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Future of Chilean Proposal Not Looking Bright
Aired March 14, 2003 - 13:02 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: An important trip for the president this weekend. Sunday, the president will board Marine One, South Lawn of the White House, make his way, eventually, to the Azores for an emergency summit to discuss the situation with Iraq. As we take a look at that trip across the Atlantic, the Azores almost midway between North America and Europe. It was chosen to host the summit this Sunday. They are 1,000 miles west of Europe, and more than twice that from the U.S. So what is it all about? The White House says it is an effort to exhaust all means of diplomacy before resorting to war.
CNN's Richard Roth at the United Nations, to give us the latest on what's going on there -- Richard.
RICHARD ROTH, CNN SENIOR U.N. CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Perhaps the idyllic setting may produce something. Usually people go there to get away. Well, Tony Blair, President Bush, and Prime Minister Aznar of Spain will be going there for, perhaps, the final round of diplomacy efforts.
Ari Fleischer, the White House press spokesman, a few minutes ago saying these efforts have reached some sort of finality, some stage like that. The latest diplomatic bid made by the president of Chile, who has given a speech and has offered a new proposal -- not a resolution, but something that he says Chile will be throwing into the council -- three weeks for Iraq to comply with five specific new disarmament tasks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICARDO LAGOS, PRESIDENT, CHILE (through translator): ... do not make these five conditions in the lapse of three weeks, Iraq should assume the consequences that 1441 establishes, including the use of force. Verifying the accomplishments of those five conditions will be reported by the inspectors, and the qualification will be under the control of the Security Council of the United Nations.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROTH: It doesn't look good so far for the Chilean proposal as you watch ambassadors on the council enter today. There's Syria, and there is Germany. The United States has already called the Chilean idea a nonstarter. Press spokesman Ari Fleischer said if it was a nonstarter a few weeks ago -- a few days ago when people were talking about three to five weeks for extending the deadline for Iraq, well, it's a nonstarter now, he says. The only Security Council meeting planned so far, it seems to be among the five permanent members, and they've certainly been feuding now for months on Iraq. They have got an afternoon private session planned. As for the diplomatic efforts here, the Chilean proposals may extend discussions into this weekend, and the Russian ambassador, among others, wouldn't be surprised.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SERGEY LAVROV, RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: I hate to work over the weekends, as I hope you do, but -- I mean, it is a very serious matter, and of course, all our plans could be dropped if there is a proposal to meet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROTH: The noncommitted members of the Security Council, the undecided six, have yet to put a formal proposal together, among all of them -- whether they coalesce around the Chilean idea still is unknown, and now, you have the British benchmarks that have also divided the council. No agreement on that. No agreement on the Chilean idea, and no agreement on the U.S./U.K./Spain resolution. The only one still on the table, which had a Monday deadline, if approved, for Iraq to renounce weapons of mass destruction and disclose all. So the diplomatic puzzle seems to be getting even more complicated -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Every day, it seems more complex, Richard. Tell us about this undecided six. We sort of talk about them as if they're a voting bloc. That's not necessarily so.
ROTH: They refuse to say they're a bloc. They certainly have been meeting together, and they have been trying to act as a bloc, but they also don't want to be seen as the ones that decide war and peace. They are still desperate to have the United States and the United Kingdom resolve the differences with France, Russia or China.
O'BRIEN: Richard Roth at the United Nations -- Daryn.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, it has been an interesting day, Miles, with all the recent focus on Iraq. The White House, today, announced a new push for peace in the Middle East, and there may be a connection between the two issues. Our Dana Bash has more now from the White House -- Dana, hello.
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Daryn. Well, first, on the Iraq situation, the president has been working the phones almost daily, speaking with the prime minister of Britain and Spain, talking about the fact that they're trying to get these votes together, conferring on where the votes are, what the other countries -- those six countries that they were just talking about with Richard and Miles, what they want.
Now, the White House is saying it's time for those leaders to get together, face-to-face, to really try to hash it out, to try to figure out what's next. But regardless, they are making really clear here at the White House that the president still maintains he has all the authority he needs to use military action against Iraq, and that what they are doing now is the final phase of diplomacy, and it is something that they are trying to do to help out the allies, like Prime Minister Blair and Jose Maria Aznar.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: Sooner or later, the United Nations Security Council has got to act or not act, and so it is time for the Security Council to resolve this, and the presidents and prime ministers will get together this weekend, and they will talk about the way forward.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Now, a new line here at the White House this morning -- the White House spokesman, Ari Fleischer said that one way that the world can sort of hope that Saddam Hussein would leave is, perhaps, if there is another vote at the United Nations, and a successful one, perhaps that could be the final way to send a message to Saddam Hussein to leave peacefully, and maybe it could avoid any kind of military action.
But meanwhile, as you mention, Daryn, there was a major move this morning at the White House with the president. He announced that he would be willing to support the so-called road map. That is the series of steps that could eventually reach peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians, that would involve a Palestinian state. The White House has really been criticized for not attacking this issue, for not putting enough focus on this issue.
Criticized by European allies, including Tony Blair and others. And of course, by the Arab nations in the region, who said that what the White House should be focused on is peace in that region, as opposed to dealing with Iraq.
But the administration -- the president today said that the recent developments, the election of a Palestinian prime minister could allow for this road map to take place, but only if he is confirmed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The Palestinian state must be a reformed and peaceful and democratic state that abandons forever the use of terror. The government of Israel, as the terror threat is removed and security improves, must take concrete steps to support the emergence of a viable and credible Palestinian state, and to work as quickly as possible toward a final status agreement.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Now, the official line here, Daryn, at the White House is that there is no connection between the announcement on the road map on the Middle East peace, and the situation in Iraq, but it is really hard to take the two issues apart, especially when you saw the close coordination between the president -- President Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair, having a press conference shortly after, and of course, those two men have been talking about this issue for a very long time -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Dana Bash at the White House, and with more now from Europe, let's go over to Miles.
O'BRIEN: The leaders of Britain and France have spoken by phone today, in an apparent effort to mend some fences. Sniping across the English channel had reached new heights, with British officials accusing the French of obstructing diplomatic efforts and making war with Iraq more likely.
CNN's Jim Bittermann standing by live from Paris to give us the latest from there. Do we know anything about that phone call -- Jim.
JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we know a little bit about it, Miles. It came after a couple of days here, as you just mentioned, that have been absolutely rancorous between the British and the French, mainly on the British side. Some people, including some within Tony Blair's cabinet basically saying the French were poisoning the atmosphere.
It came just before lunchtime today, Chirac called Tony Blair to say that France is still ready to negotiate some kind of a resolution that would lead to a peaceful settlement, a peaceful disarmament of Iraq.
That is not exactly the kind of thing that Tony Blair has been talking about. So it really doesn't seem to be much of a change in substance.
It's really more of a change in form to make it look like the French are willing to negotiate a little bit. But they haven't budged off their central pillar, which is that any kind of resolution -- second resolution on Iraq has got to not provide for an automatic use of weapons. Not to provide automatically to step into a war situation if the Iraqis don't comply.
And that's something that -- it wasn't contained at all in the resolution that Tony Blair was talking about. He was basically talking about one that set a deadline, some benchmarks, and by that deadline, if there was no progress on the benchmarks, then, in fact, there would be war following immediately thereafter. That -- that doesn't work as far as the French are concerned.
One thing they did say they'd be flexible on, they repeated this idea that they could move off the four-month inspection period. This was a period that Dominique de Villepin originally talked about some weeks ago, and then said last week at this time, basically said that the French would be willing to negotiate on the time length -- the time limit on that inspection period. But, other than that, there's not a whole lot of new substance to what took place in that telephone call -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Jim Bittermann in Paris. Thank you 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 March 14, 2003 - 13:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: An important trip for the president this weekend. Sunday, the president will board Marine One, South Lawn of the White House, make his way, eventually, to the Azores for an emergency summit to discuss the situation with Iraq. As we take a look at that trip across the Atlantic, the Azores almost midway between North America and Europe. It was chosen to host the summit this Sunday. They are 1,000 miles west of Europe, and more than twice that from the U.S. So what is it all about? The White House says it is an effort to exhaust all means of diplomacy before resorting to war.
CNN's Richard Roth at the United Nations, to give us the latest on what's going on there -- Richard.
RICHARD ROTH, CNN SENIOR U.N. CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Perhaps the idyllic setting may produce something. Usually people go there to get away. Well, Tony Blair, President Bush, and Prime Minister Aznar of Spain will be going there for, perhaps, the final round of diplomacy efforts.
Ari Fleischer, the White House press spokesman, a few minutes ago saying these efforts have reached some sort of finality, some stage like that. The latest diplomatic bid made by the president of Chile, who has given a speech and has offered a new proposal -- not a resolution, but something that he says Chile will be throwing into the council -- three weeks for Iraq to comply with five specific new disarmament tasks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICARDO LAGOS, PRESIDENT, CHILE (through translator): ... do not make these five conditions in the lapse of three weeks, Iraq should assume the consequences that 1441 establishes, including the use of force. Verifying the accomplishments of those five conditions will be reported by the inspectors, and the qualification will be under the control of the Security Council of the United Nations.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROTH: It doesn't look good so far for the Chilean proposal as you watch ambassadors on the council enter today. There's Syria, and there is Germany. The United States has already called the Chilean idea a nonstarter. Press spokesman Ari Fleischer said if it was a nonstarter a few weeks ago -- a few days ago when people were talking about three to five weeks for extending the deadline for Iraq, well, it's a nonstarter now, he says. The only Security Council meeting planned so far, it seems to be among the five permanent members, and they've certainly been feuding now for months on Iraq. They have got an afternoon private session planned. As for the diplomatic efforts here, the Chilean proposals may extend discussions into this weekend, and the Russian ambassador, among others, wouldn't be surprised.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SERGEY LAVROV, RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: I hate to work over the weekends, as I hope you do, but -- I mean, it is a very serious matter, and of course, all our plans could be dropped if there is a proposal to meet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROTH: The noncommitted members of the Security Council, the undecided six, have yet to put a formal proposal together, among all of them -- whether they coalesce around the Chilean idea still is unknown, and now, you have the British benchmarks that have also divided the council. No agreement on that. No agreement on the Chilean idea, and no agreement on the U.S./U.K./Spain resolution. The only one still on the table, which had a Monday deadline, if approved, for Iraq to renounce weapons of mass destruction and disclose all. So the diplomatic puzzle seems to be getting even more complicated -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Every day, it seems more complex, Richard. Tell us about this undecided six. We sort of talk about them as if they're a voting bloc. That's not necessarily so.
ROTH: They refuse to say they're a bloc. They certainly have been meeting together, and they have been trying to act as a bloc, but they also don't want to be seen as the ones that decide war and peace. They are still desperate to have the United States and the United Kingdom resolve the differences with France, Russia or China.
O'BRIEN: Richard Roth at the United Nations -- Daryn.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, it has been an interesting day, Miles, with all the recent focus on Iraq. The White House, today, announced a new push for peace in the Middle East, and there may be a connection between the two issues. Our Dana Bash has more now from the White House -- Dana, hello.
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Daryn. Well, first, on the Iraq situation, the president has been working the phones almost daily, speaking with the prime minister of Britain and Spain, talking about the fact that they're trying to get these votes together, conferring on where the votes are, what the other countries -- those six countries that they were just talking about with Richard and Miles, what they want.
Now, the White House is saying it's time for those leaders to get together, face-to-face, to really try to hash it out, to try to figure out what's next. But regardless, they are making really clear here at the White House that the president still maintains he has all the authority he needs to use military action against Iraq, and that what they are doing now is the final phase of diplomacy, and it is something that they are trying to do to help out the allies, like Prime Minister Blair and Jose Maria Aznar.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: Sooner or later, the United Nations Security Council has got to act or not act, and so it is time for the Security Council to resolve this, and the presidents and prime ministers will get together this weekend, and they will talk about the way forward.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Now, a new line here at the White House this morning -- the White House spokesman, Ari Fleischer said that one way that the world can sort of hope that Saddam Hussein would leave is, perhaps, if there is another vote at the United Nations, and a successful one, perhaps that could be the final way to send a message to Saddam Hussein to leave peacefully, and maybe it could avoid any kind of military action.
But meanwhile, as you mention, Daryn, there was a major move this morning at the White House with the president. He announced that he would be willing to support the so-called road map. That is the series of steps that could eventually reach peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians, that would involve a Palestinian state. The White House has really been criticized for not attacking this issue, for not putting enough focus on this issue.
Criticized by European allies, including Tony Blair and others. And of course, by the Arab nations in the region, who said that what the White House should be focused on is peace in that region, as opposed to dealing with Iraq.
But the administration -- the president today said that the recent developments, the election of a Palestinian prime minister could allow for this road map to take place, but only if he is confirmed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The Palestinian state must be a reformed and peaceful and democratic state that abandons forever the use of terror. The government of Israel, as the terror threat is removed and security improves, must take concrete steps to support the emergence of a viable and credible Palestinian state, and to work as quickly as possible toward a final status agreement.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Now, the official line here, Daryn, at the White House is that there is no connection between the announcement on the road map on the Middle East peace, and the situation in Iraq, but it is really hard to take the two issues apart, especially when you saw the close coordination between the president -- President Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair, having a press conference shortly after, and of course, those two men have been talking about this issue for a very long time -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Dana Bash at the White House, and with more now from Europe, let's go over to Miles.
O'BRIEN: The leaders of Britain and France have spoken by phone today, in an apparent effort to mend some fences. Sniping across the English channel had reached new heights, with British officials accusing the French of obstructing diplomatic efforts and making war with Iraq more likely.
CNN's Jim Bittermann standing by live from Paris to give us the latest from there. Do we know anything about that phone call -- Jim.
JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we know a little bit about it, Miles. It came after a couple of days here, as you just mentioned, that have been absolutely rancorous between the British and the French, mainly on the British side. Some people, including some within Tony Blair's cabinet basically saying the French were poisoning the atmosphere.
It came just before lunchtime today, Chirac called Tony Blair to say that France is still ready to negotiate some kind of a resolution that would lead to a peaceful settlement, a peaceful disarmament of Iraq.
That is not exactly the kind of thing that Tony Blair has been talking about. So it really doesn't seem to be much of a change in substance.
It's really more of a change in form to make it look like the French are willing to negotiate a little bit. But they haven't budged off their central pillar, which is that any kind of resolution -- second resolution on Iraq has got to not provide for an automatic use of weapons. Not to provide automatically to step into a war situation if the Iraqis don't comply.
And that's something that -- it wasn't contained at all in the resolution that Tony Blair was talking about. He was basically talking about one that set a deadline, some benchmarks, and by that deadline, if there was no progress on the benchmarks, then, in fact, there would be war following immediately thereafter. That -- that doesn't work as far as the French are concerned.
One thing they did say they'd be flexible on, they repeated this idea that they could move off the four-month inspection period. This was a period that Dominique de Villepin originally talked about some weeks ago, and then said last week at this time, basically said that the French would be willing to negotiate on the time length -- the time limit on that inspection period. But, other than that, there's not a whole lot of new substance to what took place in that telephone call -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Jim Bittermann in Paris. Thank you 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
