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Bush Speech Focuses on Middle East, War on Terror

Aired April 17, 2002 - 11:02   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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: We want to bring you up to date now on what we have been covering this morning. Moments ago, we heard President Bush wrap up his remarks there in Lexington, Virginia at the Virginia Military Institute. And our Major Garrett has been traveling with them. Quite a few interesting words we heard from President Bush. Let's check with now Major for wrap of all that -- Major.

MAJOR GARRETT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Leon. You know, when this speech was put on the president's calendar, the real thrust behind it, at least originally, was to give a war update to talk about the progress in Afghanistan, to sort of describe in somewhat specific terms the next phases of the war on terrorism, to talk about other things the United States was doing to check the spread of al Qaeda in other countries, Yemen, the Philippines and elsewhere.

All that was said, but of course the Middle East also got a big chunk of the president's attention, and that's happened in the last couple of days, as the president tried to take stock of what's going on there, the success -- the relative success of Secretary of State Colin Powell's peace-seeking mission to the region.

On the overall goals of the war on terrorism, the president said things are going well in Afghanistan. There is still much work to do. He said the international coalition against global terrorism remains strong and will continue to be responsive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Wherever global terror threatens a civilized world, we and our friends and our allies will respond and will respond decisively.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GARRETT: As for the Middle East, Leon, the president said all sides, Israelis and Palestinians and neighboring Arab nations, have much to do to fulfill the commitments they have made in word, to make those commitments real on the ground. All sides have responsibility, and the president made it very clear here he expects those responsibilities to be met and met soon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: We will continue to remind folks they have responsibilities in the short run to diffuse the current crisis. The Palestinian Authority must act, must act on its words of condemnation against terror.

Israel must continue its withdrawals, and all Arab states must step up to their responsibilities.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GARRETT: Leon there is an interesting development on the entire question of the Bush doctrine and how does it relate to the Palestinian Authority. Late last night, the White House released a piece of paper, it notified Congress that for the third time in his presidency, George W. Bush was waiving restrictions dating back to 1987 prohibiting Congress from authorizing any money to flow to the Palestinian Liberation Organization. The president was waiving that, he said, because it was in the national security interest of the United States to do that.

But in notifying Congress of his decision, he said, the Palestinian Authority should not assume these waivers are automatic. Now, Bill Clinton got the waiver process started back in 1999. He did that at the time to make sure the Palestinians understood the United States was an honest broker and considered them a legitimate partner in the peace process.

Well, of course, this most recent waiver comes at a time when the Israeli government is determined or at least deemed Yasser Arafat a terrorist, someone who has been aiding, abetting terrorist acts committed in Israel itself. The Bush administration clearly doesn't share that view, waive these restrictions. The United States sends albeit indirectly about $80 million of aid to the Palestinian Liberation Organization and attendant agencies. That aid will continue. However, the president said, if there is not a more responsive action against terrorism by the Palestinian leadership, perhaps those waivers won't be extended the next time. The deadline for that is due six months from now -- Leon.

HARRIS: One more note, Major. We were also listening for the president to lay out what he was going to propose as the next phase of the war against terror. What did he have to say about that this morning?

GARRETT: Well, the next phase of the war on terror is really two-fold. One is continued efforts to check the progress and, to put it bluntly, strangle the al Qaeda wherever it is, Yemen, the Philippines other part of the world. The president talked about troop deployments to help nations do just that. And then he also said the United States and its coalition partners, but he clearly made it clear the United States will act alone if it feels it must, will confront the issue of weapons proliferation, using a very familiar phrase the United States, the president said, will not allow the world's most dangerous regimes to threaten the United States or its allies with the world's most dangerous weapons. He again invoked the term "axis of evil," which include Iran, Iraq and North Korea -- Leon.

HARRIS: Major Garrett, thank you -- Major Garrett with the president, President Bush, at Virginia Military Institute this morning.

Now, let's go to Daryn Kagan who is standing by in New York -- Daryn.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Leon, as we listened to the president's speech, you could hear messages for all sides in the Middle East. Let's check in now with Jerrold Kessel who is standing by in Jerusalem -- Jerrold, hello.

JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Daryn. And already no sooner had Colin Powell left, even before he had left, a failure was the word that is being attached to his mission here, a six-day mission in the region. And simply because he hadn't got what would be an undeclared, but a seemingly -- the objective of the U.S. mission to get a cease-fire in place, but the secretary of state, and I dare say what the president had to say, echoing that, not at all suggesting that this was a failure.

And the way that Mr. Powell seemed to be putting it and not simply because he was putting a good gloss on this or a positive gloss on the failure to get a cease-fire, was that the mission is still in its middle. And I think that's the bottom line that comes out as far as I read it of this Powell mission is that the United States is reengaged. They had a U.S. resolve -- a statement of U.S. resolve to get involved again and to be there and to try to get the end of this conflict in the most comprehensive way.

Now, that's a whole new ball game for this Bush administration, and I think that is possibly the most dramatic thing to come out of it over and the above the fact he hasn't yet gotten a cease-fire simply because, as Powell said, it might have been premature. He was not going to -- the United States was not going to take on Ariel Sharon, despite what they had said beforehand of trying to force him to end his mission, his declared war on terror before the Israeli prime minister was ready to do that, simply because the Israeli prime minister said he wouldn't do that.

And the United States seemed to have acquiesced in that, but at the same time seemed to have been absolutely adamant that it means to go ahead, press ahead with a broad scope peace plan down the line. And I think probably the most operative word in that long statement from Mr. Powell and the subsequent news conference that we heard was when he said to Israelis, Israel must begin to look beyond occupation, a very pertinent phrase heard from a top U.S. official.

Now, we are joined here in our Jerusalem bureau by a leading Israeli political analyst, Gerald Steinberg -- thanks very much, Dr. Steinberg, for joining us. Do you think that this was entirely a failure, this mission?

GERALD STEINBERG, BAR ILAN UNIVERSITY: Well, it's too early to say it was entirely a failure or even that it was a failure. But the words have to be looked at carefully. Also, we saw the facial expressions; we saw the body language of Yasser Arafat. We have heard the word catastrophe used by a Palestinian official in reference to today's meeting between the secretary of the state and Mr. Arafat. The Palestinians and the Americans seem to have misread each other entirely. The Palestinians thinking that here comes the secretary of state backed by the president to force the Israelis to leave, and the Palestinians to begin to develop what they want to go further. The Americans had nothing to do with that. They came and said, you have got to make all of these steps first, Mr. Arafat, primarily in the area of condemning terrorism. And then we will lean on the Israelis.

So there was a complete mismatch, and I think that really shows a problem here with the strategy.

KESSEL: You really saw a livid Yasser Arafat, no doubt about that, adamant that the world was abandoning him, as it were. On the other hand, you had quite a dramatic set too between Mr. Powell and Mr. Sharon to the extent that, not on the question of withdrawal. Ariel Sharon has made no bones about it. He wanted Yasser Arafat out of the picture. He is not a partner, he has been saying all along.

There was Mr. Powell, not only meeting twice with Yasser Arafat, beleaguered in headquarters, but saying afterwards when asked, what about Yasser Arafat in the future? And he said he is the leader of the Palestinians. That's a fact as much as the Israeli operation is a fact. That has to be dealt with. Israel, by implication, has to go on dealing, at least for now, with Yasser Arafat.

STEINBERG: You used the term, "by implication," and I think that's important. There was a difference there. Certainly the secretary of state, and we have just seen President Bush, have no great love for Mr. Arafat. It was done because of the facts that Mr. Arafat is head of Palestinians right now, but without great enthusiasm. The demand for an end to terrorism for Mr. Arafat to change his way of leadership, to lead the way out of this violence was very clear, both from Mr. Powell and from Mr. Bush. And I don't think we're going to get a change until we get a change from Arafat.

KESSEL: What about that idea that the Americans lay down in a very pertinent phrase, I think, from Mr. Powell saying, Israel must look beyond occupation. Clearly, the United States has a comprehensive idea of moving forward to ending this conflict, and that might be something that Mr. Sharon should worry about, not so?

STEINBERG: I don't think in the short term it's going to be a problem for Mr. Sharon, because the immediate issue remains terrorism and violence, and that's what people are going to be focusing on, if we get beyond that. We have already heard the president and the secretary of state in many different occasions talking about a state of Palestine, but it's always under the condition of an end to violence, the renunciation of violence as a tool to get more and more demands. That has to come first, but the secretary made that clear. The president has made that clear. I don't know if we are going to get beyond that with Mr. Arafat.

KESSEL: OK. Thanks very much -- Gerald Steinberg giving there what will no doubt be the Israeli perception of this mission and of the Palestinian adamants that they can't denounce the terrorism until the Israelis have ended their reoccupation. That battle no doubt will go on, but I suggest, already that the United States looking beyond, and that might be something that Ariel Sharon might worry about down the line -- back to you for now, Daryn.

KAGAN: Jerrold Kessel in Jerusalem -- Jerrold, thank you very much.

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