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CNN Live At Daybreak
Surprise Trip: Bush Back From Iraq
Aired November 28, 2003 - 06:01 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.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush arrived back in Texas about an hour ago after his surprise trip to Iraq. Now he went to Iraq armed with a morale-boosting message to hundreds of soldiers in Baghdad.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We will prevail. We will win because our cause is just. We will win because we will stay on the offensive. And we will win because you are part of the finest military ever assembled.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CALLAWAY: And CNN's Dana Bash is joining us from Crawford, Texas this morning.
A lot of people, Dana, want to know how the president pulled this off. It was top secret.
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It was top secret, Catherine. And the way he pulled it off, frankly, is just by keeping the number of people who knew about the plan to a bear minimum. Really, only a handful of his senior aides at the White House knew about it. Even some of the Secret Service here in Crawford didn't know about it. And the man in charge of the military on the ground in Baghdad, Richard -- General Ricardo Sanchez, he wasn't told until just three days beforehand. And he, of course, had to be in charge of arranging the security for the president there.
But just to give you some sense of it, President Bush's parents were on their way here to Crawford to spend Thanksgiving with the president. They didn't know that his son -- that their son wouldn't be here when they got here. He didn't tell his twin daughters, who were also here for the holiday, until just a few hours before he left.
And reporters, just the few reporters who were taken on the trip, were forbidden from making any kind of contact. Their cell phones were taken away when they got on Air Force One in order to make this trip.
And, Catherine, just to paint the picture for you, where I am standing here is about seven miles from the president's ranch here in Crawford. And it is a huge piece of property, 1,600 acres, so it's very difficult to see where he is. But in our defense, the defense of the White House press corps who was left behind, we're told from a senior administration official that even if we were standing at the entrance of the ranch, we probably wouldn't have known it was him because they went to great lengths.
They didn't use the regular motorcade, no lights and sirens, like we normally see. He slipped out in the darkness on Wednesday night. And he went, as his official said, just like everybody else. He saw traffic for the first time in three years.
So he slipped into the -- into the airport here in Waco and made his way back to Andrews Air Force Base. And then, of course, took the journey across many, many hours to get to Baghdad.
CALLAWAY: I'm sure the president and his staff are quite pleased they pulled one over on the media.
BASH: Yes, I would say so.
CALLAWAY: All right, Dana, thank you very much.
And for the latest buzz from Baghdad on the president's surprise visit, as well as some other Iraq news, we go to Baghdad bureau chief Jane Arraf.
Jane, hello there, what's the latest from there?
JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Hi, Catherine.
Well it certainly was a thrilling visit for the troops who saw him here. Now this is a dangerous and difficult mission and there isn't a lot that breaks up that monotony and danger for a lot of the soldiers. It certainly was a morale booster for them. For other soldiers and other camps who didn't see him, didn't have quite the same impact. And for Iraqis in general, he might as well have made a visit to the moon. It really didn't make any impact at all. He was off on a military base, didn't have contact with Iraqis themselves.
And what they are focusing on is a little different. They are focusing on the words of a 70-year-old religious cleric. Now he keeps a very low profile, doesn't delve into politics very often, but when he does, it speaks volumes.
This is Ali Husseini al-Sistani, who is the top religious cleric here for many of the Sheas, has supported millions of them. And he has come out in opposition to a U.S. plan to hold indirect elections, if you will. Now he has been speaking with other leaders, including Abdel-Aziz Al-Hakim, who is on the governing council, who came out and said that a lot of the opposition is because he feels Islam doesn't get a fair shake in what will be a new administration.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ABDEL-AZIZ AL-HAKIM, IRAQI GOVERNING COUNCIL (through translator): Ayatollah Sistani found nothing that preserves Islamic identity and he didn't find any term that affirms this identity. He fears that Islam and the Islamic identity of the Iraqis will not be respected in the new Iraq. He believes that there should be provision for this in the new resolution and that there should be no legislation that goes against Islam in the new Iraq.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ARRAF: Bottom line is that the U.S. coalition might have to modify its plan to hand over power to Iraqis, giving them more control, more power and perhaps giving Sheas even more of a say -- Catherine.
CALLAWAY: All right, Jane, thank you. Jane Arraf live from Baghdad 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 November 28, 2003 - 06:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush arrived back in Texas about an hour ago after his surprise trip to Iraq. Now he went to Iraq armed with a morale-boosting message to hundreds of soldiers in Baghdad.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We will prevail. We will win because our cause is just. We will win because we will stay on the offensive. And we will win because you are part of the finest military ever assembled.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CALLAWAY: And CNN's Dana Bash is joining us from Crawford, Texas this morning.
A lot of people, Dana, want to know how the president pulled this off. It was top secret.
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It was top secret, Catherine. And the way he pulled it off, frankly, is just by keeping the number of people who knew about the plan to a bear minimum. Really, only a handful of his senior aides at the White House knew about it. Even some of the Secret Service here in Crawford didn't know about it. And the man in charge of the military on the ground in Baghdad, Richard -- General Ricardo Sanchez, he wasn't told until just three days beforehand. And he, of course, had to be in charge of arranging the security for the president there.
But just to give you some sense of it, President Bush's parents were on their way here to Crawford to spend Thanksgiving with the president. They didn't know that his son -- that their son wouldn't be here when they got here. He didn't tell his twin daughters, who were also here for the holiday, until just a few hours before he left.
And reporters, just the few reporters who were taken on the trip, were forbidden from making any kind of contact. Their cell phones were taken away when they got on Air Force One in order to make this trip.
And, Catherine, just to paint the picture for you, where I am standing here is about seven miles from the president's ranch here in Crawford. And it is a huge piece of property, 1,600 acres, so it's very difficult to see where he is. But in our defense, the defense of the White House press corps who was left behind, we're told from a senior administration official that even if we were standing at the entrance of the ranch, we probably wouldn't have known it was him because they went to great lengths.
They didn't use the regular motorcade, no lights and sirens, like we normally see. He slipped out in the darkness on Wednesday night. And he went, as his official said, just like everybody else. He saw traffic for the first time in three years.
So he slipped into the -- into the airport here in Waco and made his way back to Andrews Air Force Base. And then, of course, took the journey across many, many hours to get to Baghdad.
CALLAWAY: I'm sure the president and his staff are quite pleased they pulled one over on the media.
BASH: Yes, I would say so.
CALLAWAY: All right, Dana, thank you very much.
And for the latest buzz from Baghdad on the president's surprise visit, as well as some other Iraq news, we go to Baghdad bureau chief Jane Arraf.
Jane, hello there, what's the latest from there?
JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Hi, Catherine.
Well it certainly was a thrilling visit for the troops who saw him here. Now this is a dangerous and difficult mission and there isn't a lot that breaks up that monotony and danger for a lot of the soldiers. It certainly was a morale booster for them. For other soldiers and other camps who didn't see him, didn't have quite the same impact. And for Iraqis in general, he might as well have made a visit to the moon. It really didn't make any impact at all. He was off on a military base, didn't have contact with Iraqis themselves.
And what they are focusing on is a little different. They are focusing on the words of a 70-year-old religious cleric. Now he keeps a very low profile, doesn't delve into politics very often, but when he does, it speaks volumes.
This is Ali Husseini al-Sistani, who is the top religious cleric here for many of the Sheas, has supported millions of them. And he has come out in opposition to a U.S. plan to hold indirect elections, if you will. Now he has been speaking with other leaders, including Abdel-Aziz Al-Hakim, who is on the governing council, who came out and said that a lot of the opposition is because he feels Islam doesn't get a fair shake in what will be a new administration.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ABDEL-AZIZ AL-HAKIM, IRAQI GOVERNING COUNCIL (through translator): Ayatollah Sistani found nothing that preserves Islamic identity and he didn't find any term that affirms this identity. He fears that Islam and the Islamic identity of the Iraqis will not be respected in the new Iraq. He believes that there should be provision for this in the new resolution and that there should be no legislation that goes against Islam in the new Iraq.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ARRAF: Bottom line is that the U.S. coalition might have to modify its plan to hand over power to Iraqis, giving them more control, more power and perhaps giving Sheas even more of a say -- Catherine.
CALLAWAY: All right, Jane, thank you. Jane Arraf live from Baghdad 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
