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CNN Live At Daybreak

New Year Brings Familiar International Stories

Aired January 01, 2003 - 06:39   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: A New Year, but some familiar stories on the radar this morning. And our senior international editor, David Clinch, is back with us to tell us more about today's coverage.
Good morning to you, and happy New Year.

DAVID CLINCH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Good morning, Catherine. Happy New Year to you.

You know, President Bush was tremendously successful last year, 2002, in setting, to a certain extent, the international news agenda here in the United States. He described the axis of evil -- North Korea, Iraq and Iran. And we followed and everybody else did. And, boy, has that come true. Certainly, Iraq and North Korea are very much the top of the agenda.

He tried yesterday, as you saw earlier, to treat that agenda slightly, making a very important distinction between the way he sees the Iraq aspect of the axis of evil and the North Korean aspect, saying one is diplomatic and one needs to be dealt with militarily, or at least on the Iraq side, a military build-up around Iraq, not necessarily the use of that military. He actually cautioned one of the journalists there that it's not the journalist's decision about whether there will be a war; it's his decision. And that is true.

Neither is it our decision to say whether North Korea should be dealt with militarily or not. It is only our job -- and we intend to do it -- to keep reporting on both stories, and people can decide for themselves.

We're continuing in Iraq, so Rym Brahimi there reporting on the inspectors doing their job. They're up against something of a deadline here. January the 7th, there will be another sort of interim report to the United Nations. January 27, in theory, there will be a comprehensive report to the Security Council on what the inspectors have been able to find to that point; so far, nothing that we know of. But, you know, a month to go or so until they have to give that report.

CALLAWAY: Rym had an interesting comment from the paper there in Iraq, the editorial saying that maybe they should do what North Korea did and just throw out the inspectors.

CLINCH: Well, North Korea has certainly taken advantage of the United States being preoccupied, to a certain extent, by Iraq, and Iraq, I suppose, now is trying to take advantage of North Korea's actions.

CALLAWAY: Right.

CLINCH: So, both working together, and we're reporting continually on North Korea as well. We are going up, as I promised we would do -- we've now got an opportunity late tonight Eastern Time, which will be Thursday in Korea, we'll go up to the DMZ and report live from a U.S. base there. There is no buildup of military troops, but there are tens of thousands of U.S. troops there in South Korea. We'll go up to one of the bases and be reporting live from the DMZ for the next couple of days.

CALLAWAY: You know, David, I wish that people at home could see how hard you guys on the International Desk work on the overnight when everyone is sleeping.

CLINCH: Yes.

CALLAWAY: It's when most things are breaking around the world.

CLINCH: Well, it's very rewarding, you know.

CALLAWAY: You do a great job.

CLINCH: For a brief period of time, we probably know more about what's going on in the world than anybody else does, and we go home and sleep and let other people take the credit, you know.

CALLAWAY: Well, we appreciate it, and we know what great work you do. Thank you, David.

CLINCH: OK. Happy New Year to you.

CALLAWAY: 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 January 1, 2003 - 06:39   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: A New Year, but some familiar stories on the radar this morning. And our senior international editor, David Clinch, is back with us to tell us more about today's coverage.
Good morning to you, and happy New Year.

DAVID CLINCH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Good morning, Catherine. Happy New Year to you.

You know, President Bush was tremendously successful last year, 2002, in setting, to a certain extent, the international news agenda here in the United States. He described the axis of evil -- North Korea, Iraq and Iran. And we followed and everybody else did. And, boy, has that come true. Certainly, Iraq and North Korea are very much the top of the agenda.

He tried yesterday, as you saw earlier, to treat that agenda slightly, making a very important distinction between the way he sees the Iraq aspect of the axis of evil and the North Korean aspect, saying one is diplomatic and one needs to be dealt with militarily, or at least on the Iraq side, a military build-up around Iraq, not necessarily the use of that military. He actually cautioned one of the journalists there that it's not the journalist's decision about whether there will be a war; it's his decision. And that is true.

Neither is it our decision to say whether North Korea should be dealt with militarily or not. It is only our job -- and we intend to do it -- to keep reporting on both stories, and people can decide for themselves.

We're continuing in Iraq, so Rym Brahimi there reporting on the inspectors doing their job. They're up against something of a deadline here. January the 7th, there will be another sort of interim report to the United Nations. January 27, in theory, there will be a comprehensive report to the Security Council on what the inspectors have been able to find to that point; so far, nothing that we know of. But, you know, a month to go or so until they have to give that report.

CALLAWAY: Rym had an interesting comment from the paper there in Iraq, the editorial saying that maybe they should do what North Korea did and just throw out the inspectors.

CLINCH: Well, North Korea has certainly taken advantage of the United States being preoccupied, to a certain extent, by Iraq, and Iraq, I suppose, now is trying to take advantage of North Korea's actions.

CALLAWAY: Right.

CLINCH: So, both working together, and we're reporting continually on North Korea as well. We are going up, as I promised we would do -- we've now got an opportunity late tonight Eastern Time, which will be Thursday in Korea, we'll go up to the DMZ and report live from a U.S. base there. There is no buildup of military troops, but there are tens of thousands of U.S. troops there in South Korea. We'll go up to one of the bases and be reporting live from the DMZ for the next couple of days.

CALLAWAY: You know, David, I wish that people at home could see how hard you guys on the International Desk work on the overnight when everyone is sleeping.

CLINCH: Yes.

CALLAWAY: It's when most things are breaking around the world.

CLINCH: Well, it's very rewarding, you know.

CALLAWAY: You do a great job.

CLINCH: For a brief period of time, we probably know more about what's going on in the world than anybody else does, and we go home and sleep and let other people take the credit, you know.

CALLAWAY: Well, we appreciate it, and we know what great work you do. Thank you, David.

CLINCH: OK. Happy New Year to you.

CALLAWAY: 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.