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CNN Live At Daybreak
Wake-Up Call: Is NATO Necessary?
Aired February 11, 2003 - 06:33 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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: There is that new focus on NATO with the diplomatic crisis under way there, and along with it, some are asking a crucial question: Is NATO necessary? Why should the United States care what the alliance decides?
For more on those questions, we've placed a "Wake-Up Call" to our senior White House correspondent, John King.
John -- good morning.
JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Carol.
COSTELLO: So, is there a sense in Washington that NATO is irrelevant?
KING: Well, certainly not that it is irrelevant, but the president characterizes this as a key test for NATO in the new post- September 11 world; that NATO has an obligation to respond. There is the issue here of Iraq. The French, the Germans and others disagree with the Bush administration policy, but the White House also believes there's a bigger issue here, that some of the Europeans simply feel they're being pushed around by the United States, that the United States is a big superpower trying to tell them what to do.
So, a lot of tension here. The NATO ambassador to the United States calls it a crisis of credibility, and that's very similar language that the president has used in challenging the United Nations Security Council to act on Iraq.
So, it's a time of great tension in the alliance. White House officials say they're optimistic in the next few says this will be worked out, though.
COSTELLO: But, John, who is the conciliatory voice from the United States' perspective in this present crisis in NATO?
KING: Well, they're hoping actually that the Germans come around. There's a lot of tension between the Bush administration and the German government in recent months. But the Germans over the weekend did say they did not want to leave Turkey isolated; that they thought the alliance, for all of the disagreements with the United States, that the alliance did have an obligation to its member, Turkey, to provide defenses.
So, there's some hope that one of the reasons this meeting is delayed perhaps is that there's diplomacy behind the scenes, and that this could be resolved if not today, in the next several days. But this is certainly a great example of the tension, especially between the United States and France right not, but also between the United States and Germany.
COSTELLO: Understand. John King, thanks for waking up early with DAYBREAK this morning.
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 11, 2003 - 06:33 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: There is that new focus on NATO with the diplomatic crisis under way there, and along with it, some are asking a crucial question: Is NATO necessary? Why should the United States care what the alliance decides?
For more on those questions, we've placed a "Wake-Up Call" to our senior White House correspondent, John King.
John -- good morning.
JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Carol.
COSTELLO: So, is there a sense in Washington that NATO is irrelevant?
KING: Well, certainly not that it is irrelevant, but the president characterizes this as a key test for NATO in the new post- September 11 world; that NATO has an obligation to respond. There is the issue here of Iraq. The French, the Germans and others disagree with the Bush administration policy, but the White House also believes there's a bigger issue here, that some of the Europeans simply feel they're being pushed around by the United States, that the United States is a big superpower trying to tell them what to do.
So, a lot of tension here. The NATO ambassador to the United States calls it a crisis of credibility, and that's very similar language that the president has used in challenging the United Nations Security Council to act on Iraq.
So, it's a time of great tension in the alliance. White House officials say they're optimistic in the next few says this will be worked out, though.
COSTELLO: But, John, who is the conciliatory voice from the United States' perspective in this present crisis in NATO?
KING: Well, they're hoping actually that the Germans come around. There's a lot of tension between the Bush administration and the German government in recent months. But the Germans over the weekend did say they did not want to leave Turkey isolated; that they thought the alliance, for all of the disagreements with the United States, that the alliance did have an obligation to its member, Turkey, to provide defenses.
So, there's some hope that one of the reasons this meeting is delayed perhaps is that there's diplomacy behind the scenes, and that this could be resolved if not today, in the next several days. But this is certainly a great example of the tension, especially between the United States and France right not, but also between the United States and Germany.
COSTELLO: Understand. John King, thanks for waking up early with DAYBREAK this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
