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U.S. Says Only One More Vote Needed

Aired March 12, 2003 - 14:05   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.


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: One more vote: U.S. diplomats say that may be all they need to pass a resolution on Iraq, but will all their efforts be worth it?
CNN State Department Correspondent Andrea Koppel is here to tell us where everyone stands right now. It's not so easy to know that, is it -- Andrea.

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: No, it isn't, Miles. It is sort of follow the bouncing ball.

Well, as things stand right now -- of course, CNN has learned that three of the six undecided countries, the three African countries, have come over to the U.S. side. Both U.S. and British officials telling CNN that they are quite confident that they now have the support of Guinea, Cameroon, and Angola.

In addition, they also believe they have the support of Pakistan, but they have known that now for a number of days.

It's a bit of a surprise, especially with Guinea and Cameroon, because they were both former British -- former French colonies, rather, and in fact, the French foreign minister, Dominique de Villepin, was in France this week -- in Africa this week trying to win their support. He visited all three countries.

Now, as far as the undecideds, this is where the diplomatic energy is being focused right now -- on Mexico and Chile, the two Latin American countries, two countries that the United States is actually hoping that Spain can help it out with. Both Spain, Britain, and the U.S. all working together with intense diplomacy, as you might imagine, to try to get at least one of the two to come on board in order to get those nine out of 15 votes necessary to pass the Security Council resolution. But having said that, we already know what's been out there for a number of days. The French president, Jacques Chirac, has threatened, explicitly, to veto a resolution no matter what. Those were his words. And in response to that, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher had this to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD BOUCHER, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN: We do find the statements that France would veto no matter what disturbing, because we all know that Iraq only responds, only takes steps towards disarmament under pressure now. That pressure is being maintained by the presence of American, British, Australian and other forces in the region. (END VIDEO CLIP)

KOPPEL: Later, a senior State Department official explained that it was the "no matter what" part of that threat, Miles, that really got the U.S. -- set the U.S. on edge, that it felt that France wouldn't give a future resolution -- obviously, language being tweaked right now, a chance.

And in fact, I also want to clarify something. We've been talking all day long about these benchmarks that the British government has been working on, benchmarks, or tests as the U.S. likes to call them. It's our understanding now that this wouldn't necessarily be a part of the resolution, like an amendment, but perhaps like a side letter that would clarify various tests that the Iraqis would have to meet.

We still don't know yet what the final product would be, and also when that might be put forward -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Now, why do you suppose they're doing that? Why a side letter?

KOPPEL: Because they don't have the votes, and this is what it is taking to get to nine. And -- in addition, a number of the undecided countries want to feel that their voice and their opinions have been reflected in the final product, look at it as the resolution and a side letter.

And so that is what a lot of this diplomacy is about. It's Secretary of State Powell on the phone, the president on the phone, the British and the Spanish on the phone saying, What do you need to hear to satisfy you, and would it be OK if we had five tests, or seven tests? And so it's negotiating right now, and they hope that by the time this process ends -- and they're hoping it will end in the next couple of days -- that they will get to the magic number nine, but they still have that French veto, potentially Russia and China as well hanging over their heads.

O'BRIEN: All right. Andrea Koppel.

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 March 12, 2003 - 14:05   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: One more vote: U.S. diplomats say that may be all they need to pass a resolution on Iraq, but will all their efforts be worth it?
CNN State Department Correspondent Andrea Koppel is here to tell us where everyone stands right now. It's not so easy to know that, is it -- Andrea.

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: No, it isn't, Miles. It is sort of follow the bouncing ball.

Well, as things stand right now -- of course, CNN has learned that three of the six undecided countries, the three African countries, have come over to the U.S. side. Both U.S. and British officials telling CNN that they are quite confident that they now have the support of Guinea, Cameroon, and Angola.

In addition, they also believe they have the support of Pakistan, but they have known that now for a number of days.

It's a bit of a surprise, especially with Guinea and Cameroon, because they were both former British -- former French colonies, rather, and in fact, the French foreign minister, Dominique de Villepin, was in France this week -- in Africa this week trying to win their support. He visited all three countries.

Now, as far as the undecideds, this is where the diplomatic energy is being focused right now -- on Mexico and Chile, the two Latin American countries, two countries that the United States is actually hoping that Spain can help it out with. Both Spain, Britain, and the U.S. all working together with intense diplomacy, as you might imagine, to try to get at least one of the two to come on board in order to get those nine out of 15 votes necessary to pass the Security Council resolution. But having said that, we already know what's been out there for a number of days. The French president, Jacques Chirac, has threatened, explicitly, to veto a resolution no matter what. Those were his words. And in response to that, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher had this to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD BOUCHER, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN: We do find the statements that France would veto no matter what disturbing, because we all know that Iraq only responds, only takes steps towards disarmament under pressure now. That pressure is being maintained by the presence of American, British, Australian and other forces in the region. (END VIDEO CLIP)

KOPPEL: Later, a senior State Department official explained that it was the "no matter what" part of that threat, Miles, that really got the U.S. -- set the U.S. on edge, that it felt that France wouldn't give a future resolution -- obviously, language being tweaked right now, a chance.

And in fact, I also want to clarify something. We've been talking all day long about these benchmarks that the British government has been working on, benchmarks, or tests as the U.S. likes to call them. It's our understanding now that this wouldn't necessarily be a part of the resolution, like an amendment, but perhaps like a side letter that would clarify various tests that the Iraqis would have to meet.

We still don't know yet what the final product would be, and also when that might be put forward -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Now, why do you suppose they're doing that? Why a side letter?

KOPPEL: Because they don't have the votes, and this is what it is taking to get to nine. And -- in addition, a number of the undecided countries want to feel that their voice and their opinions have been reflected in the final product, look at it as the resolution and a side letter.

And so that is what a lot of this diplomacy is about. It's Secretary of State Powell on the phone, the president on the phone, the British and the Spanish on the phone saying, What do you need to hear to satisfy you, and would it be OK if we had five tests, or seven tests? And so it's negotiating right now, and they hope that by the time this process ends -- and they're hoping it will end in the next couple of days -- that they will get to the magic number nine, but they still have that French veto, potentially Russia and China as well hanging over their heads.

O'BRIEN: All right. Andrea Koppel.

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