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CNN Live At Daybreak

America's New War: President Has Much to Address Today

Aired September 25, 2001 - 07:01   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's go back to John King. Lot's for you to address this morning about the Russians and the actions the Saudi Arabians are taking.

JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: A great deal to address here. The president very happy so far, Paula, with the coalition building. Remember early last week we said he had had a conversation with the leader of the United Arab Emirates. Several days later the United Arab Emirates publicly broke ties with the Taliban.

The same situation here again with Saudi Arabia. The president and Secretary of State Colin Powell in the middle to the earlier part of last week imploring Saudi Arabia to join the coalition not only figuratively but to step forward and break ties with the Taliban. Saudi Arabia has done that.

So the president making progress, in the White House view, in building this international coalition. The key test now, of course, will the Saudis crack down, use their banking system to cut off financial support to Osama bin Laden?

And as the diplomatic effort takes out, as I mentioned just a minute ago, the president turning urgent attention this morning to the U.S. economy, meeting with congressional leaders at the White House to discuss a stimulus package. There could be tens of billions of dollars in new government spending approved in the next few weeks. Also, they're debating another possibility of a tax cut, one of the things Wall Street likes and wants, a cut in the capital gains tax.

And also later today, perhaps a little bit of post-WWII history. Japan's prime minister is stopping by the White House. He is talking of unprecedented Japanese cooperation in any military activity that might take place in what the president calls this war on terrorism -- Paula.

ZAHN: John, let's come back to the point you were making about the Saudi Arabians and the pressure, I suppose, the U.S. administration would like for it to put on its bankers or any of the sources of money for the Taliban. What is the expectation of the administration?

KING: Well, the administration says there have been some bumps along the way, but when push comes to shove Saudi Arabia cooperates. So the administration is hoping that Saudi Arabia will crack down, look at its banking system to see if there are any organizations that are fronts for terrorism, any accounts held by suspected terrorists.

The one thing most of all the administration wants is for the Saudi Arabian government to crack down on wealthy Saudis who give money to Osama bin Laden, who is a Saudi, after all. So the administration expecting cooperation there.

This, we're learning a lesson here in the politics of the region, very difficult for the Saudi Arabian government to publicly speak out against Osama bin Laden. There are pockets of Islamic fundamentalism within Saudi Arabia.

This a very delicate challenge for the government of Saudi Arabia. We have seen the very same situation unfolding in Pakistan as this deployment takes place and as the diplomacy takes place, the American people getting some lessons in the very difficult politics of the region and the fears of some leaders across the Middle East that if they speak out against Islamic fundamentalism their own governments could be in some trouble.

ZAHN: All right, thanks, John.

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