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CNN Live Saturday

President Bush Monitors Campaign Against Afghanistan From Camp David

Aired October 27, 2001 - 16:06   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.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: Well, President Bush is at Camp David this weekend. He's monitoring the campaign against Afghanistan's Taliban as well as the security measures here at home. And CNN White House Correspondent Kelly Wallace is near the presidential retreat. Good afternoon, Kelly. What's the latest from there?

KELLY WALLACE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon to you, Catherine. Well, the latest is really what the president has been doing almost every day and that is continuing to focus on what he calls the two fronts in this campaign against terrorism. President Bush chairing another video teleconference from the presidential retreat at Camp David with his National Security Council.

The president traveling from the White House to Camp David yesterday afternoon. This after a week in which the White House facing a bit of - some questions really. Number one, about the progress so far when it comes to the military campaign underway in Afghanistan. And, number two, whether the federal government reacted quickly enough to cases of Anthrax in the United States.

Now there have been questions again about the administration's handling of Anthrax and now there appear to be some concerns on the part of Americans about the administrations plans to fight terrorism in the United States. According to a new "Newsweek" poll 48 percent of those polled felt the administration had a well thought out plan for fighting bioterrorism at home while 43 percent said they believe it did not.

Now this obviously might be quite a bit of concern for the administration. It has been trying to coordinate federal agencies in terms of the response to these cases of Anthrax and stepping up precautionary efforts to deal with bioterrorism.

We saw the president Friday after signing a bill to fight anti- terrorism or to beef up anti-terrorism legislation we saw the president talking about the concern of Anthrax in the United States. The president mourning the loss of two D.C. postal workers who died from inhalation Anthrax. But he also said -- tried to get the message out to the American people that the administration was doing everything it possibly could to make sure postal employees and postal facilities around the country are safe.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We want to assure postal workers that our government is testing more than 200 postal facilities along the entire eastern corridor that may have been impacted. And we will move quickly to treat and protect workers where positive exposures are found. But one thing is for certain -- these terrorists must be pursued, they must be defeated and they must be brought to justice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: And that final line getting quite a bit of applause from the people attending that East Room ceremony.

Now on this day President Bush, of course, doing his weekly radio address. The president not mentioning Anthrax or really the military campaign underway in Afghanistan instead focusing on matter in the United States Congress. Catherine, the president very much calling on lawmakers to finish up work very quickly on a bill to improve security at the nation's airports.

The president making it very clear he supports the House Republican plan, which would allow the federal government to set standards and do background checks for those people doing screening of packages at airports around the country and let the federal government decide whether the workers should be federal employees or use private contractors. Catherine, back to you.

CALLAWAY: Kelly, any reaction from the administration on the piece in "The Washington Post" claiming that the top CIA and FBI officials believe that the Anthrax attacks were the work of domestic terrorists? Any reaction either behind the scenes even from the administration on this?

WALLACE: Well, you know, the administration not really reacting publicly or privately to this story -- not pulling us away or pushing us towards it. Basically saying what it has been saying or what Ari Fleischer, the president's spokesman, said on Friday and that is the administration saying it has no conclusive evidence yet not ruling out or ruling in one source over another -- that it still could very well be state sponsored terrorism or it could be something and provided by and produced in the United States.

We did hear Fleischer saying on Friday, Catherine -- for the first time he said, "The good news is it may not necessarily be state sponsored terrorism but the bad news is there are a broader range of possibilities -- that any Ph.D. microbiologist in any well equipped lab could have produced this Anthrax that made its way to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle.

So the word from the White House no conclusions just yet -- it could be home grown or it could be a foreign national made.

CALLAWAY: Learning as we go, aren't we, Kelly?

WALLACE: Absolutely. CALLAWAY: CNN's Kelly Wallace -- thank you.

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