Iraq: The Weapons Hunt: Searches Go On
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: As the chief U.N. weapons inspector prepares to brief the U.N. Security Council in New York, his teams remain on the job and on the hunt in Iraq. For an update now on the weapons searches, we go to Baghdad, where CNN's Rym Brahimi has the latest developments. Hello, Rym.</s>RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, indeed, they've been out again, they've intensified their pace, now not only looking at sites that have been mentioned in that famous declaration, but also using that new equipment. They used the helicopters for the first time today. Now we're told by Iraqi officials that this was just a test run to see how it was going with the helicopters. We'll have more on that later. Meanwhile, they did go to a site, where it took them about at least 10 minutes to get in. Total surprise by the director at that site, saying it was a guest house that had never been previously visited before by any inspection teams. But then eventually, they got in, and we're awaiting to hear from the U.N. for the report on what happened today. Now, the Iraqi officials are very unhappy at the noises coming out from Washington and London regarding that declaration, Leon, saying that there are holes in it, there is information missing. Iraq's foreign minister today saying that they are lying, that Britain and the United States are lying, that they -- Iraq says that they know very well there are no weapons of mass destruction and they're just lying about it, and they know that the inspectors' work will actually prove Iraq to have been truthful in the end -- Leon.</s>HARRIS: Rym, well, what I'm interested in is what kind of preparations are you seeing on the ground for any military activity? There are reports here in domestic papers here that there's evidence that Saddam Hussein has prepared to dig into at least defend Baghdad to the very end, if not the rest of his country. Have you seen any evidence of that?</s>BRAHIMI: It's very difficult to tell here, Leon. There are rumors here and there of maybe troop movements. There were also rumors a few months ago about movements of troops in different areas of the country, not necessarily just Baghdad, but it's all really difficult to confirm, because these are not really things we're privy to, nor is the Iraqi public generally speaking. What we do know is Iraqi officials do say that they are prepared, that they are preparing themselves, they are training their people, a lot of the people from the ruling Baath Party have received training, and also received weapons from what we're being told, and that's as much as we know, that and the fact that they're distributing a little more food rations to the people in preparation of an eventual war -- Leon.</s>HARRIS: Rym Brahimi, reporting to us in the evening hours there in Baghdad. Thank you, Rym. And be careful over there. We'll check back with you later on.