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CNN Live At Daybreak
Wake-Up Call: Say You Want Resolution
Aired March 11, 2003 - 06:06 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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: The U.S. and France are still courting votes among the Security Council members. It sounds like a good topic for a "Wake-Up Call"
Our State Department producer Elise Labott joins us on the telephone.
And, Elise, where do things stand right now? I know that Colin Powell was meeting with the Guinea prime minister -- or foreign minister yesterday.
ELISE LABOTT, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT PRODUCER: That's right, Fredricka. Secretary Powell yesterday said he didn't feel he was in competition with his French counterpart, Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin, but it sure seemed that way.
Both the U.S. and French attention seemed to be focused on those undecided African countries on the council -- Angola, Cameroon and Guinea. And while Secretary Powell was hosting the foreign minister of Guinea, which holds the Security Council presidency this month, for lunch at the State Department, Dominique de Villepin was in Africa visiting all three of those countries to dissuade them from voting for the resolution. The hope being that the U.S. won't get the nine votes needed to pass the resolution, and France won't have to use a veto.
WHITFIELD: And, Elise, is there resignation of another U.S. diplomat directly related to this whole conflict?
LABOTT: Yes, Fredricka, this makes the second U.S. diplomat to resign over the Bush administration policy in Iraq. John Brown (ph) is his name, a senior diplomat in the Foreign Service. He sent a letter to Secretary Powell saying he didn't want to do so, but he couldn't support the Bush administration's policy on Iraq. He said that the president failed to make the case why war was necessary, why the U.S. military -- excuse me -- military should be sacrificing their lives for war. And he said the president hasn't explained the potential cost of war to the American taxpayer and the human cost.
And he said around the world, the U.S. is becoming associated with the unjustified use of force, and that President Bush is ignoring international views, and that's giving rise to what he called an anti- American century -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Whoa! Not the kind of sentiment that the Bush administration wants to be displaying right now certainly.
All right, Elise Labott, thanks very 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 March 11, 2003 - 06:06 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: The U.S. and France are still courting votes among the Security Council members. It sounds like a good topic for a "Wake-Up Call"
Our State Department producer Elise Labott joins us on the telephone.
And, Elise, where do things stand right now? I know that Colin Powell was meeting with the Guinea prime minister -- or foreign minister yesterday.
ELISE LABOTT, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT PRODUCER: That's right, Fredricka. Secretary Powell yesterday said he didn't feel he was in competition with his French counterpart, Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin, but it sure seemed that way.
Both the U.S. and French attention seemed to be focused on those undecided African countries on the council -- Angola, Cameroon and Guinea. And while Secretary Powell was hosting the foreign minister of Guinea, which holds the Security Council presidency this month, for lunch at the State Department, Dominique de Villepin was in Africa visiting all three of those countries to dissuade them from voting for the resolution. The hope being that the U.S. won't get the nine votes needed to pass the resolution, and France won't have to use a veto.
WHITFIELD: And, Elise, is there resignation of another U.S. diplomat directly related to this whole conflict?
LABOTT: Yes, Fredricka, this makes the second U.S. diplomat to resign over the Bush administration policy in Iraq. John Brown (ph) is his name, a senior diplomat in the Foreign Service. He sent a letter to Secretary Powell saying he didn't want to do so, but he couldn't support the Bush administration's policy on Iraq. He said that the president failed to make the case why war was necessary, why the U.S. military -- excuse me -- military should be sacrificing their lives for war. And he said the president hasn't explained the potential cost of war to the American taxpayer and the human cost.
And he said around the world, the U.S. is becoming associated with the unjustified use of force, and that President Bush is ignoring international views, and that's giving rise to what he called an anti- American century -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Whoa! Not the kind of sentiment that the Bush administration wants to be displaying right now certainly.
All right, Elise Labott, thanks very 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.
