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CNN Live At Daybreak
Donors Conference Wraps up Today
Aired October 24, 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: In Spain, it's time to sell the car. The secretary of state sounded a lot like a salesman, pushing his product -- in this case: Iraq. The Donors Conference wraps up today, with the U.S. hoping to raise billions in aid for Iraq.
Live to Madrid now and Al Goodman.
I know the United States to raise, what, 55 billion? Is it going to come close?
AL GOODMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Secretary Powell has said they're not going to get that figure, but we can tell you that just in the last few minutes -- the pledging is under way, each of the 60 nations stepping up to the podium announcing their pledge. And just a few minutes ago, Kuwait announced a 1 billion U.S. dollar pledge for its neighbor and former enemy: Iraq. Now, that's a shot in the arm.
As you mentioned, Carol, there was kind of a high-level pep rally before the actual pledging session began, and speaking there was U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell. Of course, Washington is very interested in the outcome of this Donors Conference, because all of the money that comes in here from these nations around the world lessens the burden on the American taxpayer to pick up the whole tab for rebuilding Iraq.
Here's how Secretary Powell spoke to the delegates. Here's what he told them to do. He said, give now. This is how he put it:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: This is not a one-size-fits- all proposition. Each donor will find its own way to contribute. But whatever form your support may take, it must be substantial.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOODMAN: Now, the word, "substantial," we've heard a lot, and also the word, "security, because they've all acknowledged -- Secretary Powell, the World Bank president, everybody practically speaking here -- has acknowledged that the security situation on the ground in Iraq is not very good, not very conducive to put your money in there. So, they're saying they're going to take care of that and that the reconstruction can go ahead, even though the security situation is not the way they would like it to be.
A leading Iraqi delegate here, the president of the Iraqi Governing Council, Dr. Ayad Allawi, here's what he had to say in this pep rally before the pledging began. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AYAD ALLAWI, IRAQI GOVERNING COUNCIL (through translator): I would like to pray that this conference will be successful and will help in the rebirth of Iraq, that your success here will be a success for humanity.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOODMAN: And, Carol, Japan has now stepped up as the world's second largest donor to Iraq, after the United States. Of course, the Bush administration has a $20 billion package trying to move its way through Congress. Japan today announcing here that in addition to -- a total package of $5 billion from Japan. That's 1.5 billion in grants, money that they pledged last week, and an additional 3.5 billion in loans that they told us today -- Carol.
COSTELLO: And, Al, we were also talking about Arab countries and what they might donate. Saudi Arabia, did it indeed donate 1 billion?
GOODMAN: Well, we're checking out on that. We're trying to get confirmation of that report. The problem is that all of the delegates basically are in this other building across the way. We've called their office. We don't have confirmation of that, but we have just heard from the Kuwaiti delegation that Kuwait has put up 1 billion.
Now, the significance of this is that basically a lot of the countries coming into this conference, a lot of the big money countries had already said what they were going to put in or, in the case of France and Germany, had said they weren't going to put in right now. They're still not quite satisfied with what appears to be a lot of U.S. control over Iraq.
So, people are looking to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, the neighbors, what they're going to put in as a key to maybe where this is going, success or not so much success -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Al Goodman reporting live for us from Madrid, Spain, 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 October 24, 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: In Spain, it's time to sell the car. The secretary of state sounded a lot like a salesman, pushing his product -- in this case: Iraq. The Donors Conference wraps up today, with the U.S. hoping to raise billions in aid for Iraq.
Live to Madrid now and Al Goodman.
I know the United States to raise, what, 55 billion? Is it going to come close?
AL GOODMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Secretary Powell has said they're not going to get that figure, but we can tell you that just in the last few minutes -- the pledging is under way, each of the 60 nations stepping up to the podium announcing their pledge. And just a few minutes ago, Kuwait announced a 1 billion U.S. dollar pledge for its neighbor and former enemy: Iraq. Now, that's a shot in the arm.
As you mentioned, Carol, there was kind of a high-level pep rally before the actual pledging session began, and speaking there was U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell. Of course, Washington is very interested in the outcome of this Donors Conference, because all of the money that comes in here from these nations around the world lessens the burden on the American taxpayer to pick up the whole tab for rebuilding Iraq.
Here's how Secretary Powell spoke to the delegates. Here's what he told them to do. He said, give now. This is how he put it:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: This is not a one-size-fits- all proposition. Each donor will find its own way to contribute. But whatever form your support may take, it must be substantial.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOODMAN: Now, the word, "substantial," we've heard a lot, and also the word, "security, because they've all acknowledged -- Secretary Powell, the World Bank president, everybody practically speaking here -- has acknowledged that the security situation on the ground in Iraq is not very good, not very conducive to put your money in there. So, they're saying they're going to take care of that and that the reconstruction can go ahead, even though the security situation is not the way they would like it to be.
A leading Iraqi delegate here, the president of the Iraqi Governing Council, Dr. Ayad Allawi, here's what he had to say in this pep rally before the pledging began. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AYAD ALLAWI, IRAQI GOVERNING COUNCIL (through translator): I would like to pray that this conference will be successful and will help in the rebirth of Iraq, that your success here will be a success for humanity.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOODMAN: And, Carol, Japan has now stepped up as the world's second largest donor to Iraq, after the United States. Of course, the Bush administration has a $20 billion package trying to move its way through Congress. Japan today announcing here that in addition to -- a total package of $5 billion from Japan. That's 1.5 billion in grants, money that they pledged last week, and an additional 3.5 billion in loans that they told us today -- Carol.
COSTELLO: And, Al, we were also talking about Arab countries and what they might donate. Saudi Arabia, did it indeed donate 1 billion?
GOODMAN: Well, we're checking out on that. We're trying to get confirmation of that report. The problem is that all of the delegates basically are in this other building across the way. We've called their office. We don't have confirmation of that, but we have just heard from the Kuwaiti delegation that Kuwait has put up 1 billion.
Now, the significance of this is that basically a lot of the countries coming into this conference, a lot of the big money countries had already said what they were going to put in or, in the case of France and Germany, had said they weren't going to put in right now. They're still not quite satisfied with what appears to be a lot of U.S. control over Iraq.
So, people are looking to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, the neighbors, what they're going to put in as a key to maybe where this is going, success or not so much success -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Al Goodman reporting live for us from Madrid, Spain, 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.
