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Afghan President Escapes Assassination; Bush Drums Up Iraq War

Aired September 05, 2002 - 14:02   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Now, we take you live -- the scenes of violence in Afghanistan today: horrible images of death in Kandahar as Afghan's president escapes an assassination attempt. It's a story that we have been talking about all morning.
Just a warning, though, we will be showing some pictures of this assassination attempt. They are graphic.

And in Kabul, a pair of deadly explosions that reportedly killed and wounded dozens of other people. We are working both of these stories.

We are going to begin with CNN's Christiane Amanpour. She's live from Kabul with the latest from there.

Christiane, what can you tell us?

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, let's first start out by saying that Hamid Karzai, the president of Afghanistan, survived that assassination attempt and he was unhurt. According to the United States, and not according to officials here, he is being airlifted back from Kandahar to Kabul. He was in Kandahar to attend his brother's wedding. At the same time, he went to see the governor of Kandahar as they were both coming out of the governor's palace. According to eyewitnesses, according to the government here, a man in uniform fired a gun. One of Karzai's Afghan bodyguards sprung into action, fired back. He was killed. The gunman was killed. American Special Forces also guarding Karzai leapt into action; they got him into a car and sped him off. Apparently, two bullets did hit the car, but no one was injured.

The governor of Kandahar is being treated by American medics at the U.S. military base at Kandahar Airport.

Now, this happened just a little while after a massive explosion rocked a very busy commercial area downtown Kabul. That happened earlier this afternoon. That was designed to cause a maximum number of casualties, and indeed, the casualties were heavy. There have been vastly conflicting numbers on the casualty count all afternoon. But certainly, more than 10 people were killed, according to all different authorities here. Perhaps as many as 20. And scores of people were wounded. They were ferried to three hospitals in Kabul itself.

We don't know exactly who is responsible, but the government here and some other security forces are blaming remnants of the al Qaeda and Taliban, saying that these people were out to show that they still have some kind of capability. This in the run-up of the anniversary of September 11. And also remember it is the anniversary, on the 9th of September, of the assassination of (UNINTELLIGIBLE), who is the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance leader, that assassination coming just two days before the attack in New York on September 11.

We have been hearing from intelligence officials here, both international officials, U.S. officials and also Afghan government officials, that we should be on alert to some kind of incident in these days leading up to those two anniversaries.

Back to you.

PHILLIPS: Christiane Amanpour, live in Kabul. Thanks, Christiane.

President Bush is keeping up with events in Afghanistan and Iraq from Kentucky and Indiana. In Louisville today for a fund-raising event, Mr. Bush was said to be relieved the Afghan leadership is safe.

CNN's John King is live from the White House with the latest on the hot spots that seem to be getting hotter all of the time.

John, why is this relationship so important between Hamid Karzai and President Bush?

JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, U.S. credibility, obviously, on the line here. Mr. Bush would remove the Taliban from power and help install a new and hopefully someday vibrant democracy in Afghanistan. Certainly, the United States has much at stake in the relationship of Hamid Karzai, U.S. officials saying that the president is relieved. He looks forward to seeing President Karzai. They are supposed to meet next week at the United Nations General Assembly up in New York.

U.S. officials are also wanting for more reports back from those U.S. Special Forces who are part of President Karzai's security detail; they want to find out exactly what happened. The United States, because of the sensitivity and the instability on the ground in Afghanistan, still providing support for the interim leader of that country. The State Department is supposed to take over that service pretty soon. Right now, though, it is U.S. Special Forces, and U.S. officials say their reports back are exactly consistent with what Christiane just said: Someone opened fire, an Afghan guard opened fire, on Mr. Karzai, and among those firing back were the U.S. Special Forces. U.S. officials say as they get assessments of what happened, they will decide whether they need to make any improvements or any adjustments to Karzai's security detail -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Meanwhile, John, the president is traveling the U.S. with these fund-raising events. But is this a chance for him to also gather support on Iraq, and will he address Iraq with these people?

KING: He did on the road earlier today. Mr. Bush, of course, had that key meeting with the members of Congress here at the White House yesterday. He wants support and appears to be getting support from Congress, although there are some questions. And the president today directly taking his case to the American people, saying that this country must now focus even as phase one -- we were just discussing Afghanistan -- of the war of terrorism proceeds. Mr. Bush says he will make the case to the Congress, to the American people, and to the world that Saddam Hussein presents as clear and present danger to the United States and its allies and must be dealt with now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We must anticipate problems before they occur. We must deal with threats to our security today before it can be too late. Yesterday, I announced to the country that I would be working closely with our United States Congress and the American people to explain the threat that Saddam Hussein poses to world peace.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Again, the president there making his case directly to the American people. He will meet with the British prime minister, Tony Blair, at Camp David, on Saturday. Those two leaders to compare notes as they try to convince skeptics elsewhere around the world about this tough posture, and the president, the defining moment, the administration says, will be next week when he goes up to the United Nations General Assembly. In a speech there, Mr. Bush will say the United Nations' very credibility is at risk if it continues to allow Saddam Hussein to ignore and defy his agreements with the United Nations to disarm -- those agreements made more than a decade ago, at the end of the Gulf War -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: John King, from the White House. Thanks, John.

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