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CNN Live At Daybreak

International Wrap, Eye on World

Aired May 21, 2003 - 05:47   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: Terror and more terror is topping the news this morning.
CNN international editor David Clinch is here with the latest.

So, now, we're up to code orange.

DAVID CLINCH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Yes.

COSTELLO: There is no specific threat. It sounds so familiar.

CLINCH: It does. And, you know, when we get a threat level increase like this, obviously it is primarily here in the U.S., but obviously they're also looking for -- and it is based on the recent attacks in Saudi Arabia and Morocco -- they're looking for perhaps more attacks there.

We are still there in Saudi Arabia and monitoring. The embassies are shut there. The U.S., the British and the German embassies are shut until the end of the weekend. Again, not very specific, but we're staying very close on that story.

I'll come back at 6:00, because I think it's interesting to talk again about some lessons about terror warnings and terror that we've learned from our coverage in Israel. But we'll come back at 6:00 and talk about that.

COSTELLO: Well, there are two things I'm wondering about that. They waited to close the embassies. I mean, because the terror attacks happened last week, and they're going to open back up on Sunday.

CLINCH: Well...

COSTELLO: And I just wonder why that timetable.

CLINCH: Not necessarily true. They have effectively been more or less shut. I mean, large sections of the embassies have been shut or not functioning. There obviously are not very many Americans left either, although there are some. And we also do not know that they are definitely going to open again. It just will not be before Sunday; we know that. They will be shut for the holiday weekend. They follow the U.S. calendar.

COSTELLO: Understand.

CLINCH: So, we'll see when they do reopen. And other stories we're covering today are both basically nation- building stories. In Iraq, as you've heard there, the new civil administrator for Iraq, the U.S. administrator, announcing that there won't even be a conference, a meeting, on reforming a new Iraqi government until at least July, very much angering the Iraqi politicians, if you want to call them that, the political groups, who thought it would happen a lot earlier, who are really demanding that it happen a lot earlier.

COSTELLO: Well, you have to wonder what happened to all of those meetings set up by Jay Garner. Do they not count anymore?

CLINCH: Well, they did count. They set up the process. But it goes back to what we've talked about many, many times here on this segment, and that is that you can't have one without the other. And the one is security. You can't have the government without the security. The U.S. announcing that it will start taking guns off of people in the streets in Iraq, cracking down on the Baath Party -- all of those things have to get done before this convention can happen. And that's understandable, but it's definitely making the Iraqis angry.

And just briefly also, we're keeping an eye on Afghanistan, which still years into nation-building, if you want to call it that. The leader, Hamid Karzai, if you think President Bush has problems getting his tax agreement through, he had to have a meeting with all of the warlords -- they call them governors, but they're effectively warlords -- from around his country yesterday to demand that they give him the tax money and the border revenue that they've been collecting for years. And they signed a piece of paper and said they would do it. It remains to be seen whether he'll actually get...

COSTELLO: So, they're keeping the money for themselves to do with what they will.

CLINCH: Apparently so. Apparently so, and they say they'll give him the money, so we'll see.

COSTELLO: Yes. David Clinch, many thanks.

CLINCH: OK.

COSTELLO: You'll be back in the 6:00 hour.

CLINCH: Yes.

COSTELLO: We 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.






Aired May 21, 2003 - 05:47   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Terror and more terror is topping the news this morning.
CNN international editor David Clinch is here with the latest.

So, now, we're up to code orange.

DAVID CLINCH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Yes.

COSTELLO: There is no specific threat. It sounds so familiar.

CLINCH: It does. And, you know, when we get a threat level increase like this, obviously it is primarily here in the U.S., but obviously they're also looking for -- and it is based on the recent attacks in Saudi Arabia and Morocco -- they're looking for perhaps more attacks there.

We are still there in Saudi Arabia and monitoring. The embassies are shut there. The U.S., the British and the German embassies are shut until the end of the weekend. Again, not very specific, but we're staying very close on that story.

I'll come back at 6:00, because I think it's interesting to talk again about some lessons about terror warnings and terror that we've learned from our coverage in Israel. But we'll come back at 6:00 and talk about that.

COSTELLO: Well, there are two things I'm wondering about that. They waited to close the embassies. I mean, because the terror attacks happened last week, and they're going to open back up on Sunday.

CLINCH: Well...

COSTELLO: And I just wonder why that timetable.

CLINCH: Not necessarily true. They have effectively been more or less shut. I mean, large sections of the embassies have been shut or not functioning. There obviously are not very many Americans left either, although there are some. And we also do not know that they are definitely going to open again. It just will not be before Sunday; we know that. They will be shut for the holiday weekend. They follow the U.S. calendar.

COSTELLO: Understand.

CLINCH: So, we'll see when they do reopen. And other stories we're covering today are both basically nation- building stories. In Iraq, as you've heard there, the new civil administrator for Iraq, the U.S. administrator, announcing that there won't even be a conference, a meeting, on reforming a new Iraqi government until at least July, very much angering the Iraqi politicians, if you want to call them that, the political groups, who thought it would happen a lot earlier, who are really demanding that it happen a lot earlier.

COSTELLO: Well, you have to wonder what happened to all of those meetings set up by Jay Garner. Do they not count anymore?

CLINCH: Well, they did count. They set up the process. But it goes back to what we've talked about many, many times here on this segment, and that is that you can't have one without the other. And the one is security. You can't have the government without the security. The U.S. announcing that it will start taking guns off of people in the streets in Iraq, cracking down on the Baath Party -- all of those things have to get done before this convention can happen. And that's understandable, but it's definitely making the Iraqis angry.

And just briefly also, we're keeping an eye on Afghanistan, which still years into nation-building, if you want to call it that. The leader, Hamid Karzai, if you think President Bush has problems getting his tax agreement through, he had to have a meeting with all of the warlords -- they call them governors, but they're effectively warlords -- from around his country yesterday to demand that they give him the tax money and the border revenue that they've been collecting for years. And they signed a piece of paper and said they would do it. It remains to be seen whether he'll actually get...

COSTELLO: So, they're keeping the money for themselves to do with what they will.

CLINCH: Apparently so. Apparently so, and they say they'll give him the money, so we'll see.

COSTELLO: Yes. David Clinch, many thanks.

CLINCH: OK.

COSTELLO: You'll be back in the 6:00 hour.

CLINCH: Yes.

COSTELLO: We 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.