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U.S. Compiling Draft Resolution
Aired February 24, 2003 - 10:04 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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Administration officials are weighing words and assessing war. They are compiling a draft U.N. resolution intended to measure international support for military action against Iraq.
Sources tell CNN the measure will be introduced this afternoon.
Our senior U.N. Correspondent Richard Roth will set the stage for us -- Richard, good morning.
RICHARD ROTH, CNN SENIOR U.N. CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn. Yes, it's finally resolution day here, after it took seven and a half weeks on that first resolution that got the inspectors back in with the threat of serious consequences for Iraq last year.
Now, the U.S. and Britain ready to introduce another resolution. But the real people who may decide the fate of this text, the so- called elected ten, those without vetoes, nonpermanent members such as here, you see Angola's ambassador, they all met on Friday at the Mexican mission with Britain's ambassador, who started to explain things. There's Chile. British foreign secretary Jack Straw today said it should take two weeks, a little bit more for some type of vote after this resolution is introduced.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JACK STRAW, BRITISH FOREIGN MINISTER: Because we want an international consensus, and we want the cooperation -- we want the cooperation of Iraq, fully and completely, to comply in substance, as well as process. We'll be allowing a good period of up to two weeks, maybe a little more, before we ask for a decision. It is still not too late for there to be complete and substantive compliance by Iraq, but they're not going to achieve that by playing games or by trying to split the international community.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROTH: Well, as for the permanent members of the council, there is still division. I talked to the Chinese ambassador a short time ago, and he said his country would like to see the inspectors have more time before voting on what he says is an authorization for war.
As for some of the others, France and Russia, along with nonpermanent member Germany, are working out, possibly, some other type of submission to the council, some other strategy, possibly language that would back up the inspectors. Wouldn't be a resolution, but it would be some ideas for those nonpermanent members to consider. They are certainly being tussled over by the big powers -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Richard, why two weeks, and what will happen exactly over that two-week period?
ROTH: Well, they want two weeks because they don't expect an immediate vote, after Hans Blix, the chief weapons inspector, delivers his latest report in public session, probably March 7, so they're giving the council two weeks after that. The U.S. and Britain keep saying they don't want it to drag on. They want to put it to the test. They know that Iraq is going to cooperate a little by little. They may have to destroy those Al Samoud II missiles starting on Saturday, and they're afraid, perhaps, Iraq will start cooperating just enough to convince other council members to not vote for a resolution of war.
KAGAN: Richard Roth at the United Nations. Richard, thank you -- Leon.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, the U.N. says its order for Iraq to destroy those missiles leaves no room for any negotiations, but Baghdad, for its part, is saying -- quote -- "the channels are still open."
Well, let's now go to that Iraqi capital. CNN's senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson, is standing by in Baghdad -- hello, Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Leon. Well, indeed, Iraqi officials exploring some new channels here. A delegation of South African scientists have arrived in Baghdad. They have come here because of an agreement with President Saddam Hussein and South African officials. They are the South African experts who helped disarm South Africa of its weapons of mass destruction back in the 1990s, and they've come to Baghdad to give their experience to Iraqi officials about how they did it, and they hope that this will possibly lead to and avoiding the possibility of war, and they hope that the international community will get confidence in Iraq's efforts to disarm because of learning from South Africa's experience. However, that one, big, key issue still stands out there. Iraq needs to, by the 1st of March, according to U.N. weapons chief Hans Blix, begin destroying its Al Samoud II missiles, those missiles that the U.N. has decided go beyond the 93-mile limit set by the U.N. According to a senior Iraqi official, that decision could come soon.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AMER AL-SAADI, IRAQI SCIENTIFIC ADVISER: I said that this is being studied, very carefully, and the channels are still open between us, and we will come up with a decision quite soon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTSON: And in another apparent effort to possibly head off the likelihood of conflict, a Russian envoy, Yevgeny Primakov, a former prime minister, a Middle East expert, who came here during the 1991 Gulf War, met with President Saddam Hussein at that time, won his confidence, bringing a peace proposal from the then-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. He was in town over the weekend, Yevgeny Primakov, speaking with the Iraqi leader, telling him Russia's current position on Iraq's disarmament process. Also getting assurances from the Iraqi leader that he intends to comply with U.N. Resolution 1441 and seeking assurances that they will do nothing to obstruct the work of the weapons inspectors here. Now, according to Russia's foreign ministry, President Saddam Hussein said that he would put nothing in the path of the weapons inspectors doing their work -- Leon.
HARRIS: All right. Thank you very much, Nic. Lots going on there. We'll check back with you later on to see what all this means. Nic Robertson reporting live for us from Baghdad -- Daryn.
KAGAN: As we said, this resolution at the United State -- at the United Nations will be introduced by the U.S. and Britain. Want to go to London now and check in with Christiane Amanpour -- Christiane, hello.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, hello. Well, as you know, for Tony Blair, this is a critical resolution.
He has staked his support for President Bush on this, to a second resolution, because he has so many public opinion against him here in England. The majority of the British people are, in fact, against the notion of going to war, certainly going to war alone.
So, this is going to be another two to three weeks of intense diplomacy, according to British officials that I have talked to. This resolution will be circulated. It will then be discussed, debated, and voted on. And then, there will be, as they say in Britain here, the final, final time for Saddam Hussein to cooperate in order for this resolution, in order for this disarmament issue to happen peacefully. They say he still does have a chance, but the time now is really, really running out.
So what we can see is another two weeks to three weeks of intense diplomacy. There already has been intense phone diplomacy. Downing Street telling us that President Bush and Prime Minister Blair had a four-way conference call over the weekend, including the Italian and Spanish prime minister. Of course, those countries on board with the U.K., U.S. position.
Prime Minister Blair has already also called President Putin of Russia. He's called the leaders of Nigeria and Chile, others who are on the Security Council right now, and as you know, of course, Jack Straw, the British foreign secretary is in Brussels today, reaffirming and trying to get the rest of the European Union to once again reaffirm the unanimous decision they came to last week, that they must hold Baghdad responsible, that he must comply, and that the world must be united in getting him to disarm peacefully.
So that is the diplomacy here. Prime Minister Blair will go before the House of Commons to give a fairly general speech tomorrow. It won't be a war speech, and it will give the members of Parliament an opportunity to talk about it on Wednesday. At that time, it is expected that dozens of Labor Party members, back benchers, will vote against the prime minister's Iraq policy. Nonetheless, the prime minister is said to have enough votes, not only amongst his own party, but also the opposition Tories, the conservatives, back the prime minister on his stance towards Iraq. So, this is some of the diplomatic drama that is going to be unfolding and spearheaded quite significantly from here in Britain.
Of course, France, which is the key holdout right now and does have many other countries on its side, the French -- a senior official told us today that they are not in favor of a second resolution. They do not believe it is necessary -- quote -- and so that today, if that resolution came for a vote, We would vote against it. So, France saying that they would vote against it, and this official saying they would not be alone. So a lot of diplomatic work to be done -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Christiane, I want to get back to Tony Blair for a moment. There's been no end to the stories here in the U.S. about how unpopular his stance is by supporting President Bush, and a possible war with Iraq. But exactly, understanding the British system, how precarious is his position as prime minister?
AMANPOUR: Well, it depends on who you talk to, and on who you talk to about the conduct of the war. Look, in simple terms -- if the war goes quickly, if the war goes quickly, if it goes successfully, if it achieves the aims that the U.S. and the U.K. have laid out, then it is generally considered that the prime minister won't be in long-term trouble.
But he is in trouble right now in terms of public opinion. The majority of this country do not believe that the U.K. should go to war. It has got a lot to do with their view of the current American administration, as well as Saddam Hussein. For instance, there was a significant and extraordinary poll taken, published in the Sunday "Times" this weekend, in which the majority of the British asked did admit that Saddam Hussein was a threat to world peace.
However, in an extraordinary situation, 45 percent said they believe Saddam Hussein posed a big danger to world security, but 45 percent also said they believe President Bush also poses a big threat to world security.
So you can see how the public opinion is shaping up in Britain and, indeed, across quite a wide range of European and other international public opinion.
KAGAN: Some very interesting numbers there. Christiane Amanpour in London, thank you so much.
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 24, 2003 - 10:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Administration officials are weighing words and assessing war. They are compiling a draft U.N. resolution intended to measure international support for military action against Iraq.
Sources tell CNN the measure will be introduced this afternoon.
Our senior U.N. Correspondent Richard Roth will set the stage for us -- Richard, good morning.
RICHARD ROTH, CNN SENIOR U.N. CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn. Yes, it's finally resolution day here, after it took seven and a half weeks on that first resolution that got the inspectors back in with the threat of serious consequences for Iraq last year.
Now, the U.S. and Britain ready to introduce another resolution. But the real people who may decide the fate of this text, the so- called elected ten, those without vetoes, nonpermanent members such as here, you see Angola's ambassador, they all met on Friday at the Mexican mission with Britain's ambassador, who started to explain things. There's Chile. British foreign secretary Jack Straw today said it should take two weeks, a little bit more for some type of vote after this resolution is introduced.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JACK STRAW, BRITISH FOREIGN MINISTER: Because we want an international consensus, and we want the cooperation -- we want the cooperation of Iraq, fully and completely, to comply in substance, as well as process. We'll be allowing a good period of up to two weeks, maybe a little more, before we ask for a decision. It is still not too late for there to be complete and substantive compliance by Iraq, but they're not going to achieve that by playing games or by trying to split the international community.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROTH: Well, as for the permanent members of the council, there is still division. I talked to the Chinese ambassador a short time ago, and he said his country would like to see the inspectors have more time before voting on what he says is an authorization for war.
As for some of the others, France and Russia, along with nonpermanent member Germany, are working out, possibly, some other type of submission to the council, some other strategy, possibly language that would back up the inspectors. Wouldn't be a resolution, but it would be some ideas for those nonpermanent members to consider. They are certainly being tussled over by the big powers -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Richard, why two weeks, and what will happen exactly over that two-week period?
ROTH: Well, they want two weeks because they don't expect an immediate vote, after Hans Blix, the chief weapons inspector, delivers his latest report in public session, probably March 7, so they're giving the council two weeks after that. The U.S. and Britain keep saying they don't want it to drag on. They want to put it to the test. They know that Iraq is going to cooperate a little by little. They may have to destroy those Al Samoud II missiles starting on Saturday, and they're afraid, perhaps, Iraq will start cooperating just enough to convince other council members to not vote for a resolution of war.
KAGAN: Richard Roth at the United Nations. Richard, thank you -- Leon.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, the U.N. says its order for Iraq to destroy those missiles leaves no room for any negotiations, but Baghdad, for its part, is saying -- quote -- "the channels are still open."
Well, let's now go to that Iraqi capital. CNN's senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson, is standing by in Baghdad -- hello, Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Leon. Well, indeed, Iraqi officials exploring some new channels here. A delegation of South African scientists have arrived in Baghdad. They have come here because of an agreement with President Saddam Hussein and South African officials. They are the South African experts who helped disarm South Africa of its weapons of mass destruction back in the 1990s, and they've come to Baghdad to give their experience to Iraqi officials about how they did it, and they hope that this will possibly lead to and avoiding the possibility of war, and they hope that the international community will get confidence in Iraq's efforts to disarm because of learning from South Africa's experience. However, that one, big, key issue still stands out there. Iraq needs to, by the 1st of March, according to U.N. weapons chief Hans Blix, begin destroying its Al Samoud II missiles, those missiles that the U.N. has decided go beyond the 93-mile limit set by the U.N. According to a senior Iraqi official, that decision could come soon.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AMER AL-SAADI, IRAQI SCIENTIFIC ADVISER: I said that this is being studied, very carefully, and the channels are still open between us, and we will come up with a decision quite soon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTSON: And in another apparent effort to possibly head off the likelihood of conflict, a Russian envoy, Yevgeny Primakov, a former prime minister, a Middle East expert, who came here during the 1991 Gulf War, met with President Saddam Hussein at that time, won his confidence, bringing a peace proposal from the then-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. He was in town over the weekend, Yevgeny Primakov, speaking with the Iraqi leader, telling him Russia's current position on Iraq's disarmament process. Also getting assurances from the Iraqi leader that he intends to comply with U.N. Resolution 1441 and seeking assurances that they will do nothing to obstruct the work of the weapons inspectors here. Now, according to Russia's foreign ministry, President Saddam Hussein said that he would put nothing in the path of the weapons inspectors doing their work -- Leon.
HARRIS: All right. Thank you very much, Nic. Lots going on there. We'll check back with you later on to see what all this means. Nic Robertson reporting live for us from Baghdad -- Daryn.
KAGAN: As we said, this resolution at the United State -- at the United Nations will be introduced by the U.S. and Britain. Want to go to London now and check in with Christiane Amanpour -- Christiane, hello.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, hello. Well, as you know, for Tony Blair, this is a critical resolution.
He has staked his support for President Bush on this, to a second resolution, because he has so many public opinion against him here in England. The majority of the British people are, in fact, against the notion of going to war, certainly going to war alone.
So, this is going to be another two to three weeks of intense diplomacy, according to British officials that I have talked to. This resolution will be circulated. It will then be discussed, debated, and voted on. And then, there will be, as they say in Britain here, the final, final time for Saddam Hussein to cooperate in order for this resolution, in order for this disarmament issue to happen peacefully. They say he still does have a chance, but the time now is really, really running out.
So what we can see is another two weeks to three weeks of intense diplomacy. There already has been intense phone diplomacy. Downing Street telling us that President Bush and Prime Minister Blair had a four-way conference call over the weekend, including the Italian and Spanish prime minister. Of course, those countries on board with the U.K., U.S. position.
Prime Minister Blair has already also called President Putin of Russia. He's called the leaders of Nigeria and Chile, others who are on the Security Council right now, and as you know, of course, Jack Straw, the British foreign secretary is in Brussels today, reaffirming and trying to get the rest of the European Union to once again reaffirm the unanimous decision they came to last week, that they must hold Baghdad responsible, that he must comply, and that the world must be united in getting him to disarm peacefully.
So that is the diplomacy here. Prime Minister Blair will go before the House of Commons to give a fairly general speech tomorrow. It won't be a war speech, and it will give the members of Parliament an opportunity to talk about it on Wednesday. At that time, it is expected that dozens of Labor Party members, back benchers, will vote against the prime minister's Iraq policy. Nonetheless, the prime minister is said to have enough votes, not only amongst his own party, but also the opposition Tories, the conservatives, back the prime minister on his stance towards Iraq. So, this is some of the diplomatic drama that is going to be unfolding and spearheaded quite significantly from here in Britain.
Of course, France, which is the key holdout right now and does have many other countries on its side, the French -- a senior official told us today that they are not in favor of a second resolution. They do not believe it is necessary -- quote -- and so that today, if that resolution came for a vote, We would vote against it. So, France saying that they would vote against it, and this official saying they would not be alone. So a lot of diplomatic work to be done -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Christiane, I want to get back to Tony Blair for a moment. There's been no end to the stories here in the U.S. about how unpopular his stance is by supporting President Bush, and a possible war with Iraq. But exactly, understanding the British system, how precarious is his position as prime minister?
AMANPOUR: Well, it depends on who you talk to, and on who you talk to about the conduct of the war. Look, in simple terms -- if the war goes quickly, if the war goes quickly, if it goes successfully, if it achieves the aims that the U.S. and the U.K. have laid out, then it is generally considered that the prime minister won't be in long-term trouble.
But he is in trouble right now in terms of public opinion. The majority of this country do not believe that the U.K. should go to war. It has got a lot to do with their view of the current American administration, as well as Saddam Hussein. For instance, there was a significant and extraordinary poll taken, published in the Sunday "Times" this weekend, in which the majority of the British asked did admit that Saddam Hussein was a threat to world peace.
However, in an extraordinary situation, 45 percent said they believe Saddam Hussein posed a big danger to world security, but 45 percent also said they believe President Bush also poses a big threat to world security.
So you can see how the public opinion is shaping up in Britain and, indeed, across quite a wide range of European and other international public opinion.
KAGAN: Some very interesting numbers there. Christiane Amanpour in London, thank you so much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
