Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Saturday

President Bush Convenes War Cabinet

Aired September 29, 2001 - 17:03   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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Moving onto the White House and President Bush, who is at Camp David this weekend. Let's check in with our Major Garrett. He is in Hagerstown, Maryland, very close to Camp David and the President.

Major, hello.

MAJOR GARRETT, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Daryn, and good afternoon. On the president's agenda today, out of the president -- out of the presidential retreat at Camp David, convening of yet another meeting of his National Security Council, informally known as the war cabinet of the Bush White House.

This is a picture of the White House release today of that video teleconference the President conducted. With him at Camp David, the National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, the chief of staff Andrew Card, and the director of the Central Intelligence Agency George Tenet. Everyone else in the National Security Council able to see the President and he able to see them via video teleconference hook- up.

Now Daryn, onto that memoranda we refer to that in the beginning and the opening of the show. It was prepared by key and senior officials in the State Department and the National Security Council. And it is the first explicit sign that the Bush administration A, sees the Taliban regime as illegitimate, and B, will specifically support those who seek to topple it.

Let me read to you a very relevant portion of that memorandum. "We," meaning the U.S government, "do not want to choose who rules Afghanistan, but we will assist those who seek a peaceful, economically developing Afghanistan, free of terrorism."

Now there's no reference anywhere in the memorandum as to who would receive that U.S. support. Would it be the armed Northern Alliance, the exiled Afghan king living in Rome? Or perhaps moderate factions within the Taliban itself. No specificity there, but clearly, the U.S. government intends to support those who seek and end to the Taliban regime.

Another relevant portion of the memo, Daryn, talks about previous efforts by U.S. governments to assist Muslims. Let me read that part.

"Our quarrel is not with Islam or the Afghan people. We," meaning the U.S. government, "have stood with Muslims in Bosnia, Kosovo, and Kuwait and have aided the Afghans in their liberation struggle against the former Soviet Union. We will support the Afghan people in the future. They deserve peace and stability, freedom from foreign terrorists and a government that represents all Afghans. We call on others to joins us, so we can help Afghans recover and rebuild."

Daryn, you also mentioned the push for the counter terrorism legislation. A senior administration official telling CNN today, the White House is displeased with the slow-going of that legislation in the U.S. Congress. There is word that the U.S House of Representatives, at least at the committee level, will try to move that legislation as early as this week.

The going is much slower in the Senate, however. The President will try to increase the pressure and move that legislation to the Senate when he meets with the congressional bipartisan leadership of the White House on Tuesday.

Daryn, back to you.

KAGAN: Major, ask this question that you're with the President near Camp David, but wondering on the congressional side, do you know what the snag is, why that is kind of getting hung up in Congress in the time when so many, especially lawmakers seem unified in wanting to help investigators and prosecutors?

GARRETT: The unity is real. That's not a joke or any way sort of a fake part of this reaction, national reaction, to the tragedies of September 11. But there are members of the United States Senate, specifically Democrats, who don't want to find themselves in a situation 6, 8, 12 months from now, looking back on legislation that was passed very swiftly, but they have some regrets about.

It's a great concern that this legislation be crafted specifically to deal with real threats, real emerging threats the terrorists could use, and that civil liberties are not trampled in any rush to provide the tools the administration says it needs to fight terrorism.

The administration reaction to those concerns is look, all the things we're asking for are already on the books in the way the government deals with drug lords and organized crime figures. If those rules are good enough for those kinds of investigations, clearly, they should be good enough for a terrorism investigation.

They're trying to resolve those differences. The administration hopes they see a swifter turnaround in the Senate in the coming days -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Major Garrett near Camp David, where the President is spending the weekend. Major, thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com