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American Morning

Interview with Saxby Chambliss

Aired July 31, 2003 - 07:06   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.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: The CIA official in charge for searching for weapons of mass destruction reports to Congress today. CNN has learned some of what David Kay and senior Pentagon officials plan to say. They include no smoking gun has been located, but there is evidence, they say, that Iraq was developing weapons of mass destruction. A program was in place, they'll say.
And more leads have emerged since the deaths of Uday and Qusay Hussein about a week ago.

Senator Saxby Chambliss of Georgia will hear the closed-door testimony. He's with us live this morning again from Capitol Hill.

Good morning, Senator. Thanks for coming back on with us.

SEN. SAXBY CHAMBLISS (R), GEORGIA: Good morning, Bill. Good to be with you.

HEMMER: No smoking gun at this point, is that good enough?

CHAMBLISS: Well, certainly, we didn't anticipate at this point in time with David Kay being over there just a matter of weeks that we would come up with the cache of weapons that maybe some folks are looking for. I don't know that we'll ever find that.

But what we are going to find and what I expect to hear from David Kay today is the fact that we are getting the bits and pieces, and the puzzle is coming together. And we're going to find the weapons at the end of the day, but I don't expect there to be a smoking gun.

Saddam had too many opportunities to hide, destroy, give away weapons of mass destruction, but I still think at the end of the day that we're going to find how he manufactured them, where he manufactured them, and evidence that they were there. And, in all probability, we'll find some amount of weapons.

HEMMER: Senator, here is part of the problem, though. If you look at "The Washington Post" on the front page this morning that key Iraqi scientists have yet to be located. We've been told all along that you need that human intelligence to lead you to the evidence in order to locate it. Is it not true that you can make the case that that deck of 55, these scientists are equally as important as the list of 55?

CHAMBLISS: Well, certainly, without question, we're not going to find the evidence that we're looking for without somebody telling us that it's hidden here, it's buried here. And those scientists are the ones that can do that. So, yes, you're absolutely right. Those are very, very key individuals when it comes to finding weapons of mass destruction. But the fact of the matter is that, still, we were there for the right reason, and that's to free the Iraqi people, remove Saddam Hussein, a murderer and a tyrant, from power, and obviously that has happened.

HEMMER: There is a strong move in your body of Congress in the Senate to issue a letter to the president to get these 28 pages redacted from the 9/11 report of last week, to actually make them public. The letter quotes "responsible selective redaction." Would you support that, if this came to a vote in your Intelligence Committee, to say, yes, indeed, we force the hand of the White House to make it public?

CHAMBLISS: Well, it's a fact of the matter. We're going to continue to review all parts of the 9/11 report to determine what additional information ought to come out. With respect to these 28 pages, again, there is no -- literally no smoking gun in those 28 pages. There is information in there relative to sources and methods. You've heard that over and over again, and we cannot reveal those. But if there is information in there that legitimately should come out and could come out without hampering our intelligence community or putting the lives of individuals at risk, then I would be in support of doing that.

But let me tell you one other thing about those 28 pages. There's a lot of information in there that is suggestive or that is -- and it says this is not substantiated, but there's also information relative to some ongoing investigations. So, we just have to be careful. And these folks who are out there saying, by golly, we ought to just let these 28 pages come forward, either they haven't read them or they have no concern for the intelligence community and the people that work in the intelligence community.

HEMMER: Senator, we're almost out of time, but some are saying there was a double-header yesterday -- the president taking credit for the 16 words; Condoleezza Rice doing the same thing in the afternoon in an interview. Does that satisfy you?

CHAMBLISS: Well, it shows strong leadership on the part of both the president and Condi Rice. The president is exactly right. He didn't write the speech, but when he says it, then it's his people that put it in there, and those are the people that he depends on.

I've never had a problem with the 16 words. I mean, what the 16 words say technically is correct. Now, the British still contend that the words are very accurate. The CIA disputes that, but that will be an ongoing dialogue.

But I think, you know, we ought to get beyond 16 words and let's be more concerned about the recent threats that we've had relative to additional al Qaeda operations within the United States and the threat they pose to the American people, rather than keep beating up on somebody over 16 words that were technically correct.

HEMMER: Senator, thanks for talking with us. Saxby Chambliss, the Republican senator from Georgia.

CHAMBLISS: Always a pleasure, Bill.

HEMMER: All right.

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 31, 2003 - 07:06   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: The CIA official in charge for searching for weapons of mass destruction reports to Congress today. CNN has learned some of what David Kay and senior Pentagon officials plan to say. They include no smoking gun has been located, but there is evidence, they say, that Iraq was developing weapons of mass destruction. A program was in place, they'll say.
And more leads have emerged since the deaths of Uday and Qusay Hussein about a week ago.

Senator Saxby Chambliss of Georgia will hear the closed-door testimony. He's with us live this morning again from Capitol Hill.

Good morning, Senator. Thanks for coming back on with us.

SEN. SAXBY CHAMBLISS (R), GEORGIA: Good morning, Bill. Good to be with you.

HEMMER: No smoking gun at this point, is that good enough?

CHAMBLISS: Well, certainly, we didn't anticipate at this point in time with David Kay being over there just a matter of weeks that we would come up with the cache of weapons that maybe some folks are looking for. I don't know that we'll ever find that.

But what we are going to find and what I expect to hear from David Kay today is the fact that we are getting the bits and pieces, and the puzzle is coming together. And we're going to find the weapons at the end of the day, but I don't expect there to be a smoking gun.

Saddam had too many opportunities to hide, destroy, give away weapons of mass destruction, but I still think at the end of the day that we're going to find how he manufactured them, where he manufactured them, and evidence that they were there. And, in all probability, we'll find some amount of weapons.

HEMMER: Senator, here is part of the problem, though. If you look at "The Washington Post" on the front page this morning that key Iraqi scientists have yet to be located. We've been told all along that you need that human intelligence to lead you to the evidence in order to locate it. Is it not true that you can make the case that that deck of 55, these scientists are equally as important as the list of 55?

CHAMBLISS: Well, certainly, without question, we're not going to find the evidence that we're looking for without somebody telling us that it's hidden here, it's buried here. And those scientists are the ones that can do that. So, yes, you're absolutely right. Those are very, very key individuals when it comes to finding weapons of mass destruction. But the fact of the matter is that, still, we were there for the right reason, and that's to free the Iraqi people, remove Saddam Hussein, a murderer and a tyrant, from power, and obviously that has happened.

HEMMER: There is a strong move in your body of Congress in the Senate to issue a letter to the president to get these 28 pages redacted from the 9/11 report of last week, to actually make them public. The letter quotes "responsible selective redaction." Would you support that, if this came to a vote in your Intelligence Committee, to say, yes, indeed, we force the hand of the White House to make it public?

CHAMBLISS: Well, it's a fact of the matter. We're going to continue to review all parts of the 9/11 report to determine what additional information ought to come out. With respect to these 28 pages, again, there is no -- literally no smoking gun in those 28 pages. There is information in there relative to sources and methods. You've heard that over and over again, and we cannot reveal those. But if there is information in there that legitimately should come out and could come out without hampering our intelligence community or putting the lives of individuals at risk, then I would be in support of doing that.

But let me tell you one other thing about those 28 pages. There's a lot of information in there that is suggestive or that is -- and it says this is not substantiated, but there's also information relative to some ongoing investigations. So, we just have to be careful. And these folks who are out there saying, by golly, we ought to just let these 28 pages come forward, either they haven't read them or they have no concern for the intelligence community and the people that work in the intelligence community.

HEMMER: Senator, we're almost out of time, but some are saying there was a double-header yesterday -- the president taking credit for the 16 words; Condoleezza Rice doing the same thing in the afternoon in an interview. Does that satisfy you?

CHAMBLISS: Well, it shows strong leadership on the part of both the president and Condi Rice. The president is exactly right. He didn't write the speech, but when he says it, then it's his people that put it in there, and those are the people that he depends on.

I've never had a problem with the 16 words. I mean, what the 16 words say technically is correct. Now, the British still contend that the words are very accurate. The CIA disputes that, but that will be an ongoing dialogue.

But I think, you know, we ought to get beyond 16 words and let's be more concerned about the recent threats that we've had relative to additional al Qaeda operations within the United States and the threat they pose to the American people, rather than keep beating up on somebody over 16 words that were technically correct.

HEMMER: Senator, thanks for talking with us. Saxby Chambliss, the Republican senator from Georgia.

CHAMBLISS: Always a pleasure, Bill.

HEMMER: All right.

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