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CNN Live At Daybreak

Six Months After Fall of Baghdad, Bush Still Explaining Why He Went to War

Aired October 09, 2003 - 05:32   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: Iraq was on President Bush's mind when he spoke at a Republican fundraiser in Washington. Six months after the fall of Baghdad, he's still having to explain why he went to war.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The lessons of September the 11th are lessons we must not forget. I was not about to leave the security of the American people in the hands of a madman. I was not going to stand by and wait and trust the sanity and restraint of Mr. Saddam Hussein.

So our coalition acted and we acted in one of the swiftest and most humane military campaigns in history. Iraq is free. America is more secure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: The president's speech at that fundraiser is part of an overall campaign to win public support for the Iraq operation.

Senior White House Correspondent John King looks at the strategy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A made for TV moment five months ago, the message unmistakable. Yet now an urgent administration effort to defend both the war and its post-war strategy.

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: And when you let a threat fester, you eventually pay a price for it. You either have an option of dealing with it now or dealing with it later, and this president decided to deal with it now.

KING: The Chicago speech by National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice is part of what the White House calls a new public relations offensive and critics call proof this president is very much on the defensive. The effort includes speeches around the country by senior officials, events staged with supporters of the president's policy, and bypassing national outlets and offering the president, vice president and other senior officials for local media interviews.

It is a strategy hardly unique to this administration. JOE LOCKHART, CLINTON WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: It's generally an admission that something has failed when you reorganize and you have a new P.R. offensive. This is not a story where you need a P.R. offensive. It is being well covered. And basically that's their problem.

KING: A constant White House complaint is progress, like reopening schools and hospitals, gets little attention.

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: And it's the responsibility of this administration to keep the American people informed about those successes.

KING: The new push coincides with a number of difficulties and setbacks -- 91 Americans killed in action since Mr. Bush visited an aircraft carrier to declare mission accomplished, failure to win support for a new U.N. Security Council resolution backing its post- war Iraq policy, congressional criticism of the administration's $20 billion Iraq reconstruction proposal and recent polls showing half the American people now say it was not worth going to war in Iraq.

RICE: This was an international outlaw who had been allowed to remain too long.

KING (on camera): Next up in the White House offensive, speeches by the president Thursday and the vice president on Friday, then regional television interviews with Mr. Bush on Monday. The president's critics say what needs to change is the policy, not the sales pitch.

John King, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Get the low down on Iraq and U.S. troops there on our Web site when you log on at work this morning. You know the address by now, 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




Why He Went to War>


Aired October 9, 2003 - 05:32   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Iraq was on President Bush's mind when he spoke at a Republican fundraiser in Washington. Six months after the fall of Baghdad, he's still having to explain why he went to war.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The lessons of September the 11th are lessons we must not forget. I was not about to leave the security of the American people in the hands of a madman. I was not going to stand by and wait and trust the sanity and restraint of Mr. Saddam Hussein.

So our coalition acted and we acted in one of the swiftest and most humane military campaigns in history. Iraq is free. America is more secure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: The president's speech at that fundraiser is part of an overall campaign to win public support for the Iraq operation.

Senior White House Correspondent John King looks at the strategy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A made for TV moment five months ago, the message unmistakable. Yet now an urgent administration effort to defend both the war and its post-war strategy.

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: And when you let a threat fester, you eventually pay a price for it. You either have an option of dealing with it now or dealing with it later, and this president decided to deal with it now.

KING: The Chicago speech by National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice is part of what the White House calls a new public relations offensive and critics call proof this president is very much on the defensive. The effort includes speeches around the country by senior officials, events staged with supporters of the president's policy, and bypassing national outlets and offering the president, vice president and other senior officials for local media interviews.

It is a strategy hardly unique to this administration. JOE LOCKHART, CLINTON WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: It's generally an admission that something has failed when you reorganize and you have a new P.R. offensive. This is not a story where you need a P.R. offensive. It is being well covered. And basically that's their problem.

KING: A constant White House complaint is progress, like reopening schools and hospitals, gets little attention.

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: And it's the responsibility of this administration to keep the American people informed about those successes.

KING: The new push coincides with a number of difficulties and setbacks -- 91 Americans killed in action since Mr. Bush visited an aircraft carrier to declare mission accomplished, failure to win support for a new U.N. Security Council resolution backing its post- war Iraq policy, congressional criticism of the administration's $20 billion Iraq reconstruction proposal and recent polls showing half the American people now say it was not worth going to war in Iraq.

RICE: This was an international outlaw who had been allowed to remain too long.

KING (on camera): Next up in the White House offensive, speeches by the president Thursday and the vice president on Friday, then regional television interviews with Mr. Bush on Monday. The president's critics say what needs to change is the policy, not the sales pitch.

John King, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Get the low down on Iraq and U.S. troops there on our Web site when you log on at work this morning. You know the address by now, 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




Why He Went to War>