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CNN Live At Daybreak

International News Desk

Aired September 24, 2002 - 05:32   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.


CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to be following that story, of course, as a number of international stories throughout the day here on CNN. To see what's going on, let's turn to our senior international editor, David Clinch.
Thanks for being with us, David.

DAVID CLINCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Catherine, good morning.

CALLAWAY: Good morning.

CLINCH: I don't just sound like a school teacher today, but this is a day on which the audience, everybody needs to pay attention. You have things happening today in London with this Blair speech that we're going to be covering shortly, the dossier that the British government has released today, an extraordinary document. We've been covering it already. We're going to listen to what Blair has to say.

This is a country, a democratic country laying out, as we expect at some point in the future the United States to lay out, in detail, secret, highly classified information relating specifically to the reasons why it will launch military action against Iraq, against another country.

CALLAWAY: Right.

CLINCH: Not waiting for Iraq to do something. Not waiting for it to declare war on Kuwait or do something else, as they have done in the past. Basically saying here is the evidence that we have that indicates that we need to do something, the United States and the United Kingdom needs to do something before Iraq acts.

This is a new world we're living in. This isn't a world where people wait to declare war when Pearl Harbor happens or, you know, Kuwait is invaded. This is a world in which evidence in advance is what we're talking about.

CALLAWAY: You know, you were, we were talking about this earlier, that you were saying the dossier itself is not that unprecedented, but what's inside of this, the fact that it sets up why they should be going to war.

CLINCH: Well, the fact that it's being done in this context, that information is being released in this way, specifically related to the idea that military action is required to remove the leader of another country...

CALLAWAY: Right.

CLINCH: That's extraordinary. And the thing is, I mean and our job, the media was criticized, and the audience has a right to criticize the media, in advance of September the 11th, for not explaining clearly what was going on, why al Qaeda was doing what it was doing, why Afghanistan was such a factor. Did the audience know? Or maybe they did, maybe they didn't.

But our job now is to make sure that as this debate is happening right now, today, and in the United States over the next few weeks and months, that the audience understands what is being said and by who.

CALLAWAY: And it should be interesting to hear what Tony Blair has to say, whether or not he'll just paraphrase what is in this.

CLINCH: Right.

CALLAWAY: What are we -- what do you think we're going to hear from him?

CLINCH: Well, we're going to hear what's in the dossier, but really, again, it's not a question of just exactly what information is in there because, you know, in many ways it's secret information. You can't say exactly how Britain got their hands on this information.

CALLAWAY: The specifics, right.

CLINCH: The question is does his audience, the British public and the wider public, buy it, basically.

CALLAWAY: And, David, how is this going to help Rumsfeld, now in Warsaw trying to make his case?

CLINCH: Right. Well, he'll be -- he's going to be talking about Iraq, again, to his NATO partners. The United States meeting with its NATO partners in Poland today. And, again, it's interesting here, you've got the headline of Iraq and they're talking about Iraq, but behind the headline, NATO is being asked by the United States and is asking itself to transform into a new organization that doesn't battle against Russia or the United, you know, or the USSR or some old foe, but against the new foe of terrorism and developing new forces that can go out rapidly and quickly and attack countries perhaps like Iraq and others, again, before they strike.

And this is the new world that we're talking about. Is this, is the United Kingdom, is the United States going to make itself, make themselves into countries that basically say we are the ones who are going to decide when we strike and who we strike and we're going to do it before we are hit first.

CALLAWAY: Interesting day ahead of us, David.

CLINCH: Yes.

CALLAWAY: I know the desk will be doing a great job of bringing it all to us and informing us all on not only the dossier, but other things going on.

CLINCH: Absolutely.

CALLAWAY: Thanks, David.

CLINCH: No problem.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired September 24, 2002 - 05:32   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to be following that story, of course, as a number of international stories throughout the day here on CNN. To see what's going on, let's turn to our senior international editor, David Clinch.
Thanks for being with us, David.

DAVID CLINCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Catherine, good morning.

CALLAWAY: Good morning.

CLINCH: I don't just sound like a school teacher today, but this is a day on which the audience, everybody needs to pay attention. You have things happening today in London with this Blair speech that we're going to be covering shortly, the dossier that the British government has released today, an extraordinary document. We've been covering it already. We're going to listen to what Blair has to say.

This is a country, a democratic country laying out, as we expect at some point in the future the United States to lay out, in detail, secret, highly classified information relating specifically to the reasons why it will launch military action against Iraq, against another country.

CALLAWAY: Right.

CLINCH: Not waiting for Iraq to do something. Not waiting for it to declare war on Kuwait or do something else, as they have done in the past. Basically saying here is the evidence that we have that indicates that we need to do something, the United States and the United Kingdom needs to do something before Iraq acts.

This is a new world we're living in. This isn't a world where people wait to declare war when Pearl Harbor happens or, you know, Kuwait is invaded. This is a world in which evidence in advance is what we're talking about.

CALLAWAY: You know, you were, we were talking about this earlier, that you were saying the dossier itself is not that unprecedented, but what's inside of this, the fact that it sets up why they should be going to war.

CLINCH: Well, the fact that it's being done in this context, that information is being released in this way, specifically related to the idea that military action is required to remove the leader of another country...

CALLAWAY: Right.

CLINCH: That's extraordinary. And the thing is, I mean and our job, the media was criticized, and the audience has a right to criticize the media, in advance of September the 11th, for not explaining clearly what was going on, why al Qaeda was doing what it was doing, why Afghanistan was such a factor. Did the audience know? Or maybe they did, maybe they didn't.

But our job now is to make sure that as this debate is happening right now, today, and in the United States over the next few weeks and months, that the audience understands what is being said and by who.

CALLAWAY: And it should be interesting to hear what Tony Blair has to say, whether or not he'll just paraphrase what is in this.

CLINCH: Right.

CALLAWAY: What are we -- what do you think we're going to hear from him?

CLINCH: Well, we're going to hear what's in the dossier, but really, again, it's not a question of just exactly what information is in there because, you know, in many ways it's secret information. You can't say exactly how Britain got their hands on this information.

CALLAWAY: The specifics, right.

CLINCH: The question is does his audience, the British public and the wider public, buy it, basically.

CALLAWAY: And, David, how is this going to help Rumsfeld, now in Warsaw trying to make his case?

CLINCH: Right. Well, he'll be -- he's going to be talking about Iraq, again, to his NATO partners. The United States meeting with its NATO partners in Poland today. And, again, it's interesting here, you've got the headline of Iraq and they're talking about Iraq, but behind the headline, NATO is being asked by the United States and is asking itself to transform into a new organization that doesn't battle against Russia or the United, you know, or the USSR or some old foe, but against the new foe of terrorism and developing new forces that can go out rapidly and quickly and attack countries perhaps like Iraq and others, again, before they strike.

And this is the new world that we're talking about. Is this, is the United Kingdom, is the United States going to make itself, make themselves into countries that basically say we are the ones who are going to decide when we strike and who we strike and we're going to do it before we are hit first.

CALLAWAY: Interesting day ahead of us, David.

CLINCH: Yes.

CALLAWAY: I know the desk will be doing a great job of bringing it all to us and informing us all on not only the dossier, but other things going on.

CLINCH: Absolutely.

CALLAWAY: Thanks, David.

CLINCH: No problem.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com