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House Leaders, White House Agree on Resolution Language
Aired October 02, 2002 - 11:14 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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We were telling you just a few minutes ago about how House leaders have agreed with language of a resolution that would authorize use of force against Iraq. They reached that agreement with the White House on the language of that resolution.
Actually, our senior White House correspondent, John King, was trying to tell us about that -- and John, it will take more than a broken microphone to keep you from working for us this morning. We fixed that. So what do you have?
JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: We think we have that worked out now, Daryn.
KAGAN: Yes, we do. I can hear you loud and clear.
KING: Excellent. Well, we will see the president in the Rose Garden in just a little more than an hour, about an hour and a half from now as part of an effort to take that agreement he now has with the House and try to build some momentum to get it passed by the Senate as well.
Mr. Bush also trying to increase pressure on the United Nations to see things his way in the Iraq debate as well. The agreement struck here this morning is a resolution that does authorize the president to use military force against Iraq if he deems that diplomacy has failed.
That agreement struck between the House speaker, Republican Denny Hastert, and the House Democratic leader, Richard Gephardt of Missouri. Both the speaker and Mr. Gephardt then went up to Capitol Hill to sell this language to their caucus members. There is some criticism among some Democrats. Mr. Gephardt emerged from his meeting to say he believes this will pass with overwhelming bipartisan support, but not without some dissent.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. DICK GEPHARDT (D-MO), MINORITY LEADER: This is our highest responsibility in the Congress under the Constitution, that everybody needs to decide this on their own, what their conscience dictates, what their heart and mind tells them is the right thing to do.
We've got to keep this out of politics, as I have said over and over and over again.
(END VIDEO CLIP) KING: The White House made a number of concessions to get this agreement with the House leadership. Mr. Bush's initial proposal gave him broad authority to use military force. This proposal now up on Capitol Hill salutes the role of the United Nations, says priority one should be trying to win a new resolution out of the Security Council. If that is unsuccessful, the president could use U.S. military force, but only if he submits a determination to Congress that in his view diplomacy has failed, and the use of military force would be narrowly targeted to the current threat posed by Iraq and to force Iraq to come into compliance with existing United Nations resolutions, and Mr. Bush would be required, if there is such a military confrontation with Iraq, to report to Congress every 60 days, not only an update on any ongoing military operations, but also updates on any planning here at the White House for post-military operations in Iraq, things like U.S. peacekeeping forces or any major U.S. commitment to the reconstruction of Iraq.
So, the key concessions mostly to Democrats winning this agreement today, but it is an agreement between the president and the House leadership. Still some haggling to do with the Senate, that's why you will see Mr. Bush out in public today, celebrating this agreement, hoping to turn the heat up on the Senate -- Daryn.
KAGAN: And John, while this progress comes, it also comes at a time when you start hearing different suggestions coming out of the Bush administration, besides a military invasion. I'm thinking of some words coming yesterday from Ari Fleischer, suggesting it would be cheaper to have a single bullet to take out Saddam Hussein.
KING: Ari Fleischer said that in the briefing yesterday in response to a question about how much would a war cost. He said that was a premature question, because Mr. Bush had not decided on the military option. He went on to say it would be a lot cheaper if Saddam Hussein got a one-way ticket, meaning sent into exile by the Iraqi people, or if a single bullet was used, insinuating, of course, there an assassination attempt. Ari Fleischer later called reporters to say he was answering rhetorically, that is not government policy, in fact, it is against government policy for the United States to be involved in any assassination of a foreign leader.
A misstatement there by the press secretary, but a statement that will be used by this president's critics. Look for it to reverberate up at the United Nations, where many believe the goal at this White House is not disarmament, but the removal of Saddam Hussein from power.
KAGAN: We will look for that as well as the president live later today. We will show it live here on CNN.
John King at the White House -- thank you.
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 October 2, 2002 - 11:14 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We were telling you just a few minutes ago about how House leaders have agreed with language of a resolution that would authorize use of force against Iraq. They reached that agreement with the White House on the language of that resolution.
Actually, our senior White House correspondent, John King, was trying to tell us about that -- and John, it will take more than a broken microphone to keep you from working for us this morning. We fixed that. So what do you have?
JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: We think we have that worked out now, Daryn.
KAGAN: Yes, we do. I can hear you loud and clear.
KING: Excellent. Well, we will see the president in the Rose Garden in just a little more than an hour, about an hour and a half from now as part of an effort to take that agreement he now has with the House and try to build some momentum to get it passed by the Senate as well.
Mr. Bush also trying to increase pressure on the United Nations to see things his way in the Iraq debate as well. The agreement struck here this morning is a resolution that does authorize the president to use military force against Iraq if he deems that diplomacy has failed.
That agreement struck between the House speaker, Republican Denny Hastert, and the House Democratic leader, Richard Gephardt of Missouri. Both the speaker and Mr. Gephardt then went up to Capitol Hill to sell this language to their caucus members. There is some criticism among some Democrats. Mr. Gephardt emerged from his meeting to say he believes this will pass with overwhelming bipartisan support, but not without some dissent.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. DICK GEPHARDT (D-MO), MINORITY LEADER: This is our highest responsibility in the Congress under the Constitution, that everybody needs to decide this on their own, what their conscience dictates, what their heart and mind tells them is the right thing to do.
We've got to keep this out of politics, as I have said over and over and over again.
(END VIDEO CLIP) KING: The White House made a number of concessions to get this agreement with the House leadership. Mr. Bush's initial proposal gave him broad authority to use military force. This proposal now up on Capitol Hill salutes the role of the United Nations, says priority one should be trying to win a new resolution out of the Security Council. If that is unsuccessful, the president could use U.S. military force, but only if he submits a determination to Congress that in his view diplomacy has failed, and the use of military force would be narrowly targeted to the current threat posed by Iraq and to force Iraq to come into compliance with existing United Nations resolutions, and Mr. Bush would be required, if there is such a military confrontation with Iraq, to report to Congress every 60 days, not only an update on any ongoing military operations, but also updates on any planning here at the White House for post-military operations in Iraq, things like U.S. peacekeeping forces or any major U.S. commitment to the reconstruction of Iraq.
So, the key concessions mostly to Democrats winning this agreement today, but it is an agreement between the president and the House leadership. Still some haggling to do with the Senate, that's why you will see Mr. Bush out in public today, celebrating this agreement, hoping to turn the heat up on the Senate -- Daryn.
KAGAN: And John, while this progress comes, it also comes at a time when you start hearing different suggestions coming out of the Bush administration, besides a military invasion. I'm thinking of some words coming yesterday from Ari Fleischer, suggesting it would be cheaper to have a single bullet to take out Saddam Hussein.
KING: Ari Fleischer said that in the briefing yesterday in response to a question about how much would a war cost. He said that was a premature question, because Mr. Bush had not decided on the military option. He went on to say it would be a lot cheaper if Saddam Hussein got a one-way ticket, meaning sent into exile by the Iraqi people, or if a single bullet was used, insinuating, of course, there an assassination attempt. Ari Fleischer later called reporters to say he was answering rhetorically, that is not government policy, in fact, it is against government policy for the United States to be involved in any assassination of a foreign leader.
A misstatement there by the press secretary, but a statement that will be used by this president's critics. Look for it to reverberate up at the United Nations, where many believe the goal at this White House is not disarmament, but the removal of Saddam Hussein from power.
KAGAN: We will look for that as well as the president live later today. We will show it live here on CNN.
John King at the White House -- thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
