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CNN LIVE AT DAYBREAK

A Lot of Activity With U.N. Inspectors

Aired February 20, 2003 - 05:32   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And now to the issue of whether Turkey will become a northern staging ground for a U.S.-led war with Iraq. Washington says it needs a decision soon. Turkish authorities are reportedly holding out for $30 billion, $10 billion in grants, $20 billion in loans. Washington is offering $6 billion in grants and $15 billion to $20 billion in loans. The U.S., of course, wants to send 80,000 ground troops to Turkey. Five American ships filled with tanks and other vehicles for the Fourth Infantry Division are already near the Turkish port of Iskindurin (ph) and 35 supply ships are on their way to the area.
A U.S. military official says the U.S. wants a decision from Turkey by tomorrow, but that's not what you hear from Secretary of State Colin Powell. He spoke with the Turkish prime minister and told him Turkey was unlikely to get grants over the dollar amount already on the table.

Powell says there is no set deadline for an answer, though.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: Time is moving, but I don't have a deadline I'd like to announce right now. We are waiting to hear back from the Turks. I think they understand the importance of this issue to us and to our efforts and they've got that into consideration now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: And we're going to go back to the center of the Iraqi crisis right now.

Our Rym Brahimi joins us again from Baghdad -- good morning.

RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Well, a lot of activity with the inspectors. They've been returning again to missile sites. At least five missile sites being checked out today, those involved with the al-Samoud 2 missile that was found by a panel of experts to exceed the authorized range of 93 miles.

Now, inspectors in the past few days have been, again, tagging those missiles, tagging missile components and engines, counting them, verifying where they are. And, of course, we understand that Hans Blix is being asked to ask the Iraqis to destroy those missiles. So far that's likely to lead, of course, to the next point of pressure for Iraqis. Iraqis argue that the missile doesn't go beyond the range far enough to be a threat. They say it's still a short range missile.

Another thing that the inspectors have been doing, Carol, is checking, is, sorry, trying to destroy some artillery shells that are filled mustard gas. That's been an ongoing process. It is something that the previous team of U.N. inspectors was supposed to do, but they left in '98 before achieving that goal.

And let me show you the headline here, Carol. The Iraqi daily here says the president wants to avoid war but not at any cost. This is in remarks made during a meeting with Russian communist leader Gennady Zuganov. President Saddam Hussein is quoted by the official media as saying that while Iraq is keen to avoid a war, it will not do so at the cost of its own independence -- Carol.

COSTELLO: But what exactly does that mean, Rym, at the cost of its own independence? What might not Saddam Hussein do?

BRAHIMI: Well, Iraq has been very keen to assert that its national integrity, its territorial integrity, its national sovereignty be maintained. And there seems to be a feeling among many Iraqi officials that a lot of the things that have been asked of Iraqi military, even in the inspection process -- just, for instance, although they've accepted the visits to the palaces without any problems at all, they do feel that this threatens, in a way, the national sovereignty of Iraq, the dignity of the country. So that's probably in those lines -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Rym Brahimi reporting live from Baghdad this morning.

The State Department, by the way, says that there are credible reports that international visitors in Iraq face the risk of being kidnapped and the U.S. is urging all Americans to avoid travel to Iraq and says Americans currently there should leave. During past conflicts, Iraq has used international visitors as human shields.

Log onto cnn.com/iraq for details on the showdown with Iraq, including an interactive map of U.S. military deployments to the Persian Gulf region. It's only a click away.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com




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