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CNN Live At Daybreak

Reaction to President Bush's Speech This Morning

Aired November 06, 2001 - 08:07   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 straight to the White House, where Major Garrett is standing by with more on the reaction to President Bush's speech a little bit earlier this morning -- Major, good morning.

MAJOR GARRETT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.

The White House went out of its way to match the president's message with the audience, the president speaking by video teleconference to 17 central and eastern European nations gathered in Warsaw, Poland to talk about counterterrorism efforts.

And the message was, "The world confronts an evil, much that those nations faced during the twentieth century, the twin horrors of fascism and totalitarianism." The president drawing a direct line between Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda terrorism network and the fascists that did so much damage to central, eastern and much of Europe during the twentieth century, at one point saying, "We see the same intolerance to dissent, the mad global ambition to control very life," in the president' words. That is a direct and resonant message to those central and eastern European nations, as they have a very big stake in this war on global terrorism.

But the president also referred to the war here at home, talking about anthrax and the continued anxiety when the Americans are confronting when dealing with that anthrax scare.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, U.S. PRESIDENT: We face a second wave of terrorist attacks in the form of deadly anthrax that has been sent through the U.S. mail. Our people are responding to this new threat with alertness and calm. Our government is responding to treat the sick, provide antibiotics to those who have been exposed, and track down the guilty, whether abroad or at home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GARRETT: Paula, there was another element to this speech. The president also wanted to remind the audience, of central and eastern European nations, about that evil, which the United States and the global coalition against terrorism, confronts. There's been a lot of talk about how the war is going in Afghanistan, what's happening on the diplomatic front, what may happen to Afghanistan in a post-Taliban era.

The president also wants to remind the nations of the world what got this started in the first place, the evil the global nations confront, and why it's so important for them to stay within the U.S.- led coalition, because defeat of al Qaeda, defeat of the Taliban is the first step, the president said, in a long campaign against terrorist organizations with a global reach.

ZAHN: OK, Major, can I come back to the remarks you referenced by the president about the second wave of terror reigning on the United States? And he specifically talked about the anthrax-laden letters.

Was he implying that the administration has reached a conclusion about the source of those letters, that this is definitely foreign- grown terrorism we're talking about?

GARRETT: No, I don't think you can come to that conclusion, Paula. There at the very end of the sound byte we just ran, the president talked about whether the origin of those letters was from abroad or at home. The administration has not, and federal authorities have not, reached a conclusion about the source of anthrax-laden letters that came through Senator Daschle's office, has been a part of what New Jersey authorities and New York authorities, Florida authorities and authorities here in Washington have been dealing with.

I think the president just wanted to remind the audience, in Warsaw, Poland, that this war against terrorism is now being fought on the U.S. home front as well. The country is dealing with it. He's going to deliver a major speech on Thursday outside of Washington, talking to the American public about this home front war against global terrorism, remind them that the federal government is doing all it can to deal with it, but also thank them for what he said in that speech was alertness and calm being the two most prevalent responses of the American public dealing with the anthrax scare.

ZAHN: And, Major, what is the significance of the president saying publicly for the first time that Osama bin Laden and the al Qaeda network is trying to attain weapons of mass destruction and biochemical weapons?

GARRETT: Again, it's underscoring the stakes in this fight against al Qaeda and the Taliban regime that the president says supports them. And it will probably be a part of the overarching explanation the administration is bound to give when the military campaign continues against al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan during the holy month of Ramadan, which begins on November 17.

The administration has made it very clear it will take into consideration the requests from some Muslim nations that the United States scale back the military effort during Ramadan, but military planners and U.S. officials here at the White House making it very clear that campaign is going to continue. And one of the reasons, I think you're going to hear the administration saying more frequently is that this is a race against time, or possibly a race against time, because the global ambitions, the global terror campaign of al Qaeda is so vast it must be stopped, and stopped as soon as possible -- Paula.

ZAHN: Major Garrett, thanks for all of that information this morning -- see you a little bit later on.

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