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CNN Live At Daybreak

Case Against Iraq Hot Topic of International Community

Aired September 12, 2002 - 05:29   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The case against Iraq is the hot topic of the international community. President Bush is taking his position directly to the United Nations General Assembly this morning. Many in the Middle East and around the world are opposed to any preemptive strike against Iraq.
For Israel's position on this, we want to go live to our Jerrold Kessel now, who is in Jerusalem -- good morning.

JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

If there are some who feel that that Bush administration believes it has unfinished business with Saddam Hussein's Iraq, then you could say that this is a country, Israel is a country which as a whole believes there's such unfinished business. And Israel has been a little reticent up until now about saying how delighted, really, you could say it is that the Bush administration is going along the direction in which the president has been talking about now, until now.

But that reticence seems to have been disappearing. It was interesting to hear Israel's military chief of staff saying the United States would probably feel it's much better if Israel would not be involved in any attack on Iraq, for now, he said. That was the Israeli position as spelled out by the military chief of staff, but that question of that statement for now, perhaps the most relevant one as CNN's Izzie Lamberg (ph) heard from Israel's defense minister, Benjamin Ben-Eliezer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN BEN-ELIEZER, ISRAELI DEFENSE MINISTER: Therefore it is expected that if we will be hit by Iraq, definitely by non- conventional warfare or missiles, it is accepted that the Israeli response...

IZZIE LAMBERG (ph), CNN CORRESPONDENT: What kind of response? BEN-ELIEZER: We will response...

LAMBERT: Also unconventional? BEN-ELIEZER: We would response.

LAMBERT: You're not saying that it would not be a conventional? BEN-ELIEZER: No, listen, what I'm trying to say here, that we are trying to do everything possible in order to avoid any possibility that they would dare to hit us. It cannot be, it cannot be accepted by us that any time that something happened in Iraq, the victim will be, the first victim will be Israel. Don't get me wrong, we are encouraging the United States and we are backing the United States and we will give the United States any support, anything required.

But, on the other hand, I don't think that anyone in the world can prevent us not to do the minimum to our people to guarantee our security.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KESSEL: So deterrence is one thing that Israel is interested in at this time. But it's also beyond that. You really do feel that the Israelis almost to a person believe that they are lined up absolutely solidly with the United States on this one and that it is involved. In the global war on terror, Israel believes that it's on the front line and it really believes the United States is absolutely right to take that global war on terror to Iraq, which is why the Israelis really are getting quietly ready for that possibility, also for the possibility that they may come under attack, as we heard Mr. Ben- Eliezer say, with precautions, but also with readiness -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Jerrold Kessel reporting live from Jerusalem this morning.

Thank you.

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