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CNN Connie Chung Tonight
Bush Addresses Nation
Aired October 07, 2002 - 20:00 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.
CONNIE CHUNG, HOST: Good evening. In just a few minutes, just after 8:01 p.m. Eastern time, President Bush is scheduled to address the nation and to address questions about the urgency he's placed on confronting Iraq and its dictator, Saddam Hussein.
Coming on the first anniversary of the start of the U.S. liberation of Afghanistan, tonight's speech is targeted at the U.N. and members of Congress, all of whom are debating President Bush's claims about Iraq and what must be done about Iraq.
After the speech, which the president is delivering in Cincinnati, Ohio, we'll talk to members of Congress and gauge international reaction.
As for the American public, a new CNN-"USA Today" Gallup poll has mixed news for the president. Seventy-four percent of those polled said they will support the U.S. invasion if Mr. Bush decides to invade. However, when asked who should actually have the authority to make that decision, more of those polled, 54 percent, said Congress than President Bush.
We have CNN senior political analyst Bill Schneider with us from Washington. Bill, was there any bad news for the president in the polls today?
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, the bad news is that while most Americans say they would support the president once he decided to go into Iraq, the question was asked, do you support him right now? Now, for the last month, the president has been staging a full court press to convince the public that we're right to go into Iraq. In early September, as you can see on the screen, 57 percent favored going into Iraq. Now the number is 53 percent. It's still a majority, but look what's happened.
In the past month, the White House has been losing ground, not gaining ground. That's why the president is making this speech tonight.
CHUNG: All right. Bill Schneider, thank you.
Now, the president is about to begin, so we are going to go now to my CNN colleague, Aaron Brown, who will then introduce the president's speech.
(INTERRUPTED FOR CNN SPECIAL) CHUNG: We'll pick up our analysis of tonight's speech in just a moment. But focusing on two of President Bush's intended audiences, the members of Congress, whose support Mr. Bush is courting, and the international community, which will determine the U.N. reaction.
But first, we want to get a quick update on a very disturbing story that's been developing all day. The manhunt around Washington, D.C., took on new urgency today as the sniper stalking that area struck his youngest target yet while hunting for prey outside a school.
CNN national correspondent Bob Franken is in Bowie, Maryland.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Another suburban Maryland county, but a frighteningly similar story. This time, a 13- year-old student at a Prince George's County middle school was hit in the chest and abdomen by a single shot from an apparent sniper as he walked inside just after 8:00 in the morning.
Unlike the six who have been killed in adjacent Montgomery County and the District of Columbia, this victim survived, like the woman shot Friday in Virginia.
It took a day-long investigation before officials had their dramatic announcement -- the shootings were connected.
CHIEF GERALD WILSON, PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY POLICE: The projectile that was recovered from our victim this morning has been linked to the other cases in the Washington metropolitan area.
FRANKEN: The 13-year-old was medevaced to Washington Children's Hospital in critical condition, where doctors recovered remnants of the bullet during surgery for investigators to conduct their forensic tests.
DR. MARTIN EICHELBERGER, D.C. CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL: In general, we don't do that, but because of the situation that we're confronted with in this community today, we did make a special effort to at least find a portion of the missile.
FRANKEN: Investigators flooded the area. Specially trained dogs were brought in to sniff for gunshot residue. Police recruits were assigned to scour for evidence. The middle school itself had been empty during the morning as parents rushed to pick up their children.
ANDREW KIM, STUDENT: I saw a lot of police officers. And they -- all the teachers told us to run into the building. And teachers were closing up the windows and -- because they told us to stay away from the windows just in case it happened again. And a lot of kids were crying.
FRANKEN: Other schools in the country stayed open under a so- called Code Blue, in which students were locked inside until they were released under heavy security at the end of the day. And police who have been investigating these shootings since last Thursday say they've reached a new low.
CHIEF CHARLES MOOSE, MONTGOMERY COUNTY POLICE: Now, all of our victims have been innocent, have been defenseless. But now we're stepping over the line, because our children don't deserve this. So parents, please, do your job tonight, engage your children, be there for them. We're going to need it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FRANKEN: Officials say they plan to reopen the school systems tomorrow, contending that the students are at least as safe in class as anywhere else, Connie.
CHUNG: Bob, tell us, how is that 13-year-old boy? Still in critical condition?
FRANKEN: Still in critical condition, still stable condition. Something that hasn't changed. Doctors said this afternoon that be eight hours from then, probably, till about 10:00 tonight, will be vital.
CHUNG: All right. President Bush said that this was a senseless act. He also said cowardly. He also asked for some federal assistance. Can you tell us about that?
FRANKEN: Well, the president made his announcement that the federal government was providing assistance, which we've already known. But tonight the chiefs of all the different police jurisdictions in this area, D.C. Prince George's County, Montgomery County, formally asked under the Serial Killers Act, it's a federal law, asked the attorney general to provide enhanced protection.
And the federal government has made it very clear it will do whatever it can to help.
CHUNG: All right. Thank you, Bob Franken.
And now the president's speech.
One of the people Mr. Bush wanted to win over was California Congressman Mike Thompson. The House will debate this week how much support, how much leeway to give the president in confronting Iraq. Congressman Thompson is one of three Democratic representatives who just returned from Iraq. We also have Republican Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama with us, and they join us from Washington.
Thank you, gentlemen, for being with us.
REP. MIKE THOMPSON (D), CALIFORNIA: My pleasure.
SEN. JEFF SESSIONS (R), ALABAMA: Thank you.
CHUNG: Congressman, we'll start with you. You obviously are opposed to the House resolution that would support an invasion of Iraq. Did you hear anything tonight that would cause you to change your mind?
THOMPSON: Well, Connie, this is the most important vote that I'm ever going to cast, and possibly the most important vote that's ever been cast in Congress. Not only are we going to set up a situation where American soldiers are going to go to war and possibly die, but we're also establishing an international precedent where we're going to use first-strike capabilities, preemptive first strike, in a situation where there appears to be no immediate danger to people here in the United States or to our allies.
CHUNG: Well, let's listen to something that President Bush said tonight, and you tell me if this doesn't provide you with the evidence that you want. Let's play a clip of it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Some al Qaeda leaders who fled Afghanistan went to Iraq. These include one very senior al Qaeda leader who received medical treatment in Baghdad this year and who has been associated with planning for chemical and biological attacks.
We've learned that Iraq has trained al Qaeda members in bomb- making, in poisons and deadly gases. And we know that after September 11, Saddam Hussein's regime gleefully celebrated the terrorist attacks on America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHUNG: Congressman, doesn't that tell you that an invasion of Iraq is justified?
THOMPSON: Connie, we haven't seen any proof that any of this has happened. I have sat through all the classified briefings...
CHUNG: You mean you don't believe...
THOMPSON: ... on the Armed Services...
CHUNG: ... what President Bush just said? With all due respect...
THOMPSON: No, no, that's not...
CHUNG: ... you know...
THOMPSON: ... what I said.
CHUNG: I mean, what...
THOMPSON: That's not what I said. I said that there are -- there has been nothing in the committee hearing briefings that have substantiated this. If there is substantiation, we need to see that in Congress, not hear it over the television monitor.
No one is suggesting that Saddam Hussein is a good person, but we need to go in on a multilateral effort with our allies. We need to go in at -- we need to first make sure that we get the inspectors in there and get the arms out of that country, away from him.
And we need to work collectively with our allies through the Security Council.
CHUNG: Senator Sessions, Iraq is now saying that it will allow inspectors to inspect those presidential palaces. Would that be good enough? If all of those requirements are met, doesn't that mean that no invasion is necessary?
SESSIONS: Well, I think the president has left that possibility open. I think he said clearly, if there is a renunciation of weapons of mass destruction, a turning over of those weapons, a allowing the country to be thoroughly searched in all areas, that could avoid war.
The problem is, Saddam Hussein has not done that before. He's cheated and lied and manipulated before. He's proven himself to be utterly untrustworthy. So we got a difficult time here in deciding how we can proceed. But he has left the option open for a total renunciation of weapons of mass destruction could avoid a conflict.
CHUNG: Senator, there are other countries that are developing weapons of mass destruction. Why Iraq, and why Iraq now?
SESSIONS: Iraq has used those weapons against his own people. The apologists for Iraq seem to forget that they killed 5,000 of their own people. They attacked Iran, and 1 million people died in that war. They attacked Kuwait, and we had to have an international effort to remove them.
And we are still in essentially a state of war with Iraq. As the president noted, they fired at our airplanes 750 times. This is going on on a daily basis. They violated the U.N. resolutions that saved Saudi -- Saddam Hussein regime when the Gulf War ended. We were on the road to Iraq when he agreed to these restrictions, and he's failed to follow them.
So I think the president is right to confront this matter, be straight right up with the American people, and with the U.N., and with the world, and with Saddam Hussein. We cannot continue this way.
CHUNG: Congressman Thompson, there are those who believe that you and your two colleagues who went to Iraq came back with the basic position of President Bush may be trying to tell you something that in his effort to get approval for an invasion in Iraq, that you shouldn't believe. So it sounds almost as if you're asking the American public, Believe Saddam Hussein, don't believe President Bush.
THOMPSON: Absolutely not, Connie. Saddam Hussein is a bad guy. We need to make sure that we are able to get the arms away from him.
But I just do not believe, unless there's an immediate threat to Americans, that we need to do a preemptive first strike. It would set back 200 years of constitutional democracy in this country. We need to take action, but we need to do it with the United Nations, with the Security Council, and we need to first use -- go through all the diplomatic options available before we go to war.
CHUNG: Don't you think that the United States is doing that, though?
THOMPSON: We should be doing that, and we should continue to do it. And until there's all the options are used, we should not send our American soldiers into a war zone where all the generals have told us repeatedly we're going to see warfare that we haven't seen since World War II, urban warfare in Baghdad, and we're sure to sustain a lot of casualties. And I want to avoid that if we possibly can.
CHUNG: Senator Sessions, a CNN poll shows that 49 percent of the American public do not believe that all the diplomatic avenues have been exhausted and fear that they would not be exhausted.
SESSIONS: Well, I think the president has said again that he is working diplomatically in every way possible. He's had world leaders to his ranch in Texas, to Washington, Colin Powell has been all over the world meeting with world leaders. He's talking to them by the phone. He's doing everything possible to build and is succeeding, really, in gaining support in the Middle East with quite a number of countries that are cooperating with us.
And I think he's making progress throughout the world stage. But we ought not to allow our policy to be totally blackballed by a single vote in the U.N., on the Security Council, whether Russia or France or China. If just one of those countries says no and vetoes a resolution, we do not have U.N. support.
So the president cannot...
CHUNG: Well, we're going to get a pulse beat now of Russia and France, so I'll interrupt you so that we can move on to our international correspondents.
Thank you, Senator Sessions, thank you, congressman.
SESSIONS: Thank you.
CHUNG: We appreciate both of your being with us.
THOMPSON: Thank you very much.
CHUNG: Now, what is the reaction from Iraq and overseas in countries that could make up part of a coalition against Iraq? Joining us now from Iraq, Baghdad bureau chief Jane Arraf. And we also have senior European political correspondent Robin Oakley in London and Jim Bittermann in Paris.
Starting with Jane, I know it's in the middle of the night there, but has there been any official reaction from Iraq?
JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Hello, Connie.
Reaction, official reaction, takes a long time to filter down because of course it filters down from the top, from the palace. Iraqi officials just don't react unless they get the word exactly what they're supposed to say.
Now, there's likely to be quite a bit of reaction among the Iraqi people when they wake up in a few hours. They're not going to hear about the speech from their own media, but a lot of them do tune in to foreign radios, and they will be heartened by that reference of President Bush to war not being imminent or inevitable.
They will, however, cast some doubt on his reference that America is a friend to the Iraqi people. That's something that they have not seen in the past 11 years. And it's really hard to overemphasize the very deep distrust that most Iraqis have of U.S. intentions, Connie.
CHUNG: Jane, have the members of the public prepared or provided any precautions in the event of a war?
ARRAF: They have, in a sense, as far as they can. A lot of people are stocking up on water, they're stocking up on food if they can, although part of the tragedy of this country is that a lot of people don't have money to buy more than the food they need for the next week or so. The government is encouraging them to take precautions. It distributes rations to every Iraqi citizen, and has since the Gulf War.
And it's now extending those rations for three months instead of the usual month. It is preparing its people for the possibility of war.
But having said that, this is a country that has been through a lot. It's faced a lot. And people here have come to the realization that there's really not very much they can do. Now, there's a real feeling of tension here, because although the threat is looming over them, they're not sure when it's going to happen or what's going to happen.
In fact, some Iraqis are saying if there is going to be war, they just wish it would come. They really feel like there's not much they can do about it except sit and wait, Connie.
CHUNG: Jane, is there any sense that Saddam will be overthrown internally?
ARRAF: Very, very little. That's been the key question over these last few months, and indeed, the key question over the past 10 years. Part of the reason he is still in power after all of this is, he has a very effective system of control.
Now, President Bush was warning Iraqi generals and other military officers that they could face war crime charges if they follow the orders of the Iraqi president. Now, faced with either the threat of execution or the threat of a war crimes tribunal, that threat is not likely to make much impact here.
The bottom line is that the Iraqi president trusts very few people, has a very strict system of security and control, and is very unlikely to allow anyone to get close enough to him to topple him, Connie. CHUNG: Thank you, Jane Arraf.
And now on to Robin Oakley. Robin, tell us, we know that Tony Blair is in lockstep with President Bush. What about the British public?
ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN SENIOR EUROPEAN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: The British public are essentially concerned, Connie, with whether there is United Nations backing for any action. Sixty to 70 percent of the British public will back action that is fully authorized by the United Nations, but only 20 or 30 percent are willing to back action if it becomes a case of the U.K. and the U.S. going it alone, Connie.
CHUNG: And Robin, I know that Russia is critical and France is as well. There is some feeling that as Russia goes, so will France.
OAKLEY: Well, there remain worries right across the continent, I think, about any kind of unilateral action. Russia is a key to the -- whatever happens in the Security Council, and if George Bush can persuade the Russians to go along with any actions, then you can bet that he will have persuaded others to go along too.
I think a lot of European leaders will have taken comfort from the tone of George Bush's speech on this occasion. They will have taken comfort from the fact that he's talking about war not being inevitable, as Jane Arraf was saying from Baghdad. I think that was important to the Europeans, who had seen him up until now as somewhat trigger-happy.
That really -- they will take comfort from that. But I think they still feel that George Bush has to make the case in greater detail. He's rather swept aside those questions of whether greater instability would be created in the Middle East and really, particularly with Tony Blair, who's been pushing for a Middle East peace conference, I think the European leaders who live much closer to events in the Middle East than those in the White House would have liked more said about the wider Middle East questions in this speech, Connie.
CHUNG: Robin Oakley, thank you.
On to Jim Bittermann in Paris. Jim, I know it's the middle of the night, but any reaction from the French government?
JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Connie, at this hour, no clear heads for any official reaction or unofficial reaction. It's just about 3:00 in the morning here.
I'd just say there are a couple things about the speech that struck me, knowing what I do about what the President Chirac has said about the French position. Basically, he laid this out in an interview about three days before George Bush laid out the U.S. position at the United Nations. And it stayed consistent ever since.
There are two red lines as far as the French are concerned. One is the question of regime change. They say absolutely that is against all international law. And George Bush came close to stepping over that red line. He said it was the only sure way that, in fact, one could be certain that weapons of mass destruction were going to be destroyed once and for all.
And the other red line is the idea of linking -- having a certain link for military action with the weapons inspection procedure. The French believe there should be a two-stage process, that the weapons inspectors should go into Iraq, should have a chance to do their job, and then, if they can't do their job, another decision should be taken that they can't do their job by the Security Council and then military action.
At that point, the French have said they will be happy to take part in military -- clearly not happy to take part, but they would take part in military action if the United Nations sanctions it.
But they want to see this two-step approach, because there are these conditions, perhaps, there could be an honest disagreement about what compliance with weapons inspection would mean. And I think we heard George Bush lay on a new criteria tonight when he said that families and members of the government should be allowed to leave the country, leave Iraq to be interviewed.
Now, I don't think I have heard that before, and I'm sure that is one that is going to be very difficult for the Iraqis to comply with, Connie.
CHUNG: All right, Jim Bittermann, thank you. Jane Arraf and Robin Oakley, we appreciate all of your input.
And when we come back, a little perspective on what lies ahead. Don't go away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHUNG: We're going to bring back our senior political analyst now to give us a broader view of the president's speech, Bill Schneider.
Bill, the president talked about not having a smoking gun. How do you analyze what he was trying -- the message he was trying to get across?
SCHNEIDER: What the president is trying to do is get America to speak with one voice to the rest of the world, to show the world that the United States is united. Towards that end, he has to answer the Democratic critics like Congressman Thompson, whom we just heard from, who said preemptive first strikes are not in the American tradition.
What the president said was, we can't wait for a smoking gun, which could come in the form of a mushroom cloud. He even quoted former President John F. Kennedy during the Cuban missile crisis, who said, We no longer live in a world where only the actual firing of weapons constitutes a sufficient challenge. He associated himself with JFK and, remarkably, with Bill Clinton. He said, Two presidents, I and my predecessor, Bill Clinton, were both for regime change. That was his way of trying to marshal support from Democrats to get a virtually unanimous vote, or as close to it as is possible, from Congress.
CHUNG: And Bill, we just heard our Baghdad correspondent say that there is no talk of toppling Saddam within Iraq. I mean, that's just not a possibility. And yet we heard Ari Fleischer talk about it and suggest it. And tonight President Bush did as well.
SCHNEIDER: That was a remarkable part of his speech, in which the president said, quote, "If Saddam Hussein orders cruel and desperate measures, his generals would be well advised to refuse such orders." What he's saying is that -- he's calling for a coup within Iraq.
The generals are very unlikely to do that unless the allied forces are at the gates of Baghdad and they realize that if they don't overthrow Saddam Hussein, they'll have to pay a price from the United States and the allies who are going to win the war.
So he's advising those generals, If you know what's good for you, you'll turn against Saddam Hussein and you'll get him out of power yourselves. That's a remarkable charge, but he's calling for a coup d'etat. My only question is, how can we be sure that the generals are going to hear what the president said tonight? Iraq is a very heavily censored country.
CHUNG: Exactly. And the likelihood is that it wouldn't.
Any final thoughts in 15 seconds?
SCHNEIDER: I think what -- this is the reverse of the Gulf War. In the Gulf War, the U.N. voted quickly. It was a big struggle get a vote of Congress. This time, you're going to get an easy vote of Congress. The tough vote is going to get other countries and the U.N. to support us.
CHUNG: All right. Thank you so much, Bill Schneider. Always a pleasure to have you with us.
SCHNEIDER: Sure, Connie.
CHUNG: CNN's coverage of the president's speech on Iraq continues with "LARRY KING LIVE" next. Larry's guests include Senators John McCain, Robert Byrd, Dianne Feinstein, John Warner, and John Kyl, plus Representatives Chris Shays and Jane Harmon and former senator George Mitchell.
At 10:00 Eastern time, Aaron Brown will be back with full political analysis on "NEWSNIGHT" with John King and Suzanne Malveaux.
Tomorrow on this program, we'll have an exclusive interview, the man Saddam Hussein sends to deal with the world, Iraq's ambassador to the United Nations.
Thank you so much for joining us. "LARRY KING LIVE" is next. We thank you for being here. And we'll see you tomorrow night.
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Aired October 7, 2002 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CONNIE CHUNG, HOST: Good evening. In just a few minutes, just after 8:01 p.m. Eastern time, President Bush is scheduled to address the nation and to address questions about the urgency he's placed on confronting Iraq and its dictator, Saddam Hussein.
Coming on the first anniversary of the start of the U.S. liberation of Afghanistan, tonight's speech is targeted at the U.N. and members of Congress, all of whom are debating President Bush's claims about Iraq and what must be done about Iraq.
After the speech, which the president is delivering in Cincinnati, Ohio, we'll talk to members of Congress and gauge international reaction.
As for the American public, a new CNN-"USA Today" Gallup poll has mixed news for the president. Seventy-four percent of those polled said they will support the U.S. invasion if Mr. Bush decides to invade. However, when asked who should actually have the authority to make that decision, more of those polled, 54 percent, said Congress than President Bush.
We have CNN senior political analyst Bill Schneider with us from Washington. Bill, was there any bad news for the president in the polls today?
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, the bad news is that while most Americans say they would support the president once he decided to go into Iraq, the question was asked, do you support him right now? Now, for the last month, the president has been staging a full court press to convince the public that we're right to go into Iraq. In early September, as you can see on the screen, 57 percent favored going into Iraq. Now the number is 53 percent. It's still a majority, but look what's happened.
In the past month, the White House has been losing ground, not gaining ground. That's why the president is making this speech tonight.
CHUNG: All right. Bill Schneider, thank you.
Now, the president is about to begin, so we are going to go now to my CNN colleague, Aaron Brown, who will then introduce the president's speech.
(INTERRUPTED FOR CNN SPECIAL) CHUNG: We'll pick up our analysis of tonight's speech in just a moment. But focusing on two of President Bush's intended audiences, the members of Congress, whose support Mr. Bush is courting, and the international community, which will determine the U.N. reaction.
But first, we want to get a quick update on a very disturbing story that's been developing all day. The manhunt around Washington, D.C., took on new urgency today as the sniper stalking that area struck his youngest target yet while hunting for prey outside a school.
CNN national correspondent Bob Franken is in Bowie, Maryland.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Another suburban Maryland county, but a frighteningly similar story. This time, a 13- year-old student at a Prince George's County middle school was hit in the chest and abdomen by a single shot from an apparent sniper as he walked inside just after 8:00 in the morning.
Unlike the six who have been killed in adjacent Montgomery County and the District of Columbia, this victim survived, like the woman shot Friday in Virginia.
It took a day-long investigation before officials had their dramatic announcement -- the shootings were connected.
CHIEF GERALD WILSON, PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY POLICE: The projectile that was recovered from our victim this morning has been linked to the other cases in the Washington metropolitan area.
FRANKEN: The 13-year-old was medevaced to Washington Children's Hospital in critical condition, where doctors recovered remnants of the bullet during surgery for investigators to conduct their forensic tests.
DR. MARTIN EICHELBERGER, D.C. CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL: In general, we don't do that, but because of the situation that we're confronted with in this community today, we did make a special effort to at least find a portion of the missile.
FRANKEN: Investigators flooded the area. Specially trained dogs were brought in to sniff for gunshot residue. Police recruits were assigned to scour for evidence. The middle school itself had been empty during the morning as parents rushed to pick up their children.
ANDREW KIM, STUDENT: I saw a lot of police officers. And they -- all the teachers told us to run into the building. And teachers were closing up the windows and -- because they told us to stay away from the windows just in case it happened again. And a lot of kids were crying.
FRANKEN: Other schools in the country stayed open under a so- called Code Blue, in which students were locked inside until they were released under heavy security at the end of the day. And police who have been investigating these shootings since last Thursday say they've reached a new low.
CHIEF CHARLES MOOSE, MONTGOMERY COUNTY POLICE: Now, all of our victims have been innocent, have been defenseless. But now we're stepping over the line, because our children don't deserve this. So parents, please, do your job tonight, engage your children, be there for them. We're going to need it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FRANKEN: Officials say they plan to reopen the school systems tomorrow, contending that the students are at least as safe in class as anywhere else, Connie.
CHUNG: Bob, tell us, how is that 13-year-old boy? Still in critical condition?
FRANKEN: Still in critical condition, still stable condition. Something that hasn't changed. Doctors said this afternoon that be eight hours from then, probably, till about 10:00 tonight, will be vital.
CHUNG: All right. President Bush said that this was a senseless act. He also said cowardly. He also asked for some federal assistance. Can you tell us about that?
FRANKEN: Well, the president made his announcement that the federal government was providing assistance, which we've already known. But tonight the chiefs of all the different police jurisdictions in this area, D.C. Prince George's County, Montgomery County, formally asked under the Serial Killers Act, it's a federal law, asked the attorney general to provide enhanced protection.
And the federal government has made it very clear it will do whatever it can to help.
CHUNG: All right. Thank you, Bob Franken.
And now the president's speech.
One of the people Mr. Bush wanted to win over was California Congressman Mike Thompson. The House will debate this week how much support, how much leeway to give the president in confronting Iraq. Congressman Thompson is one of three Democratic representatives who just returned from Iraq. We also have Republican Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama with us, and they join us from Washington.
Thank you, gentlemen, for being with us.
REP. MIKE THOMPSON (D), CALIFORNIA: My pleasure.
SEN. JEFF SESSIONS (R), ALABAMA: Thank you.
CHUNG: Congressman, we'll start with you. You obviously are opposed to the House resolution that would support an invasion of Iraq. Did you hear anything tonight that would cause you to change your mind?
THOMPSON: Well, Connie, this is the most important vote that I'm ever going to cast, and possibly the most important vote that's ever been cast in Congress. Not only are we going to set up a situation where American soldiers are going to go to war and possibly die, but we're also establishing an international precedent where we're going to use first-strike capabilities, preemptive first strike, in a situation where there appears to be no immediate danger to people here in the United States or to our allies.
CHUNG: Well, let's listen to something that President Bush said tonight, and you tell me if this doesn't provide you with the evidence that you want. Let's play a clip of it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Some al Qaeda leaders who fled Afghanistan went to Iraq. These include one very senior al Qaeda leader who received medical treatment in Baghdad this year and who has been associated with planning for chemical and biological attacks.
We've learned that Iraq has trained al Qaeda members in bomb- making, in poisons and deadly gases. And we know that after September 11, Saddam Hussein's regime gleefully celebrated the terrorist attacks on America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHUNG: Congressman, doesn't that tell you that an invasion of Iraq is justified?
THOMPSON: Connie, we haven't seen any proof that any of this has happened. I have sat through all the classified briefings...
CHUNG: You mean you don't believe...
THOMPSON: ... on the Armed Services...
CHUNG: ... what President Bush just said? With all due respect...
THOMPSON: No, no, that's not...
CHUNG: ... you know...
THOMPSON: ... what I said.
CHUNG: I mean, what...
THOMPSON: That's not what I said. I said that there are -- there has been nothing in the committee hearing briefings that have substantiated this. If there is substantiation, we need to see that in Congress, not hear it over the television monitor.
No one is suggesting that Saddam Hussein is a good person, but we need to go in on a multilateral effort with our allies. We need to go in at -- we need to first make sure that we get the inspectors in there and get the arms out of that country, away from him.
And we need to work collectively with our allies through the Security Council.
CHUNG: Senator Sessions, Iraq is now saying that it will allow inspectors to inspect those presidential palaces. Would that be good enough? If all of those requirements are met, doesn't that mean that no invasion is necessary?
SESSIONS: Well, I think the president has left that possibility open. I think he said clearly, if there is a renunciation of weapons of mass destruction, a turning over of those weapons, a allowing the country to be thoroughly searched in all areas, that could avoid war.
The problem is, Saddam Hussein has not done that before. He's cheated and lied and manipulated before. He's proven himself to be utterly untrustworthy. So we got a difficult time here in deciding how we can proceed. But he has left the option open for a total renunciation of weapons of mass destruction could avoid a conflict.
CHUNG: Senator, there are other countries that are developing weapons of mass destruction. Why Iraq, and why Iraq now?
SESSIONS: Iraq has used those weapons against his own people. The apologists for Iraq seem to forget that they killed 5,000 of their own people. They attacked Iran, and 1 million people died in that war. They attacked Kuwait, and we had to have an international effort to remove them.
And we are still in essentially a state of war with Iraq. As the president noted, they fired at our airplanes 750 times. This is going on on a daily basis. They violated the U.N. resolutions that saved Saudi -- Saddam Hussein regime when the Gulf War ended. We were on the road to Iraq when he agreed to these restrictions, and he's failed to follow them.
So I think the president is right to confront this matter, be straight right up with the American people, and with the U.N., and with the world, and with Saddam Hussein. We cannot continue this way.
CHUNG: Congressman Thompson, there are those who believe that you and your two colleagues who went to Iraq came back with the basic position of President Bush may be trying to tell you something that in his effort to get approval for an invasion in Iraq, that you shouldn't believe. So it sounds almost as if you're asking the American public, Believe Saddam Hussein, don't believe President Bush.
THOMPSON: Absolutely not, Connie. Saddam Hussein is a bad guy. We need to make sure that we are able to get the arms away from him.
But I just do not believe, unless there's an immediate threat to Americans, that we need to do a preemptive first strike. It would set back 200 years of constitutional democracy in this country. We need to take action, but we need to do it with the United Nations, with the Security Council, and we need to first use -- go through all the diplomatic options available before we go to war.
CHUNG: Don't you think that the United States is doing that, though?
THOMPSON: We should be doing that, and we should continue to do it. And until there's all the options are used, we should not send our American soldiers into a war zone where all the generals have told us repeatedly we're going to see warfare that we haven't seen since World War II, urban warfare in Baghdad, and we're sure to sustain a lot of casualties. And I want to avoid that if we possibly can.
CHUNG: Senator Sessions, a CNN poll shows that 49 percent of the American public do not believe that all the diplomatic avenues have been exhausted and fear that they would not be exhausted.
SESSIONS: Well, I think the president has said again that he is working diplomatically in every way possible. He's had world leaders to his ranch in Texas, to Washington, Colin Powell has been all over the world meeting with world leaders. He's talking to them by the phone. He's doing everything possible to build and is succeeding, really, in gaining support in the Middle East with quite a number of countries that are cooperating with us.
And I think he's making progress throughout the world stage. But we ought not to allow our policy to be totally blackballed by a single vote in the U.N., on the Security Council, whether Russia or France or China. If just one of those countries says no and vetoes a resolution, we do not have U.N. support.
So the president cannot...
CHUNG: Well, we're going to get a pulse beat now of Russia and France, so I'll interrupt you so that we can move on to our international correspondents.
Thank you, Senator Sessions, thank you, congressman.
SESSIONS: Thank you.
CHUNG: We appreciate both of your being with us.
THOMPSON: Thank you very much.
CHUNG: Now, what is the reaction from Iraq and overseas in countries that could make up part of a coalition against Iraq? Joining us now from Iraq, Baghdad bureau chief Jane Arraf. And we also have senior European political correspondent Robin Oakley in London and Jim Bittermann in Paris.
Starting with Jane, I know it's in the middle of the night there, but has there been any official reaction from Iraq?
JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Hello, Connie.
Reaction, official reaction, takes a long time to filter down because of course it filters down from the top, from the palace. Iraqi officials just don't react unless they get the word exactly what they're supposed to say.
Now, there's likely to be quite a bit of reaction among the Iraqi people when they wake up in a few hours. They're not going to hear about the speech from their own media, but a lot of them do tune in to foreign radios, and they will be heartened by that reference of President Bush to war not being imminent or inevitable.
They will, however, cast some doubt on his reference that America is a friend to the Iraqi people. That's something that they have not seen in the past 11 years. And it's really hard to overemphasize the very deep distrust that most Iraqis have of U.S. intentions, Connie.
CHUNG: Jane, have the members of the public prepared or provided any precautions in the event of a war?
ARRAF: They have, in a sense, as far as they can. A lot of people are stocking up on water, they're stocking up on food if they can, although part of the tragedy of this country is that a lot of people don't have money to buy more than the food they need for the next week or so. The government is encouraging them to take precautions. It distributes rations to every Iraqi citizen, and has since the Gulf War.
And it's now extending those rations for three months instead of the usual month. It is preparing its people for the possibility of war.
But having said that, this is a country that has been through a lot. It's faced a lot. And people here have come to the realization that there's really not very much they can do. Now, there's a real feeling of tension here, because although the threat is looming over them, they're not sure when it's going to happen or what's going to happen.
In fact, some Iraqis are saying if there is going to be war, they just wish it would come. They really feel like there's not much they can do about it except sit and wait, Connie.
CHUNG: Jane, is there any sense that Saddam will be overthrown internally?
ARRAF: Very, very little. That's been the key question over these last few months, and indeed, the key question over the past 10 years. Part of the reason he is still in power after all of this is, he has a very effective system of control.
Now, President Bush was warning Iraqi generals and other military officers that they could face war crime charges if they follow the orders of the Iraqi president. Now, faced with either the threat of execution or the threat of a war crimes tribunal, that threat is not likely to make much impact here.
The bottom line is that the Iraqi president trusts very few people, has a very strict system of security and control, and is very unlikely to allow anyone to get close enough to him to topple him, Connie. CHUNG: Thank you, Jane Arraf.
And now on to Robin Oakley. Robin, tell us, we know that Tony Blair is in lockstep with President Bush. What about the British public?
ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN SENIOR EUROPEAN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: The British public are essentially concerned, Connie, with whether there is United Nations backing for any action. Sixty to 70 percent of the British public will back action that is fully authorized by the United Nations, but only 20 or 30 percent are willing to back action if it becomes a case of the U.K. and the U.S. going it alone, Connie.
CHUNG: And Robin, I know that Russia is critical and France is as well. There is some feeling that as Russia goes, so will France.
OAKLEY: Well, there remain worries right across the continent, I think, about any kind of unilateral action. Russia is a key to the -- whatever happens in the Security Council, and if George Bush can persuade the Russians to go along with any actions, then you can bet that he will have persuaded others to go along too.
I think a lot of European leaders will have taken comfort from the tone of George Bush's speech on this occasion. They will have taken comfort from the fact that he's talking about war not being inevitable, as Jane Arraf was saying from Baghdad. I think that was important to the Europeans, who had seen him up until now as somewhat trigger-happy.
That really -- they will take comfort from that. But I think they still feel that George Bush has to make the case in greater detail. He's rather swept aside those questions of whether greater instability would be created in the Middle East and really, particularly with Tony Blair, who's been pushing for a Middle East peace conference, I think the European leaders who live much closer to events in the Middle East than those in the White House would have liked more said about the wider Middle East questions in this speech, Connie.
CHUNG: Robin Oakley, thank you.
On to Jim Bittermann in Paris. Jim, I know it's the middle of the night, but any reaction from the French government?
JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Connie, at this hour, no clear heads for any official reaction or unofficial reaction. It's just about 3:00 in the morning here.
I'd just say there are a couple things about the speech that struck me, knowing what I do about what the President Chirac has said about the French position. Basically, he laid this out in an interview about three days before George Bush laid out the U.S. position at the United Nations. And it stayed consistent ever since.
There are two red lines as far as the French are concerned. One is the question of regime change. They say absolutely that is against all international law. And George Bush came close to stepping over that red line. He said it was the only sure way that, in fact, one could be certain that weapons of mass destruction were going to be destroyed once and for all.
And the other red line is the idea of linking -- having a certain link for military action with the weapons inspection procedure. The French believe there should be a two-stage process, that the weapons inspectors should go into Iraq, should have a chance to do their job, and then, if they can't do their job, another decision should be taken that they can't do their job by the Security Council and then military action.
At that point, the French have said they will be happy to take part in military -- clearly not happy to take part, but they would take part in military action if the United Nations sanctions it.
But they want to see this two-step approach, because there are these conditions, perhaps, there could be an honest disagreement about what compliance with weapons inspection would mean. And I think we heard George Bush lay on a new criteria tonight when he said that families and members of the government should be allowed to leave the country, leave Iraq to be interviewed.
Now, I don't think I have heard that before, and I'm sure that is one that is going to be very difficult for the Iraqis to comply with, Connie.
CHUNG: All right, Jim Bittermann, thank you. Jane Arraf and Robin Oakley, we appreciate all of your input.
And when we come back, a little perspective on what lies ahead. Don't go away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHUNG: We're going to bring back our senior political analyst now to give us a broader view of the president's speech, Bill Schneider.
Bill, the president talked about not having a smoking gun. How do you analyze what he was trying -- the message he was trying to get across?
SCHNEIDER: What the president is trying to do is get America to speak with one voice to the rest of the world, to show the world that the United States is united. Towards that end, he has to answer the Democratic critics like Congressman Thompson, whom we just heard from, who said preemptive first strikes are not in the American tradition.
What the president said was, we can't wait for a smoking gun, which could come in the form of a mushroom cloud. He even quoted former President John F. Kennedy during the Cuban missile crisis, who said, We no longer live in a world where only the actual firing of weapons constitutes a sufficient challenge. He associated himself with JFK and, remarkably, with Bill Clinton. He said, Two presidents, I and my predecessor, Bill Clinton, were both for regime change. That was his way of trying to marshal support from Democrats to get a virtually unanimous vote, or as close to it as is possible, from Congress.
CHUNG: And Bill, we just heard our Baghdad correspondent say that there is no talk of toppling Saddam within Iraq. I mean, that's just not a possibility. And yet we heard Ari Fleischer talk about it and suggest it. And tonight President Bush did as well.
SCHNEIDER: That was a remarkable part of his speech, in which the president said, quote, "If Saddam Hussein orders cruel and desperate measures, his generals would be well advised to refuse such orders." What he's saying is that -- he's calling for a coup within Iraq.
The generals are very unlikely to do that unless the allied forces are at the gates of Baghdad and they realize that if they don't overthrow Saddam Hussein, they'll have to pay a price from the United States and the allies who are going to win the war.
So he's advising those generals, If you know what's good for you, you'll turn against Saddam Hussein and you'll get him out of power yourselves. That's a remarkable charge, but he's calling for a coup d'etat. My only question is, how can we be sure that the generals are going to hear what the president said tonight? Iraq is a very heavily censored country.
CHUNG: Exactly. And the likelihood is that it wouldn't.
Any final thoughts in 15 seconds?
SCHNEIDER: I think what -- this is the reverse of the Gulf War. In the Gulf War, the U.N. voted quickly. It was a big struggle get a vote of Congress. This time, you're going to get an easy vote of Congress. The tough vote is going to get other countries and the U.N. to support us.
CHUNG: All right. Thank you so much, Bill Schneider. Always a pleasure to have you with us.
SCHNEIDER: Sure, Connie.
CHUNG: CNN's coverage of the president's speech on Iraq continues with "LARRY KING LIVE" next. Larry's guests include Senators John McCain, Robert Byrd, Dianne Feinstein, John Warner, and John Kyl, plus Representatives Chris Shays and Jane Harmon and former senator George Mitchell.
At 10:00 Eastern time, Aaron Brown will be back with full political analysis on "NEWSNIGHT" with John King and Suzanne Malveaux.
Tomorrow on this program, we'll have an exclusive interview, the man Saddam Hussein sends to deal with the world, Iraq's ambassador to the United Nations.
Thank you so much for joining us. "LARRY KING LIVE" is next. We thank you for being here. And we'll see you tomorrow night.
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