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CNN Live At Daybreak

What's on Tap for D.C. Today?

Aired August 09, 2002 - 06:09   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We want to head to Washington now to see what's on tap for later today, so we've torn our Washington bureau producer away from his early work.
Paul Courson joins us live now.

Good morning -- Paul.

PAUL COURSON, CNN WASHINGTON BUREAU PRODUCER: Good morning, Carol, happy Friday.

COSTELLO: Happy Friday to you too. Boy, you guys must be digging, because there's no one in Washington and really not much happening.

COURSON: Well, we do have a Pentagon briefing scheduled for today. That was set for late last night.

We also have two international diplomatic delegations who continue to make the rounds today. There is an Iraqi opposition group. Actually, it's about a half dozen groups who have been making the rounds.

And we also have Palestinian delegates who are in town. They'll have a meeting at the State Department today. Over at the State Department, the meetings will be with mid-level folks. The diplomats and the U.S. administration officials will be talking about a variety of points that were made yesterday.

They met yesterday with Secretary of State Powell, and the readout on those talks were described as good, in-depth and serious. The topics themselves included discussions on how to make progress on political, economic, humanitarian and security concerns in the Middle East. Powell had assured the group that the Bush administration is committed to doing everything possible to find a way forward.

Today, we'll probably first see the Palestinians arriving at the State Department for those mid-level diplomatic talks. They are scheduled at around 11:00 Eastern Time.

This afternoon, there is a 3:00 p.m. meeting at the State Department. That's among Iraqi opposition leaders and mid-level diplomatic officials there.

COSTELLO: Tell us about those opposition groups. Who is in the opposition groups from Iraq? COURSON: It's quite a variety. They haven't necessarily gotten along well together among themselves in years past, but they seem to be brought together by a common aim of affecting a change of power in Iraq.

Yesterday, one of them said that the Iraqi speech yesterday by Saddam Hussein was something that should illustrate for the U.S. the reason why there needs to be a change.

We didn't get any reaction yesterday from Pentagon officials, just kind of a background type of quote from the White House saying, this is the same speech we've heard before, and the U.S. has stated to the Iraqi opposition people that, you know, we're ready to move ahead somehow or the other...

COSTELLO: Well...

COURSON: ... to bring about a change of power.

One thing that's interesting is one of the Iraqi delegates yesterday was quoted as saying that if the U.S. moves ahead somehow trying to get rid of Saddam Hussein, they're ready, that the military would start to defect, and that the civilian population would begin to defect -- or to support any U.S. action over there to help get rid of Saddam.

COSTELLO: Is there a sense those in Washington believe that?

COURSON: Well, they would count on such support from the population if they were to move into the region, but a lot of these talks take place behind closed doors, and it's not really visible, so we don't show our hand to Saddam.

We will possibly get some questions and some insight today from the Pentagon. They will have Defense Secretary Rumsfeld and the chairman of the Joint of Chiefs of Staff, Air Force General Richard Myers. I'm sure they'll be taking some questions about Iraq, and also possibly about the situation in Afghanistan as of this week.

We had two or three gun battles between U.S. Special Forces and other ground troops over there. That's a little bit more than the typical week, as they continue to try to close in on al Qaeda holdouts, little pockets of resistance that they have had. We might get an update as to whether they are regrouping or perhaps the al Qaeda is finding themselves consolidating and perhaps ready to make another challenge of some kind.

COSTELLO: And those Pentagon briefings are always entertaining, too, aren't they?

COURSON: Yes, let me give you the time on that, too. That will be at 1:45, a quarter of 2:00 Eastern Time.

COSTELLO: OK. And I suppose we'll be carrying that live.

COURSON: Oh, yes, but of course. COSTELLO: OK.

COURSON: Traffic report, you know, from your time here in Washington, you remember 17th Street and how it's such an inbound traffic jam to get past the, what used to be called the Old Executive Office Building?

COSTELLO: That whole area is awful.

COURSON: Well, right now as we speak, starting at 6:00, White House security has blocked parking at the cub along 17th Street as a security measure. That might actually make traffic better. But the idea is to keep parked trucks or parked cars from that curb lane next to what's now called the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. A lot of White House staff have office...

COSTELLO: So why are they doing that now?

COURSON: Well, it's one of those measures that's not triggered by anything in particular, but they looked at the situation, and said, hmm, we probably shouldn't ought to -- shouldn't have cars and trucks parked at the curb there. So now, no stopping, no standing, keep them moving.

COSTELLO: Those poor drivers in Washington. Thank you, Paul Courson, for joining us.

COURSON: Take care.

COSTELLO: Bye-bye.

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