Return to Transcripts main page

Live From...

Bush Administration Continues Get-Tough Policy

Aired January 24, 2003 - 13:05   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: Who is ready to rumble?
The Bush administration is making lists now, which -- the allies who will go along with the U.S.'s get-tough policy toward Iraq, and which will not, at least not yet.

Meanwhile, the White House continues to talk tough. Our White House correspondent, Dana Bash, is there -- hi, Dana.

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, today marks the end of a week where you saw a massive P.R. campaign coming from the Bush administration talking about the fact that -- trying to disabuse the world of the fact that you need a smoking gun, which is the term that we've heard a lot, a smoking gun in order to show that Saddam Hussein is not complying with weapons inspections.

The White House is trying to say that instead of a smoking gun, what they're really trying to do is point out the fact that Resolution 1441 calls for very specific things, and that is for Saddam Hussein -- one of those things is for Saddam Hussein to disarm. Another one of those things is for Saddam Hussein to allow his scientists to be interviewed by U.N. weapons inspectors and perhaps even outside the country.

Now, today, an Iraqi official said that Iraqi scientists simply don't want to leave the country. They're not interested in being interviewed. And the White House today called that laughable, and said that it is unacceptable.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARI FLEISCHER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: In a totalitarian police state like Iraq, that's laughable. There's no credibility to that. Saddam Hussein has called the inspectors spies. In Iraq, if the president of Iraq, who does not exactly have a history of being a peaceful man toward those who have any dissent toward his opinions, calls the inspectors spies, he's sending a very powerful message to his scientists. Don't meet with them, because if you meet with spies, you know the history of what has happened to people who defy my will.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Now, meanwhile, the White House is contemplating how to deal with the reluctant allies, allies, that have become more vocally reluctant as the week has progressed about -- the allies want to have these inspections continue. You just heard, Kyra -- you said that Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the IAEA, also will say next week that he wants the inspections to continue. The White House is trying to -- they have a delicate dance here, and they're trying to say that they believe that time has run out for Saddam Hussein. But they won't say that they have a specific timetable in mind, and they leave the door open for perhaps letting the inspections continue next week. But it all will kind of come down to what happens on Monday, when that final report is presented to the U.N. -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Dana Bash, live from the White House. Thank you.

Just a weekend away now, that report by the U.N. weapons inspectors. On Monday, they'll tell the Security Council what they have and have not found during two months of searching Iraq for weapons of mass destruction. The inspectors returned today to a site south of Baghdad they visited a dozen times before.

CNN's Nic Robertson live now from the Iraqi capital -- hi, Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Kyra. Well, very interesting, Mohammed ElBaradei saying he would give Iraq a "B" grade. That's pretty much what, the same assessment that the National Monitoring Directorate, who deal with the U.N. inspectors here, say they expect to get from the U.N. next Monday. They say they think their report card will be, as they say, gray.

Nevertheless, the country is preparing, it appears, for the possibility of war. President Saddam Hussein's son, Uday Hussam (sic) Hussein, appearing on television here in a speech that lasted about 38 minutes, he talked about how he thought the United States would ultimately end up around the negotiating table with Iraq. That because Iraq is strong, because, as he said, Iraq is the most stable regime in the region. He did, however, have a very stark warning for the United States.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UDAY HUSSEIN, SON OF SADDAM HUSSEIN (through translator): If they come, what they cried about on September 11 and what they saw as a big thing will seem like a picnic to them. A real picnic. They will be hurt, and they will pay an unimaginable price.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: Now, Uday Saddam Hussein also said that he believed the United States was only interested in Iraq's oil, and he said if that's all it was, then defining a deal to work that out and avoiding the bloodshed would be easy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HUSSEIN (through translator): They can get much out of Iraq, and even more than that, without resorting to the language of force and war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: But other indications here also of preparations. The ruling Revolutionary Command Council here passing a decree, one of the laws under that new decree saying that anyone who commits an armed robbery during a time of war will face the death penalty. Anyone who falsifies their military identification papers, trying to dodge the draft, will face 10 to 15 years in jail. And from the imams, the religious leaders in the mosques today -- also, this a day of prayer, a day when the faithful go to the mosques to get spiritual guidance, the guidance they got here today was not to be tolerant -- not to trust the U.N. inspectors, who many of the imams here accuse of violating a mosque earlier in the week -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Nic Robertson, live from Baghdad, thank you.

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 January 24, 2003 - 13:05   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Who is ready to rumble?
The Bush administration is making lists now, which -- the allies who will go along with the U.S.'s get-tough policy toward Iraq, and which will not, at least not yet.

Meanwhile, the White House continues to talk tough. Our White House correspondent, Dana Bash, is there -- hi, Dana.

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, today marks the end of a week where you saw a massive P.R. campaign coming from the Bush administration talking about the fact that -- trying to disabuse the world of the fact that you need a smoking gun, which is the term that we've heard a lot, a smoking gun in order to show that Saddam Hussein is not complying with weapons inspections.

The White House is trying to say that instead of a smoking gun, what they're really trying to do is point out the fact that Resolution 1441 calls for very specific things, and that is for Saddam Hussein -- one of those things is for Saddam Hussein to disarm. Another one of those things is for Saddam Hussein to allow his scientists to be interviewed by U.N. weapons inspectors and perhaps even outside the country.

Now, today, an Iraqi official said that Iraqi scientists simply don't want to leave the country. They're not interested in being interviewed. And the White House today called that laughable, and said that it is unacceptable.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARI FLEISCHER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: In a totalitarian police state like Iraq, that's laughable. There's no credibility to that. Saddam Hussein has called the inspectors spies. In Iraq, if the president of Iraq, who does not exactly have a history of being a peaceful man toward those who have any dissent toward his opinions, calls the inspectors spies, he's sending a very powerful message to his scientists. Don't meet with them, because if you meet with spies, you know the history of what has happened to people who defy my will.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Now, meanwhile, the White House is contemplating how to deal with the reluctant allies, allies, that have become more vocally reluctant as the week has progressed about -- the allies want to have these inspections continue. You just heard, Kyra -- you said that Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the IAEA, also will say next week that he wants the inspections to continue. The White House is trying to -- they have a delicate dance here, and they're trying to say that they believe that time has run out for Saddam Hussein. But they won't say that they have a specific timetable in mind, and they leave the door open for perhaps letting the inspections continue next week. But it all will kind of come down to what happens on Monday, when that final report is presented to the U.N. -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Dana Bash, live from the White House. Thank you.

Just a weekend away now, that report by the U.N. weapons inspectors. On Monday, they'll tell the Security Council what they have and have not found during two months of searching Iraq for weapons of mass destruction. The inspectors returned today to a site south of Baghdad they visited a dozen times before.

CNN's Nic Robertson live now from the Iraqi capital -- hi, Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Kyra. Well, very interesting, Mohammed ElBaradei saying he would give Iraq a "B" grade. That's pretty much what, the same assessment that the National Monitoring Directorate, who deal with the U.N. inspectors here, say they expect to get from the U.N. next Monday. They say they think their report card will be, as they say, gray.

Nevertheless, the country is preparing, it appears, for the possibility of war. President Saddam Hussein's son, Uday Hussam (sic) Hussein, appearing on television here in a speech that lasted about 38 minutes, he talked about how he thought the United States would ultimately end up around the negotiating table with Iraq. That because Iraq is strong, because, as he said, Iraq is the most stable regime in the region. He did, however, have a very stark warning for the United States.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UDAY HUSSEIN, SON OF SADDAM HUSSEIN (through translator): If they come, what they cried about on September 11 and what they saw as a big thing will seem like a picnic to them. A real picnic. They will be hurt, and they will pay an unimaginable price.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: Now, Uday Saddam Hussein also said that he believed the United States was only interested in Iraq's oil, and he said if that's all it was, then defining a deal to work that out and avoiding the bloodshed would be easy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HUSSEIN (through translator): They can get much out of Iraq, and even more than that, without resorting to the language of force and war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: But other indications here also of preparations. The ruling Revolutionary Command Council here passing a decree, one of the laws under that new decree saying that anyone who commits an armed robbery during a time of war will face the death penalty. Anyone who falsifies their military identification papers, trying to dodge the draft, will face 10 to 15 years in jail. And from the imams, the religious leaders in the mosques today -- also, this a day of prayer, a day when the faithful go to the mosques to get spiritual guidance, the guidance they got here today was not to be tolerant -- not to trust the U.N. inspectors, who many of the imams here accuse of violating a mosque earlier in the week -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Nic Robertson, live from Baghdad, thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com