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CNN Live Saturday

World Watches U.S. For Intentions on Iraq

Aired August 03, 2002 - 17:08   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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: The unresolved situation in Iraq is very much on the mind of President Bush this weekend. Iraq's offer about weapons inspections is being viewed with skepticism by the administration.

CNN's Kelly Wallace is traveling with the vacationing president from Kennebunkport, Maine. Hi, Kelly.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka. Well, the White House is dismissing this move by Iraq but should Iraq one day allow inspections to continue, President Bush will likely have an even more difficult time convincing already-skeptical allies to support his ultimate goal, bringing about the end of Saddam Hussein's leadership.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): Vacationing in Maine, President Bush says nothing about Iraq's latest offer. But, his Secretary of State Colin Powell in South Asia makes clear the U.S. is not impressed.

COLIN POWELL, U.S. SECREATARY OF STATE: We have seen the Iraqis try to fiddle with the regime before.

WALLACE: Secretary Powell accuses Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein of trying to escape UN obligations to get rid of weapons of mass destruction. US officials also believe he is stalling to delay a possible US attack. But, if Iraq allows in weapons inspectors for the first time since 1998, that could complicate any war plans.

KEN KATZMAN, MIDDLE EAST EXPERT: It would make it much more difficult to get allied support because the Europeans and the Arabs are going to say, well, Saddam is making a good faith effort to comply, we have to give him benefit of the doubt.

WALLACE: America's allies are voicing concern. This weekend, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder warned against any US attack on Iraq, and US Senators, who convened hearings this week, are asking these questions. How much of a threat is Saddam Hussein? How many American lives could be lost in any US attack? And, who replaces Hussein, should the US ever bring about his ouster? Some also argued the president must get approval from Congress for any military action.

SEN. CARL LEVIN (D), ARMED SERVICES CHMN.: The president should clearly get Congressional support for this. This is too massive an operation to proceed without it, there's too much at stake, there's too much of a potential for significant causalities.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE: The former president Bush, golfing this weekend with his son, asked Congress 12 years ago to sign off on the Persian Gulf War. A campaign now criticized for not resulting in the end of Saddam Hussein's reign.

And, in a somewhat ironic note, the day the former president went before Congress to prepare lawmakers and the American people for a possible war with Iraq, September 11, 1990. You're looking at pictures from that day.

It is a day now linked to the current president, the day the current president said the War on Terror began and as part of that War on Terror, President Bush said Saddam Hussein must go. Aides, though, continue to say the president has no war plans on his desk, but that all options remain on the table, including military action -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And, Kelly, we saw in that videotape, changing the subject a little bit, President Bush with his dad, former president. We saw that he had some evidence of some sort of skin treatments on his cheek. Is this a sign of anything that is potentially threatening or dangerous for the former president?

WALLACE: Well, you saw those red marks on his face. What we're told is he had some lesions removed or treated, lesions caused by exposure to the sun. According to White House officials, these are not skin cancers, these are lesions though, of course, if not treated could become cancer so we're told the former president is OK. And, Fredrika we should tell you that the current president encouraging reporters to give him a little boost as he was teeing off -- the former president -- the current president said -- come on, make the old guy feel a little better.

WHITFIELD: Got a little competitive out there. All right, thanks very much, Kelly Wallace, from Kennebunkport.

Well, back to talk about Iraq now, retired general Wesley Clark is very familiar with the volatile situation in Iraq. He has served as NATO Supreme Allied Commander and Commander in Chief of the US- European command. And he now is a CNN Military Analyst. And he's joining us now from Little Rock, Arkansas. General Clark thanks very much for joining us to share your insights on this latest Iraq offer.

Well, are you feeling as skeptical as the Bush Administration is expressing?

GEN. WESLEY CLARK (RET) FMR. NATO SUPREME CMDR.: This is a ploy by Saddam Hussein. It's part of a charm offensive, so to speak, to turn his Arab neighbors into friends, to reassure his traditional enemies that he means them no harm. He wants to offer contracts to third-world countries and to some of our friends around the world, all in an effort to forestall US pressure and the threat of force against him. WHITFIELD: Is there anything that Iraq or Saddam Hussein could say to make this offer more credible in terms of opening the lines back up for UN Weapons Inspectors?

CLARK: Certainly, certainly.

WHITFIELD: What?

CLARK: The inspectors have to go in on the ground. This is the time for the discussion to say we welcome the inspectors back in. And then, of course, the onus will be on the United Nations to craft the inspection regime and to impose it on Iraq and in a way that it has real credibility and some hope of finding these weapons.

WHITFIELD: Well, let's talk about the threatened removal of Saddam Hussein. Bush administration has made it very clear that that's exactly what they want to do in their plans, apparently, in place. If Iraq is already cozying up to neighboring nations, and neighboring nations are making it very clear that they are in very -- they're very much opposed to President Bush talks of removing Saddam Hussein, then what kind of US military support would there be for any kind of staging ground in the area, which is what would be needed, correct? In order to have any kind of military operation to remove the leader?

CLARK: I think you'd need minimal staging in the theater, certainly Kuwait, maybe one other Gulf state, maybe something coming out of Turkey. You could get a number of aircraft carriers into the Persian Gulf, you can protect them there for long enough to do this operation. You've got to build up ground forces somewhere. Kuwait could host those ground forces, assuming that Kuwait goes along, but it's hard to believe Kuwait wouldn't go along. And so even without the kind of coalition that was present during the Gulf War a decade ago, it still possible to contemplate a military action here.

WHITFIELD: Does it make you uncomfortable hearing about so many reports about the plans the Bush administration has in its military removal of Saddam Hussein?

CLARK: Well, I'm uncomfortable in many respects. First, of course, officers and non-commissioned officers who are authorized to look at these plans should not -- absolutely should not -- be leaking them, discussing them, or releasing them to the press. On the other hand, this is certainly an issue, which the public needs to debate; the administration needs to provide evidence.

What, precisely, is the threat that Saddam Hussein poses to the United States? Is there a linkage to Al Qaeda? What is the likelihood that he will actually gain a nuclear weapon, and how would he deliver that threat to the United States?

WHITFIELD: And without those UN inspections, how would the US, or anyone else, gather that kind of evidence?

CLARK: Well, it's a good question. But, presumably, we have other sources of information. I mean, there must be something that the Bush Administration is acting on to feel this strongly about this threat. That inspections can't work that regime change is the only answer. We seem to have skipped some steps in the logic of the debate. And, as the American people are brought into this, they're asking these questions.

That's the questions I get when I travel around the United States. What is the threat, is there an alternative to force? What is the alternative hat would it take to make an inspections program work? And, then, what would it take to convince our allies that there really is a threat and what would it take to bring them on board with us? Principally, our European allies?

WHITFIELD: All right, military analyst for CNN, General Wesley Clark. Thank you very much for joining us from Little Rock. Appreciate it.

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