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France, Germany Urge Bush to Slow Down

Aired January 22, 2003 - 11:00   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.


LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: But up first this hour on CNN, the U.S. caught between Iraq and a hard place. President Bush is escalating his war threats this week with carefully chosen words, and that is angering European allies, and it is also setting the stage for a tricky political dance at the U.N. next week.
CNN's Senior White House Correspondent John King is standing by at his post this morning. Let's check in to see what the word is there -- hello, John.

JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you. A mounting diplomatic challenge for the president overseas. You might say a mounting political challenge here, as well.

Allies very critical of the U.S. approach. They believe Mr. Bush is ignoring what they consider to be success and some progress in the inspections regime inside Iraq, and these allies, France and Germany, the Russians among them, believe Mr. Bush is in too much of a rush toward military confrontation.

The president, on the other hand, argues -- and he said it again quite bluntly yesterday, that he cannot believe that the allies want to relive what the president called a bad old movie. Mr. Bush says Saddam Hussein is once again cheating and deceiving the inspectors on the ground, and that he believes it is time for the United Nations to discuss perhaps moving on to the -- quote -- "serious consequences called for in the new resolution" that sent those inspectors into Iraq in the first place. The administration, though, trying to lobby the allies slowly. It says in time, perhaps, it can bring them around. The deputy secretary of state, for example, Richard Armitage in Moscow today lobbying the Russians. But as the president lobbies people overseas, polls here in the United States also show rising opposition to military confrontation with Iraq, so the president has a stiff challenge before him.

Aides say he understands that. It is one of the reasons next Tuesday night, when the president delivers his annual State of the Union address, he will spend considerable time laying out his views as we move toward possible military confrontation with Iraq -- Leon.

HARRIS: All right, John, as these confrontations, though, continue to build within the U.N. Security Council, we keep hearing President Bush talk about the so-called "coalition of the willing." Has the White House come out and said yet who that does include?

KING: In no official way have they said that. Obviously, the British prime minister, Tony Blair, will be here not this weekend, but next weekend to consult with President Bush. He has been the staunchest U.S. ally Mr. Bush has over time, and White House officials say privately you can look around the world. Australia has said it might participate, Italy and Spain are countries that have been part of it. Many Eastern European nations say they would offer their help.

Obviously, there is a military presence in much of the Arab world. As to who would publicly come forward and be part of any coalition, that will be the test. Again, the White House says the president hopes the United Nations Security Council will be with him, and if it is, then the world will be with the United States, but that coalition of the willing, you used the term the president often does, that could be the president's next big challenge, Leon, putting it together.

HARRIS: Good point. Thanks, John. John King at the White House. Take care, John.

Now, the French and the Germans made it clear today, don't count on their support in any U.S. war against Iraq.

CNN's Jim Bittermann is standing by in Paris where he's been gauging the mood and the opinion there. Hello, Jim.

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Leon. That isn't exactly what the French and Germans said. The Germans are saying that, but not the French. On a day when they were gathered together, the leaders of the two countries were gathered together here to commemorate 40 years of peace and reconciliation after a treaty that was signed here back in 1963.

The two leaders of France and Germany said they see eye to eye on Iraq, but that does not mean that they will vote identically in the United Nations. The Germans have said, categorically, that they will not vote to authorize any military action in Iraq. The French have said they are withholding any kind of judgment until they hear from the U.N. weapons inspectors on Monday. Here's what President Chirac had to say about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACQUES CHIRAC, PRESIDENT OF FRANCE (through translator): As far as we're concerned, war always means failure. And therefore, everything must be done to avoid war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BITTERMANN: And I should just add to that that in fact, the French diplomats here are telling us that the military option is still on the table as far as the French are concerned, but only after inspections fail. And one diplomat said to me that, in fact, the weapons inspectors, when they were here on Friday talking to President Chirac asked for four more months just to get back to the point they were when they left Iraq, when they were kicked out of Iraq back in 1998, and it could be two more months after that, he said, before any kind of decision could be made about whether the inspections process was making any forward progress -- Leon. HARRIS: All right. Thanks, Jim. Jim Bittermann reporting live for us from Paris -- good to see you, Jim. Take care.

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 22, 2003 - 11:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: But up first this hour on CNN, the U.S. caught between Iraq and a hard place. President Bush is escalating his war threats this week with carefully chosen words, and that is angering European allies, and it is also setting the stage for a tricky political dance at the U.N. next week.
CNN's Senior White House Correspondent John King is standing by at his post this morning. Let's check in to see what the word is there -- hello, John.

JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you. A mounting diplomatic challenge for the president overseas. You might say a mounting political challenge here, as well.

Allies very critical of the U.S. approach. They believe Mr. Bush is ignoring what they consider to be success and some progress in the inspections regime inside Iraq, and these allies, France and Germany, the Russians among them, believe Mr. Bush is in too much of a rush toward military confrontation.

The president, on the other hand, argues -- and he said it again quite bluntly yesterday, that he cannot believe that the allies want to relive what the president called a bad old movie. Mr. Bush says Saddam Hussein is once again cheating and deceiving the inspectors on the ground, and that he believes it is time for the United Nations to discuss perhaps moving on to the -- quote -- "serious consequences called for in the new resolution" that sent those inspectors into Iraq in the first place. The administration, though, trying to lobby the allies slowly. It says in time, perhaps, it can bring them around. The deputy secretary of state, for example, Richard Armitage in Moscow today lobbying the Russians. But as the president lobbies people overseas, polls here in the United States also show rising opposition to military confrontation with Iraq, so the president has a stiff challenge before him.

Aides say he understands that. It is one of the reasons next Tuesday night, when the president delivers his annual State of the Union address, he will spend considerable time laying out his views as we move toward possible military confrontation with Iraq -- Leon.

HARRIS: All right, John, as these confrontations, though, continue to build within the U.N. Security Council, we keep hearing President Bush talk about the so-called "coalition of the willing." Has the White House come out and said yet who that does include?

KING: In no official way have they said that. Obviously, the British prime minister, Tony Blair, will be here not this weekend, but next weekend to consult with President Bush. He has been the staunchest U.S. ally Mr. Bush has over time, and White House officials say privately you can look around the world. Australia has said it might participate, Italy and Spain are countries that have been part of it. Many Eastern European nations say they would offer their help.

Obviously, there is a military presence in much of the Arab world. As to who would publicly come forward and be part of any coalition, that will be the test. Again, the White House says the president hopes the United Nations Security Council will be with him, and if it is, then the world will be with the United States, but that coalition of the willing, you used the term the president often does, that could be the president's next big challenge, Leon, putting it together.

HARRIS: Good point. Thanks, John. John King at the White House. Take care, John.

Now, the French and the Germans made it clear today, don't count on their support in any U.S. war against Iraq.

CNN's Jim Bittermann is standing by in Paris where he's been gauging the mood and the opinion there. Hello, Jim.

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Leon. That isn't exactly what the French and Germans said. The Germans are saying that, but not the French. On a day when they were gathered together, the leaders of the two countries were gathered together here to commemorate 40 years of peace and reconciliation after a treaty that was signed here back in 1963.

The two leaders of France and Germany said they see eye to eye on Iraq, but that does not mean that they will vote identically in the United Nations. The Germans have said, categorically, that they will not vote to authorize any military action in Iraq. The French have said they are withholding any kind of judgment until they hear from the U.N. weapons inspectors on Monday. Here's what President Chirac had to say about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACQUES CHIRAC, PRESIDENT OF FRANCE (through translator): As far as we're concerned, war always means failure. And therefore, everything must be done to avoid war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BITTERMANN: And I should just add to that that in fact, the French diplomats here are telling us that the military option is still on the table as far as the French are concerned, but only after inspections fail. And one diplomat said to me that, in fact, the weapons inspectors, when they were here on Friday talking to President Chirac asked for four more months just to get back to the point they were when they left Iraq, when they were kicked out of Iraq back in 1998, and it could be two more months after that, he said, before any kind of decision could be made about whether the inspections process was making any forward progress -- Leon. HARRIS: All right. Thanks, Jim. Jim Bittermann reporting live for us from Paris -- good to see you, Jim. Take care.

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