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American Morning

White House May be Considering Final Warning to Iraqi President

Aired March 05, 2003 - 09:06   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.


PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: The White House may be considering a final warning to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein just before a war would begin.
For more on that, let's go to Suzanne Malveaux who's standing by at the White House.

First off, can you give us an update on what Secretary Rumsfeld and General Tommy Franks might be talk about with the president this morning?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Paula. This is an extremely important day for the Bush administration. General Franks and Secretary Rumsfeld will be meeting with the president in the situation room. They're going to be talking about the details of the war plan, and one of the things is a possibility of offering Saddam Hussein an ultimatum, what he needs to do to avoid war. This would serve to signal, however, Iraqi citizens, journalists, inspectors they may have as little as 72 hours to get out of town before a strike is imminent.

Also this morning, there are high-level meetings taking place at this hour. The National Security Council is meeting. We have seen the Pentagon's top brass here arrive at the White House. Also Secretary of State Colin Powell, as well as the CIA head, George Tenet, all talking about what steps to take next. But it's very clear, Paula, time is dwindling, running out. The president coming close to making that decision whether or not the United States will go to war -- Paula.

ZAHN: The president has a very busy day. He will also be meeting with one of the pope's envoy. Do we know what the very specific message might be from the pope?

MALVEAUX: Well, it is a very specific massage. It is, quite frankly, that war was not justifiable legally or morally. This is something that the pope believes in, and has been trying to convince not only the administration, but also Iraqis as well. It was just last year that President Bush visited with the pope just last May, and as you know, the president is a devout Christian, but he sees this very differently. He has said before, and his spokesperson has said, that the president considers it immoral if he does not act, if he doesn't prevent Saddam Hussein from using these weapons of mass destruction to attack Americans or to prevent them from giving it to terrorists who might harm or kill Americans in the future. ZAHN: Finally, this morning, Suzanne, there seems to be a lot of heightened expectation about any timeline we're looking at here. Associated Press saying war could start as early as next week. Are you hearing any confirmation of any dateline here?

MALVEAUX: Well, as precise as we can be, we have been told a vote on the U.N. Security Council resolution could come as early as Monday or Tuesday. The administration would be looking for the support for the votes. If they didn't get it, they might actually withdraw the resolution. Then the president, of course, would have to make that determination. That could come sometime next week.

ZAHN: Suzanne Malveaux, thanks for the live update. Appreciate it.

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Aired March 5, 2003 - 09:06   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: The White House may be considering a final warning to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein just before a war would begin.
For more on that, let's go to Suzanne Malveaux who's standing by at the White House.

First off, can you give us an update on what Secretary Rumsfeld and General Tommy Franks might be talk about with the president this morning?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Paula. This is an extremely important day for the Bush administration. General Franks and Secretary Rumsfeld will be meeting with the president in the situation room. They're going to be talking about the details of the war plan, and one of the things is a possibility of offering Saddam Hussein an ultimatum, what he needs to do to avoid war. This would serve to signal, however, Iraqi citizens, journalists, inspectors they may have as little as 72 hours to get out of town before a strike is imminent.

Also this morning, there are high-level meetings taking place at this hour. The National Security Council is meeting. We have seen the Pentagon's top brass here arrive at the White House. Also Secretary of State Colin Powell, as well as the CIA head, George Tenet, all talking about what steps to take next. But it's very clear, Paula, time is dwindling, running out. The president coming close to making that decision whether or not the United States will go to war -- Paula.

ZAHN: The president has a very busy day. He will also be meeting with one of the pope's envoy. Do we know what the very specific message might be from the pope?

MALVEAUX: Well, it is a very specific massage. It is, quite frankly, that war was not justifiable legally or morally. This is something that the pope believes in, and has been trying to convince not only the administration, but also Iraqis as well. It was just last year that President Bush visited with the pope just last May, and as you know, the president is a devout Christian, but he sees this very differently. He has said before, and his spokesperson has said, that the president considers it immoral if he does not act, if he doesn't prevent Saddam Hussein from using these weapons of mass destruction to attack Americans or to prevent them from giving it to terrorists who might harm or kill Americans in the future. ZAHN: Finally, this morning, Suzanne, there seems to be a lot of heightened expectation about any timeline we're looking at here. Associated Press saying war could start as early as next week. Are you hearing any confirmation of any dateline here?

MALVEAUX: Well, as precise as we can be, we have been told a vote on the U.N. Security Council resolution could come as early as Monday or Tuesday. The administration would be looking for the support for the votes. If they didn't get it, they might actually withdraw the resolution. Then the president, of course, would have to make that determination. That could come sometime next week.

ZAHN: Suzanne Malveaux, thanks for the live update. Appreciate it.

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




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