Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live Saturday
Bush Administration Makes Case for Attack on Iraq
Aired August 31, 2002 - 18:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: In the mounting war of words over an attack on Iraq, the Bush administration makes its case, while a chorus of jittery voices is belting out the criticism. Kelly Wallace joins us now from Crawford, Texas, where President Bush's working vacation is coming to a close -- Kelly.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Martin, definitely coming to a close. President Bush, in fact, heads back to the White House tomorrow. He is facing growing criticism around the world and in the United States of a possible military attack against Saddam Hussein. Now as for the Iraqi leader, he is mounting a diplomatic offensive of his own. We saw him today meeting with top officials, officials who recently traveled to Lebanon, Syria and China, trying to build international opposition to any military campaign.
We are also seeing more and more people speak out and urge caution. The latest to speak out, former President Bill Clinton, who had his own experience with Saddam Hussein. He spoke this weekend at the New York State Fair. His concern is that if the U.S. invades Iraq, he worries that Saddam Hussein could be inclined to unleash chemical and biological weapons.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL CLINTON, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The question is does he have any incentive to use them now or give them to anybody else? Probably not, because if he did now, he knows that we would take him out in short order. If he knows we're coming to take him out, does he have more incentive to use them against our friends or to give them to other terrorist groups? Probably so, because he knows we can take him out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALLACE: And the administration continues to say that President Bush has not made any decisions and that the vice president this week was really making the case for a preemptive attack on Iraq, trying to reiterate the threat so that people know what the debate is all about. We saw the vice president say a number of things, including his belief that fairly soon, Saddam Hussein will have his hands on nuclear weapons. Well, one prominent senator, a member of the president's own party, is questioning whether that rhetoric meets the reality.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, NOVAK, HUNT & SHIELDS)
SEN CHUCK HAGEL (R), FOREIGN RELATIONS CMTE.: I don't think he does possess nuclear capability. Is he attempting to do that? You have to assume he is. But to scare the American public by saying this guy is a couple of months away from not only possessing nuclear weapons, but a ballistic missile to deliver those, that's dangerous stuff here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALLACE: Now the administration has not made any intelligence information public, but U.S. officials say they are very confident that fairly soon, Saddam Hussein could get his hands on nuclear weapons. And so, Martin, the message from the vice president and his top aides is the world cannot sit back and wait for that to happen -- Martin.
SAVIDGE: Kelly, a couple of questions for you. Number one, is the administration planning to cooperate with Congress on the 9/11 investigations that'll start soon?
WALLACE: Yes, definitely. The administration says it is cooperating with those committees that are looking into exactly what warnings this administration had before September 11 and what information or what it did with that information. I believe, Martin, those hearings will get underway again, as lawmakers return, following the August recess. The message from the White House, it will fully cooperate. Pressure though on Democrats and Republicans to unveil what they have learned so far -- Martin.
SAVIDGE: And lastly, there is some speculation that the president will make some major speech pertaining to Iraq maybe September 12. Any indication coming from Crawford that's going to be the case?
WALLACE: Well, it seems that there's a little bit of debate going on, Martin, about whether the president should start making the argument himself for preemptive action or wait until he's actually decided what he wants to do. So that's a debate going on. It looks like, of course, the president going before the United States General Assembly on September 12, that will be the first time we might see the president speak more broadly about his policies when it comes to Iraq, and how he hopes to galvanize the international community to bring about his goal of regime change -- Martin.
SAVIDGE: And we'll all be watching. Kelly Wallace joining us from Crawford, Texas with the vacationing president. Thank you very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
