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President Bush, Other World Leaders Gathering at U.N.; Interview With Governor Bill Richardson; Ahmadinejad Speaks on World Stage Tonight

Aired September 19, 2006 - 10:59   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Spend a second hour in the NEWSROOM this morning. We're happy to have you. We'll keep you informed.
And good morning, everyone. I'm Tony Harris.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Heidi Collins.

President Bush live from the U.N. in 30 minutes. The Iranian leader on the same stage. The two separated only by time and, of course, policy.

HARRIS: Trying to reach a compromise on terror prosecutions. The White House reaches out to fellow Republicans. Can they make a deal?

COLLINS: A startling admission. Rioting in the streets, but Hungary's leader refuses to step aside this Tuesday, September 19th.

You're in the NEWSROOM.

HARRIS: The war on terror, a progress report. Minutes from now, President Bush delivers a major address at the United Nations. He will try to sell his vision for the Middle East. The region right now the battleground for U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

COLLINS: In between those two countries, Iran. It remains defiant over its nuclear program. The stalemate will likely be a focus of the president's speech. A few hours later, Iran's fiery leader will fire back with his own speech at the U.N. What's said will rumble across the world.

HARRIS: Our senior United Nations correspondent, Richard Roth, is watching the parade of world leaders for us this morning.

Richard, good morning.

RICHARD ROTH, CNN SR. U.N. CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Tony.

They're coming in fast and furious here at the United Nation's delegates' entrance. President Bush is inside the United Nations, and he was then met by Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

This is the secretary-general of the United Nations last General Assembly session. His term ends on December 31st. The two men have had sharp differences over Iraq policy. They are in agreement on Darfur, Sudan, that something must be done for what the U.S. says is a genocide there in Sudan.

The United Nations is always preferring dialogue and negotiation, and President Bush many times has said it wants to go alone, as it did in Iraq. "If you're not with us, you're against us." That type of dialogue doesn't exactly go well here at the United Nations, but there have been setbacks in Iraq for the United States, and the U.S. has been turning to the United Nations for a more multilateral, as it's called, approach.

President Ahmadinejad of Iran will not be meeting with President Bush. The president of Iran wanted a debate with the U.S. leader. Washington said no thanks.

The president of Iran arrived last night. He will speak in the early evening hours here in New York. President Bush is coming up within the half-hour -- Tony.

HARRIS: Richard Roth for us at the United Nations.

Richard, thank you.

COLLINS: And we continue our coverage now with CNN White House Correspondent Suzanne Malveaux. She as a look of what we expect to hear from President Bush this hour.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, President Bush this morning will address the United Nations General Assembly. He will try to sell his war on terror.

This is really a culmination of a series of speeches the president has given in the past. Also, of course, looking forward to the congressional midterm elections, trying to push for tough, antiterrorism measures through Congress.

What we expect today is a 15-minute speech, where he'll focus on his so-called "freedom agenda," saying that the Middle East really is the battle front in this war on terror, that the united community, the international community, needs to play a role in trying to help those fledgling democracies, those who are struggling in Iraq, and Lebanon and the Palestinian Authority.

And the president, of course, will also single out Iran as a state sponsor of terror, saying that Iran must abandon its nuclear weapons program, its ambitions for nuclear weapons. That is what the administration believes that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, is involved in.

And the big question, of course, the kabuki dance, if you will. Everybody will be watching to see if President Bush and the Iranian president happen to meet face to face, bump into each other, during the summit.

I asked President Bush on Friday if he had any plans to meet with him. He said, no, that first it must stop, suspend its enrichment uranium program before any talks can go forward. The administration is pushing for tough sanctions, but that is something that the European community, the larger community, is not very excited about.

Suzanne Malveaux, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: The Security Council at the heart of the United Nations. A closer look now at the council's duties and its membership.

Under the U.N. charter, the council's main responsibility is maintaining international peace and security. While it usually meets at U.N. headquarters in New York, the panel can hold sessions elsewhere. It met in Ethiopia in 1972 and the following year in Panama.

Five countries are permanent members of the 15-member Security Council, the United States, China, France, Russia, and Britain, and there are 10 non-permanent members elected for two-year terms. Right now those non-permanent members are Argentina, Congo, Peru, Denmark, Ghana, Greece, Japan, Qatar, Slovakia and Tanzania.

The U.N. General Assembly getting ready right now to hear from President Bush on major world issues. That speech is coming up in about 25 minutes. But before we hear from the president, let's go straight to New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, a former U.S. ambassador to the U.N.

He is with us now from Santa Fe.

Governor, welcome to the program. Thanks for being here.

GOV. BILL RICHARDSON (D), NEW MEXICO: Thank you.

COLLINS: Tell us, if you would, what exactly we can expect to come out of today's address from President Bush.

RICHARDSON: Well, he is going to face skeptical members of the United Nations. They are going to have an attitude of too little, too late on a lot of the issues the president wants to talk about.

Nonetheless, because the U.S. is the world's biggest superpower, we pay 26 percent of the U.N., it's going to be the most listened to speech. What the president is going to basically try to say is we need the international community for the following goals.

One, for a peacekeeping force in the Middle East.

Two, he is going to, I understand, announce a special envoy to the Sudan to get a peacekeeping force from the U.N. there. That's good.

Three, another objective is to get international assistance with the United Nations, with Kofi Annan for Iraq. And then on the wedge side, he's going to try to isolate Iran and build international support for potential economic and other sanctions on Iran if it continues pursuing its enriched uranium.

A key audience is going to be the five permanent members of the Security Council that have veto power over issues like North Korea, whether we have sanctions with them. Iran, as I mentioned. The peacekeeping force in Darfur in the Sudan, which is a welcomed move.

But the president is going to have to strike a conciliatory positive tone, because we've kind of shunned the U.N. in the past. And now that we really need the U.N., he's going to have to step up and be conciliatory, positive, because we need them in a lot of areas.

COLLINS: It seems like a difficult task at this point, kind of talking very positively as far as the envoy to Sudan, but then, as you mentioned, the possibility of sanctions. Do you think that sanctions are a good idea against Iran?

RICHARDSON: Well, yes, because it is unacceptable for Iran to build a nuclear capacity in the next five to six years. But what we seem to be doing is a carrot and stick approach towards Iran, basically in exchange for some trade benefits, civilian nuclear power. Iran says they don't enrich uranium.

Iran has kind of rejected that, but what's going to be key is the French president, members of the U.N. Security Council. The president meets the French president today -- and whether Iran backs us on sanctions if Iran doesn't start terminating its nuclear enrichment. That's going to be key. And this is where diplomacy rather than confrontation is going to be essential.

And again, he is talking to two audiences today, the 15 members of the U.N. Security Council, especially the five permanent members, and then about 180 countries that he will be addressing in a few minutes of the General Assembly to build international support for America's goals which we mentioned earlier.

COLLINS: As we see the stage before us and all of the world leaders coming together at a place like the U.N., explain to us, would you, Governor, why the Europeans are so against sanctions against Iran.

RICHARDSON: Well, many of them have commercial relations with Iran. Iran is the world's fourth largest oil supplier. They've got a lot of trade contracts with European countries.

And Europeans traditionally, especially the French, have resented our policies in Iraq, so there is carryover there. They think we're too unilateralist. But here's an opportunity where generally we have been working well the Europeans on a policy of carrots and sticks to Iran.

So I think if a compromise comes out where maybe Iran freezes its current nuclear enrichment, then negotiations can come forth and potentially sanctions are avoided. But that's up to a diplomatic effort by the U.S., and I believe we should have engaged Iran directly -- maybe not the president -- a lot sooner than -- well, we're not doing it now, but we should in the future.

COLLINS: We want to talk more about this as the day goes on and as we get closer to the speech with governor of New Mexico, Bill Richardson, and, of course, former U.S. ambassador to the U.N., as well.

Governor Richardson, stick around if you would and we'll get back to you as the day goes on.

RICHARDSON: Thank you.

HARRIS: And as we continue our coverage out of New York just ahead of the president's speech, at the bottom of the hour, CNN's Aneesh Raman is in New York City. He spent several weeks reporting from Tehran recently.

Aneesh, good to see you.

Iran's president is going to get the grand stage this evening to offer his view of things, of the world as he sees it. What is his goal here?

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tony, good morning.

Iran's president, for him things are looking quite well right now. His goal is to make the world weary of confrontation with Iran, weary of imposing sanctions.

In terms of the nuclear issue, the U.S. has said it won't talk to Iran unless it suspends its nuclear program. Iran has said it won't suspend its program as any precondition for talks. In the middle is the rest of the world; mainly Europe and members of the permanent Security Council at the U.N. They are weary of sanctions right now.

So Iran will on the sidelines and in the speech of its president try and call for new dialogue. He will likely reassert that Iran has peaceful intentions of its nuclear program, that it is no threat to anyone else.

The other issue where things are looking well for Iran is that Iran's president is growing in clout. So, in his speech, beyond trying to address fears by the West, he will also play to his base, Muslim countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, whose populations are disenfranchised, who are angry at the U.S. for its actions in Iraq, angry at Israel for its war with Hezbollah. And he will talk to them as well and say, likely, as he has said before, there's a broader solution to world's problems, and a key part of that is for Western nations and the U.S., specifically, to get out of the Middle East in terms of influence.

So, he'll be a softer tone than some of the more controversial statements we've heard before. What he wants to do likely today is just appease fears and play to his base and increase his stature -- Tony. HARRIS: Let's talk about -- let's talk about how strong a hand he might actually have. But to what extent do you think the war in Iraq, may be the resurgence of the Taliban have actually played into his strength?

RAMAN: Greatly. If you look at pre-war, pre-Afghanistan and pre-Iraq Middle East, Iran was balanced in power by Saddam's Iraq, by the Taliban's Afghanistan. Both of those governments are gone, neither has been replaced by a strong, stable government. So Iran has grown in clout.

It now has influence in Iraq it didn't have before. It has influence over Afghanistan it didn't have before. It has influence in Lebanon.

So, as a regional player, Iran is undoubtedly rising in stature, and its president is playing to that base. When he was elected -- and keep in mind, he has only been on the world stage for just over a year. When he was elected a year ago it was about economics. For Iranians, they wanted desperate economic reform -- high inflation, high unemployment at home.

When he ran, he was a man of the people. He used to drive his own car even after he got elected for a couple of weeks until security forces told him not to. He wears inexpensive suits. During the campaign he wore a trash man's uniform and picked up trash for a day.

So the people of Iran voted him in to bring in economic reform. He hasn't done that.

Instead, he has used his time in office to play to a broader international audience, disenfranchised Muslims worldwide. And when I was in Iran, a lot of the people say, look, money that's being spent in Lebanon could be better spent in Iran. Money that's being spent to Hamas could be better spent in Iran.

They won't tell you that on camera. It's very sensitive as an issue there. But off camera, they are already planning that the president that was supposed to bring about economic reform and improvement is essentially going to bring about more sanctions.

But I should mention, sanctions not a big deal to Iranians. They have endured them before, they are enduring them now. If that is a carrot and stick approach, and sanctions are the stick, unless you get high-level sanctions on commodities like gas that will impact Iranians, not a big impact on the ground -- Tony.

HARRIS: Aneesh Raman for us in New York.

Aneesh, appreciate it. Thank you.

CNN -- just another reminder. We'll have live coverage of the president's U.N. speech at the bottom of the hour. That's 11:30 Eastern, 8:30 Pacific.

See it here live in the CNN NEWSROOM. Still to come, GOP senators ready to force a presidential compromise? Well, there's word the White House is trying to strike a deal on terror suspects.

That story coming up in the NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: Fresh spinach contaminated with E. coli. How did it happen? From the fields to the lab, the search for the source goes on.

See it in the NEWSROOM.

CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: You know the congressional numbers just don't seem to add up right now. So it looks like the White House might be willing to compromise with the GOP senators. The touchy topic, of course, proposals to interrogate and prosecute major terror suspects.

Live now to CNN's Andrea Koppel on Capitol Hill.

Andrea, good morning.

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Tony. Good morning to you.

I think it's fair to say that there are real-time negotiations finally taking place right now between the White House and those three renegade Republican senators, John McCain, John Warner, and Lindsey Graham. I spoke to a Republican staffer who's close to the negotiations and said that they -- staffers were up until the wee hours of the morning combing through a proposal that White House sent over last night.

This is the first, shall we say, attempt to compromise that we have seen on the part of the White House since this whole standoff began. And, in fact, I ran into Senator John McCain in the hallway a short time ago. I asked him what he thought of the proposal. He said it was "a good proposal." And when I asked him whether or not they were going to be sending back a counter-proposal of their own, he said with a little smile on his face, "It's part of a process."

Now, even though Senator McCain would prefer not to tip his hand, according to this Republican staffer, again, familiar with these negotiations, the senators plan to send back a counter-proposal. They say that they're not accepting it in its current form. That doesn't mean they are rejecting it out of hand.

As Lindsey Graham said last night, "Have you ever negotiated for a car? This is the way negotiations take place."

Now, it is the first sign that the White House is backing off after President Bush dug in his heels last week. A senior administration official telling CNN, "This is how negotiations work, you talk back and forth. The president never said it's his way or the highway."

Now, when I mentioned that to another Republican staffer, he said, "It sounds to me like they are climbing down."

Now, in that proposal that the White House sent over last night, I am told that it focussed on one of the key sticking points, and that has to do with what's known as Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions. President Bush wanted to revise it. The three Republican senators said to do so could make American troops vulnerable if they were ever captured overseas.

Tony, the first sign that the White House was beginning to, shall we say, back down or open -- express an openness to compromise came on Sunday when National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley appeared on CNN's "LATE EDITION."

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN HADLEY, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: The men and women at the Central Intelligence Agency who run this program deserve clear legal standards and clear congressional support. But then the third thing I think is also clear, we need to find a way so that we can do this without changing or modifying what's called Common Article 3. That is what Senator McCain thinks is so important.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOPPEL: Now, what Stephen Hadley didn't say, but what everybody knows, Tony, is the fact that this has become or fast becoming a real embarrassment, and potentially a political problem for this administration and for Republicans as they head into the November midterms. The idea that you have a split within the party and between the White House and three very senior senators is something they would like to wrap up as quickly as possible -- Tony.

HARRIS: Sounds like it. Sounds like it. Sounds like they are working toward that.

CNN Congressional Correspondent Andrea Koppel for us.

Andrea, thank you.

COLLINS: Information just coming into us here at CNN about Bangkok, Thailand, just as all of the events are happening in New York with world leaders. We take you to this country. You see where it's happening on that map there.

Apparently, we are hearing from our crew and Dan Rivers, to be specific, our CNN correspondent, that there are 10 tanks or so heading into central Bangkok. We understand these are possibly army tanks.

We want to get the very latest from what he is seeing there.

Dan, what can you tell us? DAN RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is coming from eyewitnesses we have just spoken to on the other side of town who say that they have seen tanks heading into the house (ph) of the government area, that they are part of the 1st division of the army, the Royal Guard, and that tanks are on the streets in Bangkok.

We have heard rumors for the last couple of hours that something was about to happen. It must be said, I had just driven through parts of town where I am. We've just come into the office here. There is nothing untoward that I have seen, but certainly on the other side of the town we've been told that a large area has been sealed off by the army, and it looks like there is the makings possibly of a coup here.

Now, the problem is, we don't know which way it is going, whether this is a coup in order to restore democracy after there has been a political stalemate here for the last few months with the controversial prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, and the opposition parties, whether this is an attempt to restore democracy or whether this is an attempt by the army to seize power. We're not quite sure.

COLLINS: Yes. And Dan, put this in perspective for us.

After that annulled election back in April, it's understandable, or at least understood, I believe, that there are still very many politically active soldiers in a place like Bangkok. People probably not wrong to feel a little paranoid?

RIVERS: Oh, no. I mean, Thailand has had its fair share of coups, it must be said. There have been a couple of dozen since the '30s here. I mean, they are almost fairly regular events. The last one I think was back in about 1989.

But, the army, you know, has been heavily politicized in Thailand over the past few decades. I mean, there have been numerous military dictators that have seized power from prime ministers here.

Thaksin was the first prime minister to serve his full term -- first term of office. What happened in April, as you mentioned, he called a snap election, a sort of back me or sack me election. That was mired in controversy with accusations of dirty tricks and rigging the election. And in the end they decided to hold another one, and that was supposed to happen next month, but it looks like now that the military or someone has gotten bored with waiting for democracy to be restored or for this election to happen, and they stepped in and it looks like they've tried to do something themselves.

COLLINS: And as we are also getting more information in about this situation Dan, it has come to our attention through wire reports that the Thai prime minister has apparently declared a state of emergency.

Also checking with our Richard Roth here at the United Nations about that.

Have you been able to check on that information at this point? RIVERS: No. I mean, the information is very confused here at the moment. The state TV broadcasters have interrupted normal programming. They're showing pictures of the Thai king.

We've just been told that there was a shot on one channel of the Thai prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, who's in -- in the U.N. in New York. And as soon as he came on to screen the channel went black.

So clearly normal programming here has been interrupted. Something is happening. We have confirmation there are tanks on the streets, but beyond that it's a pretty confused situation.

COLLINS: All right. So confirmation that there are tanks on the street. We are also getting some information that apparently there was a phone call made to the army asking what their intentions were, and the quote that was put in this wire report, anyway, said that -- we called the army for explanation and the answer was, "It was troops returning from up-country exercises."

That is what the army is saying. Then again, we just received word a moment ago from another wire report that the Thai prime minister has declared a state of emergency there.

We will continue to watch this story, continue to check our sources at the United Nations on this very, very busy day there in New York, and continue to check in with Dan Rivers on the situation in Bangkok, Thailand.

HARRIS: More action than we might have expected at the United Nations today. Let's take a look there now.

You are looking at U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan as the 61st General Assembly meeting is now under way. In fact, it's running a bit behind, we understand. The secretary-general was supposed to have wrapped up his remarks at about 11:15, clearing the stage for President Bush to begin his remarks at 11:30. So the president will be coming up shortly.

When he does, we will, of course, have those remarks for you live here in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: This information just now into CNN. We are getting a larger picture for you coming from Bangkok, Thailand. You see the map there.

We are hearing that tanks are rolling into the city in Thailand. We have a correspondent on the ground there who has been able to confirm that information for us.

Apparently, about 10 tanks, we believe to be army tanks. People there are very nervous. Shaky ground, if you will, about a possible coup attempt going on.

These tanks possibly of the Royal Guard. We're not sure, however, if they are trying to restore democracy after an annulled election back in April, or if this is an all-out coup attempt of that government.

We will continue to watch this story and find out what happens there.

HARRIS: And clearly the events in New York now taking on even more importance now with this breaking news, as you take a look at Secretary-General of the United Nations Kofi Annan speaking as the session -- the General Assembly session is under way right now, we are still standing by for President Bush's speech, scheduled at any moment now. For a bit of a preview of what to come, let's get to our CNN correspondent Suzanne Malveaux, who was traveling with the president, and joins us now from our New York bureau.

Suzanne, good morning.

SUSANNE MALVEAUX, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Tony. As you know, President Bush is going to be going before this crowd, and many people in this crowd do not really have a great deal of credibility or respect for this president.

That is because four years ago when he went before this group, he was saying that he was determined, the United States is determined, to take on Iraq, Saddam Hussein, with or without the United Nations' approval, and ended up without the United Nations' approval.

Since then, we have seen a much more humbler President Bush before this international group. It was just last year when he went before them, he thanked 100-plus leaders or so for offering aid for Hurricane Katrina that had happened just in the weeks prior to that. Well what we are going to hear today, however, is really the president kind of cloaking himself in this rhetoric of peace.

He going to be talking about the broader war on terror, and his so-called freedom agenda, the idea that the international community needs to play a role, must play a role in trying to help these fledgling democracies in Iraq, Lebanon the Palestinian Authority.

And of course, Tony, we are also going to hear, as well, President Bush really casting Iran in a negative light, saying that it is a sponsor of terror and that it is something the international community also needs to rally behind the United States and those six- party talks that need to get underway -- Tony.

HARRIS: Thank you Suzanne. That speech from the president coming up shortly. We will of course bring it to you live here in the NEWSROOM.

KOFI ANNAN, UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY GENERAL: ... provoked by policies they neither control nor support...

COLLINS: As we listen to Kofi Annan address the Security Council there in New York at the United Nations, we want to turn to our United Nations senior correspondent Richard Roth. He's going to give us a update quickly before we tune into the president, who will be addressing the Security Council.

About the situation, Richard, in Thailand. We are hearing reports that the prime minister there may be stepping down?

RICHARD ROTH, U.N. SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Well, here at the U.N. we don't know exactly what is happening in the streets of Thailand, where tanks have been on the move. There is a state of emergency that's been declared.

The prime minister, the significant leader of that southeast Asian nation, happens to be here at the General Assembly, and we don't know yet if he is indeed right now in the hall of the General Assembly, ready to listen to President Bush and listening now to Secretary General Annan.

However, we were told by someone at the Thai mission, in effect their embassy here at the United Nations, that their mission here is that the Thai leader, who was supposed to speak tomorrow night at the General Assembly, will now speak later this evening. He will be moved up on the schedule and then he will head back home, considering the developments going on there -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Richard, what is it that we expect that he could say? Do you have any indications that he may announce stepping down from his role?

ROTH: It is unlikely that we are going to hear that in this General Assembly speech, but we don't know. I mean, when a country is undergoing internal strife and fast-breaking developments, you would think that normally that it would be discussed -- and we are now seeing the Thailand table inside of the General Assembly.

You do not see the head of the state there, of the of the government, present, which indicates something is wrong where normally a leader, a head of a country, might be there to listen to Secretary General Annan.

So it is not definite that he would suddenly say he was going the step down while he is addressing the rest of the world, the leaders of the world. He would probably keep that off of the world's stage until he gets a handle on what is happening back home.

COLLINS: Yes, and my mistake, I said Security Council, obviously we were talking about addressing the General Assembly. So he could speak there tonight.

As we update the situation there in Bangkok, Thailand, we are getting word from Dan Rivers, our correspondent on the ground, that there are tanks in the street. Eyewitnesses are seeing them roll into Bangkok, not sure what their intent is or the motivation for that. People there, shaken since the last coup attempt 15 years ago, or coup I should say, full out coup 15 years ago.

COLLINS: Quite a bit of unrest in that part of the country. Richard, what could happen? What would be the picture if indeed the Thai prime minister did step down? ROTH: Well, I can't claim to be a expert on the hierarchy right now of the Thai government, especially if you are talking about any type of coup or fast-breaking developments involving state radio, which we understand, or state television, being knocked off the air.

This is obviously a very fluid situation, as they say. And you have to watch for indications on who is going to say they may be in charge or not in charge. And sometimes, as you have with coups like we had a couple of years ago, there was a report that president Chavez of Venezuela was suddenly going to be out of power and then within a matter of days, he was suddenly back in power.

There can be influential pressure brought to bear by neighboring countries of Thailand, and the United States and other nations, which will always be looking for stability, especially China. So we really -- certainly the worst thing to do is to predict now what is going to happen in Thailand.

It is a very unique situation though, and an uncomfortable situation for the leader of a country to find himself with his colleagues, presidents, prime ministers and kings here at the General Assembly, and maybe on that same day find himself out of power. Though it's a little early to predict what will happen.

COLLINS: Wow. It is absolutely remarkable that that is the case.

Richard Roth, thank you for bringing us that picture directly from United Nations in New York. Thanks, Richard.

HARRIS: And we just a want to get you a quick update on one of the other big stories we are following here at CNN. Federal inspectors are heading out into California's spinach fields. They are trying to pinpoint the source of a deadly e. coli outbreak that's forced bags of fresh spinach to be pulled from the store shelves.

The number of e. coli cases jumped yesterday to 114 in 21 states. One death confirmed and one is still being investigated for a link. For now spinach lovers are warned not the eat the green fresh.

To get your daily dose of health news online, you can log on to our website. You will find the latest medical news and a library and information on diet and fitness. The address is CNN.com/health.

COLLINS: And back to the big event of the day. We see Kofi Annan there. We are awaiting President Bush's speech at the United Nations. He will be addressing the General Assembly there. And, a little bit late, we were expecting this to happen at 11:30, we are beyond that. Of course we will be watching it as he talks to world leaders about the freedom agenda.

Back here at CNN in a just moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Right back to Kofi Annan and the United Nations in New York, waiting for President Bush to come forward and address the General Assembly about his freedom agenda.

And he will be challenging world leaders for 15 minutes or so to stand up for peace in the face of violent extremism. That will be sort of the theme of his speech, we believe. We will get to it just as soon as it happens.

HARRIS: And this just in to CNN. Let me read this to you, just came across our CNN wire system a moment ago. A camera, it seems, in the space shuttle Atlantis' payload bay captured an image of an identified piece of debris floating by the spacecraft. Always a source of concern. Now, the source of the debris and the size not immediately known, but NASA engineers and image analysts are analyzing the images that they have so far. NASA is scheduled, we should tell you, to hold a briefing at noon, a regularly scheduled briefing, and we will get more information at that time.

As you know, the shuttle is due home tomorrow about 6:00 a.m. or so Eastern time tomorrow morning, completing its mission and its work at the International Space Station.

And once again, a piece of debris -- not sure of the size, the source of it, has been captured floating in front of the Space Shuttle Atlantis. That image picked up by the Shuttle Atlantis' payload bay window. So a camera there. So we will get more information on this, some specifics as to what this might mean, in a news press conference from NASA, and we will update this story as soon as we get that information.

COLLINS: This story, also, breaking news in Bangkok, Thailand and CNN has confirmed there are tanks heading for central Bangkok. Those reasons are unclear right now, but there is a possibility of a coup attempt there. We are learning as we go here, but we definitely have confirmation from our correspondent on the ground there.

Eyewitnesses telling our crews that there are tanks on the ground, people very concerned about it, some would say paranoid. But after the situation of the annulled election in April, it is possible that there is a coup going on there.

We're learning a little more about the Thai prime minister who is considering, possibly considering, stepping down. He is in New York, as we learned from our Richard Roth, our man at the United Nations, for the General Assembly there, but not seated at the Thai table, if you will.

We are also learning that the White House is aware of the breaking news about that political situation, and is seeking additional information. We'll bring it to you as we get it. State of emergency declared there by the prime minister, as well.

HARRIS: Take that live picture, that live look at the U.N. The 61st General Assembly meeting is under way right now. The U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has cleared the stage, making way for President Bush to offer up his remarks, his 15-minute speech in which the president is expected to push his freedom agenda. We will have that speech for you as soon as it begins right here. You're in the NEWSROOM. You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

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COLLINS: We are awaiting President Bush to address the General Assembly. Going to be talking about his freedom agenda today and bringing up issues with Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, all of the Middle East countries. And trying to bolster world support for supporting weak democracies and promoting democracy.

HARRIS: And let's get you an update on the breaking news that just crossed just a couple of minutes ago. A camera in the Space Shuttle Atlantis' payload bay apparently captured a piece of an unidentified piece of debris floating by the spacecraft.

Let's see if we can get clarification on this. Our Daniel Sieberg is on the line with us. Daniel, what do you make of this?

DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: Tony, well, the details right now are still fairly sparse. It does qualify as an unidentified flying object at this point. But we've been talking to NASA, trying to get some more information.

Here's what we know. A camera on the payload doors of the payload bay area of the shuttle spotted this piece of debris. Now, they don't know if it came off of the shuttle. They don't know if it was something out there, some sort of space junk out there near this the path of the shuttle. We just know that it was about 2:45 a.m. Eastern time that some flight controllers on the ground spotted this. They had -- they subsequently let the crew know, the Atlantis crew know about it.

As you may know, the shuttle was or is scheduled to land tomorrow morning, Wednesday morning, at 5:57 in the morning, Eastern time. We've been talking with NASA and they are at this point seriously considering (INAUDIBLE) off that landing tomorrow. Part of the reason is, of course, to look at this imagery, try to determine the size of the object. They still don't know exactly how big it is, whether it actually kind of hit the shuttle at any point or not.

The weather here at Kennedy Space Center was forecast to be not that great. Some cross winds and possible thundershowers in the area at that time. So it will give them another day in the air to analyze this and go over it. They would have until Saturday morning with all of the supplies on board to keep making some orbits and possibly consider a later landing time.

HARRIS: Gotcha. Hey, Daniel, just back to the debris issue for just a moment. What are the options in determining -- I mean, you would clearly want to know whether or not this was debris that came off of the orbiter -- so what are the options in terms of determining where this piece of debris might have come from, and if it might have hit the orbiter if it's a piece of junk?

SIEBERG: Well, the primary thing they're going to do, of course, is go back and look at this imagery, try to determine what it is. Once they've done that, if they can see that it's something that possibly came the shuttle, you know, they might be able to use the actual arm, the robotic arm, of the shuttle, and look somewhere along the edges of the shuttle itself, see if there's a place where it came off. And we don't know if it came off of the shuttle at all.

But they have some options in terms of scanning and possibly seeing where it came off. If it's extremely serious, then they may have to look even closer and spend some more time up there looking at this imagery. We should know more at noon. There is a planned NASA briefing at the Johnson Space Center. So we'll hopefully know more then.

HARRIS: OK, and Daniel, just to sort of double check our information here. NASA -- the wire we just received says NASA will delay the shuttle landing until Thursday. And not only is this debris an issue, it seems that the weather may be an issue as well in Florida. Is that your information?

SIEBERG: Yes, if that's the case, we've been hearing that as well. The weather forecast is supposed to improve slightly at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Thursday and Friday. They could also open up the possibility of landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California. The weather there is generally pretty good, it just means that they would have to transfer the shuttle back across the country, which is fairly costly, so that's something they try to avoid.

But yes, if they indeed are going to delay it, that would be partly because of the weather and, of course, to look at this imagery more closely.

HARRIS: OK, Daniel Sieberg with us. Daniel, appreciate it. Thanks for the update.

COLLINS: I want to quickly take you back to the situation -- I believe we are going to be talking about Thailand here. We want to show that map once again. Bangkok, Thailand. There are rumors of a possible coup attempt coming to us from our correspondent on the ground there, Dan Rivers. We are hearing from witnesses in the street that there are tanks rolling in for government buildings. Not really sure, however, of the reason for all of that.

But certainly, some political background here to give you. The current prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, is under heavy, heavy pressure to step down amid all kinds of allegations of corruption and abuses of power after the April election there was basically annulled. He is expected to win this upcoming election in November, but now possibly, possibly considering stepping down.

You see pictures of him there.

We want to also show you there what is being aired. I believe we have the ability to show you the state television in Thailand, which we are getting some images now. Not sure what this is, but it is certainly not regular programming. We have learned early on, or I believed we learned early on that the state TV had sort of been knocked off of the air. They in black, as we say, and now this is what they have up and running. Not quite sure exactly what we're seeing here. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra currently at the U.N. headquarters in New York.

We've been covering this story all day long as we still wait for President Bush to address the general assembly. The prime minister of Thailand is also there, has declared a state of emergency back in his homeland, and we continue to watch this fascinating story as it happens while he is out of the country.

HARRIS: It's just amazing, just amazing that this is happening right now while the prime minister is in New York at attending the 61st meeting of the General Assembly. We're waiting of course for the president. Live pictures now from New York from inside the United Nations. The is to give his remarks any moment now. When that happens, we will of course bring that to you live in the NEWSROOM. You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

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COLLINS: I want to take you back to Thailand now. We've been covering this story as it breaks. In Bangkok tanks are rolling into that city. A possible coup attempt going on there. We have witnesses on the ground telling our crew there that those tanks are rolling toward government buildings, but no one seems to know exactly why that's happening. As I mentioned, there are rumors of a coup attempt. The Thai prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, is in New York, at the U.N. General Assembly, attending those meetings that we are also covering here today. We want to take you straight to CNN's Dan Rivers on the very latest on the situation there -- Dan.

DAN RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we've just passed an armored personnel carrier on the streets with about a dozen troops in it. There are people stacked around, civilians standing around, watching what's going on. So I have now seen with my own eyes one big armored personnel carrier on the streets (INAUDIBLE) troops were just heading into the sort of center of government here. So we'll be able to give you more of an idea of the scene.

But definitely now, we've seen soldiers on the streets of Bangkok.

COLLINS: As we talk about this, Dan, we realize that the Thai prime minister has declared a state of emergency while he is in New York for the region back in Bangkok, Thailand. What else can you tell us about what you are seeing around you? Is there a sense of urgency? Are people panicked? Are there people in the streets at all?

RIVERS: Yes, there are people in the streets, and a lot of people look like they're talking on their phones.

I wouldn't say that there is a -- well, I have just come up to a roadblock now, and I can see another tank whole phalanx of armored personnel, Humvees. I'm not an expert on the tanks, but big, heavy military vehicles parked in middle of the road, stopping traffic, and we're trying to get into the center of the city. So though it seems like they've thrown what looks like a roadblock, and possibly some sort of (INAUDIBLE), and they're trying to establish (INAUDIBLE) that's in the center of town. It's fairly difficult to say at the moment.

COLLINS: All right. We're having just a little bit of trouble hearing you, but what I understood you just say, is that you are definitely seeing with your own eyes tanks in the streets and moving toward central Bangkok. If you have an opportunity, Dan, to give us a little bit of background on this, to set it up for the people at home. The prime minister did win the last two elections there by landslide victories back in 2001, 2005. He's expected to win again in November, but now there is now a possibility of him stepping down due to the pressure put on him involving allegations of corruption and abuse of power.

RIVERS: Yes, that's right. I mean, he's been under pressure for really for almost all of this year by the opposition parties who have been accusing him of everything from corruption to nepotism to rigging the last election in April. All of which he vehemently denies. It must be said his Tairak Thai (ph) party is very popular, especially in the rural areas, a very populous party. Tairak Thai means "Thais loves Thais," and it's geared up to really tap into the rural poor in Thailand, and he certainly launched a lot of policies, including loans and things, to try and help poor farmers.

But he is fairly unpopular, I would say, with the middle class in Bangkok, or some of the middle classes anyway, and has been clinging onto power for much of this year. The election in April was declared null and void, because of allegations that he tried to rig it. And so the electoral commission was stacked. The king in fact intervened at one point, and a new election was scheduled for next month, possibly November. And now obviously it looks like it's being called into question.

COLLINS: Yes, certainly. And as we get a shot in New York at the Thai flag there waving in the breeze, it's important to, I think, point out, Dan, that he is a billionaire, and some of these allegations talk a little bit about bending these government policies of his country to benefit his own family's business.

RIVERS: Absolutely, yes. I mean, he owns, or did own, Shin Corps (ph), which is a big telecom corporation. I just want to tell you we're just driving past two tanks now, which are parked at an intersection coming up to the -- where are we? -- near the royal palace, I think, coming in toward the very heart of Bangkok.

Yes, (INAUDIBLE) had a big telecom company, Shin Corps, which he sold to the Singaporeans. He didn't pay tax on that deal, and he was accused of bending the rules in his favor.

And also there was is a lot of consternation about him selling such an important company to a regional neighbor and accusations of him being unpatriotic and so on. All of which, it must be said, he denied and put a very cogent argument that he hadn't (INAUDIBLE), and it was simply, you know, but that is the way that international business is done nowadays. But it certainly generated huge anger and resentment among not only the opponents, but many of the middle classes. You had, of course, the poor (ph) and the rural poor as well. And there were tens of thousands of people out in the streets earlier this year building up pressure, and we felt there was going to be a coup then. Thankfully he called an election and that diffused the process.

It must be said, tomorrow those same protesters were due to be back on the streets again tomorrow to continue their protest, to resume their protests (INAUDIBLE). And I had attended one of those rallies in the past. You know, huge numbers of people waving flags, and speeches, and so on. They were due back out tomorrow.

So what will happens if those tens of thousands of pro-democracy people come back on to the streets tomorrow, will be very interesting. There has been very violent, very bloody clashes in the past between the army and pro-democracy demonstrators and, of course, (INAUDIBLE) that the same thing won't happen this time.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Dan Rivers, thanks so much for giving us the picture as you see it.

We are looking at brand new video coming in to us at this very moment from Bangkok. It is dark there, as you see. A little bit tough to figure out what we're looking at, but we are looking at, as best we can tell, are tanks and soldiers who have now surrounded the government headquarters there in Bangkok, ordering police to lay down their arms.

The prime minister, who is in New York at the U.N., has ordered a "severe state of emergency," trying to figure out exactly what is taking place in his homeland while he is away. Certainly, there are rumors of a coup going on while he is away. And we've been hearing from our Dan Rivers what he is seeing in with his own eyes, which is this: tanks everywhere and soldiers beginning to surround the government headquarters.

We will continue to watch the situation in Bangkok for you as we look at the video here, and await the president, who will address the United Nations General Assembly at any moment.

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