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CNN SUNDAY MORNING
Interview With Terence Taylor
Aired October 13, 2002 - 11:16 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Now the case against Iraq. The Bush administration is setting its sights on a tough new United Nations resolution on Iraq. CNN White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux joins us from Washington with more. And Suzanne, I imagine the president is feeling kind of emboldened, thinking that with Congress now behind him, that perhaps the U.N. will get the ball rolling.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, absolutely. The United States really in a strong position now. President Bush attending church services this morning, but he goes into a week absolutely emboldened by the congressional resolution that allows him to use military force against Saddam Hussein if necessary.
Now, really, the next step in all of this is to win a single tough U.N. resolution that requires Iraq to disarm or face the consequences. We're going to see this week U.N. Security Council members debating that very issue. The White House strategy, of course, is to use this congressional resolution as leverage to push the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council -- Russia, China, as well as France -- to agree to sign on to a resolution with teeth.
Really the sticking point now seems to be whether or not it's going to be one or two resolutions. France still holding out. It wants two resolutions, one requiring Iraq to disarm; the second one, which would authorize military force. There is some discussion, however, of compromise between the two sides that may be satisfactory to both of them. That is, a resolution that says Iraq must disarm or face the consequences, not necessarily spelling out military force, but with the implied authority that military force could be used. So we may see in the next couple of weeks a breakthrough -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right, Suzanne Malveaux from the White House, thank you.
Well, if and when weapons inspectors return to Iraq, they face some daunting challenges. For some insights now on what could be ahead for weapons inspectors, we go to a former weapons inspector and arms control expert, Terence Taylor. Good to see you.
TERENCE TAYLOR, FORMER WEAPONS INSPECTOR: Good morning.
WHITFIELD: All right, well, Mr. Taylor, if indeed there is a U.N. resolution and it gives a green light to weapons inspections, might it be the case that that would happen within a 30-day period? TAYLOR: Well, I think one would hope so. There has to be a certain amount of setting up, communications, logistics, and all this sort of thing before real inspections can begin. But I think Hans Blix, the head of the inspection organization, will want to keep that period to a minimum, to get inspectors out on the ground into different parts of Iraq.
But I think 30 days will be enough for the Iraqis to demonstrate that they're genuinely cooperating. I think that's the key issue. The inspections will not succeed without genuine cooperation on the part of the Iraqis.
WHITFIELD: All right. And if indeed there would be a green light to inspections, what would be the first order of business for the inspectors themselves?
TAYLOR: Well, this is a real challenge. I think first of all, they have to establish the base line of data. How do things look based on the information that was available in 1998? They'll have to go to many places where there was equipment that could be used for weapons programs, to make sure it's still where it was when the inspections ended.
But I don't think it can be neatly divided into phases. I think the inspectors will have to go for places where they suspect elements of weapons of mass destruction and missile programs are hidden, and they'll have to do that quickly, whilst there is pressure on Iraq to demonstrate genuine cooperation.
WHITFIELD: And some suspect that the palaces might be one of those locations. And if it turns out to be that the palaces do become a search location, would that be the first place in which they'd want to go, or should they be looking to the underground, these alleged underground facilities first?
TAYLOR: Well, I don't think we should be too obsessed by the palaces. Of course, the inspectors must go there, and these are large compounds with buildings on the surface, there are up to 1,000 buildings altogether in all these compounds added together, there are some underground elements too. So they will have to be looked at. But I think the inspectors need to go where they have the data and information probably supplied by intelligence information from U.N. member states, and so on.
So they'll have to have a wide-ranging effort. And it's going to be a real challenge for Dr. Blix, the head of the organization, to make a plan that's going to work in a short period of time.
WHITFIELD: And how many inspectors are we talking about?
TAYLOR: Well, we're talking about several hundred inspectors. Whether they can all get into the country all at the same time, and I think that it's kind of demand-led. In the last system that we worked out during the 1990s, you calculated an inspection program, some of which are surprise inspections, some of which will be routine, re- establishing the base line. So it's hard to say at any one time how many inspectors will be in Iraq, but there will be several hundred.
WHITFIELD: And what are the impending dangers for an inspector?
TAYLOR: Well, as things stand, the onus is on Iraq to provide for the security of the inspectors. And in the 1990s, that worked pretty well, although we were pushed and shoved and there were times when there was a great deal of tension. And so the inspectors are there. They're unarmed. It would be a grievous breach of any international agreement if any harm came to them. So I think they would be fairly safe, although that's a relative term, of course.
WHITFIELD: All right, former weapons inspector Terence Taylor, thanks very much for that insight. Appreciate it.
TAYLOR: My pleasure.
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