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Bush's Legal Aides Say Congressional Approval Not Necessary

Aired August 26, 2002 - 11:32   ET

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

LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush is getting advice from his White House legal team about Iraq, should he decide to attack.
CNN White House Correspondent Suzanne Malveaux joins us with more on all that -- Suzanne, what is the word?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, the word, Leon is really that the president is keeping all of his options when it comes to Iraq, but his advisers are saying he may not need Congressional approval in order to have a military strike against Saddam Hussein. This is something they have been looking at for the last couple of months. They have been looking at historical examples, legal precedents, a number of issues, and they make a possible case. They are saying this, that first of all, the Constitution grants the president duties and powers as commander in chief of the armed forces. Secondly, they point to the 1991 Persian Gulf Resolution which authorizes the use of military force against Iraq. That is the same resolution that Bush senior, gave him the authority in the Gulf War, and third, they point to the September 14 resolution overwhelmingly approved by Congress. That also endorsing military action against terrorists for the September 11 attacks. Now, while President Bush has not said that he is going to need congressional approval or seek congressional approval, he has said that he is going to consult with members of Congress before any type of action, that he has not decided whether or not that is going to be military action.

Now, all of this comes after a slew of Republicans hit the airwaves over the weekend, really giving President Bush mixed messages about how to deal with Saddam Hussein. This was including an op-ed piece from former Secretary of State James Baker, who, as you know, was the one who built that broad international coalition in support of the Gulf War under Bush senior.

Well, this weekend, he was advising President Bush to be cautious, that he needed international support before he goes forward, if he does decide to go forward with military action.

Now tomorrow, President Bush is going to be meeting with the Saudi Ambassador to the United States, Prince Bandar at the Crawford ranch. It is expected that the two will sit down and talk, and they are trying to really kind of smooth over the tensions, ease some of the tensions between the White House and Saudi Arabia, and also again for the president to make his pitch, the ousting of Saddam Hussein -- Leon.

HARRIS: Suzanne, the question that jumps to mind immediately, now that we have seen James Baker come out in an editorial, state his case on this, we have seen these figures from the first Bush administration coming out now, and one would think that since that family is on still good terms with all of these people, why it is that these men felt like they have got to go through the newspapers to give this administration that kind of advice. Mr. Bush -- the current president is not talking to these voices at all?

MALVEAUX: It is certainly not a matter of President Bush not talking to folks. He has -- actually has a wide net of people that he is actually consulting with, not only members of Congress, but also former members of the administration. I think what you are seeing playing out here really is the concern from administration officials that Look, they really need to get support behind the president's policy of regime change, whether or not that means military action or otherwise. That they see that lawmakers as well as allies are not giving them the kind of support that they had needed, that they had hoped. So they are really trying to cast a wide net saying, Yes, President Bush has said all along I welcome these opinions. I welcome this diversity here. Let's try to figure out a way that we can actually come to some sort of reasonable conclusion and come to the conclusion of yes, supporting regime change, the ousting of Saddam Hussein.

HARRIS: Suzanne Malveaux at the White House. Thank you very much. Have a good one, we'll see you later.

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