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CNN Live Sunday

President Bush To Speak To U.N. This Week

Aired September 21, 2003 - 16:34   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 LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, President Bush will speak out about Iraq at the United Nations this week. He's asking the world body to help ensure stability there. CNN's Dana Bash is at the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The president back from Camp David to prepare for a week of mending diplomatic fences at the U.N. in hopes of getting more help mending war-torn Iraq. Tuesday he returns to a United Nations still smarting from bitter divisions over Iraq as the post-war situation is more dangerous and expensive, officials admit, than anticipated.

Democrats and Republicans who supported the war say it will be a tough sell, but Mr. Bush must give up some U.S. control to get the international assistance he wants.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need to get the United Nations and the international community in. And there seems to be a great reluctance on the part of the administration to share the burden of Iraq. And unless we do that this is going to continue to go downhill.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need assistance, we need training, we need money. But I think as much as anything else we need a perception by the Iraqis that that is not just an American program.

BASH: A senior administration official tells CNN, Mr. Bush will issue a, quote call to action in three areas. Reconstruction not only in Iraq but Afghanistan. Success in both countries, the president will say, is in the world's interest.

Also, stopping the flow of weapons of mass destruction around the globe and working to end human rights violations with a focus on banning slavery and exploitation of women.

As important as the president's public address when it comes to Iraq, is his private pitch. Key one-on-one meetings are scheduled with two chief foes of the Iraq war, french President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder with whom Mr. Bush has not had a substantial meeting in nearly a year and a half.

Both leaders are crucial in the U.S. push for a new U.N. resolution aimed at luring more troops and money to Iraq. But they want Iraqis in control more quickly than Bush officials say is realistic. (END VIDEOTAPE)

BASH: Last year Mr. Bush suggested that the U.N. risk being irrelevant if it didn't take action against Saddam Hussein, now the president finds the U.N. still relevant. Indeed, he is seeking their blessing in order to get the help from nations and financial institutions into Iraq that he needs -- Carol.

LIN: All right. Thank you very much. Dana Bash live at the White House.

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 September 21, 2003 - 16:34   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, President Bush will speak out about Iraq at the United Nations this week. He's asking the world body to help ensure stability there. CNN's Dana Bash is at the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The president back from Camp David to prepare for a week of mending diplomatic fences at the U.N. in hopes of getting more help mending war-torn Iraq. Tuesday he returns to a United Nations still smarting from bitter divisions over Iraq as the post-war situation is more dangerous and expensive, officials admit, than anticipated.

Democrats and Republicans who supported the war say it will be a tough sell, but Mr. Bush must give up some U.S. control to get the international assistance he wants.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need to get the United Nations and the international community in. And there seems to be a great reluctance on the part of the administration to share the burden of Iraq. And unless we do that this is going to continue to go downhill.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need assistance, we need training, we need money. But I think as much as anything else we need a perception by the Iraqis that that is not just an American program.

BASH: A senior administration official tells CNN, Mr. Bush will issue a, quote call to action in three areas. Reconstruction not only in Iraq but Afghanistan. Success in both countries, the president will say, is in the world's interest.

Also, stopping the flow of weapons of mass destruction around the globe and working to end human rights violations with a focus on banning slavery and exploitation of women.

As important as the president's public address when it comes to Iraq, is his private pitch. Key one-on-one meetings are scheduled with two chief foes of the Iraq war, french President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder with whom Mr. Bush has not had a substantial meeting in nearly a year and a half.

Both leaders are crucial in the U.S. push for a new U.N. resolution aimed at luring more troops and money to Iraq. But they want Iraqis in control more quickly than Bush officials say is realistic. (END VIDEOTAPE)

BASH: Last year Mr. Bush suggested that the U.N. risk being irrelevant if it didn't take action against Saddam Hussein, now the president finds the U.N. still relevant. Indeed, he is seeking their blessing in order to get the help from nations and financial institutions into Iraq that he needs -- Carol.

LIN: All right. Thank you very much. Dana Bash live at the White House.

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