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CNN Live Today
Powell Meeting Privately With World Representatives
Aired February 04, 2003 - 11:17 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: Secretary of State Colin Powell goes to the United Nations today to get a jump on his report to the Security Council tomorrow. He is going to be briefing individual members of the council today, and no doubt he will be trying to push fence- sitters a little closer to the U.S. position that Iraq is not disarming.
Our White House correspondent, Dana Bash is here now. She has got the latest on the Bush team strategy -- hello, Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Leon. Well, Secretary of State Colin Powell is a very good politician, and yesterday he wrote in the "Wall Street Journal" that there's no smoking gun, clearly trying to lower expectations for the presentation tomorrow.
But the fact of the matter is the president himself, in his State of the Union address, pointed the country and the world to this very presentation he will give tomorrow as the chance for the world to see the proof that the U.S. says that it has that Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction.
Now, Secretary Powell's deputy, that's Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, gave a little bit of a preview earlier today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD ARMITAGE, DEPUTY SECRETARY OF STATE: We know where he was in '93. If he hadn't been interrupted by the Gulf War, I think most feel that he would have had a weapon by '93 or so -- a nuclear weapon. His B.W. and C.W. affection (ph) will be well documented tomorrow, I believe, by Secretary Powell -- as well as some, and I don't want to overstate it for the obvious reason, some intersections with various and sundry terrorist groups and that's our real fear with Iraq, sir.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Now, B.W. and C.W., of course, refers to biological weapons and chemical weapons and, of course, you heard Secretary Armitage talking about the potential link between Iraq and terrorist organizations. Those are all things the secretary will point to, we're told, tomorrow. He will give a presentation using satellite imagery, using intercepts that the U.S. believes are Iraqi officials talking to one another, all in an attempt to show that Iraq does have chemical and biological weapons, does have weapons of mass destruction, and is trying to elude the U.N. weapons inspectors. This, of course, an attempt to persuade the world, particularly key countries like France and Russia and others, who have been skeptical, who have said, we want to see proof of your claims.
Now, the other thing, Leon, to point out is that this has been a very exhaustive process, an intense process here at the White House going through, sifting through all of the intelligence information that the U.S. has, trying to figure out what it is that they need to show to show that the U.S. does have the proof, while trying to not hurt any of the sources, the intelligence sources, that brought in all of this information. That's been an exhaustive effort led by the White House, and going through a number of different agencies and their information, and it's all going to come to a climax, certainly tomorrow at the U.N.
HARRIS: All right, good deal. Of course, we'll be sitting by to watch and see what happens then. Live coverage of that, as well, right here on CNN. Thank you very much, Dana. Dana Bash at the White House.
Now, to Iraq. That country is suggesting, in essence, that Secretary Powell is going to be shopping around a lot of bologna at the U.N. tomorrow. The regime calls his evidence "a fabrication."
CNN Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson checks in now from Baghdad. He has got the word there for this hour -- hello, Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Leon, that's right. Iraq's top scientific adviser to President Saddam Hussein has said that the satellite photographs can be manipulated, any audiotapes can be fabricated. He doesn't put any faith in it. He says it is all going to be lies. He also says that if the United States has this information, that it should go to the U.N. weapons inspectors, but he says Iraq intends fully to react to whatever Colin Powell says. Also, he wants the U.N. weapons inspectors to verify whatever he says these accusations put forward are. Also today, Leon, we have seen a very strong show of strength in the north of Iraq, the northern city of Mosul (ph).
That is just about 65 miles south of Turkey, where potentially U.S. forces could gather for an invasion of Iraq, and about 45 miles east of an area that is not controlled by President Saddam Hussein, but it's controlled by rebellious Kurdish groups. The demonstration of strength there by Iraqi volunteers, some of the people we found marching with weapons there as young as 12 years old, some of them upwards of 60 years old, about 30 to 40,000 came out on the streets of that city today to demonstrate, they said, their support for President Saddam Hussein. Pretty much all that we talked to said they didn't want war, but they all said that they'd be willing to fight if it came to it -- Leon.
HARRIS: Nic Robertson reporting to us now live in the evening hours there in Baghdad. Thanks, Nic.
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 February 4, 2003 - 11:17 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Secretary of State Colin Powell goes to the United Nations today to get a jump on his report to the Security Council tomorrow. He is going to be briefing individual members of the council today, and no doubt he will be trying to push fence- sitters a little closer to the U.S. position that Iraq is not disarming.
Our White House correspondent, Dana Bash is here now. She has got the latest on the Bush team strategy -- hello, Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Leon. Well, Secretary of State Colin Powell is a very good politician, and yesterday he wrote in the "Wall Street Journal" that there's no smoking gun, clearly trying to lower expectations for the presentation tomorrow.
But the fact of the matter is the president himself, in his State of the Union address, pointed the country and the world to this very presentation he will give tomorrow as the chance for the world to see the proof that the U.S. says that it has that Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction.
Now, Secretary Powell's deputy, that's Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, gave a little bit of a preview earlier today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD ARMITAGE, DEPUTY SECRETARY OF STATE: We know where he was in '93. If he hadn't been interrupted by the Gulf War, I think most feel that he would have had a weapon by '93 or so -- a nuclear weapon. His B.W. and C.W. affection (ph) will be well documented tomorrow, I believe, by Secretary Powell -- as well as some, and I don't want to overstate it for the obvious reason, some intersections with various and sundry terrorist groups and that's our real fear with Iraq, sir.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Now, B.W. and C.W., of course, refers to biological weapons and chemical weapons and, of course, you heard Secretary Armitage talking about the potential link between Iraq and terrorist organizations. Those are all things the secretary will point to, we're told, tomorrow. He will give a presentation using satellite imagery, using intercepts that the U.S. believes are Iraqi officials talking to one another, all in an attempt to show that Iraq does have chemical and biological weapons, does have weapons of mass destruction, and is trying to elude the U.N. weapons inspectors. This, of course, an attempt to persuade the world, particularly key countries like France and Russia and others, who have been skeptical, who have said, we want to see proof of your claims.
Now, the other thing, Leon, to point out is that this has been a very exhaustive process, an intense process here at the White House going through, sifting through all of the intelligence information that the U.S. has, trying to figure out what it is that they need to show to show that the U.S. does have the proof, while trying to not hurt any of the sources, the intelligence sources, that brought in all of this information. That's been an exhaustive effort led by the White House, and going through a number of different agencies and their information, and it's all going to come to a climax, certainly tomorrow at the U.N.
HARRIS: All right, good deal. Of course, we'll be sitting by to watch and see what happens then. Live coverage of that, as well, right here on CNN. Thank you very much, Dana. Dana Bash at the White House.
Now, to Iraq. That country is suggesting, in essence, that Secretary Powell is going to be shopping around a lot of bologna at the U.N. tomorrow. The regime calls his evidence "a fabrication."
CNN Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson checks in now from Baghdad. He has got the word there for this hour -- hello, Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Leon, that's right. Iraq's top scientific adviser to President Saddam Hussein has said that the satellite photographs can be manipulated, any audiotapes can be fabricated. He doesn't put any faith in it. He says it is all going to be lies. He also says that if the United States has this information, that it should go to the U.N. weapons inspectors, but he says Iraq intends fully to react to whatever Colin Powell says. Also, he wants the U.N. weapons inspectors to verify whatever he says these accusations put forward are. Also today, Leon, we have seen a very strong show of strength in the north of Iraq, the northern city of Mosul (ph).
That is just about 65 miles south of Turkey, where potentially U.S. forces could gather for an invasion of Iraq, and about 45 miles east of an area that is not controlled by President Saddam Hussein, but it's controlled by rebellious Kurdish groups. The demonstration of strength there by Iraqi volunteers, some of the people we found marching with weapons there as young as 12 years old, some of them upwards of 60 years old, about 30 to 40,000 came out on the streets of that city today to demonstrate, they said, their support for President Saddam Hussein. Pretty much all that we talked to said they didn't want war, but they all said that they'd be willing to fight if it came to it -- Leon.
HARRIS: Nic Robertson reporting to us now live in the evening hours there in Baghdad. Thanks, Nic.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
