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Bush Says Exile for Hussein Acceptable
Aired January 30, 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.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: And as he prepares to host his British ally, President Bush is holding meetings today with other potential backers of action against Iraq. This as eight European leaders have signed a letter supporting Mr. Bush's stance toward Baghdad, as we just heard from Christiane Amanpour.
That letter calls for Saddam Hussein to be disarmed, and says the best way to achieve that end is through a united front. The signatories are the leaders of Spain, Great Britain, Portugal, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Poland and Italy.
Now, a short time ago, the president hosted the Italian prime minister, and CNN's Dana Bash is standing by at the White House to tell us more about that -- Good afternoon, Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra (sic). Well the president is engaged in one last diplomatic push. And, like you said, one of the components of that push was a meeting today with the Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi. And at that meeting, he did thank him for signing the letter that you just referred to. He was one of the eight signators (ph) of the letter, and the president said that he was grateful, he appreciated it, and he said that it shows that there is solidarity in Europe for support for the U.S. position on disarming Iraq if there's a need to do that.
Now, the president also made it very clear that the diplomatic window in dealing with Saddam Hussein is very short, and he also said, for the first time -- we heard from him for the first time that one way to peacefully deal with Saddam Hussein could be for him to go into exile.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is a matter of weeks, not months. In other words, for the sake of peace, this issue must be resolved. Hopefully it can be done peacefully. Hopefully the pressure of the free world will convince Mr. Saddam Hussein to relinquish power, and should he choose to leave the country along with a lot of the other henchmen who have tortured the Iraqi people, we would welcome that, of course.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Now, the issue of exile is something that is being suggested by the Saudis, among others, and the Saudi foreign minister is going to come to the White House -- it is a busy day here at the White House -- he is going to be here in this hour, we believe. It is a closed meeting, no press will be invited in.
But the Saudi foreign minister, we do expect, will discuss the issue of exile. The Saudis and other members -- countries in the region are very concerned about what the impact of war there might be, so they have been trying to arrange some kind of plan to get Saddam Hussein and some of his generals, as President Bush just referred to, out of the country. The president said that might be a way to deal with it peacefully, but the White House is also making it very clear that they don't necessarily think that that might be a viable option, and they are making plans for other means.
And of course, those other means are many military means.
COLLINS: All right. Dana Bash, live from Washington and the White House -- thank you.
So, what do you think? We are going to get to that in just a moment.
We want to move first to this. Two of the president's top diplomats are briefing members of Congress on Iraq today. Other Iraq briefings have taken place in private, but this one is out in the open.
CNN's Jonathan Karl is among those listening in. Good afternoon to you, Jonathan.
JONATHAN KARL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Heidi. Those two top diplomats talking to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee right now are John Negroponte, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, and Richard Armitage, the deputy secretary of state. Both laying out the case against Iraq, and Armitage raising the stakes, raising the expectations for the presentation at the United Nations that Colin Powell will give next week, saying this will be a definitive case presented not just to the Security Council, but to the entire world. There you see Democrat Barbara Boxer, one of the many Democrats, asking some tough questions of these two top U.S. diplomats.
But an exchange that took place within the hour, Republican Voinovich of Ohio had a different line of attack. He was wondering why the U.S. feels the need -- or why members of the U.N. Security Council believe they need to see evidence that Saddam Hussein has banned weapons. His understanding of the U.N. Security Council resolution that passed last December -- or last November, I mean, was that it was up to Iraq to prove evidence that they had eliminated the weapons. Listen to this exchange.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. GEORGE VOINOVICH (R), OHIO: Are they asking for it because they need public relations with the people back in their country, or is it because of -- they just don't want to face up to the responsibility that we may have to do use force to get the job done?
RICHARD ARMITAGE, DEPUTY SECRETARY OF STATE: Some want to evade responsibility, some don't want to step up and lead, and I don't know how we got in this situation of having to have the -- quote -- "smoking gun." There was no smoking gun reference in 1441. It was accepted that he had evaded, obfuscated, confused the possession of these weapons for 12 years.
So it was up to him to disarm, but somehow as we move forward, we've gotten into the question of, You've got to make the case. And we've gotten perverted here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KARL: Tough words there from Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage. 1441, he's obviously talking there about that U.N. Security Council resolution that passed on November 7 and saying that it's really up to Saddam Hussein to provide the proof, and he also said something you heard right out from the president, which is, this is a matter of weeks, not months. A matter of weeks until all diplomatic measures have been exhausted, until the inspectors run out of time, and it is time for further action -- military action -- Heidi.
COLLINS: All right. Jonathan Karl, 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 30, 2003 - 13:05 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: And as he prepares to host his British ally, President Bush is holding meetings today with other potential backers of action against Iraq. This as eight European leaders have signed a letter supporting Mr. Bush's stance toward Baghdad, as we just heard from Christiane Amanpour.
That letter calls for Saddam Hussein to be disarmed, and says the best way to achieve that end is through a united front. The signatories are the leaders of Spain, Great Britain, Portugal, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Poland and Italy.
Now, a short time ago, the president hosted the Italian prime minister, and CNN's Dana Bash is standing by at the White House to tell us more about that -- Good afternoon, Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra (sic). Well the president is engaged in one last diplomatic push. And, like you said, one of the components of that push was a meeting today with the Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi. And at that meeting, he did thank him for signing the letter that you just referred to. He was one of the eight signators (ph) of the letter, and the president said that he was grateful, he appreciated it, and he said that it shows that there is solidarity in Europe for support for the U.S. position on disarming Iraq if there's a need to do that.
Now, the president also made it very clear that the diplomatic window in dealing with Saddam Hussein is very short, and he also said, for the first time -- we heard from him for the first time that one way to peacefully deal with Saddam Hussein could be for him to go into exile.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is a matter of weeks, not months. In other words, for the sake of peace, this issue must be resolved. Hopefully it can be done peacefully. Hopefully the pressure of the free world will convince Mr. Saddam Hussein to relinquish power, and should he choose to leave the country along with a lot of the other henchmen who have tortured the Iraqi people, we would welcome that, of course.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Now, the issue of exile is something that is being suggested by the Saudis, among others, and the Saudi foreign minister is going to come to the White House -- it is a busy day here at the White House -- he is going to be here in this hour, we believe. It is a closed meeting, no press will be invited in.
But the Saudi foreign minister, we do expect, will discuss the issue of exile. The Saudis and other members -- countries in the region are very concerned about what the impact of war there might be, so they have been trying to arrange some kind of plan to get Saddam Hussein and some of his generals, as President Bush just referred to, out of the country. The president said that might be a way to deal with it peacefully, but the White House is also making it very clear that they don't necessarily think that that might be a viable option, and they are making plans for other means.
And of course, those other means are many military means.
COLLINS: All right. Dana Bash, live from Washington and the White House -- thank you.
So, what do you think? We are going to get to that in just a moment.
We want to move first to this. Two of the president's top diplomats are briefing members of Congress on Iraq today. Other Iraq briefings have taken place in private, but this one is out in the open.
CNN's Jonathan Karl is among those listening in. Good afternoon to you, Jonathan.
JONATHAN KARL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Heidi. Those two top diplomats talking to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee right now are John Negroponte, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, and Richard Armitage, the deputy secretary of state. Both laying out the case against Iraq, and Armitage raising the stakes, raising the expectations for the presentation at the United Nations that Colin Powell will give next week, saying this will be a definitive case presented not just to the Security Council, but to the entire world. There you see Democrat Barbara Boxer, one of the many Democrats, asking some tough questions of these two top U.S. diplomats.
But an exchange that took place within the hour, Republican Voinovich of Ohio had a different line of attack. He was wondering why the U.S. feels the need -- or why members of the U.N. Security Council believe they need to see evidence that Saddam Hussein has banned weapons. His understanding of the U.N. Security Council resolution that passed last December -- or last November, I mean, was that it was up to Iraq to prove evidence that they had eliminated the weapons. Listen to this exchange.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. GEORGE VOINOVICH (R), OHIO: Are they asking for it because they need public relations with the people back in their country, or is it because of -- they just don't want to face up to the responsibility that we may have to do use force to get the job done?
RICHARD ARMITAGE, DEPUTY SECRETARY OF STATE: Some want to evade responsibility, some don't want to step up and lead, and I don't know how we got in this situation of having to have the -- quote -- "smoking gun." There was no smoking gun reference in 1441. It was accepted that he had evaded, obfuscated, confused the possession of these weapons for 12 years.
So it was up to him to disarm, but somehow as we move forward, we've gotten into the question of, You've got to make the case. And we've gotten perverted here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KARL: Tough words there from Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage. 1441, he's obviously talking there about that U.N. Security Council resolution that passed on November 7 and saying that it's really up to Saddam Hussein to provide the proof, and he also said something you heard right out from the president, which is, this is a matter of weeks, not months. A matter of weeks until all diplomatic measures have been exhausted, until the inspectors run out of time, and it is time for further action -- military action -- Heidi.
COLLINS: All right. Jonathan Karl, 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
