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CNN Live At Daybreak

Daschle Makes Sharp Comments About War on Terror

Aired March 01, 2002 - 05:35   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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Since September 11, Democrats have been reluctant to criticize the war on terrorism, but that is beginning to change. Senator Majority Leader Tom Daschle has made some of the sharpest comments to date from a top Democrat, when he was asked whether the war's success has been overstated.

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SEN. TOM DASCHLE (D), MAJORITY LEADER: Clearly, we have got to find Mohammed Omar. We have got to find Osama bin Laden, and we have got to find other key leaders of the al Qaeda network, or we will have failed. I think that it's critical that we keep the pressure on. We do the job that this country is committed to doing. But we are not safe until we have broken the back of al Qaeda, and we haven't done that yet.

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COSTELLO: Those comments did not sit well with Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott, who reacted angrily to Daschle's comments.

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SEN. TRENT LOTT (R), MINORITY LEADER: Any crack in the -- or perceived crack in the support and unity of the American people and our leaders in Washington is not helpful. And I think it's important that we not be critical of the commander in chief at a time when we are at war against terrorism.

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COSTELLO: Oh, there is more. White House spokesman, Ari Fleischer, responded to Daschle's comments, saying President Bush has maintained that the war is about much more than any one man. Fleischer is also at the center of another partisan dispute, this one over the Middle East.

Our senior White House correspondent John King has details on that one.

JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Another day of violence in the Middle East, and back in Washington, finger pointing. At an off-camera morning briefing, the White House press secretary suggested former President Clinton is to blame for pushing so hard for peace just before his term ended.

"I think you can go back to when the violence began, you can make the case that the attempt to shoot the moon and get nothing, more violence resulted. As a result of the attempt to push the parties beyond where they were willing to go, that it led to expectations that were raised to such a high level that it turned into violence."

By the afternoon on-camera briefing, a much softer tone.

ARI FLEISCHER, WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN: But the point is that for decades, American presidents have wrestled with how to bring peace to the Middle East. President Clinton tried valiantly to do so. Nobody should be surprised if President Bush has a different approach.

KING: And then, an outright about face. This later statement from Fleischer: "I mistakenly suggested that increasing violence in the Middle East was attributable to the peace efforts that were underway in 2000. That is not the position of the administration."

Former Clinton aides responded to the initial Fleischer statement with scorn.

JAMES STEINBERG, FMR. CLINTON DEPUTY NATL. SECURITY ADVISOR: I would wait to see what the people who really know something about the U.S. foreign policy have to say about this.

KING: Administration and other sources tell CNN that Bush national security advisor, Condoleezza Rice, took an angry phone call from her predecessor, Clinton NSA chief Samuel Berger. He complained it was a cheap shot. She assured him Fleischer was not speaking for the president.

Mr. Bush is known to believe that his predecessor had unrealistic expectations at the late-term Camp David summit.

(on camera): But top officials at the White House and at the State Department did not take kindly to the public blame game and Fleischer's "shoot the moon" remark. As one top State Department official put it -- quote -- "reckless freelancing."

John King, CNN, the White House.

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