ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: In advance of a possible war, President Saddam Hussein is dividing Iraq's country into four regions. And French President Chirac says he could consider a 30-day timeline for U.N. weapons inspectors to wrap up their work in Iraq. For more on all this CNN's Nic Robertson live in Baghdad -- Nic.</s>NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, the decree saying that Iraq will be split into four areas, the north, the south, just the middle section, and the central area. The central area will be put under the command of President Saddam Hussein's youngest son, Uday Saddam Hussein --</s>COOPER: Nic, what is the idea behind dividing into four countries? What's the significance of that, four different sections?</s>ROBERTSON: Well, the control of each different section has been put under the leadership of people who are very senior in Iraq, very loyal to President Saddam Hussein. Beneath that there is another tier of leadership. It seems to be an effort to divulge the command and control structure should communications go down in Iraq, should central authority be lost. If the north is not able to communicate with the south. Of course the southern area right next to Kuwait. The intent here appears to be for the country militarily and politically to continue if the communications get damaged. And beneath these first line commanders, also other commanders have been dominated. Perhaps one another interesting thing to note here is that President Saddam Hussein remains in control of all the offensive military capability: the air force, the military aviation, helicopters, the surface-to-air missiles, underground-to-ground missiles.</s>COOPER: All right, interesting. Nic Robertson, I appreciate you joining us live from Baghdad. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Hussein Divides Iraq Into 4 Military Districts