U.N. Weapons Inspectors Begin Work in Iraq
BILL HEMMER, GUEST HOST: Good evening. I'm Bill Hemmer, in for Connie Chung. And tonight: for the first time in four years, U.N. weapons inspectors back on the hunt in Iraq.</s>ANNOUNCER: The hunt is on. U.N. weapons inspectors begin their work in Baghdad, away from cameras, behind closed doors. Tonight: CNN's Christiane Amanpour and her one-on-one interview with the man in charge of finding Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, Hans Blix. The journalist whose writing sparked bloody riots in Nigeria is marked for death by Islamic fundamentalists.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Irresponsible journalism in Nigeria bears responsibility for what happened in Nigeria.</s>ANNOUNCER: Who's really to blame for burning, looting and killing in the name of Allah? The holidays are here and it's time for the feast. How can something that looks so good be so bad for you? Tonight: food for Thanksgiving thought. And a bounty of coming attractions, sequels, Oscar hopefuls and big-budget crowd pleasers -- a look at the holiday fare with Roger Ebert. This is CONNIE CHUNG TONIGHT. From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York: sitting in for Connie Chung, Bill Hemmer.</s>HEMMER: And good evening. Good to have you with us tonight. And tonight, we are going to find out what inspectors have found on their first day of searching for weapons of mass destruction, again, day one today. That is one front in the war on terror. Meanwhile, here on the home front, we want to start with the tens of millions of Americans on the road or on the rails or in the sky this week and traveling for Thanksgiving today, tomorrow and well into the weekend. It is the first big holiday travel period since federal screeners took up their posts at so many airports across the country. But it also comes at a time when politicians say they fear another major attack on American soil is possible. CNN's Patty Davis has been tracking Thanksgiving travel by air today.</s>WILLIE WILLIAMS: Just have a safe trip.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.</s>PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Security Chief Willie Williams is a man with a mission -- to keep passengers moving at Atlanta's Hartsfield International Airport this Thanksgiving.</s>WILLIAMS: There's three open lanes at the end if you're interested.</s>DAVIS: Williams expects a quarter of a million passengers to pass through his airport each day during the holiday rush. AAA estimates there will be six percent more airline passengers this Thanksgiving holiday than last year.</s>STEVE TIPPO, FEDERAL SCREENER: Please take all laptops out of the bag. Try to divest yourself of all your coins, metal items.</s>DAVIS: Thanksgiving is the first big test for Steve Tippo, one of 1,200 new federal screeners in Atlanta, and more than 44,000 deployed at airports across the country in the last few months. Will that mean delays?</s>TIPPO: People are going to have a little bit of a delay. But I think we're ready for it. I think the people are pretty much ready for it. I think they've been educated and I think we should be all set.</s>DAVIS: The Transportation Security Administration has launched a massive education campaign so passengers know what to expect. Make sure you have photo I.D., don't bring prohibited items in your carry- ons such as knives and metal scissors, don't wear metal jewelry or big soled shoes. Travel experts say keep an eye on airports that are beginning to screen all checked baggage for explosives, like the international terminal at San Francisco.</s>TOM PARSONS, BESTFARES.COM: San Francisco is the first airport that they actually put everything in place, from the new security of the bags, it's 100 percent checked. Everything has to be inspected either by humans or through machinery.</s>DAVIS: Well, Bill, how that goes could be a good indication of how the Christmas travel rush goes. Across the nation, most airports will be required to do a screening of all checked luggage. And that could certainly slow things down -- Bill.</s>HEMMER: Quickly, Patty, delays today: What did you perceive across the country?</s>DAVIS: Well, the crush of travelers that hit the airports really didn't seem to pose much of a problem for these new federal screeners. Overall, the Transportation Security Administration is saying delays about five minutes across the nation at those screening checkpoints.</s>HEMMER: Overall, thumbs-up or thumbs-down for the federal screeners on their first big test?</s>DAVIS: Well, thumbs-up, at least for the Atlanta federal screeners. They were able to catch a handgun today. And that's actually the second day in a row that they've caught a handgun coming through the passenger screening checkpoints. The one today was unloaded, a .44-caliber handgun, two ammunition clips alongside that. That man, the owner of that bag, was arrested, in police custody, charged with carrying on a concealed weapon -- Bill.</s>HEMMER: Well, they got it when they could. Thank you, Patty -- Patty Davis, Reagan National today. Joining us now with more on homeland security, as we head into the holiday, certainly a major topic again today, CNN's Jeanne Meserve is in Washington. Jeanne, good evening to you.</s>JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Bill.</s>HEMMER: What do we know right now about specific threats across the country. Anything on the radar?</s>MESERVE: We know about one. The FBI has sent out to local law enforcement agencies a warning about the potential for violence over the Thanksgiving weekend from an animal rights group. The group, which the FBI characterizes as extremist, is called SHAC, for Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty. The demonstrations this weekend are expected in New Jersey and New York City. According to the FBI, protests could also occur at the homes of HLS employee, the company's insurance firm, and other undetermined targets -- Bill.</s>HEMMER: I heard New York in there. I heard New Jersey. Other parts of the country, anything given there or not, Jeanne?</s>MESERVE: No. I should mention, also, in New York, you got have the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. I am told there probably will be extra security around that this year. Otherwise, it will be as it has been for the last several weeks, which is what's characterized as yellow- plus. The threat level has not gone up from yellow to orange. But because of a series of recent events, including that audiotape believed to be Osama bin Laden, recent attacks in Bali and Yemen and elsewhere, and also recent chatter in the system, the federal government has asked federal agencies, state and local law enforcement, and the private sector to all increase their activity somewhat. They are very condition about the threat situation, but they don't have anything specific which would lead them to upgrade the threat level to orange.</s>HEMMER: Thank you, Jeanne -- Jeanne Meserve in Washington on the national security front for us. We want to turn now from the defensive to the offensive. U.N. inspectors today started their hunt across Iraq for any sign that Saddam Hussein has or is trying to get nuclear, chemical or possibly biological weapons. Our senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson, is in Baghdad. He followed the first teams today moving out from the capital city.</s>NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 7:00 a.m. and the first weapons inspectors are showing up at their base. Vehicles prepared for what could be a long day and journalists outside for a long wait. (on camera): It's about 7:30 now. Most of the inspectors seem to have gone in. And everyone here is waiting for them to come out, so we can follow them to their first Inspection. (voice-over): An hour later, engines gunning, the inspectors race out. And Iraqi officials have given us permission to follow. (on camera): OK, now we're running to get into the cars, so that we can follow them. (voice-over): We follow the team of nuclear experts. Turning right in their white U.N. jeeps, they pick up their Iraqi counterparts, who fall in behind. Confusion for a moment, as the U.N. experts we're tailing appear to lose their way en route to the surprise inspection. By 9:00 a.m., the inspectors are arriving at the Tahadi industrial complex on the eastern outskirts of Baghdad. Left outside in the enforced lockdown, under U.N. inspection rules, journalists jockey for scant camera positions. Through gaps in the barbed wire top wall surrounding the mile-square compound, inspectors can be seen taking photographs and visiting the dozen or so warehouses. By noon, the team of nuclear experts are finished, heading back to base. Iraqi officials, keen to show they have nothing to hide, let us in as soon as the inspectors leave.</s>HAITHAM MAHMOUD, PLANT MANAGER: Nothing. Everything, it was in front of them. Thank you very much.</s>ROBERTSON: No weapons visible in the one building we were shown. (on camera): This part of the factory appears to be for reconditioning heavy industrial motors. But we still don't know where the inspectors went or exactly what they were interested in. (voice-over): According to Mahmoud, the inspectors saw all they wanted to see -- almost exactly the same language from the inspectors.</s>JACQUES BAUTE, IAEA TEAM LEADER: And we had access to what we wanted to see. We hope that the Iraqi response today reflects the future pattern of cooperation.</s>ROBERTSON: Day one, it seems, ended without major incident and without any weapons found.</s>ROBERTSON: And, Bill, a cautionary note from one of the inspectors. "This day was a success," he said, "but there is a lot of work yet to be done" -- Bill.</s>HEMMER: Indeed there is. Nic, you got pretty close today. Any reason to think that that will be the same tomorrow? Or, come day two, do you expect more restrictions regarding your access?</s>ROBERTSON: Our ability to follow them to the site, that really depends on Iraqi government officials. And, so far, they indicate that we can do that. They say that they want to show that they have nothing to hide. That's why they're letting it happen. Certainly, we don't expect the U.N. inspectors to let us on the site. Really, I think we're just going to have to see how this unfolds over the next few days, Bill.</s>HEMMER: Yes, Nic, the other thing you point is that these were surprise stops today. Curious to know, from your perspective, was there any indication that you picked up on behalf of the Iraqis that it was not a surprise, that perhaps they did anticipate one or two locations to be inspected on day one?</s>ROBERTSON: Negative, Bill. They said they were surprised. And that's really how it seemed when we got to that first site. When we got there, it was kind of relaxed. And then they suddenly realized, boom, all these cars were there. The U.N. were there. Suddenly, the armed guards were being put outside. The director was being called to the gate. So, it did really look like the real deal -- Bill.</s>HEMMER: And quickly, Nic, the Iraqi officials monitoring the inspectors or monitoring the journalists, or even both at the same time, how closely were they watching today?</s>ROBERTSON: They seemed to watch pretty closely. They travel around. They had at least as many vehicles and maybe twice as many people, from what I could see, as the inspectors had. They certainly had a lot of communications equipment with them. I think they are pretty on the ball as far as sort of following what the inspectors are doing and also keeping an eye on us at the same time, Bill.</s>HEMMER: Nic Robertson in Baghdad -- thanks, Nic. Now, there has been a considerable amount of controversy about the man leading the inspectors right now hunting for weapons in Iraq. That man is Hans Blix. And today, he sat down for a very rare interview with our chief international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour. And Christian is with us tonight here in New York. Great to see you. Day one, he said it went how?</s>CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: As well as could be expected, so far, so good. He wasn't going to go into all the details of what had been found -- nothing, apparently, has been found -- that he's got to report back to the Security Council. But if this, he said, is a pattern of what we are going to expect over the next several weeks, well, this, is good.</s>HEMMER: The signs are positive, at least on day one, anyway.</s>AMANPOUR: Yes. But he made it very clear that there's a lot more tricky business to go through before there's a clean bill of health, if there's ever a clean bill of health given.</s>HEMMER: You spent about an hour with him today. Did he talk at all about how aggressive he wants his inspectors to be, how aggressive he wants them to fan out across this country and carry out the activity?</s>AMANPOUR: Well, he is very clear in repeating that he has a very clear mandate and a great deal of authority under the Security Council, that he can go anywhere, any time. There mustn't be any closed doors, any file cabinets closed. There can't be disruptions with his vehicles, and this and that. But he said that he was not in the aggressive mode. That's not his character, nor does he believe that's appropriate, but that he will go wherever he wants to go. And this is what I asked him.</s>AMANPOUR: obviously, the White House, this administration has pretty much made it clear that it would like you to go and do confrontational inspections or surprise inspections, go to very sensitive locations to test Saddam Hussein's willingness to cooperate and to see whether this is a go or whether it's just the same old same old.</s>HANS BLIX, CHIEF U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTOR: Well, we'll be ready to go anywhere where we think, as I said, it's plausible that there could be something. If they are hiding something then likely if they would deny us access. And denying access would then be like a smoke -- it's not finding a smoking gun, but finding the smoke, and that would be a very serious matter. If they deny us access, we will report it to the Security Council. But even a delay of some little time will also be something that might be reported to the council.</s>AMANPOUR: And he went on to say that, obviously, the burden of proof is going to be on Iraq. They can't just say, "Well, we don't have this or we don't have that," because there are things that the international community knows or suspects. So, they have to account for all of the details that are suspected. On the other hand, he did say it's not a criminal court and they can't prosecute them under criminal procedures, but there is a definite burden of proof on Iraq.</s>HEMMER: This is a man who has critics around the world. And his critics will say to him, for lack of a better word, they will call him a wimp. They say he is soft and he is not the man who can be tough enough against Saddam Hussein. You asked him about that.</s>AMANPOUR: As you know there's a drumbeat of criticism against you. Hard-liners in the United States administration, their allies inside and outside of government basically don't think you're up to the job. Things like "weak" have been bandied around, "wimp" has been bandied around. Can you do this job?</s>BLIX: Well, I had 16 years at the International Atomic Energy Agency, and being responsible for that organization, and I was elected, re-elected three times, unanimously. I could have been elected a fourth time, re-elected a fourth time if I wanted. And I was unanimously picked by the members of the Security Council. I think that the governments have confidence in me. There are a number of private individuals who are skeptical. Well, that's their business. But I have not had any criticism from any government.</s>AMANPOUR: But, of course, as we've said, the fact is that there was a nuclear program fairly well under way and was stopped because of the Gulf War, essentially. And it was only defectors back in the mid- '90s who let the world know the true extent of the nuclear program.</s>HEMMER: Well, Hans Blix will tell you, the difference between now and 1998 or 1992 or however far back you want to go in the last 11 years, the difference today is that the U.N. Security Council tells Iraq: "You have to be truthful. You have to be forthcoming. Otherwise, the reaction could be severe. And it could be military. And that could make the difference this time around." How did he address that today?</s>AMANPOUR: Well, he fully acknowledged that and said that the success of this mission is slightly more guaranteed than previous missions because of this tough, tough threat of invasion -- it doesn't get tougher than that -- that he's being backed up by. So, again, I asked him about his critical, almost hair-trigger position right now.</s>AMANPOUR: Do you consider that your job could lead you to be a trigger for war?</s>BLIX: We would not be a trigger for war. But, of course, if we report a violation of some kind, that is for the Security Council to assess. We are not the ones that decide war and peace. It's the Iraqi and their behavior on the one hand, and the Security Council and its members on the other hand that decide on peace and war. We will be factual. We will be objective. We will report as honestly as we humanly can.</s>AMANPOUR: He's had to address these questions of being weak and, as we just asked about, being a trigger. Let's not forget, it has just emerged that the Clinton administration was about to order a preemptive strike on North Korea back around 1994 because Hans Blix told the administration and the Security Council that the North Koreans had not given him the access that he required to be able to describe their nuclear program. So, here was this man back in '94 standing between a war on the Korean Peninsula and the solution. So, he knows what it's like to be in that position.</s>HEMMER: Back to Iraq. Now it is day one. We'll see what happens on day two. And how many days after that is an unanswered question now.</s>AMANPOUR: December 8 the next milestone to look for, when they must provide their declaration of all their nuclear, chemical and biological programs.</s>HEMMER: We'll see you on down the road, OK? Christian, thanks -- Christian Amanpour here in New York. When we come back in a moment: Does a recent rash of incidents suggest that extremist Islam might be overtaking the mainstream aspect of that religion? It is not just the Miss World riots we are talking about -- back with that in a moment.</s>ANNOUNCER: Still ahead: Roger Ebert picks Hollywood's holiday best. Is your favorite on the list? CONNIE CHUNG TONIGHT continues in a moment.