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CNN Live Saturday

President Bush Talks About U.S. Economy in Weekly Radio Address

Aired September 22, 2001 - 12:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN's continuing coverage of America's new war, the battle between freedom and terrorism. We want to thank viewers of CNN "HEADLINE NEWS" for joining us. I am Judy Woodruff in Washington. I'm also joined by Martin Savidge in New York, and from Atlanta with the latest developments, Daryn Kagan -- and Daryn, let's begin with you.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Judy, hello to you -- hello to you, Marty, in New York as well.

Our latest development coming from Turkey, where the government there says it will allow U.S. military forces to use Turkey's airspace and air bases. That as the U.S. prepares a military response to the terrorist attack of September 11. That permission extended to American transport aircraft. U.S. and British war planes already have access to a base at Incirlik, Turkey, from where they patrol Iraq's no-fly zones.

Afghanistan's Taliban have lost one potential ally in the Persian Gulf. That's the United Arab Emirates today ending diplomatic relations with the Taliban, because of their refusal to surrender Osama bin Laden to the United States. The United Arab Emirates is one of only three countries that formally recognize the Taliban. The other two: Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.

And back here in the U.S. in his speech Thursday to Congress and the nation, President Bush vowed to assist the struggling airline industry during this emergency period. Congress has now made good on that pledge, passing a $15 billion financial aid package to help carriers stay in business; also setting up a compensation fund for the victims of the September 11 hijackings.

We'll have more developments for you in just a moment. First, now back to Washington and Judy.

WOODRUFF: Thanks, Daryn.

Well, strategies for conducting America's war against terrorism are being planned today from Camp David, where President Bush is spending the weekend.

CNN's White House correspondent Kelly Wallace joins us from Hagerstown, Maryland, which is near Camp David -- and Kelly, the president has had a full morning.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: He certainly has -- focusing on the planning, Judy, for this military, political and economic campaign against terrorism; also, though, trying to put a focus on the sluggish economy.

The president starting his day meeting with his national security team -- actually chairing a meeting via video conference. The White House releasing this photo earlier today. Most of the president's advisers back in Washington, but some with him at the presidential retreat at Camp David, including Chief of Staff Andy Card, Condoleezza Rice, his national security adviser, and CIA Director George Tenant.

Now, the president also delivering his weekly radio address today. He said the terrorists that brought down the World Trade Center, he said they brought down a symbol of American prosperity, but he said they could not touch its source. The message: Those attacks definitely delivering a blow to the U.S. economy. But Mr. Bush, hoping to boost consumer confidence, saying he is very optimistic about the weeks ahead.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our economy has had a shock. Many workers lost their jobs this week, especially in the airline and hospitality industries and restaurants and in tourism, as companies struggle to remain afloat. I applaud those companies who are making extra efforts to avoid laying off workers, even during difficult times. Many Americans have also seen the value of their stocks decline. Yet, for all of these challenges, the American economy is fundamentally strong.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

WALLACE: And the president saying he and members of Congress working together to strengthen the economy. He is expected to sign very soon that $15 billion measure to help the struggling airline industry. There is also talk of some economic stimulus package in the days and weeks ahead, increased government spending, additional tax cuts.

And in a sign of this new bipartisanship, the president speechwriters working with the speechwriters of House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, who delivered the Democrat response today. Congressman Gephardt's message: Democrats backing the president in this war against terrorism, and also backing the president in efforts to boost the U.S. economy.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

REP. RICHARD GEPHARDT (D), MISSOURI: Those of us in Congress will work with the president to do whatever is necessary to bring our enemies to justice as quickly as possible. There is no place for partisanship here. We are not Democrats first, or Republicans first; we are Americans first. And as Americans, we will work together to do what needs to be done. (END AUDIO CLIP)

WALLACE: Now, Judy, the president does not have any public events on his schedule today. We will see him, though, tomorrow. Likely to be a very emotional moment, the president at Camp David joined by the U.S. Marine Corp, the flags on all federal buildings have been at half-staff, and they will be returned to full-staff at a ceremony tomorrow -- Judy.

WOODRUFF: All right. Kelly Wallace reporting from near Camp David -- thanks, Kelly.

Well, the Pentagon is saying almost nothing about its operational plans. But we know a great deal of military people and material have been activated and are on the move. Today, we are hearing from Afghanistan reports that an aircraft has been shot down.

Now, CNN's Jeanne Meserve joins us from the Pentagon with the latest from there -- Jeanne, what about this aircraft report?

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Afghanistan's Taliban leaders claim that they have shot down an unmanned aerial vehicle, a UAV as it's called here. They are not saying what country it is from, but U.S. officials are refusing to respond to this by saying any more than we're not going to talk about operational matters. And we don't want to be put in a situation where we're going to be responding to every statement from the Taliban.

The United States certainly has used these sorts of surveillance craft in the past. They can be up in the air for 24 hours at a time, giving them real-time information. But again, they are not confirming or denying that they have lost a UAV over Afghanistan today.

On other matters, the U.S. is allowing those countries, who have decided to assist the U.S., to say so in their own time and way, and so no official Pentagon reaction today to the news that Turkey will allow U.S. transport aircraft to use Turkish airspace and air bases to respond to the terrorist attacks.

Turkey is a NATO ally, and it already allows the U.S. and the British to use its air base in Incirlik in southeast Turkey for patrols over Iraq's no-fly zone. And although Turkey has previously vowed to cooperate, this is its first public and explicit pledge of support.

Meanwhile, U.S. aircraft continue to embark and deploy. We have footage of B-52s departing last night from Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana. Base officials refusing to disclose exactly where those B- 52s are going. A second deployment order is, in fact, in the works. It will be sending more support aircraft into those forward bases in Central Asia and the Persian Gulf region.

As the U.S. prepares for probable military action, so too it is likely that Osama bin Laden and his supporters are preparing. Today, a retired Army general spoke about what he felt Osama bin Laden was doing in preparation. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEN. DAVE GRANGE, U.S. ARMY (RET.): And they're going to take advantage of digging in deep to negate the effect of precision-guided munitions that's going to make it hard to track the enemy in these conditions. So they do that, and as well as hide among civilians to make long-range missile attack difficult, and that's why it's so critical to have boots on the ground in situations like this. They can augment our fire power.

It's going to be tough to find them, but I'm sure that we will find targets, not only in Afghanistan, but the other areas that we'll be looking at.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MESERVE: And, Judy, there are no public briefings scheduled here at the Pentagon today, but tomorrow, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld will be appearing on some of the Sunday morning talk shows -- back to you.

WOODRUFF: All right, Jeanne Meserve at the Pentagon -- thanks. I know we'll be talking to you later today.

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