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White House Not Overwhelmed by Blix Report

Aired January 27, 2003 - 14:10   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: And as you might expect, the inspectors' report didn't exactly overwhelm the Bush administration. At the White House, they're looking for all or nothing when it comes to Iraqi compliance.
Our White House correspondent, Dana Bash, standing by there -- hi, Dana.

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra. Well, that's exactly right. From the White House, we heard kind of what we anticipated. They really seized on the parts of Dr. Blix and Dr. ElBaradei's report that said that Iraq is not complying, listing the chemical and biological weapons that they believe that Iraq does have, or at least had at one time, that they are not showing proof that they got rid of, or that doesn't exist any more.

But as you heard from Mr. -- Ambassador Negroponte and from others at the White House, they are very circumspect when it comes to the question of time. At the U.N., they were very clear that the inspectors need a couple more months. That was from the report, and then key allies repeated that call for more time for the inspectors to go on. But here at the White House, they're saying that they want to be careful because they believe that Saddam Hussein is giving them the runaround.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARI FLEISCHER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: At the pace that Iraq is cooperating with the inspectors, it will take the inspectors another almost 300 years to find the remaining weapons that the United Nations said Saddam Hussein possesses, and this is why the inspectors are doing their best job, but the more time they get, the more they're getting the runaround from Saddam Hussein.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Now Fleischer also made the point that the president believes that the last option is going to war, that he hopes to avert war. But meantime, he spent the morning on the phone. He placed a call to the president of Spain. That is a country that the White House has listed as a potential member of the coalition of the willing if the U.N. does or does not get involved in military action, should the president deem it necessary.

For his part, the president is spending much of the day today working on the State of the Union address. He spent some time over the weekend practicing on a teleprompter. He will do so again today. The Democratic and Republican lawmakers are saying that they hope that the president lays out the case for why any kind of military action against Saddam Hussein will be necessary, that he hopes -- they hope that he gives some evidence. Aides are saying that the president will say that Saddam Hussein is a very real threat to America, and that the prospect for war is very real. Whether or not he will give very specific new evidence of the kind of threat Saddam Hussein poses, that's unclear. The White House is saying that some of that evidence could come in the days to come -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Dana Bash, live from the White House. 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 27, 2003 - 14:10   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: And as you might expect, the inspectors' report didn't exactly overwhelm the Bush administration. At the White House, they're looking for all or nothing when it comes to Iraqi compliance.
Our White House correspondent, Dana Bash, standing by there -- hi, Dana.

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra. Well, that's exactly right. From the White House, we heard kind of what we anticipated. They really seized on the parts of Dr. Blix and Dr. ElBaradei's report that said that Iraq is not complying, listing the chemical and biological weapons that they believe that Iraq does have, or at least had at one time, that they are not showing proof that they got rid of, or that doesn't exist any more.

But as you heard from Mr. -- Ambassador Negroponte and from others at the White House, they are very circumspect when it comes to the question of time. At the U.N., they were very clear that the inspectors need a couple more months. That was from the report, and then key allies repeated that call for more time for the inspectors to go on. But here at the White House, they're saying that they want to be careful because they believe that Saddam Hussein is giving them the runaround.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARI FLEISCHER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: At the pace that Iraq is cooperating with the inspectors, it will take the inspectors another almost 300 years to find the remaining weapons that the United Nations said Saddam Hussein possesses, and this is why the inspectors are doing their best job, but the more time they get, the more they're getting the runaround from Saddam Hussein.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Now Fleischer also made the point that the president believes that the last option is going to war, that he hopes to avert war. But meantime, he spent the morning on the phone. He placed a call to the president of Spain. That is a country that the White House has listed as a potential member of the coalition of the willing if the U.N. does or does not get involved in military action, should the president deem it necessary.

For his part, the president is spending much of the day today working on the State of the Union address. He spent some time over the weekend practicing on a teleprompter. He will do so again today. The Democratic and Republican lawmakers are saying that they hope that the president lays out the case for why any kind of military action against Saddam Hussein will be necessary, that he hopes -- they hope that he gives some evidence. Aides are saying that the president will say that Saddam Hussein is a very real threat to America, and that the prospect for war is very real. Whether or not he will give very specific new evidence of the kind of threat Saddam Hussein poses, that's unclear. The White House is saying that some of that evidence could come in the days to come -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Dana Bash, live from the White House. 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