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CNN Live Today

White House Says Iraq Policy Unchanged

Aired August 02, 2002 - 12:20   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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: News from the White House now, including a senior official at the White House says inspections or no inspections, U.S. policy remains the same: Saddam Hussein must be removed.

CNN's Suzanne Malveaux joins us now with that -- Suzanne.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, the president right now is on his way to Kennebunkport, we are told, to have a relaxing weekend, golfing, and fishing.

Before he left, he praised Congress for what he called a productive week, passing critical legislation, two pieces in particular, one being the corporate responsibility bill which he signed into law which basically creates new and tougher penalties for those who are guilty of corporate fraud, also creates an independent board to oversee the accounting industry. Another key piece of legislation is the trade promotion authority bill. This is a big win for the administration. It allows the president to negotiate deals overseas without the fear of Congress amending those deals. This is something that the administration has argued will open up new markets and boost the economy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Next week, I'm going to sign a trade promotion authority bill, which is very important for American workers. Today, the statistics are out that show that the unemployment rate is holding steady. We got a lot of work to do to make sure people can find work, and this trade bill is going to help a lot. It is going to help our ranchers, it is going to help our farmers, it's going to help people find jobs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: And Kyra, as you mentioned before, while Mr. Bush did not address this directly, the administration did dismiss this Iraq offer to the U.N. to resume talks and weapons inspections, saying really that it was meaningless.

A senior White House official I talked to this morning said, -- and I'm quoting here -- "that any discussion between the two should be very brief -- it is clear what Saddam Hussein needs to do to comply with the agreement he made in 1991 to rid his country of weapons of mass destruction. Weapons inspections have always been a means to an end."

And he also said that U.S. policy is not going to change, that policy being regime change, the ousting of Saddam Hussein, but there are some White House aides who are conceding that this certainly complicates that message that they want to give to our allies, that this is important and it's necessary to oust Saddam Hussein from power.

PHILLIPS: All right, Suzanne, now in a bit of a lighter note, what is the deal with the president hanging out with some soccer players?

MALVEAUX: Oh, that's right. Yes, he hung out with the soccer players, the World Cup soccer players. They were here earlier today. They got a chance to meet with him inside, shook hands, and they actually came out to the stakeout. We got to hear a little bit about what it was like to be a part of that experience, really a great group of guys and it was wonderful to see them here.

PHILLIPS: All right, Suzanne Malveaux, thank you so much.

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