Blix, El-Baradei Set to Arrive in Baghdad Monday Morning
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: The hunt is about to begin. In less than 24 hours two of the men overseeing the upcoming weapons inspections in Iraq will arrive in Baghdad. Right now Hans Blix and Mohammed El-Baradei are in Cyprus setting up the staging area for their teams. Now they're scheduled tomorrow to begin high level talks with Iraqi officials in Baghdad -- that's ahead of the return of weapons inspectors later this month. As of tomorrow it will be three years, 11 months and two days since the last weapons inspectors left Iraq. Preparations for the inspectors' return are under way. CNN's Rym Brahimi takes a look at what is taking place.</s>RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's been four years since the U.N. inspectors were last in Iraq. In one of Baghdad's popular market places, not everyone seemed aware of their imminent return. "Oh, no -- the president has refused," Hussein (ph) tells us. We explain that, in fact, he accepted. "They're coming back? We're doomed," he cried. His friends are laughing at him because he didn't know. There will be some new faces among the inspectors this time around. Unlike the old UNSCOM teams made up mostly of U.S. and British inspectors, the new team has at least 14 nationalities. The old team complained of being lied to and being prevented from doing their jobs. Clashes between Iraqis and UNSCOM led to U.S. strikes for what inspectors said was Baghdad's lack of cooperation. The inspectors' return means two things for Iraqis -- fear that the new inspections might lead to new clashes and relief that the inspectors' presence means the U.S. won't attack -- at least for now. On the evening news a TV commentator tells Iraqis to learn from past experiences and not allow the U.S. to use the inspections as a pretext for war. Meanwhile, the Iraqis are preparing to welcome their U.N. guests. For his short three-day trip, Weapons inspector Hans Blix is expected to stay at the upscale government-run Rasheed Hotel, which means he gets to walk over a mosaic of President George Bush, Sr. every time he walks through the hotel door. The rest of the team will share the somewhat less lavish Borgen Hitat Hotel (ph) with Iranian pilgrims. The last two floors in this hotel in downtown Baghdad have been booked for the inspectors. From here there's about a 15-minute drive in that direction to the U.N. headquarters. Now that's where the previous UNSCOM team also had its offices. Those offices now being refurbished in the U.N. building known as the Canal Hotel (ph) were off limits for us journalists but the cars weren't. Even though the old UNSCOM number plates have yet to be replaced with the new name of UNMOVIC. Rym Brahimi, CNN, Baghdad.