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CNN Live Sunday
President Faces Critics Of Post-War Iraq Today
Aired August 31, 2003 - 16:06 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.
FREDERICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Well, President Bush is back in Washington, D.C. from his working vacation in Texas and getting advice from political friends and foes on how to manage Iraq. Details now from CNN senior White House correspondent, John King.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): The president's Sunday included church services and fresh reminders of the mounting challenges in post-war Iraq.
SENATOR JOSEPH LIEBERMAN (D-CT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The Bush administration is in danger of losing in peace what we won in war in Iraq, and we've got to stop that.
KING: Last week's deadly car bombing at a mosque in Najaf is bringing new suggestions that the White House grossly underestimated the security challenge, and has been too slow to get other nations to help. Writing in the "Washington Post," Republican Senator, John McCain, says "contrary to administration assurances, our military force levels are obviously inadequate. We need to deploy at least another division."
Senator McCain recently visited Iraq and is highly skeptical of any expanded role for the United Nations. But other Bush critics say sharing the security burden will require sharing some authority over Iraq's reconstruction and political transition.
SENATOR JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I believe we can do that, but it's going to take more effective leadership than this administration has offered. And it's going to take less arrogance and less ideology.
KING: Russian president, Vladimir Putin, put a key condition on his support for a multinational force under the command of an American general.
VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We think a new U.N. resolution is possible, even welcome it. But only if the U.N. is going to play a serious, concrete role in the reconstruction of Iraq.
KING: But others say the biggest lesson of the Najaf bombing is the need to have Iraqis assume a more prominent police role. Iraqi governing council member, Ahmed Chalabi, says it is critical to train a new Iraqi paramilitary force. "The Iraqi people must feel they have a stake in their governance," Chalabi writes in a "Washington Post" essay. "They must feel that they are in control of their own land."
Administration officials support such a paramilitary force but say they need to make sure there is adequate screening and training.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: And so for the president, two immediate tests now that he's back in Washington. Number one, trying to shape a consensus at the United Nations that brings more international troops into the coalition. And number two, trying to quiet a growing chorus of criticism from a Congress about to return from its summer break. Fredricka?
WHITFIELD: Well, John, I wonder, in the meantime, then, is there any plan for more U.S. troops to head that way?
KING: The administration has said no. The generals on the ground have said no, that they do not need more troops, that more troops does not guarantee less terrorism, but one of -- that will be one of the big questions when Congress returns. They want to know.
Senator McCain and others say, you do need more troops, and it will take months even if the administration is successful at the United Nations, to get more international troops in. So that will be one of the big debates in the next week or two here in Washington.
WHITFIELD: John King at the White House. Thank you.
KING: Thank you.
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 August 31, 2003 - 16:06 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDERICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Well, President Bush is back in Washington, D.C. from his working vacation in Texas and getting advice from political friends and foes on how to manage Iraq. Details now from CNN senior White House correspondent, John King.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): The president's Sunday included church services and fresh reminders of the mounting challenges in post-war Iraq.
SENATOR JOSEPH LIEBERMAN (D-CT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The Bush administration is in danger of losing in peace what we won in war in Iraq, and we've got to stop that.
KING: Last week's deadly car bombing at a mosque in Najaf is bringing new suggestions that the White House grossly underestimated the security challenge, and has been too slow to get other nations to help. Writing in the "Washington Post," Republican Senator, John McCain, says "contrary to administration assurances, our military force levels are obviously inadequate. We need to deploy at least another division."
Senator McCain recently visited Iraq and is highly skeptical of any expanded role for the United Nations. But other Bush critics say sharing the security burden will require sharing some authority over Iraq's reconstruction and political transition.
SENATOR JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I believe we can do that, but it's going to take more effective leadership than this administration has offered. And it's going to take less arrogance and less ideology.
KING: Russian president, Vladimir Putin, put a key condition on his support for a multinational force under the command of an American general.
VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We think a new U.N. resolution is possible, even welcome it. But only if the U.N. is going to play a serious, concrete role in the reconstruction of Iraq.
KING: But others say the biggest lesson of the Najaf bombing is the need to have Iraqis assume a more prominent police role. Iraqi governing council member, Ahmed Chalabi, says it is critical to train a new Iraqi paramilitary force. "The Iraqi people must feel they have a stake in their governance," Chalabi writes in a "Washington Post" essay. "They must feel that they are in control of their own land."
Administration officials support such a paramilitary force but say they need to make sure there is adequate screening and training.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: And so for the president, two immediate tests now that he's back in Washington. Number one, trying to shape a consensus at the United Nations that brings more international troops into the coalition. And number two, trying to quiet a growing chorus of criticism from a Congress about to return from its summer break. Fredricka?
WHITFIELD: Well, John, I wonder, in the meantime, then, is there any plan for more U.S. troops to head that way?
KING: The administration has said no. The generals on the ground have said no, that they do not need more troops, that more troops does not guarantee less terrorism, but one of -- that will be one of the big questions when Congress returns. They want to know.
Senator McCain and others say, you do need more troops, and it will take months even if the administration is successful at the United Nations, to get more international troops in. So that will be one of the big debates in the next week or two here in Washington.
WHITFIELD: John King at the White House. Thank you.
KING: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
