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CNN Live At Daybreak
Bush Thanks Troops in Qatar
Aired June 05, 2003 - 05:31 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: President Bush has wrapped up his week long trip overseas with a salute to his troops. It was "Hail To The Chief" as the president stopped off in Doha, Qatar. In a brief speech at the U.S. Central Command, the president thanked the troops for ousting Saddam Hussein.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: One thing else we've done is we've made sure that Iraq's not going to serve as an arsenal for terrorist, for terrorist groups. We recently found two mobile biological weapons facilities which were capable of producing biological agents. This is a man who spent decades hiding tools of mass murder. He knew the inspectors were looking for him. You know better than me he's got a big country in which to hide them.
We're on the look. We'll reveal the truth. But one thing is certain, no terrorist network will gain weapons of mass destruction from the Iraqi regime because the Israeli regime is no more.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: And after meeting with CENTCOM commanders, Mr. Bush left Qatar less than an hour ago. He's now heading for Washington.
Many say the summit went as well as anyone could have been expected, but there's also a been there, done that sentiment amongst skeptics who have seen this scenario play out before. We're talking about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
What we want to know is how the Israelis and the Palestinians are reacting.
For that, we go to John Vause in Jerusalem -- and, John, just a short time ago, Yasser Arafat came out and said something this morning. What's he saying?
JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, hello from Jerusalem, Carol.
We heard from Yasser Arafat, who was meeting with a delegation from the United Nations. And he said at that meeting that Israel's Ariel Sharon has offered the Palestinians nothing tangible. And now despite the best efforts of the United States and Israel to sideline Yasser Arafat, within the last hour or so, about 1,000 people have taken to the streets of Gaza, a demonstration to show their support for the Palestinian president, Yasser Arafat. Also, last night here in Jerusalem thousands of settlers gathered in Zion Square protesting the road map. They feel betrayed by the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon. And today or in the next few days, at least, Israeli officials will start meeting to work out plans on how to dismantle as many as 15 illegal settlement outposts. Settlers, though, fear that this is just the beginning and they vow to fight it all the way.
One bright spot, though, for Ariel Sharon with this protest, organizers said as many as 100,000 would take to the streets. But last night newspaper reports put the number between 20,000 and 40,000.
There's also some more problems for the Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen. Now, yesterday in Aqaba he called for the demilitarization, if you like, and he called for those militant groups to lay down their weapons, saying the only people who should have weapons in the Palestinian territories are, in fact, the Palestinian security forces.
Well, one group, Hamas, says that it will not lay down its weapons. But there is a bright spot here, as well. Hamas is still talking about a cease-fire.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ISMAIL ABU SHANAB, HAMAS SPOKESMAN: We told Abu Mazen that we are ready to stop martyrdom operations inside Israel in return of avoiding Palestinian citizens and to avoid Palestinian and Israeli citizens and save Israeli citizens and Palestinian citizens from war damages.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Well, now, to get that cease-fire, the Palestinians want the Israelis to withdraw from parts of Gaza and the West Bank. They want the travel restrictions eased. They want prisoners released. The freeze on settlements. Israel also is making demands and a cease- fire is just the start.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, FORMER ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: The way you'll know if it's serious is you'll see first do they teach their children, in fact, to live with Israel instead of destroying Israel? Do they dismantle the terrorist infrastructure? Do they actually go out and arrest terrorists, and, if necessary, fight them? Do we see them abandon the calls to destroy Israel and the so-called right of return, the flooding of Israel with millions of Palestinians? If they do all this, then I think we'll have a real indication that something has happened.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: And, Carol, this is why there's only that cautious optimism coming out of the Aqaba summit. There's still such a long, long way to go and both sides realize that there's still so many issues which could tear this peace process apart -- Carol.
COSTELLO: I understand.
John Vause live from Jerusalem this morning.
You can stay abreast of this story as it develops by logging onto our Web site. The address, cnn.com, AOL keyword: CNN.
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 June 5, 2003 - 05:31 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush has wrapped up his week long trip overseas with a salute to his troops. It was "Hail To The Chief" as the president stopped off in Doha, Qatar. In a brief speech at the U.S. Central Command, the president thanked the troops for ousting Saddam Hussein.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: One thing else we've done is we've made sure that Iraq's not going to serve as an arsenal for terrorist, for terrorist groups. We recently found two mobile biological weapons facilities which were capable of producing biological agents. This is a man who spent decades hiding tools of mass murder. He knew the inspectors were looking for him. You know better than me he's got a big country in which to hide them.
We're on the look. We'll reveal the truth. But one thing is certain, no terrorist network will gain weapons of mass destruction from the Iraqi regime because the Israeli regime is no more.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: And after meeting with CENTCOM commanders, Mr. Bush left Qatar less than an hour ago. He's now heading for Washington.
Many say the summit went as well as anyone could have been expected, but there's also a been there, done that sentiment amongst skeptics who have seen this scenario play out before. We're talking about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
What we want to know is how the Israelis and the Palestinians are reacting.
For that, we go to John Vause in Jerusalem -- and, John, just a short time ago, Yasser Arafat came out and said something this morning. What's he saying?
JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, hello from Jerusalem, Carol.
We heard from Yasser Arafat, who was meeting with a delegation from the United Nations. And he said at that meeting that Israel's Ariel Sharon has offered the Palestinians nothing tangible. And now despite the best efforts of the United States and Israel to sideline Yasser Arafat, within the last hour or so, about 1,000 people have taken to the streets of Gaza, a demonstration to show their support for the Palestinian president, Yasser Arafat. Also, last night here in Jerusalem thousands of settlers gathered in Zion Square protesting the road map. They feel betrayed by the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon. And today or in the next few days, at least, Israeli officials will start meeting to work out plans on how to dismantle as many as 15 illegal settlement outposts. Settlers, though, fear that this is just the beginning and they vow to fight it all the way.
One bright spot, though, for Ariel Sharon with this protest, organizers said as many as 100,000 would take to the streets. But last night newspaper reports put the number between 20,000 and 40,000.
There's also some more problems for the Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen. Now, yesterday in Aqaba he called for the demilitarization, if you like, and he called for those militant groups to lay down their weapons, saying the only people who should have weapons in the Palestinian territories are, in fact, the Palestinian security forces.
Well, one group, Hamas, says that it will not lay down its weapons. But there is a bright spot here, as well. Hamas is still talking about a cease-fire.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ISMAIL ABU SHANAB, HAMAS SPOKESMAN: We told Abu Mazen that we are ready to stop martyrdom operations inside Israel in return of avoiding Palestinian citizens and to avoid Palestinian and Israeli citizens and save Israeli citizens and Palestinian citizens from war damages.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Well, now, to get that cease-fire, the Palestinians want the Israelis to withdraw from parts of Gaza and the West Bank. They want the travel restrictions eased. They want prisoners released. The freeze on settlements. Israel also is making demands and a cease- fire is just the start.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, FORMER ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: The way you'll know if it's serious is you'll see first do they teach their children, in fact, to live with Israel instead of destroying Israel? Do they dismantle the terrorist infrastructure? Do they actually go out and arrest terrorists, and, if necessary, fight them? Do we see them abandon the calls to destroy Israel and the so-called right of return, the flooding of Israel with millions of Palestinians? If they do all this, then I think we'll have a real indication that something has happened.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: And, Carol, this is why there's only that cautious optimism coming out of the Aqaba summit. There's still such a long, long way to go and both sides realize that there's still so many issues which could tear this peace process apart -- Carol.
COSTELLO: I understand.
John Vause live from Jerusalem this morning.
You can stay abreast of this story as it develops by logging onto our Web site. The address, cnn.com, AOL keyword: CNN.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
