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CNN Live Saturday
President Bush Plots Military Strategy
Aired October 27, 2001 - 15:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN ANCHOR: As the attacks on Afghanistan continue, President Bush huddles with advisers to plot strategy. He is at Camp David this weekend, but he's hardly taking a break as he talks about the war, and nearby is CNN White House correspondent Kelly Wallace.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hello there, Bob.
Well, as you know, certainly, from covering the Pentagon, this was somewhat of a difficult week for the Bush administration. Lots of questions about the progress, when it comes to the military campaign under way in Afghanistan, and also lots of questions about the federal government's handling of these anthrax cases in the United States.
Now, Mr. Bush going over both issues during his 30-minute video teleconference with his national security council, the president doing that from Camp David. He headed to Camp David from the White House yesterday afternoon. He also, of course on this Saturday, did a weekly radio address, the president always having a message in this address following the September 11 attack.
Today, his message was for lawmakers in the U.S. Congress to finish up work on a bill to beef up security at the nation's airports. Now, the Senate passed a bill 100 to nothing not too long ago. The House will take it up this week, but there's a big difference between the bills.
The Senate bill would require that passenger and baggage screeners at all of the airports would be federal employees. Democrats think this would be the best way to ensure you're getting the best workers, but President Bush disagrees. He thinks the federal government should be able to decide whether to use federal workers or private contractors, and so he's throwing his support behind a Republican bill, backed by Congressman Don Young.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The Young Bill allows the use of private contractors, operating under tough federal standards on background checks with federal law enforcement at every gate to promote better screening services and ensure that security managers can move aggressively to discipline or fire employees who fail to live up to the rigorous new standards.
(END AUDIO CLIP) WALLACE: And in addition to calling on Congress to finish up work on an airport security bill, the president also calling on lawmakers to pass a package to give a boost to the economy. Bob, there are lots of philosophical differences between Democrats and Republicans on most of these bills, so these issues could be the first true test to the bipartisanship we have been seeing in the nation's capitol -- Bob, back to you..
FRANKEN: Well, Kelly, you alluded to what many people consider to be a growing problem, and it's really a credibility problem -- and I'm not talking about whether anybody's telling the truth -- but a belief that is starting to grow that things aren't going that well. You pointed out about some questions that are now being raised about the military campaign and the lack of results, or the perceived lack of results. And also, there's the question about how well the anthrax problem has been solved (ph).
Do they worry that they're losing momentum?
WALLACE: They don't. You know, you won't be surprised to hear publicly and privately senior administration officials saying they're not concerned. They look at the polls, Bob. They believe the American people are overwhelmingly supportive of what the president is doing in Afghanistan and in the United States. They believe the president has been saying from day one that this is going to take a while -- this campaign will be a long struggle, so they get it.
They will concede, obviously, Bob, that when it comes to anthrax, there has been a bit of a learning curve. You had different agencies saying different things. You had a late-night meeting this past week with Tom Ridge and other federal agencies, basically saying we've got to do a better job coordinating the flow of information.
So they admit they are learning a bit, especially when it comes to the domestic front, but they say the American people are overwhelmingly behind the president. They expect that to continue, although, Bob, as you know, they know the longer this goes on, the more obstacles, both in the United States and in holding that coalition together, this U.S. administration will face -- Bob.
FRANKEN: Kelly Wallace covering the White House this weekend near Camp David.
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