requests for Turkish support in a war against Iraq.
