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CNN Live Saturday

International Tensions Threaten Bush Domestic Policy

Aired August 18, 2001 - 17:16   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.
STEPHEN FRAZIER, CNN ANCHOR: In the Middle East today, a Palestinian man was killed after exchanging gunfire with Israeli troops in southern Gaza. It happened at a refugee camp in Palestinian controlled territory. Seven other people were reported wounded. The Israeli army said it opened fire on terrorists.

Flare-ups in the Middle East and in Macedonia both pose new challenges for the Bush administration. Will these hot spots get in the way as the White House pushes its domestic agenda?

CNN's Major Garrett now to tackle that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PRESIDENT GEORGE BUSH: Oh, no!

MAJOR GARRETT, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As the president vacations, global tensions mount. The Middle East is the most obvious, but it's hardly unique.

Iraq has stepped up efforts to down U.S. and British jets patrolling the no-fly zones.

There's a fragile cease-fire in Macedonia where heavily armed NATO troops are poised to disarm ethnic Albanian guerrillas.

Northern Ireland's power-sharing government teeters and Protestants and Catholics fear a return to sectarian violence and bloodshed.

Colombia's government has prepared to impose martial law in areas controlled by Marxist guerrillas. Meanwhile, U.S.-funded aerial spraying of coca fields continues in hopes of choking off the flow of drugs to the U.S.

In Argentina, the threat of billions in defaulted loans and a financial contagion that would weaken economies throughout the region.

LEE HAMILTON, WOODROW WILSON CENTER: The president confronts many hot spots around the world. I think it is almost impossible to predict which one will explode on him. Any one of them have the potential to do it.

GARRETT: All this while the president plots a domestic policy offensive this fall against Senate Democrats.

BUSH: Oh, I never anticipate battles. I'll stand my ground and do what I think is right. That's what the people elected me to do. I'm confident if there is this willingness to work with the White House, in the Senate we'll get a lot done.

GARRETT: An education bill that requires reading and math testing in grades three through eight, a patients' bill of rights, and an energy bill to boost domestic production and conservation.

But political analysts say one international crisis could throw these plans off course.

STUART ROTHENBERG, ROTHENBERG POLITICAL REPORT: Foreign policy issues always seem to interfere with what the president wants to do domestically. And that's exactly the problem that George Bush is facing now.

GARRETT (on camera): The White House sees the storm clouds, but aides say the president can handle an international crisis and keep his domestic agenda alive. Don't forget, they say, the president solved the surveillance plane standoff with China in mid-April, and soon thereafter passed his top domestic priority: the across-the-board tax cut.

Major Garrett, CNN, Crawford, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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