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CNN Live Saturday
Bush Looks Ahead to Iraq's Reconstruction
Aired April 19, 2003 - 12:33 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.
JONATHAN KARL, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush today is remembering those who died in the war with Iraq. And he's also looking ahead to the reconstruction of the country and other difficult international issues.
CNN's Suzanne Malveaux is with the president at his ranch in Crawford, Texas. Suzanne, good morning.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi. President Bush is spending the long holiday weekend in windy Crawford, Texas, of course, looking at domestic issues, but also international ones as well, reconstruction in Iraq, as well as finding weapons of mass destruction, and getting that interim Iraqi government underway.
But of course, there is a sense of urgency, really, from those in the Middle East. We have seen, just over the last couple of days, thousands of people taking to the streets in Baghdad, urging U.S. soldiers to get out as quickly as possible. A sense of frustration, the lack of electricity, the sense of uncertainty.
Also, a meeting coming out of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, that from foreign ministers of neighboring countries surrounding Iraq saying that, yes, they would like to see the U.S. provide security, but at the same time, to leave as quickly as possible. And then also from the European Union, leaders releasing a statement after their two-day summit in Athens, Greece, saying that they would like to see a central role for the United Nations in a post-Saddam Hussein regime.
Well, what does this mean? Big hurdles for the administration to leap over, but this is going to take some time, quite frankly, this is what you're dealing with here. The U.N. has to pass a resolution recognizing a new Iraqi government. It also has to certify that Iraq is free of weapons of mass destruction. And there's a question as to the role of U.N. weapons inspectors, whether or not they will go ahead inside the country again. And then, only then, can the U.N. lift economic sanctions against Iraq to actually get the oil revenue used for reconstruction. And finally, they need to unfreeze Iraqi's assets.
All of this is going to take time. This is something the administration recognizes, the president, even him saying himself, that yes, they will not stay a day longer than necessary, but yes, it is going to be necessary to be there for a while -- Jonathan.
KARL: Suzanne, even as all this is going on, the administration is planning this to pivoted domestic issues, including a major push to pass the president's tax cut. What does he have planned for the upcoming week?
MALVEAUX: He's going to be doing a little bit of traveling this week, actually. We're told that he's going to take a day trip outside of Washington to do just that, to sell his economic plan, his growth and jobs package. This is something, as you know, he initially wanted some $725 billion in tax cuts. He is only at the very most going to get 550 billion. This is something that he is pushing for.
And throughout the week, even last week, as a matter of fact, we saw cabinet members and White House officials fanning across the country, trying to push those moderate republicans, not only the democrats, but those moderate republicans that want to see a much smaller tax cut in place. Because they're worried that the economy is not going to be able to afford this huge tax cut that the president is asking for, and they're also looking at this increase in the federal deficit.
So clearly, the White House, the Bush administration realizing, they've got a tough sell ahead. Jonathan?
KARL: A tough sell, definitely. And I imagine they hope they've got some political capital built up after the war with Iraq. Thank you very much, Suzanne.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired April 19, 2003 - 12:33 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JONATHAN KARL, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush today is remembering those who died in the war with Iraq. And he's also looking ahead to the reconstruction of the country and other difficult international issues.
CNN's Suzanne Malveaux is with the president at his ranch in Crawford, Texas. Suzanne, good morning.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi. President Bush is spending the long holiday weekend in windy Crawford, Texas, of course, looking at domestic issues, but also international ones as well, reconstruction in Iraq, as well as finding weapons of mass destruction, and getting that interim Iraqi government underway.
But of course, there is a sense of urgency, really, from those in the Middle East. We have seen, just over the last couple of days, thousands of people taking to the streets in Baghdad, urging U.S. soldiers to get out as quickly as possible. A sense of frustration, the lack of electricity, the sense of uncertainty.
Also, a meeting coming out of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, that from foreign ministers of neighboring countries surrounding Iraq saying that, yes, they would like to see the U.S. provide security, but at the same time, to leave as quickly as possible. And then also from the European Union, leaders releasing a statement after their two-day summit in Athens, Greece, saying that they would like to see a central role for the United Nations in a post-Saddam Hussein regime.
Well, what does this mean? Big hurdles for the administration to leap over, but this is going to take some time, quite frankly, this is what you're dealing with here. The U.N. has to pass a resolution recognizing a new Iraqi government. It also has to certify that Iraq is free of weapons of mass destruction. And there's a question as to the role of U.N. weapons inspectors, whether or not they will go ahead inside the country again. And then, only then, can the U.N. lift economic sanctions against Iraq to actually get the oil revenue used for reconstruction. And finally, they need to unfreeze Iraqi's assets.
All of this is going to take time. This is something the administration recognizes, the president, even him saying himself, that yes, they will not stay a day longer than necessary, but yes, it is going to be necessary to be there for a while -- Jonathan.
KARL: Suzanne, even as all this is going on, the administration is planning this to pivoted domestic issues, including a major push to pass the president's tax cut. What does he have planned for the upcoming week?
MALVEAUX: He's going to be doing a little bit of traveling this week, actually. We're told that he's going to take a day trip outside of Washington to do just that, to sell his economic plan, his growth and jobs package. This is something, as you know, he initially wanted some $725 billion in tax cuts. He is only at the very most going to get 550 billion. This is something that he is pushing for.
And throughout the week, even last week, as a matter of fact, we saw cabinet members and White House officials fanning across the country, trying to push those moderate republicans, not only the democrats, but those moderate republicans that want to see a much smaller tax cut in place. Because they're worried that the economy is not going to be able to afford this huge tax cut that the president is asking for, and they're also looking at this increase in the federal deficit.
So clearly, the White House, the Bush administration realizing, they've got a tough sell ahead. Jonathan?
KARL: A tough sell, definitely. And I imagine they hope they've got some political capital built up after the war with Iraq. Thank you very much, Suzanne.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
