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Interview With Riva Levinson, Ruth Wedgewood

Aired April 22, 2003 - 15:23   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.


JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: That's one of the things we want to talk about as we consider more U.N. involvement in Iraq.
Joining me, Riva Levinson, Washington's spokesman for the Iraqi National Congress and Ruth Wedgewood, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Ruth, to you first of all. This news that the French are saying let's suspend all the sanctions on Iraq.

What is that going to mean for the process going forward?

RUTH WEDGEWOOD, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: It's very welcome news. My fear had been otherwise the U.S. and France my get into logger heads again and starve the Iraqi regime, which would be very bad news. This is the reconstruction that can work successfully given the oil wealth of Iraq. If there had been the continued embargo on sales there might well have been a second constitutional crisis for the U.N.

WOODRUFF: Riva Levinson, does this mean all the arguments are over and the way is now clear, we know what's going to happen in Iraq with regard to the U.N.?

RIVA LEVINSON, IRAQI NATIONAL CONGRESS: With respect to the sanctions debate, I think that's real significant and particularly significant because the priority now is getting the services back in place and getting the resources into the country and showing the country that the country can run with the U.S. there and run with legitimate interim administration as Iraqis. So it's very important. But the debate over the U.N. is a long way coming. With respect to the weapons inspectors and the long-time role of the U.N.

WOODRUFF: What about the weapons inspectors, Ruth Wedgewood? I mean, you have Hans Blix saying the U.N., my team, we've got to be in there in order to make this a legitimate search for these weapons. The U.S. is saying, no, we're going to do this on our own.

WEDGEWOOD: Hans Blix may be called in to sprinkle holy water on the results and satisfy the U.N. and the French. My concern with bringing him in prematurely is the search is going to be ultimately bound up with our most sensitive intelligence debriefs. And the same debriefs that will be looking for tethers and links to terrorist networks, for the location of regime leaders. Hans Blix has had a (UNINTELLIGIBLE) relationship with the U.S. (UNINTELLIGIBLE). I don't think he's going to be a dog in the manger for the moment.

WOODRUFF: And so, Riva Levinson, moving on to U.N. involvement in Iraq at all.

Is there any role for the United Nations in Iraq after this war?

LEVINSON: I don't think there's any role for Han Blix in the search for weapons of mass destruction. I think the greatest resource are the Iraqi people and those that are surrendering and those in U.S. custody, they can point us to the weapons. I don't think there's any role for the U.N. in an interim authority. I think that's for the Iraqi people to decide. The U.N. does well at humanitarian and that's what they should stick to.

WOODRUFF: And so that's it as you look forward?

LEVINSON: As I look forward, yes.

WOODRUFF: Let me also ask you about this spectacle in Karbala today, where thousands, tens of thousands of Shia Muslims on a pilgrimage, expressing their religious freedom.

Ruth Wedgewood, one of them or several of them have said to the U.S. reporters, including Nic Robertson, we are so thankful to you Americans are setting us free, but now Americans, get out of our country. We want to run things on our own.

WEDGEWOOD: They can't mean that literally. If we left right now you'd have remnants of the old Ba'athist regime reinserting itself across the border from Syria. So I take this as a provocative statement meant figuratively. It's going to be a problem, though. The kind of Shia militant mood that may destabilize the south. And I think that long-term there will have to be some security presence to assure the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) regime of stability.

WOODRUFF: And what about, Riva Levinson, the idea that you could have a Shia, a very strongly religious government in Iraq?

LEVINSON: I think the Shias are going to be participating in the political process. Judy, Kenon Naki (ph) was here a few weeks back and he talked about how to engage people at the grassroots level and have town hall meetings across the country bringing in the Shia and Sunni, Asyrians, bringing in all the different ethnic groups, and being able to build an Iraqi interim authority from the ground up. And this is a way with dealing with those local concerns and bringing them to the top. And so by getting them involved that will dissipate some of the concerns.

WOODRUFF: We are going to have to leave it there this day. Riva Levinson with the Iraqi National Congress, spokesman here in Washington.

And Ruth Wedgewood with the Council on Foreign Relations. Great to see both of 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 April 22, 2003 - 15:23   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: That's one of the things we want to talk about as we consider more U.N. involvement in Iraq.
Joining me, Riva Levinson, Washington's spokesman for the Iraqi National Congress and Ruth Wedgewood, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Ruth, to you first of all. This news that the French are saying let's suspend all the sanctions on Iraq.

What is that going to mean for the process going forward?

RUTH WEDGEWOOD, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: It's very welcome news. My fear had been otherwise the U.S. and France my get into logger heads again and starve the Iraqi regime, which would be very bad news. This is the reconstruction that can work successfully given the oil wealth of Iraq. If there had been the continued embargo on sales there might well have been a second constitutional crisis for the U.N.

WOODRUFF: Riva Levinson, does this mean all the arguments are over and the way is now clear, we know what's going to happen in Iraq with regard to the U.N.?

RIVA LEVINSON, IRAQI NATIONAL CONGRESS: With respect to the sanctions debate, I think that's real significant and particularly significant because the priority now is getting the services back in place and getting the resources into the country and showing the country that the country can run with the U.S. there and run with legitimate interim administration as Iraqis. So it's very important. But the debate over the U.N. is a long way coming. With respect to the weapons inspectors and the long-time role of the U.N.

WOODRUFF: What about the weapons inspectors, Ruth Wedgewood? I mean, you have Hans Blix saying the U.N., my team, we've got to be in there in order to make this a legitimate search for these weapons. The U.S. is saying, no, we're going to do this on our own.

WEDGEWOOD: Hans Blix may be called in to sprinkle holy water on the results and satisfy the U.N. and the French. My concern with bringing him in prematurely is the search is going to be ultimately bound up with our most sensitive intelligence debriefs. And the same debriefs that will be looking for tethers and links to terrorist networks, for the location of regime leaders. Hans Blix has had a (UNINTELLIGIBLE) relationship with the U.S. (UNINTELLIGIBLE). I don't think he's going to be a dog in the manger for the moment.

WOODRUFF: And so, Riva Levinson, moving on to U.N. involvement in Iraq at all.

Is there any role for the United Nations in Iraq after this war?

LEVINSON: I don't think there's any role for Han Blix in the search for weapons of mass destruction. I think the greatest resource are the Iraqi people and those that are surrendering and those in U.S. custody, they can point us to the weapons. I don't think there's any role for the U.N. in an interim authority. I think that's for the Iraqi people to decide. The U.N. does well at humanitarian and that's what they should stick to.

WOODRUFF: And so that's it as you look forward?

LEVINSON: As I look forward, yes.

WOODRUFF: Let me also ask you about this spectacle in Karbala today, where thousands, tens of thousands of Shia Muslims on a pilgrimage, expressing their religious freedom.

Ruth Wedgewood, one of them or several of them have said to the U.S. reporters, including Nic Robertson, we are so thankful to you Americans are setting us free, but now Americans, get out of our country. We want to run things on our own.

WEDGEWOOD: They can't mean that literally. If we left right now you'd have remnants of the old Ba'athist regime reinserting itself across the border from Syria. So I take this as a provocative statement meant figuratively. It's going to be a problem, though. The kind of Shia militant mood that may destabilize the south. And I think that long-term there will have to be some security presence to assure the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) regime of stability.

WOODRUFF: And what about, Riva Levinson, the idea that you could have a Shia, a very strongly religious government in Iraq?

LEVINSON: I think the Shias are going to be participating in the political process. Judy, Kenon Naki (ph) was here a few weeks back and he talked about how to engage people at the grassroots level and have town hall meetings across the country bringing in the Shia and Sunni, Asyrians, bringing in all the different ethnic groups, and being able to build an Iraqi interim authority from the ground up. And this is a way with dealing with those local concerns and bringing them to the top. And so by getting them involved that will dissipate some of the concerns.

WOODRUFF: We are going to have to leave it there this day. Riva Levinson with the Iraqi National Congress, spokesman here in Washington.

And Ruth Wedgewood with the Council on Foreign Relations. Great to see both of 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