middle east and north africa. this appears to clear the way for the sales which previously had been barred. martha. martha: very interesting, jennifer. the thinking they would be unarmed, that they would be purely for surveillance. how do you guaranty that, right? reporter: well, that s right. there is really no guaranty. we re told they will be sold unarmed but the export variant of the predator will not have something known as these hard connections which is really essentially an engineering, you know, is the way that you would add the weaponry to the predator. we re told that it will be deliberately engineered to make adding the weapons impossible. according to the american contractor but it is not difficult to modify this technology such as this at some point. the real reason the u.a.e. and frankly the u.s. wants the emirates to have these drones is to keep an eye on neighboring iran. the arab countries in the region are very concerned about iran s nuclear program
r eporter: defense sources say that the leaks from the uae side are premature and that congress has yet to be notified. there is no way to be sure these drones won t eventually be armed. according to the american contract or, the export variant of the predator would be deliberately engineers to make adding weapon withs impossible, but it is not difficult to modify technology such as this in some point in time. the real reason they want the emirates to have these drones is to keep an eye on neighboring iran. the arab countries in the region are very concerned about iran s nuclear program, and you are already seeing an arms race of sorts in the middle east as a result of the program, jenna. jenna: jennifer griffin at the pentagon, thanks. jon: right now we are awaiting news from inside the courtroom at the drew peterson murder trial. his lawyer is expected to argue that the former cop deserves a new trial because his last attorney botched the case.