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CNN Live At Daybreak
International Responses to State of the Union Address
Aired January 30, 2002 - 06:22 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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: You know throughout the morning we've been playing excerpts of the president's State of the Union Address. In it he dealt heavily with global terrorism so we want to get some international reaction to the speech and for that we go live to our Christiane Amanpour who is in London this morning.
And President Bush coined a new term, axis of evil, and he named Iran, Iraq and North Korea. Any reaction coming from those countries this morning?
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well none from North Korea and Iraq yet, but certainly Iran has responded quite vehemently rejecting those charges and saying that they believe that this was "unacceptable interference" -- quote -- in Iran's internal affairs -- rejecting those charges, as you can imagine.
And indeed using that phrase axis of evil is the harshest language that the United States has used yet to describe those countries which traditionally have been called now a rogue state accused of trying to pursue weapons of mass destruction, and in Iran's case, according to the United States, in supporting terrorism.
While the European allies have supported all along and have been strong backers of the war on terrorism, they are somewhat unsettled about phase two and how best to pursue that. And what President Bush appeared to be doing last night was not only laying down a marker but essentially coming up with a casus belli, a justification, if you like, for war and military action against those three countries that he singled out. Europeans noting that no specific strategy or plan was detailed or outlined last night. And again, noting that they have had differences with the U.S. over how best to deal with North Korea, Iraq and Iran.
When it comes to North Korea, the Europeans have been very upset that the Bush administration broke off the diplomatic track back in the beginning of the Bush administration. Europeans sending its own top level delegation to try to jumpstart diplomatic negotiations with North Korea. And of course North Korea has had a moratorium now in place on testing long-range missiles.
On Iraq, both France and Russia have come out since September 11 saying they oppose military action. And indeed it appears that no consensus has yet emerged within the United States on how best to proceed and whether there is a plan for military action there. And on Iran, again very complicated. Iran has long been accused by the United States of supporting terrorism and pursuing weapons of mass destruction, but after September 11, there was some rapprochement. U.S. welcoming Iran's cooperation on the war on terror, it's sympathy, the sympathy shown by the people of Iran certainly, and its help in forming the post-Taliban government in Afghanistan.
But just recently, the U.S. has accused Iran of now trying to destabilize that government and, of course, accused Iran of being complicit in sending that ship load of weapons to the Palestinian Authority that was intercepted by the Israelis earlier on. So there's a lot of tension and conflict going on there.
It is assumed that the most likely and easiest target for military action would be Iraq while the most complicated and the most unlikely would be North Korea and Iran -- Carol.
COSTELLO: And I know we're -- I know we're speculating here, but has President Bush sort of backed himself into a corner by specifically naming these countries? Must the United States act in some way to deal with this even though our allies might not be with us?
AMANPOUR: Well not in terms of laying out a plan. And in terms of labeling these countries, these countries have been labeled by previous administrations. This is certainly a ratcheting up of the rhetoric. It's certainly saying in the strongest terms that the United States will not wait and will not wait for any further action or rather attack on its soil to take action. But it, as yet, has not laid out a specific plan on how it plans to pursue containing those three countries, whether by a combination of diplomatic sanctions and/or military. So that's what the allies will be looking at very closely.
But certainly, the U.S. knows and the allies have long been clear on the fact that they have been fairly sort of unsettled on how to pursue the second phase of this war on terrorism. And this is what President Bush appeared to be outlining last night, the expansion of the mission and the desire to move ahead with that second phase.
COSTELLO: And it doesn't seem likely right now that any of those countries named will change their policies because of what President Bush said last night.
AMANPOUR: Well you know people differ on what North Korea is up to, for instance. There are a lot of experts and former government officials who believe that the combination of carrot stick negotiations that the previous Clinton administration pursued did bear quite significant fruit. And of course this issue of the North Koreans having instituted a moratorium on long-range missile testing was not mentioned in the speech last night.
On Iraq, it's much more complicated because the allies are fully aware of Iraq not falling within the confines of the Security Council resolutions and the worry about where Iraq is headed next. Arab allies are also worried. So that is an issue.
On Iran again, much, much more complicated because of accusations the U.S. has made, not just the familiar accusations, but also specific allegations of Iran being involved in attacks on the U.S., personnel, for instance, in Khobar back in Saudi Arabia.
And on the other hand, this Iranian sort of attempt to help and cooperate over the last few months in the war on terror, plus in Iran a very difficult domestic political dynamic with the president and the majority of the people supporting rapprochement with the United States while a small, as Mr. Bush said, un-elected minority pursuing its own foreign policy and pursuing -- and not allowing a rapprochement at this state with the United States.
COSTELLO: It's a lot for us to think about this morning. Thank you. Christiane Amanpour reporting live for us from London this morning.
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