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White House Continues to Make Accusations Against Iraq, Allies in Case of War
Aired December 05, 2002 - 13:02 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: Now, here's the very latest with regard to the development in the showdown with Iraq.
The White House says it has solid information supporting its charge that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction. President Bush tells reporters Iraq must disarm for the sake of peace.
In Baghdad, President Saddam Hussein says the current round of weapons inspections will prove the United States is wrong.
Inspections were halted today and none is expected tomorrow out of respect for Iraqi Muslims marking the end of Ramadan.
Now as we said, the White House is saying its charges against Iraq are based on solid information. Just this week, President Bush, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Colin Powell all have accused Iraq of hiding weapons of mass destruction.
And all this comes as Iraq faces a deadline to give a list of its armaments to the U.N. Security Council.
We'll start at the White House and CNN's Suzanne Malveaux.
Hi, Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra.
Really, today is about building allies and listing allies for the war on terror. President Bush earlier today meeting with two African leaders, president of Kenya, Daniel arap Moi, as well as the prime minister of Ethiopia, Zenawi. Really, the focus of those discussions not only on regional issues, but the war of terror, on Iraq.
There's a great deal of concern with the recent terrorist attacks in Kenya that it's not only become a target for terrorists but also a home, particularly for al Qaeda sympathizers.
The two leaders discussing ways to work together to share intelligence, as well as resources, to crack down in that area.
President Bush also taking the opportunity to say, yes, the United States has the backing of the world, the United Nations as well as NATO, and saying that terror is a global problem.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The war on terror is global in nature and that if the terrorists could strike in Kenya, they could strike in Ethiopia, they could strike in Europe and that we must continue this war to hunt these killers down one at a time to bring them to justice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Now, the White House argues that Saddam Hussein, Iraq has weapons of mass destruction and it has been making that case for some time, White House spokesperson Ari Fleischer using strong words today, saying that the president, as well as the defense secretary, have a solid basis for making those claims.
And I'm quoting here. Fleischer saying, "the president of the United States and the secretary of defense would not assert as plainly and vocally as they have that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction if it were not true and they did not have a solid basis for saying it."
Now, that basis -- when pressed, Ari said that it was based on U.S. Intelligence, but that is intelligence that the administration is not willing to share with us at this time.
PHILLIPS: Suzanne, what's the talk? Is there a possibility these inspections could end very soon?
MALVEAUX: Well, what the talk is, is that they suspect they're going to get hundreds and hundreds of pages on Saturday, this Iraqi declaration on what they claim they have, what kind of weapons program.
After that they're going to take a look at it for four or five days and figure out exactly what they have, if it squares with what the U.S. intelligence is saying.
And then they anticipate it will take anywhere from three to four weeks for inspectors to go back in and specifically look at those sites that U.S. intelligence points to that says, "Hey, we think that you have weapons of mass destruction here."
There is very much a debate going on behind the scenes here in terms of what happens then. Do you push the weapon inspectors more or do you just pull them out and say, "Yes, we're going to base this on our intelligence and use military force to disarm Saddam Hussein, based on what we have?"
PHILLIPS: All right. Live from the White House, Suzanne Malveaux. Thanks, Suzanne.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Allies in Case of War>
Aired December 5, 2002 - 13:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Now, here's the very latest with regard to the development in the showdown with Iraq.
The White House says it has solid information supporting its charge that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction. President Bush tells reporters Iraq must disarm for the sake of peace.
In Baghdad, President Saddam Hussein says the current round of weapons inspections will prove the United States is wrong.
Inspections were halted today and none is expected tomorrow out of respect for Iraqi Muslims marking the end of Ramadan.
Now as we said, the White House is saying its charges against Iraq are based on solid information. Just this week, President Bush, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Colin Powell all have accused Iraq of hiding weapons of mass destruction.
And all this comes as Iraq faces a deadline to give a list of its armaments to the U.N. Security Council.
We'll start at the White House and CNN's Suzanne Malveaux.
Hi, Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra.
Really, today is about building allies and listing allies for the war on terror. President Bush earlier today meeting with two African leaders, president of Kenya, Daniel arap Moi, as well as the prime minister of Ethiopia, Zenawi. Really, the focus of those discussions not only on regional issues, but the war of terror, on Iraq.
There's a great deal of concern with the recent terrorist attacks in Kenya that it's not only become a target for terrorists but also a home, particularly for al Qaeda sympathizers.
The two leaders discussing ways to work together to share intelligence, as well as resources, to crack down in that area.
President Bush also taking the opportunity to say, yes, the United States has the backing of the world, the United Nations as well as NATO, and saying that terror is a global problem.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The war on terror is global in nature and that if the terrorists could strike in Kenya, they could strike in Ethiopia, they could strike in Europe and that we must continue this war to hunt these killers down one at a time to bring them to justice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Now, the White House argues that Saddam Hussein, Iraq has weapons of mass destruction and it has been making that case for some time, White House spokesperson Ari Fleischer using strong words today, saying that the president, as well as the defense secretary, have a solid basis for making those claims.
And I'm quoting here. Fleischer saying, "the president of the United States and the secretary of defense would not assert as plainly and vocally as they have that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction if it were not true and they did not have a solid basis for saying it."
Now, that basis -- when pressed, Ari said that it was based on U.S. Intelligence, but that is intelligence that the administration is not willing to share with us at this time.
PHILLIPS: Suzanne, what's the talk? Is there a possibility these inspections could end very soon?
MALVEAUX: Well, what the talk is, is that they suspect they're going to get hundreds and hundreds of pages on Saturday, this Iraqi declaration on what they claim they have, what kind of weapons program.
After that they're going to take a look at it for four or five days and figure out exactly what they have, if it squares with what the U.S. intelligence is saying.
And then they anticipate it will take anywhere from three to four weeks for inspectors to go back in and specifically look at those sites that U.S. intelligence points to that says, "Hey, we think that you have weapons of mass destruction here."
There is very much a debate going on behind the scenes here in terms of what happens then. Do you push the weapon inspectors more or do you just pull them out and say, "Yes, we're going to base this on our intelligence and use military force to disarm Saddam Hussein, based on what we have?"
PHILLIPS: All right. Live from the White House, Suzanne Malveaux. Thanks, Suzanne.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Allies in Case of War>
