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CNN Live At Daybreak
State of the Union De Ja Vu
Aired December 30, 2002 - 05:48 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: The State of the Union address that President Bush will deliver about a month from now will have a familiar theme, but senior White House correspondent John King says that the "axis of evil" will have a new twist.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The State of the Union speech a month from now will contain echoes of the one 11 months ago.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: States like these and their terrorist allies constitute an "axis of evil" arming to threaten the peace of the world.
KING: It raised eyebrows at the time on the nation of Iran, Iraq and North Korea just a few months into the war against al Qaeda.
BUSH: The United States of America will not permit the world's most dangerous regimes to threaten us with the world's most destructive weapons.
(APPLAUSE)
KING: Eleven months later, many view war with Iraq as inevitable, North Korea is reviving its nuclear weapons program and though hardly over, the war against al Qaeda at times seems an afterthought.
LAWRENCE EAGLEBURGER, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: There are an awful lot of terrorist targets out there that I wish we were spending more time looking at.
KING: Grading the president as 2002 draws to a close is difficult business because so many of this year's challenges will carry over to the next. Al Qaeda no longer has sanctuary in Afghanistan but Osama bin Laden is thought to be alive and attacks in Bali, Kenya and elsewhere were reminders of terror's reach.
MICHAEL O'HANLON, THE BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: I would say that the glass is half full, half empty. I think we've about cut al Qaeda's effectiveness in half.
KING: There would be no weapons inspectors in Iraq were it not for the president's September demand that the United Nations get tough with Saddam Hussein.
BUSH: Will the United Nations serve the purpose of its founding or will it be irrelevant?
KING: Yet coalition building for a possible war is complicated by resentment.
EAGLEBURGER: If I were to criticize the administration for anything, it is the general reputation they have to -- in too many places around the world for believing for -- at least apparently believing that the United States is so powerful now and the only superpower that we can do almost anything we want.
KING: Nuclear brinkmanship with North Korea is suddenly as big a challenge as Iraq.
O'HANLON: The idea you can simply let that situation fester and demand that the North Koreans make good on their nuclear program and eliminate it prior to any negotiations is not a sustainable policy.
KING: But the president believes firmness and isolation is the right policy.
RICHARD BUSH, THE BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: North Korea does not have the potential economic resources that Iraq has in terms of its oil fields, and so that gives us more leverage to work out a peaceful solution.
KING (on camera): North Korea is the latest example of a hard line approach that sometimes leaves allies uneasy but has become the trademark of a Bush White House that believes ruffling feathers and stark rhetoric like the "axis of evil" line are sometimes necessary to achieve results.
John King, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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 30, 2002 - 05:48 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: The State of the Union address that President Bush will deliver about a month from now will have a familiar theme, but senior White House correspondent John King says that the "axis of evil" will have a new twist.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The State of the Union speech a month from now will contain echoes of the one 11 months ago.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: States like these and their terrorist allies constitute an "axis of evil" arming to threaten the peace of the world.
KING: It raised eyebrows at the time on the nation of Iran, Iraq and North Korea just a few months into the war against al Qaeda.
BUSH: The United States of America will not permit the world's most dangerous regimes to threaten us with the world's most destructive weapons.
(APPLAUSE)
KING: Eleven months later, many view war with Iraq as inevitable, North Korea is reviving its nuclear weapons program and though hardly over, the war against al Qaeda at times seems an afterthought.
LAWRENCE EAGLEBURGER, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: There are an awful lot of terrorist targets out there that I wish we were spending more time looking at.
KING: Grading the president as 2002 draws to a close is difficult business because so many of this year's challenges will carry over to the next. Al Qaeda no longer has sanctuary in Afghanistan but Osama bin Laden is thought to be alive and attacks in Bali, Kenya and elsewhere were reminders of terror's reach.
MICHAEL O'HANLON, THE BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: I would say that the glass is half full, half empty. I think we've about cut al Qaeda's effectiveness in half.
KING: There would be no weapons inspectors in Iraq were it not for the president's September demand that the United Nations get tough with Saddam Hussein.
BUSH: Will the United Nations serve the purpose of its founding or will it be irrelevant?
KING: Yet coalition building for a possible war is complicated by resentment.
EAGLEBURGER: If I were to criticize the administration for anything, it is the general reputation they have to -- in too many places around the world for believing for -- at least apparently believing that the United States is so powerful now and the only superpower that we can do almost anything we want.
KING: Nuclear brinkmanship with North Korea is suddenly as big a challenge as Iraq.
O'HANLON: The idea you can simply let that situation fester and demand that the North Koreans make good on their nuclear program and eliminate it prior to any negotiations is not a sustainable policy.
KING: But the president believes firmness and isolation is the right policy.
RICHARD BUSH, THE BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: North Korea does not have the potential economic resources that Iraq has in terms of its oil fields, and so that gives us more leverage to work out a peaceful solution.
KING (on camera): North Korea is the latest example of a hard line approach that sometimes leaves allies uneasy but has become the trademark of a Bush White House that believes ruffling feathers and stark rhetoric like the "axis of evil" line are sometimes necessary to achieve results.
John King, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
