It Could Take U.N. Inspectors a Year to Complete Search
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Now on to the issue of what's going on on the ground in Baghdad. It could take U.N. inspectors as long as a year to complete their search for banned weapons in Iraq. That's according to a spokesman for the International Atomic Energy Agency. U.N. inspectors once again fanned out to several sites today. And let's check in with Rym Brahimi, who is standing by to bring us the very latest from there -- good morning, Rym.</s>RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula. It's a very windy day here in Baghdad, as you can see. Well, indeed, the country is very vast. It does take inspectors a lot of time just to access one site, and this even with the helicopters that they've just started using since the beginning of the year, Paula. We followed them on many of those trips and on one of the helicopter trips it just took an entire day to visit a site for just one hour. So you can imagine how much work there is to do if the U.N. weapons inspectors have said that there are more than 700 sites to visit. They've only seen something like 300 so far. Now, of course, Iraq insists that it will continue cooperating despite its view that the inspectors are still gathering information, gathering intelligence rather than gathering information on weapons of mass destruction. And they've been trying to send that message out to the world, that there are no weapons of mass destruction. Among the people, they've been sending that message out, Paula, a lot of the peace groups that have been coming into Baghdad. The latest arrival, a group of U.S. academics. They arrived last night in Baghdad. This morning they toured a hospital. There's about 35 of them. They say they come from 28 different universities all across the United States. And they also include peace activist Bianca Jagger. Here's what she had to say.</s>BIANCA JAGGER, ACTIVIST: I'm here as well to tell to the Iraqi government, you must comply. You must protect your people and prevent a war. But I am here especially for Americans to understand that this war will not be a sanitized war, that there will be thousands of innocent civilians, children and women, who will die. And is that the answer? Is there no other answer? Is there no other alternative? Why is there an alternative for North Korea? Why is not there an alternative which is a negotiated settlement with Iraq?</s>BRAHIMI: Now, these activists also say they plan to get together tomorrow, Paula, with a group of Iraqi academics. They're planning to try and discuss what solution they can come up with to try and prevent a war -- Paula.</s>ZAHN: Any reaction there to the statement on the IAEA's part that the inspections could take a year?</s>BRAHIMI: No reaction for now. We are expecting that, however, as Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei, the two U.N. chief weapons inspectors, are due to arrive this weekend in Baghdad, as you know. They'll have a lot to discuss. And, of course, Iraq keeps saying there are no weapons of mass destruction, but they do say that despite the fact, in their view, the inspectors are trying to gather intelligence rather than look for weapons of mass destruction, Iraq's line has been that we will let them continue their search, we will comply because we want to prove to the world that the U.S. has been lying, that we have no weapons of mass destruction. That's been their line all along, Paula. We expect them to say pretty much the same thing. And, of course, address all these other issues that Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei will want to address when they arrive, the interviews with scientists, these so-called pending questions. And Iraq has said that it is happy to discuss all that when they arrive -- Paula.</s>ZAHN: Rym Brahimi, thanks so much for the live update.