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CNN LIVE AT DAYBREAK

Washington Needs to Know Soon Whether Ships Should Approach Turkey

Aired February 20, 2003 - 05:02   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: 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 very soon. Turkish authorities are reportedly holding out for $30 billion, $10 billion in grants and $20 billion in loans. Washington is offering $6 billion in grants and $15 billion to $20 billion in loans. The U.S. wants to send 80,000 ground troops to Turkey and five American ships filled with tanks and other vehicles for the Fourth Infantry Division are already near the Turkish port. And 35 supply ships are on their way to the area.
As I said, Washington needs to know soon whether the ships should approach Turkey or turn south and head for the Persian Gulf. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is putting a positive spin on things. He says he believes Turkey will cooperate with the United States.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: They've been a longstanding ally and friend and NATO ally, as well, to the United States and they're cooperating at the present time with respect to Operation Northern Watch and I suspect that in one way or another, in a variety of ways, probably, they'll end up cooperating in the event that force has to be used in Iraq.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: For more on this, we take you live to the center of it all. Our Jane Arraf is in the Turkish capital Ankara -- good morning, Jane.

JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Well, consultations are continuing this morning and will be throughout the night on this deadlock. But there are no indications yet that this will be solved today. Now, as you pointed, it has particular urgency because these combat troops and their equipment from the Fourth Infantry Division are actually heading for the Turkish coast.

Now, it's only a matter of days before that decision has to be made, possibly as little as two days, to allow them to land with Turkish approval or to divert them, which would force the Pentagon to rewrite its war plans. A really difficult decision here, obviously, one that Turkey has taken its time with, and one that it says it still needs more assurances and, as you noted, more money from the U.S. to sign onto -- Carol. COSTELLO: Not just more money, a lot more money. Why so much?

ARRAF: Because it needs it, would be what Turkey would say. It's in a really deep economic crisis that it says goes back to actually the 1991 Gulf War. Now, we've got to remember that Turkey is Iraq's neighbor and it gets a lot of trade from Iraq. It gets a lot of bargain rate oil from Iraq and there are a lot of political and economic implications here that you just can't make up, Turkish officials say, with $6 billion. It sounds like a lot of money, but it's a really big country and it's in a very bad economic situation -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Jane Arraf reporting live from Turkey this morning.

So, what are the political ramifications of this in Washington? In the next hour of DAYBREAK, we'll give our senior political analyst Bill Schneider a wake up call and ask him just that.

The White House says it will propose a new U.N. resolution against Saddam Hussein. It had previously said another resolution is desirable but not essential, so U.N. diplomats will have another decision to make.

Senior U.N. correspondent Richard Roth has more on that for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD ROTH, SENIOR U.N. CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is the opening act before the real diplomatic drama. A final chance for U.N. member countries to tell the Security Council how they feel about a war with Iraq. Most stated the U.N. is not at a point yet.

PAUL HEINBECKER, CANADIAN AMB. TO U.N.: People of Canada fully prepared to accept the judgments of the inspectors and the decisions of this council.

FAWZI BIN ABDUL MAJEED SHOBOKSHI, SAUDI ARABIAN AMB. TO U.N.: War is a serious issue if it solves one problem, it may bring many others with destructive consequences.

ROTH: When this debate fades, it will be the turn of the Council to focus on a second resolution proposed by the U.S. and Britain. The British ambassador said it might come with a deadline to comply with disarmament.

JEREMY GREENSTOCK, BRITISH AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: Explicitly or implicitly, yes, I do expect that because time will, I'm afraid, run out as time always does.

ROTH: The resolution is not ready for prime time. It's artfully drafted to get the necessary support in the Security Council.

RICHARD BOUCHER, STATE DEPT. SPOKESMAN: It's a safe assumption that any resolution that we'll work with and support would do what the president said it needed to do, and that to make clear that the Security Council standing by the demands in the previous resolution. ROTH: The U.S. will need to use all their diplomatic skills to get the required nine votes in favor of resolution without any vetoes from permanent members, such as, France, Russia and China. Those nations like the threat of more inspections instead of the threat of war.

JEAN-MARC DE LA SABLIERE, FRENCH AMB. TO U.N.: To use inspections, and making some pressure on -- more pressure on Iraq and have more results.

ROTH: Iraq says the inspectors shouldn't worry.

MOHAMMED ALDOURI, IRAQI AMB. TO U.N.: We are confident that no one will find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq because there are none.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: In the meantime, in Iraq, U.N. experts are again going about their work. Chief U.N. inspector Hans Blix is expected today to ask Iraq to destroy missiles found to violate the U.N. imposed range limit.

We take you live to the center of that issue. Our Rym Brahimi joins us live from Baghdad -- good morning.

RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Carol.

Well, indeed, one of the main things that the weapons inspectors have been focusing on in the past few days are missile sites. Again today, they went to five missile sites, those sites associated at various stages of the production of the al-Samoud 2 missile. That's the missile you were just referring to that U.N. chief weapons inspector may ask Iraq to destroy.

Now, that missile has been found, as you know, by a panel of experts to exceed the authorized range of 93 miles, which is why it is at the heart of a controversy. Iraqi officials so far have said that they don't know if that's the solution. Iraqi officials have said that there may be other ways of dealing with that.

Another thing that the inspectors have been focusing on, Carol, is the site known as al-Mutanna, where they're in the process of destroying a certain number of artillery shells that are filled with mustard gas. That process was supposed to take place during the previous inspection regime, but the inspectors left in '98 before being able to do that.

And something else I want to show you, Carol, a headline in today's newspaper. The president says Iraq wants peace, but not at any costs. Iraqi official media are quoting President Saddam Hussein as saying that he's prepared to do what it takes to avoid war, but not at the expense of Iraq's independence. Those were remarks the president was making when he met the Russian communist leader, Gennady Zuganov -- Carol.

COSTELLO: A question for you, Rym.

You know, we were supposed to hear more from Iraqi scientists with those one-on-one interviews with inspectors. Has any of that happened?

BRAHIMI: Well, it's a tricky issue, and, of course, the U.N. now is saying that there is a stumbling block. If Iraqi scientists have begun to agree to do interviews in private, the stumbling block here is the tape recorder. Many of them, most of them, in fact, have insisted that they want a tape recorder. U.N. officials say that they're concerned the tape recorder may end up after the interview in the hands of Iraqi authorities, which, in their view, would be similar as having an Iraqi minder present during the interview.

So they're concerned that they would like this to be totally private without even a tape recorder. Of course, the Iraqi scientists say well they're concerned because they don't have much faith or they don't trust the inspectors to convey their remarks faithfully without distorting them -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Rym Brahimi reporting live from Baghdad this morning.

The State Department is urging all Americans to avoid travel to Iraq and says Americans currently living there should leave. It says there are credible reports that international visitors could be kidnapped. During the Persian Gulf War, Iraq used some international residents and visitors as human shields at potential military targets.

Our State Department correspondent Elise Labott will have more on the warning when she joins us on a wake up call during the next hour of DAYBREAK.

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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