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CNN Live At Daybreak
WMD Burden of Proof: 'Darn Good Intelligence'
Aired July 15, 2003 - 06:32 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: Getting to the bottom of it. It wasn't Italy. It wasn't France. So, where did the British get word that Saddam Hussein was trying to buy African uranium? There is mounting pressure for the British to tell all.
In the meantime, America's president says he had darn good intelligence.
Live to the White House now and Dana Bash.
This isn't going away, is it?
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, they certainly hope it is, but they do remain on the defensive about this one line in the president's State of the Union address, those 16 words, where he said that Iraq was trying to get uranium from the continent of Africa.
And yesterday, the president said that he is standing by his statement because, he said, at the time it was cleared by the CIA and at the time he believes that the CIA thought it was accurate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The speech that I gave was cleared by the CIA. And the thing that's important to realize is that we're constantly gathering data. Subsequent to the speech the CIA had some doubts. But when I gave -- when they talked about the speech, you know, they looked at the speech and it was cleared. Otherwise I wouldn't have put it in the speech. I'm not interested in talking about intelligence unless it's cleared by the CIA.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: The president said he continues to believe that he is given good intelligence for his speeches, and he said what is important is that he is convinced that Saddam Hussein had weapons programs that were dangerous enough for him to go to war against Saddam Hussein. And he said he stands behind that, and he believes that sometime soon they will find evidence of that in Iraq.
But it is certainly not stopping the criticism that is coming from Democrats and Republicans, saying that it is one thing for the CIA to take responsibility for this, but, as Senator Chuck Hagel, a fellow Republican, said, there is a cloud hanging over this administration until they answer more specifically exactly how this line got into the speech and exactly what they thought was accurate and not accurate before the president gave this one line claiming this nuclear program was possible.
COSTELLO: It will keep you busy there in Washington. Dana Bash live from the White House this morning.
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 July 15, 2003 - 06:32 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Getting to the bottom of it. It wasn't Italy. It wasn't France. So, where did the British get word that Saddam Hussein was trying to buy African uranium? There is mounting pressure for the British to tell all.
In the meantime, America's president says he had darn good intelligence.
Live to the White House now and Dana Bash.
This isn't going away, is it?
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, they certainly hope it is, but they do remain on the defensive about this one line in the president's State of the Union address, those 16 words, where he said that Iraq was trying to get uranium from the continent of Africa.
And yesterday, the president said that he is standing by his statement because, he said, at the time it was cleared by the CIA and at the time he believes that the CIA thought it was accurate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The speech that I gave was cleared by the CIA. And the thing that's important to realize is that we're constantly gathering data. Subsequent to the speech the CIA had some doubts. But when I gave -- when they talked about the speech, you know, they looked at the speech and it was cleared. Otherwise I wouldn't have put it in the speech. I'm not interested in talking about intelligence unless it's cleared by the CIA.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: The president said he continues to believe that he is given good intelligence for his speeches, and he said what is important is that he is convinced that Saddam Hussein had weapons programs that were dangerous enough for him to go to war against Saddam Hussein. And he said he stands behind that, and he believes that sometime soon they will find evidence of that in Iraq.
But it is certainly not stopping the criticism that is coming from Democrats and Republicans, saying that it is one thing for the CIA to take responsibility for this, but, as Senator Chuck Hagel, a fellow Republican, said, there is a cloud hanging over this administration until they answer more specifically exactly how this line got into the speech and exactly what they thought was accurate and not accurate before the president gave this one line claiming this nuclear program was possible.
COSTELLO: It will keep you busy there in Washington. Dana Bash live from the White House this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
