Chief Weapons Hunter David Kay Will Present Part of Findings to Congress
[In case people weren't watching CNN this morning, here is an interview with Joe Cirincione, one of the most articulate opponents of the war since its PR inception. Excerpt: CIRINCIONE: I'm suggesting that David Kay's initial report to the White House fell flat, that he didn't have enough in the report that they felt they could go forward with. That's why the report has been delayed. People had expected it last week, two weeks ago. And I believe it's now being rewritten to try and spice it up a bit, to come up with some explanation....
We've fallen back from expectations of finding weapons to now weapons programs to now plans for programs. So now David Kay says the desire for plans for programs.
Aired September 26, 2003 - 07:20 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: A progress report that reports little progress in the search for banned weapons on Iraq due out soon. The chief weapons hunter, David Kay, will present part of his findings to Congress next week.
Joseph Cirincione of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace is with us from Washington to talk about what may or may not be in there.
Good morning, sir.
How are you?
JOSEPH CIRINCIONE, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE: Just great.
Thanks for having me.
HEMMER: You say -- thanks for being with us.
You say David Kay is in trouble. Explain that.
CIRINCIONE: Well, he himself built up expectations about this report just last month, briefing senators, telling them they could expect surprises and astonishing new evidence. And Senator Roberts, Senator Warner, leading Republican senators went out and ran on David Kay's pronouncements. They seemed to have climbed out on a limb that's crashing beneath them.
The problem is David Kay hasn't found anything, after almost four or five months of searches, thousands of people involved. They have not found any evidence of any weapons of mass destruction. That...
HEMMER: You mentioned there were surprises. I want to go back to late June. Listen to what David Kay said then at the time.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID KAY: My suspicions are that we'll find in the chemical and biological areas, in fact, I think there may be some surprises coming rather quickly in that are.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Again, end of June he mentioned the word surprises. Again, if you look at the "USA Today" this morning, there's a report out that indicates perhaps the total amount that Iraq had could fit into a backyard swimming pool and at this point it could be buried.
In a country the size of California -- we've been over this many times -- does that sound plausible right now, that may lead us to think that right now that hunt is much more difficult than previously thought?
CIRINCIONE: Well, I think we will find something, some traces of some chemical weapons, maybe some biological agents. But the problem for David Kay and for the White House at this point is that no one seriously expects to find large stockpiles of ready to use weapons, in other words, weapons that would pose an imminent threat to the United States, weapons that would justify the kind of action that we've taken, the kind of costs we're paying in Iraq.
This is going to be a big problem for Kay. I saw him just last week at the Frankfurt Airport as we were both waiting for planes. He had said he had written the report. Apparently that report is now being rewritten in Washington, trying to spin it up into something...
HEMMER: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. What's the suggestion there, if they're rewriting that report?
CIRINCIONE: I'm suggesting that David Kay's initial report to the White House fell flat, that he didn't have enough in the report that they felt they could go forward with. That's why the report has been delayed. People had expected it last week, two weeks ago. And I believe it's now being rewritten to try and spice it up a bit, to come up with some explanation --
HEMMER: You're getting into this area about spice up and sex up. It sounds a little bit like the British report. Dire warning from you?
CIRINCIONE: I suspect that this report is going to try to make more of what they found than, in fact, they found and they're trying to find a phrase, a paradigm to explain it. We've fallen back from expectations of finding weapons to now weapons programs to now plans for programs. So now David Kay says the desire for plans for programs.
HEMMER: I'm pushing against the clock.
Joseph Cirincione, thanks for being with us today.
CIRINCIONE: My pleasure.
HEMMER: We will find out possibly much more next week.
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