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U.S. Skepticism with Iraq's Weapons Declaration

Aired December 17, 2002 - 07:03   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.


PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Turning our attention back to Iraq now, there are some problems with his weapons declaration, according to Secretary of State Colin Powell, which would make him the first senior official in the Bush administration to come out publicly on the document.
John King is standing by at the White House to fill us in with more.

Good morning -- John.

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

U.S. officials will present their final conclusions to the Security Council later this week. U.S. officials have been telling us for some time they believe the Iraqi document falls far short of the test laid out by the United Nations, not enough information on the chemical and biological weapons programs, not enough updated information on what the United States believes Iraq has been up to in terms of a nuclear weapons program.

At the White House, they have consistently, though, refused to say anything publicly about the ongoing U.S. assessment. Secretary of State Colin Powell, though, out in public yesterday, as you noted, the first senior official to lay it out, saying in the U.S. view, Iraq has failed the test.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: We said at the very beginning that we approached it with skepticism, and the information I've received so far is that that skepticism is well-founded. There are problems with the declaration.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: U.S. officials will spell those problems out in a report later this week to the Security Council. White House officials tell us as of now, still no plans for the president or anyone, any senior officials, to lay all of this out publicly. For now, they want to make a private presentation to the Security Council. We are told that will include some U.S. intelligence, so the United States can make the case, Iraq says this, we believe it is wrong.

U.S. officials, though, say it's still unclear where this debate will go from here. The United States -- there's no talk here at the White House about pushing for any immediate military confrontation. The next round in the Security Council at the end of the week -- Paula.

ZAHN: John, I wanted to ask you about another report that has made front-page news in "The Washington Times" this morning that the president will announce a decision to begin deploying a nationwide defense system against ballistic missiles. What have you learned?

KING: This is a key Bush campaign promise going back to the 2000 campaign. We are told as early as today, we could hear from the president that he has settled on a limited missile defense plan. There has been a debate within the administration about how ambitious of a plan to build. Some critics outside the administration wonder whether this is worth the tens and tens and tens of billions of dollars at this moment, whether this is the right way to spend this money.

But the president has steadfastly said this country needs a national missile defense system. We are told he has settled on a limited missile defense system, the first interceptors to be based at an air force facility in Alaska, up and running by the year 2004. That is the president's final decision, officials tell us, and they say that could be announced publicly as early as today.

ZAHN: Thanks for the warning. John King, appreciate it.

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 December 17, 2002 - 07:03   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Turning our attention back to Iraq now, there are some problems with his weapons declaration, according to Secretary of State Colin Powell, which would make him the first senior official in the Bush administration to come out publicly on the document.
John King is standing by at the White House to fill us in with more.

Good morning -- John.

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

U.S. officials will present their final conclusions to the Security Council later this week. U.S. officials have been telling us for some time they believe the Iraqi document falls far short of the test laid out by the United Nations, not enough information on the chemical and biological weapons programs, not enough updated information on what the United States believes Iraq has been up to in terms of a nuclear weapons program.

At the White House, they have consistently, though, refused to say anything publicly about the ongoing U.S. assessment. Secretary of State Colin Powell, though, out in public yesterday, as you noted, the first senior official to lay it out, saying in the U.S. view, Iraq has failed the test.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: We said at the very beginning that we approached it with skepticism, and the information I've received so far is that that skepticism is well-founded. There are problems with the declaration.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: U.S. officials will spell those problems out in a report later this week to the Security Council. White House officials tell us as of now, still no plans for the president or anyone, any senior officials, to lay all of this out publicly. For now, they want to make a private presentation to the Security Council. We are told that will include some U.S. intelligence, so the United States can make the case, Iraq says this, we believe it is wrong.

U.S. officials, though, say it's still unclear where this debate will go from here. The United States -- there's no talk here at the White House about pushing for any immediate military confrontation. The next round in the Security Council at the end of the week -- Paula.

ZAHN: John, I wanted to ask you about another report that has made front-page news in "The Washington Times" this morning that the president will announce a decision to begin deploying a nationwide defense system against ballistic missiles. What have you learned?

KING: This is a key Bush campaign promise going back to the 2000 campaign. We are told as early as today, we could hear from the president that he has settled on a limited missile defense plan. There has been a debate within the administration about how ambitious of a plan to build. Some critics outside the administration wonder whether this is worth the tens and tens and tens of billions of dollars at this moment, whether this is the right way to spend this money.

But the president has steadfastly said this country needs a national missile defense system. We are told he has settled on a limited missile defense system, the first interceptors to be based at an air force facility in Alaska, up and running by the year 2004. That is the president's final decision, officials tell us, and they say that could be announced publicly as early as today.

ZAHN: Thanks for the warning. John King, appreciate it.

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