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CNN Live At Daybreak
Wake-Up Call: U.S. Troops in Limbo
Aired February 19, 2003 - 06:37 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: The global tug-of-war over Iraq goes on. We want more, so we've placed a "Wake-Up Call" to our senior White House correspondent, John King.
Good morning -- John.
JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
COSTELLO: Hey, shall we start with Turkey and the controversy over allowing U.S. troops in? Is this a major setback for the Bush administration?
KING: It certainly would be if the final decision is no U.S. troops on Turkish soil for an invasion. And also, it's becoming sort of an unseemly debate. The president talks always about his principles in confronting Saddam Hussein, but this has become a debate over how much money the United States will give Turkey in emergency, economic and other aid.
So, essentially, it's a bidding war over what's the right price to let those troops in. This one is not so much about principle; it is about money.
COSTELLO: Money, like so many things are in this world.
There is also word that Britain is working on behind-the-scenes deal to convince the United States to wait three more weeks before a possible war. What more have you heard about that?
KING: There's a lot of talk about timetables, and Tony Blair very much wants a second resolution and believes it might take a few more weeks to get it. We've heard maybe three weeks. We've heard maybe two weeks. We've heard the White House say the new resolution might be tabled as early as tomorrow or that it might be held until next week if they can get the votes.
If you just play all this out and think of what we've been saying. We will have a debate at the United Nations clearly at least through the end of the month, the 1st or the 2nd of March. Then the question is, is the president's threshold decision, will it be a week from then or two weeks from then? Most assume around the middle of March. So, that essentially fits with the British scenario of needing a few more weeks to try to figure this out.
And so, look for the first week of March or the second week of March to be the decisive points here. COSTELLO: Oh, we certainly will. John King, thanks for waking up early with DAYBREAK.
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 19, 2003 - 06:37 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The global tug-of-war over Iraq goes on. We want more, so we've placed a "Wake-Up Call" to our senior White House correspondent, John King.
Good morning -- John.
JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
COSTELLO: Hey, shall we start with Turkey and the controversy over allowing U.S. troops in? Is this a major setback for the Bush administration?
KING: It certainly would be if the final decision is no U.S. troops on Turkish soil for an invasion. And also, it's becoming sort of an unseemly debate. The president talks always about his principles in confronting Saddam Hussein, but this has become a debate over how much money the United States will give Turkey in emergency, economic and other aid.
So, essentially, it's a bidding war over what's the right price to let those troops in. This one is not so much about principle; it is about money.
COSTELLO: Money, like so many things are in this world.
There is also word that Britain is working on behind-the-scenes deal to convince the United States to wait three more weeks before a possible war. What more have you heard about that?
KING: There's a lot of talk about timetables, and Tony Blair very much wants a second resolution and believes it might take a few more weeks to get it. We've heard maybe three weeks. We've heard maybe two weeks. We've heard the White House say the new resolution might be tabled as early as tomorrow or that it might be held until next week if they can get the votes.
If you just play all this out and think of what we've been saying. We will have a debate at the United Nations clearly at least through the end of the month, the 1st or the 2nd of March. Then the question is, is the president's threshold decision, will it be a week from then or two weeks from then? Most assume around the middle of March. So, that essentially fits with the British scenario of needing a few more weeks to try to figure this out.
And so, look for the first week of March or the second week of March to be the decisive points here. COSTELLO: Oh, we certainly will. John King, thanks for waking up early with DAYBREAK.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
