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Third of Britons Consider Bush More Dangerous Than Saddam

Aired February 11, 2003 - 13:31   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: Losing support: nearly a third of all Britons consider the U.S. the biggest threat to world peace. In addition, the approval rate for Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labor Party is plunging, and critics point to Blair's support of military action against Iraq. CNN's Walter Rogers now live in London -- hi, Walter.
WALTER RODGERS, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hell, Kyra. That was quite a stunning poll that was conducted by Britain's television channel, Channel 4. The results of the poll were, when asked what country is the greatest threat to world peace: hands down the United States, 32 percent of all Britons asked.

Iraq, only 23 percent of Britons now consider Iraq to be the greatest threat to peace. North Korea, 27 percent. Not a very distinguished honor for the United States, at least in the minds of those polled here in Britain. George W. Bush, the American president, did no better. The British were asked to place their level of trust in George W. Bush on a sliding scale of one to ten. Mr. Bush received only 2.9 percent vote of confidence by the British public.

The debate here in Britain continues at this point, at least at the diplomatic level. There's no wavering of support by the British government to the American position, and today the foreign secretary, Jack Straw, was asked about the French/German proposal to delay further -- or to delay an attack against the Iraqis, and what the British government position is on the French/German proposal to increase the number of inspectors. Mr. Straw, speaking at the International Institute of Strategic Studies rejected any suggestion by the French or Germans that there should be further delay, or more inspectors added.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACK STRAW, BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY: Of course we should respond positively to any requests for specific additional resources made by the inspectors of IAEA and of UNMOVIC. But there are some fundamentals here which we must not forget. If Saddam bows to the United Nations' demands, and cooperates promptly, what is the need for a greater number of inspectors? But if he maintains his refusal to cooperate, how will higher number of inspectors help?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RODGERS: The British foreign secretary said you could increase the number of U.N. weapons inspectors in Iraq a thousandfold, but without Iraqi cooperation, it will achieve nothing -- Kyra. PHILLIPS: All right. Walter Rodgers live from London. Thank you.

Back to Kuwait City now, where U.S. forces continue their buildup, getting ready to disarm Iraq if the president of the United States gives the go. Meanwhile, the pope intervening in Baghdad -- Marty.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: That's right, Kyra. The Vatican gets into the act. An envoy for the pope has just arrived in Baghdad, looking for a way to avert war. We get more on this now from CNN analyst Delia Gallagher. She is live in Rome.

Delia, give us a sense of just exactly what is hoped to be accomplished by all of this.

DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN ANALYST: Well, Marty, this is a personal envoy being sent from the pope, Cardinal Etchegavay, and it's slightly different than a regular diplomatic mission. It's really a last ditch effort to get Saddam to comply with the U.N. resolutions.

And the personal envoy is sort of a personal friend of the pope whom the pope sends when he wants to deliver a message, which the cardinal has a letter from the pope that will request that Saddam tries to calm this storm, and Cardinal Etchegavay has done this many times before. He's been the right-hand man of the pope for about 24 years. He's 81 years old. He's retired, and so he's going to Baghdad for the third time. He knows Saddam.

Tomorrow, he will meet with Tariq Aziz, and in the coming days, he will meet with Saddam. So, interestingly here, what's happening is the pope is not doing a diplomatic mission, sending his secretary of state, he is sending a friend, a cardinal who's retired, and just trying to get Saddam to comply. And then Tariq Aziz will be coming to the Vatican. So there will be quite a lot of diplomatic efforts in this week -- Marty.

SAVIDGE: Well, what is it -- Delia, what is it the pope hopes to gain, meaning that if the United Nations hasn't been able to convince Saddam Hussein, and the United States with the military buildup hasn't convinced Saddam Hussein to sort of come clean, how is the pope thinking he's going to do it, with all due respects to the pope?

GALLAGHER: Well, that's exactly it, Marty. That's why this is a last ditch effort, because the pope obviously is a sort of third party in this. He's not representing any diplomatic interests, political interests. He represents moral interests. It's always the first concern of the Vatican for the innocent lives of civilians. And so on that level, one can try to approach the interested parties and try to make them see some sense in this, rather than dealing with the political maneuverings, and that's hope of the Vatican.

SAVIDGE: We'll see how it comes out. Delia Gallagher, CNN analyst joining us live from Rome, thanks very 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 February 11, 2003 - 13:31   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Losing support: nearly a third of all Britons consider the U.S. the biggest threat to world peace. In addition, the approval rate for Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labor Party is plunging, and critics point to Blair's support of military action against Iraq. CNN's Walter Rogers now live in London -- hi, Walter.
WALTER RODGERS, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hell, Kyra. That was quite a stunning poll that was conducted by Britain's television channel, Channel 4. The results of the poll were, when asked what country is the greatest threat to world peace: hands down the United States, 32 percent of all Britons asked.

Iraq, only 23 percent of Britons now consider Iraq to be the greatest threat to peace. North Korea, 27 percent. Not a very distinguished honor for the United States, at least in the minds of those polled here in Britain. George W. Bush, the American president, did no better. The British were asked to place their level of trust in George W. Bush on a sliding scale of one to ten. Mr. Bush received only 2.9 percent vote of confidence by the British public.

The debate here in Britain continues at this point, at least at the diplomatic level. There's no wavering of support by the British government to the American position, and today the foreign secretary, Jack Straw, was asked about the French/German proposal to delay further -- or to delay an attack against the Iraqis, and what the British government position is on the French/German proposal to increase the number of inspectors. Mr. Straw, speaking at the International Institute of Strategic Studies rejected any suggestion by the French or Germans that there should be further delay, or more inspectors added.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACK STRAW, BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY: Of course we should respond positively to any requests for specific additional resources made by the inspectors of IAEA and of UNMOVIC. But there are some fundamentals here which we must not forget. If Saddam bows to the United Nations' demands, and cooperates promptly, what is the need for a greater number of inspectors? But if he maintains his refusal to cooperate, how will higher number of inspectors help?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RODGERS: The British foreign secretary said you could increase the number of U.N. weapons inspectors in Iraq a thousandfold, but without Iraqi cooperation, it will achieve nothing -- Kyra. PHILLIPS: All right. Walter Rodgers live from London. Thank you.

Back to Kuwait City now, where U.S. forces continue their buildup, getting ready to disarm Iraq if the president of the United States gives the go. Meanwhile, the pope intervening in Baghdad -- Marty.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: That's right, Kyra. The Vatican gets into the act. An envoy for the pope has just arrived in Baghdad, looking for a way to avert war. We get more on this now from CNN analyst Delia Gallagher. She is live in Rome.

Delia, give us a sense of just exactly what is hoped to be accomplished by all of this.

DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN ANALYST: Well, Marty, this is a personal envoy being sent from the pope, Cardinal Etchegavay, and it's slightly different than a regular diplomatic mission. It's really a last ditch effort to get Saddam to comply with the U.N. resolutions.

And the personal envoy is sort of a personal friend of the pope whom the pope sends when he wants to deliver a message, which the cardinal has a letter from the pope that will request that Saddam tries to calm this storm, and Cardinal Etchegavay has done this many times before. He's been the right-hand man of the pope for about 24 years. He's 81 years old. He's retired, and so he's going to Baghdad for the third time. He knows Saddam.

Tomorrow, he will meet with Tariq Aziz, and in the coming days, he will meet with Saddam. So, interestingly here, what's happening is the pope is not doing a diplomatic mission, sending his secretary of state, he is sending a friend, a cardinal who's retired, and just trying to get Saddam to comply. And then Tariq Aziz will be coming to the Vatican. So there will be quite a lot of diplomatic efforts in this week -- Marty.

SAVIDGE: Well, what is it -- Delia, what is it the pope hopes to gain, meaning that if the United Nations hasn't been able to convince Saddam Hussein, and the United States with the military buildup hasn't convinced Saddam Hussein to sort of come clean, how is the pope thinking he's going to do it, with all due respects to the pope?

GALLAGHER: Well, that's exactly it, Marty. That's why this is a last ditch effort, because the pope obviously is a sort of third party in this. He's not representing any diplomatic interests, political interests. He represents moral interests. It's always the first concern of the Vatican for the innocent lives of civilians. And so on that level, one can try to approach the interested parties and try to make them see some sense in this, rather than dealing with the political maneuverings, and that's hope of the Vatican.

SAVIDGE: We'll see how it comes out. Delia Gallagher, CNN analyst joining us live from Rome, thanks very 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