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Bush Promoting Unified Front
Aired September 26, 2002 - 14:03 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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush is trying to ease a partisan war brewing in Congress. He is asking lawmakers to speak with one voice against Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
CNN's Suzanne Malveaux is live from the White House with more -- Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, the president really extending an olive branch to Congress. It was early this morning that he met with House members, Republicans and Democrats, here at the White House to really stress, to push for a top Congressional resolution, rather, holding Saddam Hussein accountable, giving him the authorization to use military force to go against the Iraqi leader.
The president also praising Republicans and Democrats for taking a strong stand against -- against Saddam Hussein, the president earlier expressing some frustration with the Senate for not passing his version of the homeland security bill, but again also saying that not all senators were to blame. The Bush administration clearly trying to present, today, a united front.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Each passing day could be the one on which the Iraqi regime gives anthrax, or VX nerve gas, or someday, a nuclear weapon to a terrorist ally.
We refuse to live in this future of fear. Democrats and Republicans refuse to live in a future of fear. We are determined to build a future of security. All of us long for peace. Peace for ourselves, peace for the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Now, early, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle had called for an apology from the president for politicizing the issue of Iraq, talking to Daschle folks, they say they simply want to move on now. The White House saying this was not an apology, but simply a way to bring the sides together.
These Republicans, as well as Democrats from the House, really big supporters of trying to get that Congressional resolution passed as quickly as possible, some Democrats coming out of the meeting today, saying that clearly they want to put this whole flap behind them, that they feel that the president's comments were taken out of context. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ROB ANDREWS (D), NEW JERSEY: ... the president's remarks yesterday were misinterpreted in the media, if I may say so. I think that he was sandbagged a bit by the way they were reported originally. Second, I think actions mean more than words, and there were some -- there was discomfort about the words that we heard yesterday. We are less interested in discomfort than we are action.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: So both sides sounding rather optimistic. They will be able to get a congressional resolution, really, an agreement sometime in the next week or so.
Also, interesting enough, Kyra, is what the president said about the U.N. Security Council resolution, saying that it would cause -- it would, rather, call for Iraq to disarm, or otherwise face the consequences. He did not call for regime change, really an indication, perhaps, of the language that will be used in that resolution.
This is really something that is much more palatable to the other permanent members of U.N. Security Council, calling for disarmament, the focus on that rather than regime change, but that is something that we may actually see in the weeks to come -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Suzanne Malveaux at the White House, thank you.
Just a few moments ago, the Pentagon filled us in on the reported relationship between al Qaeda and Iraq. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was grilled about the alleged connection during the Pentagon briefing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: We have what we consider to be a very reliable reporting of senior level contacts, going back a decade, and of possible chemical and biological agent training. When I say contacts, I mean between Iraq and al Qaeda.
The reports of these contacts have been increasing since 1998. We have what we believe to be credible information that Iraq and al Qaeda have discussed safe haven opportunities in Iraq.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Our national security correspondent, David Ensor, is working his sources about this possible link. He joins us live from Capitol Hill, where he is monitoring the Joint Intelligence hearing on 9/11 -- so, David, there seems to be some type of confusion here.
As I was listening to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld also about this link between Iraq and al Qaeda, is this old information, new information -- what are your sources telling you? DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: It is a mixture, Kyra. There has been longstanding information that suggested that some senior al Qaeda and relatively senior Iraqi officials might have met in the past decade or so.
There has been -- obviously, this is an issue that the U.S. intelligence community is following very, very closely at this point, but it is new news to us, at least, that they are now saying that some members of al Qaeda may have been harbored in or around Baghdad since the operation in Afghanistan. That is new.
It is also new that -- as Secretary Rumsfeld just said, in that bit that you ran, that there has been a discussion about safe haven for al Qaeda individuals, and a discussion about a nonaggression pact of some sort.
So they are giving us, now, a little bit more of why -- why the Bush administration is suspicious that there may be a link. However, senior U.S. officials do stress to me -- they are not finding evidence, yet, that al Qaeda has conducted terrorism on behalf of Iraq, or that Iraq was in any way involved in 9/11, or any of the other terrorist acts by al Qaeda.
Just evidence that the two sides are talking, that there may have been some help in the form of -- well, at least, there is one detainee suggesting that some al Qaeda people might have gotten some chem/bio training in Iraq -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, David. Meanwhile, you are monitoring the Joint Intelligence hearings there on 9/11. What's the latest?
ENSOR: Well, we have just heard from two senior -- one CIA, one FBI official talking about 9/11, what did they know, when did they know it, how much did they tell to each other. They tried to present a unified picture that they were doing the best they could, that they didn't always have the resources they needed.
However, at least one senator grilled the CIA official on why -- when the CIA knew that these two -- the two hijackers, Almihdhar and Alhazmi, that at least one of them had a visa for the United States, and knew that one of them had entered the United States. Why that information wasn't communicated to the FBI. Cofer Black, the former head of counterterrorism admitted it had not happened. Then, the senator grilled Dale Watson, the outgoing head of counterterrorism at the FBI, and got him to concede that they hadn't done enough either. So there are -- there were problems, there were mistakes made. At the same time, these two individuals defending their agencies as having done the very best they could, with the resources they had prior to 9/11 -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. David Ensor, thank you so much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired September 26, 2002 - 14:03 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush is trying to ease a partisan war brewing in Congress. He is asking lawmakers to speak with one voice against Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
CNN's Suzanne Malveaux is live from the White House with more -- Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, the president really extending an olive branch to Congress. It was early this morning that he met with House members, Republicans and Democrats, here at the White House to really stress, to push for a top Congressional resolution, rather, holding Saddam Hussein accountable, giving him the authorization to use military force to go against the Iraqi leader.
The president also praising Republicans and Democrats for taking a strong stand against -- against Saddam Hussein, the president earlier expressing some frustration with the Senate for not passing his version of the homeland security bill, but again also saying that not all senators were to blame. The Bush administration clearly trying to present, today, a united front.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Each passing day could be the one on which the Iraqi regime gives anthrax, or VX nerve gas, or someday, a nuclear weapon to a terrorist ally.
We refuse to live in this future of fear. Democrats and Republicans refuse to live in a future of fear. We are determined to build a future of security. All of us long for peace. Peace for ourselves, peace for the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Now, early, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle had called for an apology from the president for politicizing the issue of Iraq, talking to Daschle folks, they say they simply want to move on now. The White House saying this was not an apology, but simply a way to bring the sides together.
These Republicans, as well as Democrats from the House, really big supporters of trying to get that Congressional resolution passed as quickly as possible, some Democrats coming out of the meeting today, saying that clearly they want to put this whole flap behind them, that they feel that the president's comments were taken out of context. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ROB ANDREWS (D), NEW JERSEY: ... the president's remarks yesterday were misinterpreted in the media, if I may say so. I think that he was sandbagged a bit by the way they were reported originally. Second, I think actions mean more than words, and there were some -- there was discomfort about the words that we heard yesterday. We are less interested in discomfort than we are action.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: So both sides sounding rather optimistic. They will be able to get a congressional resolution, really, an agreement sometime in the next week or so.
Also, interesting enough, Kyra, is what the president said about the U.N. Security Council resolution, saying that it would cause -- it would, rather, call for Iraq to disarm, or otherwise face the consequences. He did not call for regime change, really an indication, perhaps, of the language that will be used in that resolution.
This is really something that is much more palatable to the other permanent members of U.N. Security Council, calling for disarmament, the focus on that rather than regime change, but that is something that we may actually see in the weeks to come -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Suzanne Malveaux at the White House, thank you.
Just a few moments ago, the Pentagon filled us in on the reported relationship between al Qaeda and Iraq. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was grilled about the alleged connection during the Pentagon briefing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: We have what we consider to be a very reliable reporting of senior level contacts, going back a decade, and of possible chemical and biological agent training. When I say contacts, I mean between Iraq and al Qaeda.
The reports of these contacts have been increasing since 1998. We have what we believe to be credible information that Iraq and al Qaeda have discussed safe haven opportunities in Iraq.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Our national security correspondent, David Ensor, is working his sources about this possible link. He joins us live from Capitol Hill, where he is monitoring the Joint Intelligence hearing on 9/11 -- so, David, there seems to be some type of confusion here.
As I was listening to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld also about this link between Iraq and al Qaeda, is this old information, new information -- what are your sources telling you? DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: It is a mixture, Kyra. There has been longstanding information that suggested that some senior al Qaeda and relatively senior Iraqi officials might have met in the past decade or so.
There has been -- obviously, this is an issue that the U.S. intelligence community is following very, very closely at this point, but it is new news to us, at least, that they are now saying that some members of al Qaeda may have been harbored in or around Baghdad since the operation in Afghanistan. That is new.
It is also new that -- as Secretary Rumsfeld just said, in that bit that you ran, that there has been a discussion about safe haven for al Qaeda individuals, and a discussion about a nonaggression pact of some sort.
So they are giving us, now, a little bit more of why -- why the Bush administration is suspicious that there may be a link. However, senior U.S. officials do stress to me -- they are not finding evidence, yet, that al Qaeda has conducted terrorism on behalf of Iraq, or that Iraq was in any way involved in 9/11, or any of the other terrorist acts by al Qaeda.
Just evidence that the two sides are talking, that there may have been some help in the form of -- well, at least, there is one detainee suggesting that some al Qaeda people might have gotten some chem/bio training in Iraq -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, David. Meanwhile, you are monitoring the Joint Intelligence hearings there on 9/11. What's the latest?
ENSOR: Well, we have just heard from two senior -- one CIA, one FBI official talking about 9/11, what did they know, when did they know it, how much did they tell to each other. They tried to present a unified picture that they were doing the best they could, that they didn't always have the resources they needed.
However, at least one senator grilled the CIA official on why -- when the CIA knew that these two -- the two hijackers, Almihdhar and Alhazmi, that at least one of them had a visa for the United States, and knew that one of them had entered the United States. Why that information wasn't communicated to the FBI. Cofer Black, the former head of counterterrorism admitted it had not happened. Then, the senator grilled Dale Watson, the outgoing head of counterterrorism at the FBI, and got him to concede that they hadn't done enough either. So there are -- there were problems, there were mistakes made. At the same time, these two individuals defending their agencies as having done the very best they could, with the resources they had prior to 9/11 -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. David Ensor, thank you so much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
