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CNN Live Today

President Meeting With Congressional Leaders on Iraq

Aired September 04, 2002 - 10:01   ET

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

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: First up this hour on CNN, President Bush's briefing on Iraq. The closed-door session with congressional leaders got underway just moments ago.
For a peek inside, we turn to our senior White House correspondent John King. He is joining us from the White House with the latest.

John, good morning.

JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Daryn.

This an effort by the president, we are told, to begin a concerted sales pitch here at home and on the world stage for his tough policy when it come to Iraq and Saddam Hussein. Also an effort by the president to quiet the criticism and the skeptics in Congress who say a number of things about his Iraq policy. Some say the president has not clearly spelled out what he wants to do and when he wants do it. Others have said people like the vice president and the secretary of state sending mixed signals at times.

We are told and we will hear from the president later this hour, he will speak to reporters at the end of this meeting, we are told in this meeting the president will promise close consultations with Congress as he makes his decisions. We are told the president will insist he has not decided whether he will indeed use military force to try to remove Saddam Hussein from power. But we are also told the president will promise the Congress as he makes those decisions to closely consult the Congress and that he wants congressional support for whatever he does down the line.

Now listening to the president will be key, because still a debate within the administration as to whether the president should commit right now to ask for a formal resolution authorizing the use of force. Some administration officials say that's premature because the president will say he hasn't decided to use military power. But they also say they know that that will be an urgent issue pushed by many of the Democrats and Republicans in the room with the president right now. It will be interesting to see exactly what language the president uses when he promises, as we are told he will, to not only consult but to seek congressional support when he makes a final decision about how to go forward with his stated goal of removing Saddam Hussein from power -- Daryn.

KAGAN: So, John, the president not going so far as to say that he would go and ask for a vote. But even this sounds like a few steps away from what we heard it was a week, a week and a half ago when White House lawyers came out and said you know what, the president can do what he wants and he doesn't need approval from Congress.

KING: Legally the White House lawyers tell the president he does not need approval, that as the commander-in-chief he has the authority, that under existing United Nations Security Council resolutions he could make the case that Iraq is breaking its agreements and therefore the United States has the right under those international resolutions to move forward. But politically, the president knows that if he is to launch the United States into a military confrontation with Iraq at a time there is great skepticism around the world, of course the commander-in-chief would need political support here at home, the American people most important, but of course the Congress a reflection of the American people.

But make no mistake about it, the president is trying to convince these members of Congress, look, I'm not prepared to make my decision yet. That is why you have all this clutter and debate, if you will, in the summer months that as he focuses, and we are told the next two or three weeks are critical in this sales pitch, the president will promise not only to consult the Congress but in the end to get their blessing for what he decides to do. The question is how prepared, how detailed is he prepared to be in saying specifically what he will ask from the Congress at a time the president will continue to tell them he has not made a final decision on whether he will need to use military force.

KAGAN: John King at the White House. John, thank you so much.

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